Mastering "After Several Attempts": A Simple Grammar Guide
Have you ever tried something again and again before you succeeded? In English, there's a perfect phrase for that: after several attempts. Understanding how to use this adverbial phrase will make your stories more detailed and improve your overall fluency in English. It’s a simple tool that adds a powerful sense of effort and achievement to your sentences, helping you with natural sentence use. Let's explore how it works.
Table of Contents
- What Does “After Several Attempts” Mean?
- What Type of Adverbial Phrase Is “After Several Attempts”?
- Example Sentences with “After Several Attempts”
- When and How to Use “After Several Attempts”
- Summary and Practice Tip
What Does “After Several Attempts” Mean?
"After several attempts" means that something happened or was achieved only after trying many times.
This phrase emphasizes persistence and the effort it took to reach a goal. It tells your listener that success was not immediate. In terms of grammar rules, it acts as a verb modifier, adding important context about the struggle that happened before the success. It helps describe when an action was finally completed.
More: Mastering 'In the Next Semester': A Grammar Guide for English Learners
What Type of Adverbial Phrase Is “After Several Attempts”?
This is an adverbial phrase of time. It answers the question "When?" but in a special way. It tells us when the main action of the sentence finally happened, relative to the efforts that came before it. This is a key part of understanding sentence structure in English.
Its grammatical structure is quite simple:
- Preposition:
after - Determiner:
several(meaning more than two but not many) - Noun:
attempts
The noun “attempts,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary, refers to the act of trying to do something difficult. This phrase is flexible and can be placed in two main positions in a sentence:
- At the beginning:
After several attempts, the baby finally stood up. (Use a comma after the phrase). - At the end: The baby finally stood up
after several attempts. (No comma is needed).
More: Mastering 'In the Next Semester': A Grammar Guide for English Learners
Example Sentences with “After Several Attempts”
Here are some sentence examples to show how this phrase is used naturally in conversation and writing. Notice how it adds a story of effort to each sentence.
She passed her driving test
after several attempts, and she was so relieved.Person A: "Did you ever fix that broken chair?"
Person B: "Yes!
After several attempts, I finally got the leg to stay on."The cat learned to open the door by itself
after several attempts.
More: Mastering 'In Those Days': English Grammar Guide for ESL Learners
When and How to Use “After Several Attempts”
This phrase is useful in many situations, from informal storytelling with friends to more formal writing like reports or emails. It helps describe challenges and solutions clearly, which is a great ESL writing tip for adding detail.
- Storytelling: "I couldn't open the pickle jar. But
after several attempts, my brother finally twisted the lid off." - Formal Reports: "The team connected to the server
after several attemptsdue to network issues."
Common Mistakes to Avoid
To learn English grammar effectively, it's important to watch out for common mistakes:
- Wrong Preposition: Avoid using "in" or "with." The correct phrase is always "after several attempts."
- Singular vs. Plural: The word "several" requires a plural noun. Always use "attempts," not "attempt."
A similar phrase you can use is "after many tries."
Summary and Practice Tip
To summarize, after several attempts is a key adverbial phrase for showing that success came from persistence. It modifies verbs by explaining the timeline of effort. Using it correctly will make your English sound more natural and descriptive.
Now, it's your turn to practice! Write a sentence in the comments below using after several attempts. What is something you achieved after trying many times? We'd love to read your story!
