More Tenses in 'We Didn't Start the Fire'
2023-09-01
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1In today's Everyday Grammar, we finish our discussion of Fallout Boy's remake of the song We Didn't Start the Fire, which was written and performed by Billy Joel.
2The new version of the song lists historical events from 1989 to the present,
3but the chorus is the same as Billy Joel's 1989 version.
4Today, we will look at verbal tenses in that part of the song.
5Lyrics and the meaning
6We didn't start the fire
7It was always burning since the world's been turning
8We didn't start the fire
9No, we didn't light it but we're trying to fight it
10The "fire" can be understood as bad things happening in the world.
11The song is talking about how bad things have existed throughout history and that one generation is not responsible for all of them.
12Joel was saying that his generation was doing its best to help by trying to fight "the fire."
13Let's move on to verbal tenses in the chorus.
14In the chorus, the simple past tense in the negative is used in the 1st person plural or "we" form.
15To form the negative simple past, we use:
16Subject + did + not + base verb + the rest of the sentence.
17In the song, the contraction of "did not" is used, "didn't."
18We didn't start the fire.
19No, we didn't light it...
20Next, we see the past continuous tense in the 3rd person singular form.
21The past continuous is used to talk about ongoing things that happened in the past.
22It was always burning...
23To form the past continuous, we use:
24Subject + past tense form of be (was or were) + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) + the rest of the sentence
25It was always burning since the world's been turning.
26In the second half of that sentence, we have a clause starting with "since" in the present perfect continuous.
27The present perfect continuous is used to talk about things that started in the past and are continuing today.
28To form the present perfect continuous, we use:
29Subject + has been or have been + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) + the rest of the sentence or clause
30...since the world has been turning...
31The contraction form is used in the song. In everyday English "has" sometimes appears as apostrophe "s" ('s).
32...since the world's been turning...
33And lastly, we see the present continuous tense used in the second half of the last line of the chorus.
34It is in the first person plural using "we" in a contraction with "are."
35No, we didn't light it, but we're trying to fight it
36The present continuous tense is used to talk about actions that are happening now, occurring often and may continue into the future.
37To form the present continuous, we use:
38Subject + be (am, is, are) + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) +the rest of the sentence.
39In the final chorus of the song, there is a conditional statement:
40But when we are gone,
41It will still go on...
42This is a type one or first conditional. This type of conditional is used to talk about future situations that are possible or real.
43The structure of type one conditionals is:
44If or when + present simple tense verb, will + infinitive verb.
45The word "gone" is a past participle adjective. This sentence means that the world will continue when this generation is no more.
46In today's Everyday Grammar, we closely examined other verbal tenses in the chorus of the song We Didn't Start the Fire.
47There were the past and present continuous tenses, the present perfect continuous and the simple past tense.
48We even talked about first conditional statements.
49Next time you are listening to a song, try to see which tenses are used or if there are any conditional statements.
50I'm Faith Pirlo.
1In today's Everyday Grammar, we finish our discussion of Fallout Boy's remake of the song We Didn't Start the Fire, which was written and performed by Billy Joel. 2The new version of the song lists historical events from 1989 to the present, but the chorus is the same as Billy Joel's 1989 version. Today, we will look at verbal tenses in that part of the song. 3Lyrics and the meaning 4We didn't start the fire 5It was always burning since the world's been turning 6We didn't start the fire 7No, we didn't light it but we're trying to fight it 8The "fire" can be understood as bad things happening in the world. The song is talking about how bad things have existed throughout history and that one generation is not responsible for all of them. Joel was saying that his generation was doing its best to help by trying to fight "the fire." 9Let's move on to verbal tenses in the chorus. 10Verbal tenses in the chorus 11In the chorus, the simple past tense in the negative is used in the 1st person plural or "we" form. 12To form the negative simple past, we use: 13Subject + did + not + base verb + the rest of the sentence. 14In the song, the contraction of "did not" is used, "didn't." 15We didn't start the fire. 16No, we didn't light it... 17Next, we see the past continuous tense in the 3rd person singular form. The past continuous is used to talk about ongoing things that happened in the past. 18It was always burning... 19To form the past continuous, we use: 20Subject + past tense form of be (was or were) + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) + the rest of the sentence 21It was always burning since the world's been turning. 22In the second half of that sentence, we have a clause starting with "since" in the present perfect continuous. The present perfect continuous is used to talk about things that started in the past and are continuing today. 23To form the present perfect continuous, we use: 24Subject + has been or have been + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) + the rest of the sentence or clause 25...since the world has been turning... 26The contraction form is used in the song. In everyday English "has" sometimes appears as apostrophe "s" ('s). 27...since the world's been turning... 28And lastly, we see the present continuous tense used in the second half of the last line of the chorus. It is in the first person plural using "we" in a contraction with "are." 29No, we didn't light it, but we're trying to fight it 30The present continuous tense is used to talk about actions that are happening now, occurring often and may continue into the future. 31To form the present continuous, we use: 32Subject + be (am, is, are) + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) +the rest of the sentence. 33In the final chorus of the song, there is a conditional statement: 34But when we are gone, 35It will still go on... 36This is a type one or first conditional. This type of conditional is used to talk about future situations that are possible or real. 37The structure of type one conditionals is: 38If or when + present simple tense verb, will + infinitive verb. 39The word "gone" is a past participle adjective. This sentence means that the world will continue when this generation is no more. 40Final thoughts 41In today's Everyday Grammar, we closely examined other verbal tenses in the chorus of the song We Didn't Start the Fire. There were the past and present continuous tenses, the present perfect continuous and the simple past tense. We even talked about first conditional statements. Next time you are listening to a song, try to see which tenses are used or if there are any conditional statements. 42I'm Faith Pirlo. 43Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 44_____________________________________________ 45Words in This Story 46chorus - n. part of a song that is repeated 47tense - n. grammar: a form of a verb that is used to show when an action happened 48contraction - n. grammar: a shortened form of a word 49conditional - n. grammar: showing or used to show that something is true or happens only if something else is true or happens 50infinitive verb - n. grammar: the basic form of a verb with the word "to"