“Don’t let a little thing like…” is a pattern that means “don’t let that major obstacle stop you”. It is spoken sarcastically and affectionately with friends. Don’t let a little thing like poverty stop you from becoming president! Don’t let a little thing like an army stop you from crossing
Tag: pattern
Two Adjective Patterns for Emphasis
A student recently commented that he liked the pattern “too (adjective) a (noun)”, as in: Our eyes are too precious a gift to risk losing. This is saying the same thing as: Our eyes are a gift. They are too precious to risk losing. The pattern “too precious a gift”
Pattern: The more… the more…
Credits: Thanks to Jean for giving me the idea for this lesson. This lesson introduces a common grammar pattern that you may be unaware of. This pattern is (the more…the more…). The elegance of this pattern is that it is very concise. You can express a complicated relationship very simply.
Pattern: The Only Thing I Hate Is…
Introduction There is a native speaking pattern that we use when there is only one exception or case AND we want to emphasize that fact. The pattern begins with “The only thing (that) I ____ is/was ____. A variation of this pattern could be: “The one thing (that) I… Examples The only
Pattern: X or No X
Introduction To express firm resolution or determination, we have a variety of phrase patterns that we often use. The phrase pattern “X or no X” means that the conclusion will be the same, regardless of whether Condition X exists or not. Rain or no rain, I’m going to a movie.
Pattern: There’s X and Then There’s X
Your browser does not support the audio element. Politicians. Can’t live with ’em and can’t live without ’em. They’re the people we love to hate. President Obama recently made a statement in defense of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal in which she transferred top-secret, government data to her personal, non-secure email