There are more than 10 ways ‘far‘ is used in English grammar. We’ve also explained the superlative of ‘far‘ elsewhere. In this post, we are looking at how the phrase ‘by far‘ means ‘by a great amount‘. Remember that ‘by far‘ changes the strength of the superlative adjective that comes after it. When we use […]
The direct object normally comes after the verb. ‘You eat sushi.’ However, the direct object is fronted in WH- questions: ‘What did you eat?’ and in some relative clauses: ‘Sushi is what I ate.’ Using noun phrases as objects of the clause helps provide more information about the action or state described by the verb […]
In the EGP, there are several points in the category of PRONOUNS with the possessive pronoun ‘ours’: C1 Point 101: … in subject position B2 Point 72: … with singular and plural reference, in subject position. B2 Point 86 is the same except: … in object positions, and complement positions after ‘be’ and after prepositions. […]
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 138 in the category of MODALITY is defined as: could as the past form of ‘can’ in reported speech For example: Victim support arrived at our door and told us that we could expect to write off the next five years to grief. TED The following clusters from iWeb were searched with varying the spaces between said|told * * * could 1 SAID HE COULD 13770 1 SAID […]
In the English Grammar Profile, using the word ‘dare’ is b2-c2 and rare. The other strange thing is that some of the most common Ngrams (words found together) are C2 and less common seem to be B2 according to Cambridge research. For that reason, the complexity checking ability around this vocabulary item should be taken […]
1 UNITED (NP1) 2015534 2 UNITED (JJ) 533293 3 UNLIMITED (JJ) 287458 4 UNEXPECTED (JJ) 267952 5 UNWANTED (JJ) 155099 6 UNPRECEDENTED (JJ) 130278 7 UNAUTHORIZED (JJ) 108529 8 UNUSED (JJ) 105786 9 UNRELATED (JJ) 82860 10 UNCHANGED (JJ) 80787 11 UNPARALLELED (JJ) 71025 12 UNEMPLOYED (JJ) 66769 13 UNFINISHED (JJ) 53918 14 UNMATCHED (JJ) […]
“Ought to” is similar to “should”, in that it can be used to give advice, express expectation, desired states, obligation, or high probability. The “ought to-infinitive” construction is considered a semi-modal verb phrase because it shares characteristics with both modal verbs and main verbs. Like modal verbs, “ought to” does not change form for person. For […]
1 YEARS (NNT2) OLD (JJ) 539284 2 YEAR (NNT1) OLD (JJ) 384604 3 ATTORNEY (NN1) GENERAL (JJ) 80829 4 OPTIONS (NN2) AVAILABLE (JJ) 76190 5 MONTHS (NNT2) OLD (JJ) 54992 6 INFORMATION (NN1) AVAILABLE (JJ) 39309 7 ENERGY (NN1) EFFICIENT (JJ) 38041 8 FEET (NN2) TALL (JJ) 34023 9 MONTH (NNT1) OLD (JJ) 33878 10 […]
iWeb search for B1 1 THEIR LIVES 325158 2 THEIR WAY 262764 3 THEIR CHILDREN 216153 4 THEIR WORK 213183 5 THEIR FAMILIES 209014 6 THEIR HOME 163269 7 THEIR TIME 157752 8 THEIR BUSINESS 143531 9 THEIR PARENTS 129414 10 THEIR WEBSITE 119786 11 THEIR HANDS 116015 12 THEIR PRODUCTS 110206 13 THEIR CUSTOMERS […]
B2 English grammar means grammar which B2 students have proven they can do. Therefore, B2 grammar might be of greatest interest to B1 ESL students since they are looking to gain grammar structures they may not have noticed or used yet. The B2 grammar on this page is based mostly on the English Grammar Profile. […]
Stance adverb phrases express the speaker’s attitude towards a statement. It covers four examples: “actually” (used to emphasize truth), “unfortunately” (expresses regret or bad news), “of course” (emphasizes that something is expected or well-known), and “I’m sorry” (expresses regret or softens an unpleasant statement). actually | unfortunately | of course | I’m sorry Read More […]
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 36 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: ‘it’ as a dummy subject, to summarise or evaluate in discussions, usually in formal or academic writing. This point often overlaps C1 impersonal modal passive reporting. *This might clash with B2. A search of the formal patterns found in the […]
Point 97 in PRONOUNS is defined as: possessive ‘THEIRS’ with singular and plural reference, in object positions, and complement positions after ‘be’ and after prepositions. An iWeb search for * * * * theirs . : 1 YOUR PROBLEM , NOT THEIRS . 31 2 . THE CHOICE IS THEIRS . 27 3 BE THE […]
