believe

HAPPEN TO infinitive

In the English Vocabulary Profile at C1 ‘happen + to-infinitive‘ =  do something by chance A search in the NOW corpus for: HAPPEN to _VVI 1 HAPPEN TO KNOW 1453 2 HAPPEN TO LIVE 1430 3 HAPPENED TO SEE 1172 4 HAPPEN TO THINK 1147 5 HAPPENED TO COME 1132 6 HAPPEN TO GET 1104 7 …

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WORD (phrases)

In the English Vocabulary Profile at B1: not believe/understand/hear/say, etc. a word = anything A search in iWeb corpus for: _XX _VV a word 1 N’T SAY A WORD 1726 Don’t say a word against my father. listen 2 NOT SAY A WORD 756 3 N’T UNDERSTAND A WORD 608 It was brilliant, even though I didn’t understand a word of it. listen 4 N’T BELIEVE A …

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would sooner + INFINITIVE

At C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘would sooner’ means ‘would prefer.’ For example: They would sooner sacrifice numbers to save the people. TED The most common collocate or grammar structure related here is comparative ‘than’.  For example: I would sooner resign than be forced to get the vaccine. Chicago Tribune on MSN.com A search in the NOW corpus for which infinitives are found next to ‘would sooner’ would …

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imperative

Here are two A2 English Grammar Profile points in different categories that cover imperatives. Point 39 in the category of CLAUSES is defined: affirmative imperative with the base form of a main verb Point 7 in NEGATION:  negative imperatives of main verbs with ‘don’t’ + main verb. For example: Now, wait a minute. Sit down, Zero. listen …

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noun phrase + relative clause

Here are two student examples of complex noun phrases using relative clauses as complements: In addition, the people who lived in Korea 100 years ago didn’t have enough transportation. PELIC Arabic male level 5 writing class   Here are some of the things which I got. TLC speaking test female Kannada B2 A2 point 34 in CLAUSES is defined: a defining relative clause with ‘who‘ as the subject A2 point 20 in …

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Can you believe it?

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 74 in MODALITY is defined: ‘can you believe’ to express surprise PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: Can you believe that my poor mother still did not know that she was dying? Mongol female level 4 grammar class. TLC SPEAKING TEST EXAMPLE: Can you believe that only in Niger there are one point three million people  who are in critical need of food and assistance due to corruption? female Sri Lanka B1 An iWeb search: 1 Can you believe it? 2387 listen 2 …

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BE + not going to INFINITIVE

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 26 in the category of FUTURE is defined: the negative form of ‘be going to’ to talk about plans and intentions EXPERT EXAMPLES: The words mean the same thing, so we‘re not going to waste any more time differentiating between them. the18.com *This is hard to find automatically because this structure is difficult to differentiate from predictions with present …

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may not

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 94 in the category of MODALITY is defined:

‘may’ negative

I remember | believe | understand | hear (that) + CLAUSE

In the English Grammar Profile at B1, point 28 in the category of PRESENT/simple is defined: an increasing range of mental process verbs, including ‘remember’, ‘understand’, ‘believe’ A similar addition to this point is Pearson’s GSE 62 B2 speak about information acquired from others using ‘hear’ + ‘(that +)’ complement clause. I hear that John and Susie are getting married. I’ve heard that Martin ‘s lost his job. …

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nothing | anyone | everywhere

in the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 58 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: wide range of indefinite pronouns as objects or complements. For example: You don’t have to show anyone any of these steps. TED There are also English Vocabulary Profile phrases at various levels.  For example: Come on, Scarlett! When you want something,  you stop at nothing to get it. …

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VERB + DIRECT OBJECT + to INFINITIVE

This post contains an example of overlapping B1 grammar points located inside two different categories in the English Grammar Profile (EGP). EGP B1 point 6 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: REPORTED REQUESTS AND COMMANDS with ‘ask’ or ‘tell’ + direct object and ‘to-‘infinitive EGP B1 point 38 in the category of …

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understand | realise + that CLAUSE

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 Point 42 in the category of VERBS/patterns is defined as: an increasing range of verbs, typically reporting or mental process verbs, with a ‘that’-clause as the direct object PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: I started to understand that there are many types of movies, and I started to distinguish between them. Arabic, Male, Level 4, Writing Class. *Note that this partly overlaps ’28 …

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