Surprisingly, there is no entry in the English Grammar Profile for the phrase ‘had better’. In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘had better’ with the meaning ‘should’ is listed at A2. You had better get out of this room and back downstairs right away. listen A search for collocates in COCA of: had better_RRR 1 START 82 2 PREPARED 59 You had better be prepared to push yourself harder than …
Here’s an example of this academic collocation: And this data is key because it really helps cities understand where people are using, how to allocate resources and the effectiveness of programming over time. A search in iWeb for allocat* resourc* 1 ALLOCATE RESOURCES 3008 2 ALLOCATING RESOURCES 1467 3 ALLOCATED RESOURCES 470 4 ALLOCATES RESOURCES 340 5 ALLOCATED RESOURCE 44 A collocate search in COCA for allocate resources: 1 HOW 19 2 EFFICIENTLY 9 …
In the English Grammar Profile, A1 point 15 in the category of ADVERBS is defined: time adverbs in the usual end position. The EGP only lists ‘soon’ and ‘late’ as examples for this point. However, this point overlaps ‘adjuncts’ in time expressions at A1: … yesterday. … tomorrow. A2 increasing range of adverbs: … later. …
CHEAPER THAN BUYING | BETTER THAN GETTING | EASIER THAN TRYING
Yardbarker The Bears’ quarterback has been better of late, but not that much better. *’of late‘ means recently. Point 78 in ADJECTIVES/comparatives is defined as: ‘not that much’ to modify comparative adjectives to a small degree in iWeb: 1 NOT THAT MUCH BETTER 280 2 NOT THAT MUCH BIGGER 109 It’s just not that much bigger. gundogsupply.com (listen to a similar sentence) 3 NOT …
‘He’s not that much better’ (not that much + COMPARATIVE) Read More »
Let’s look at an expert example of limiting comparison: Now, these people are no more special than any of us. (listen to this sentence) ‘no more‘ = not more In Collins dictionary as an ADVERB at B1+ use no to make the negative form of a comparative. In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 74 in the category of ADJECTIVES is …
B1 past modality
English Grammar Profile
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 …
You might know how ‘the’ is used as an article. But did you know all the different phrases it is found in?
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 56 in the category of DETERMINERS and articles is defined as “the” in comparative phrases ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘worse’, ‘better’ * the more’, ‘less’, ‘worse’ * to talk about one thing that is affected by another. comparative clauses For example: The broader the sentiment across business, the more influence and power there is to make change. timesnewsgroup.com.au The more guns there are here, the more likely there is to …
THE + comparative phrases ‘The more you have, the better it is.’ Read More »
How to extend comparatives for intermediate students
B1 MODALITY: It’s hard for me to imagine.
