India: Flood in Himalayas: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Catherine and joining me today is Tom. Hello Tom.

Hello Catherine and hello to our audience. Today's story is from India,

where there has been a serious flood in the north of the country.

Yes, and to test yourself on the vocabulary today,

there is a quiz on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

Let's hear more about this story from this BBC report:

So, there has been a huge flood in northern India.

The flood has damaged a dam.

There are, at the time of recording, at least 14 people dead

and 150 people missing. Many of the people who are missing

are believed to be workers in the area

and the Indian government has sent the army

to the area to help to deal with things.

And you've been looking at the stories

making the headlines around these events

and you picked out three words and expressions

that are popping up on all these stories, haven't you Tom?

Yes. Words and expressions today:

'bursts', 'devastating' and 'raised the alarm'.

'Bursts', 'devastating' and 'raised the alarm'.

Can we have a look at your first headline please?

Of course. My first headline is from at home, from the BBC. It says:

'Bursts' – breaks suddenly. Now, this is a verb, isn't it Tom?

Yeah. 'Bursts' – breaks suddenly.

The verb is 'to burst' – B-U-R-S-T –which means to break suddenly.

And it's irregular, isn't it?

It is, yeah. 'Burst' is an irregular verb, so verb one is 'burst',

verse – excuse me... verb two is 'burst' and verb three is also 'burst',

so it's easy to remember.

...Burst, burst, burst. Yes, that's easy! Burst, burst, burst.

And it's to do with containers, isn't it? When we talk about the meaning.

Yeah. So, there's two things about the meaning

that's, kind of, special to this verb.

We use – as you said, we use 'burst' for containers.

So, in this case we're talking about a dam:

a container, which is full of water.

And when the dam breaks, or 'bursts' – you know, it has...

it breaks suddenly and the water comes out.

That's what's caused this mass flood in India.

Got it. And it's only about water coming out of things,

or can other things 'burst' as well?

No, it's not just about water.

So, any container that holds something can 'burst'.

So, for example if you go to a children's birthday party,

there might be a balloon and if you 'burst' the balloon it will pop:

the air will come out or 'burst' out, which is the phrasal verb,

and it will make a loud noise.

Got it. So, that bag of sugar I dropped the other day on the kitchen floor:

that 'burst' open and all the sugar came out.

Exactly, yeah. A bag of sugar is a bag which contains sugar.

If it 'bursts', then you're going to get sugar everywhere.

So 'burst' – there's really this idea that it's full...

that a container is full of something.

And we can use this in fixed expressions.

For example, if we laugh, we can 'burst into laughter'.

If we cry, we can 'burst into tears'.

And if something sets on fire quickly, we can say it 'bursts into flames'.

So, it's all this idea that something happens quickly or suddenly.

Interesting. And those are emotions as well,

so it's not just about actual material things;

so you can 'burst into tears' and 'burst out laughing' as well.

Yeah exactly. That was a very good point – I didn't notice that.

Yeah. So, it has a figurative use as well.

Great. Thank you very much. So, let's see a summary:

So, this is not the first dam story we've covered here on News Review, is it Tom?

No. Dams, for obvious reasons, often make the news.

There's one from 2017 about a dam in America, which is at risk of bursting,

and you can find it by clicking the link.

Thank you very much. Now, let's have a look at your second headline.

My second headline, from here in the UK again,

from The Guardian – it says:

And the word is 'devastating'.

'Devastating' – very damaging.

What can you tell us about this one, Tom?

It's an adjective: D-E-V-A-S-T-A-T-I-NG – 'devastating'.

And 'devastating' defines – excuse me...

'Devastating' describes the effects of the flood, which are very, very bad:

they've caused, you know, a huge amount of damage.

OK. So, it's all about damaging – damage and disaster, isn't it?

'Devastating' – there's an adjective.

Can we use the '-ed' form as well?

Yeah. So, if it's... if the, you know, the water or the flood is 'devastating',

it creates damage. We could say that the things

that receive the effect of that – we can use the '-ed' form.

So, we could say, 'Below the dam, villages have been devastated.'

Or: 'Buildings have been devastated.'

You know, they've been destroyed – is another good word.

We can also use the noun form, which is 'devastation'.

'Devastation' – if there's damage everywhere there is 'devastation'.

So, we could say, 'The flood has created scenes of devastation.'

Great. So, 'devastating', 'devastated' and 'devastation'.

And it's only about physical damage?

No, it's not. I chose this word because actually we use this

in our, sort of, personal lives a lot – quite a lot as well.

It's quite a serious word, 'devastating', but we could use it

for a very bad personal news, for example.

OK. So, things like, sort of, death or serious illness...

Precisely.

...or, kind of, divorce and things like that.

Yeah. If you get something that really, really is upsetting,

you could say that it's 'devastating'

and that would make you feel 'devastated':

you know, hurt, sad and damaged by this news or event.

Thank you very much. Let's see a summary:

So, natural disasters are very serious. They often make the news.

We covered Hurricane Irma in Florida, didn't we Tom?

We did – from 2017, I believe.

And you can access that video by clicking the link.

Thank you very much. Now to your next headline.

Our next headline, Catherine, is from the Hindustan Times – it says:

And that expression is 'raised the alarm'.

'Raised the alarm' – made people aware of danger.

I notice there's no 'the' in the headline, Tom.

There is no 'the' in the headline, no.

The full expression is 'raised the alarm'.

The headline drops 'the' to save space.

The headline also saves space by using 'HC'

instead of High Court, which is the – sort of– legal court.

So, the headline is saying that villagers in the region

had been to the legal court, the High Court, two years ago

to raise the alarm – to make people aware of danger in the area.

OK. And we've got a three-word phrase here, then.

How does that break down?

'Raised' is the past simple of the verb 'raise'. Here it's: R-A-I-S-E-D.

'The' – the article: T-H-E.

And alarm: A-L-A-R-M. 'Raised the alarm'.

And 'raised' is a verb of movement:

It actually means to move something upwards, doesn't it?

To move something up or, you know, to 'bring up'

and you think in a conversation – if you 'bring something up',

you mention it and you make people aware of it.

So, with 'raised the alarm' you're making people aware of an alarm –

of an alarming or dangerous situation.

OK. And the meaning of 'alarm'?

Well, you tell me. You probably have an alarm, don't you Catherine?

Well, I have an alarm clock: it wakes me up in the morning

and makes me very bad-tempered and gives me a bit of a shock actually.

Exactly. So, your alarm raises your awareness,

and it makes you aware that you need to get out of bed and...

...and to go to work. And I bet it makes you feel 'alarmed', as well.

I get quite... 'Ah, what was that??' It makes me –

it certainly makes me wake up, and I set it on very gentle tunes

and I still get a shock... when it goes off.

Yes, if... so 'alarm' – if you're 'alarmed', we could say that you're shocked.

You might be, sort of, disturbed or it might be by...

you might feel affected by 'alarming' news – it's this idea

that something important and shocking is, sort of, happening to you.

So, 'raise the alarm' is quite similar to the idea of 'warn', then?

Yeah. It's really similar to the idea of 'warn' actually:

to make someone aware of danger.

But there's a difference. Could you give me an example, please?

Well, 'warn'... I can warn you that the traffic's really bad

and you probably need to add a little extra time to your journey, for example,

but I probably wouldn't 'raise the alarm' about that.

So, 'raise the alarm' is probably more formal than 'warn',

but in your example you said, 'I warned you that the traffic was bad.'

So, with 'warn' here we use an object: 'I warned you'.

With 'raise the alarm', we don't need to;

you could just say, 'Catherine raised the alarm.'

I could say, 'Catherine raised the alarm that the traffic was bad.'

Got it. OK. So, let's have a look at a summary:

So, it's time for me to 'raise the alarm'

about the approaching end of the programme.

Could you please recap the vocabulary, Tom?

Of course. Today's vocabulary: 'bursts' – breaks suddenly.

'Devastating' – very damaging.

And 'raised the alarm' – made people aware of danger.

Thank you very much. Now, don't forget – there's a quiz

on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

You can find us all over social media as well.

Thank you very much for watching and it's goodbye.

Goodbye everyone. See you next time.