Nadal: Star breaks records again: BBC News Review

Rafael Nadal has won a record 21st Grand Slam singles title in Australia.

Hello, welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Rob and joining me to talk about this story 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, Rafael Nadal has won a record 21 Grand Slam singles titles

and he has moved ahead of rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

In the Australian Open, he played against, in the final, Daniil Medvedev

and at times it looked like he was going to lose,

but in the end he won.

Yeah, and we've got three words and expressions

from the news headlines to help us talk about this story.

What are those words and expressions please, Roy?

We have: 'comeback', 'Herculean' and 'GOAT'.

So, that's 'comeback', 'Herculean' and 'GOAT'.

OK. Let's have a look at the first expression from a news headline please.

Yes. So, our first expression comes from Reuters and the headline reads:

So, that's 'comeback' — winning after being in a losing position.

Yes. So, 'comeback' is spelt C-O-M-E-B-A-C-K

and is a noun and it basically means to win after being in...

win after being in a losing position.

OK. Let's talk about this match.

I watched this match and, of course, at first Nadal was losing,

but then he got better and therefore he made a 'comeback', didn't he?

Yeah, a perfect example of a 'comeback'

and it is commonly used in sporting events — for example, like that —

but there are other ways that we use 'comeback' other

than to say winning after being in a losing position.

But first, let's have a look at those words, or that word, 'come'.

There's that expression 'come and go';

these words get confused a bit, don't they?

They do. OK. So, the difference between 'come' and 'go':

they're both about travelling to a place,

but a lot of it depends on perspective.

Let's talk about 'go' first.

'Go' is when you're travelling to another place.

So, in a conversation, I will be the speaker;

Rob, you are the listener.

I say, 'I will go to Brazil.' It is another place

where neither the speaker, me, or the listener is present,

so you 'go' there: 'go' to another place.

'Come' is a little bit different.

It means travel to a place where either the listener —

sorry — the listener, which is you, or the speaker is present.

So, for example, I could 'come' to your house, which is where you are present,

or you could 'come' to my house.

So, it's like: 'come here' and 'go there' — very simplistically put.

'Come back' is a phrasal verb, which means return to here

and it is inseparable. So, we say: 'Come back home,' for example.

So, I went to Brazil earlier this year

and then I 'came back' to the UK four weeks later.

And also, could I say, you know,

if you visited my house and you left your car keys behind,

could I say to you: 'Roy, come back. You've forgotten your keys.'

Yeah, it basically means 'return'.

Return to me — 'come back' here.

Are you making a 'comeback', when you 'come back' for your keys then?

Ah... well, that's interesting.

That's another use of 'come back' there.

We have another use and it quite often gets used

to mean return to one's success,

or to return to an activity that someone was successful for.

Now, last year, Neil and I, we did a News Review

about ABBA making a 'comeback tour'.

That basically means they are returning to the activity —

the concerts, the performances — that they were famous for: a 'comeback'.

And in sport, sometimes we hear about footballers making a 'comeback'

after a long period of illness or injury.

Absolutely — can be used as both a noun and a verb:

to 'come back' from injury, or a 'comeback'.

Got it. OK. Let's have a summary of 'comeback':

Roy just mentioned about ABBA making a 'comeback'

and that's what we discussed last year in News Review.

How can we watch that video again please, Roy?

All you need to do is click the link in the description below.

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

OK. So, our next headline comes from BBC Sport and it reads:

So, that's 'Herculean' — requiring great effort; or epic.

So, 'Herculean' is spelt H-E-R-C-U-L-E-A-N

and it's being used as an adjective.

And it basically describes something that requires a lot of effort,

or is incredible, or epic.

Now, I've heard of Hercules.

Is he related to Heracles?

OK. So, Hercules is present in Roman mythology.

I believe he is the son of Jupiter and he was famously talked about

as being just incredibly strong and athletic and physically fit.

Heracles is the Greek mythological version of Hercules.

Now, in British English, we sometimes use the adjective form

of the name Hercules, 'Herculean', to talk about something that requires

an incredible amount of strength or energy

and it quite often is talked about — used to talk about sporting events.

So, if an athlete makes a 'Herculean' effort to win the race,

maybe they run faster than you could ever imagine.

But, we don't only limit it to using...

to talking about sporting events; you can also talk about...

you can also use it to talk about incredible efforts in other areas.

Ah, yes, such as natural disasters.

When we hear about some of the terrible things that have happened,

we hear about a 'Herculean' effort to help the people

who've been devastated by, say, floods or a tornado — that sort of thing.

Lots of effort involved to help the people.

Yeah, like, just a massive movement to evacuate, help, deliver aid —

it's a 'Herculean' effort.

And we also talk about the effort we make at work —

we use this word then, don't we?

Absolutely. We use it...

we say a 'Herculean' task, maybe — something that is incredibly difficult.

Now, it is quite commonly used to talk about something physical:

physical labour — so, something that requires a lot of strength,

you could say: 'It's a Herculean task.'

But we also use it to talk about work that is very difficult

or something that is incredibly time-consuming.

OK. And I think you've made a 'Herculean' effort to explain this word,

so let's have a summary:

We've talked a lot about climate change and in 6 Minute English,

we talked about changing the Earth's climate.

How can we watch that video please, Roy?

All you need to do is click the link in the description.

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

OK. So, our next headline comes from The Express and it reads:

So, that's 'GOAT' — greatest of all time.

Yes. So, 'GOAT' is spelt G-O-A-T and it is an acronym,

which stands for 'greatest of all time' but we say 'GOAT'.

OK. And just to be clear, we're not talking about the farmyard animal

and we're not talking about goats winning tennis here, are we?

No...! No, now I've got that image in my mind, but no.

No, we're not talking about the animal commonly seen on a farm

or sometimes on mountain sides that are famous for eating nearly everything;

they just eat everything and they have horns and a little beard.

No, we're not talking about that.

We're talking about an acronym 'greatest of all time' — 'GOAT'.

Now, an acronym is somewhere...

something where we take the first letters of several words

and say it as one word.

For example: NASA, NATO and this one is 'greatest of all time'.

G-O-A-T — 'GOAT'.

Right. And we're not just talking about somebody amazing;

this is the most amazing person ever — the greatest...

...of all time. Of all time.

Yeah, absolutely. So, it's not just, like:

'Oh, they're really good.' This is the greatest example

of that person or of that achievement ever.

And we do commonly use it to talk about sports stars,

but we also use it to talk about, maybe, music, singers, bands:

'Oh, that band is the GOAT!'

Video games — things that we believe are the greatest ever.

And you can use it as a noun and also an adjective.

He or she or they are the 'GOAT',

or you can also say they will forever be known as 'GOAT'.

OK. Well, not only are you the 'GOAT' of News Review...

you look a bit like a 'goat' as well!

Maaah!

Just kidding! Just kidding.

Oh! Very good!

Let's have a summary:

OK. Roy, it's now time to recap the vocabulary

we've talked about today please.

Yeah, sure. We had 'comeback' — winning after being in a losing position.

We had 'Herculean' — requiring... requiring great effort; epic.

And we had 'GOAT' — greatest of all time.

Don't forget — you can test yourself

on the words and expressions we've discussed today in a quiz

and that's on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.

There's lots of other Learning English resources there too.

And don't forget of course — we're all across social media.

That's all for News Review for today.

We'll see you again next time. Thanks for watching. Bye bye!

Bye.