Joe Biden Helps Justin Trudeau 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Learn English with the News

Welcome back to JForrest English, I'm  Jennifer. And today we're going to read  

a news article together. An advanced  news article so you can improve your  

fluency and sound like a native English  speaker. Let's get started. Let me read  

the headline. Canada US sign deal to better  coordinate Fight against wildfires. Wildfires.

Let's take a look here at  this preposition against.  

Just take note that you fight against something.  In this case, wildfires is a noun. You can also  

have a verb after against, and because against  is a preposition, that verb would be in the geron  

form, the ING form, for example, fight against  paying taxes. Let's say you want to fight against.

Paying taxes. Not again against paying taxes.  So here you have the ING the Jaron verb.  

Let's continue. Natural Resources Minister  Jonathan Wilkinson and David Cohen,  

the US ambassador to Canada, signed  a memorandum of understanding.

A Memorandum of understanding. As you can see,  this is a very long word. We often use an acronym,  

MOU. MOU, so you'll see  this a lot in news articles,  

but especially in business  related news, even on a website.

An MOU, we have an MOUA Memorandum  of understanding. An MOU is simply an  

arrangement or a deal between two  parties to do something specific  

signed a memorandum of understanding. So  they agreed to the terms of this arrangement  

Thursday and this is the terms of  the arrangement to improve cross.

Border cooperation on wildfires. The cross-border  represents that Canada and the US are divided by  

a border. So the cross-border is offering  support. So Canada will offer support to  

the US and the US will offer support  to Canada. That's the cross-border.  

So let me write that for you. cross-border,  This represents the fact that Canada and.

The US share a border cooperation on wildfires,  while the two countries have worked together on  

an ad hoc basis for decades. First of all,  you should always be looking at your time  

references in a sentence to understand what verb  tense you need. So here we have 4 decades. What?

Verb tense is needed. This should be easy because  the verb tense is right there, the present  

perfect. The present perfect because Canada and  the US started working together in the past.

And they still work together now. So the present  perfect for an action that started in the past  

and continues until now. Present perfect. And we  know that we need the present perfect because of  

our keyword for decades. So this is our  keyword for the present perfect keyword.  

So we can say time reference.

Now if this were something different, such  as last year, what would my verb tense be?  

Last year is a completed past action, so I would  change this to the past simple. For example,  

the two countries worked together  last year, or if my keyword was.

Next year, What would you say? Now  

the two countries will work together next year,  so always look at your time reference to determine  

your verb tense and ask yourself if you have  the correct verb tense. Let's continue. First,  

before we continue, let's take a look at  ad hoc basis. What does ad hoc basis mean?

First of all, the expression is all  of this on an ad hoc, ad hoc basis.  

This means as it happens, as it happens. So there  is no agreement previously determined. They decide  

how to work together as it happens. I'll give you  an example. Let me just write this as it happens.

For example, you could say I decide where  to travel to on an ad hoc basis. Remember,  

on an ad hoc basis. All of that together. I  decide where to travel to on an ad hoc basis,  

which means when I need to travel,  let's say once every three months,  

I just decide at that moment. As it  happens, I don't decide in advance.

Or you could say we solve problems on an ad  hoc basis, which means as the problem happens,  

you decide how you're going to solve it.  You don't necessarily have a process.

That you decided on in advance to solve that  problem. So that is how the two countries  

worked in the past and continue to work now  because of our present perfect. But it sounds  

like this memorandum of an understanding will  specify how the countries will work together,  

which means they will no longer be  working on an ad hoc basis because they,  

the Memorandum of understanding, will  tell them how they will work together.

While the two countries have worked together  on an ad hoc basis for decades, the New Deal,  

which is the memorandum of understanding  the MOU, let me write that the MOU  

formalizes that cooperation and  makes it easier for US firefighters.

To pitch in when Canada needs them to quell a  fire. To quell a fire simply means to stop a fire,  

as is happening. So right now they're  trying to quell the fire. It's a very  

specific term. You won't need that in your  everyday speech, but based on the context,  

it should be obvious because what do  you do with the fire? You stop it.

Let's take a look at pitch in US firefighters  to pitch in. When you pitch in, it means you  

contribute. You can contribute your time, your  resources. You could also contribute your money.  

For example, everyone pitched, pitched in,  and bought Fred a present for his retirement.

So this suggests that everyone on the team  gave money, maybe $5.10 dollars $20 and then  

all that money went towards one present. So  that is financially. You can also pitch in,  

in terms of your time. Everyone pitched  in and let me write a new example here.

Everyone pitched in and cleaned the apartment. So  here is not necessarily that people gave money,  

but they gave their time, they  gave their effort, they gave their.

Hard work. Everyone pitched in and cleaned the  impart the apartment, so everyone contributed  

towards a specific objective. So in this case  the specific objective is clean the apartment.  

In this case it's to buy a present. So pitch  in is to contribute, contribute to something  

specific and it can be money, it can be  time, it can be other resources as well.

So in this case, it will make it  easier for US firefighters to pitch in.  

So maybe they will give money, but  most likely they'll give their their  

skills they'll give themselves  to to help Quell stop the fires.

And vice versa. Vice versa is when you want to say  the opposite is true. So US firefighters pitch in  

when Canada needs them, but also Canada pitches  in when the US needs support. So vice versa,  

I'll help you and you'll help me vice versa.  So here the opposite is also true, vice versa.

Now, I summarize all of these notes in a free  lesson PDF, so you can look in the description  

to download the free PDF. Let's continue as part  of the deal the MOU. There's now a new framework  

that stipulates how firefighting resources  will be exchanged between the two countries.

Stipulates This is another word for  outline or determine. So the framework  

determines how the resources will be  exchanged. It outlines, it stipulates.  

Basically it says it says outlines  determines how the resources will  

be exchanged, so how Canada will pitch in  when the US needs support and vice versa.

All right, let's continue. The deal is  designed to cut through the red tape. Oh,  

what is red tape? You are very familiar  with red tape. Red tape represents.

Official rules or processes, but that  seem unnecessary. So when you have to  

do something simple like change your address  and you have to fill out seven different forms  

and mail them to seven different people,  doesn't that seem a little unnecessary?

So you can say, oh, there's so much red  tape, red tape. We usually use this when  

dealing with the government, but you can  also use this for a large organization.

Or any organization, but generally large  organizations like Google, IBM, They will  

have a lot of red tape as well because they are so  large, they have so many different processes that  

you need to follow, but many of them might seem  seem unnecessary. So let me write that for you.  

And to cut through the red  tape means to try to reduce it.

So this deal is to try to make these processes  work better, more efficient, more effective,  

and bring together the agencies on both  sides of the border. Remember that other  

expression was cross-border,  so you could use that as an  

adjective and say and bring together the  cross-border agencies, the cross-border.

Agencies now of course in Canada's  case is Canada and the US But US  

also shares a border with Mexico,  so it could be the US and Mexico  

could be cross-border. So whatever  country that you border with would be  

the cross-border agency or country that have  had a hand in fighting these destructive fires.

To have a hand in something or doing  something is an idiom and it means simply  

to be involved with something or have influence  on something. And notice in is a preposition,  

so the verb will be a gerund verb ING. But you can  also use a noun, so you might say who had a hand.

In the party in Fred's retirement party,  remember Fred? We all pitched in to buy  

him a present. Who had a hand in the party who  had Because remember to have our verb is have.  

So this is have in the past. Simple. Who had  a hand, A hand in the party in Fred's party?

And then I can say, oh, I had a hand in  planning Fred's party. So this simply means  

you're involved in it, or do you influence it  in some way? So maybe you were responsible for  

deciding what present to buy Fred so you  had a hand in the party. Let's continue.

The deal also calls for better  information sharing so that both  

countries can stop a fire quell a fire  before it spirals out of control. When  

something spirals out of control,  it simply loses control quickly.

And it implies that it's difficult to bring it  back under control. So to lose control quickly,  

lose control quickly. You can use this  in workplace situations because let's  

say you're having a meeting and you're  negotiating something during this meeting.

You could say our negotiations spiraled out  of control, which means you lost control of  

the negotiations. So maybe you wanted  to offer a certain amount and then.

Now everyone is talking about an amount that  is a lot higher than you wanted to offer.  

So your control over that negotiation,  over the amount that you wanted to pay,  

you lost control over that and  you lost control quickly. So  

it's spiraled out of control. For example,  our negotiations spiraled out of control.

Are you enjoying this lesson? If so, I want to  tell you about the Finally Fluent Academy. This  

is my premium training program where we study  native English speakers on TV, movies, YouTube  

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naturally. Plus, you'll have me as your personal  coach you can look in the description for.

A link on how to join. Now let's continue  with our lesson. For example, Canada will  

now have easy access to sophisticated US  satellite data that can identify fires.  

The deal comes as Canada grapples with  a record-breaking wildfire season.

To grapple with is another way of saying  to deal with, to deal with. And we use this  

with something negative. You grapple with  a problem, an issue to grapple with. So  

you might say we're grappling with  the negotiations we're dealing with.

The negotiations. And because I already explained  that the negotiations have spiraled out of  

control, you know that there's something negative  there. We're grappling with the negotiations.  

the US has already deployed more than 1500  

firefighters. Deploy is a  verb to mean when you move.

Either people or resources from one location to  another in order to support that other location.  

So here you can deploy the firefighters because  they're people. You can also deploy resources,  

deploy, support, deploy food,  deploy aid. So to deploy,  

you move from one place to another.  It can be within a country as well.

So Texas deployed resources to California,  for example, but we commonly see this  

when 1 country deploys it to another.  

the US has already deployed more than 1500  firefighters to Canada to help local authorities.  

Canada has received support from other countries  like Australia, Chile and South Africa.

Thank you to those countries. We appreciate the  support here. Canada's receiving the support.  

But you could say Australia deployed support  to Canada, Chile deployed support to Canada.  

Just like here, the US deployed these  resources, the firefighters to Canada,  

Canadian firefighters have  helped out the neighbors.

In years past, the neighbors being the  US, they're our neighbors to the South  

and where their neighbors to the north here  help out. This is an optional phrasal verb.  

Notice here is a phrasal verb because you have  the verb help and you have the preposition out.

You don't need out. It's optional. You can  simply say Canadian firefighters have helped.  

The neighbors in years past have helped. It's  simply optional. Can you help me out? Can you  

help me? There's no difference there. Can you  help me out? Can you help me? But if you do, use.

The phrasal verb Make sure you know the correct  placement because you can't say can you help out  

me? Can you help out me? That's incorrect  because the pronoun needs to come between  

help and out. Can you help me out? Can you  help me? So if you're not too sure about  

sentence structure, just use the verb form  so you don't make any grammatical mistakes.

In 2020, for example, Canadian firefighters were  deployed to the northwestern US. So remember,  

Canada sends the firefighters and the  US receives the firefighters because  

we used the verb deploy deploy during  a particularly ugly wildfire season.

This is the kind of thing that Canada and the US  can do together. We will always have your back,  

Cohen said. And remember, Cohen is the ambassador  

to Canada, so he is an American and the  ambassador, the US ambassador to Canada.

So Cohen is saying we, the United States,  will always have your Canada's back. So  

let me write that because I want to explain  this expression to have one's back so the US  

will always have Canada's back.

So the expression is to have one's back. And  that's why I changed it to the US and Canada,  

because I wanted you to see this possessive,  to have one's back. It's possessive. This is  

the expression to have one's back. And this  simply is used to say, to support. So if I say.

I have your back. I have your  back. I'm saying I am there to  

support you in whatever way you  need that support. Don't worry,  

I have your back. I have your back. So that's a  very nice thing for the US to say. We will always,  

I like this, always have your back. So  thank you to the US for having our back.

So you could say that thank you for so let's say  someone says don't worry I have your back you can  

say thank you for having my back or in this case  because it was we and your I could say thank you  

for having our back and our representing all  of Canada. So our my back thank you for is.

A gerund expression because for is a preposition,  

so you need the ING. Thank you for having my  back. Don't worry, I always have your back  

when it comes to improving your English. So you  can say thank you Jennifer, for having my back,  

my back. And then you could say thank you for  having my back when it comes to teaching me.

English because remember it's support, but  you can offer it for something specific when  

it comes to when it comes to teaching  me English. So you can put that in the  

comments if you want to thank me for  always having your back. And that is  

the end of our article. So what I'll do  now is I will read the article from start  

to finish and this time you can focus on  my pronunciation. So I'll do that now.

Canada US sign deal to better  coordinate fight against wildfires  

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson  and David Cohen, the US ambassador to Canada,  

signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to  improve cross-border cooperation on wildfires.

While the two countries have worked  together on an ad hoc basis for decades,  

the New Deal formalizes that cooperation and makes  it easier for US firefighters to pitch in when  

Canada needs them to quell a fire and vice versa.  As part of the deal, there's now a new framework  

that stipulates how firefighting resources  will be exchanged between the two countries.

The deal is designed to cut through red  tape and bring together the agencies  

on both sides of the border that have a  hand in fighting these destructive fires.  

The deal also calls for better  information sharing so that both  

countries can stop a fire before it  spirals out of control. For example,  

Canada will now have easy access to sophisticated  US satellite data that can identify fires.

The deal comes as Canada grapples with  a record-breaking wildfire season.  

the US has already deployed more than 1500  firefighters to Canada to help local authorities.  

Canada has received support from other countries  like Australia, Chile and South Africa.

Canadian firefighters have helped  out the neighbors in past years.  

In 2020, for example, Canadian firefighters  were deployed to the northwestern US during  

a particularly ugly wildfire season.  This is the kind of thing that Canada  

and the US can do together. We will  always have your back, Cohen said.

Now I also want to say thank you for  always having my back by liking this video,  

commenting on this video and sharing it with  your friends. So make sure you do those three  

things. It would really show me that you have  my back. And another way I have your back is  

with this free speaking guide where I share  6 tips on how to speak English fluently and  

confidently. You can download it from my website  right here. And why don't you get started?

With your next lesson right now.