English Grammar in Pop Songs Exercises – Part 1

Here’s a fun way to test your knowledge of English grammar and English listening skills. Listed below are five video clips of some popular songs. The video clips are audios of pop songs together with their lyrics. Here’s what you have to do:

Step One: For each video clip, make a note of what point of English grammar in the pop song you need to pay attention to.

Step Two: Play the video clip and carefully listen to the song WITHOUT looking at the lyrics. Get a feel for the words and try to listen for the grammatical phrases required for the exercise.

Step Three: Listen to the song as many times as you want without looking at the lyrics, writing down as many different phrases you can hear that contain the required grammatical expression.

Step Four: If you have trouble hearing the phrases, then look at the lyrics to complete the exercise.

Step Five: Check your answers.

Listen for present continuous phrases

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWhF_pgE_CU

Answers:

I am sailing
I am flying
I am flying, passing high clouds
I am dying, forever crying
We are sailing

Listen for future continuous phrases

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpJGTLzwP9I

Answer:

I’ll be watching you

Listen for past continuous phrases and for irregular verbs

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4tfVjwRGGo

Answers:
past continuous
I was dreaming of the past
And my heart was beating fast
I was feeling insecure
I was shivering inside
I was trying to catch your eyes
Thought that you were trying to hide
I was swallowing my pain

irregular verbs
I was dreaming
Note: to dream can be considered both irregular and regular – past participle is dreamt and dreamed

my heart was beating

I began to lose control
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
I was feeling insecure
I was trying to catch your eyes
Thought that you were trying to hide

Listen for phrases containing the future with “will”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJC081LC_HA

Answers:
I will survive; I’ll survive
I’ll stay alive

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKCGBv65w_M

Answers:

I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly
I’ll do what it takes til’ I touch the sky
And I’ll make a wish
But I won’t forget all the ones that I love
Travel on a jet plane, far away (I will)
Maybe I don’t know where they’ll take me

Do you know any other songs which can be used for an English Grammar in Pop Songs exercise? What points of grammar are used in these songs?

Watch out for English Grammar in Pop Songs – Part 2, where you can test your knowledge of English grammar and English listening skills with another five video clips of some popular songs.