Video lesson · Workplace English
Caveat: Grammar and Sentence Patterns
Learn how caveat qualifies a stated claim or stands alone, plus its formal patterns, natural verb partners, and countable forms.
In this lesson
To qualify a claim, attach the caveat at the end: X, with one caveat: [limitation]. Or: X is workable, with the caveat that plus a clause. The main claim comes first; the caveat narrows it.
To flag a limitation on its own, lead with it instead: The main caveat is that plus a clause, or One caveat: [limitation]. There is one important caveat: works the same way. No prior endorsement required.
Read video transcript
Caveat's patterns fall into two positions: modifying a claim you've already stated, or standing alone as the point itself. Learn the shared shape, and every pattern below is just a variation on it.
To qualify a claim, attach the caveat at the end: X, with one caveat: [limitation]. Or: X is workable, with the caveat that plus a clause. The main claim comes first; the caveat narrows it.
To flag a limitation on its own, lead with it instead: The main caveat is that plus a clause, or One caveat: [limitation]. There is one important caveat: works the same way. No prior endorsement required.
In formal writing, use subject to the caveat that plus a clause. And the noun pairs with a small set of verbs: add a caveat, note a caveat, flag a caveat — not make a caveat or do a caveat.
And caveat is always countable: a caveat, one caveat, the caveat for one, caveats for more than one. The usual caveats apply is a fixed shorthand for standard, unstated limitations — common in data and forecasting.
Want more examples? Read the related guide.