Lyrical Comprehension and Musical Idioms:
Did you know that when we listen to singing it activates specific neurons in the brain that don't respond when we hear other kinds of music or speech? Last year, MIT News published an article about this phenomenon.
Listening to songs can also be a relaxing and fun way to practice a language! A few years ago, a friendly Brazilian in an Oral Communication class I was teaching mentioned LyricsTraining, a program that uses songs to help people strengthen their listening comprehension skills. The company still exists but is now called LingoClip. The way it works is that users choose a language and level. They then listen to songs and select the words missing from the lyrics. You can try three songs a day for free.
While we're on the topic, here are ten music-related idioms. See if you can correctly place them in the sentences below. You will need to conjugate verbs and make pronouns that agree with the subjects they refer to! The answers are at the bottom of this post.
Play it by ear
Tone-deaf
Play second fiddle
March to the beat of one’s own drummer
Pace oneself
Change one’s tune
Toot one’s own horn
Like a broken record
Strike a chord
Ring a bell
1/ First he said he was opening a coffee house. Then he said he was starting a record label. Now he's telling us he will become a real estate agent. He keeps _______ _______ _______ !
2/ I think I've heard of that before. It _______ _______ _______ .
3/ You can’t learn Thai in one month. You’re going to have to _______ _______ .
4/ My brother can't sing in tune. He's _______ _______ .
5/ Gina does things her way. She doesn't care what other people think. She _______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______ .
6/ The plight of migrants crossing the border _______ _______ _______ with my coworker, and she went to Texas to volunteer and help them during her vacation.
7/ We haven't decided if we're going to the museum or the beach this weekend. We're not going to make any concrete plans. We will _______ _______ _______ _______ .
8/ That woman is always boasting about her accomplishments. She likes to _______ _______ _______ _______ .
9/ My neighbor won't stop sharing his political opinions with me. He keeps repeating himself. He sounds _______ _______ _______ _______ .
10/ Melissa is just as qualified and experienced as Darcy. She shouldn't have to _______ _______ _______ .
11/ The mayor’s _______ _______ policies showed that she was not aware of what the residents of the city wanted. That’s why she wasn’t reelected!
Adjective Order in English: Of course we can use more than one adjective to modify a noun! These multiple adjectives need to be placed in a specific order, though.
DETERMINER or NUMBER – a/an, the, this/that, these/those, one, two three…
OPINION – pretty, horrible, difficult, amazing…
SIZE – small, huge, tiny, gigantic, long…
PHYSICAL CONDITION – smooth, crumbling, sparkling…
AGE – young, old, new…
SHAPE – round, square, rectangular…
COLOR – red, orange, azure…
ORIGIN or NATIONALITY – Polish, Thai, Congolese…
MATERIAL – cotton, silk, leather…
PURPOSE – cooking, writing, running…
Those amazing new triangular writing tools work better than pens!
We bought minuscule shiny silk running shoes for the new baby.
Can you make some sentences using a few different adjectives?
Enrich Your Vocabulary | TOEFL Words: jargon
This week’s word has come up a few times in conversation recently. It dates back to the 14th century: almost as old as last week’s word, dearth. The first definition in Merriam-Webster tells us that it refers to technical language associated with a special group or profession. The second and third definitions, however, describe it as “obscure,” “pretentious,” and “outlandish” language. Therefore, the word can often have negative connotations.
They tried to read the label, but they gave up. They couldn’t understand all the medical jargon.
Can you make a sentence using the word jargon? Can you think of a time when you couldn’t understand what someone was saying because they were using technical terms you weren’t familiar with?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jargon
https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/eb/3000-words/topic/TOEFL%20Vocabulary%20Words
1/ First he said he was opening a coffee house. Then he said he was starting a record label. Now he's telling us he will become a real estate agent. He keeps changing his tune!
2/ I think I've heard of that before. It rings a bell.
3/ You can’t learn Thai in one month. You’re going to have to pace yourself.
4/ My brother can't sing in tune. He's tone-deaf.
5/ Gina does things her way. She doesn't care what other people think. She marches to the beat of her own drummer.
6/ The plight of migrants crossing the border struck a chord with my coworker, and she went to Texas to volunteer and help them during her vacation.
7/ We haven't decided if we're going to the museum or the beach this weekend. We're not going to make any concrete plans. We will play it by ear.
8/ That woman is always boasting about her accomplishments. She likes to toot her own horn.
9/ My neighbor won't stop sharing his political opinions with me. He keeps repeating himself. He sounds like a broken record.
10/ Melissa is just as qualified and experienced as Darcy. She shouldn't have to play second fiddle.
11/ The mayor’s tone-deaf policies showed that she was not aware of what the residents of the city wanted. That’s why she wasn’t reelected!