Marching Bands
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.
American football and marching bands go hand-in-hand, and as pre-season football is underway, I thought we would take a look at the entertaining half-time show.
Reading Tip
Language Level – B2
It should come as no surprise that marching bands have military origins. Marching songs were used to direct troops on long journeys, maintain morale, and even direct troops on the battlefield.
Modern audiences will know marching band music from the halftime shows of American football games. This tradition dates to the University of Illinois Marching Illini in 1907. This band is the first recorded instance of marching songs played at a football game.
Continue reading this article about the origins of the marching band at American football games here: https://www.savethemusic.org/blog/marching-band-music/
Listening Tip
Language Level – A2
Watch and listen as this marching band performs “Hollywood Blockbusters.”
Grammar Tip
Language Level – B1
Adjective Clause – a multi-word adjective that includes a subject and a verb and usually comes after the noun it modifies.
For example:
- The painting we bought last week is a fake.
In English, we are used to seeing adjectives placed before the noun it modifies.
For example:
- The oil painting is a fake.
And you can have both adjectives and adjective clauses in a sentence.
For example:
- The oil painting we bought last week is a fake.
The Components of an Adjective Clause
An adjective clause (also called a relative clause) will have the following three traits:
- Trait 1. It will start with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that, or which) or a relative adverb (when, where, or why).
This links it to the noun it is modifying.
(Note: Quite often, the relative pronoun can be omitted. However, with an adjective clause, it is always possible to put one in.
Example: The carpets which you bought last year have gotten moldy.
- Trait 2. It will have a subject and a verb.
These are what make it a clause.
- Trait 3. It will tell us something about the noun.
This is why it is a kind of adjective.
Note: Americans tend to use “that” and the Brits tend to use “which”, but both are correct.
Example: The dog that ate the squeaky toy is feeling sick.
The dog which ate the squeaky toy is feeling sick.
Let’s practice!
Put an adjective clause to modify a noun in each sentence below:
- The businessman was the keynote speaker at the convention.
- The burglar turned out to be the artist.
- The woman has been caught stealing from the register.
- The dog is not allowed on the furniture.
- My brother sprinted after the bus.
- The first detective already asked that question of the witnesses.
- The attorney was late for court again today.
- Every theatre has a resident ghost.
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.
- Catch (n)
- Cell (n)
- Chain (v)
- Chair (v)
- Chairman (n)
- Challenge (v)
- Characteristic (n, adj)
- Chart (v)
- Chief (adj, n)
- Circumstance (n)
Study these words with this quizlet.
Each week new words are added to the same quizlet, so all of the B2 level words will be in one list for practice.
Weekly Challenge
Language Level – B2
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.”
-Twelfth Night Act 2, Sc. 5
So what makes a great leader? Simon Sinek has a few ideas about leadership in this Ted Talk:
Questions?
