Name: Biden out, Harris in: BBC Learning English from the News
Uploaded: 2024-07-29T09:31:36.000Z
Duration: 9 min 21 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...

Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Participle clauses

The latest twist in the US presidential race.

In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode, as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

US President Joe Biden has ended his campaign to become president again, saying it is in the best interest of my party and the country.

President Biden was under intense pressure from other politicians in his party, that's the Democrats, to quit after poor performances at recent events, such as a debate against Donald Trump in June.

Biden's Vice President, Kamala Harris, now has support from senior politicians to become the Democrat Party's official candidate for president.

So we have a headline here that describes the first part of this story about

Joe Biden quitting the presidential race.

It comes from the UK-based newspaper, the Daily Mail, and the headline is...

Joe Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race after debate disaster.

This is from the Daily Mail and it says...

OK, so this headline suggests that Joe Biden left the presidential race because of this so-called debate disaster.

What does it mean, Georgie, to drop out of something?

Well, drop out means you stop doing something you were going to do.

Joe Biden intended to run for president again, but after a lot of pressure from other Democrats, he decided to drop out of the race.

So drop out is useful for other contexts as well, like sports or hobbies.

And it's often when you've agreed or committed to do something and then you can't do it anymore.

Yes, so for example, my dad was actually going to run a marathon but he dropped out because he injured his knee.

If you drop out of school or university, it means you stopped going to school or university, you stopped doing the course that you were studying.

Yes, and also in this educational context, we can use a noun, a drop out, which means someone who left school or university before finishing and this has quite negative connotations.

If you call someone a school drop out, it implies they don't have much commitment or ambition.

That was drop out – stop doing something that you were going to do.

For example, she had a main part in the school play but she dropped out last minute.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about Joe Biden dropping out of the US presidential race.

Yes, so after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, he announced his support for Vice President Kamala Harris as the

The majority of Democrat politicians have said they will support Harris and she's received lots of financial donations for her campaign already.

And this means she is very likely to be the Democratic candidate for president.

But this will have to be confirmed at the party convention in August.

I've got a headline here about what happens next now that Joe Biden has dropped out.

Biden drops out of 2024 race after disastrous debate inflamed age concerns.

But this time we're interested in VP, that's Vice President,

Georgie, what can you tell us about this expression?

Well, a nod as a verb is a movement you do with your head.

And in many countries, including the US and the UK, if you nod your head, it means yes.

Is Biden physically giving Harris a real nod with his head?

No, like with many of these phrases, it's more of a metaphorical meaning and it means she gets his approval.

And it's common to hear, give someone or something a nod, to give someone approval or give them permission to do something.

We can also say we've got the nod to do something and that just means we have approval more generally.

Biden wants his supporters to support Harris instead now that he is no longer running for president.

Another example, if you want to start a new project at work, you have to get the nod from your boss before you can get started.

We had get someone's nod, receive their approval.

For example, I want to paint the walls in my room so I need to get the nod from my landlord.

This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

We're talking about Kamala Harris, who is now likely to face Donald Trump in the US presidential election.

So Kamala Harris might secure the Democratic presidential nomination next month but that could be the easy part for her.

Donald Trump in November in the presidential election.

And according to the recent opinion polls,

Harris is slightly behind Trump, a similar position to the one Mr Biden was in before he dropped out of the race.

Harris' chances of beating Donald Trump and becoming the US president.

Betting data shows Harris' chances are on the up, but Trump is still leading.

And this headline is talking about betting data – that's information showing what people are betting or gambling on when it comes to the election result.

So according to this data, Harris' chances of beating Trump are on the up.

And we're looking at this phrase on the up. We know the words up and down. The sky is up, Georgie, the floor is down.

Well, if something is on the up, it means it's improving or moving in a positive direction.

So even though Trump seems to be ahead of Harris, betting data shows her chances are improving.

Yes. So my favourite football team, Georgie.

They were terrible last season, but I've seen them getting ready for the next season.

They're going to win loads of games next year, you wait.

Well, I've got my fingers crossed for you.

You can also use on the up in a health context.

So instead of saying someone's health is improving, you can say their health is on the up.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Biden out, Harris in: BBC Learning English from the News

perspective

episode

phrase

context