(PELIC) refers to The University of Pittsburgh English Language Institute Corpus.
If a post refers to any language from this corpus, we tag it PELIC.
There are many points at A2 that are related to adverbs and overlap. Sadly there is some clash of information between the levels of A1 and A2 though. Point 7 in the category of PRESENT is defined as: present simple WITH ADVERBS OF INDEFINITE FREQUENCY In the example sentences, we find ‘usually’ and ‘always’ used. …
usually | often | never | weekly + (present simple) Read More »
B1 FOCUS
‘IT’ + ‘BE’ ADJECTIVE + ‘THAT’ CLAUSE for focus.
English Grammar Profile
Here’s a student example of using a verb-ing form as a noun subject: Studying for an exam won’t be hard for you if you follow these steps. PELIC: Chinese male level 3 writing class. Here’s an example in educational materials of the news: Closing the gas pipeline is one action Western nations have taken against Russia. BreakingNewsEnglish Here’s an example of verb-ing after ‘to’: The find goes a long way to solving the mystery of why the Stonehenge bluestones were brought from so far away when all other stone circles were erected within a short distance of their quarries. thebritishacademy.ac.uk In the English Grammar Profile, point 22 in NOUNS …
When a noun is generic or nonspecific countable and plural OR uncountable, we do not use an article. There are many points that relate to ‘NO ARTICLE’ in the English Grammar Profile. Although there are overlapping examples across some of the levels, the main difference in regard to marking complexity relies on the level of …
Here’s a student example of an adjective followed by a ‘that’ clause. However, I am sure that the most useful English for you is American English. PELIC Korean male level 4 writing In the English Grammar Profile (EGP), there are many points that are hard to differentiate and some have conflicting information. EGP point 22 MODALITY/adjectives at A2: BE’ + ‘SURE‘ + CLAUSE …
Here are two student examples of using semi-modal ‘have to’ to express whether something is required or necessary. Another thing is you have to make sure that you have included signal words to help the reader. PELIC Arabic female level 3 writing class. I mean if someone wears something, you don’t have to wear that because she or he wears it. TLC male Spain B1 speaking test. *Note, the reduced clause ‘you don’t have to‘ is the 9th most …
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 103 in modality is defined as: ‘could’ to talk about possibility. PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: My father told us if you recovered soon, then he could either buy gifts for us that we like or he could take all family members to see the music show that we really want to attend. Chinese, Female, Level 4, writing class This grammar usage requires manual interpretation and is therefore hard to differentiate it from uses that range from c2-a2. However, …
Here are some student writing examples of present continuous highlighted with details: I am typing English words right now. PELIC Chinese female level 2 writing class However, we also can interpret from the graph that we aren’t preparing for it yet. PELIC Korean female level 3 writing class I am always falling over one of his toy cars or trucks. PELIC Arabic male level 3 writing class There are at least 30 points to do with the present …
Collins lists the ‘about to‘ structure under adjectives, pointing out that there is no future tense in English. There are many ways we refer to the future in English. The structure means ‘very soon‘. There are 3 almost identical B2 points in the category of FUTURE in the English Grammar Profile that could all be …
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 Point 4 in the category of FOCUS is defined as ‘The reason (that)’, ‘The place (which)’ + clause as subject + ‘be’ for focus. Expert examples: The reason you‘re alive today is because of those changes in our brains that took place in Africa. TED But the reason that a lot of his fans are in the stands is because of another video. listen Student in speaking …
Upper-Intermediate students can post modify ADJECTIVEs with to-infinitive
Let’s look at an example of ‘should be ing‘ in student writing: In Korea, it is so common that women should be looking for a job after divorce. PELIC Korean female level 4 writing. ‘Should’ can express obligation or expectation. ‘Should’ can be used with a continuous form: Should be + lookING In the English Grammar Profile at B2, there are 3 points covering ‘should + continuous form’. Points …
SHOULD BE + verb ING ‘She should be looking for a job’ Read More »
Let’s look at two examples to explain this grammar. The first is from a student writing example using past continuous with an adverb that shows he didn’t control the situation with his friend and the second one is from an expert speaker using passives: For example, he was always playing soccer when I played baseball. PELIC Korean male level 4 grammar class. They were …
B1: NOTHING WRONG
It is very hard to distinguish between levels for some items because it is not clear on the EGP too.
