vocabulary | EnglishFiles.com

Space Oddity by David Bowie — vocabulary exercises

The vocabulary exercises below are based on the lyrics of David Bowie’s song, Space Oddity. Start with an easy matching exercise and then you can choose from five different task types (in the bottom right corner, where it says “Choose a Study Mode”): Match, Learn, Test, Flashcards, Spell – you can probably guess how each one works but try them all.

We have a number of exercises based on the song Space Oddity by David Bowie; here’s the list:

A listening comprehension gapfill (B2 level)
A text reconstruction listening comprehension task (B2 level)
An easier listening comprehension gapfill (B2 level)

Coming soon: another listening comprehension gapfill and a reading comprehension task, followed by more vocabulary exercises.

John Lennon: Imagine – a listening comprehension exercise

Imagine is probably one of the most famous songs ever written by John Lennon.

In this task you have to complete the lyrics of this song after listening to it – the good news is that you only have to choose the missing words from a list.

The difficulty of this exercise is around B2 level on the CEFR scale, which is approximately upper-intermediate level.

There will more tasks based on this song later, including vocabulary exercises too.

Vocabulary exercises based on the U2 song One: drag, forgive, raise

We’ve had a number of exercises based on the U2 song One earlier, starting with a listening comprehension task, then a reading text on the background of the song, which was more of a vocabulary exercise, then two collocations tasks on the word blame, and a word formation exercise on the word disappoint.

The tasks in this post will help you learn how to use the words drag, forgive and raise.

The difficulty level of these tasks is slightly below B2 level (between intermediate and upper-intermediate).

There will be more vocabulary exercises based on this song.

Vocabulary exercises based on The River by Bruce Springsteen

All the vocabulary exercises in this post are based on the song The River by Bruce Springsteen.

Earlier we posted a number of exercises based on this classic song:

a listening comprehension exercise, where you have to find the missing words
a slightly more difficult listening comprehension exercise
and a reading comprehension exercise on the background of the song

This post offers vocabulary exercises on the words haunt, aisle, curse and vanish.

There will be more vocabulary practice exercises based on this song.

Handle with Care – The Traveling Wilburys: a listening comprehension exercise

Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize in literature earlier today and we’re celebrating it with a listening task, what else?

Most Bob Dylan fans will know that he was a member of the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, together with George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. The song featured here, Handle with Care, was one of the hits of this short-lived band.

Vocabulary practice: ‘disappoint’ – word formation

This post is part of the series featuring the words and expressions found in the U2 song One. The first in this series was the collocations exercises with blame.

In this exercise you have to put the word disappoint in the correct form to complete the sentences.

You’ll find more vocabulary practice exercises based on the song One later here.

Vocabulary practice: collocations with ‘blame’

The word blame occurred in the U2 song One. In these two exercises you can practice how to use this word in sentences.

Pronunciation (click on the Play icon):

Please note that in some sentences more than one answer might seem grammatically correct, but if you consider the meaning of the sentences you’ll realize that only one makes sense in each case.

Your task is the same in this second exercise, too:

There will be some more vocabulary exercises based on the words and expressions in One.

One by U2 — the background: a vocabulary exercise

This task is based on the background story of the song One by U2. Read the text and for each gap choose the most appropriate word.

A listening comprehension task based on the song appeared earlier on EnglishFiles.com.

There will be more tasks coming based on this song, including another listening comprehension exercise and also vocabulary practice tasks later.

Bruce Springsteen: The River — a listening comprehension exercise

This is a listening comprehension task based on the famous Bruce Springsteen song The River.

The difficulty of this exercise is about B2 level (upper-intermediate) or maybe slightly higher.

Your task is to listen to the song and fill the gaps in the lyrics. You can also ask for hints and stop the playback at any time.

We have a few more exercises based on this song:

You can expect even more exercises on The River by Bruce Springsteen, so check back soon.

And please don’t forget to like our Facebook page to get updates and find other useful stuff for learners of English, including links and videos.

A literary quiz

books in library This is for those interested in advanced level vocabulary and literature. All the words in this quiz are at least C1 level but most of them are even higher and belong to a special register – literature. Still, they are useful to know but be careful when you want to use them in everyday conversation so as not to seem posh. However, if you use them in writing (in the right context!) they should improve the quality of your text.

So, go ahead and see how many of them you get right – don’t worry, we won’t call you nescient if you make too many mistakes.