B2 Language Structures

• to be/get used to something/doing something. See: be/get used to + GER vs. used to + INF: Nowadays children are not used to playing games outdoors. BUT: When my parents were children, they used to play in the streets, and would invent their own games. 

• An alternative way to express probability: someone is(n't) likely to do something: Relax about your mistakes and you'll be less likely to make them again. OR something is(n't) likely to (happen): It is so dry that it isn't likely to rain today.

• To express that a situation has ceased to exist we use the expression: Affirmative verb + no longer OR Negative verb + anymore/any longer: Exams are no longer necessary OR Exams aren't necessary anymore/any longer. He does not travel by plane any more/any longer = He no longer travels by plane.

• something is worth doing: His book will convince people that rapid cognition is worth studying. See also: the "worth" structures

• to blame someone for something; to blame something on something else/someone; to blame something/someone: She is not be blamed for her mistakes! A lot of people blame everything on the media. It's time we stopped blaming the school system.  

• We say something is supposed to + Verb (The "dead kangaroo" story was supposed to have happened in the Australian outback, OR someone is supposed to be + Adjective (People in that part of the world are supposed to be very talkative). 

• To evaluate an activity we say: I find it easy/difficult/etc to + INF:  Do you find it easy to work out what's happening when you watch a film in English? To evaluate people or things we use the structure: Subject + find + someone/something + Adjective: I find Eva Hache funny. NOT *I find funny Eva Hache. He found that film boring.

• to do one's best [to achieve something/to get something done]: Big companies also do their best to fool the public.

• To point out a progressive increase we use a double comparative: These days we're all becoming more and more concerned about the effect our lifestyle has on the environment.

• We say: You should go and see a Bollywood film. NOT *...go to see...!

• This is the first time I have heard such a thing: This is the first time + Subject + PRESENT PERFECT. BUT The first time my mother went clubbing she was 19: The first time + Subject + PAST SIMPLE.

• The more prominent a story is, the more likely you are to read it: the + COMPARATIVE + subject + verb, the + COMPARATIVE + subject + verb The rarer an autograph is, the more I can ask for it.

• I only have two subjects left to finish my degree. You still have 5,000 words left to say!: Noun + left [+ to + INF]

•  We use the expressions to have/get something done OR to get someone to do something to talk about actions that we ask or persuade someone else to do for us.

• ...it's my turn to babysit tonight: to be someone's turn to do something: it + be + possessive + turn + to + ING

• Rosa Parks was sitting with three other blacks in the fifth row. Syntactical order: NUMBER + other(SINGULAR) + PLURAL NOUN

• Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the Civil Rights Movement. The film Crash won the Academy Award for Best Film in 2005. Someone is awarded a prize for something/doing something

• Whenever you feel like it. ALSO: Do you feel like going out tonight, or would you rather stay in? [not] feel like something/doing something

• To express when something is not where it should be or someone is not present: My keys are missing from the cupboard; have you seen them anywhere? Eighty years after the war, her grandfather's remains are still missing. something/someone + be + missing

• Stop [or prevent] are followed by object + (from) + GER: Try to stop/prevent them (from) finding out. (The preposition from is optional.) It is the opposite expression from ask somebody to do something.

• Using GERunds as nouns or adjectives: The project coordinator finds the writing and translating both stimulating and challenging.