Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.
I'm Catherine and joining me today is Tom. Hello Tom.
Hello Catherine. Good morning and hello to our audience.
Today's story is about former US president Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump was acquitted, or found not guilty,
at his recent impeachment trial.
Now, don't forget – if you want more on this story and to do a quiz,
just go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com.
Now, let's hear more about this story from this BBC News report:
So, Donald Trump's impeachment trial has ended.
The trial aimed to establish whether Mr. Trump was responsible
for causing the attack on the US Congress last month.
Mr. Trump was acquitted, or found not guilty, in the case
and this is the second time that this has happened.
OK. And you've been looking at the headlines around this story,
haven't you Tom? What words have you picked out for us today?
Our words and expressions for today, Catherine, are:
'sad chapter', 'rifts' and 'kerfuffle'.
'Sad chapter', 'rifts' and 'kerfuffle'.
So, let's take a look at your first headline.
My first headline is from India. It's the Hindustan Times – it says:
'Sad chapter' – negative period.
Now, what can you tell us about this word, Tom?
Let's begin with 'chapter'. 'Chapter' is a noun: C-H-A-P-T-E-R.
And a 'chapter' is a part of a book.
A part of a book – so part of a story.
Now, what's this got to do with Trump, Biden, democracy?
What's going on?
Good question. So, if we think about... let's begin with the headline.
The headline talks about Mr. Biden's quote
that Trump's acquittal was a 'sad chapter'
or a negative period for American democracy.
If you think about democracy as a sort of... a lifeline or a story:
Mr. Biden is saying that the acquittal
marks a negative period in this ongoing story.
OK. Got it. So, a 'chapter' is like a period of life –
in this case, a period of the kind of story of democracy.
So, we can only use 'chapter' when we're talking
about big things like democracy and world events?
Or can you use it to talk about a period of your own personal life?
Very good question.
No, we don't just use 'chapter' for sort of important things;
we can use it a lot in our personal life as well.
For example, when I went to university
that was the start of a 'new chapter' in my life:
it was something completely different that I'd never done before.
A 'happy chapter', Tom?
It was a very happy chapter, yeah.
'Happy and exciting chapter,' you could say.
OK. Any other expressions that we can use
relating to sort of 'chapters' of our lives?
When a 'chapter' ends, we can use another expression
related to books, which is 'turn the page'.
So, if you 'turn the page' on a chapter, you end it:
you sort of – you begin a new portion.
Nice explanation. OK.
Well, it's time to 'turn the page' on this chapter of News Review
and we're going to finish this section with a summary.
Very good!
So, we're talking today about Donald Trump's second impeachment trial
but a while ago we talked about his first impeachment trial, didn't we Tom?
We did – in the BBC offices –
and you can find that video by clicking the link.
Can we now have your second headline?
Of course. My second headline comes from
the Financial Times in the UK – it says:
And that word is 'rifts'.
'Rifts' – serious breaks or separations.
Now, this word's a noun, isn't it Tom?
It is. It's plural – the singular noun is 'rift': R-I-F-T.
And a 'rift' is a serious break or separation.
And we often use this in geographical terms,
don't we, to describe geographical features?
Yeah. So, literally a 'rift' is a crack, or a break or a split.
So, you could have a 'rift' in clouds or rocks, for example.
Of a valley: if you think about a valley –
you know, two high sides with a space in between them –
a valley is a 'rift'. It's just a really big 'rift'.
Big geography then – these are big.
You don't get a little 'rift' in a pebble
or a little small rock you can hold in your hand.
Yeah. Like, there are no 'rifts' under my shoe – do you know what I mean?
They... we're using this economy of sort of large – excuse me.
We're using this language of large scale,
so we normally use it for sort of important and momentous things.
So, when we use 'rift' figuratively, we're talking about a split or a division
between people who had been on good terms.
So, let's go back to that headline. It says:
'Senate acquittal exposes deep Republican rifts over Trump.'
What this is saying is that – what the headline says is that
Donald Trump's acquittal has shown that there is a big gap
between Republicans: between his own party.
You know, they're very far away from each other and they've split.
So, they really don't agree and they're not getting on.
Exactly.
OK. And we only use this to talk about kind of big people in politics?
Or can you have a 'rift' in the family,
if you really fall out with somebody in your family?
You can have a 'rift' in a lot of things
and we can use it a lot in our day-to-day life as well.
For example, we could have a 'rift' in a family, as you said,
or 'rift' in a relationship or a 'rift' in a marriage.
OK...
Notice that I said 'in' as well.
Yes... yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Preposition's 'in'. Any other prep...
So, there's preposition 'in' – anything else we can use?
Two main prepositions we use with 'rift':
one is 'in' and the other one is 'between'.
So, with the headline we could say there is a 'rift in the Republican Party',
or we could say there is a 'rift between Republicans in the party'.
Aha! So, a 'rift in a thing',
and the 'rift between' is followed by the people
or the organisations who are in disagreement.
Exactly. Very well put.
And there are some verbs we can use with 'rift' as well:
you can 'open a rift' when it begins,
and when it closes you can 'heal or mend a rift'.
Nice! Nice – thank you for that. Let's have a summary:
And talking of things splitting up, we've got an archive story
about the EU and the UK, haven't we Tom?
We do, yes. This is a story on the split that happened
over the issue of Brexit and you can find it by clicking the link.
Thank you very much. Now, let's have your next headline.
Our next headline is from the BBC – it says:
'Kerfuffle'! Nice British English word, Tom. What can you tell us about it?
So, a 'kerfuffle' – a 'kerfuffle' is a disturbance or fuss over a minor issue.
So, it's a disturbance over something which isn't important.
What's interesting about 'kerfuffle' is it's a feature of spoken English
and you almost never see it written as in the headline.
So, we'd say it quite often but you very rarely see it written.
An example of a 'kerfuffle' over... a disturbance or fuss over a minor issue.
Let's think about Rob in the office.
The other day, Rob couldn't find his biscuits.
He said, 'Who's stolen my biscuits?'
He started to scream, he started to shout
and then eventually he found his biscuits.
Biscuits – not a big issue. There's no need to scream and shout, Rob.
Rob was creating a 'kerfuffle'. We could say, 'What a kerfuffle!'
Or: 'Such a big kerfuffle over nothing!'
So, without making too much of a 'kerfuffle'
about the word 'kerfuffle', let's have a summary:
Now, Tom, time to recap the vocabulary, if you would?
Yeah, of course. Today's vocabulary – we have:
'sad chapter' – negative period;
'rifts' – serious breaks or separation;
and 'kerfuffle' disturbance or fuss over a minor issue.
And you can test yourself on today's vocabulary with the quiz on our website.
You can find us all over social media too,
so thank you for watching and goodbye for now. Bye!
And see you next time.