Underneath the Tree

• By: Kelly Clarkson

Lyrics:

Vocabulary in this song:

Vocabulary	Meanings
snow /snoʊ/ A1	noun - frozen water that falls from the sky as white flakes verb - to fall as snow
sing /sɪŋ/ A1	verb - to make musical sounds with your voice
Christmas /ˈkrɪsməs/ A1	noun - the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth
presents /ˈprezənts/ A1	noun - a thing given to someone as a gift
beautiful /ˈbjuːtɪfl/ A2	adjective - pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically
sight /saɪt/ A2	noun - the ability to see noun - a thing that one sees
tree /triː/ A1	noun - a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk
hold /hoʊld/ A1	verb - to grasp, carry, or support with one's hands
close /kloʊs/ A1	adjective - near in space or time verb - to move so as to cover an opening; shut
lost /lɔːst/ A2	adjective - unable to find one's way; having disappeared or been taken away
cold /koʊld/ A1	adjective - of or at a low or relatively low temperature
gray /ɡreɪ/ A1	adjective - of a color intermediate between black and white
holiday /ˈhɒlədeɪ/ A1	noun - a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done
love /lʌv/ A1	noun - an intense feeling of affection verb - feel deep affection for (someone)
heart /hɑːrt/ A1	noun - a hollow muscular organ that pumps the blood
clear /klɪər/ A2	adjective - easy to perceive, understand, or interpret

Grammar:

• It just wasn't the same Alone on Christmas Day

  ➔ Ellipsis (omission of words)

  ➔ The sentence is shortened for stylistic effect. It omits the subject and verb, implying "It just wasn't the same being "alone" on Christmas Day."

• Presents, what a beautiful sight

  ➔ Exclamatory sentence (informal)

  ➔ This is an informal exclamatory sentence. The standard form would be "What a beautiful sight the presents are!"

• Don't mean a thing If you ain't holding me tight

  ➔ Conditional sentence type 1 (with slang)

  ➔ "Don't mean a thing" implies "doesn't mean anything." "Ain't" is a contraction of "am not," "is not," or "are not." This is a conditional sentence: If you are not holding me tight, presents don't mean anything.

• I was lost before you

  ➔ Past simple tense to describe a state in the past.

  ➔ The past simple tense "was lost" describes the speaker's state of feeling lost prior to meeting the person they're addressing.

• A love that's meant for me

  ➔ Relative clause with a reduced relative pronoun.

  ➔ "That's" is the contracted form of "that is", which introduces a relative clause defining the type of love. The full sentence would be: "A love that is meant for me".

• Knocked me right off my feet

  ➔ Idiomatic expression in the past simple tense.

  ➔ "Knocked me right off my feet" is an idiom meaning to be overwhelmed by strong feelings, usually romantic ones. The past simple tense indicates that this overwhelming feeling happened in the past.

• 'Cause you Are near And everything's clear

  ➔ Informal contraction and subject-verb agreement.

  ➔ "'Cause" is an informal contraction of "because." The subject "you" requires the verb "are." The parallelism between "near" and "clear" adds to the rhythm of the song.