Hello! It's very late on Thursday night, but technically it's Friday (very early Friday morning) so I'm going to post this video now since I'll be traveling later "today."
The video is for a song called "Tongue Tied" by Grouplove. The lyrics aren't very amazing, honestly, and the video is strange, but the song's title has "tongue" in it and for "Taste" week, that's good enough for me! Plus it has a good beat:
If you didn't know, "tongue tied" generally refers to a person who is not able to speak because he or she is nervous or has something else preventing him or her from speaking. Another common phrase for that is "the cat's got your tongue." Yeah, I know, it's weird, but that's English. And that's how Fun Friday works.
Since we were talking about "big" words on Monday and Wednesday of this week, I thought I'd put up a video of a "big" song today for Fun Friday.
The song is called "Big Me," by the Foo Fighters. The lyrics aren't very complex, but I really like the video. The video is a parody that makes fun of a series of 1990s commercials for Mentos mints. You can see some examples of the original commercials here (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), but be careful! If you watch them more than one time, you may actually become stupider!
Anyhow, this Foo Fighters video captures the essence of the commercials. I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
P.S. - Thanks to my brother Paul for the song suggestion!
I was going to put up a video related to our "downtown" topic from Monday and Wednesday, but the only songs I could think of were Prince's "Uptown" and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl." I like both songs (although Prince's is much better), but Prince's song doesn't seem to have a video, and the video for "Uptown Girl" is objectively one of the stupidest music videos ever. So I was stuck. What to do?
After much debate, I finally decided I'd put up Bryan Adam's song "Summer of '69." I'm doing this for two reasons:
-Celine Dion is my arch-nemesis, so if I put up a Bryan Adams video, it should prove I don't hate Celine Dion because she's Canadian (I hate her because her music is awful).
-The song is filled with verbs, both in the simple present and simple past tenses. I actually used this song in a class activity earlier last week, so it's also convenient for me!
Here's the video, followed by the lyrics with an activity.
Lyrics Activity:
Instructions: Circle (or at least identify) all the verbs you can find in the song. How many verbs are there? Are the verbs in the simple present or the simple past tense? Divide them into two columns.
SUMMER OF '69 - BRYAN ADAMS
I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it 'til my fingers bled
It was the summer of ‘69
Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Joey got married
Should have known we'd never get far
Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah - I'd always want to be there
Those were the best days of my life
Ain't no use in complainin'
When you’ve got a job to do
Spent my evenings down at the drive-in
And that's when I met you yeah
Standin' on your Mama's porch
You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Back in the summer of ‘69
Man we were killin' time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothin' can last forever - forever
And now the times are changin'
Look at everything that's come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you, wonder what went wrong
(repeat chorus)
So, when you've identified the verbs, you're done --you can go home and enjoy the weekend! Next week we'll look at this song and its verbs again, and we'll do a few activities with them. Until then, have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!
Hello, and welcome to "Fun Friday"! Also, welcome to this blog's 100th post! Thanks to everyone who's been following Sitzman ABC and liking it on Facebook! If you know anyone who might be interested in this site, please tell him or her about it.
Since the last two "Fun Fridays" were not especially "fun" (unless you're a geography nerd like I am!), I decided I'd put up a video today. It's a song called "The Promise" by the group When In Rome:
The song is from 1988, but it became popular again a few years ago when it was featured on the soundtrack for Napoleon Dynamite, a 2004 comedy. Let's look at the lyrics and find some good vocabulary (you can also just read the lyrics while listening to the song, since the video hasn't got too much interesting stuff going on except a lot of bad late-80s fashion):
If you need a friend, don't look to a stranger, You know in the end, I'll always be there.
And when you're in doubt, and when you're in danger, Take a look all around, and I'll be there.
(Chorus:) I'm sorry, but I'm just thinking of the right words to say. (I promise) I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be. (I promise) But if you wait around a while, I'll make you fall for me, I promise, I promise you I will.
When your day is through, and so is your temper, You know what to do, I'm gonna always be there.
Sometimes if I shout, it's not what's intended. These words just come out, with no gripe to bear.
(Repeat Chorus)
I gotta tell ya, I need to tell ya, I gotta tell ya, I gotta tell yaaaa ...
(Repeat Chorus)
GOOD VOCABULARY:
stranger - A stranger is a person that you have not met. It's different than a strange person; a strange person is someone who isn't normal for some reason.
Example: "A stranger walked into the room and introduced himself as 'Robby Smith.'"
doubt - My students often confuse this word with "question"; it's similar to a question, but it's not the same. If you are in doubt or if you doubt yourself, then you are not confident about your abilities or your understanding. Also, notice that the "b" is silent, and the word rhymes with "out."
Example: "It's pretty late, and I've barely started this project. I doubt I can finish it by tomorrow morning, but I'll try."
fall for (someone) - If you fall for a person, it means that you fall in love with him or her. It can be fast and sudden, but often it's a gradual process.
Example: "At first Tina thought Charlie was arrogant and mean, but after she got to know him, she fell for him and they eventually even got married!"
temper - Temper refers to your mood, but it's most common in the phrase lose (your) temper. If you lose your temper, you become angry and impatient, and sometimes begin to yell or shout.
Example: "Kate was very patient with the kids she was babysitting until one of them spilled juice on her. Kate lost her temper and sent the children to their rooms."
gripe to bear- Honestly, this phrase is very rare, and you'll probably never hear it outside of this song. But I mentioned it because it stood out and I was sure someone would ask about it if I didn't. If you bear a gripe, it means that you complain about something. The word "gripe" generally means to complain, and it's more common.
Example: "I don't mean to gripe about this, but we really need to get some new coffee mugs. All the ones we have are broken."
Finally, the band's name can illustrate an interesting vocabulary point.
The phrase "When in Rome..." is a shorter version of:
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
This phrase means that if you are visiting a different culture, you are the person who should adapt, and that you shouldn't expect the culture to adapt to you.
For example, if you go to Japan and notice everyone bowing as a greeting, instead of shaking hands or kissing on the cheek, you can say, "Well, when in Rome..." and bow like everyone else:
An American military officer bowing in Japan, following local customs. (Image credit)
So, that's it for today. I hope you liked the song. If you have any questions or comments, please join in the conversation by leaving a comment. Have a great weekend!
It's hard to find pictures to illustrate grammatical concepts, so here's a nice flower.
Hello, and welcome to "Fun Friday" on Sitzman ABC! Today we'll talk about the Third Conditional in English.
"Wait!" you're possibly thinking, "That doesn't sound like fun!" Good point. I know that grammar can be difficult and complicated, but it's also very important to learn how to use grammar correctly, especially if you want to be an advanced English speaker. So, I'll try to make this post interesting, at least, but you'll have to forgive me if you don't think it's fun.
You might remember that late last year we talked about the 1st and 2nd conditionals in English, and I had meant to write a post about the 3rd conditional immediately after those. However, I had trouble finding a song I liked that used the 3rd conditional. Some English sites mention that Taylor Swift's song "Should've Said No" is good, and it does have some examples of 3rd conditional, but it's not a good song. I just don't like it, so sorry (you can still check it out here if you want). A few songs by artists like Meat Loaf and Rancid use a little bit of third conditional, but Meat Loaf's song only uses it once, and Rancid's song is difficult to understand and a bit too vulgar for a "family" language site like Sitzman ABC.
But then I finally noticed a Journey song that uses the 3rd conditional! You can listen to the song here and read the lyrics below, or you can go to the video's YouTube page to see the lyrics.
So, where is the 3rd conditional in this song? We'll identify that in a moment, but first let's do a quick review about when we use the different conditionals:
1st Conditional: real, probable situations
Example: "If I still feel hungry after dinner, I'll order a piece of pie for dessert."
(In this case, there's a definite possibility that I will feel hungry, so I can use the first conditional.)
2nd Conditional: unreal, improbable situations
Example: "If I were a cat, I would sleep all day."
(This is obviously an unreal situation: I'm not a cat, and I'm not going to be a cat unless a science experiment goes terribly wrong.)
Now, for the 3rd Conditional:
3rd Conditional: unreal situations in the past
Example: "If I hadn't missed the bus, I could have arrived to class on time."
(This is how we can speculate about past events that could have happened differently. In this sentence, I missed the bus, but I'm imagining a different past condition and result.)
The 3rd conditional is structured very similarly to the 2nd conditional, except that the 2nd conditional talks about the present and the future, but the 3rd talks about a fictional past. It also has two parts:
1. The "if" part (also called the "if phrase," "if clause," or "condition")
2. The "fantasy" part (also called the "would clause" or "result")
Let's look at another example:
If I hadn't come to Costa Rica, I might never have learned Spanish.
I can say this sentence in the 3rd conditional because I'm speculating about the past. I did come to Costa Rica, obviously, but I'm just imagining what my life might be like if I hadn't come to Costa Rica. We can usually invert the two parts, like in the other conditional tenses:
I might never have learned Spanish if I hadn't come to Costa Rica.
Both sentences mean the same thing, and the condition and result are the same in both.
Forming sentences in 3rd Conditional:
The structure of a 3rd conditional sentence is very similar to a 2nd conditional sentence, with one important difference:
In the third conditional, the condition is written in a past perfect tense ("had / hadn't" + past participle), and the result is written using would / could / might / should + "have" +past participle.
Here are some more examples:
If Shelly had known Mike was a vegetarian, she wouldn't have cooked steaks.
If Jim hadn't traveled to India, he wouldn't have met his wife in Bangalore.
If Ryan had thought this would be so complicated to explain, he wouldn't have written this post.
No one would have believed it if Costa Rica had won the 2006 World Cup.
We might not have had transmission problems if we had changed the transmission fluid earlier.
They probably wouldn't have gotten hypothermia while camping if they had brought warmer clothes.
In other words:
If (had/hadn't) + (past participle),(would/could/might) + (have) + (past participle)
Notice that in many cases, like in the Journey or Taylor Swift songs, we often only say the result, and the condition is often implied or not mentioned.
Can you complete the following phrases?
Roger might have gotten a better grade on his exam if ___________ .
Elaine would have felt happy yesterday if ___________ .
If Timothy had read his email, he ___________ .
If the baby hadn't spilled its juice in the car, the parents ___________ a new car seat.
(You can find many more 3rd conditional exercises here, here, here, and here.)
For more practice, listen to the song again and try to find some phrases that use the third conditional (remember that in this song, it only uses the result, and not the condition). Here are the lyrics (I'll put the third conditional phrases at the end of this post so you can check your answers):
Journey - "It Could Have Been You"
We were so close yet so far away I'd reach out, you'd be gone Moments that still take my breath away There's so much more to life than loving you You don't need me, no...
I can't wait all my life, on a street of broken dreams It could have been you my love (where are you now) Oh I still wonder if you remember the night It could have been you
Time washes over memories I can't look back no more Change has forsaken our promises There's someone else for you to hold again So please stop your crying
I can't wait all my life, on a street of broken dreams It could have been you my love (where are you now) Oh I still wonder if you remember the night It could have been you
Remember, remember, girl I remember I can't wait all my life, on a street of broken dreams It could have been you my love (where are you now) Oh I still wonder if you remember the night It could have been you (where are you now) Should have been you my love (where are you now) It could have been you my love (where are you now) remember...remember...remember
Aah! An 80s pop song about heartbreak, regret, and lost love... the perfect place to use third conditional! Any time you talk about a past action that you wish you had done differently (a regret), then the third conditional can be your grammatical weapon of choice!
So, what phrases did you find in the 3rd conditional? Yep, they're basically "It could have been you" and "It should have been you." So as mentioned before, we often only use one half of the third conditional.
That's about it for today-- maybe it wasn't "fun," but at least you got to listen to some Journey!
As usual, if you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below or contact me.
So far, I've mainly stuck to talking about English on this blog, but I've been meaning to add more content about other languages, as well. I actually studied German and struggled for nearly a decade to learn it, so often it's actually more interesting for me to talk or think about the German language than it is for me to write about English.
On the rare occasions that people ask about German, they often ask, "Is it hard?"
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yes, it is.
German pronunciation is easier than English, since it's phonetic and English isn't, but that's about it. The main killer of students who are trying to learn German is grammar. I remembered I'd heard the following song about 10 years ago, and believe it or not, it's actually a song specifically written to illustrate German adjective endings. You can feel free to watch the video, although only the song is original; the video was made by some junior-high schoolers as an extra-credit project, apparently, and the video quality seems to verify that fact:
Now, if you don't understand German, then it'll likely seem like a bunch of gibberish. If you do speak German, it'll probably still sound like a bunch of gibberish, because it basically is. I guess that's what you get when you write a song based on grammar. For example, the first line* is:
"Eins, zwei, drei / der gute Mann / ein guter Mann / der gute Mann / ein guter Mann / schlag den guten Mann nicht / schlag einen guten Mann nicht / schlag den guten Mann nicht... gib dem guten Mann einen Fisch / gib einem guten Mann einen Fisch"
That means:
"One, two, three / the good man / a good man / the good man / a good man / don't hit the good man / don't hit a good man / don't hit the good man... give the good man a fish / give a good man a fish"
Look at the English, and compare it to the German version. If you notice, there's a lot going on here. In the German, the definite article the appears to be either der, den, or dem, and the indefinite article a comes out as ein, einen, or einem. And it's true! The words "the" and "a" really can have that many variations (or a few more, if you count plurals and genitive/possessive words). And what about "good"? That comes out as gute, guter, and guten. The reason for these linguistic shenanigans? In German, articles and adjectives change depending on whether the noun they're referring to is the subject, object, or direct object of a sentence.
And the worst part of it is this: "Mann" (meaning "man," pretty obviously) is a masculine noun... and German has three genders: masculine, "neuter," and feminine. Plus, you also have to change the articles, the adjectives, and thenouns themselves when you make them plural. And in fact, that's what progressively happens in the following three verses of the song.
English does have quite a few similarities to German due to the two languages' partially-shared history and development, but luckily for today's English learners --and much to the frustration of today's German learners-- English didn't retain a lot of this grammatical complication, while German did.
So, whenever you're having difficulties learning a language, it's sometimes nice to realize that it could always be worse. And if you're struggling with German, remember this: at least it's not Finnish!
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
*This Turkish site has a kind of half-baked version of the lyrics (For example, it doesn't capitalize nouns, as is necessary in German), but I only direct you there for quick reference. For a better alternative, I suggest checking out Brad Yoder's website. I just realized two days ago that he wrote the song, and in a strange twist of fate, I actually met him in Pittsburgh in 2001. He's a good guy and deserves your patronage. Plus, he looks quite a bit like me, and he might even be my long-lost, evil-twin brother (or vice versa)!
