Learning English with News
We turn on the news to get information about almost everything. If you, understand the grammar and expressions, you won't be left wondering what happened.
Listening to the news is difficult sometimes. We’ve been hearing reports about the war in Ukraine and the earthquakes in Turkey, and since about mid-February, a train carrying toxic chemicals that derailed in the USA.
People feel sadness, worry, and outrage as they listen to the news, and sometimes our emotions hinder our comprehension. Learning what language and expressions are used to report the news in English can help you listen more effectively, even when you become emotionally invested in what you’re hearing.
Newscasters tend to use more formal language. Questions must be clear and direct, and people want clear answers. Also, reporters don’t have a lot of time to give the information, so they tend to speak more quickly. They write their questions before interviews take place and they tend to use the “5 Ws” as a format for their articles/reports.
Passive voice is also used (see what I did there?) to focus on what is happening instead of who did the action. As a result, news stories tend to sound more distant and impersonal.
In this newsletter, we’ll talk about types of language that are typically used to report the news. The first video is about the train derailment in Ohio, and the last is a lesson directly about learning English with the news. In the middle, we have two grammar points to help you review question words and learn how to use the third conditional.
Learning to use news-related language can also help you when you need to talk about serious events in daily life, at meetings, or in official situations.
Let’s get started!
1. Environmental Disaster
On February 3, 2023, a train loaded with toxic chemicals derailed in the town of East Palastine, Ohio in the United States. Residents were evacuated and then allowed to return to their homes. Many wild and domestic animals have died, and people are experiencing health problems.
This video shows an interview with Erin Brockovich, an environmental activist who also has a Substack newsletter, The Brockovich Report. Unlike many people who are interviewed by journalists, Erin is very skillful at answering questions clearly and concisely. Listening to this interview can help you identify specific aspects of news language, such as passive voice and cautious language.
2. Questions - Don’t Be Boring!
Grammar point #1: A1 level English students learn question words during their first lessons, so you should know these words already. These are the so-called “5 Ws” (even though there are 6 of them).
This video is NOT boring, and it gives a few suggestions about how to use questions to fill awkward silence. If you want to do the quiz, or learn about other grammar points, go to engvid.com. It’s free!
3. The I-told-you-so Conditional
Grammar point #2: B1 and B2 level English students start learning how to use conditionals. This is the fourth video in the series of five. The 3rd conditional allows us to talk about the hypothetical results of things that never happened.
The 3rd conditional uses the past perfect tense in the “if” clause, and would + present perfect in the main clause. We often use it to speculate about things we wish had (or had not) happened in the past, like the train derailment in Ohio.
If the train had been going slower, it wouldn’t have derailed.
If they hadn’t set the chemicals on fire, people would not be getting sick.
4. Listening to the News in English
This video is from a YouTube channel that focuses on helping people learn English with TV shows. Along with news-related vocabulary, you’ll see how language is used to convey information.
Newscasters tend to use the passive voice especially when they report on an incident or event and our attention needs to focus on what happened. Reporters use cautious language in order to report on something that is possible but has not happened yet, and also to avoid lawsuits. The present perfect tense is very common in news stories, because frequently the event happened recently and still affects the present.
That’s it for this newsletter. Which video did you like best? Let me know in the comments.
Talk to you soon,
Marsha