From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar.

"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" is widely considered to be one of the best rock music albums of all time.

The album helped make the British singer David Bowie world-famous.

The songs on Ziggy Stardust tell about a fictional rock star. The music is not only fun to listen to. It can help you better understand the workings of the English language, too.

Consider the song "Starman." Listen carefully to some of the words:

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[1] Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar 3rd edition (pgs. 162-169)

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Words in This Story

album – n. a long musical recording on a record, CD, etc., that usually includes a set of songs

fictional – adj. written stories about people and events that are not real

lyrics – n. the words of a song

movability – n. grammar the ability to move to different places in a sentence

modifier – n. a word (such as an adjective or adverb) or phrase that describes another word or group of words

participial phrase – n. a verb phrase that is used to indicate a past or present action and that can also be used like an adjective

nonrestrictive – adj. describing or giving more information about a person or thing but not needed to understand which person or thing is meant

adjectival – adj. a word that describes a noun or a pronoun

headlamp – n. a light worn on the forehead (as of a miner or physician)

pitch – n. the highness or lowness of a sound

certain – adj. particular members of a group

draw – v. to cause (attention) to be given to someone or something

emphasis – n. added force that is given to a word or syllable when speaking

consciously – adv. aware of something (such as a fact or feeling)

principle – n. an idea that forms the basis of something

comma – n. a punctuation mark , that is used to separate words or groups of words in a sentence