Read the NEWS in English | Advanced Vocabulary and Grammar from CNN

Hello my amazing students.

Today we're going to read a news article together  

so you can improve all areas of  your English at the same time.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

First, I'll read the headline Why the  US is weighing whether to ban TikTok.

Is this a question or a statement?

We have Y which is commonly used in questions,  

but it's Y plus subject and then the verb  so I know this is written as a statement.

This article is going to  discuss why the US is weighing.

This is why the US is weighing.

So this is a statement.

I wrote the structure here for you and  notice for WH you can have who, what,  

when, where, why and how is included in that  list even though it's not technically AWH.

So that's the structure for statements.

Why the US is weighing so it's weighing.

This is another word for considering  because you weigh the pros and cons.

The pros are the advantages or the  positives in a situation, a topic,  

and the cons are the negatives, the disadvantages.

So before you quit your job or before you move  abroad, you should weigh the pros and cons.

We need to weigh the pros and cons and then  you can say the pros outweigh the cons to  

say there are more advantages  or the cons outweigh the pros.

So we shouldn't do it.

I wrote everything down for  you and don't worry about  

taking notes because I summarize  everything in a free lesson PDF.

You can find the link in the description.

Now to ban TikTok, this means to not allow it.

To forbid it.

Let's continue with the article.

Lawmakers in numerous countries  have expressed concerns that TikTok,  

which is owned by the Chinese company Byte  Dance, may endanger sensitive user data.

Let's review this part.

Highlighted which verb tense is this?

Lawmakers have expressed concerns that tick tock  

it's the present perfect and it's being  used because it's a completed pass action.

They've already expressed these concerns.

They expressed the concerns  last week, for example.

But there's a result in the  present, and that result is and now.

So now they're considering whether to ban TikTok.

They're weighing the pros and cons, and  notice here have expressed concerns.

So in this case, express is  our verb and concern is a noun.

You could also say lawmakers  are concerned that TikTok and  

then continue with the sentence and  it would be grammatically correct.

It's just an alternative way of saying it.

But notice here it's to be concerned learned,  that's our expression I'm concerned about,  

my friend lawmakers are concerned that tick tock.

So to be concerned concerned  is the adjective and the verb  

that you need to conjugate in this case plural.

Because lawmakers they they are concerned and this  

is in the present simple because  they are concerned right now.

So the focus is on right now.

So either way is correct.

I'm just showing you that in English there's  always multiple ways to communicate the same  

idea using different grammar, different  verb tenses, different structures,  

which is owned by the Chinese company Byte  dance may endanger sensitive user data.

Notice we have our modal verb may, which  means it's possible but not 100% guaranteed.

It may endanger modal plus base verb.

Don't forget that irregular structure with models  

modal plus base verb and then endanger  is when you put someone or something.

In this case the sensitive user data at risk.

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Now let's continue with our lesson.

the US House of Representatives  overwhelmingly passed a bill.

So they passed a bill.

The bill was successful.

People voted in favour for that bill  because the pros outweighed the cons,  

in their opinion at least.

And notice here this adverb tells  you how the bill was passed.

So it conveys a lot of information because  overwhelmingly means in a strong or complete way.

So without reading anymore,  I know that way more people  

supported the bill compared to the  people that didn't support the bill.

You could say I quit my job because the  pros overwhelmingly outweighed the cons.

So maybe there were 20 pros and one con.

Now notice outweigh is a verb to outweigh.

So that's why it's in the Ed,  because it's a completed past action.

So they overwhelmingly passed a bill on March 13th  

that would give Tik Tok's Chinese  Owner Bite Dance about six months.

So about means approximately  around it could be 5.5 months, 6.5.

It's not precise about six months to divest  the US assets of the short video app.

So the short video app is TikTok, but  you're probably be wondering about this.

Divest the assets, Divest in a business context  means to sell to no longer have ownership of.

So basically Byte Dance has to  separate itself from TikTok.

And they're going to do that by selling  their share, their ownership, their asset.

Because the US does not want a Chinese  owned company Byte Dance to operate TikTok.

So Byte Dance would likely  have to sell their ownership  

to another company, a non Chinese company.

This is what the bill says.

And if they don't do this, they would face a ban.

So in this case, notice it's  a ban, so it's the noun form.

So a ban is the fact that it  is prohibited in the greatest  

threat to the app since the Trump administration.

So I guess when Trump was president, he also  wanted to ban TikTok or attempted to ban TikTok.

So now the threat is back.

So right now TikTok needs to consider  to weigh whether they should accept  

the ban in the US or sell divest their asset.

And they have to weigh the pros  and cons and make a decision.

The bill passed 352 to 65 in a bipartisan vote.

So this is a little confusing  because this number ends on A2.

But this dash is verbalized as two 352 to 65.

This is when you announced the score.

We won 722, seven to three, 7 to 0.

So it means we scored seven and  the other team scored zero, 7 to 0.

The score is 7 to 0, so two.

But native speakers often just say  2 to 0, Seven to zero, 352 to 65.

So the votes for the bill greatly  outweighed the votes against the bill.

So it was overwhelmingly, they overwhelmingly  passed the bill and it was a bipartisan vote,  

which means both political parties voted.

But it faces a more uncertain path in the Senate  so that it they're talking about the bill.

So the bill passed, but now  it needs to go to the Senate,  

and in the Senate they will also vote on this.

So just because it passed in this vote,  it doesn't mean that it is official yet.

It needs to go to the Senate where there  is a more uncertain path where some favor  

support a different approach to regulating  foreign owned apps posing security threats.

And an example of this this for an own app  posing security concerns is byte dance TikTok.

So here remember favor you could say  support let's continue India banned.

So notice here this is our verb to  ban and then it's in the Ed form.

So that's how you can identify  if there is a noun or ban.

Because grammatically here we need an article  in front of it and then here it's a verb.

It's conjugated, banned in the past.

India banned the platform in mid  2020, so that would be mid 2020.

So 2020, mid June, July, August that would be mid.

So this stands for the middle of mid 2020.

We commonly use this with age.

She's in her mid 50s so that  would be middle fifties 5456.

That would be mid 50s and we  use this a lot for guessing.

If you don't know, I wonder how old she is.

I'd guess she's in her mid 50s, otherwise  you can say early 50s or late 50s.

She's in her early 50s, mid 50s or late 50s.

So India banned the platform in mid 2020,  costing Byte Dance one of its biggest markets.

So my students in India, do you not have Tiktok?

Then you don't have access to Tiktok.

Let us know in the comments or in your  country, do you have access to Tiktok?

Is it banned?

Is your government talking about banning it?

Share that in the comments as well as the  government cracked down on 59 Chinese owned apps.

So let's talk about this to crack down on  something, in this case 59 Chinese owned apps.

When you crack down on something,  it's when someone of authority  

starts addressing illegal or bad  behavior in a more severe way.

So in every country there are speed  limits, how fast you can drive.

Most people exceed those speed  limits, so if the police starts  

cracking down on speed it means  they'll give everyone a ticket.

Now maybe schools are discussing this  and saying we need to crack down on AI  

generated homework because it's a new thing  and technically it's not allowed to do this.

But maybe before they didn't really address it,  

but now because of how commonplace  it is, they need to crack down on it.

And because this is in the past simple,  

we know that India already did this  claiming that they were secretly.

So in this case they means the  apps and in this case byte dance,  

TikTok they were secretly transmitting  users data to servers outside India.

So that's the security concerns or the  security threats about TikTok byte dance.

Now notice here it says outside India.

You could also say outside of India.

So outside India, outside of India  is any country other than India.

Let's continue other countries and  government bodies, including Britain,  

Australia, Canada, France and New Zealand.

And maybe your country let  us know in the comments,  

have banned the app from official devices.

So here's another example.

What verb tense is this?

Other countries and government bodies.

So this is all summarized as they they  have banned the app from official devices.

What verb tense?

The present perfect and why  it's a completed past action.

They already did this.

Maybe they did it last month,  last year, five years ago.

It's in the past, but there's  a result in the presence.

So now in these countries, you cannot  use the app on an official device.

My understanding is that an official device  is if you work for the government and they  

give you a government device, on that  official device, TikTok is not allowed.

That's my understanding of an official device.

But it could be different in different countries.

Let's continue.

TikTok said that it submitted a 90 page proposal.

So in this case 90 is functioning as an adjective.

90 page.

This tells you about the proposal.

It's an adjective, so that's why you don't  have an S on 94 or page for the plural.

So this is an adjective.

Otherwise you would say the report is 90  pages and then you would put your S on pages.

The report is 90 not days pages, so here you would  put your S but we submitted a 90 page proposal,  

so I guess I could say the proposal is 90 pages.

So this is an adjective and then here pages  is a noun and that's why it has an S on it.

TikTok said that it submitted a  90 page proposal in August 2022  

detailing how it planned to  operate in the United States.

While addressing national security  concerns, detailing is a great choice.

You could also use outlining, which  sounds very professional as well.

And notice here we have that WH because  how is added to that list of WH, how,  

And then we have our subject and then our verb.

So we know this isn't a question.

It's a statement.

Despite the administration's concerns,  

Biden made his debut on the app  during the Super Bowl in January.

OK, so Biden, the current president  of the US, appeared on TikTok.

So there's a TikTok of the president of the  United States, Joe Biden, doing something now.

the Super Bowl.

This is like the World Cup, but it's for American  football and it happens every single year.

And it's a big deal.

It's extremely popular in the US.

It is the most watched performance  probably of the year in the US.

So the fact that he made his debut, this  just means he appeared for the first time.

So his first ever TikTok reel  appeared during the Super Bowl.

He made his debut.

But think about what this is saying.

The government is currently trying to ban TikTok.

Yet the president of that country  is using TikTok is on TikTok.

I guess they probably discussed this and  they felt like the pros outweighed the cons.

So they went ahead and created this TikTok  video and he made his debut on TikTok.

Now it says despite the administration's concerns.

So it sounds like the the administration  was concerned about Joe Biden doing this,  

making his debut on TikTok.

But he did it anyway because again,  the pros outweighed the cons.

In his opinion, the short but light hearted  video, light hearted means it wasn't serious.

So he wasn't discussing the global economic  crisis or he wasn't discussing a war.

He wasn't discussing anything serious.

It was light hearted, the opposite of serious.

It sounds like it was meant to be fun or funny.

Light hearted.

And notice I said the video was  supposed to be fun or funny.

Because fun and funny are not the same.

But students often confuse them or  use them as if they were the same.

Fun means entertaining the party was fun.

I enjoyed it.

The party was funny.

It made me laugh.

So they're not the same.

Which saw Biden dodging questions  from an off screen inquisitor.

An inquisitor is someone who ask you questions,  

like a reporter or just  someone asking you questions.

And if that inquisitor was off screen,  

it means you couldn't see the person  asking the questions on the Tick Tock.

So on the Tick Tock that you're watching is just  Joe Biden, but you can't see the Inquisitor.

The Inquisitor.

You just hear the voice, but  you don't see the person.

Now, in this TikTok, Biden was dodging questions.

Oh, this is a great one.

Because when you dodge a question,  you purposely avoid answering it.

So maybe the inquisitor asked  Biden, are you going to ban TikTok?

But Biden dodged the question.

He purposely avoided answering it.

So he said, that's a good question.

Let's talk about the Super Bowl.

Isn't it a great game?

So he tries to change the topic or he  just doesn't answer it and he ignores it.

So that would be to dodge a question.

Politicians do this all the time and it's a great  skill to have to be able to dodge questions.

So let's review this again.

The short but light hearted video.

So now I have this, and then another,  

So I can ignore all of this information  because it's just additional information.

But grammatically I can say the short  but light hearted video underscored  

his attempts to rebuild his  support among young voters.

So if it underscored his attempts,  

it means it supported it, supported his  attempts, it strengthened his attempts.

Now notice it says here to rebuild  his support among young voters.

This is interesting because if  he wants to rebuild his support,  

it means he previously had the support,  Now he does not have the support and he  

wants to gain the support again  because that's what Ree means.

It means to do it again.

So he already built it once,  but then somehow he lost it.

He lost that support.

So he thinks that making his debut on TikTok  because TikTok is popular among young people,  

that it will help with his support.

He wants to rebuild his support.

Let's continue our last paragraph.

The exact mechanism for banning an app  on privately owned phones is unclear.

So the exact mechanism,  This means the exact method,  

the exact way because you have a  phone, it's your phone, it's private.

How are they going to get  TikTok off of your phone?

How are they going to do that?

So that's the exact mechanism for banning  an app on privately owned phones is unclear.

So even if they pass this bill where  they say they ban TikTok on your phone,  

it's unclear how they are actually going to  enforce that crackdown on that And that's it.

Now you know all about the new proposed ban and  if they are going to weigh those pros and cons.

So now what I'll do is I'll read  the article from start to finish,  

and this time you can focus on my pronunciation.

Why the US is weighing whether to ban Tiktok.

Lawmakers in numerous countries  have expressed concerns at TikTok,  

which is owned by the Chinese company Bite  Dance, may endanger sensitive user data.

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly  passed a bill on March 13th that would give tick  

tocks Chinese owner Bite Dance about six months  to divest the US assets of the short video app  

or face a ban in the greatest threat to  the app since the Trump administration.

The bill passed 352 to 65 in a bipartisan vote.

But it faces a more uncertain path  in the Senate, where some favour a  

different approach to regulating foreign  owned apps posing security concerns.

India banned the platform in mid  2020, costing Bite Dance one of  

its biggest markets, as the government  cracked down on 59 Chinese owned apps,  

claiming that they were secretly transmitting  users data to servers outside India.

Other countries and government bodies,  including Britain, Australia, Canada,  

France and New Zealand have banned  the app from official devices.

Tick Tock said that it submitted a 90  page proposal in August 2022 detailing  

how it planned to operate in the United States  while addressing national security concerns.

Despite the administrations concerns,  

Biden made his debut on the app  during the Super Bowl in January.

The short but lighthearted video, which saw Biden  dodging questions from an off screen inquisitor,  

underscored his attempts to rebuild  his support among young voters.

The exact mechanism for banning an app  on privately owned phones is unclear.

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