to

little to

ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, DETERMINERS, infinitive, PREPOSITIONS

How is ‘little to‘ tagged in iWeb corpus? 1 LITTLE (DA1) TO (TO) 35055 determiner + infinitive Julie, if you just simmer down, you will see what has happened here has little to do with our relationship. NSFW example 6 LITTLE (JJ) TO (II) 6944 7 LITTLE (RR22) TO (II) 6395 adverbial phrase modifying prepositional phrase A little to the left, a little to the right, somebody could have gotten hurt. listen 19 LITTLE (JJ) TO (TO) 1272 23 LITTLE (RR) […]

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begin

VERBS

In the English Vocabulary Profile: begin verb START TO HAPPEN A1 begin verb START TO DO A2 begin with sth B1 to begin with B1: at the start of a situation to begin with B2: the first important reason for something A2: Look, son, I can’t even begin to tell you how proud of you I‘ve been these past weeks. listen   B1: Let’s begin with where you were born. listen   B2 grammar:

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‘AS’ + pronoun + ‘USED’ + to-infinitive

background, C2, highlight, MODALITY, narrative, PRONOUNS

In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 236 in the category of MODALITY is defined: ‘as’ + pronoun + ‘used to’ to add background to a narrative, often to highlight something unusual *Note this is not the “as + adjective + as” structure. Student example in a speaking test: I don’t think that they pay enough attention towards the national customs as they used to do those days.

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used not to

C2, MODALITY, NEGATIVE

The following rare student writing example shows how ‘used not to‘ expresses modality: Also when I was younger, I used not to be allowed to drink coffee. PELIC Korean female level 3 grammar class. It sounds more natural to say: “I didn’t use to be allowed to drink coffee.” *In other words, she did not have permission to drink coffee.  Although now she is an adult and can. In the

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TO BE + adjective

ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, infinitive

Here are the top 100 examples of how ‘TO BE adjective” are used in English. These come from a search in iWeb corpus for * TO BE _JJ 1 NEED TO BE AWARE OF 16993 We need to be aware of the data and information that we’re giving. Listen to this sentence. 2 . TO BE HONEST, 14943 To be honest, I don’t know if race relations will improve in America. listen

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defining relative clause TO infinitive

B1, CLAUSES, defining, GSE, infinitive, relative

Here’s an expert example of a defining relative clause using TO-infinitive: Several years earlier, she‘d become the first woman to ski to the South Pole. Listen to the sentence. The first woman to ski can be written in another way with the same meaning: the first woman who skied  Pearson’s GSE 56 B1+ is defined:  construct defining (restrictive) relative clauses with ‘to’ + infinitive verb

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phrase ellipsis

B1, CLAUSES, CONJUNCTIONS, ellipsis, GSE, phrases

Here’s a student example of verb phrase ellipsis: You need to study hard to pass the test unless you don’t want to. PELIC Arabic female level 4 grammar class Although there are a number of grammar points in the English Grammar Profile to do with Ellipsis, there are none that cover the ellipsis of phrases before or after the ‘TO’ infinitive.  Therefore, we turn to Pearson’s GSE

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‘SO’ (end of the sentence)

A2, ADVERBS, B1, GSE, position, substitution, tags

I don’t quite trust the CEFR level Pearson gives to the following grammar construct. GSE 58 B1+ is defined: ‘so’ in sentence-final positions as a placeholder (substitute) for verbs and verb phrases. It was too expensive. – I told you so. John is from Seattle. – I thought so.   ‘So’ has many possible meanings and uses near the end of sentences.  When we look at the English

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MORE * THAN (complex comparisions)

B2, CLAUSES, comparatives, complex, GSE, non-finite

A simple comparison in English is “She is more important than you.” One way to make comparisons more complex is to increase the number of words between ‘more’ and ‘than.’  This could include nouns or adjectives followed by non-finite clauses such as in the following EXPERT EXAMPLES: Today, billions of citizens have  more tools, more access to information, more capacity to influence  than ever before. TED It‘s harder to compose than to play. TLC native

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would rather | it’s time + CLAUSE

B2, CLAUSES, cleft, FOCUS, GSE, intention, MODALITY, PAST, preferences, wish

At B1, in the English Vocabulary Profile, IT + BE + time + TO infinitive clause = something should happen: Is it time to go home yet? listen It was time to get back to work. listen Similarly, at C1, ‘time‘ can be premodified: I think  it’s about time to make a deal. listen I think  it is high time for me to get out of my house  while I‘m still alive. Insidious: Chapter 3   At

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passive + TO infinitve (belief or opinion)

B2, belief, GSE, infinitive, opinion, PASSIVES

Point 73 GSE B2+ is defined: express impersonal belief and opinion using ‘thought/considered/believed/etc.’ +’ to’ + VP infSTUDENT STUDENT EXAMPLES: Moreover, English is considered to be an international language. PELIC Thai male level 5 writing class.   In addition, he is believed to be the first teacher, because the first education system in ancient China was established by Confucius. PELIC Chinese male level 5 grammar class. EXPERT EXAMPLE: After all, the first intentional human burial is thought to have occurred around 100,000 years ago.

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