fronting – English Grammar Profiler

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 »

Let’s analyse questions that have relative clauses to give emphasis.  So usually, we would say something like: What do we want to ask?  What are we trying to find out here? You can see the normal auxiliary verbs ‘be’ and ‘do’ get removed and relative clauses are added in the EXPERT EXAMPLES: What is it that we want

WHAT IS IT YOU WANT? (relative clause question) Read More »

On Pearson’s scale at GSE 71 B2+ describe present or future outcomes of a hypothetical situation using initial ‘only if’ with inversion of subject and object. ‘Only if’ + first/second conditional with inversion The complexity of this structure is highly unlikely to be B2 as Pearson has it listed.  The most similar EGP construction is

ONLY IF + inverted conditional Read More »

There are many types of negative adverbials with inversion, that are not in the English Grammar Profile (EGP), so they should be listed at C2.  For example: Seldom do orcs journey in the open under the sun, yet these have done so. Listen Examples of some vocabulary items in inversion can be found in the English Vocabulary Profile.  For example: LITTLE (adverb) = C1 not

negative adverbials + inversion Read More »

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.

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

Fixed expressions are phrases that have a specific meaning and are often used in spoken language. For example, “at the end of the day” or “all in all”.

When we put a fixed expression in the front position of a sentence, we create a focus on it. This means we want to emphasize or highlight the meaning of the expression.

At the end of the day (FOCUS EXPRESSIONS) Read More »

A2 point 1 and the only point in the category of FOCUS / FRONTING is defined as: ‘a prepositional phrases in the front position for focus.’
“At the time, I had a girlfriend, so I didn’t talk to her.” This is an example of putting a prepositional phrase at the start of a sentence which is what pre-intermediate students can do.

fronted prepositional phrase Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 5 in the category of FOCUS is defined as: ‘The thing, fact, point, problem, or reason + is (that)’ for focus. For example: The fact is I can’t take any more of your money unless I raise the rates on you. listen   However, we believe the structure should not be limited to just the article ‘the’.  For example: My point

The + thing | fact | point | problem | reason + is (FOCUS) Read More »