Brexit: Deal or no deal?: BBC News Review

Hello. Welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Tom. Joining me today is Catherine. Hi Catherine.

Hello Tom and hello everybody.

Today's story is all about the final stages of the Brexit talks, which are happening this week.

Don't forget if you want to test yourself on the vocabulary that we study today,

you can go to www.bbclearningenglish.com for a quiz.

Now, let's hear more about this story from BBC Newsday:

So, the story today is all about talks between the European Union and the UK,

which are happening right now. The two sides are attempting to agree a post-Brexit trade deal.

What they're looking at is ways to agree a future trading relationship between Europe and the UK.

The talks now are being seen as the last opportunity to strike a deal.

And we've got three expressions and phrases that we can use to talk about this topic.

What are they Catherine?

They are: 'one last push', 'hang in the balance' and 'on a knife edge'.

'One last push', 'hang in the balance' and 'on a knife edge'.  

Catherine, let's have a look at your first headline, please.

Absolutely. We're with BBC News, right here in the UK – the headline:

'One last push' – one final effort.

What can you tell us about this expression, Catherine?

Yes. It's a three-word expression: 'one' – O-N-E – 'last' – L-A-S-T – and 'push' – P-U-S-H.

'One last push' is a final effort after a lot of work or effort to achieve something.

So, it's that last bit of hard work you do to achieve a goal.

So, you said it's a fixed expression: can we have two last pushes or two final pushes?

You can have 'one final push', but it's the idea of 'one'

so you can have 'one last push', you can have 'a last push',  

'a final push', 'one final push' but you wouldn't have two, not normally.

Yeah. So, it's the last part of, we could say, a difficult process.

Absolutely.

So, 'push' normally we would use as a verb, but in this expression it's a noun, isn't it?

It is a noun, yes. It's a noun phrase: 'one last push' or 'one final push'.

The verb we would use with it would usually be 'make': 'to make a last...'

'to make one last push' or possibly 'to give one last push'.

You could say: 'to give it one last push', we might say...

To 'give it' – yeah. ...in sort of day-to-day conversation.

So, talking about day-to-day conversation, we've been talking about trade deals.

How can we use 'one last push', you know, in our normal spoken English?

Well, anything you've been working really hard to achieve:

maybe you've been, you know, decorating a room and it's taken a lot of time

and you've just got a bit more to do – you're not looking forward to it,

but you say, 'Come on! One last push and we'll get this finished.'

Yeah. We're all covered in paint and we're tired, but we'll just do this last day and we will...

...be finished, yeah. Get it done! Exactly that.

My mum used to use this expression for me as well

when we were doing – when I was doing – revision as a child, yeah.

So, I'd revise for my exams and the day before my exam

I'd say, 'Oh... I just don't want to revise anymore,'

and she'd say, 'Come on! Give it one last push and then you're done.'

Very supportive mum you've got, Tom.

She is. She's great.

OK – talking of revision and reviewing, let's look at what we've just studied with a slide:

OK. We've got another video looking at the word 'push', don't we?

We do. It's an episode of 6 Minute English:

it's an absolute cracker, so just click the link to watch the show.

You know what to do: click that link.

Wonderful. OK. Catherine, can we have your next headline please?

Yes, we can. We are staying here in the UK, this time with The Guardian – the headline is:

'Hang in the balance' – remain in an uncertain state.

What can you tell us about this expression, Catherine?

Well, it's a four-word expression this time. 'Hang': H-A-N-G.

Then the preposition 'in': I-N. 'The' – T-H-E. And finally 'balance': B-A-L-A-N-C-E.

'Hang in the balance'. Now, if something 'hangs in the balance'

it means we don't know what the result will be:

there is more than one possible result and we just don't know which one.

So, it describes a very precarious and uncertain situation.

What kind of situation would we use this with? Do we use it for sort of everyday situations?

Could I say I don't know whether I'm going to do my homework – it's 'hanging in the balance'?

Well, that's a bit... well, the thing is with 'hang in the balance' –

it's usually for quite serious and important situations:

things where there's a lot of, kind of...

there's a lot of – the consequences could be really serious.

So, probably not your homework. It could be for your exam results:

if you're really not sure whether you're going to get an A or a B,

you could say, 'Oh, it's hanging in the balance.'

Maybe it's gone to a tribunal or a discussion, where you're waiting for news of what will happen.

So, serious situations. Often we use it when somebody's really, really ill:

we can say, 'Their life is hanging in the balance.'

We don't know if they're going to survive or not.

Good. Now, you said, 'Life is hanging in the balance.'

Another common word we could use is 'survival'

because again that's a sort of really big important topic,

and you also used the present continuous, right? You said, 'It is hanging in the balance.'

Can you explain why you did this?

Well, yes. We often use this verb in the continuous form

because it's talking about something that's happening now.

The process is taking place right now; we don't know what the outcome will be,

but the drama is unfolding right now.

So, whereas the headline uses present simple: 'hangs in the balance' –

that's what headlines do: they like present... they like present simple.

But in everyday English you talk about things 'hanging in the balance'.

The action's happening now; the result is unknown.

That was an excellent summary, Catherine.

I don't have anything else to add. Well done. Let's go to our slide:

OK. We've been talking about Brexit. We have a lot of videos on Brexit, don't we?

We do, yes. These negotiations started three years ago

and we've got a nice throwback video: take you back to the start of Brexit.

Just click the link to find out where it all started.

You go all the way back to 2017.

Great. OK – so Catherine, can we have a look at your next headline please?

Yes, we're finishing here in the UK with the Financial Times – the headline:

'On a knife edge' – in a difficult situation with two different results possible.

Can you tell us some more please, Catherine?

Yes. We've got four words in this expression, starting with 'on' – O-N.

Second word: 'a' – the letter 'A'. Third word: 'knife' – K-N-I-F-E. And finally 'edge' – E-D-G-E.

'On a knife edge'. Now Tom, you know what 'knives' are.

They're not to be played with. Yeah, they're serious... they are serious instruments.

Especially the edge of a knife, isn't it?

Yeah. So, I guess this is... I suppose we just talked about 'hanging in the balance',

which describes uncertainty, and now 'on a knife edge' also describes uncertainty,

but what's the... what's the difference?

Well, nobody wants to be 'on a knife edge';  

a knife edge is very sharp, very dangerous and very fine.

So, if something is 'on a knife edge', it's really, kind of, precarious

and a dangerous situation. Again, we don't know the result

but this is talking about a really fine difference between possible outcomes,

and it also describes the seriousness of the situation.

Very, very dramatic, but we don't know what's going to happen.

Yeah. So, it's a prepositional phrase and it's sort of, you know...

As you said, it uses 'knives' and 'knife edges' and stuff:

it's quite dramatic, isn't it, to sort of show the seriousness of the situation?

Yes, absolutely. And again, if you think about your homework example,

you couldn't say, 'My homework is on a knife edge.'

It's... we're talking about really big, serious situations here.

So, do you know where I heard this one quite recently actually?

When I was watching the presidential elections in the US,

they said that the vote in Georgia was 'on a knife edge':

there was a very, very small number of votes that made a difference

and they couldn't predict who was going to be the victor in Georgia...

Yes, yes. ...could have gone either way.

Yes. No, very good example and it's a very very serious situation, very very close result.

Finally, it was decided but it was such a small margin:

it's a very good example of something being 'on a knife edge'.

Great. OK – thank you Catherine. Let's go to our slide:

Catherine, can you recap today's vocabulary please?

Of course. We had 'one last push', which means one final effort.

Then we looked at 'hang in the balance', which means remain in an uncertain state.

And finally: 'on a knife edge' – in a difficult situation with two different results possible.

Don't forget you can test yourself on all of today's vocabulary

on our website bbclearningenglish.com and of course we are all over social media as well.

That's it from us. Thanks for being with us on News Review and see you next time. Goodbye.

Bye!