US election day 2020: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil and it  

seems like it's been a long time coming but finally today it is the US elections.

With me to discuss how it's being talked about in the news is Georgina. Hi Georgina.

Hi Neil. Hi everyone. So the US election is on Tuesday and we recorded this on Monday,  

when the candidates were in their final day of campaigning.

OK. Well, if you want to test yourself on the vocabulary that you learn today,  

you can find a quiz on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

OK. Let's now hear from this BBC News report for some more information on our story:

So, today is the US election and Trump and Biden have been campaigning hard to get as  

many votes as possible. They've been traveling to the swing states to ensure that they do this.

Now, the swing states are important because this is... these are the states where it's not sure  

who will win. Now, the US election is interesting because the winner isn't the  

person who wins the most votes across the entire country: it's all about the electoral college.

OK. Well, you've been scanning the world's media and you've picked out  

three words and expressions we can use to talk about this story. What are they?

They are: 'blitz', 'shore up' and 'final sprint'.

'Blitz', 'shore up' and 'final sprint'. So, let's start with your first headline please, Georgina.

The first headline is from the Financial Times and it is:

'Blitz' – organised special effort to deal with a problem quickly.

Yes. So, 'blitz' is spelt B-L-I-T-Z. Now, I don't know if you know much about your history, Neil?

Well, I do know the word 'blitz' is not English.  

It comes from German and it was used to describe a kind of warfare:  

'blitzkrieg' – 'lightning war'. But this headline has nothing to do with that, does it?

No, it's not to do with 'lightning war' or war in itself. What is to do with is the dramatic effort  

that has been made, in this case to win the presidential election.  

So, there's... the similarity between 'blitz', as in the German meaning you're talking about,  

and 'blitz' here is the kind of dramatic kind of feeling that we're getting:  

that both the campaigners are working extremely hard to get as many votes as possible.

OK. Well, we use this in two different ways,  

don't we? We can use it as a noun or as a verb in a phrase.

Exactly. And it doesn't have to be used to talk about, you know, serious topics like a  

presidential election: it can simply be used to talk about cleaning your kitchen so that it is spotless.

So, last weekend my flatmate and I 'blitzed' – we 'blitzed' the kitchen.

OK. And that doesn't mean that you attacked it with weapons; it means that you just...

No, we didn't, but we did attack it in the sense that we used lots of cleaning products,  

we went into all the corners, we dusted everywhere and it is now absolutely spotless.

Right. Likewise, my children's rooms were absolutely awful – so messy and untidy –

I demanded that they had a 'blitz' on their room.

Exactly. So, in that sentence you used it as a noun,  

and in the sentence I just used before I used it as a verb.

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

Our next expression is a phrasal verb and if you would like to learn  

more about phrasal verbs, there's a video that you can watch, isn't there Georgina?

There is. Just click on the link below.

OK. So, let's have your next headline.

So, my next headline is from CNN Politics and it is:

'Shore up' – help support something to make sure it doesn't fail.

Yeah and this is made up of two words. It's actually a phrasal verb  

and the first word is spelt S-H-O-R-E and the second one is spelt U-P.

OK Georgina. This is easy, isn't it? I know what a 'shore' is: a 'shore' is where  

the land and the sea meet, for example on an island. That's right, isn't it?

It is right, but actually in this case we're using it to talk about  

something that physically supports something else. So, for example a piece of wood  

that supports a building. You could use it to talk about a building, a wall – anything that supports  

something else. So, you could say, 'We shored up the wall with... to stop it falling over.'

But in this case, because obviously Trump and Biden haven't got a piece of wood  

and haven't nailed it up – they're not using it physically; they're using it figuratively.

So, here what they're trying to do is to ensure that they get as many votes as possible,  

and to do that they're visiting a lot of places – a lot of places where there's  

possible swing votes to ensure that they try and get as many as they can.

OK. So, 'shore' here is not the thing I was talking about, where the water and  

the land meet; it's actually a piece of wood used to support a building,  

but here used in a figurative sense to just mean give support to something.

Yeah. Another example would be:  

she used the information – she used hard evidence to 'shore up' her argument.

OK. You can 'shore up' an argument as well, yes. Good example. Shall we have a summary?

If you would like to watch another video about the US election, we have one about the rapper  

Kanye West, who – if you remember a while ago –said he was going to run for president as well.  

I think he's a little bit late onto that one now, but where can they find the link Georgina?

They can find it below.

OK. Let's have a look at your next headline.

The next headline is from Al Jazeera and is:

'Final sprint' – last big effort in a campaign.

Yes and it's made up of two words. The first word is final: F-I-N-A-L.

And the second word is sprint: S-P-R-I-N-T.

OK Georgina. Well, I know what a 'sprint' is:

it's when you run really, really fast. Now... Yes.

...the interesting thing about this election is both candidates – both Trump and Biden – they're  

not young guys, you know. They're in their 70s – similar age to my dad and my dad is a kind of fit  

and healthy guy, but not even he can really sprint anymore, so what are we talking about here?

Well, yeah we're... they're using it in a figurative sense again.

So, what they're using it to mean is that they have made a huge effort to  

– in the last section of their presidential campaign – to get as many votes as possible.

So, I suppose at the beginning they were a bit more relaxed about it but as,  

you know, the US election comes closer and closer – particularly, you know,  

today – and as we come to the, you know... find out who has actually won, they're going to  

work as hard as they can to get as many votes as possible.

OK. So, you might also use this, for example, to talk about  

preparation for an exam, where you – maybe you spend an hour every day for weeks and weeks  

preparing, but just leading up to the exam you get into the 'final sprint':

you study for four or five hours every day – just that final big effort.

Yeah, Exactly. That's a really good example and we must remember we can use it to talk about,  

you know, a physical... an actual marathon or, you know, a Tour de France race,  

where you know at the beginning of the race – these are very long races – you're probably a  

bit more relaxed as a marathon runner or a, you know, cyclist but towards the end,

or coming to the finish line, you're probably going to make a, you know,  

a little sprint – a fast sprint to get across the winning line, maybe.

OK. So, we can use it literally as well. Let's have a summary of that:

Time now, Georgina, for a recap of our vocabulary, please.

Yes. So, we've got 'blitz' – organised special effort to deal with a problem quickly.

And we have 'shore up' – help support something to make sure it doesn't fail.

And 'final sprint' – last big effort in a campaign.

If you want to test yourself, go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

You can find all kinds of other things to help you improve your English and of  

course we are all over social media. Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Bye