In the English Vocabulary Profile (EVP), ‘Still‘ is listed at B1 with the meaning ‘despite that‘, where ‘that’ refers back to the previous thing talked about. This is slightly different to: ‘despite‘ as a preposition, which is also listed at B1 with the meaning: without taking any notice of or being influenced by; not prevented […]
still (despite that) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 21 in the category of ADJECTIVES/combining is defined as: join a limited range of common adjectives, after ‘be’. All the examples use ‘but’ to join the adjectives.
adjective BUT adjective Read More »
Let’s look at the most common examples of non-finite or ellipted clauses used after ‘not’. Usually, we would say: I am not sure if it is possible. But we can remove the subject and verb to make an ellipted clause: Not sure if it is possible. We can also say: This is a petrol car
‘Not sure if it is.’ (NOT + non-finite or ellipted clause) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 8 in the category of prepositions is defined as a wide range of simple (single word) prepositions. *Note this first search on iWeb is not only for instances as a preposition: above|along|according|because|beside|but|despite|off| onto|regarding|towards|through|underneath|via|within 1 BUT 52015729 2 BECAUSE 13807430 3 THROUGH 12732122 4 OFF 9025030 5 WITHIN 5473926
preposition (wide range) Read More »
Wh-relatives can be preceded by a preposition unlike ‘that’ or ‘zero’ relatives. For example: This is the thing which I am interested in. (stranded preposition) This is the thing in which I am interested. (fronted preposition) This is the thing that I am interested in. (stranding) This is the thing I am interested in. (‘zero’ relative pronoun and stranding) In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 12 in the category of PREPOSITIONs is defined as: preposition + relative pronoun as complement, to
fronted preposition + relative pronoun Read More »
A subordinating conjunction connects a sentence’s main clause and a subordinate clause. The subordinate clause (also known as an adverb clause) provides additional information explaining the when, where, how, or why of the main clause. “If, when & while” are sometimes interchangeable. In the sentence “It’s hard to have a girlfriend when you don’t have a
if | when | while | so + SUBORDINATE 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 »
