🇺🇲 Read An Article From CNN With Me | Advanced English Vocabulary Lesson

Are you ready to read an article from CNN  with me? We're going to review this article  

together. So you want to learn a lot of  vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure  

and pronunciation naturally. Welcome back  to JForrest English training. Of course.  

I'm Jennifer and this is your place to become  confident English speaker. Let's get started.  

Welcome to our article, let me read the headline,  Trump team finds two documents classified markings  

in a Florida storage unit. Just to make sure  everyone knows what this is because we'll be  

talking about it a lot classified this is  information considered secrets so secret  

information now this is most commonly used with  the government. But you can use it with anyone  

really, let's say you call a doctor's office and  try to ask information about someone else. They'll  

tell you oh sorry. That's classified information.  They can give you personal information about  

someone else. It's considered secret so we can  use this in other places aside from government  

to documents are classified markings were found  in a Florida storage unit. During a search by a  

team hired by former President Donald Trump's  lawyers. A person familiar with the situation  

told CNN Okay, so again classify this as being  used as an adjective is describing what type  

of markings markings are just anything on it.  So it could be a scribble. It could be an x,  

it could be a checkmark, it could be something  circled all of those were markings. But if  

it's classified, you can't see this. So sorry,  that's classified you can't see if it's secret.  

A storage unit is a small units that  people use to keep information or anything,  

not just information that could they can  keep objects. So let's say you live in a  

small apartment or even a giant house, you might  want to get a storage unit to keep old furniture  

that you no longer want in your house or any  objects you can put that in a storage units.  

What else here? Okay, a person familiar with the  situation told CNN. Now they're giving you these  

details because the source of the information is  classified. They don't want to reveal the actual  

person probably because that person might get in  trouble if they identify their name. So you've  

seen this a lot in the media where they don't tell  you someone's name. Specifically. Now notice here  

we have CNN. I'm sure you know what this is. It's  one of the biggest media networks in North America  

at least I want you to notice that there is no  article. Okay, fine. You're probably familiar  

with the BBC, though. The sorry, BBC. Now, in  this case, the article is part of the name. So  

sometimes we have proper names, and the general  rule is that proper names don't have articles.  

Okay? But sometimes for companies, the article is  part of the name. So the name of a company isn't  

just BBC. It's the BBC. Oh, we're not using an  article with CNN, because CNN is a proper noun.  

Which just means it's a name. It's the company  name, but the name does not include an article.  

So you can say, I saw that. Or maybe I read  that. I read that on CNN. You don't have to  

say the CNN because that isn't part of their  name. Just like you would say I watched that  

on Netflix. Right. That's the name. It's not  the Netflix. I watched that on the Netflix. No,  

because that's not the name is just not flicks. I  watched that on Netflix. But no one is with BBC,  

you would say I read that on the BBC, because  the article though is part of the name.  

So I'm sharing that just because I know a lot  of students are very familiar with the BBC.  

So I don't want you to be confused about  why there isn't a article here with CNN.  

Let's continue on. Those documents were handed  over to the FBI. Okay, to hand something over.  

This is when you officially give something to  someone, but usually because it was requested.  

So hand over, I'm just giving it to you, but  we use this a lot in a legal concept in this  

case of government concept because they have  legal authority, right? But in a legal setting,  

you might be required to hand over documents to  the lawyer by someone maybe the judge is requiring  

you to hand over the documents. So it simply  means give the documents but when we use hand  

over it sounds more like a an official or formal  request. So that's what I would say and this is  

a phrasal verb because we have the verb and the  preposition to hand. Something over. This is to  

an official request to give something  to someone. Okay? So, for example,  

you might say, Where were required  to hand over these receipts to the  

auditor. So an auditor is someone who investigates  your tax information, your reporting information,  

your financial information for a person or for  a company. So you might have specific business  

receipts that you claimed were an expense  and you were required to hand them over.  

Okay, let's continue on. No other documents with  classified markings were found during a search of  

four of Trumps properties. The source said the  source again, this is commonly used to say that  

a person provided this information, but often  people don't want to be known you don't want to  

identify that John Smith shared this information  because John Smith might be a friend of Trump  

or an employee of Trump and he could get in  trouble for sharing that information. So the  

source represents a person who does not want to  be identified. You see this a lot in the media.  

So let's say somebody shared information with  you, and they gave you some advice. And said,  

you don't have to file your taxes  this year. Okay. You might say,  

Who's the source of that information? So you  want to know where the information originated?  

Who's the source? Who's the source, you can  just say that or you can say who's the source  

of this information? And then you can identify  the information. So the source is the person,  

the source person, why it doesn't have to  be a person it could come from a website,  

for example. So where the information  originated, where it came from.  

Let's continue on. The discovery of the documents  was first reported by The Washington Post.  

Now, I want to point this out as a grammar issue,  because here we have the documents, that's plural,  

right. So think of your subject I you he she it  we they you always want to come back to those core  

subjects to identify the conjugation of your firm,  because what verb is this was? What verb isness?  

Well, of course, it's the verb to be in the past  simple, right? So this is to be past simple. Now  

there are two options for the verb to be in the  past simple you have was or were. Now we use was I  

he she it was like you were, we were, they  were. Now we have the documents. So that would  

be what subject I you, he she it we they, the  documents is big. So if the subject the documents  

this represents the day, then why do we have  was and not were because we need work, right?  

It's because the document is not the subject  that's being conjugated. This is even a mistake  

that some native speakers make. They take the  now directly beside the verb and assume that  

the subject it's not. It's this the discovery,  the discovery is our subject of the sentence.  

And this is an IT. It was the discovery was first  reported by The Washington Post. So that was our  

subject and that's why it's conjugated with  what this information, all of the documents  

that are just additional information to tell you  more about the discovery, but our subject is the  

discovery. This is our subject and it's it. It was  don't let that confuse you. When you're deciding  

what your subject is deciding what your verb  conjugation is always think about the subject.  

Now notice here the Washington Post and notice  bill is in upper case, it's in upper case capital,  

because we capitalize proper names. Now Ebola is  part of the name, and that's why it's capitalized  

but remember, CNN the source,  the source of this article,  

doesn't use the article. The CNN is just CNN.  Let's continue on. The team have to searched  

Trump Tower in New York, the Bedminster golf  club, and office location in Florida and the  

storage unit where the two documents were found  and where the General Services Administration had  

shipped Trump's belongings after he left the White  House. Okay, so all of this additional information  

tells you more about the storage unit. It  relates directly to the storage unit. The  

storage unit is where the two documents were  found. Remember the two documents with that  

classified secrets in for me information. And it's  also where the General Services Administration,  

which I assume is a government department,  had shipped Trump's belongings now belongings  

are anything that belong to you. That is  where the word belongings come from. Okay,  

so to belong is a verb is is a good grammar  point and a vocabulary point. So to belong,  

this is a for now belongings, this is a noun,  and we generally use it with one's belongings.  

So it's my belongings, your belongings, his  belongings, Trump's belongings, so we could say  

Trump's belongings were shipped to his storage  locker or unit to to say that sentence in a  

different way but to maintain the meaning.  Now a belonging could be anything anything  

that belongs to you. It could be as simple as a  pen. It's your cell phone. It's your clog. It's  

everything that belongs to me. Everything  in this room right here is my belonging,  

including this microphone, my rings, my headband,  everything right? So those are your belongings.  

Now let's take a step back and let's take  a look at our grammar as well. We have had  

shipped had shipped. This is the past  perfect the past perfect. It confuses  

students but it's a really useful verb tense  because it helps you when things happened.  

And now it's it's only purpose. We have two  actions that happened. So the two docks documents  

that's how I would shorten dogs documents to  documents were found. Okay, so found and then  

documents shipped these are our two actions.  

But interestingly, this action comes first in our  story. So I might think if I'm just reading this,  

I might think that this action happened first  because it was told first in the article,  

but grammatically, I know that this action  happened first because of the grammar had  

shipped. Okay, so the past perfect  is the older action. So past perfect  

action that saw a past action because of  past perfect past action. That happens  

before another past action. Okay. Now,  action, the first action is the past.  

Perfect and the second action which is  the newer action is the past simple.  

Past Simple the documents were found the  documents had shipped. So do a little  

practice with the past perfect. It's a very useful  verb tense and it doesn't mean to be confusing.  

Let's continue on. The forest searches  came amid lingering concerns from the  

Justice Department. that not all documents  had been returned to the federal government  

carried out in recent weeks. The searches were  overseen by Trump's legal team. Another source  

familiar with the matter told CNN Okay,  let's take a look at this very useful  

this is a preposition and it means  in the middle of in the middle of  

so the for searches came in the middle of  these concerns. So you have these concerns  

and in the middle of them amid the concerns they  started searching. They completed the searches.  

So I'll give you another example. In a political  context, you might say this scandal happened amid  

the election. Now the election takes place over  a period of time you have a beginning and the end  

of the election. So the election is going, going  going and then a scandal happens. Now the scandal  

happens amid the election. So in the middle of it  doesn't necessarily have to be the very middle it  

could be closer to the beginning or closer to the  end. It's just another way of saying during now  

let's move on to the word right beside it because  you're probably wondering about this. And that's  

lingering. So lingering is a verb. And in this  case is being used as an adjective because it's  

giving more information about the concerns, what  type of concerns there are lingering concerns. To  

understand the adjective you just need to know the  meaning of the verb. So the verb is to linger, to  

linger. This is when something remains longer than  wanted or expected wanted, needed, or expected.  

We use this verb a lot. So add it to your  vocabulary. Let's say you have a cold. Okay,  

so maybe you have a sore throat and a  little bit of a stuffed up nose cough  

and you expect that to last for three to five  days. Okay? That's how long you expect it to  

last. But 10 days later, two weeks later,  you're still coughing. Then you can say  

my cold my cold is lingering is lingering.  It's in the Present Continuous because it's  

taking place right now. It's lingering. Once it's  done. You can see my cold lingered for two weeks.  

My cold lingered for two weeks. We also use  this with the weather a lot because you expect  

summer to be warm for a certain amount of time or  winter to be cold for a certain amount of time or  

for rain. to happen for a certain amount of time.  And if it takes longer than expected you can say  

oh wow, the cold this in this case the weather the  snow is lingering, the rain is lingering. Now we  

use this in more of a negative way. So I generally  wouldn't see the sunshine is lingering because I  

want the sunshine to stay. But if you don't want  the sunshine, then you can use lingering so in  

this case it's an adjective it seems the concerns  stayed longer than expected. So the concerns from  

the Justice Department that not all documents had  been returned that stayed longer than they were  

expecting. So these are two great adjectives great  vocabulary ones a preposition once an adjective  

and now you have the verb as well add it to your  vocabulary. Let's continue on. Trump's attorney  

offered to let federal investigators observe the  search at his Bedminster property but that offer  

was declined. Given the Justice Department's  response. Trump lawyers did not make a similar  

offer for the search of the other properties.  Okay, given the Justice Department's response  

this is a preposition and it's very useful.  Notice how here it starts the sentence  

and the meaning is considering considering  something. So the something is the Justice  

Department's response. So remember, they declined  the past search. So when we consider how they  

responded in the past we're not going to ask  them again because they said no in the past,  

so why would they say no? Yes. Now if they said  no before, so given that response, considering  

it. Now this is very useful. expression. We  use it a lot you might say given his age.  

I'm surprised he's running again. Okay, given  his age, Trump is quite old, right? So I'm  

surprised he's running. In this case, running  for office. This is when you want to be elected,  

you run for a position where you're elected. It's  just the vocabulary we use. It's not running,  

although it actually makes sense because  somebody who's quite old you also went in  

expect them to start running. So you might say  given his age, I'm surprised he ran the marathon.  

So you use this in the sense when I  consider his age, knowing how all the  

years I'm surprised so very useful  preposition to have in your speech.  

Let's continue on. It would be highly unusual  for the Justice Department to observe searches  

that aren't conducted by law enforcement. The  Department declined to comment. Stephen chain,  

a spokesperson spokesman for Trump generally we  try to avoid Jen are gendered words. Now notice  

how I said spokesperson because it's a little  outdated to use folks man, because in the past,  

they would use this for men and women by your man  by a woman. Male mailman mail women, but now we  

don't really say that we just use person to try  to be more gender neutral, more inclusive. So you  

can say that but the more modern way to say it  is spokesperson spokesperson for Trump said the  

former president and his counsel continue to be  cooperative and transparent. Okay, transparent.  

This is when you freely share information with  others. So this is an adjective that is used a  

lot especially in positions of authority or power  within your company. You might complain that your  

boss isn't very transparent which means they  don't share a lot of information with you. So to  

freely share information, and you can use this  in a positive my boss is very transparent.  

Which is generally a positive because they share  information freely, or you can use it and a  

negative. My boss isn't very transparent, which is  more of a negative they're not sharing information  

with you. Which can be can make it difficult  for you to do your job or make decisions.  

So that's a good adjective there. It is unclear  what the subsequent contact between the Trump  

legal team and federal investigators has been  since the searches so subsequent This means  

happening after. Okay, so they had searches in  the past. So search one happened three months ago.  

Search two happened two weeks ago. So you can  say they have search one and then subsequently  

they have search two. So subsequent is when  something happens after something so subsequent  

happens after now, we use this as an  advert quite a lot. You could say.  

I got a promotion and subsequently bought  my dream house. So you did this action  

after this action and when you use subsequently  it implies the relationship between the two you  

were able to do this because of this one. So it  also shows a relationship. So notice this is being  

used as an adverb, an adverb. Let's complete the  article. CNN previously reported exclusively that  

Trump's legal team was considering allowing  federal agents to search Mar a Lago again  

to satisfy justice demands that all sensitive  government documents were returned. The matter was  

addressed in a court proceeding this fall, where  the Justice Department asked a judge to issue an  

order compelling the Trump team to arrange  for another search let's look at this here.  

Order compelling the Trump team. This is another  way of saying forcing, forcing. So they're trying  

to force the team to arrange another search.  They're saying you must arrange another search.  

So this is a verb to compel. to compel. And  this is to force someone to do something.  

So this probably happens a lot in the workplace.  You might say, my company is compelled us to  

work in the office. So a lot of people are  transitioning from working from home to working in  

the office. But when you use the verb compel, it  sounds like they're not asking. They're not saying  

hey, do you want to work in the office? Do you  want to stay at home? They're compelling. They're  

forcing. You must work in the office. So this  is a very useful verb.All right, so that's our  

article. Now let me go back and I'll read it from  start to finish so you can pay attention to my  

pronunciation. Trump team finds two documents with  classified markings in a Florida storage unit. 

Two documents with classified markings were  found in a Florida storage unit during a  

search by a team hired by former President  Donald Trump's lawyers. A person familiar  

with the situation told CNN those documents were  handed over to the FBI. No other documents were  

classified markings were found during a search  of four of Trumps properties the source set,  

the discovery of the documents was first recorded  by the Washington Post, the team of two searched  

Trump Tower in New York, the Bedminster Golf Club,  an office location in Florida and the storage unit  

where the two documents were found and where  the General Services Administration had shipped.  

Trump's belongings after he left the White House.  The four searches came amid lingering concerns  

from the Justice Department that not all documents  had been returned to the federal government  

carrying out in recent weeks The searches  were overseen by Trump's legal team. Another  

source familiar with the matter told CNN Trump's  attorneys offered to let federal investigators  

observe the search at his Bedminster  property, but that offer was declined.  

Given the Justice Department's response Trump  lawyers did not make a similar offer for the  

search of the other properties. It would be  highly unusual for the Justice Department  

to observe searches that aren't conducted by law  enforcement. The Department declined to comment.  

Steven Chang a spokesman for Trump, so the  former president and his counsel continued  

to be cooperative and transparent. It is unclear  what the subsequent contract between the Trump  

legal team and federal investigators has  been since the searches. CNN previously  

reported exclusively that Trump's legal team was  considering allowing federal agents to search  

Mar a Lago again to satisfy justice demands that  all sensitive government documents were returned.  

The matter was addressed in a court proceeding  this fall, where the Justice Department asked a  

judge to issue an order compelling the Trump team  to arrange for another search. Amazing job with  

this lesson. Now, share your favorite word that  you learned from this article in the comments  

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