used – English Grammar Profiler
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 »
Because there is no past perfect continuous passive in the English Grammar Profile, we can say it is C2. A search in NOW corpus shows that this grammar is extremely rare. 1 HAD BEEN BEING TREATED 10 The woman had left the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, where she had been being treated. belfastlive.co.uk 2 HAD BEEN BEING ABUSED 7 3 ‘D BEEN BEING ABUSED 7 4 HAD …
past perfect continuous passive Read More »
The first point in the English Grammar Profile! A1 point 1 in the category of ADVERBS is defined: adverbs of degree and time to modify verbs. An iWeb search for: really|always|sometimes _VV 1 REALLY WANT 213278 I really want a brother. Listen to the pronunciation 2 REALLY LIKE 181415 3 REALLY NEED 161580 4 REALLY KNOW …
really | always | sometimes + VERB Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 236 in the category of MODALITY is defined: ‘as’ + pronoun + ‘used to’ to add background to a narrative, often to highlight something unusual *Note this is not the “as + adjective + as” structure. Student example in a speaking test: I don’t think that they pay enough attention towards the national customs as they used to do those days. …
‘AS’ + pronoun + ‘USED’ + to-infinitive Read More »
The following rare student writing example shows how ‘used not to‘ expresses modality: Also when I was younger, I used not to be allowed to drink coffee. PELIC Korean female level 3 grammar class. It sounds more natural to say: “I didn’t use to be allowed to drink coffee.” *In other words, she did not have permission to drink coffee. Although now she is an adult and can. In the …
used not to Read More »
Point 2 in the category of ADJECTIVES: COMBINING TWO ADJECTIVES: ‘and’ to join a limited range of common adjectives. An iWeb search for: _JJ and _JJ 1 BLACK AND WHITE 119795 2 QUICK AND EASY 85535 3 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL 42909 4 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL 42796 5 OLD AND NEW 35184 6 GOOD AND BAD …
adjective AND adjective Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile at B1: If something used to happen or a situation used to exist, it happened regularly or in the past but it does not happen or exist now. In the English Grammar Profile at B1: Point 60 in MODALITY: ‘used to’ to talk about repeated actions or states in the …
didn’t use to + INFINITVE Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 143 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘used to’ without a following verb where the previous main verb is understood. For example: They don’t make them like they used to. *In the EGP examples, the sense of this structure refers to things in the past that are no longer true. It can refer to repeated …
used to (ellipsis) Read More »