Djokovic vs Australia: Novak to stay: BBC News Review

Tennis star Novak Djokovic has won his appeal to stay in Australia

so he can defend his Australian Open title.

Hello, I'm Rob and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

Joining me today is Roy. Hello Roy.

Hello Rob and hello everybody.

If you would like to test yourself on the vocabulary around this story,

all you need to do is head to our website

bbclearningenglish.com to take a quiz.

But now, let's hear more about this story from this BBC News report:

So, Novak Djokovic has won an appeal against the cancellation of his visa

and can now stay in Australia and compete in the Australian Open.

Djokovic, who arrived in Australia recently,

believed that he was permitted to enter the country

after recently recovering from the Covid virus

and as a result was exempt from the Covid virus rules.

The Australian government has said it could still cancel the visa.

And we've got three words and expressions we can learn about

to help us talk about this story, haven't we? What are they, Roy?

Yeah. Yes, we have. We have: 'quashes',

'handed reprieve' and 'clearing path'.

That's 'quashes', 'handed reprieve' and 'clearing path'.

OK. Let's take that first word, which appears in which headline please?

Well, the first headline is from the Guardian and it reads:

So, that's 'quashes' – rejects something officially.

Yes, so 'quashes' is a verb

and it's spelt Q-U-A-S-H-E-S

and it means to reject something officially.

It's often used in a court of law and we can't...

we quite commonly hear it when it says that a...

when a decision that was previously made —

somebody has said that that decision is no longer accepted,

so they 'quash' a previous decision.

OK. So, it's no longer accepted. So, this is interesting:

in the case of this headline, we're saying that the judge says that

the decision to cancel his visa was no longer accepted, yeah?

That's right, yeah. So... and we have other... other things.

For example, if a person receives a conviction or they go to prison,

and then later on somebody decides that — a judge decides that that's...

that punishment, that conviction, is no longer valid, it's not accepted,

they would 'quash' that person's sentence.

OK. And it's a strange word — 'quashes'.

I mean, it reminds me of the word 'squashes':

when you squeeze something, you suppress something,

when you 'squash' something. Is there any kind of connection here?

Well, it's interesting that you say that

because 'quash' has a secondary meaning

and the secondary meaning of 'quash' is basically to suppress something

or stop something from happening.

So, for example, if there's a rumour that you think is incorrect,

you could 'quash' that rumour.

It means to suppress or prevent it from... from happening.

And another example, I guess, where there are protests in some countries,

the authorities want to 'quash' the protests, don't they?

They want to suppress or stop that protest.

Correct. Yeah.

OK. OK. Let's have a summary of that word please:

We've talked about Novak Djokovic before here on News Review,

when he hit a ball at someone, didn't he, Roy?

Yes, and all you need to do to learn more about that story

is click the link in the description below.

Yeah, just down below there. Thanks Roy.

OK. Let's look at your next news headline please.

So, our next news headline comes from the website Tennis365 and it reads:

So, that's 'handed reprieve' — given cancellation of a punishment.

Right. So, this is a two-word expression.

First word: 'handed' — H-A-N-D-E-D.

Second word: 'reprieve' — R-E-P-R-I-E-V-E.

Now, 'handed' means to be given something,

so it's quite often used officially: you're 'handed' something.

And 'reprieve' is the cancellation or the postponement of a punishment.

Now, this headline relates to the fact that during the hearing

Novak Djokovic was allowed to leave the hotel where he was staying.

OK. You've used the word 'handed' there.

I mean, I know what a 'hand' is. Look: there's a 'hand'.

Very useful – They come in 'handy'.

What's that got to do with this headline?

Well, quite literally, 'handed' means to pass something

from one 'hand' to another.

It's a verb. So, for example,

if we're in the office together and I say:

'Oh, I need a pen. Oh, Rob, could you hand me that pen please?'

I mean can you 'give' me that pen.

Sometimes it's used more figuratively,

for example, in a court of law where they are 'given' something.

So, you could be, for example, 'handed a reprieve' in this sense:

'given a reprieve'.

Yeah. So, he was given a 'reprieve'. So, that means to end...

end his punishment, yeah? Is that right?

That's absolutely right. That's what 'reprieve' means:

to cancel or postpone some kind of punishment.

So, in this case he was staying in a detention centre and he received a...

he was given a 'reprieve'.

OK. And there's a, kind of, another meaning really

to this expression as well, isn't there?

There is. It can mean, sort of, a welcome

or a good, kind of, delay to something — a 'reprieve'.

So, for example, maybe a company is having financial problems

and they risk going... going bust — going bankrupt.

But at the last minute, they are given an emergency loan.

We could say maybe: 'They are given a reprieve.'

A 'reprieve' from going bust.

Great. Interesting stuff. Let's have a summary of that expression:

Well, we were just talking about hands and how important they are

when you 'hand' something to someone.

So, it's important, therefore, to wash your hands

and we made a programme all about

the importance of hand washing, didn't we, Roy?

Yes, we did and all you need to do to watch that programme

is click the link in the description below.

Yeah, down below. Great.

OK. Let's have a look at our next headline please.

OK. So, our next headline comes from the Washington Post and it reads:

So, that's 'clearing path' — allowing something to happen or proceed.

Yes. So, another two-word expression.

The first word is 'clearing' — C-L-E-A-R-I-N-G.

Second word: 'path' — P-A-T-H.

Now, 'clearing' here is being used as a verb

and it means to remove things or obstacles.

And 'path' is talking about the way forward.

So, what it's actually saying is you are removing obstacles from the way ahead.

OK. I know all about clearing paths:

where I live, I have a path in my front garden

that leads from the road to the house

and I have to clear that sometimes because... particularly, like,

for example, when it snows, I clear the path from all the snow,

so that I have a clear passageway into my house, yeah?

Yes, and that's a very literal usage of the word 'path'.

It is something that we walk on,

but we also use it more figuratively

to mean the way forward — the way ahead, you know.

But, for example, in the headline when we're talking about 'clearing the path',

you're talking about opening up the opportunity: opening an opportunity.

And 'clear' can mean obvious

and it's easy to see. Is that right?

Yeah. So, as I said, 'clear' in the headline is a verb,

but we can also use it as an adjective.

So, you can say something is obvious.

So, if we talk about a 'clear path' using that word 'path' again —

maybe you have a 'clear career path': you have an obvious career path,

so you know exactly what you want to do in life

and where you want to go throughout your career.

A 'clear career path' means obvious.

Well, thank you, Roy. You made that very clear.

So, let's have a summary of that expression:

Well, now it's time to recap the vocabulary

that we've been talking about today.

Yes, we had: 'quashes' — rejects something officially.

We had: 'handed reprieve' — given cancellation of a punishment.

And we had: 'clearing path' — allowing something to happen or proceed.

Thank you, Roy. Now, if you want to test your understanding

of these words and expressions, we have a quiz on our website

at bbclearningenglish.com.

That's the place to go for all our Learning English resources

and don't forget – we're all over social media as well.

That's all for today's News Review.

Thank you for watching and see you next time. Bye bye!

Bye.