VOA慢速英语2021--Bad Habits, Adjectives and the Simple Present

Bad Habits, Adjectives² and the Simple Present 

Ed Sheeran's Bad Habits has been one of the most popular songs on the Billboard³ Hot 100 and Spotify's Top Hits.

Every time you come around, you know I can't say no

Every time the sun goes down, I let you take control

In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will explore how the song can teach you about how to describe regular or repeated actions and events.

Repeated activities or events

Every is an adjective¹ that is used to describe a repeated activity or event. It shows how often this activity or event happens or is done.

For example, consider the statement:

I wake up at 6am every day.

The repeated action is waking up. The adjective every describes the noun⁴ day.

Notice that the verb wake up is in the simple present – a verb form that can be used to describe regular, repeated actions. Although the verb is called the simple present, it does not exactly connect with the present time. It suggests that something often happens or is generally true.

Adjective use and verb form are two important ideas for understanding the grammar behind some of the lines of Ed Sheeran's song, as we will see.

Bad Habits

A habit is a usual way of behaving. It can be something that a person does often in a regular way.

Bad habits are ways of behaving that are not good. Let's listen to a few words from Sheeran's song called Bad Habits.

Every time you come around, you know I can't say no

Every time the sun goes down, I let you take control

Notice that the adjective every describes the noun time. In this case, time does not mean hours, minutes, or seconds.

Instead, time means an instance⁵ of something happening.

Notice that the verbs are in the simple present – you come around, the sun goes down, and so on.

The basic idea of the words is the following structure:

Every time something happens, something else happens.

Making Your Own Statements

You can use the basic structure of Sheeran's words to make your own statements about habits or things that are generally true.

For example, a person who does not like grammar might say,

Every time I open a grammar book, I fall asleep.

A person who likes grammar might say,

Every time I open a grammar book, my heart fills with joy.

When you are listening to music or reading in English, pay careful attention to how the speakers or writers describe repeated actions. Take note of how they use adjectives such as every and the simple present verb form.

And remember the following statement:

Every time you have a chance to practice, you should try to make the most of it.

Words in This Story

regular – adj. happening over and over again at the same time or in the same way : occurring every day, week, month, etc.

joy – n. a feeling of great happiness

practice – v. to do something again and again in order to become better at it

1 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

2 adjectives   

n.形容词( adjective的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We can form nouns from adjectives. 我们可以用形容词来构成名词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Attributive adjectives precede the noun. 定语形容词位于名词前。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

4 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

5 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！