II

superlative + prepositional phrase ‘the most natural thing in the world’

ADJECTIVES, B1, NOUNS, phrases, PREPOSITIONS

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 37 in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined as: an increasing range of complex noun phrases with a superlative adjective + prepositional phrase, to talk about something unique. *In both EGP examples the prepositional phrase that follows is either: of_IO my_APPGE life_NN1 in_II our_APPGE lives_NN2 A search in COCA for:

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STRANDED PREPOSITION

B1, B2, CLAUSES, complements, informal, PREPOSITIONS, relative, REPORTED SPEECH, stranding, VERBS

Here are examples of reported speech with relative clauses ending with stranded prepositions: He told me the company he works for.  She requested that I give him all the information he asks for.  He exclaimed that this is the best festival he has been to. This type of construction is considered informal and is often discouraged in formal writing. However, it is commonly used in spoken English and in informal writing. Profiling Research This post is about two points in the English Grammar

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ALONG

ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS

‘Along’ is a preposition or an adverb.  In the iWeb corpus the tagging by part of speech: 1 ALONG WITH (II21) 1742449 (two-part complex prepositional phrase) Within the next forty-eight hours,  you, along with the rest of the Wizarding World,  will choose our next great leader. listen 2 ALONG (II) 812587 4 ALONG (RP) 476307 6 ALONG (RR) 11996  

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indefinite pronouns: SOMEBODY SOMEONE EVERYBODY EVERYONE

A2, complements, indefinite, object, PREPOSITIONS, PRONOUNS, subject

Here are the search results in iWeb corpus for the frequency of indefinite pronouns with the tag: _PN1 1 SOMETHING 7038440 B1  (want + object + infinitive) Are you sure you don’t want something to eat? No, thanks.  I‘m fine. listen 2 ONE 7014912 3 EVERYTHING 3661675 4 SOMEONE 3447852 5 ANYTHING 3347394 6 EVERYONE 3007402 7 NOTHING 2966176 8 ANYONE 2741077 9 NO

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degree adverb modifying preposition

ADVERBS, B1, degree, modify, PREPOSITIONS

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 9 in PREPOSITIONS is defined as: adverbs of degree to modify prepositions and prepositional phrases. (have to check each match that it’s actually modifying the preposition and not something else) A check on google for Adverbs of degree: Common adverbs of degree: Almost, nearly, quite, just, too, enough, hardly, scarcely, completely,

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HERS (object)

B2, object, possessive, PRONOUNS, singular

Point 96 in PRONOUNS is defined as: possessive pronoun ‘hers’, with singular reference, in object positions, and complement positions after ‘be’ and after prepositions. In iWeb: * * _vb hers 1 THE CHOICE IS HERS 28   BabyGaga What To Do If Someone Announced Your Pregnancy Before You Were Ready The choice is hers to

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preposition + plural reflexive

B2, plural, PRONOUNS, reflexive

Plural reflexive pronouns are used when the subject of the sentence is plural. For example, in the sentence “The children played by themselves,” the plural reflexive pronoun “themselves” refers back to the subject “children.”
Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word in the sentence. For example, in the sentence “The children played by themselves,” the preposition “by” shows the relationship between the noun “children” and the pronoun “themselves.”

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by itself

B2, PRONOUNS, reflexive

Point 77 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: the reflexive pronoun ‘itself’ with ‘by’ to mean alone or without any help. collocates 4 spaces either side of ‘by itself’ in iWeb include: 1 ENOUGH 1922 2 CLASS 1155 3 SUFFICIENT 780 4 STAND 558 1416 5 MULTIPLIED 455 6 STANDS 366 7 MULTIPLY

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yourselves

B2, PRONOUNS, reflexive

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 75 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: the plural reflexive pronoun ‘yourselves’ for politeness. The three examples in the EGP include a preposition before ‘yourselves’.  And reflexive pronouns after a preposition are generally B2 already under other criteria. A search in NOW corpus for: * *

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fronted preposition + relative pronoun

B2, CLAUSES, complements, formal, PREPOSITIONS, PRONOUNS, relative, stranding

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

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BELOW

ADVERBS, C1, PREPOSITIONS

A search in iWeb for how ‘below’ is tagged, reveals that the most common usage is: 1 BELOW (RL) 2387501 locative adverb = This is often C1 grammar related to locating elements in discourse.  (in printed text) mentioned further down on the same page, or further on in the text. 1 (SEE BELOW). 24319 You will be an employee and receive full benefits (see

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PAST

ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, NOUNS, PREPOSITIONS

1 PAST (JJ) 606963 The most common collocates of ‘past’ as an adjective:  year, month, decade You have suffered terribly this past year, but you came to understand your anxiety, and that it was never to be acted upon. Gone 2 PAST (NN1) 490293 (noun) In the past, they‘ve always let me choose my own nurses. Catch Me If You Can  3 PAST (II) 309069 4 PAST (RL) 55074 5 PAST (RT) 16486

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