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English grammar
English grammar — C1
Grammar explanations, examples and common mistakes for CEFR C1.
English grammar — C1
Mixed Conditionals
A past cause → a present result
Present circumstance → past result
Which mixed conditional should you choose: two separate time decisions
Conditional with Continuous and Perfect Forms
Would be doing: an action within an imagined situation
Would have been doing: an ongoing action in another scenario
Could/Might have been doing: possible activity and unrealised scenarios
Advanced Wish Structures
Wish + could / could have: a desired opportunity and a missed chance
Wish / if only + Continuous: a desired process now and regret about the past
If only + would have: past regret and register boundaries
Omitting If: Inversion and Ellipsis
Had + subject + V3: a past condition without if
Were without if: a hypothetical event or the absence of a key factor
If so / if not / if anything / if ever: short forms, precise meanings
Conditionals with Modals and Semi-modals
If … happen to / Should … happen to: opportunity, chance and tactful conditions
Were to happen to: hypothetical conditions and coincidence
Conditional be to: a goal and what it requires
Reduced Relative Clauses
Active post-nominal description: reduced relative clauses with -ing
Passive relative constructions: noun + past participle
Reduced relative constructions with a to-infinitive
Non-restrictive Clauses with Which
Which: commenting on the whole preceding idea
Preposition + which in formal style
Which or that: meaning first, then commas
Adverbial Clauses of Concession and Purpose
However / no matter how: a result unaffected by degree
In order that / so that: purpose, participants and formal style
Lest: formal precautions and fears
Complex Complementation
Requirement and Proposal: that + Base Verb or should
Wh-clauses as objects: what we know, find out and explain
Gerund or infinitive: seven verbs that change meaning
Comparative Clauses
The more… the more: linked changes
Not so much X as Y: refining a description with rather than
As…as: precise comparisons and expanded comparative clauses
Inversion after So, Such, Neither, Nor
Initial so: emphatic degree and result
Such + be + noun phrase + that: emphasis through inversion
Neither / Nor: “Neither” with inversion
Fronting and Preposing
Fronting objects and predicative complements
Fronting adverbials for narrative flow
Participle and adjective phrases at the start of a sentence
Existential and Locative Inversion
Advanced existential and presentational constructions with there
Locative inversion with intransitive verbs
Here/There + verb + noun subject
End-weight and End-focus
End-weight: placing heavy elements at the end
End-focus: new or important information at the end
It-Extraposition: Dummy *it* and the Heavy Clause at the End
Nominalisation
Turning verbs into nouns: nominalisation
Turning adjectives into nouns
Chains of nominalisation
Complex Pre- and Post-modification
Multiple modifiers before a noun
Modifiers after nouns: prepositional phrases, relative clauses, -ing, -ed and to-infinitives
Nested noun phrases
Advanced Determiners and Quantifiers
Each of / Either of / Neither of + a singular verb
A number of versus The number of
Majority, minority and proportion: agreement with a share and its meaning
Apposition
Restrictive and non-restrictive apposition: when commas are needed and when they change the meaning
Embedded definitions: i.e., namely, that is
Apposition with demonstratives and summarising nouns
Mandative Subjunctive
The mandative subjunctive after directive verbs
Subjunctive after adjectives and nouns: the bare form after essential and requirement
Subjunctive versus should + verb: two standards for the same requirement
Formulaic Subjunctive
Be that as it may / Come what may
Suffice it to say / Far be it from me — inverted formulaic subjunctives
God forbid / Heaven help / Long live: bare verb forms in wishes and exclamations
Advanced Reported Speech
Reporting verbs: manner, attitude and intention
Tense flexibility in reported speech
Distancing in reports: claim, allege and maintain
Formal It-patterns
Anticipatory it with passive reporting verbs: impersonal formal reporting
It + adjective + that / to: evaluating a situation
It-clefts and what-pseudo-clefts: highlighting key information
Advanced Hedging and Boosting
Layered hedging: modal verb + adverb
Strengthening claims: confidence, evidence, and limits
Hedging with impersonal constructions
Distancing Language
Past tense for distancing in the present
Distancing through reporting verbs and attribution
Continuous for tentative wording: I was wondering, we were hoping, I'm thinking
Attitude Markers and Comment Adverbials
Commenting adverbs at the beginning of a sentence
Parenthetical stance markers
Complex phrases for expressing attitude
Vague Language and Approximation
Vague category markers
Approximate quantities: numbers, quantifiers, and hedges
Deliberate vagueness for pragmatic effect
Thematic Progression
Linear thematic progression: a chain in which new information becomes familiar
Constant-theme progression: one paragraph focus, a new rheme each time
Split-rheme progression: from a shared introduction to separate branches
Advanced Discourse Markers
Concession and contrast markers
Markers of reformulation and specification
Markers of logical consequence and inference
Given vs New Information
Given before new: managing information flow
Definite and indefinite articles as signals of given and new information
The passive voice as a way to organise information
Advanced Punctuation for Meaning
Semicolons: connections, boundaries, and clarity
Colons for Expansion and Clarification
Dashes for parenthetical comments and final additions
Reformulation and Clarification
Reformulating for clarity
Using examples to clarify a point
Metalinguistic clarification
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