interest – English Grammar Profiler

Why say “is of interest” instead of “is interesting“? ‘is of + noun‘ is more formal and in academic writing, we use the noun form of a word more often.  More importantly, ‘of+noun’ functions as a noun in this position.  Therefore, it can often collocate correctly with modifiers.  For example:  “greatest interest” is much more …

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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, …

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Here is another example of overlapping grammar points in the English Grammar Profile. B1 Point 37 in the category of NOUNS/phrases is defined as: NOUN + ‘OF’ + POSSESSIVE PRONOUN Which overlaps the more specific B1 point 47 in the category of PRONOUNS: possessive pronoun ‘yours’ after noun + ‘of’. It would be very beneficial …

noun + OF + MINE | YOURS 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 …

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The use of the conjunction ‘plus’ is covered by two different B1 grammar points in the English Grammar Profile. Point 14 in CONJUNCTIONS/coordinating is defined as: ‘PLUS’ WITH NOUNS often in relation to numbers. The home offers four bedrooms plus a study which could be a potential fifth bedroom. bendigoadvertiser.com.au   Point 12 is: ‘plus’ to connect clauses and sentences, often to point out a positive addition or …

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