VOA日常语法2023--More Tenses in 'We Didn’t Start the Fire'

More Tenses in 'We Didn’t Start the Fire'

In 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.

The 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.

Lyrics¹ and the meaning Everyday Grammar:

More Tenses in "We Didn't Start the Fire"

Everyday Grammar:

More Tenses in "We Didn't Start the Fire" We didn't start the fire It was always burning since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No, we didn't light it but we're trying to fight it

The "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."

Let's move on to verbal tenses in the chorus.

Verbal tenses in the chorus In the chorus, the simple past tense in the negative is used in the 1st person plural² or "we" form. To form the negative simple past, we use:

Subject + did + not + base verb + the rest of the sentence.

In the song, the contraction³ of "did not" is used, "didn't." We didn't start the fire. No, we didn't light it...

Next, we see the past continuous tense in the 3rd person singular form.

The past continuous is used to talk about ongoing⁴ things that happened in the past. It was always burning...

To form the past continuous, we use:

Subject + past tense form of be (was or were) + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) + the rest of the sentence

It was always burning since the world's been turning. In 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. To form the present perfect continuous, we use:

Subject + has been or have been + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) + the rest of the sentence or clause ...since the world has been turning...

The contraction form is used in the song.

In everyday English "has" sometimes appears as apostrophe "s" (‘s). ...since the world's been turning...

And 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." No, we didn't light it, but we're trying to fight it The present continuous tense is used to talk about actions that are happening now, occurring often and may continue into the future.

To form the present continuous, we use:

Subject + be (am, is, are) + base verb and present participle (-ing ending) +the rest of the sentence.

In the final chorus of the song, there is a conditional⁵ statement: But when we are gone, It will still go on...

This is a type one or first conditional. This type of conditional is used to talk about future situations that are possible or real. The structure of type one conditionals⁶ is:

If or when + present simple tense verb, will + infinitive⁷ verb.

The word "gone" is a past participle adjective. This sentence means that the world will continue when this generation is no more.

Final thoughts In 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.

I'm Faith Pirlo.

1 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

2 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

3 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

6 conditionals   

n.条件句，从句，条件式( conditional的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Conditionals are used to about possible, imaginary or impossible conditions. 条件句用于谈论有可能的、想像的或不可能的状况。 来自互联网
• Macros containing conditionals will automatically update their visual feedback as appropriate during play. 宏中若有条件式存在时，会依照条件式自动更新该宏的技能、物品描述。 来自互联网

7 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。