Grammar and Vocabulary for Cambridge Advanced and Proficiency
Unit 1 Section 5
Stative verbs
Ÿ Describe unchanging states
Ÿ Not normally used in continuous tenses
Ÿ Some of them describe mental processes
Ÿ Realise
Ÿ Suspect
Ÿ Believe
Ÿ Feel
Ÿ Remember
Ÿ understand, etc.
Ÿ Some of them describe emotional states
Ÿ Love
Ÿ Doubt
Ÿ Care
Ÿ Want
Ÿ Prefer
Ÿ Enjoy
Ÿ Despise
Ÿ Some of them describe senses
Ÿ Smell
Ÿ See
Ÿ Hear
Ÿ Taste
Ÿ Use can and could with smell, hear, see, taste, remembe and understand to describe what is happening at the moment:
Ÿ I can smell burning.
Common examples:
Ÿ Be
Ÿ Own
Ÿ Depend
Ÿ Contain
Ÿ Belong
Ÿ Deserve
Ÿ Include
Ÿ Possess
Ÿ Fit
Stative verbs can be used in continuous tenses:
1. With active meaning:
Ÿ I’m tasting this to see if there is enough salt.
Ÿ She’s being rather obstinate at the moment
2. To emphasize change or development:
Ÿ More schools will be including Shakespeare on their syllabuses
3. With a change in meaning:
Ÿ She’s having a baby (she is pregnant) - She has a baby (the baby is already born)
Ÿ I’m seeing her later (have an appointment) - I see what you’re on about (understand)
4. In reference to physical feelings (hurt, ache, feel, etc.) in Simple or Continuous with little or no difference in meaning:
Ÿ My head aches/is aching.
Ÿ How are you feeling/ do you feel?
Unit 1 Section 6
Collocation: an introduction
Collocations - words that frequently go together
Ÿ Time flies/ goes by/ wears on/ passes
Ÿ Academic year
Ÿ Productive/ fruitful discussion
No logical explanations for collocations
Grammatical forms
Ÿ Adverb+adjective (hopelessly addicted)
Ÿ Adjecitve+noun (formative years)
Ÿ Noun+noun (policy review)
Ÿ Verb+noun (honor the pledge)
Ÿ Dependent preposition (ashamed of)
Ÿ Part of a longer phrase (to delve into the past)
Types of collocations
Ÿ Fixed (strong) - have a limited number of collocates, highly idiomatic
Ÿ Open (weak) - have a larger number of possible collocates
Ÿ Some can be changed by using a different grammatical form or adding words: gain (an awful lot of) weight
Ÿ Some sound unnatural if changed: a tidal wave (not the wave was tidal), agreed unconditionally (not unconditionally agreed)
| Collocation | Translation | Example |
| Delve into the past | Разбираться в прошлом | It’s always interesting to delve into the past. |
| Honor one’s pledge | Cдержать обещание | We will honor our pledge to reduce unemployment. |
| Hopelessly addicted | Безнадежно пристраститься | I am hopelessly addicted to coffee. |
| Formative years | Начало карьеры, становление личности | I remember my formative years. |
| Genuinely moved | Искренне растроганный | People were genuinely moved by the pictures of the rescued child. |
| Contrast to | Противоположность (кому-либо) | Paul is such an introvert: a real contrast to his brother. |
| Question the wisdom | Ставить под вопрос правильность | I would question the wisdom of such an approach. |
| Backbreaking work | Каторжный труд | Clearing out that room was backbreaking work. |
| Breath of fresh air | Глоток свежего воздуха | She’s a real breath of fresh air. |
| Road works | Дорожные работы | I’m fed up with the endless road works on the Botley Road. |
| In a flash | В мгновение ока | I’ll be back in a flash. |
| Stark raving mad | В конец обезумевший | She’s stark raving mad. |
| Stark naked | В чем мать родила | He came to the door stark naked. |
| Stark reminder | Суровое напоминание | The outbreak of violence served as a stark reminder of how fragile the peace was. |
| Bone idle | Ленивый до мозга костей | You’re bone idle. |
| Bone dry | Абсолютно сухой | This soil is bone dry. |
| On the dot | Минута в минуту, ровно в | My boss usually arrives at eight o’clock on the dot. |
| Safe and sound | Целый и невредимый | The children arrived safe and sound. |
| Price oneself out of the market | Завысить цены и потерять покупателей | We’re in danger of pricing ourselves out of the property market. |
| A tidal wave | Приливная волна (тж. в переносном смысле) | The tidal wave will affect all of Japan. |
| Agreed unconditionally | Безоговорочно согласились | They agreed unconditionally. |
| Water purification | Очистка воды | Purify water, water purifying gadget, water purification. |
| Fruitful meeting | Плодотворная встреча | The leaders claimed the meeting had been fruitful. |
| Soar dramatically | Резко взлететь | House prices soared dramatically in recent months. |
| Whole-heartedly agree | Искренне согласиться | I whole-heartedly agree with everything you said. |
| For the time being | Пока что | Let’s leave it at that for the time being and continue tomorrow. |
| In the twinkling of an eye | В мгновение ока | In the twinkling of an eye the swindler had vanished, never to return. |
| In next to no time | Совсем скоро | In next to no time they had become the best of friends. |
| Since time immemorial | С незапамятных времен | The Whittington familz have lived there since time immemorial. |
| In the nick of time | Как раз вовремя | I arrived in the nick of time to prevent a potential disaster. |
| Time-consuming job | Дело, отнимающее много времени | Cooking good French food can be a very time-consuming job. |
| In the dead of night | Глубокой ночью | I was awoken in the dead of night by a strange noise from outside. |
| Word | Collocations |
| wealth | Accumulate/ acquire/ amass/ come into/ flaunt your/ inherit |
| politics | Abandon/ be involved in/ dabble in/ enter/ go into/ engage in |
| prices | Dropped/ fell/ plummeted/ slumped/ fluctuated/ remained steady/ rose/ shot up/ soared/ spiralled/ went through the roof |
| timing | Perfect/ immaculate/ exquisite |
| gain | On somebody (нагонять)/ several minutes (спешить, о часах) / access |
| dead | On time/ heat (ничья)/ of night (глубокая ночь) |
| dying | Seconds (последние секунды)/ to meet smb./ out |
| dim | And distant past/ view (скептическое отношение)/ recollection (смутные воспоминания) |
| peak | Viewing time/ of one’s career/ season |
| minute | A meeting/ be kept up to the m. on (держать в курсе)/ the m. smth. happens |
| broken | Out / home (неблагополучная семья)/ sleep (тревожный сон) |
Unit 6 Section 3