Improve your listening and writing skills by filling in the blanks in the song lyrics. Today’s exercise is by the indie rock band Vampire Weekend, formed in New York in 2006. The song This Life offers a contrast between its bright happy music and the lyrics which speak poetically about uncertainty and suffering. This Life is considered one of the band’s best works. Enjoy!
These activities are designed for Beginners and Intermediates so that they can learn new vocabulary related to a specific topic in a quick and fun way.
Exercise
Fill in the missing words. ⇩
Don’t miss our latest song lyric activities. By creating a habit step-by-step, you will be able to shape your learning path while doing activities you love.
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Grammar – Present Perfect Continuous 
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Present Perfect Continuous
- The PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS indicates that an action started in the past and is either continuing at the present or has recently stopped. This tense usually puts emphasis on the duration of the action.
- – We should hurry up! She has been waiting for us for an hour. (The action still continues).
- – I’ve been cleaning all day and now I am resting. (The action has recently finished).
- The structure of the present perfect continuous is:
- Subject + have / has + been + verb-ing (+ object)
- To form the negative, we use the auxiliary verb have in the negative (haven’t or hasn’t).
- Subject + haven’t / hasn’t + been + verb-ing (+ object)
- For example:
- – I haven’t been feeling well today.
- – She hasn’t been studying English for a long time.
- To ask questions in the present perfect continuous we place the auxiliary verb before the subject.
- Have / has + subject + been + verb-ing (+ object)
- For example:
- – How long have you been waiting?
- – Have you been working on your study today?
I realized that Vampire Weekend reminds me The Smiths’ style, with happy melodies for sad lyrics.
Thanks
Excuse me, what should I do if I cannot attend the lesson?
I would love a talking heads’ song!
What an amazing class! I enjoyed so much 🙂