rather – English Grammar Profiler

Here we look at examples of using ‘the past tense’ in a way that is not referring to past time.  In these EXPERT EXAMPLES: It’s time we started to think about the environment and a little bit less about money. Isle of Man Newspapers As an environmentalist, we would rather that didn’t happen. TED ‘the past tense’ expresses a wish that is distanced from the real situation. In reality, they are not thinking …

‘would rather’ | ‘it’s time’ + PAST TENSE CLAUSE Read More »

STUDENT EXAMPLE: The professor tries to explain the abstract concept of freedom. PELIC Arabic male level 5 writing class The plural form is more common in iWeb corpus: 1 ABSTRACT CONCEPTS 2856 2 ABSTRACT CONCEPT 1883 further collocates in iWeb: 1 CONCEPTS 2978 2 AN 1170 3 SUCH 302 4 UNDERSTAND 183 5 CONCRETE 149 6 RATHER 102 7 UNDERSTANDING 101 8 ABILITY 74 …

abstract concepts 2856 Read More »

Here are 10 ways ‘far’ is used ranked by order of frequency: 1. A2 general adverb *Numbers on the right are the frequency in iWeb corpus: (RR) 1578722 ‘far‘ means ‘at, to or from a great distance in space or time‘  For example: Is it far away? I don’t live far from here. Thailand is not far from Vietnam. 2. B1 phrase ‘so far‘ means ‘until now‘ So far …

10 ways ‘FAR’ is used in English grammar. Read More »

1 RATHER THAN (II21 II22) 956100 = most commonly found as a complex prepositional phrase.  This grammar point is already covered here. 2 RATHER (RG) 529786 = ‘Rather’ as a degree adverb usually modifies an adjective. 1 BUT (CCB) RATHER (RG_RR@) A (AT1) 22044 2 A (AT1) RATHER (RG) LARGE (JJ) 7161 3 BUT (CCB) RATHER …

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Let’s look at how ‘rather than‘ is used to compare.  In the English Vocabulary Profile, at B1 the meaning is:  ‘instead of ‘ rather than examples: I‘d like coffee rather than tea. I usually wear a swimsuit rather than shorts. In the above examples: coffee, tea, a swimsuit, shorts are nouns or noun phrases, so ‘rather than‘ or ‘instead of‘ are complex prepositions. Here’s …

RATHER THAN + non-finite clause | phrase Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 57 in the category of ADVERBs is defined as: degree adverbs to modify noun phrases. ‘Quite, rather and almost’ are found in the given example sentences, so we have examined them in the iWeb corpus: 1 QUITE A BIT 60525 ‘quite a bit’ is listed at B1 in …

quite | almost | rather + NOUN PHRASE Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 61 in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined as: adjective phrases with ‘rather a’ + adjective, often in formal contexts A search in iWeb for rather a _JJ 1 RATHER A LONG 392 Further collocates 4 to the left and right: 1 TIME (NNT1 ) 187 2 WAY …

rather a + adjective Read More »

Here’s an example of hedging an assertion: I’m almost certain that it was him. Listen   You seem pretty sure of yourself. Listen C1 point 210 in MODALITY on the English Grammar Profile is based on: MODIFYING an ADJECTIVE for HEDGING with a degree adverb. We are offered only two examples: ‘quite probable’ and ‘almost certain.’  Since this is in the category of …

degree adverbs modifying adjectives ‘almost certain’ Read More »