effort – English Grammar Profiler

A search in the NOW corpus for TAKE * _NN1 _TO _VVI 1 TOOK TO TWITTER TO SHARE 5632 UNLISTED  And fans were angry  and they took to Twitter  with the hashtag #WeWantLeia. TED 2 TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK 5134 B2 We want to take this opportunity to thank you for coming  and taking the time to pay your respects. listen 3 TOOK TO TWITTER TO EXPRESS 3331 4 TAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ENSURE 2530 5 TAKES A VILLAGE TO …

TAKE * noun TO infinitive Read More »

Here are more advanced examples of premodified superlative phrases: It‘s the next best thing to having you beside me. listen It was the second-largest gold rush in American history. Rat Race Note, the phrase “the second largest” is a compound modifier, where “second” modifies “largest”. It usually takes a hyphen before its noun. US customs officials report that  tomato smuggling is at its highest level  since the Great Tomato War. listen its = B2 possessive determiner   In the English Grammar Profile, …

pre-modified superlative phrase Read More »

The English Grammar Profile (EGP) claims that there are over 1000 grammar points in its inventory.  However, there are numerous points that are overlapping.  This post shows 3 posts that overlap and clash at other levels. B1  point 34 in the category of NOUNS is defined as: uncountable nouns with an increasing range of determiners/quantity …

quantity phrase + uncountable noun Read More »

We use too before an adjective or adverb to mean ‘more than we need or want’. For example:

This shirt is too big for me. You are driving too fast.

We use too much or too many before a noun to mean ‘more than we need or want’. For example:

There is too much sugar in this cake. (uncountable noun) There are too many people in this room. (countable noun)

I have so much work to do. (uncountable noun)
She has so many friends. (countable noun)

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 40 in the category of DETERMINERS/quantity is defined as: ‘much’ with uncountable nouns in interrogative contexts. A search in iWeb corpus for: much _NN1 ? 1 MUCH MONEY ? 942 2 MUCH FUN ? 462 3 MUCH WATER ? 400 4 MUCH DIFFERENCE ? 352 5 MUCH POWER ? 289 …

MUCH + uncountable noun (question) Read More »

B2 English Grammar point 59 in the category of DETERMINERS and quantity is defined as: modifier + ‘little’ + uncountable nouns and modifier + ‘few’ + countable nouns, to indicate a lack of something or not as much as expected of something. We also have an earlier post for ‘very few + noun.’ _RG\w* (little|few)  …

little | few + NOUN Read More »