Name: Iran's president killed in crash: BBC News Review
Uploaded: 2024-04-24T03:15:12.000Z
Duration: 6 min 35 s
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Relative clauses (Restrictive vs. nonrestrictive)

Iran's President Killed in a Helicopter Crash – this is News Review from BBC Learning English, where we help you understand news headlines in English.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary that you need to talk about this story.

And don't forget to subscribe to our channel to learn more English from the headlines.

The funeral of the President of Iran, Ibrahim Raisi, is taking place after he was killed in a helicopter crash.

The accident happened in bad weather in a mountainous region in the northwest of the country.

Thousands have mourned him in the streets, but his death has also been celebrated by his critics on social media.

Raisi's record on human rights has been heavily criticised.

Looking at the headlines, what's the vocabulary that people need to understand this news story in English?

We have furtive, reverberate and condolences.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

So, this headline says that Iran is divided.

Mourning is a period of sadness after someone dies, and mourning here is being described as muted, which means not so noticeable.

And then on the other side, we have the celebrations that are described as furtive.

Phil, what can you tell us about furtive?

OK, well, furtive is an adjective and it means secret or hidden.

So, if we describe someone as behaving in a furtive way, that means that they're being secretive or maybe dishonest or suspicious.

So, in the headline, those who are celebrating are doing it in a furtive way.

They are doing it in a hidden or a secretive way.

They don't want people to know necessarily that they are celebrating.

Another way that we often use the word furtive is with words that talk about ways of looking at things.

So, you might hear about a furtive glance, a furtive look, a furtive glimpse.

And that's where someone is trying to look at something or someone else, but not be spotted doing it.

If someone acts furtively, then they act suspiciously.

This headline asks about the impact that Raisi's death will have.

That's how sound can reverberate across an area.

Here, it's metaphorical and we're talking about impact.

The impact of something can spread across an area.

If you throw a stone into the middle, then the ripples will spread across the pond and something reverberating spreads in a similar way.

So, this headline is asking about the reverberations, the impact across the Middle East.

Can you give us some examples of reverberation?

OK, well, any significant event can have reverberations.

So, maybe think about a decision to close a factory.

That could have strong reverberations on the local community.

And some of those consequences might be things that we didn't expect.

US offers condolences over Iran chopper crash blasts Raisi's human rights record.

So, there are two things happening in this headline.

One is that the US government has blasted, that means strongly criticised Raisi's human rights record.

And on the other side, the US have offered their condolences.

And condolences is what we are looking at.

Yeah, so condolences are an expression of sympathy towards someone when someone has died.

So, the US government has offered sympathy towards the Iranian people, but they have also criticised Raisi heavily.

Now, when someone dies, you might use the expression my condolences, which is quite formal, but it works here.

We also often talk about sincere or heartfelt condolences, and that just makes them even stronger.

Now, there is a verb condole, but we probably more often use verbs like offer, as we have in the headline here.

Or you can express condolences or extend your condolences to someone.

We've had furtive, secretive, reverberate, have a wide impact, and condolences, sympathy.

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