U.S. Politics: Vocabulary & Pronunciation for the 2020 Election Season

17,876 views ・ 2020-02-27

English with Jennifer


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. The U.S. presidential
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elections stir up a lot of emotions, both positive and negative. As an English
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language teacher, I get excited because the election season gives us things to
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learn and talk about: pronunciation, vocabulary, current issues. If you'd like
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to study American English with me, be sure to subscribe. And if you see the
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JOIN button, consider becoming a member of my channel so you can get the most
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you can out of your English Studies here on YouTube.
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In this lesson, I'm going to remain politically neutral. You can find plenty
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of opinions and controversy elsewhere. My goal is to give you knowledge and words
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that will help you keep up with the news and participate in conversations about
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U.S. politics. We'll focus on vocabulary and pronunciation. All right?
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Let's start with the basics. In the U.S., we have two major political parties: the Democratic
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Party and the Republican Party. If you'd like to know what makes Democrats and
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Republicans different, you can check out my lesson on U.S. political parties.
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In short, the Democratic Party is more to the left,
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meaning more liberal, and they favor a bigger government. The Republican Party
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is more to the right, meaning more conservative, and they favor
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less regulation and a smaller role for the government, especially at the federal
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level. A good number of stereotypes exist about each party, so I think it's
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important to remember that there are good, kind, responsible people everywhere:
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in blue states, in red states, and in so-called purple states or swing states.
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That's where there's a mix of Republicans and Democrats.
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Repeat after me. Democrat. Democrat. Democrat. Stress on the
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first syllable. Democrat. Democratic. Democratic. Democratic. Primary stress is
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on the third syllable. Democratic. And I'm flapping my T. It sounds like a D.
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Democratic. Republican. Republican. Republican. Primary stress is on the
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second syllable. Republican.
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Liberal or liberal. This word can be said with two or three syllables: liberal,
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liberal. Either way, the stress is on the first syllable. Liberal. Liberal.
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Conservative. Conservative. Conservative. Primary stress is on the second syllable,
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and we often flap our T, so it will sound like a D. Conservative. Swing, as in
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swing state. "Swing" has one syllable and the word ends with that NG sound. NG.
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Raise the back part of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth. NG.
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Swing. Swing state. Right now, it's election season, and the individual
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states are voting to confirm who the nominee will be for each party. This
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early process from February to June is referred to as the primaries, meaning the
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primary elections and caucuses. These are contests at the state level. Later in
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November, we'll have our General Election at the national level. That's when we'll
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choose between the Democratic candidate, the Republican candidate, candidates from
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smaller parties, and usually at least one independent candidate. If you'd like to
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understand our election process better, you can watch my lesson on U.S.
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presidential elections. There are many candidates for president. They all want
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to be considered as a possible choice for the job.
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Repeat after me. Candidate. Candidate. Three syllables and stress is on the
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first. Candidate or candidate. Candidate. Also with three syllables, but a long A
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at the end. Candidate so you can use the long A: candidate.
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Or the schwa sound: candidate. Repeat after me.
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Nominee. Nominee. Stress is on the last syllable. Nominee. Nominee. In 2020, Donald
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Trump is the sitting president. He's in the White House. But the incumbent
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president can have challengers from within the party. To get reelected, the
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president needs to win the nomination of his party during the primaries. In Donald
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Trump's case, it's the Republican Party. What usually happens is that the sitting
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president remains the first choice of the party. His name goes on the ballot.
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The ballot is literally the paper used to vote, so in November, Donald Trump's
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name will go on the ballot as the Republican nominee. Repeat after me.
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Trump. One syllable and be careful with that TR. Don't roll your R. Don't trill
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your R. Not Trrrump. Trump. Trump. Trump.
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Incumbent. Incumbent. Incumbent. Stress is on the second syllable. Incumbent.
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Nomination. Nomination. Nomination. Primary stress is on the third syllable.
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Nomination. Ballot. Ballot. Ballot. Stress is on the first syllable. Ballot. Notice how
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an unstressed vowel sound is often a schwa sound. Ballot. The list of
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Democratic candidates is quite long. It was longer, but some candidates have
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already dropped out of the race. In alphabetical order, the eight remaining
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candidates are Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard,
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Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, and Elizabeth Warren. The most
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recent candidate to leave the race was Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur who entered
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politics. He also has a background in law. His last name and the name of his
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supporters give us practice with that NG sound. Yang. His supporters were and are
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still known as the Yang Gang. The Yang Gang. The NG sound is a voiced sound and
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it's similar to N, but we use the back of her tongue. The back rises toward the
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roof of the mouth. NG. Yang. Yang Gang.
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I'm mentioning Mr. Yang because I think we'll still hear from him. He's become
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visible as a political commentator on TV since dropping out of the race.
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I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Yang holds some kind of political office in the
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future. As for the remaining Democratic candidates, we can divide them up in a
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few different ways. First, I think it's interesting to note who uses their
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nickname and who uses their full name. Presidents make this choice before they
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get elected. For example, Ronald Reagan was Ronald, not Ron. But Bill Clinton was
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Bill, not William. Note that Joe is short for Joseph. Mike is short for Michael.
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Pete is short for Peter. Bernie is short for Bernard.
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Tom is short for Thomas, and Liz is short for Elizabeth, but Elizabeth Warren
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prefers to use her full name Elizabeth. Amy and Tulsi
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are full names. Before Tulsi Gabbard, I had never heard the name "Tulsi" before.
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It's a girl's name in Hindi, as I understand. If you hear a first name
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you're curious about, it's okay to ask, "Is that a family name? Does your name have a
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special meaning?" You can also ask, "What kind of name is that?"
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if you use a polite tone. Not, "What kind of name is that?!" Add a compliment to make
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sure you don't cause offense. "Tulsi. That's pretty. What kind of name is that?
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Does it have a special meaning?" Another way we can look at the candidates is by
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age. Now, normally in American culture it's not polite to ask an adult, "How old
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are you?" But when we elect a president, age can be a factor. Voters question
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whether it's better to choose someone older with more experience, or whether a
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younger candidate could handle the stress of the job better.
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Pete Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard are the youngest at 38. Amy Kobuchar
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is in her fifies. Tom Steyer is in his sixties. The remaining candidates are in their
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seventies. You can say, "They're in their seventies." "They're all over 70." Or you can impress
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people with this long word: septuagenarian. They're all
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septuagenarians. Septuagenarians. Seven syllables, I believe, and that's easy to
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remember because the prefix "sept-" means "seven." Septuagenarians. People in their seventies.
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Where's the stress? Septuagenarians. There's primary and secondary.
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Septuagenarians. "Sept" and "nar." They're septuagenarians. Septuagenarians. There
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are some variations with that word, but I've heard it most...I think I've heard it
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most often said as "septuagenarians." Practice it and you'll sound confident!
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They're septuagenarians. In terms of political
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experience, we have one former Vice President, two former mayors, three
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senators, one member of Congress, a congresswoman, and two people from the
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business world, businessmen. I should note that some of the candidates have held
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other offices in the past. Biden was a senator. Sanders was a congressman and a
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mayor. And Klobuchar and Warren, like Andrew Yang, have a background in law.
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The current candidates are an interesting mix. Mike Bloomberg, for example, served as
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mayor of New York City, and he's a businessman. Both Bloomberg and Steyer
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have been financially successful. Bloomberg and Steyer are the only two
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billionaires among the Democrats. Repeat after me.
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Steyer. Bloomberg. Both those last names have consonant blends: two consonant
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sounds together: ST in Steyer. BL in Bloomberg . And note the pattern. Most two-syllable
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last names have stress on the first syllable. Steyer. Bloomberg. Again,
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repeat after me. Biden with a long I. Biden. Gabbard with a short A and an
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"er" sound. Gabbard. Sanders with a Z sound at the end. Sanders. Warren. Take the
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time to fully form that W. Warren. Warren.
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As mentioned, Mike Bloomberg isn't the only one with experience as a mayor. Pete
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Buttigieg is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Mayor Pete has the most
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difficult name of all to pronounce. If you ever meet someone with a last
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name that's challenging to pronounce, you can ask, "How do you say your last name?" or
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"How is your last name pronounced?" Some people have come up with a strategy of
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saying, "BOOT EDGE EDGE" to teach others how to say Buttigieg. It's not entirely
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accurate, but it's helpful. There are three syllables. Buttigieg. Stress on the
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first, which means the other two syllables have unstressed vowels.
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Buttigieg. The first syllable has a long U. The double T becomes a flap T, so it will sound
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more like a D sound. Buttigieg. The second syllable could
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have a schwa sound "uh" or a short I sound. I've listened to Mayor Pete introduce
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himself, and to my ears, it sounds like a schwa sound. Buttigieg.
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The two G's are soft G's and sound like a J. Buttigieg. Pete Buttigieg. The other
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candidate with a three-syllable last name is Amy Klobuchar. Klobuchar. Three
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syllables and the first syllable is stressed. It follows the same stress
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pattern as Buttigieg. Buttigieg. Klobuchar. If we break it up into three
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syllables, it is easier to say. Klo -- we have a consonant blend KL. Klo. Long O.
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-bu- long U. -char with an SH. -char. I have heard
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people use the CH, but when I hear Senator Klobuchar introduce herself, I
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hear an SH sound. Klobuchar. Senator Klobuchar. Yet another way to group the
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candidates is by who is a veteran and who isn't. Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg
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are veterans. They both have military experience. They served in the United
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States Armed Forces. For some voters, this is a plus.
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Repeat after me. Veteran. Veteran. Three syllables. Stress on the first. Veteran.
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Veteran. They're veterans. A final way we can classify the presidential candidates
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is probably the most important way: Where do they fall on the political spectrum?
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Someone who is closer to the center, but leans a little left or right is a
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centrist. More often, I hear the word "moderate." That can be a noun or an
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adjective. You can be a moderate. You can have moderate views. Repeat after me.
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Moderate. Moderate. Three syllables. Stress on the first. Moderate. Moderate.
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In each party, there are those who are far left and far right. In the Democratic Party,
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those who are far left are called very liberal or progressive. These two words
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don't necessarily mean the same thing, but there's enough overlap that today
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Americans often use these words interchangeably. Bernie Sanders and
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Elizabeth Warren are seen as the most progressive candidates. Bernie Sanders
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identifies himself as a Democratic Socialist. Both Sanders and Warren are
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proposing big changes in the role of the government. The other candidates are seen
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as more or less moderate. Repeat after me. Progressive. Progressive. Stress on the
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second. Progressive. Not pro-, "pruh." Progressive. Socialist. Socialist. Three
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syllables. Stress on the first. Socialist. Socialist. Socialist. So who will win the
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Democratic nomination and face Donald Trump in the general election? The
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Democratic field is still large, but we'll know more within a few months.
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We've already seen results from a few primaries, but Super Tuesday is coming up,
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and that's a big day. Super Tuesday is when a large number of states hold their
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primary elections. It's usually a time to gain some clarity and confirm the
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front-runner, meaning the leader of the race. Perhaps the list of Democratic
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candidates will become shorter if some fail to win enough votes. Super Tuesday
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can help winnow the field. Candidates can be winnowed out. The list can be winnowed
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down. This refers to removing people from the list, making the list shorter.
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Repeat after me. Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday.
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Front-runner. Front-runner. This can be written as one word or with a
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hyphen. But place the stress on the first
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syllable: front. I'm not dropping my T. I'm using a glottal stop. It's the same
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sound we use in "Uh-oh!" or "Uh-uh." When you hold your breath, that's the same action you
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need to make a glottal stop in "front-runner." Front-runner. Winnow. Winnow. Two
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syllables. Stress on the first. Winnow. Winnow. Winnow out. Winnow down.
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How much do you care about politics? To be honest, politics can stress me out,
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especially the debates. But our presidential elections are important, and
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I care about many issues, so I feel it's my responsibility to listen to different
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views and stay informed. If you'd like to have the language to talk about current
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issues such as immigration, health care, and college tuition, be sure to check out
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my conversation playlist and look for those advanced topics. I'll put the link
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in the video description. And don't forget if you'd
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like to have a conversation with me about anything one-on-one, you can book a
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private lesson through my website. I'll end here. If you found the lesson useful,
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please like and share the video with others. As always, thanks for watching, and
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happy studies!
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Turn on those notifications.
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