Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.
I'm Neil – joining me is Catherine. Hi Catherine!
Hello Neil, hello everybody!
And today's story comes from Beirut in Lebanon,
where people have been protesting
following the huge explosion that happened recently.
If you would like to test yourself on the vocabulary,
there's a quiz on our website at bbclearningenglish.com
but now let's hear more about that story from Beirut
with this report from BBC News:
Yes, people have been protesting on the streets in Beirut
after the huge explosion that killed over 200 people
and injured thousands.
People are angry that nobody in the government
has taken responsibility:
they're asking for people to quit.
OK. Well, the media has been covering
this story extensively.
What are the words that are being used?
Yes, we're looking at: 'the fall of', 'rage' and 'to topple'.
'The fall of', 'rage' and 'to topple'.
So, let's hear your first headline please
with that expression 'the fall of' something.
Of course. So, we're in the UK to start off with
and the Guardian Newspaper – the headline is:
The fall of something: the end of a position of power.
That's right – the fall of.
Now, that's a three word expression.
'The' – T-H-E.
'Fall' – F-A-L-L.
And the preposition 'of', spelt O-F – single 'F' there.
Now, in the headline the word 'the' is missing.
This is normal. Headline writers do this all the time:
they drop articles – words like 'a', 'an' and 'the'.
But the full expression is a fixed phrase: the fall of.
Now, people will probably know –
be familiar with the word 'fall' as a verb, meaning:
go from being in an upright position,
so standing for a person,
and then not standing – being on the floor.
Yes, it often happens by accident, doesn't it Neil?
You're walking along
and then you step on a banana skin,
the comedy banana skin,
and suddenly you're lying on the floor: you fell over.
We often used 'to fall over' or just 'to fall'.
So, from upright to flat on the ground – that's a fall.
We're using this verb – we're using it here
in an idiomatic sense: the fall of a person
or organisation from a position of power
means that they were powerful, they were strong,
they were influential, but now they're not.
They lost that position of power.
Often, they didn't want to but something happened
and now they're no longer powerful
or influential – excuse me!
We call that 'the fall of' whoever – the government,
the leader, the politician, the sportsperson.
We can talk about 'the fall of' meaning a loss of power
or position.
Often seen and used when referring to historical events
and regimes: you can hear about the fall of Rome,
for example.
Yes, that's right.
We talked about the fall of communist regimes
back in 1989. More recently, we've had
the fall of lots of governments and leaders
in the Middle East.
But, as you said, it's not just about
governments and politicians: we can refer to this –
you can use this expression to refer to people
who've got great authority in an area,
or success – like sportspeople.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, it's not just about... well it could be power,
but power in the sense of: people respect you,
people admire you, you're very successful in what you do.
So in the sporting world we can talk about
the fall of, for example, Tiger Woods the golfer,
who was very successful and respected.
Then there was some scandal around his personal life
and he lost a lot of respect. He lost...
Also, he started performing badly.
So he was at the top of his game
and then we saw the fall of Tiger Woods.
And then the rise again.
Yes! We have the fall, the rise...
No, the rise, the fall and the rise of Tiger Woods.
He's back on top at the moment.
OK. Let's have a summary of that:
OK. Before our next headline
we have a pronunciation tip.
That's right – we do, yes.
Now if you're interested in pronunciation of the 'F' sound
that we have at the beginning of 'fall',
if you click the link below you can go to a programme
that's all about the 'F' sound.
OK. Your next headline:
So, we're still in the UK with our second headline.
This one from The Times:
'Rage' – continue in an angry or violent way.
That's right. Now, 'rage' can be a verb
and it can also be a noun. It's spelt the same way:
four letters – R-A-G-E – rage.
And this is a word that describes great anger, doesn't it?
Great anger and great anger that's being expressed.
So, if you see somebody raging they're likely
to be shouting. They'll be probably moving their arms.
There'll be the clenched fist. There'll be lots of,
you know, maybe a red face or a white face or,
you know, lots of screaming and anger and violence
maybe, so it's a really extreme word for
a lot – a lot of anger and fury.
Yeah, and I think it's really important there,
what you said: it can be physical violence involved.
You could talk about a raging crowd rioting...
Yes. They might be breaking things and hurting people...
Yes, yes. But we could also say that people at a meeting
for the local council were raging.
Now, it doesn't mean that they were behaving violently
but they would be very angry.
Not always.
Yeah, the violence is, kind of, optional in raging.
I mean, I think in this, you know, some of these protests,
it does involve, you know, throwing things
and setting things on fire
but it could just be raised voices:
very, very angry people.
It doesn't always have to involve violence,
but it does always involve anger.
Yeah. A time when people often seem to get
really angry, at least in this country, is around driving,
so parking fines and speeding tickets
really get people into a rage.
Yes, and when other people are driving badly
or one driver A thinks driver B drove badly,
then driver A then starts behaving really badly
and shouting and making threats and aggressive
gestures. Well, there's a word for it actually:
we call it 'road rage'. Road rage.
Do you get road rage, Neil?
I can feel the anger rising but I don't go on a full rage,
I must say! I'm too scared.
Actually – well yes, you never know:
the other driver might be bigger than you.
Absolutely.
...or angrier!
Let's have a summary:
Well, we've been talking about anger and raging.
We've got a related expression, haven't we Catherine?
Yes. If you're not quite raging
but you do have a lot to say about the subject,
we can say that you are 'banging on about it'.
Now, to find out more about the expression
'bang on about' there's a link right there.
Click on that and you'll find out more.
And your next headline, please.
And yes, we're in the United States now.
Sunday TODAY – the headline:
'To topple' – to force a loss of power.
That's right. Two words now. First word: 'to' – T-O.
And the second word: 'topple' – T-O-P-P-L-E. 'To topple'.
There's a nice way of remembering what this means.
It's kind of in the word: the word 'top'.
Yes. Yes, 'top' meaning the opposite to the bottom.
It's up there. If something wobbles and falls
from the top, it 'topples',
so when something actually leaves the top
and falls to the floor it has been 'toppled'.
Yeah and we use this again to describe
the removal from power of someone or something.
That's right, yes. If a politician is forced out of power
by either events within his own organisation
or external events or protests we can say
that person has been 'toppled'.
It can – a person can be toppled,
or an organisation can be toppled,
but it's about being in the highest position
and then being forced to a lower position:
you are 'toppled'.
Yeah and we can also use this to talk about
non-political events, competitions,
sporting competitions – football matches, for example.
Again! Yes, the language of sporting, kind of, excellence
in sporting competitions is quite similar often
to the language of politics, interestingly.
So, we can talk about a football team
toppling another football team from its position
at the top of the league, which we saw recently
with – in the English Premier League.
Liverpool – the team Liverpool –
toppled Manchester United from their position
as the Premier League champions.
Man City.
Man City! Sorry everyone – I'm not a football fan.
You know what I really like about this word, Catherine,
is, as I said, it's got 'top' in it, so we have this sense of
something at the top and then
no longer being at the top.
But it also sounds a bit like 'wobble',
so it's like a 'top wobble' – a 'topple'.
'Toppled' – yes, it's a lovely word to say, actually,
the word 'topple'. It makes you think of kind of
a wobbling, wobbling movement – doesn't it?
I'm doing one now – I'm toppling.
I hope you don't fall over.
I'll try not to.
OK. Let's have a summary:
And time now for a recap of the vocabulary, please.
Yes, so we had 'the fall of (something)' –
the end of a position of power.
We had 'rage' – continue in an angry or violent way.
And finally 'to topple' to force a loss of power.
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Until next week, stay safe and goodbye.
Stay safe everyone.