VVG

_VV stands for lexical verbs.

_VVG is the CLAWS 7 tag for ING forms.

This could include the non-finite verb form, gerunds, continuous form of verbs, some adjectives.

For example eating_VVG

*Tagging is never perfect.

suppose | supposing CONDITIONAL

C1, CLAUSES, conditional, imagine, imperatives, introduce

‘Suppose‘ can mean let’s imagine or consider the following situation or example.  For example: Suppose they rejected an 18th-century classification system  and incorporated instead the most advanced knowledge  of human genetic diversity and unity,  that human beings cannot be categorized  into biological races. TED It’s almost as if this imperative subordinates the whole sentence.  And we are waiting for the following result clause or sentence.  ‘that‘ can be used or not used. Suppose that the variants reach a hypothetical isolated city of 1 million people  who are completely susceptible to both viruses on the same day. TED Supposing, for example,  […]

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OPEN TO ( adjective + prepositional phrase )

ADJECTIVES, B1, gerund, PREPOSITIONS

We are interested in finding the most common noun phrases after ‘open to‘ that complete more abstract ideas such as willingness to consider something or something is likely to happen. In the English Vocabulary Profile: open to discussion/suggestions, etc. = C1 willing to consider a discussion/suggestions, etc. open to abuse/criticism, etc. = C2 likely to

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preposition + article + noun

article, NOUNS, phrases, PREPOSITIONS

In this post, we are looking at more advanced uses of the ‘preposition + article + noun phrase‘ structure.  For example: I just came on the spur of the moment. listen I was just in the mood for a little conversation. Even Money   My life has been extraordinarily blessed  with marriage and children and certainly interesting work to do,  whether it be at the University of Sydney Law School,  where I served a term as dean,  or now as I sit on the United Nations Committee  on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,  in Geneva. TED Someone‘s in a mood. listen Your mother will be over the

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ALL ABOUT + noun phrase

B1, DETERMINERS, gerund, PREPOSITIONS, purpose

“ALL ABOUT” is used to describe the purpose or an aspect of something. (OXFORD B1)
For example ‘Some days, we forgot all about getting to Italy.’ ‘It’s all about the money.’
2 ALL ABOUT MAKING 4081
3 ALL ABOUT WINNING 1859
4 ALL ABOUT GIVING 1851
5 ALL ABOUT CREATING 1801
6 ALL ABOUT FINDING 1480
7 ALL ABOUT TAKING 1397
8 ALL ABOUT TRYING 1340
9 ALL ABOUT PUTTING 1279
10 ALL ABOUT KEEPING 1279

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IMAGINE + gerund

B2, gerund, non-finite, VERBS

This post relates to a B2 range of gerunds. A search in iWeb for imagin* _VVG 1 IMAGINE GOING 3285 2 IMAGINE TRYING 3183 3 IMAGINE LIVING 2565 4 IMAGINE GETTING 2190 5 IMAGINE USING 1728 6 IMAGINE TAKING 1476 7 IMAGINE WALKING 1368 8 IMAGINE WORKING 1117 9 IMAGINE SEEING 1033 10 IMAGINE SITTING

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ing forms

continuous, gerund, non-finite

On this website, ing forms are best located in our posts by searching for the tag: VVG A search in the iWeb corpus for _VVG gives the most common ing forms as follows: 1 USING 9077632 2 GOING 8570578 3 MAKING 4986719 4 LOOKING 4903064 5 WORKING 4440144 6 GETTING 4427697 7 TAKING 3186185 8

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BE + banned from + VERB-ing

B2, gerund, PASSIVES, PREPOSITIONS

In this post, we explore the passive + prepositional phrase with gerund complement: ‘Be banned from doing‘ For example: I was banned from seeing her. listen You‘re banned from busking. listen In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘ban’ is listed at B2: VERB [T usually passive] (-nn-) to forbid something, especially officially NOUN [C] an official order that prevents something from happening An iWeb

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can’t bear + to-infinitive

B2, gerund, infinitive, MODALITY, NEGATIVE, pattern, VERBS

In the English Vocabulary Profile at B2, ‘bear’ is defined: accept someone or something unpleasant For example: I can’t bear to see him like this. listen *There are other uses of ‘bear’ that are more advanced.  However, the sense defined above has a distinct grammar pattern: (CAN | COULD) (often negative) + bear + (to-infinitive | Verb-ing | noun phrase) Verb-ing

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ENJOY + verb-ING

A2, gerund, pattern, VERBS

The phrase “enjoy + ing” is used to describe an activity that someone finds pleasurable. In the sentence “Panda enjoyed reading, building, and solving puzzles,” the word “enjoyed” is in the past tense and is used to describe an action that has already happened. The words “reading,” “building,” and “solving puzzles” are all in the

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reduced adjective clause

ADJECTIVES, CLAUSES, defining, participle, PRESENT, reduced, relative

B1+ Reduced Adjective Clauses
We reduce sentences when you have the same subject in the main clause and the adjective clause.
Adjective clauses contain relative pronouns like who, which, or that. The reduced adjective clause
becomes an adjective phrase, which does not have a subject. An adjective phrase does not have a
subject and a verb. Instead, it has a present participle (base verb + ing) for the active voice or a past
participle for the passive voice.
(Mt. SAC Writing Center)

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NOT ONLY + present perfect continuous (inversion) + BUT

ADVERBS, C2, continuous, FOCUS, inversion, PAST, perfect, PRESENT

Adverb expressions such as ‘not only’, ‘not just’, and ‘not simply’ emphasize that something is true, but it is not the whole truth.  These co-ordinate clauses. In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 92 in the category of PAST is defined: present perfect continuous, invert the subject and affirmative auxiliary verb with ‘not only … but’

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I am asking | wanting (polite)

C2, continuous, polite, PRESENT, request

C2 English Grammar Profile point 38 in the category of PRESENT/continuous is defined as: POLITENESS: with verbs that are not usually used in this form to make statements and requests sound less direct. EXAMPLES: I am asking us to use our power to choose. I am asking us to level up. TED We are asking businesses not to produce and consumers not to go out and consume. TED An iWeb search for I|We am|are asking|wanting *

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