we

English lexical bundles and their most frequent equivalent forms in French

Complexity Checker, research

In this post, we put common lexical bundles that French EFL students use in their writing, through our GRAMMAR PROFILER.  Magali Paquot wrote a paper about Lexical bundles.  Here are the significant forms found in the ICLE – FR: Here are our expert examples: You‘ll be tempted to tear it off. listen They may never be considered as such by religion, but they are just as important as the ones in your textbooks. listen Kaleb‘s art can be viewed as deeply rooted in the pop minimalism of Aureur or Baer. […]

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so are we | so do you | so has he (same thing is true)

agreement, B1, phrases, response token, true

The expression ‘so did we/so have I/so is mine, etc.’ is used to show agreement with someone else’s statement or situation. It is formed by using so plus the same auxiliary verb as the previous sentence, and then inverting the subject and the auxiliary verb. For example:

He likes pizza. So do I. (I also like pizza)
She has been to Paris. So have I. (I have also been to Paris)
His car is red. So is mine. (My car is also red)

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Can you | we ? (QUESTION)

A1, active, affirmative, MODALITY, QUESTIONS, request

The page discusses the use of ‘can’ in forming questions at the A1 level of English proficiency. It highlights that ‘can’ is often used with the pronouns ‘you’ and ‘we’. The page provides examples of questions formed with ‘can’, such as “Can you help?” or “Can we talk?”. These questions can be extended for specific contexts, like “Can you help me with my homework tonight?” or “Can we talk about our plans for the upcoming vacation?”. The page serves as a guide to using ‘can’ in forming various types of questions.

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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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‘What you see is what you get.’ (CLEFT CLAUSE)

C1, CLAUSES, cleft, emphasis, FOCUS, fronting, GSE, relative

The English Grammar Profile C1 point 10 in the category of FOCUS is defined as: ‘What’ + noun or pronoun + verb phrase as subject + ‘be’, for focus. Note that Pearson lists this point: GSE 59 B2 clauses with ‘What …’ to emphasise the topic or main point. For example: What we need now is a good night’s sleep. What I said was that I don’t need your help.

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the best + PRONOUN + can | could

ADVERBS, C1, CLAUSES, ellipsis, PRONOUNS, superlative

Here are 2 examples of post-modifying a superlative adverb phrase with a clause containing an ellipted modal verb: I do the best I can with what I have. I go about my business, make money, help society the best I can and try to promote free trade in this world. listen   You know, I did the best I could with what I had. listen C1 English Grammar Profile point 118 in the category of CLAUSES is defined as: ‘the best’ as a superlative adverb + pronoun + ellipted ‘can’ or ‘could’.

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BE + not

A1, A2, auxiliary, B1, be, C2, NEGATIVE, VERBS

Here is a comprehensive analysis of the most common “BE + NOT” forms in English, essential for expressing negation. The forms are listed in order of their frequency in the iWeb corpus. The top three forms are “is not”, “are not”, and “isn’t”, used in various contexts to deny or contradict assertions, form negative statements, and express doubt or uncertainty. Other forms like “’s not”, “was not”, “wasn’t”, “I’m not”, “aren’t”, and “were not” are also discussed with examples illustrating their usage.

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