English Grammar Pro – English Grammar Profiler
We profile this prepositional construction at B1 because ‘no‘ can be used to pre-modify nouns at A2. However, it is usually found with extremely advanced phrases related to negative statements. A search in iWeb corpus for: to_II no _NN 1 TO NO AVAIL 26494 C2 unlisted in the EVP They tried to bring a case against her but to no avail. listen 2 TO …
( LITTLE | NEXT | BUT ) TO NO + noun Read More »
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 »
A search in iWeb corpus for: _VB _VVN by 1 BE USED BY 82353 C2 treat someone badly in order to get what you want I knew he wouldn’t take it well, that he‘d be angry with me, but why is he allowing himself to be used by them? A United Kingdom 2 IS CAUSED BY 64234 3 IS DETERMINED BY 56481 C1 Eighty percent of what we are and what we do is determined by our genetic expression. listen 4 BE CAUSED BY 56024 5 IS USED …
BE + past participle + BY phrase Read More »
Here are advanced examples of verbs + ‘WITH phrases‘: You hope for the best, then make do with what you get. listen A man threatens you with a gun, you break his neck, we can’t call the police, but it‘s nothing to do with me. listen DO WITH 796814 To find out which lexical verbs are most often followed by a ‘with PHRASE‘, we do a search in the iWeb corpus for: _VV with 1 WORK WITH 976989 A1 verb …
verb + WITH Read More »
C2 example: Our country owes its creation to a man they declared insane. listen An iWeb search for: _VV _APPGE _NN to_II 1 MAKE YOUR WAY TO 9604 B2 Please make your way to the nearest exits. listen 2 MAKE THEIR WAY TO 6953 3 MADE THEIR WAY TO 6103 4 CHANGED ITS NAME TO 5283 B2 possessive determiner Facebook changed its name to Meta. But does that mean you should trust it? youtube 5 MADE ITS WAY TO 5135 …
lexical verb + possessive determiner + noun + TO prepositional phrase Read More »
A search in iWeb corpus for: _I _A _NN 1 AT THE END 1115284 2 IN THE WORLD 1112517 3 AT THE TIME 941972 4 OF THE YEAR 829363 5 AS A RESULT 815540 6 OF THE WORLD 772719 7 AROUND THE WORLD 569912 8 IN THE FUTURE 551723 9 IN THE PAST 498297 10 …
preposition + article + noun Read More »
A search in iWeb corpus for: _NN of 1 PART OF 4885158 _VV part of 1 BECOME PART OF 45393 Adele has become part of the country’s psyche. listen 2 FORM PART OF 18038 When on duty, you will form part of the armed forces. listen 3 BECAME PART OF 16702 4 FORMS PART OF 13260 5 BECOMES PART OF 8361 6 CONSIDERED PART OF 7249 7 BECOMING …
noun + OF Read More »
A search in iWeb corpus for: _VV _NN _II 1 TAKE PART IN 104907 What brought you to take part in this outrage? listen 2 PAY ATTENTION TO 93080 Don’t pay attention to him. Pay attention to me. listen 3 TAKE PLACE IN 63015 Our marriage will take place in the Poconos. listen 4 TOOK PLACE IN 55684 5 TAKES PLACE IN 50638 6 TAKING PART IN 44691 7 …
lexical verb + noun + preposition Read More »
A search in iWeb corpus for Lexical verb + noun phrase + prepositional phrase _VV _AT _NN _II 1 TAKE A LOOK AT 296242 B1 Let’s take a look at the rest of the house first. listen 2 KEEP AN EYE ON 61814 B2 We will definitely keep an eye on her for you. listen 3 MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN 32648 B2 I‘d like to help my country make a difference …
lexical verb + article + noun + prepositon Read More »
A search in the iWeb corpus for: at _APPGE _NN 1 AT HIS HOME 25665 *Although this is basic grammar, it often reports the locations of crimes such as murder. For example: A man has been shot dead at his home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last night. listen 2 AT YOUR FINGERTIPS 24481 C2 What’s it like to have such power at your fingertips? listen 3 AT YOUR DISPOSAL 17599 …
AT + possessive determiner + NOUN Read More »
The following grammar pattern does not have an entry in the English Profile. It relates to questions with stranded prepositions which are generally pegged at B2. It also relates to either A1 possession or ownership = have got or A2 modality = have got to do something. The overall complexity of this pattern is at least …
What + HAVE + PRONOUN + got to be Read More »
One could argue that being able to front the following ‘indefinite’ time phrases shows evidence of a higher CEFR level. A search in iWeb corpus for: . _II _NNT2 , 1 . AT TIMES, 11672 C1 → C2 She still misses him at times, but we all do. listen Kit accused me of only being along for the ride while at times I wished he‘d fall in the river and drown, so I could watch. At times, I actually like it. listen 2 . WITHIN …
prepositon + plural time Read More »
A search in the NOW corpus for: at_II _AT1 _NN 1 AT A TIME 475982 2 AT A PRESS 98426 3 AT A COST 80801 4 AT A MEETING 65340 5 AT A NEWS 61714 6 AT A PRICE 54148 7 AT AN EVENT 49461 8 AT A CAGR 44712 9 AT A RATE 41236 …
AT + indefinite article + noun Read More »
A search in NOW corpus for: _VB _XX at _NN _TO 1 ARE NOT AT LIBERTY TO 260 2 ‘M NOT AT LIBERTY TO 220 Who‘s your client? I‘m not at liberty to say. listen 3 AM NOT AT LIBERTY TO 217 4 IS NOT AT LIBERTY TO 149 5 WAS NOT AT LIBERTY TO 118 6 ‘RE NOT …
BE + at + NOUN + to INFINITIVE Read More »
A search in iWeb corpus for: at the _NN of 1 AT THE END OF 947125 2 AT THE UNIVERSITY OF 332126 3 AT THE TIME OF 315200 4 AT THE TOP OF 304001 5 AT THE BOTTOM OF 207682 6 AT THE BEGINNING OF 193966 7 AT THE AGE OF 140280 8 AT THE …
at the + NOUN + of Read More »
We generally understand that interjections express sudden feelings and emotions such as pleasure, anger, disappointment, shock, surprise, and excitement. Formally, these words often proceed with punctuation marks, which are most often but not always exclamation points, and they are often ‘thrown’ in between sentences. However, exact definitions are not so precise once we look at …
interjections & other sentence words Read More »
A monotransitive verb requires a subject and a direct object in order to form a sentence.
B2 To cause something means to make it happen. This is often a bad thing/negative. Here are some advanced causative examples : I think the jury is entitled to know what powerful force has caused him to change his mind. listen This tidal wave of high-energy particles excites atmospheric atoms such as oxygen and nitrogen, causing them to rapidly shed photons at various energy levels. TED A search in the NOW corpus for: CAUSE _P _TO _VVI 1 CAUSED HIM TO MISS 2458 2 CAUSING HIM TO FALL 1518 3 …
CAUSE + noun phrase + TO infinitive Read More »
Here are the most common adjectives ending in -ful found in the NOW corpus: *Note, 60% of them are not included in the English Vocabulary Profile. The twelve most common adjectives that end with the suffix -ful all have positive meanings: 1 SUCCESSFUL 1589851 2 POWERFUL 1151163 3 BEAUTIFUL 1091675 4 WONDERFUL 595077 5 USEFUL …
FUL adjective suffix Read More »