Why have countries been pushing for a vital global climate report to be delayed?
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EN: The preposition 'without' followed by a gerund ('-ing' form) functions as an adverbial adjunct of manner or attendant circumstance, expressing an action or condition that did not take place during or alongside the main event.
The delegates left the summit without reaching a consensus on emissions targets.
EN: Prepositional stacking: English formal reporting frequently stacks prepositional phrases to specify location ('in Addis Ababa'), time ('on Friday'), and circumstances ('without agreeing on a firm timetable...'). The order typically flows from place to time to manner/condition, maintaining syntactic clarity.
The committee convened a session in Geneva on Monday without issuing a formal statement.
EN: The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), established by UNEP and WMO, operates through plenary sessions where scientific conclusions and publication timetables require rigorous political consensus among member states. Holding meetings in Global South diplomatic hubs like Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia and seat of the African Union) underscores ongoing global debates about representation and equitable influence in international climate governance.
EN: The preposition 'with' can introduce an absolute construction (with + object + complement/adverbial) to express attendant circumstances, reasons, or background timing.
With the deadline fast approaching, the team worked late into the night.
EN: The causative/resultative verb pattern 'leave + object + object complement (adjective)' means to cause someone or something to remain in a specified state or condition.
The sudden cancellation of funding leaves several research projects vulnerable.
EN: In multilateral climate diplomacy under the UNFCCC, 'COP' stands for the 'Conference of the Parties'. Because these high-stakes negotiations rely heavily on consensus-driven reports from bodies like the IPCC, any procedural stalemate shortly before a COP summit creates severe diplomatic anxiety regarding the credibility and timeline of climate commitments.
EN: The past participle phrase 'joined by China and Kenya' functions as a non-restrictive participial modifier, providing supplementary descriptive information about the compound subject ('Saudi Arabia, Russia and India') without interrupting the main grammatical agreement.
The lead researcher, backed by an international team of analysts, presented the revolutionary data.
EN: 'Contend that...' is an advanced reporting verb indicating a strong, assertive claim or stance in formal discourse, typically introducing a noun clause (content clause) functioning as the direct object.
Critics contended that the new policy failed to address fundamental economic disparities.
EN: 'Thereby + present participle (-ing)' functions as an adverbial participial clause expressing consequence or result, equivalent to 'and by that means / as a result of which'.
The company automated key production lines, thereby reducing operational costs substantially.
EN: In international climate negotiations under the UN and the IPCC, developing and fossil-fuel-reliant emerging economies (such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, and China) frequently argue that Western or developed nations exert disproportionate influence over scientific literature and peer-reviewed journals, leading to a Global North bias in global policy evaluations.
EN: Mandative Subjunctive: Verbs of demand, recommendation, or insistence (e.g., insist, demand, recommend) followed by a 'that'-clause take the subjunctive mood, which uses the base form of the verb regardless of tense or subject number. In passive constructions, it takes the form 'be + past participle' (e.g., 'publication be postponed' instead of 'is postponed' or 'was postponed').
The committee insisted that the audit be conducted by an independent firm.
EN: Preposition 'despite' + Perfect Gerund with Accusative/Genitive Subject: The preposition 'despite' introduces concession and takes a noun phrase or gerund. Here, it is followed by a perfect gerund ('having appeared') to indicate that the action occurred before the main clause's action. 'The last assessment' functions as the subject of the gerund phrase.
Despite the project having faced severe delays, the team managed to deliver exceptional results.
EN: In international climate governance, the timing of IPCC assessment reports is deeply political. Delaying the report beyond 2028 means scientific input would miss the Paris Agreement's second global stocktake and the submission of new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) at Cop33, significantly weakening international scrutiny on major fossil fuel producers and developing powerhouses.
EN: Inverted Conditional with 'Were': When expressing hypothetical or future conditional situations formally, the conjunction 'if' can be omitted and replaced by inverting the auxiliary verb 'were' with the subject ('were the timetable to slip' = 'if the timetable were to slip'). This structure belongs to the subjunctive mood and is typical of formal journalism and academic writing.
Were negotiations to collapse, both nations would face severe economic consequences.
EN: The Transitive Usage of 'Inform': While 'inform' commonly means 'to notify someone' (inform someone of something), in formal and academic English it frequently means 'to provide knowledge or evidence that shapes, guides, or serves as the basis for a decision, policy, or theory' (inform new emissions pledges).
Extensive empirical research should inform future public health policies.
EN: Reduced Adjective Phrase with 'Due': The phrase 'due at the Cop33 summit in late 2028' is a postpositive adjectival phrase modifying 'new emissions pledges'. 'Due' in this context functions as an adjective meaning 'expected, scheduled, or required to be submitted/completed'. It effectively acts as an elliptical relative clause ('which are due...').
Final budget proposals due by the end of next month must be submitted electronically.
EN: Under the UN climate process (the Paris agreement mechanism), countries are required to submit increasingly ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs, or emissions pledges) every five years. The 2028 round coincides with the second Global Stocktake. If the IPCC report—the gold standard of climate science—is delayed past 2028, governments would negotiate and set these crucial national targets without updated, comprehensive scientific benchmarks.
EN: Negative inversion occurs when a negative or restrictive adverbial phrase (e.g., 'Not only') begins a clause. In such cases, subject-auxiliary inversion is mandatory, placing the auxiliary verb 'does' before the subject '2028'.
Not only did she complete the marathon, but she also broke the national record.
EN: The correlative conjunction 'Not only..., but (also)...' joins two parallel clauses, emphasizing that both aspects are true and giving extra prominence to the second clause.
Not only is the technology cost-effective, but it also significantly reduces emissions.
EN: 'Whether' introduces a noun clause functioning as the direct object of the transitive verb 'scrutinise', presenting an indirect question regarding the sufficiency of pledges.
Inspectors will evaluate whether the current safety measures comply with federal regulations.
EN: Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the 'Global Stocktake' (GST) is a critical five-year cyclical mechanism designed to assess collective progress toward meeting the treaty's long-term temperature targets. The first stocktake concluded at COP28 in 2023, making the upcoming 2028 review pivotal for ratcheting up national climate commitments (NDCs).
EN: A noun clause introduced by 'Whether... or...' functions here as the subject of the entire sentence. When an entire clause acts as the subject, it takes a singular verb (here, 'remains'). This structure is commonly used in formal and analytical writing to present balanced alternatives or uncertainties.
Whether the policy will succeed or fail depends entirely on public cooperation.
EN: The linking verb 'remain' takes a noun phrase ('a matter of intense debate') as a subject complement, expressing a continuing state or unresolved status. 'A matter of [noun/adjective]' is an idiomatic academic/journalistic colocation used to characterize issues.
The origin of the artifact remains a subject of ongoing investigation.
EN: In climate diplomacy under the IPCC framework, scientific assessment and international politics are deeply intertwined. Developing nations and major fossil-fuel exporters frequently argue that research from developed Western institutions dominates IPCC literature, raising methodological questions that often overlap with strategic national economic interests.
Key vocabulary words with IPA pronunciation, definitions, example sentences, and interactive quizzes.
Phrases with type tags, bilingual definitions, usage notes, and example sentences.
A definite, fixed schedule or timeline that is unlikely to change
A periodic review mechanism established under the Paris Agreement to assess the world's collective progress toward climate goals
A subject or issue that causes strong disagreement and serious discussion