Grammar
- Anchorage - Michelle Shocked - Song Exercise For Past Simple
A short song exercise for elementary to pre-intermediate learners to practise basic Past simple forms. Michelle Shocked is an American singer-songwriter, who was born in Dallas, Texas in 1962. Her first US success came with her 1988 debut album...
- Exploring Grammar - The Subjunctive
You will occasionally hear or read about the Subjunctive, although in British English (BrE) we don't use it very often. And because we don't use it much, I sometimes wonder if we actually know what its forms are. I'm being disingenuous...
- Song Lesson - These Boots Are Made For Walking - Nancy Sinatra
Written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by Nancy Sinatra, this record was released in February 1966 and was a Number One hit in the US and UK Pop charts. There have been many cover versions in a range of styles: metal, pop, rock, punk rock, country,...
- Song - 'time In A Bottle' By Jim Croce - Exercise With Second Conditional
Jim Croce (1943 – 1973) was an American singer-songwriter. His song Time in a Bottle was recorded shortly before his death in an air crash, and was a No. 1 hit in the Billboard Hot 100, as was his other well-known song - Bad, Bad Leroy Brown....
- Song Lesson - 'she's Got Issues' By The Offspring
This song is rich in contemporary expressions to do with relationships and personal psychology, such as: to have issues, baggage, closure, validation, as well as alluding to possible past incest. It also has some interesting verb phrases and a couple...
Grammar
Song - 'One of us' by Joan Osborne - exercise with Second Conditional
I've already talked about this song in another post, but I thought that perhaps it deserved its own post with a full exercise.
One of Us - Joan Osborne
Most of the gapped verbs need to be put into Second Conditional forms. Sometimes you only need to enter would, at other times the full verb, making sure that any pronouns are in the correct place. Do this exercise before you listen.
you want · you ask · you call · believe
mean · have to · have (x3) · be faced
mean · have to · have (x3) · be faced
| Verse 1 | ||
| 1 | If God a name what it be? | |
| And it to his face? | ||
| If you with Him in all His glory | ||
| What if you just one question? | ||
| Chorus | ||
| 5 | And yeah, yeah, God is great | |
| Yeah, yeah, God is good | ||
| yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah | ||
| What if God was one of us? | ||
| Just a slob like one of us | ||
| 10 | Just a stranger on the bus | |
| Tryin' to make his way home? | ||
| Verse 2 | ||
| If God a face what it look like? | ||
| And to see if seeing | ||
| That you have to in things like heaven | ||
| 15 | And in Jesus and the saints, and all the prophets? | |
| Chorus repeats | ||
| Back up to heaven all alone | ||
| No, nobody calling on the phone | ||
| No, just tryin' to make his way home | ||
| Nobody calling on the phone | ||
| 20 | 'Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome | |
| Chorus repeats |
Grammar note
This song has been stupidly criticised on the Internet, not for religious reasons, but because of this line:
What if God was one of us?
And what is wrong with it, you ask. From my point of view (and that of all the TEFL course books I've come across) absolutely nothing, but for some it commits the heinous crime of using indicative 'was' instead of the subjunctive 'were'. In the UK at least, 'was' is perfectly acceptable in informal usage.
And if the line that follows - Just a slob like one of us - isn't informal, God knows what is. Anyway, why on earth should it be considered necessary for popular songs to use formal language? Just the opposite I would have thought. I do think this hang-up with were is largely confined to a certain type of self-righteous think-they-know-it-all adolescent, mainly American. Prescriptivist grammar (some would say all grammar!) largely disappeared from British schools in the 1960s.
According to the Bad Linguistics blog all three contenders for the job of Prime Minister of the UK in the 2010 elections said 'if I was your PM in three weeks' time, and not 'if I were your PM in three weeks time'. So we're in good company. Maybe. Here is my idea of how these two forms fit into the different registers
| Formal | Neutral | Informal |
| If I were / If he were | ||
| If I was / If he was | ||
Answers to exercise - click and return to the exercise
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- Anchorage - Michelle Shocked - Song Exercise For Past Simple
A short song exercise for elementary to pre-intermediate learners to practise basic Past simple forms. Michelle Shocked is an American singer-songwriter, who was born in Dallas, Texas in 1962. Her first US success came with her 1988 debut album...
- Exploring Grammar - The Subjunctive
You will occasionally hear or read about the Subjunctive, although in British English (BrE) we don't use it very often. And because we don't use it much, I sometimes wonder if we actually know what its forms are. I'm being disingenuous...
- Song Lesson - These Boots Are Made For Walking - Nancy Sinatra
Written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by Nancy Sinatra, this record was released in February 1966 and was a Number One hit in the US and UK Pop charts. There have been many cover versions in a range of styles: metal, pop, rock, punk rock, country,...
- Song - 'time In A Bottle' By Jim Croce - Exercise With Second Conditional
Jim Croce (1943 – 1973) was an American singer-songwriter. His song Time in a Bottle was recorded shortly before his death in an air crash, and was a No. 1 hit in the Billboard Hot 100, as was his other well-known song - Bad, Bad Leroy Brown....
- Song Lesson - 'she's Got Issues' By The Offspring
This song is rich in contemporary expressions to do with relationships and personal psychology, such as: to have issues, baggage, closure, validation, as well as alluding to possible past incest. It also has some interesting verb phrases and a couple...