while – English Grammar Profiler

At C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: If it is worth your while doing something, it is useful or enjoyable to do it. A search in the NOW corpus for: * * worth _AP while 1 MAKE IT WORTH YOUR WHILE 738 2 MAKE IT WORTH THEIR WHILE 413 Adam Smith was convinced that human beings were by their very natures lazy,  and wouldn’t do anything unless you made it worth their while,  and the way you made it worth …

worth + POSSESSIVE + while Read More »

In the English Vocabulary Profile at C1, YET from now and for a particular period of time in the future A search in the NOW corpus for: for a _JJ _NNT yet 1 FOR A LONG TIME YET 605 I‘m not gonna die for a long time yet. The Babadook 2 FOR A LITTLE WHILE YET 197 Dinner won’t be ready for a little while yet. Little Deaths 3 …

negative future + time period + YET Read More »

‘fast’ means ‘completely’ when used with the adjective ‘asleep’ This phrase is C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile. For example: Look, Charlie, she‘s fast asleep. listen A NOW corpus collocates search for ‘fast asleep’ 1 WAS 1032 2 WERE 498 3 WHEN 376 4 WHILE 181 5 BED 114 6 FELL 59 7 BABY 41 8 ROOM …

fast asleep Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile at B1, point 28 in the category of PRESENT/simple is defined: an increasing range of mental process verbs, including ‘remember’, ‘understand’, ‘believe’ A similar addition to this point is Pearson’s GSE 62 B2 speak about information acquired from others using ‘hear’ + ‘(that +)’ complement clause. I hear that John and Susie are getting married. I’ve heard that Martin ‘s lost his job. …

I remember | believe | understand | hear (that) + CLAUSE Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, point 76 in the category of CLAUSES/subordinated, at B1 is defined as: a finite subordinate clause with conjunctions (‘even though, (al)though, while if’) to introduce contrast, before or after a main clause. *Note, only ‘while if‘ is not overlapping other B1 grammar points or clashing at other levels out of …

while if | although | though Read More »

Point 16 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: ‘RIGHT’ AS AN INFORMAL TAG in informal contexts. A search in iWeb for: * * , right ? 1 I KNOW , RIGHT ? 1260 2 MAKES SENSE , RIGHT ? 866 3 PRETTY COOL , RIGHT ? 735   National Law Review New Jersey …

right? Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, there are two points that overlap.  B2 point 55 is defined as: PAST simple after ‘if’ as a politeness structure, especially in letters and emails. B2 point 72 is defined as: the past simple with a range of subordinating conjunctions, including ‘as soon as’, ‘before’, ‘if’, ‘once’, ‘since’, ‘so’, ‘until’, …

conjunction + past simple Read More »

Words like ‘once’ and ‘twice’ can be predeterminers as multipliers.  For example: “Once every two weeks”  “Twice a day” A search in the iWeb corpus for: once _AT1 _NNT 1 ONCE A WEEK 75774 We are proposing to meet at least once a week  and just to do as many collections as we can. listen 2 ONCE A MONTH 44242 3 ONCE A YEAR 43510 4 ONCE A DAY …

ONCE phrases Read More »

Here are two example of the simple subordinating conjunction ‘if’ in a sentence: If you would like to see me again, then give me a call. listen I think it would be nice if you all dropped him a line. listen The only point for A2 CONJUNCTIONS is point 8, which is defined as: a limited range of simple subordinating conjunctions ‘(if, when, so, while)’ to introduce a subordinate clause. WHILE The conjunction ‘while’ …

if | when | so | while + SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Read More »