Biden breaks oil promise: BBC News Review

He said no more oil drilling. Now,

Joe Biden breaks his promise.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about this story.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video, and

try the quiz that's on our website. Now, the story.

No more drilling on federal lands. Period.

That's what Joe Biden promised before he became US President.

Now, he's approved a major oil and gas drilling plan in Alaska.

The release of greenhouse gases

over the 30 year project will be equivalent to adding two million cars

to the road every year.

You've been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary?

We have 'backing', 'stinging',

and 'in the face of'. This is News Review from BBC

Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from the New York Times.

So, Joe Biden is backing an oil drilling project in Alaska. The word

we're looking at is backing.

It contains the word 'back'.

This is my back.

Is there a connection? There is. Yeah.

Your back supports your body - that 'back' is a noun.

Now here, we're using 'back' as a verb, and it means to support.

So, Joe Biden is backing this project.

He is supporting it. It means that he's giving permission to drill,

and even spending money on it.

Yeah. That's right.

And, we can see the verb

'back' in other situations.

Also, sometimes in the negative.

So, environmental activists are not backing this project.

They don't support it because it's bad for the environment.

So, here this word

'backing' appears in a headline.

It's quite official.

It's a serious story, but can we use this word in our everyday English?

Yeah. We can, so, Neil, for example, if you go for a job interview,

I might say that I back you.

It means I support you,

and I hope that you will get the job.

OK. And I can back

my favourite tennis player.

It means I support them, and it doesn't matter how badly or

well they're playing, I always support them. I back them.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next

headline. This is from Fox News:

So, the Democrats, and that is Joe Biden's own party, have given him

a stinging rebuke.

'Rebuke' is a criticism. The word

we're looking at, though, is 'stinging', and it contains the word 'sting'.

I'm sure you know bees sting.

Yes. Ouch. If a bee stings you, then

it can be quite painful.

It's a burning kind of pain, and it does help to think of that here.

So, if something is described as stinging, then it means,

metaphorically, that it hurts or it's painful.

Yeah. So, in the headline, a 'stinging rebuke' is painful criticism.

It's designed to hurt Joe Biden.

That's right. And we can use 'stinging' before other nouns, as well.

So, yesterday,

my football team lost 7-0.

It was a stinging defeat.

I didn't know you were a Leipzig fan.

If your favourite singer leaves your favourite band,

it could be a stinging loss.

The group will never be the same again.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have the next headline, please.

This is from the Financial Times:

We're looking at the expression 'in the face of'. In the headline,

it says 'in face of' without 'the' - they drop 'the' in headlines, often,

but the expression is 'in the face of', and it contains the word 'face'.

We all know what a face is - here is my face.

What's the sense? Well, thinking of your face does help here.

So, imagine when you have a disagreement with someone, you have to face them,

or confront them.

And this can be quite difficult. Now, 'in the face of' means

that you do something, even though you meet something difficult,

like a problem.

Now, Neil. Today, there are strikes.

So, it was a bit of a struggle to get to work,

but we got here in the face of strikes.

Yes. And the expression 'in the face of' is followed by a noun - 'strikes'

in your example. In the headline,

it talks about the White House acting in the face of criticism.

So, 'criticism' is the noun

there, they are going ahead with the project,

even though it's difficult.

Yeah, exactly.

And let's think of some other examples,

maybe, you're going into an exam, you're feeling quite nervous,

but you stay positive in the face of uncertainty.

Yes, you have to face nerves and uncertainty.

It means you have to confront them, but with trying to be positive.

Let's look at that again.

We've had 'backing' - 'supporting'. 'Stinging' -

'hurtful', and 'in the face of' - 'despite problems'.

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Thanks for joining us. Bye. Goodbye.