Entertainment

Lyrics : Apologize

Listening 4 min Lyrics Beginner

Vocabulary - 12 contextual wrods

Grammar - verbs say and tell

Pronunciation - American

Improve your listening and writing skills by filling in the blanks in the song lyrics. These activities are designed for Beginners and Intermediates to learn new vocabulary related to a specific topic in a quick and fun way.

For today’s lyrics we bring you Apologize by the American band One Republic. This song, remixed by the artist Timbaland, was the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of the Mainstream Top 40 chart in North America. Enjoy it!

Exercise

Fill in the missing words: apologize – holding – off – needs – you – down – chance – make – around – I – blue – too. ⇩

This activity is case sensitive so make sure to use capital letters when needed.

Grammar

Say/tell

We use say/tell in different ways in reported speech.

We use say to focus on the words a person said; we use tell to focus more on the content, message, or listener of what the person said:
Good morning, Claire said. (focus on words)
I told you to bring an umbrella! (focus on information and listener)

Say/tell both have a direct object, usually a reported clause (what someone said).

Tell also usually has an indirect object (the person or people who were told something). Say does not have an indirect object. Instead, we use to:
I told Mary that you like her. (indirect object: Mary, direct object: you like her.)
I like you! he said to Mary.

We use tell + indirect object + infinitive to report a command or an instruction. We don’t usually use say in this structure:
My parents told me to sweep the floor and wash the dishes.
Hank told Karen to close the store at 10 p.m.

When we speak informally, however, we can use said + to to report a command or instruction:
The boss said to leave the printer running.
Grandmother said to check to be sure the oven is turned off before we leave the house.

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