Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ in statements with negative meaning to indicate in a general way that nothing is present or that an action or event does not or cannot happen.
We can’t do ~...
She couldn’t see or hear ~ at all...
By the time I get home, I’m too tired to do ~ active...
PRON: v PRON, oft PRON adj
2.
You use ~ in questions and conditional clauses to ask or talk about whether something is present or happening.
What happened, is ~ wrong?...
Did you find ~?...
Is there ~ you can do to help?...
PRON: oft PRON adj
3.
You can use ~ before words which indicate the kind of thing you are talking about.
More than ~ else, he wanted to become a teacher...
Anything that’s cheap this year will be even cheaper next year...
PRON: PRON cl/group
4.
You use ~ to emphasize a possible thing, event, or situation, when you are saying that it could be any one of a very large number of things.
He is young, fresh, and ready for ~...
At that point, ~ could happen...
PRON emphasis
5.
You use ~ in expressions such as ~ near, ~ close to and ~ like to emphasize a statement that you are making.
Doctors have decided the only way he can live ~ near a normal life is to give him an operation...
PRON: PRON prep emphasis
6.
When you do not want to be exact, you use ~ to talk about a particular range of things or quantities.
Factory farming has turned the cow into a milk machine, producing ~ from 25 to 40 litres of milk per day...
PRON: PRON from n to n, PRON between n and n
7.
You use ~ but in expressions such as ~ but quiet and ~ but attractive to emphasize that something is not the case.
There’s no evidence that he told anyone to say ~ but the truth...
PHRASE: v-link PHR, usu PHR adj/n emphasis
8.
You can say that you would not do something for ~ to emphasize that you definitely would not want to do or be a particular thing. (INFORMAL, SPOKEN)
I wouldn’t want to move for ~ in the world...
PHRASE emphasis
9.
You use if ~, especially after a negative statement, to introduce a statement that adds to what you have just said.
I never had to clean up after him. If ~, he did most of the cleaning.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
10.
You can add or ~ to the end of a clause or sentence in order to refer vaguely to other things that are or may be similar to what has just been mentioned. (INFORMAL, SPOKEN)
Listen, if you talk to him or ~ make sure you let us know, will you...
PHRASE vagueness