Point 76 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: Possessive pronouns ‘hers’ and ‘ours’ in comparative clauses. An iWeb search for _jj as|than hers|ours: 1 DIFFERENT THAN OURS 491 EXPERT EXAMPLE: His approach was totally different than ours. *’ from ours’ is traditionally correct, but this is the highest frequency example! 2 IMPORTANT AS OURS 470 3 GOOD AS […]
comparative + hers | ours Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, there are two points that overlap. B2 point 55 is defined as: PAST simple after ‘if’ as a politeness structure, especially in letters and emails. B2 point 72 is defined as: the past simple with a range of subordinating conjunctions, including ‘as soon as’, ‘before’, ‘if’, ‘once’, ‘since’, ‘so’, ‘until’,
conjunction + past simple Read More »
Here are 10 ways ‘far’ is used ranked by order of frequency: 1. A2 general adverb *Numbers on the right are the frequency in iWeb corpus: (RR) 1578722 ‘far‘ means ‘at, to or from a great distance in space or time‘ For example: Is it far away? I don’t live far from here. Thailand is not far from Vietnam. 2. B1 phrase ‘so far‘ means ‘until now‘ So far
10 ways ‘FAR’ is used in English grammar. Read More »
A search in iWeb for the part of speech of ‘long’: 1 LONG (JJ) 3552089 adjective 2 LONG (RR) 1695369 adverb 5 LONG (CS32) 727692 B2 complex subordinating conjunction: He says he‘s waited as long as he can for Batman to do the right thing. 6 LONG (RR22) 93610 C1 complex adverbial phrase ‘for long’ But if it went wrong, I would not want to live like that for long. 9 LONG (VVI) 48001 verb 14 LONG
“Before” is a versatile word in English, functioning as a preposition, subordinating conjunction, and time adverb. As a preposition, it connects a noun or pronoun to another word, indicating something happens earlier than the time or event mentioned. As a subordinating conjunction, it connects two clauses, showing a relationship between them. As a time adverb, it modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb to indicate when something happens. Examples from various corpora illustrate these uses.
Following a lexical verb with a degree adverb is possible but much rarer than following a lexical verb with a preposition and a little rarer than following a lexical verb with a general adverb. Here we have kept the results with _VV _RG 11 TAKES ABOUT 36989 All in all, the process takes about a month, give or take. listen 12 LOOKS VERY 34563
lexical verb + degree adverb Read More »
A search in iWeb corpus for: _VV _II sometimes catches past participles that might be considered adjectives. *doesn’t include ‘with’ and ‘for’ 1 BASED ON 2713989 2 KNOWN AS 1156665 This is what is known as a precautionary measure. listen 3 COMES TO 937726 4 COMPARED TO 832204 5 LOOKING AT 822174 6 GO TO 800246 (two verb forms) 7 GO
lexical verb + preposition Read More »
A search in playphrase.me for “so much as” reveals the following 3 most common collocations/multi-word units containing negative meaning or being surrounded with negation: You let your wife throw you out of your own house without so much as a whimper. listen to the example The phrase “without so much as a” means “not even the slightest amount of“. In the example above, it emphasizes that the
so much as | in as much as Read More »
The word ‘to’ is most often before an infinitive or it is a simple preposition. A search in iWeb corpus for frequency data related to part of speech: 1 TO (TO) 240771826 infinitive marker _TO * * * * 1 TO BE ONE OF THE 87871 Everyone, this is our dear friend, Brian Bloom who also happens to be one of the most talented young writers. listen to this C1 example
The third most frequent word in the English language is used in a lot of different ways. ‘OF‘ is most often in a prepositional phrase, but it is also used in many other types of phrases. Below we list the ranked frequency found in the iWeb corpus. 1 OF (IO) 328813259 2 OF (II22) 11680309
OF (complex phrases) Read More »
A2 point 1 and the only point in the category of FOCUS / FRONTING is defined as: ‘a prepositional phrases in the front position for focus.’
“At the time, I had a girlfriend, so I didn’t talk to her.” This is an example of putting a prepositional phrase at the start of a sentence which is what pre-intermediate students can do.
fronted prepositional phrase Read More »
The phrase “as you know” is a discourse marker used to indicate shared knowledge between the speaker and the listener. It’s used to introduce information that the speaker assumes the listener is aware of, thereby establishing common ground. This phrase is listed at B1 in the English Vocabulary profile and A2 point 1 in the category of discourse markers in the English Grammar Profile. It’s often followed by statements that reflect shared knowledge or common understanding. For instance, “As you know, our company has been experiencing financial difficulties lately,” or “As you know, I am a big fan of classic literature.” The phrase implies that the information being mentioned is already known or has been previously discussed.
AS YOU KNOW = discourse marker of shared knowledge Read More »
“As you can see” is used to draw attention to something that is obvious or visible. For example, you might say “As you can see, the cat is sitting on the mat” or “As you can see, the results of the test are not good.”
“I can’t say” is used to express uncertainty or doubt. For example, you might say “I can’t say for sure when I’ll be finished with this project” or “I can’t say that I agree with your decision.”
“I can tell you that” is used to make a statement that is certain or factual. For example, you might say “I can tell you that the meeting will start at 10am” or “I can tell you that I’m not happy with the way things are going.”
“As you can imagine” is used to express something that is easy to understand or picture. For example, you might say “As you can imagine, I was very excited to get the job offer” or “As you can imagine, the traffic was terrible today.”
“I can say that” is used to make a statement that is true or accurate. For example, you might say “I can say that I’m very proud of my children” or “I can say that I’ve learned a lot from this experience.”
“I can assure you that” is used to express confidence or certainty. For example, you might say “I can assure you that I will do my best” or “I can assure you that your information is safe with me.”
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 163 MODALITY is defined as: ‘may’ in phrases such as ‘as you may know’, or ‘as you may have’ + ‘-ed’ to focus the reader on shared knowledge. This partly overlaps point 168 MODALITY and PAST AFFIRMATIVE of ‘may have’ + ‘-ed’ to talk about possibility in the
may have + PAST PARTICIPLE Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 159 in MODALITY and ELLIPSIS is defined as:
‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ without a following verb where the previous main verb is understood
SHOULD + ellipsis of the following infinitive Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 143 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘used to’ without a following verb where the previous main verb is understood. For example: They don’t make them like they used to. *In the EGP examples, the sense of this structure refers to things in the past that are no longer true. It can refer to repeated
used to (ellipsis) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 101 in CLAUSES & comparatives is defined as ‘THE SAME’ (+ NOUN) + ‘AS’ + CLAUSE In the following example ‘way’ can be removed: I want to be around as many people as possible who feel the same way as I do. listen But Alan says none of us are the same as we were a moment ago and we shouldn’t try to be. listen Sadly there is no mention of whether this is only finite clauses because
the same (NOUN) as + CLAUSE Read More »
A search on iWeb corpus for 3 part subordinating conjunctions reveals the following frequency: They point to another group of multiple overlapping points on the English Grammar Profile. B2 point 91 in CLAUSES & conditional is defined as: conditional subordinate clauses with a range of conjunctions ‘as long as’, ‘provided’ + present simple or present
conditional subordinate clauses & range of complex conjunctions Read More »
To get started, let’s look at some spoken student examples that show a wide range of linking verbs with very literal meanings: It‘s like a fairy tale because it doesn’t seem real. TLC female Mexico B1 To remain healthy, we have to exercise. TLC female India B1 The verbs ‘remain’ and ‘seem’ link the adjective complements: ‘real’ and ‘healthy’ in a more detailed way than
a wide range of linking verbs used in other complex ways Read More »
