2. Paco is relaxing in the hotel's bar
Listening activity
Suddenly, Paco can hear some music in the background. He is enjoying his drink and relaxing quite a lot. A new song is played and he pays attention to it. It helps him relax.
This is the song Paco listens to, Things I'll never say, by Avril Lavigne. Listen to it carefully paying attention to verb tenses and pronunciation.
Example activity
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| By jonsson.C. Commons |
Colloquialisms
A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech and it is different from slang. So, colloquial language (informal English) is quite different from formal English. For example, wanna, is a colloquialism only used in very informal English, that is in colloquial English.
Important!
In the song, Avril Lavigne uses lots of Present Continuous tenses in order to refer to actions happening at the moment of speaking and longer actions which are in progress now. Both uses are two of the most frequent ones of the Present Continuous tense in English.
Do you remember how this tense is formed? Have a look at the chart!
| Present of to be | + | Present Participle (-ing) |
| Paco is | + |
relaxing in the bar of the hotel |
| Paco and the barman are |
+ | talking to each other |
Remember: Modal verbs and stative verbs cannot be used in Continuous tenses.
Further knowledge
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It is very important that you do not hesitate about adding suffix -ing to bare infinitives to form the present participle of verbs.
First, watch the beautiful short video on the right to remember basic information on the Present Continuous Tense. Then, click here to download a file which will help you remember how to form present participles and gerunds of verbs and you will be able to briefly practice it.
These are some of the present continuous tenses that Avril Lavigne uses in Things I'll Never Say. Which is the bare infinitive in each case? Fill in the column on the right!
These are some of the present continuous tenses that Avril Lavigne uses in Things I'll Never Say
| Present Continuous | Bare Infinitive |
| I'm tugging at my hair |
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| I'm pulling at my clothes |
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| I'm trying to keep my cool |
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| I'm staring at my feet |
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| My cheeks are turning red |
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| I'm searching for the words inside my head |
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| I'm feeling nervous |
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| Am I squeezing you too tight? |
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| If it ain't (isn't) coming out, we're not going anywhere |
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