Hip Hop
I will send out some handy tips and useful exercises for adults learning to navigate and use the English language each week. Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends and colleagues.
Hip-hop is a cultural movement that attained popularity in the 1980s and ’90s. It is the backing music for rap, the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming speech, that became the movement’s most lasting and influential art form. Hip-hop, as both a musical genre and a culture, was formed during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City.
DJs played percussive breaks of popular songs using two turntables and a DJ mixer to be able to play breaks from two copies of the same record, alternating from one to the other and extending the “break.” Hip-hop’s early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became widely available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks. Rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat.
Listening Tip
Language Level – B2
Watch, listen and read along with this video about the history of hip hop and rap:
Grammar Tip
Language Level – B1
The indirect object of a sentence is the recipient of the direct object. (The direct object is the thing being acted on by the verb.)
Example: Sarah gave John an apple.
(In this example, the indirect object is “John” because he is the recipient of the direct object “an apple,” which is the thing being acted on by the verb “gave.”)
You can break it down like this:
- Subject – Sarah
- Verb – gave
- Direct Object – gave what? – apple
- Indirect Object – to who? – John
Tip: Indirect objects are usually people
Tip: Often, the prepositions “to” or “for” will come before the indirect object
It’s not just verbs that can have direct and indirect objects. Verbals can too. The verbals are infinitives (e.g., “to read,” “to think”), gerunds (e.g., “reading,” “thinking”), and participles (e.g., “reading,” “thinking” – they look the same as gerunds).
Here is an example of an infinitive with a direct object and an indirect object:
To give me a gun was lunacy.
(“To give” is an infinitive.)
- Step 1. Find the “verb” (in this case, it’s an infinitive) = “to give”
- Step 2. Ask “What?” = “a gun” (Therefore, the direct object is “a gun.”)
- Step 3. Ask “Who (or what) will receive it?” = “me” (Therefore, the indirect object is “me.”)
Let’s Practice!
Find the direct (D.O.)and indirect objects (I.O.) in the sentences below. Not all sentences will have a DO or an IO
- She told us her problems.
- Mother bought me a dress for my birthday.
- The teacher asked me a question.
- He taught them English.
- I bought some apples yesterday.
- They offered the beggar food.
- I handed her the envelope.
- I have bought a necklace for my mother.
- He sold me the car.
- I have sent her the message.
Vocabulary Tip
Language Level – B2
We continue to add to our vocabulary words from the Oxford 3000.
A list of 3000 words someone should know if they are taking the CEFR (Common European Framework Reference) language tests.
- Imagination (n)
- Impatient (adj)
- Imply (v)
- Impose (v)
- Impress (v)
- Impressed (adj)
- Inch (n)
- Incident (n)
- Income (n)
- Increasingly (adv)
Practice this vocabulary with Quizlet.
Reading Tip
Language Level – B2
Kendrick Lamar struck a chord at the Super Bowl, and it was definitely a major. The hip-hop legend triumphed in his halftime show at the big game in the New Orleans’ Caesar Superdome, in the middle of a lopsided Super Bowl where the Philadelphia Eagles ethered the Kansas City Chiefs. “The revolution about to be televised,” Lamar warned at the start of his halftime blowout. “You picked the right time but the wrong guy.”
Finish reading this article about Kendrick Lamar’s Superbowl Half-time Show here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/kendrick-lamar-scores-a-hip-hop-touchdown-at-super-bowl-2025/ar-AA1yIVnK?ocid=BingNewsSerp
Weekly Challenge
Language Level – C1
The first part of the Reading and Use of English paper in the C1 Advanced Examination is a multiple-choice cloze where you have to choose the correct word from four similar given words. This is a test of your vocabulary knowledge, primarily your ability to use the correct word (noun, verb, adjective) depending on context.
For each question, choose which of the four possible answers fits the space best. Also, think about why the other three answers are not possible.
- Lance is ____ knowledgeable on this subject.
- smartly
- powerfully
- firmly
- highly
2. I need a good explanation of all the costs ____ in buying a new car.
- affected
- involved
- concerned
- implied
3. There was a ____ debate about the Middle East, then they moved to a vote. lively
4. The doctor told him to lose weight quickly or pay the ____ later in life.
5. Jet lag causes problems with our ____ clock.
- biological
- botanical
- natural
- rhythmical
6. This species of seagull is not a ____ of the island, but will sometimes rest here a while.
- neighbor
- national
- citizen
- resident
7. Doesn’t it ____ you as strange that it’s the middle of May and it’s snowing?
8. I didn’t stay behind because I wanted to, I did so because it was my ____.
Questions?
