Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: When '~' is used as a predeterminer, it is followed by ‘a’ and a count noun in the singular. When it is used as a determiner, it is followed by a count noun in the plural or by an uncount noun.
1.
You use ~ to refer back to the thing or person that you have just mentioned, or a thing or person like the one that you have just mentioned. You use ~ as and ~...as to introduce a reference to the person or thing that has just been mentioned.
There have been previous attempts at coups. We regard ~ methods as entirely unacceptable...
There’d be no telling how John would react to ~ news as this.
DET: DET n, DET n as pron
•
Such is also a predeterminer.
If your request is for information about a child, please contact the Registrar to find out how to make ~ a request...
How can we make sense of ~ a story as this?
PREDET: PREDET a n
•
Such is also used before be.
We are scared because we are being watched–~ is the atmosphere in Pristina and other cities in Kosovo.
~ be
•
As ~ is also used.
There should be a law ensuring products tested on animals have to be labelled as ~.
-ed as ~
•
Such as is also used.
Issues ~ as these were not really his concern...
~ as pron
2.
You use ~...as to link something or someone with a clause in which you give a description of the kind of thing or person that you mean.
Each member of the alliance agrees to take ~ action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force...
Britain is not enjoying ~ prosperity as it was in the mid-1980s.
DET: DET n as cl
•
Such as is also used.
Children do not use inflections ~ as are used in mature adult speech...
n ~ as cl
3.
You use ~...as to introduce one or more examples of the kind of thing or person that you have just mentioned.
...~ careers as teaching, nursing, hairdressing and catering.
...delays caused by ~ things as bad weather or industrial disputes.
DET: DET n as n
•
Such as is also used.
...serious offences, ~ as assault on a police officer...
~ as n
4.
You use ~ before noun groups to emphasize the extent of something or to emphasize that something is remarkable.
I think most of us don’t want to read what’s in the newspaper anyway in ~ detail...
The economy was not in ~ bad shape, he says.
DET emphasis
•
Such is also a predeterminer.
You know the health service is in ~ a state and it’s getting desperate now...
It was ~ a pleasant surprise...
PREDET: PREDET a n
5.
You use ~...that in order to emphasize the degree of something by mentioning the result or consequence of it.
The weather has brought ~ a demand for beer that one brewery will operate over the weekend...
This is something where you can earn ~ a lot of money that there is not any risk that you will lose it...
He was in ~ a hurry that he almost pushed me over on the stairs.
PREDET: PREDET a n that emphasis
•
Such is also a determiner.
She looked at him in ~ distress that he had to look away.
DET: DET n that
•
Such is also used after be.
Though Vivaldi had earned a great deal in his lifetime, his extravagance was ~ that he died in poverty...
be ~ that
6.
You use ~...that or ~...as in order to say what the result or consequence of something that you have just mentioned is.
The operation has uncovered ~ backstreet dealing in stolen property that police might now press for changes in the law.
DET: DET n that
•
Such is also a predeterminer.
He could put an idea in ~ a way that Alan would believe it was his own.
PREDET: PREDET a n that/ as to
•
Such is also used after be.
OFSTED’s brief is ~ that it can conduct any inquiry or provide any advice which the Secretary of State requires.
be ~ that
7.
You use ~ and ~ to refer to a thing or person when you do not want to be exact or precise. (SPOKEN)
I said, ‘Well what time’ll I get to Leeds?’ and he said ~ and ~ a time but I missed my connection...
PHRASE: PHR a n, PHR after v vagueness
8.
You use ~ as it is or ~ as they are to suggest that the thing you have just mentioned is not very good, important, or useful.
The British Women’s Movement, ~ as it is these days, came up with a programme of speeches at the House of Commons.
PHRASE: n PHR
9.
You use as ~ with a negative to indicate that a word or expression is not a very accurate description of the actual situation.
I am not a learner as ~–I used to ride a bike years ago...
PHRASE: usu n PHR
10.
You use as ~ after a noun to indicate that you are considering that thing on its own, separately from other things or factors.
Mr Simon said he was not against taxes as ~, ‘but I do object when taxation is justified on spurious or dishonest grounds,’ he says.
PHRASE: n PHR
11.
no ~ thing: see thing