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  • 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 forgetif 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 IndiaIt's the Hindustan Timesit 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 bookso 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 assort 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 'chapteris 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 aboutperiod of your own personal life?

  • Very good question.

  • No, we don't just use 'chapterfor 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 pageon a chapter, you end it:

  • you sort ofyou begin a new portion.

  • Nice explanation. OK.

  • Well, it's time to 'turn the pageon 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 didin 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 UKit 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 pluralthe 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 thenthese 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 shoedo you know what I mean?

  • They... we're using this economy of sort of largeexcuse 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' figurativelywe'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! Nicethank 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. Nowlet's have your next headline.

  • Our next headline is from the BBCit says:

  • 'Kerfuffle'! Nice British English wordTom. What can you tell us about it?

  • So, a 'kerfuffle' – a 'kerfuffle' isdisturbance or fuss over a minor issue.

  • So, it's a disturbance over something which isn't important.

  • What's interesting about 'kerfuffleis 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.

  • Biscuitsnot 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 vocabularywe 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.

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

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