The Man – Taylor Swift

The Man – Taylor Swift

The celebrate international women’s day here’s a blog post and listening activity for you…

The Man by Taylor Swift is a song about how society perceives your actions differently if you are a man or woman.  We look at the grammar and expressions.  You can also watch the whole video, then just listen and fill in the missing words in the lyrics below.

Grammar: WOULD 

We use would or ‘d to talk about hypothetical situations. In this song she’s using would to say how her actions would be perceived as positive if she were a man.  

‘I would be…’

‘They’d say…’

She uses 2nd conditional:

‘Wondering if I’d (would) get there quicker, if I was a man.’

Expressions (in the order you hear them in the song):

Play the field – To have lots of different casual relationships

Find someone to commit to – Find a person to have a serious romantic relationship with

Conquest – Something that you won in a battle – also a person you seduced

An alpha type – A person with a dominant personality

To be sick of something – When something bad is repeated and you don’t want to deal with it anymore

To be the man – To be the best ‘He’s the man!’

Hustled – Worked hard, been clever in business and made money.

Shake their heads – The movement when you say ‘no’ using your head. Also used to show disapproval.

Power moves – Things that people do in order to get more power.

Toast to someone – Hold glasses in the air and say something to celebrate or recognise someone’s achievements.

Players – Men who have lots of different relationships

Flashing my dollars – Showing people that you have a lot of money

Mad – Angry (US), Crazy (UK)

 

Lyrics gap fill:

I would be complex
I would be cool
They’d say I ……………….. before I found someone to commit to
And that would be ok
For me to do
Every ………….. I had made would make me more of a boss to you
I’d be a fearless leader
I’d be an ………. type
When everyone believes ya
What’s that like?
I’m so sick of running as fast I can
Wondering if I’d get there quicker
If I was a man
And I’m so sick of them coming at me again
‘Cause if I was a man
Then I’d be the man
I’d be the man
I’d be the man
They’d say I ………….
Put in the work
They wouldn’t …………………… and question how much of this I deserve
What I was wearing
If I was rude
Could all be separated from my good ideas and ………… ………..?
And they would ……… to me, oh
Let the ………….. play
I’d be just like Leo
In Saint-Tropez
Chorus
What’s it like to brag about
Raking in dollars
And getting bitches and models
And it’s all good if you’re bad
And it’s okay if you’re …….
If I was out ………….. …… ………….
I’d be a bitch, not a baller
They paint me out to be bad
So it’s okay that I’m mad