Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to refer back to a particular person or thing that has been mentioned or implied.
When food comes out of any oven, it should stand a while. During ~ delay the centre carries on cooking...
On 1 October the US suspended a proposed $574 million aid package for 1991. Of ~ amount, $250 million is for military purchases.
DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount
•
This is also a pronoun.
I don’t know how bad the injury is, because I have never had one like ~ before.
PRON
2.
You use ~ to introduce someone or something that you are going to talk about.
This is what I will do. I will telephone Anna and explain.
PRON
•
This is also a determiner.
This report is from David Cook of our Science Unit: ‘Why did the dinosaurs become extinct?’
DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount
3.
You use ~ to refer back to an idea or situation expressed in a previous sentence or sentences.
You feel that it’s uneconomic to insist that people work together in groups. Why is ~?...
PRON
•
This is also a determiner.
There have been continual demands for action by the political authorities to put an end to ~ situation.
DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount
4.
In spoken English, people use ~ to introduce a person or thing into a story.
I came here by chance and was just watching what was going on, when ~ girl attacked me...
DET: DET sing-n
5.
You use ~ to refer to a person or thing that is near you, especially when you touch them or point to them. When there are two or more people or things near you, ~ refers to the nearest one.
‘If you’d prefer something else I’ll gladly have it changed for you.’—‘No, ~ is great.’...
‘Is ~ what you were looking for?’ Bradley produced the handkerchief...
PRON
•
This is also a determiner.
This church was built in the eleventh century.
DET: DET sing-n
6.
You use ~ when you refer to a general situation, activity, or event which is happening or has just happened and which you feel involved in.
I thought, ~ is why I’ve travelled thousands of miles...
Tim, ~ is awful. I know what you must think, but it’s not so...
PRON: PRON with be
7.
You use ~ when you refer to the place you are in now or to the present time.
We’ve stopped transporting weapons to ~ country by train...
I think coffee is probably the best thing at ~ point...
DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount
•
This is also a pronoun.
This is the worst place I’ve come across...
PRON
8.
You use ~ to refer to the next occurrence in the future of a particular day, month, season, or festival.
We’re getting married ~ June...
DET: DET sing-n
9.
You use ~ when you are indicating the size or shape of something with your hands.
They’d said the wound was only about ~ big you see and he showed me with his fingers.
ADV: ADV adj
10.
You use ~ when you are going to specify how much you know or how much you can tell someone.
I am not going to reveal what my seven-year plan is, but I will tell you ~ much, if it works out, the next seven years will be very interesting.
ADV: ADV adv
11.
If you say ~ is it, you are agreeing with what someone else has just said.
‘You know, people conveniently forget the things they say.’—‘Well ~ is it.’
CONVENTION formulae
12.
You use ~ in order to say who you are or what organization you are representing, when you are speaking on the telephone, radio, or television.
Hello, ~ is John Thompson...
PRON
13.
You use ~ to refer to the medium of communication that you are using at the time of speaking or writing.
What I’m going to do in ~ lecture is focus on something very specific...
DET: DET sing-n
14.
see also these
15.
If you say that you are doing or talking about ~ and that, or ~, that, and the other you mean that you are doing or talking about a variety of things that you do not want to specify.
‘And what are you doing now?’—‘Oh ~ and that.’
PHRASE