If you’re keeping an eye on the events around
the world, then you know for sure about the situation with the president of the US right
now. Maybe you’ve been watching the news and shows in English about these events to
practice your listening skills and you have come across the words they repeat constantly
these days and you don’t know their meanings, like “mob” or “sedition.” Or maybe
you want to watch those in English then knowing these words will definitely make this easier.
I’m talking about an unprecedented situation for the United States, with already president
Donald Trump, but we’re not going dive into this whole thing. Instead we’re going to
dive into the vocabulary with examples. Let’s start with the most used word on the news
lately – Impeachment Impeachment is the action of formally accusing
a public official of a serious offence in connection with their job. Offence means an
illegal act or crime. It’s not a removal someone from office, it’s only a formal
accusation that launches a trial which could end in conviction or acquittal. In other words,
impeachment in the United States is a power of Congress applying to any civil officers
including president. The next word is the one that I used earlier – unprecedented,
which means something never done or known before. Pro-someone’s supporters (“Pro-Trump
supporters”.) When we put this “pro” prefix before a noun it shows support, approving
and agreement with something or someone. The next word is
Mob I really like this very accurate and easy-to-understand explanation from the Cambridge dictionary.
Mob is a large, angry crown especially the one that could easily become violent. Rampage
Rampage was used as a verb in this example which means to go through an area causing
a lot of damage while rampage as noun means violent and wild behaviour. Siege means the
surrounding and attacking of a place by an armed force in order to overcome resistance
and defeat those defending the place. This word that you might have heard lots
of times - “Capitol” which is the name of the building in Washington D.C. is used
by the Congress of the US for its sessions and the seat of the legislative branch of
the US government. And it’s pronounced the same as “capital” which means a city that
functions as the center of government of a country or region. Now you’ll hear these
two words being said together and separately - “incitement” and “insurrection”
Insurrection is
a rebellion against government in an attempt to take control of their country usually by
violence. Incitement is the encouragement of another person to commit a crime, provoking
unlawful behaviour. Another word you might hear is “sedition” which is
language (a speech for example) or behavior intended to persuade other people to oppose
their government and change it, sometimes by using violence. So “incitement” and
“sedition” are somewhat synonymous however, when you’re using “incitement” you need
to say incitement of what exactly you’re talking about because it can be any crime.
To convict means to officially declare someone guilty
of a crime. Looting is stealing things or taking goods by force from shops or other
places during
a violent event. A Riot is a violent public disturbance caused
by a large number of people. It’s a noisy, raging and uncontrolled protest. A rioter
is a person who takes part in such an event and behaves in such
a way. A Coup is a sudden, illegal takeover of government power but it’s not always
violent. To pardon means to forgive someone for something they have done. It’s often
used in politics. In the US it’s the president’s right to pardon anyone for a federal crime
and its legal consequences. That’s in a nutshell because there’s lots of nuances
to this. That’s going to be it for this video. As usual I hope it was useful and these
words help you understand more easily what is being talked about on the news
and not only.