wait – English Grammar Profiler
In the English Vocabulary Profile, wait until= NOT DO SOMETHING C1 to not do something until something else happens For example: Wait till you see what we‘ve done with the Internet. listen We want to know which other verbs carry a similar meaning of not doing something. He will be held until Vargas agrees to free the sympathizers he has jailed. listen The Persians will not stop until the only shelter we will find is rubble and chaos. listen I submit that we engage and delay until reinforcements arrive. listen You stay until the job‘s done. listen A search in iWeb corpus for: …
lexical verb + UNTIL|TILL Read More »
The form ‘will just have to‘ is listed at C1 in the English Vocabulary Profile. A search in iWeb: 1 WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT 1279 2 WILL JUST HAVE TO GET 252 3 WILL JUST HAVE TO SEE 246 4 WILL JUST HAVE TO KEEP 223 5 WILL JUST HAVE TO MAKE 199 6 …
will just have to Read More »
‘Willingness‘ = being prepared to do something (readiness). In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 105 in the category of MODALITY is defined: negative forms of ‘would’ to talk about willingness in the past. For example: Dad wanted him buried in the family plot in St Louis, but Pete wouldn’t allow it. Philomena Helen, come on! She wouldn’t wait for you. Edward Scissorhands The EGP examples include the bare infinitives ‘wait’ and ‘allow’. This is incredibly …
WOULDN’T (past willingness) Read More »
Here’s a very advanced hypothetical conditional example of using a negative modal verb phrase in a question: If worms were evading the vibrations, wouldn’t they burrow deeper instead? listen Here are simpler examples of negative modal questions: Now who wouldn’t want that? listen Won’t you join me? listen Shouldn’t we save everything we can on the lifeboats? listen Question tags are also B1: Your life would be pretty different, wouldn’t it? listen Here are B2 examples: Wouldn’t that be cool? listen Why, if we knew this was going to happen every year, why couldn’t we just do something to make sure that we were safer? …
NEGATIVE QUESTIONS with MODAL VERBS Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, A1 point 5 in CLAUSES/co-ordinated is defined as:
omit the subject in a second main declarative clause when the subject is obvious or the same as the first clause.
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 85 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: (SUBJECT) ELLIPSIS: leave out the subject pronoun with a limited range of verbs, in informal contexts. *this will clash with imperatives and iWeb searches time out too much, so here we search for modals, past participles and 3rd person verbs. …
subject pronoun (ellipsis) Read More »
Modality is the grammatical expression of the speaker’s attitude or opinion about the possibility, necessity, or certainty of an action or state. Can’t is a modal verb that shows the negation of the verb can. It means that the subject is unable to do something, such as perform an action or demonstrate an ability. It can also be used to express deduction, which is a logical inference based on evidence or reasoning. For example:
She can’t swim. (ability)
He can’t be at home. It’s too early. (deduction)