Love – Roberta Flack The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – answers

1 The first time she ever saw his / her face.

Notice the changed position of ever in normal parlance.

2 In his (or could be her) eyes.
3 Dark and endless.

The original version had dark and empty, but Roberta Flack sings endless. She has also cut out a couple of repeats from the original song, a wise decision.

4 By giving them the moon and the stars.

Sometimes we say someone offers you the moon and the stars meaning empty promises that never materialise – eg They’re offering the moon and the stars – but we’ve no proof they’ll deliver.

5 The earth did.

The phrase ‘the earth moved‘ is used of an earthquake, and could be a serious, but can also be a light orhumorous way of describing lovemaking.

6 Its heart was trembling and it was captive – it had a trembling heart, and it was captive (= caught, imprisoned).

captive – caught, imprisoned, confined. We use the word of a situation you cannot escape or with no options available – eg "We sit at these meetings, not saying a word – just a captive audience" = We have no alternative but to sit there and listen.

7 They were at my command.

If you have a lot of power or particular qualities people have to do whatever you say – they are at your command. It can express the ability to do something effectively – eg As a journalist, he has both knowledge and articulacy at his command. You might hear someone being humorous by using this phrase, meaning they are willing to do whatever you ask – eg "Just tell me what to do – I’m at your command!"

We do not use the expression ‘to lie with a person‘ now to mean to sleep with someone – it is old-fashioned. To sleep with someone = have a sexual relationship with sb, or have sexual intercourse with sb.
If you sleep on sth you delay making a decision about something important until the next day so that you have time to consider it carefully – "Why don’t you sleep on it, and tell me your decision tomorrow?"

8 That it would fill the earth and last till the end of time.

Back for the second exercise

Or if your time has run out, or you’ve had enough…..

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