Name: Kamala Harris makes history - News Review
Uploaded: 2020-11-09T18:15:47.000Z
Duration: 11 min 24 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Gerund

I'm Rob and joining me today is Catherine – hello Catherine!

got a great story today about a female politician who's making

on the vocabulary that we're going to be talking about today

there's a quiz on our website at bbclearningenglish.com

but before you go there let's have a listen to today's news story with this

Yes, so Kamala Harris is making history in the United States.

She is the first Black, Asian woman to accept a nomination

to run as vice president in the American elections.

three words to talk about today to help you talk about this story.

They are: 'nod', 'mongering' and 'blasts'.

So, that's 'nod', 'mongering' and 'blasts'.

OK. Well, let's start with your first headline please.

International Writers' website – the headline:

OK. So, that's 'nod' – official act to suggest that someone should be given a prize or position.

That's right. It's a three-letter word: 'nod' – N-O-D.

I do.  You're nodding your head, aren't you?

Moving up...  I am – up and down – yes to mean 'yes'.

Yes, OK. And Rob, can I have your biscuits please?

Er no!  Shaking your head – this movement –

in a lot of cultures means 'no'. So, left to right is 'no'.

Up and down means 'yes'. And that's the idea

of 'nod', when we use it in this sense. It's not a head movement, but it is an

agreement. It is saying yes: in this case saying yes

to somebody doing something of importance,

or somebody getting a position of importance:

maybe a recognition, maybe a promotion. It's when somebody gets

it's not just somebody going: 'Yes, you've done well.'

No, no it's not. In fact, you can give somebody a nod by talking

to them, by giving them a phone call, by an email,

maybe by an announcement in a newspaper or somewhere else.

So, you 'give somebody the nod' that they are

able to do something, or they've received a recognition,

or they've won a prize, or in this case they've been recognised as

Right. Now, I went for a promotion in the

department last week to be head of biscuits and...

You got the nod? Fantastic! I got the nod.

Fantastic – ooh, by phone call? So, you got the nod by a phone call?

By phone call, yeah. I've got a job which means... And now – brilliant.

...good quality biscuits all round in the office now.

OK. Well, should we have a summary of the word 'nod'?

So, we've been talking about people giving us the nod but you can also

'give us a bell'. That's another expression, isn't it Catherine?

It is and to find out what it means and how to use it

OK. Time now to look at our next headline.

OK. So, that's 'mongering' – encouraging an activity that is damaging or hurtful.

Yes. So, the spelling is: M-O-N-G-E-R-I-N-G – the pronunciation is 'mongering'

with a noun in front of it and a hyphen. So, in this case 'fear-mongering'.

I go to a fishmongers: an expert in fish –

somebody who really knows their fish.  ...and sells it.

Hand tools: hammers and nails and things.

An ironmongers – somebody who works with and sells metal

objects made of iron. Less common these days,

but a fishmonger and an ironmonger are people who sell

fish and iron. Now, we're not talking about

real things that you can hold – like fish and iron – here,

but what we are talking about is somebody who

spreads and perpetuates feelings like fear, like worry,

like doom. It's things – so, if you're a 'fear-mongerer'

you make people afraid: you say things to make them

more fearful than they need to be. You concentrate on the negative.

You spread – you can be a worry-mongerer

and you make people worry by saying worrying things to them.

You can also have... You're not selling worry – you're not selling fear.

You're not selling it in the sense of money,

but you are selling it in the way that more

and more – you want more and more people to have it.

It's just some people do it. Some people look on the bad side of things.

Some people also – if you're fear-mongering – often they think it's the

right thing to do. If you're making people worried about

something, it's often because you think it's a very worrying thing, but

other people might see it differently and say:

'Actually, there isn't anything to worry about. You're just a worry-mongerer.'

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