Queen gives medal to health service: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. Joining me is Catherine. Hi Catherine.

Hello Neil and hello everybody.

Yes, in today's story the Queen has given out an award,

but not to an individual; it's to a whole organisation.

If you'd like to test yourself on any of the vocabulary you hear in

this programme, there's a quiz on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.

Now, for more about that story, let's hear this BBC News report:

Yes. So, Queen Elizabeth gives out lots of awards, often to individuals,

but this time she has given the George Cross to the UK's

National Health Service, which is the publicly funded health service.

Now, the George Cross is given for acts of bravery and heroism,

so she's recognising the dedication and devotion

of all the people who work for the National Health Service.

That's right. It's an award for heroes, isn't it?

It is, yes.

OK. Well, you've been looking at this story. You've picked out some

really interesting vocabulary. What have you got?

Yes. Today we are looking at: 'honours', 'frontline' and 'mark'.

'Honours', 'frontline' and 'mark'.

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

Yes, we're starting with Reuters – the headline:

'Honours' – shows respect, often by giving an award.

Yes. Now, this is spelt: H-O-N-O-U-R-S. But when you listen

carefully, you will find that the beginning 'h' is silent.

So, we don't say 'h-onours', we say 'honours' – silent 'h'.

That's right – 'honours'. And people may know this word,

probably, as a noun: 'an honour'.

Yes, you can give somebody 'an honour'

or something can be 'an honour'. Now,

this word is all about recognising and respecting people and things.

So, somebody asks you, Neil, to present an award,

or somebody gives you an award or does something to recognise how

special and great you are: they 'give you an honour' or they 'honour you'

or you can 'be honoured'. So, it's all about recognising and respecting.

Yes. And there is a verb – you just used it: 'to honour' someone.

And that sometimes comes with an award like a medal

or something – sometimes not, though.

Yeah, doesn't always. I mean, you can just, you know,

praise somebody in public and you can say, you know,

'I'm honouring their contribution to this organisation.' So, one day,

Neil, you will be honoured for your work at BBC Learning English.

You will be given maybe a medal, maybe you'll get a little bit of

money, or maybe just a big round of applause – lots of people clapping

to honour your English-language, teaching, broadcasting work.

Likewise, Catherine. And we will both feel 'deeply honoured'.

'Deeply honoured', yes.

OK. Let's get a summary:

If you are interested in stories about the Royal Family,

we have one about the Queen and the time that she said OK to

Meghan and Harry's plan to leave their official royal duties.

Where can our viewers find this video, Catherine?

Just have to click the link.

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

And we're in the UK with Mail Online – the headline:

'Frontline' – describes someone with a leading role in an activity.

Yes. Now, this word is made of two short words joined together

and they are: 'front' – F-R-O-N-T, and then 'line' – L-I-N-E.

So, we get 'frontline'.

Yeah, 'frontline'. So, we know both of those words,

'front' and 'line', but together why does it have this meaning?

It's got a military connection, hasn't it?

It does, yes. Now, if you think of traditional,

old-fashioned battles, you would have two groups of soldiers

meeting in a particular area, often a feild – the battlefield.

And literally a group of soldiers would have a line of soldiers right

at the front, ready to meet the other soldiers, the enemy soldiers.

And that line of soldiers at the front was the 'front' line,

and it was the most difficult and dangerous place to be.

So, that's the military context. If we bring it to an everyday use,

any time you're operating in the difficult arena of your job – the

most dangerous, the most stressful, often dealing with the public in

crisis – you're a 'frontline' worker or you have a 'frontline' role.

So, if we think about in the National Health Service, the 'frontline'

workers are the ones who deal with patients in intensive care,

in the emergency room: they're dressing wounds, treating illnesses,

dealing with relatives. It's all the people who have the contact

with the emotional, difficult, stressful part of the job.

Now, 'non-frontline' workers would be people who work in the offices,

behind the scenes, doing the logistics: paperwork, bookwork,

procurement – that kind of thing. Still a difficult and important job,

but it's the ones that are facing the public, dealing with the really

hectic, chaotic emergency situations: they are the 'frontline' workers.

Yeah. And as you said, there's a kind of sense of risk involved often.

You know, health workers might get infected for example,

but also we talk about 'frontline' workers as those

who are dealing with the public.

Yes, we often do. And it's not just for medical staff.

You know, we can use 'frontline' workers in all the services:

you know, the police, ambulance service, fire service.

They all have 'frontline' workers, but we also use it in non-service,

non-emergency roles. So, you can talk about restaurants: the

'frontline' staff are the staff who deal with the public: serving meals,

taking money – that kind of thing. They're still 'frontline' workers.

Yes, they are. OK. Let's get a summary:

Talking about people on the front line in the coronavirus pandemic,

we have a story about vaccinations.

Where can our viewers find it, Catherine?

Find it by clicking the link.

OK. Let's have our next headline please.

Yes, we're now with Sky News and the headline is:

'Mark' – celebrate or show respect to something.

Yes, this is a noun and also a verb in the headline:

M-A-R-K – 'to mark' or to 'make a mark'.

Now Neil, as a parent of two lovely children, I bet you're

very careful about when you leave a pen lying around, aren't you?

Well, yes. If you leave a pen lying around with children,

they might 'mark' things or 'make marks' everywhere.

Yes. So, you come back into the room and there is a big black line in

the middle of your cream sofa, and it's not a good experience, is it?!

No, my sofa has been 'marked'.

That pen, that line or splodge of ink – it's a mark, isn't it?

And the thing is, once your sofa's 'marked',

every time you look in the... walk in the room, you look at it, don't you?

Yes, it draws attention to itself and that's...

that's the key here with this expression.

Exactly that. So, in our headline

we're not talking about pens and sofas and kids, but we

are talking about drawing attention to something, making it of...

remembering in fact: we use it to commemorate, to remember,

to draw attention, to show respect. So, if you 'mark' an occasion,

you do something which shows the significance of this occasion.

Yes. And it's all to do with significance, isn't it?

You know, probably, you know, my...

a birthday in your mid-thirties or forties is not very significant;

you perhaps wouldn't say that you were 'marking' it. But maybe

a fiftieth wedding anniversary, or something like that, is different.

You'd probably 'mark' that occasion with a big celebration, maybe more

expensive gifts would be given on a big birthday like a fiftieth.

Or a twenty-first, you know – we often 'mark'

people's twenty-first birthdays with a large gift and a party.

So, different cultures have different ways of 'marking' life events.

Now, when we 'mark' an event, it's not necessarily a happy or

a sad event; it could be either. For example, people often 'mark'

the anniversary of an end of a war with a minute's silence.

Yes, there's lots of ways we can do collective commemoration,

or collective acts that we all do to 'mark' a serious

or sad occasion, and in particular anniversaries.

And yeah, you can do all sorts of things to 'mark' events.

So, William and Kate are 'marking' the seventy-fifth birthday of the

NHS – seventy-third birthday, sorry – of the NHS,

by going to a church service and they're also going to have a party,

a tea party, in Buckingham Palace with some guests.

So, they're 'marking' a birthday with a birthday party.

Lovely. OK. So, let's get a summary of that:

Time now for a recap of the vocabulary please.

Yes, we had: 'honours' – shows respect, often by giving an award.

We had 'frontline' – describes someone with a leading role in an activity.

And we had 'mark' – celebrate or show respect to something.

If you want to test yourself on the vocabulary,

there's a quiz on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

And don't forget – you can find us all over social media.

Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Bye.