The phrase “in order not to” is used to express the purpose or intention of avoiding something. It is followed by an infinitive verb. For example: I left early in order not to miss the train. She studied hard in order not to fail the exam. In order not to INFINITIVE Read More » “If […]
‘set to’ just means: be ready or prepared to do something. C1 English Grammar Profile point 209 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘BE SET TO’ – strong assertion about the future, especially in institutional contexts An iWeb search for: _VB set to _VVI 1 IS SET TO TAKE 4027 2 IS SET TO BEGIN 3858 3 IS SET TO OPEN […]
‘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 […]
In English, we often put where or when something happens before the subject of the clause. We can focus the reader or listener on a prepositional phrase. Here is a long example of fronting with two prepositional phrases: And for the first time in my life, I felt something good. Listen to the sentence. Notice the comma between the prepositional phrase and the clause: , […]
FOUND MYSELF THINKING | FIND THEMSELVES FACING | SEE HIMSELF PLAYING | KEEP ITSELF WAITING | DEFENDED HIMSELF SAYING lexical verb + reflexive pronoun + verbING Read More » B1: NO PROBLEM GETTING | NO EVIDENCE LINKING | NO TROUBLE FINDING | NO POINT TRYING NO + noun + verbING Read More » This post […]
If we know what the following infinitive will be after the modal verb ‘should’ or its negative form ‘shouldn’t’, then it doesn’t need to be repeated. *Click here for the interactive word tree of this grammar point. A search on iWeb for the cluster: * * * * should . B1 vocabulary: familiar, seriously, B2: […]
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 42 in the category of NOUNS is defined as: complex noun phrases with noun phrase + ‘of’ + noun phrase + possessive determiner ‘s + noun phrase. PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: Our chairs are on the opposite side of the doctor’s chair, in front of the desk. Chinese female, Level 3 Writing Class. An iWeb search for: _NN of _NN _GE _NN 1 […]
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 10 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: ‘wh-‘questions using a reporting verb + ‘wh-‘word + clause, with a change of pronoun and tense shift where relevant Expert examples: I once asked a really bright student what he hoped to learn from me. TED When asked what the biggest challenge was in making the film, William Joyce says, not giving up. listen PELIC student example: Every time, someone asked me what my major was, they always […]
The “-ise” suffix is a common spelling variant of the verb-forming suffix “-ize.” It is primarily used in British English, while in American English, the corresponding spelling is “-ize.” The suffix “-ise” (or “-ize”) is added to the end of a noun or adjective to create a verb form. For example, real ⇒ realise advert […]
Let’s look at some examples of the indefinite pronoun ‘something’ + adjective phrase. This relates to “post positioned adjectives” ‘something’ is an indefinite pronoun. ‘special’ is an adjective. The adjective post-modifies the pronoun. The adjective makes the pronoun more specific. (Watch example sentences) The meaning of ‘something adjective‘ can be understood with similar grammar, but […]
Point 66 in the category of PAST is past perfect simple used for a CHANGE OF SITUATION. The EGP uses HAD + ‘planned’ and ‘wanted’ + ‘but’ in their examples. Since this is a difficult structure to find in corpora due to the length of sentences, we have looked directly in Google news for examples: […]
The expression ‘so did we/so have I/so is mine, etc.’ is used to show agreement with someone else’s statement or situation. It is formed by using so plus the same auxiliary verb as the previous sentence, and then inverting the subject and the auxiliary verb. For example: He likes pizza. So do I. (I also […]
This is another overlapping B2 grammar point found in a few different places in the English Grammar Profile. Point 47 in VERBS is defined as semi-modal auxiliary verbs, ‘dare’ and ‘need’. The two examples are both in the negative. And the comments in the EGP are very interesting for this point: LOW FREQUENCY ITEM. There […]
C1 point 32 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: NON-FINITE CLAUSES ‘-ing’ form as a subordinate clause or a noun clause to give explanatory background information. A search in the iWeb corpus for . Being _VVN * * gives us our being + past participle list 1 . BEING LOCATED IN THE 77 […]
