A search in playphrase.me for “so much as” reveals the following 3 most common collocations/multi-word units containing negative meaning or being surrounded with negation: You let your wife throw you out of your own house without so much as a whimper. listen to the example The phrase “without so much as a” means “not even the slightest amount of“. In the example above, it emphasizes that the […]
Adverbs are words that modify or qualify an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. Adverbs of Degree are used to provide information about the intensity, degree, or manner of the action that is taking place. They answer the question “how much?” or […]
The phrases “on the one hand” and “on the other hand” are used to introduce two contrasting points of view or arguments. They are often used in formal writing and in spoken English. On the one hand is used to introduce the first point of view or argument. On the other hand is used to introduce the […]
Verb patterns with ‘not to be’ generally fall between A2 and B1. If they are also negated, non-finite, passive or ellipted they should be at least B2. A search in the NOW corpus for: not to be * * 1 NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH 10259 Not to be confused with the diary of Anne Hathaway which we stole out of her purse at the Gotham Awards. listen 2 NOT TO […]
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 59 in the category of PAST is defined: past perfect simple AFTER ‘BECAUSE’ giving explanatory information. Here are examples of past perfect simple used to give explanations. Someone even wiped away tears because she had done it, she had connected them to information differently, she helped them see something they couldn’t unsee. TED Vicky called because her husband had suddenly collapsed in the hallway of their home. TED A search in iWeb for because _P had _VVN 1 BECAUSE I HAD HEARD 519 2 […]
Here are advanced examples of using the determiner THIS + noun + OF + a possessive pronoun to highlight: I’m impressed at how the students have picked up on this war of his. listen In this world of theirs, nothing is bad or evil. listen An iWeb search for: this _NN of _PPGE 1 THIS WAR OF MINE 1147 (This is ranked as common because of a board game title) 2 THIS WORLD OF OURS […]
5 MIGHT HAVE NOTICED 6193 The thing you might have noticed about those little blue dots is that a lot of them are in the middle of the ocean. 6 MIGHT HAVE SEEN 6136 7 MIGHT HAVE MADE 5866 8 SHOULD HAVE SAID 5760 9 MIGHT HAVE MISSED 5723 10 SHOULD HAVE SEEN 5259 11 MIGHT HAVE HEARD 5006 12 SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED 4276 13 MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT 4265 14 MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED 3940 In my opinion, I […]
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 Point 99 in the category of CLAUSES & imperatives is defined as: ‘DO NOT’ for EMPHASIS in formal contexts We do not believe ‘formality’ is essential to make this structure B2. *We have expanded this point because the first person imperative can be negated simply by inserting ‘not’ after the […]
English grammar tells us that: I haven’t got a clue. I don’t have a clue. are the correct ways to express negative possession. However, there is the rarer, older British sounding: I haven’t a clue. Notice that a superlative phrase is common to give emphasis: I haven’t the slightest idea how he works. listen Here are the search results from […]
‘double, treble, quadruple’ can be multiplying predeterminers. They come before other determiners in a noun phrase. For example, ‘double the national average.’ Bloomberg.com Other multiplying expressions: *In the English Vocabulary Profile, B1 if followed by a comparative structure. We can’t be sure the following are all predeterminers because they can be verbs too. 1 […]
B2 point 56 in the category of adjectives, in the English Grammar Profile, provides 3 specific degree adjectives as examples of limited range before a noun to express intensity. This is a point that requires a great deal of interpretation. We cannot rely on part of speech software because “intensity” is not tagged! For example: […]
Here’s an example of the possessive pronoun ‘yours’ in object position. It’s just like yours. Listen to the pronunciation. A2 point 21 in the category of PRONOUNS: the possessive pronoun ‘yours’, with singular reference, in object positions, and complement positions after ‘be’ and after prepositions A search in iWeb corpus for: * * * yours . […]
‘Twee‘ is unlisted in the English Vocabulary Profile. Google Oxford defines it as: BRITISH excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental. in a way that is artificial, pretentious, and designed to impress. attractively unusual or old-fashioned. of or prompted by feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia. A search for collocates in NOW corpus: twee_JJ 1 […]
See, this is really weird, but I had this feeling the minute that the phone rang, I said, Jackie, pick it up, you‘ve got a grandchild. listen Minute is usually a noun, but in the above usage ‘the minute + that CLAUSE‘ it means as soon as. Similary, in the next example, ‘any minute‘ means ‘very soon‘: Colin could you possibly find somewhere else to pray, your brother and sister will be here any minute now. listen 1 MINUTE (NNT1) 645067 (A1 noun) = 60 seconds. […]
