Nadal Wins 20th Grand Slam: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review. I'm Georgina and joining me today is Catherine. Hi Catherine.

Hello Georgina. Hello everybody. Yes, we've got a tennis story today  

and we're talking about Rafa Nadal.

Great. Don't forget – if you want to test yourself on today's vocabulary,  

go to bbclearningenglish.com and you'll find our quiz.

Now let's hear more about this story from this Radio 2 news headline:

Yes. So, tennis player Rafa Nadal has beaten Novak Djokovic in the French Open.

He has now won twenty Grand Slam tennis titles; that's the same as  

Roger Federer, so a great achievement there. Have you won any Grand Slams, Georgina, yourself?

No, I haven't but I do love a game of tennis. We've got three words and  

expressions you can use to talk about this story. What are they, Catherine?

We have: 'record-equalling', 'flawless' and 'touching'.

'Record-equalling', 'flawless' and 'touching'. Right, let's hear your first headline, Catherine.

Yes. We're starting in the Middle East. We're with Al Jazeera and the headline:

'Record-equaling' – matching the best achievement.

Now Catherine, this is made up of two words isn't it?

It is two words. The first word: record – R-E-C-O-R-D.

The second word: equalling – E-Q-U-A-L-L-I-N-G – and we join the two words together with a hyphen.

Now, a record is an achievement which is the best that anybody has ever done.  

So, if you run faster than anybody else, you hold the record for running. In fact,  

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican athlete, holds the world record for the fastest person ever to run 100 metres.  

You can have a record in anything: it can be eating baked beans, it can be singing,  

it can be mountain climbing. Anything can be – if you're the best, you have the record.

Now, what we're talking about here is 'record-equalling'. That means  

an achievement matches a record: it's the same as a record that has already been set.  

Now, in this story Rafa Nadal has achieved twenty Grand Slam  

tennis championships and actually Roger Federer already has twenty Grand Slam titles.  

Federer has the record and now Nadal has equalled that record. He had a 'record-equalling' win.

He certainly did and is there – are there any other synonyms we can use?

Well, we can say 'record-tying'.

Great. So, let's have a look at the summary slide:

We've got a great show that you can watch all about compound adjectives.

That's right and if you click the link you'll be able to watch it.

Great. So now, let's have a look at your second headline, Catherine.

And we're going to the UK now. We're looking at The Express – the headline is:

'Flawless' – perfect; without imperfections.

Yes, 'flawless'. Now, this is one word made up of two parts.

The first part is 'flaw' – F-L-A-W – and the second part is the suffix '-less' – L-E-S-S.  

We write it together as one word: there's no hyphen and its pronunciation is 'flawless'.  

Now, a 'flaw' is an imperfection or a mistake,  usually in something that is normally perfect with  

no mistakes. Think of a diamond. Normally, the best quality diamonds have no mistakes in it;

you can see perfectly through them. If there's a tiny little bit of, sort of, mistake or imperfection,  

we call this a 'flaw'. But a 'flawless' diamond has no mistakes, no imperfections: it's perfect.

Now, we can use the word 'flawless' to describe a lot of different things.  

In Nadal's case, it's a massive compliment. They're saying that he made  

no mistakes in his match: it was a perfect game of tennis that he played. So, we can talk about  

'flawless' performances. If you're watching a concert and somebody makes no mistakes,  

or maybe an actor gives a 'flawless' performance, they do a perfect performance with no mistakes.

And what about pronunciation? Can you use it with that as well, Catherine?

Well you can say – yes, if somebody has 'flawless' pronunciation, they've got perfect pronunciation.  

You can talk about someone having 'flawless' English. You can talk about a 'flawless'  

picture with no mistakes or problems with it. So, anything that's perfect is 'flawless'.

Great. Thank you for your 'flawless' explanation!

Ah! You're most welcome.

Let's have a look at the summary slide:

So, if you want to watch more videos all about tennis... 

...you can click the link below and you'll see a story about when Novak Djokovic  

hit a line judge with a tennis ball.

Right, let's have a look at our next headline.

Yes, we're looking at Tennis 365 – the headline:

'Touching' – causing sympathetic or sad emotions.

Yes. So, we've got the word 'touching' – T-O-U-C-H-I-N-G – and we're using it  

here as an adjective. Now Georgina, tell me the last time you cried.

So, I read a really lovely story about a little girl who gave all her pocket money  

to an old lady and it really, really made me feel very emotional, very sad,  

but also a little bit happy as well: it really put me in touch with my emotions.

So, those emotions that you felt: happy, sad, kind of moved, you know,  

a very sort of warm feeling, empathy towards the little girl and the old lady.  

Those are examples of 'touching' – something 'touching' you. Now, in the Rafa Nadal story  

his rival, Roger Federer, wrote some very touching things about him. He could have  

been angry but actually he was supportive, in  a way that would make you feel quite emotional.

Yes. So, it's something that makes you feel emotional, not too sad,  

not too happy, but in touch with your emotions. Right, let's have a look at our summary slide:

Could you recap the vocabulary, Catherine?

Yes. We had 'record-equalling' – matching the best achievement.

We had 'flawless' – perfect; without imperfections.

And we had 'touching' – causing sympathetic or sad emotions.

Right, if you want to test yourself on today's vocabulary, then go to bbclearningenglish.com  

and have a go at our quiz. We're all over social media too. Thanks for joining us.

Bye. Bye!