around – English Grammar Profiler

At A2, in the Oxford learner’s dictionary, when ‘All’ is an adverb, it can mean ‘completely’.  Also, adverbs pre-modifying prepositions are found at A2, B1 and C1 in the English Grammar Profile. We can search for ALL + prepositional phrases in iWeb corpus with: _DB _II _A _NN *not every result will be ‘all‘ as …

ALL + preposition + noun phrase Read More »

Here are student examples of ‘just’ pre-modifying a prepositional phrase. I was a shy girl and sometimes I was just like a boy. TLC, speaking test, female China B1 Some successful people are well-known just in their country. PELIC, female Arabic level 4 writing class. In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 3 in the category of PREPOSITIONS is defined: ‘JUST’ + to modify prepositions. An iWeb search for: just_R _II 1 JUST LIKE …

JUST + preposition Read More »

English Grammar Profile A2 point 32 in the category of CLAUSES is defined as: non-finite subordinate clause with ‘to’, to introduce purpose For example: I paid you a lot of money to do this job. listen *This grammar is very hard to locate in corpora if it isn’t at the front of the sentence.  It is also overlapped by other grammar points. For …

TO infinitive (purpose) Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 59 in the category of PRONOUNS/substitution is defined as: POSTMODIFYING, SPECIFYING: ‘the ones’ with a complement, to refer to something specific. the_AT ones _P 1 THE ONES WHO 62764 We are the ones who will inherit this earth. listen 2 THE ONES I 34421 3 THE ONES YOU 33077 4 THE ONES WE 15126 5 …

the ones Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 22 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: alternative questions with two phrases combined with ‘or’. If we follow the patterns in the EGP examples and search in iWeb with them: or _I _A _NN ? 1 OR IN THE FUTURE? 152 EXAMPLE: Where can we see you perform next or in the future? missguided.co.uk …

phrase + OR + phrase ? (alternative question) Read More »

Here are a few English Grammar Profile points in the category of PRONOUNS/demonstratives which are hard to locate manually in corpora: A2 point 10: ‘this’ to refer to something that is happening now. A2 point 36: ‘this’ as a pronoun with singular reference. B1 point 41: ‘this’ as a pronoun to refer back to whole …

THIS (pronoun) Read More »

A2 – too + adjective + prepositional phrase

– adjective phrases with a very limited range of adjectives + a prepositional phrase

In the English Grammar Profile, in the category of modifying ADJECTIVES, there is an overlap between the two points above. The EGP examples for range are:

… good for my body
… full of people

A search in iWeb corpus for the frequency of indefinite pronouns with the tag: _PN1 1 SOMETHING 7038440 B1  (want + object + infinitive) Are you sure you don’t want something to eat? No, thanks.  I‘m fine. listen 2 ONE 7014912 3 EVERYTHING 3661675 4 SOMEONE 3447852 5 ANYTHING 3347394 6 EVERYONE 3007402 7 NOTHING 2966176 8 ANYONE 2741077 9 NO ONE 863063 (PN121 …

indefinite pronouns: SOMEBODY SOMEONE EVERYBODY EVERYONE Read More »

The landscape can get muddy when it has been raining.

The word ‘way’ is almost always a noun, but sometimes it can be an adverb. 1 WAY (singular noun) Here are common phrases at various levels as examples: And, by the way, I was right, she‘s not married. listen Personality goes a long way. listen Colonel, I have no way to protect these people. listen I guess, in one way or another,  I‘ve been headed for this  for a couple of years, haven’t I? listen I shall be relieved when it is ended,  one way or the …

WAY Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 18 in the category of Adverbs is defined: degree adverbs in end position. For example: You bother me a lot. listen An iWeb search for: _VV * so much . 1 THANK YOU SO MUCH. 12598 2 LOVE IT SO MUCH. 1600 3 LOVE YOU SO MUCH. 752 4 LOVE THEM …

SO MUCH | A LOT (end position) Read More »

In this post, we do a search in the iWeb corpus for how ‘about’ is tagged: 1 ABOUT (II) 22037137 simple preposition * * about_II * * 1 YOU THINK ABOUT IT, 14959 If you think about it,  we‘re constantly coming out to people,  so really you should be good at it. listen 2 DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 10723 3 . ABOUT THE AUTHOR 9220 4 . ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

ABOUT Read More »