Grammar Spotlight
The English Grammar Profile (EGP) is a sister resource to the English Vocabulary Profile, and has been put together by Anne O'Keeffe (Limerick University) and Geraldine Mark, the co-authors, along with Ron Carter and Mike McCarthy, of English Grammar Today (Cambridge University Press). Mark and O'Keeffe investigated the extensive data in the Cambridge Learner Corpus to establish when learners begin to get to grips with different linguistic structures.
A series of insights from their research will be posted on this page, each one putting the spotlight on an interesting aspect of learner grammar development. Please note that all of the learner examples come from the Cambridge Learner Corpus, a 55-million word electronic collection of written learner data. The examination and the candidate’s first language are given in brackets after each learner example.
See the latest Grammar Spotlight entry below. Scroll right down to the bottom of this page to browse through previous entries.
As to be expected, learners at the A1 level first use and in order to join a limited range of common adjectives.
The teachers are very nice and friendly. (Skills for Life: Entry 1; Polish)
She likes hot and spicy curry dishes. (Skills for Life: Entry 1; Nepali)
She is a happy and intelligent girl. (Skills for Life: Entry 1; Portuguese)
Common adjectives are combined using but only once the A2 level is achieved and only after be.
Here everything is old but clean. (Cambridge English: Key; Spanish-European)
It was cheap but beautiful. (Cambridge English: Key; Chinese - Malaysia)
The weather was cloudy but fine. (Cambridge English: Key for Schools; Spanish - Latin American)
Once the B1 level is achieved, learners are able to demonstrate a wider variety of ways in which to combine adjectives. For example, commas are used to describe a noun using more than one adjective.
I visited a nice, old castle. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; German)
We saw famous, historic buildings such as the Tower of London. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Japanese)
The town had big, old, dirty buildings and there were no trees or grass. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Polish)
Commas are also used competently by learners at the B1 level with and to create a list of adjectives after be.
Her name is Cassia, she is beautiful, intelligent, funny and very reliable. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Portuguese - Brazil)
He is tall, thin and not very handsome, but he is very nice and friendly. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Spanish)
The people were friendly, helpful, easy-going and out-going. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; French)
And is also used at the B1 level to join a limited range of comparative adjectives.
In the winter you can go to the fitness centre, and there you can get stronger and fitter. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Swiss German)
The cars will fly around the buildings like planes, and they will be faster and cheaper. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Portuguese - Brazil)
My new teacher is a bit older and stricter. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Russian- Ukraine)
B1 learners combine repeated comparative adjectives to indicate change over time, usually after become or get.
I could see how the fire was burning the door, and the room became hotter and hotter. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Spanish - Latin American)
I think that’s a good question, because nowadays television is getting worse and worse, but there are still some good programmes. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; Spanish)
You wouldn’t believe how my English got better and better. (Cambridge English: Preliminary; German)
B2 level learners can accurately use adjective phrases to modify nouns.
Besides, we could leave one day in the morning and travel by boat to a small and exotic island full of different and exotic species of birds that we could observe and photograph. (Cambridge English: First; Portuguese)
Emily Brontë succeeded in writing a romantic, psychological and tragic story, beautifully set in these mysterious moors. (Cambridge English: First; Dutch)
The use of compound adjectives highlights learner progress in upper levels. While the use of these types of adjectives emerges at the B1 level, it is not until the C1 level is achieved that a wide range is used.
We suggest investing a certain amount of money in the above-mentioned technical devices in order to achieve the financial target. (Cambridge English: Advanced; German)
But as she does not live in a well-to-do family, Ola was never able to afford additional private lessons, for example. (Cambridge English: Advanced; Polish)
If anyone has ever seen it, they would agree with me that it was THE most jaw-dropping road in the world. (CELSH; Dutch)
At the C2 level further mastery in combining adjectives is shown through learners’ abilities to combine more complex, lengthy strings of adjectives, joining the last two adjectives with and.
A timid, shy, self-conscious, over-sensitive and vulnerable person can yearn to make friends. (Cambridge English: Proficiency; Polish)
In the increasingly materialistic, greedy and shallow society we live in today, it would almost seem that there are no disadvantages to being rich. (Cambridge English: Proficiency; Portuguese)
La Hosteria’s décor is definitely Mexican, colourful, lively and honest; no gimmicks to please the tourist. (Cambridge English: Proficiency; Spanish-Mexico)
C2 level learners are also capable of using a list of adjectives in ellipted clauses before and after a noun to give focus.
Imaginative, good-humoured, friendly, he was respected and liked by his peer-students. (Cambridge English: Proficiency; Polish)
The latter – fat, ugly and sick – blows his top when Ralph tells the others about the fat boy’s nice name, as he wanted to keep it secret. (Cambridge English: Proficiency; Greek)
As learners progress through the CEFR levels, competence in combining adjectives using punctuation and conjunctions improves. This is further reflected in an ever-increasing use of compound adjectives with hyphens (starting at the B1 level). Mastery in combining adjectives is indicated when adjectives are presented in complex contexts (with lists of adjectives in ellipted clauses being used only at the highest CEFR level).
