Everyday Grammar - VOA Learning English More Verbal Tenses in We Didn't Start the Fire - August 31, 2023
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Aug 31, 2023 A remake of a famous song prompts a look at its timeline and which chorus lines stayed the same. The fire metaphor as a symbol of ongoing troubles and shared responsibility gets explored. Multiple verb tenses are examined, including simple past negative, past continuous, present perfect continuous, present continuous, and a first conditional. Listeners are urged to notice grammar in songs.
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Chorus Uses Tenses To Show Timeframes
- The chorus uses multiple tenses to express different timeframes and responsibilities about global problems.
- Faith Perlow contrasts simple past, past continuous, and present perfect continuous in lines like "We didn't start the fire" and "since the world's been turning."
Negative Simple Past Denies Responsibility
- The negative simple past (we didn't) denies responsibility for starting past harms.
- Perlow explains formation: subject + did + not + base verb, exemplified by "We didn't start the fire."
Continuous Tenses Link Past And Ongoing Events
- The song pairs past continuous and present perfect continuous to link past ongoing events with actions continuing to today.
- Examples: "It was always burning" (past continuous) and "since the world's been turning" (present perfect continuous).