About to, According to | Common English Expressions

About to

About to means ‘just going to’.

• We are about to have lunch. (= We are going to have lunch.)
• She was about to leave for work when he arrived.

According to

Do not give your own opinions with according to. Instead, use an expression like ‘in my opinion’.

• According to the time table, the train arrives at 3.30 pm.
• In my opinion, he is a nice guy. (NOT According to me, he is a nice guy.)
• According to scientists, smoking can cause cancer.
• According to Rohan, Maya’s boyfriend is a fraud.

Difference between across and through

The difference between across and through is similar to the difference between on and in.

• We walked across the desert. (We were on the desert.)
• We walked through the wood. (We were in the wood.)

Adjectives: order

Numbers go before adjectives.

• Six blue shirts (NOT Blue six shirts)

Ordinal numbers (e.g. first, second, third etc.) usually go before cardinal numbers (e.g. one, two, three etc.)

• The first two weeks (More natural than ‘the two first weeks’)
• The last two days were very wet.

Adjectives of colour, origin, material and purpose usually go in that order.

• Blue Spanish leather sports shoes
• I bought two German glass flower vases from the store.

Adjectives after as, how, so, too

Adjectives normally go after the article a/an. However, adjectives can go before articles in a special structure.

• I can’t afford that big a car. (NOT I can’t afford that a big car.)
• It was so warm a day that I didn’t go out. (NOT It was a so warm day that I didn’t go out.)