understand

WORD (phrases)

In the English Vocabulary Profile at B1: not believe/understand/hear/say, etc. a word = anything A search in iWeb corpus for: _XX _VV a word 1 N’T SAY A WORD 1726 Don’t say a word against my father. listen 2 NOT SAY A WORD 756 3 N’T UNDERSTAND A WORD 608 It was brilliant, even though I didn’t understand a word of it. listen 4 N’T BELIEVE A

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NOT + adverb

When “not” is used before an adverb, it typically forms a negative construction that modifies the action or verb it is associated with. This construction is used to indicate the absence or negation of the quality or manner expressed by the adverb. Next, we want to know the most common adverbs in this position, so

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abstract concepts

STUDENT EXAMPLE: The professor tries to explain the abstract concept of freedom. PELIC Arabic male level 5 writing class The plural form is more common in iWeb corpus: 1 ABSTRACT CONCEPTS 2856 2 ABSTRACT CONCEPT 1883 further collocates in iWeb: 1 CONCEPTS 2978 2 AN 1170 3 SUCH 302 4 UNDERSTAND 183 5 CONCRETE 149 6 RATHER 102 7 UNDERSTANDING 101 8 ABILITY 74

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I remember | believe | understand | hear (that) + CLAUSE

In the English Grammar Profile at B1, point 28 in the category of PRESENT/simple is defined: an increasing range of mental process verbs, including ‘remember’, ‘understand’, ‘believe’ A similar addition to this point is Pearson’s GSE 62 B2 speak about information acquired from others using ‘hear’ + ‘(that +)’ complement clause. I hear that John and Susie are getting married. I’ve heard that Martin ‘s lost his job.

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NEGATIVE QUESTIONS with MODAL VERBS

Here’s a very advanced hypothetical conditional example of using a negative modal verb phrase in a question: If worms were evading the vibrations,  wouldn’t they burrow deeper instead? listen Here are simpler examples of negative modal questions: Now who wouldn’t want that? listen Won’t you join me? listen Shouldn’t we save everything we can on the lifeboats? listen Question tags are also B1: Your life would be pretty different, wouldn’t it? listen Here are B2 examples: Wouldn’t that be cool? listen Why, if we knew this was going to happen every year,  why couldn’t we just do something to make sure that we were safer?

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understand | realise + that CLAUSE

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 Point 42 in the category of VERBS/patterns is defined as: an increasing range of verbs, typically reporting or mental process verbs, with a ‘that’-clause as the direct object PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: I started to understand that there are many types of movies, and I started to distinguish between them. Arabic, Male, Level 4, Writing Class. *Note that this partly overlaps ’28

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Don’t you think ? | Haven’t you heard ?

These constructions allow for the formation of negative questions by adding the negative contractions (“don’t” or “doesn’t” for “do,” and “haven’t” or “hasn’t” for “have”) before the subject and the base form or past participle of the main verb. This structure is particularly useful for seeking confirmation or clarification when expressing negation.

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