TURN BACK TIME= Time always moves forward, if you turn back time, you go back to the past. Not so long ago, MAY was used to express that something was probable and MIGHT to express that something was not very probable than with MAY, but today most people use both indistinctly (no difference). I might see her at the party, but I don’t know = Maybe I’ll see her. Tomorrow it may rain = Perhaps it will rain tomorrow (maybe). MIGHT= The modal verb MAY, or its past form MIGHT, are used to express probability: This sentence means "now I know more or less (just quite) the way to continue with my life". = The complete sentence is: "I know now just quite, how my life and love might still go on". So the form RUN could be the past participle (run-ran- run). RUN AWAY WITH MY HEART= This sentence (and the following ones) looks like an imperative, but it is possibly a present perfect (I think it makes more sense in this context): ( YOU HAVE) RUN AWAY WITH MY HEART. No, I can’t make it = No, I can’t come to your house / I can't go to the party, etc. Can you make it on Monday? = Can you come here on Monday? / Can you go there.? To "make it" means "to manage to do it", "to succeed in doing it" and it often refers to movement: MAKE IT BACK= If you make it back, you succeed in coming back. It means "really down", "all the way down". So the phrase " way up high" means "very very high".ĭOWN LOW= This is an emphatic form of "down". The boat sailed way into the sea = it sailed far away into the sea He’s way stronger than you = He’s much much stronger than you. WAY UP HIGH= Way is used in colloquial English to emphasize the comparative and adverbials of place: You can also say "I'll go wherever you go", without the idea of willingness. I'LL GO WHEREVER YOU WILL GO= The first WILL is the future auxiliary and the second WILL is the modal that expresses willingness, so this means: I will go anywhere you want to go. WHEREVER= Anywhere, everywhere, it doesn’t matter where. Exactly the same thing happens in this song: Rule the World (pay attention to the line: " if angels cry", that sounds like "evangels") This is not a common thing, but singers often make "funny" pronunciations to make things sound "more interesting" or more romantic or whatever. Notice that he pronounces the F in "if" as a V (if I could /ɪv aɪ kʊd/). IF I COULD THEN I WOULD= The missing parts of this sentence are in the next line: If I could go wherever you will go, then I would go wherever you will go. ON YOUR OWN= Alone, without company or help. In this context it means "to survive", to carry on living. UPON= Old-fashioned form of the preposition ON.ĬOULD YOU MAKE IT?= To make it is to succeed. It just sounds stronger and more beautiful (because it’s old-fashioned). John 16:23 (modern English: if you ask anything.)Įnglish speakers are very familiar with old-fashioned forms because they find them for instance when they read the Bible or Shakespeare, so it is not strange to find this old-fashioned construction in a modern romantic American song (although he wouldn’t use it in normal conversation). If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. In old fashioned English they very often use SHALL in the if-clause instead of the present to make it sound more emphatic: So if we’re just talking about future we would say:īut he adds SHALL in this conditional sentence to make it sound old-fashioned, and so, more poetical: if a great wave shall fall and fall upon us. if you will come tomorrow, I’ll see you = if you want to come tomorrow, I’ll see you (in this example the first WILL expresses volition and the second expresses future). We use WILL in an if-clause meaning "want", not future: In an if-clause we use present to express future: (this example may be considered a promise or an emphatic future).īut here, we see SHALL used in an if-clause (a conditional clause beginning with IF). I’ll go with you even if I have to break the city walls to do it. In modern English we use SHALL for promises (" I shall be there for you"), for offerings (" shall I open it for you?"), suggestions (" shall we go?") and as an emphatic form of WILL, which is the case here: We shall go to London = We will go to London. IF A GREAT WAVE SHALL FALL= The modal verb SHALL used to be the future form for I and WE, but not much anymore: TO LIGHT THE SHADOWS ON YOUR FACE= To make you happy, to remove the sad expression on your face. SO LATELY BEEN WONDERING= So I’ve been wondering lately. Well, then I hope there's someone out there
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