Black Belt

The inversion trigger is often buried inside a longer phrase, and so/such ... that invert differently from time adverbials.

Were-subjunctive, lest, be it, and fixed subjunctive phrases all use bare or unreal forms that defy normal tense agreement.

Leaving words out and replacing them with so, do, one, not.

Putting normally stative verbs into the continuous to add a deliberate shade of meaning.

The perfect frames an event as relevant "up to now"; the simple just locates it in time.

Finely graded, register-sensitive shades of obligation, expectation and futurity.

Each connector takes a different clause pattern and lest triggers the subjunctive.

Unless and if not overlap but are not always interchangeable.

Even if sets up a hypothetical condition, while even though concedes an established fact.

All the more, none the wiser, the least, by far.

Knowing when not to backshift; reporting facts that are still true.

Organizing given-before-new information for flow.

Matching grammatical choices to formality and context.

Be to covers arrangements, orders, fate and news-headline style, each with a different feel.

Boosting and softening meaning with precise adverbs that obey strict collocational and gradability rules.

Words and the grammatical patterns that must accompany them.