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Sergio Aguero was back with a bang last weekend.

Tricky expressions - 16/17 ep.8

Tricky expressions - 16/17 ep.8

In this week's Premier Skills English podcast, Rich and Jack talk about the latest round of Premier League matches. While they are talking they use lots of different idiomatic expressions or idioms and it's your job to guess what each idiom means. In our pronunciation section, we help you with consonant clusters and we also have news about our Premier Skills Fantasy Football team, your chance to make a prediction on this week's big Premier League match and a new football phrase for you to guess.

How much did you understand?

Vocabulary

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some words and phrases that might be new for you. You can see two examples here: 

When a car is reliable it means that it never breaks down. 

Tottenham and Manchester City go head to head this weekend.

There were a few more tricky words in the podcast. Can you remember all of them? Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words in context. This can really help with understanding.

Activity 1: In this activity, have a look at the vocabulary and try to match it to the correct definition.
Can you match the words to their definitions?

Alexis Sanchez scored in Arsenal's 3-0 win against Chelsea.

Language - Idioms

Idioms are expressions with non-literal meanings. This means that the meanings of idioms are different from what you would expect if you just looked at the words that make them. This can make them difficult to understand for people learning English. Idioms normally cannot be modified or the words within them changed. One example of an idiom from the podcast was:

I think Gunner_UZ from Uzbekistan hit the nail on the head when he said Gareth Barry was reliable.

'To hit the nail on the head' is an idiom which means 'to be exactly right or correct'. The literal meaning would be very different!

Guess the meaning from the context. 

In the podcast, Jack and Rich used seven idioms when talking about last weekend's football. It can be difficult to understand the meaning of an idiom from the words on their own. It's best to think about the topic and the rest of the sentence to help you understand. We asked you to listen to the idioms and try to understand them from the context. Here are the seven idioms from the podcast:

  1. Manchester City are looking really good - especially with Sergio Aguero back with a bang after his suspension.

  2. The other big teams are not going to let City run away with the Premier League title.

  3. We’ve only played six matches so there is still everything to play for!

  4. The other teams need to carry on playing well so we don’t see City sailing off into the distance!

  5. Leicester have been brought down to earth after their fantastic season last year.

  6. Sunderland blew a big chance to get their first win last weekend. They were winning 2-0 but they lost 3-2.

  7. Christian Benteke got a last-gasp winner in that match!

Now in this activity, try to match the idioms above with the correct definition. If you're not sure, look at the sentences above or listen to this section of the podcast again! 

Activity 2: In this activity, take a look at the idioms which you heard in the podcast and try to match them with the correct definition. Remember to use the sentences above and the context of the dialogue in the podcast to help you.
Can you match the idioms from the podcast with their definitions?

Diego Costa wasn't happy with Chelsea's performance last weekend.

Pronunciation - Consonant Clusters

In this week's podcast, we looked at consonant clusters. These are consonants or consonant sounds that link together without any vowels or vowel sounds. A consonant is a letter such as 'p', 's' or 't' or when we are talking about pronunciation, the consonant sound such as /p/, /s/ or /t/. When lots of consonants are together it can be difficult to know how to say the word and difficult to say it. Some common consonant clusters and examples are:

  • sch - school, schedule and scheme
  • scr - scream, script and scramble
  • thr - though, throw and throat

The word 'crisp', which most commonly describes fried potato chips that have different flavours and come in bags, is a difficult word to say for many language learners. This is because there are two consonant clusters, cr- and -sp, separated by one vowel sound. In the podcast, we gave you a couple of tongue twisters that contain consonant clusters. You can see the consonant clusters in bold. Have a go at repeating them. Is it difficult to say them? Let us know in the comments section.

He threw three free throws.

The sixth twisty crisp. 

Christian Benteke got a last-gasp winner for Crystal Palace against Sunderland.

Transcript

If the listening was a bit difficult, you can listen again and read the transcript at the same time.
Read the transcript and listen at the same time.

Welcome

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: Hi everyone. I’m Jack and every week we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rich: We’re going to be talking about the latest action in the Premier League and the language focus is on idioms which are expressions that are often difficult to understand.

Jack: We have some more pronunciation practice, a new football phrase for you and this week’s Premier League prediction.

Rich: But, let’s begin by talking about what’s been happening on the website this week.

Social

Rich: In our podcast last week, we asked you about Gareth Barry who has now made an amazing 601 Premier League appearances. We asked you what qualities a player needed to play in the Premier League for 18 years.

Jack: I think Gunner_UZ from Uzbekistan hit the nail on the head when he said Gareth Barry was reliable. Barry can always be trusted to do a good job. When a car is reliable it means it never breaks down and Barry has had very few injuries in his career.

Rich: Gunner_UZ hit the nail on the head with that one - and that is also an interesting idiom and it means to be exactly right about something. What else has been happening on the website?

Jack: We’ve got a new player article. It’s all about Leicester’s new Algerian striker - Islam Slimani. He scored twice on his debut and in the article we take a look at some of the best Premier League debuts.

Rich: And on the Islam Slimani page we’ve got a vote for you to say who you think made the best ever Premier League debut. Was it Slimani? Or one of the other players we talk about in the article. Let us know what you think in the comments and the vote on that page.

Jack: This week’s Football English quiz is also on that page. So have a look when you have a minute. We’ve also got lots more about fantasy football - check out how the Premier Skills team did in Gameweek 6 on our Fantasy Football page - there is a link on the side of this page.

Rich: Yeah and don’t give up! Davilillons had his best week yet last week and scored 61 points to get him climbing up the Premier Skills League!

Latest news/Language Focus

Jack: In the last section we spoke about an idiom. The idiom was ‘to hit the nail on the head’ and it means to be exactly right or correct. An idiom is an expression that has a non-literal meaning and they can be difficult to understand.

Rich: So, a hammer is a tool. You use a hammer to hit nails into a wall or into wood. Nails are small pieces of metal. You might use a hammer to hit a nail into the wall if you want to hang a photo or a painting in your house.

Jack: The problem is that when we use idioms it’s often not useful if you know the words in the expression. Knowing the words ‘hammer’ and ‘nail’ might not help you understand the phrase ‘to hit the nail on the head’.

Rich: You often need to learn the idiom separately through seeing it used in context and in this next section we’re going to use a few different idioms because football uses lots of them!

Jack: We’re going to talk about last weekend’s Premier League matches and use some different idioms.

Rich: When you hear a new idiom we want you to pause the podcast and write down the idiom or try to remember it. Then, listen again and try to think about the meaning. There are seven idioms to find. Right away we go.

Jack: So, what’s been happening in the Premier League this week, Rich?

Rich: Manchester City keep winning. That’s six wins out of six in the Premier League and ten out of ten in all competitions since Pep Guardiola arrived as manager.

Jack: They’re looking really good - especially with Sergio Aguero back with a bang after his suspension. What about everybody else?

Rich: Well, the other big teams are not going to let City run away with the Premier League title. There were big wins for Manchester Utd (4-1 against Leicester), Liverpool (5-1 against Hull City) and Arsenal (3-0 against Chelsea).

Jack: Yes, we’ve only played six matches so there is still everything to play for! But, the other teams need to carry on playing well so we don’t see City sailing off into the distance!

Rich: But it’s not looking so good for some other Premier League teams. After a good start under their new manager, Antonio Conte, Chelsea have lost their last two matches

Jack: And Leicester have been brought down to earth after their fantastic season last year. They’ve now lost three Premier League matches - that’s the same amount they lost in the whole of last season!

Rich: But I think Sunderland have the most problems. They are bottom of the Premier League with just one point. They blew a big chance to get their first win last weekend. They were winning 2-0 with thirty minutes left to play but they lost 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace.

Jack: Christian Benteke got a last-gasp winner in that match! It was a great header but the marking wasn’t great.

Rich: Right then. Did you hear all those idioms? If you didn’t hear seven have a listen to this section again.

Jack: When you have found all seven, have a look at activity 2 on the podcast page - the title is idioms! Here you can look at the meanings and try to match each idiom to its correct meaning.

Rich: We hope that by listening to us use the idioms you should be able to remember what they mean in the activity. Let us know in the comments section if you found this activity useful or not.

Pronunciation

Jack: We’re going to take a look at something called consonant clusters. A consonant is a letter or sound such as ‘d’ ‘p’ or ‘k’.

Rich: A cluster means something that is grouped together. A consonant cluster is a group of consonants without vowels between them. Normally, words are formed by consonants and vowels so consonant clusters can often be difficult to say.Jack: They can be especially difficult if there are no consonant clusters in your first language. There aren’t any clusters in Arabic or Spanish so they can be difficult for speakers of these languages. In English, you can sometimes have four consonant sounds together. These often come at the start of words.

Rich: For example, ‘splash’ has an ‘s’ followed by ‘p’ and then ‘l’. Another example is ‘twelfths’ here you have four consonant sounds, a ‘l’, an ‘f’, a ‘th’ and an ‘s’. One of the longest consonant cluster is in the word ‘rhythm’ - you have 6 consonants together and no vowels at all.

Jack: There are some difficult tongue twisters that include consonant clusters. Have a go at these. I’ll say it slowly and then more quickly. Try to repeat.

      ‘He threw three free throws.’

     'The sixth twisty crisp'

Rich: Crisp is a really tricky word to say. It’s sometimes easier to say chips.

Jack: That’s what they call crisps in America. Chips are hot in the UK.

Rich: It’s quite confusing maybe we should have a podcast about differences between American and British words like football and soccer.

Football Phrase

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week?

Jack: Yes, I have, but first last week’s football phrase. It was standing ovation. A standing ovation is when a crowd that is sitting down stand up and clap, applaud and cheer a special performance. Standing ovations are common in theatres but now that most fans sit down at football matches they are becoming more and more common in football stadiums, too.

Rich: Well done to Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Giorgi from Georgia, Gunner_UZ from Uzbekistan, Davilillons from Spain and Elghoul from Algeria. You all got the right answer.

Jack: This week’s phrase is another idiom and is quite difficult so well done if you get this one. The idiom is ‘** ** * ******** *** * ******’ and it is used to describe something that lasts a long time so there is no point in using all of your energy straight away. The idiom uses two types of running race. The first is the longest running race you can do and the second is what Usain Bolt does in the 100 metres. The Premier League season is * ******** *** * ****** so Manchester City have started fast but who knows what will happen in May?

Rich: That is a difficult one. Did you know that Usain Bolt was a big Manchester Utd fan?

Prediction

Jack: We all predicted the right result in the Arsenal - Chelsea match last week. So that’s one point for me, you and our Premier Skills listeners. But, nobody got the right score which is remember worth 3 points. What match are you going to talk about this week, Rich?

Rich: There is no doubt what the big match is this week. There are only two teams in the Premier League that are still unbeaten and that’s Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City and the two teams go head to head (another idiom there) at White Hart Lane, home of Tottenham Hotspur. We all know that City have had a fantastic start to the season and look unstoppable but Spurs have moved quietly into second spot and are also looking good. I think City will drop their first points of the season but both teams will still be unbeaten after this one. Final score: Tottenham 1-1 Manchester City

Jack: City look too good at the moment. I.think City will win 2-1.

Rich: Remember to make your prediction in our vote at the bottom of the page in our Premier Prediction League!

Jack: Right, that’s all we have time for this week. Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. And remember to take a look at our Fantasy Football page and join in the discussions!

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football! 

Quiz

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Formulário

Premier League Prediction - Gameweek 7 - Spurs v Man City

Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-0 last week, which meant everybody correctly predicted the right result. Nobody predicted the exact score so that means one point for Rich, one for Jack and one for our podcast listeners who, on average, predicted a 1-0 win for Arsenal. Rich still leads the way with 4 points but we're still waiting for someone to predict the exact score. Remember, it's one point for the correct result and two additional points for the correct score. It's Spurs v Man City this week. Can you predict the right score?

  GW 1 GW 2 GW 3 GW 4 GW 5 GW 6 GW 7
Rich 1 1 1 0 0 1 1-1
Jack 0 0 0 0 0 1 1-2
Podcast Listeners 0 1 1 0 0 1 ?

Make your prediction now!

What do you think?

In this week’s podcast, we spoke about different idioms and last weekend's football matches. We would like you to use some of the idioms from the podcast to answer some questions and think of some expressions of your own.

  1. Do you think Manchester City will run away with the Premier League this season?

  2. Can you remember a last-gasp winner or equaliser in an important match?

  3. Can you think of a team that blew their chance to win an important tournament? What happened?

Remember to write your guess at this week's football phrase and the questions above in the comments section below.
 
If you want us to correct your English, just write 'correct me' at the beginning of your comment.

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Comentários

gil_foot
08/03/2023
FR
566
points

Donnaruma missed the ball and Benzema scored and then another stupid goal... and the last one is even more stupid...
I was desperated


gil_foot
08/03/2023 10:00
France
Arsenal
566

Donnaruma missed the ball and Benzema scored and then another stupid goal... and the last one is even more stupid...
I was desperated

gil_foot
08/03/2023
FR
566
points

PSG last season blew up their chance to win the Champion League by losing stupidly against Real Madrid


gil_foot
08/03/2023 09:59
France
Arsenal
566

PSG last season blew up their chance to win the Champion League by losing stupidly against Real Madrid

gil_foot
08/03/2023
FR
566
points

I remembered the last-gasp from Mbappe in the last world cup :)
What a lovely feeling...


gil_foot
08/03/2023 09:58
France
Arsenal
566

I remembered the last-gasp from Mbappe in the last world cup :)
What a lovely feeling...

gil_foot
08/03/2023
FR
566
points

City is ready to run away with the PL


gil_foot
08/03/2023 09:56
France
Arsenal
566

City is ready to run away with the PL

hsn's picture
hsn
31/07/2021
TR
5560
points

What do you think?
2-There are many examples.
3-Our national team at the Euro 2020.
Phrase
• The journalist hit the nail on the head when criticizing government performance. However she/he lost job because of living in a country has no democracy.
• The boxer ended the boxing match with a bang by knocking out his rival.
• As a result of good relations, he's run away with the title of the honorary consul of this country.
• My team is losing the game but there is everything to play for.They might win.
• Sailing off to the unknown seas. That is risk of losing in the financial market.
• He was brought down to earth (from clouds) after his marriage proposal was rejected.
• Home team last-gasp attempt to equalize score was blown out.


hsn's picture
hsn
31/07/2021 13:16
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5560

What do you think?
2-There are many examples.
3-Our national team at the Euro 2020.
Phrase
• The journalist hit the nail on the head when criticizing government performance. However she/he lost job because of living in a country has no democracy.
• The boxer ended the boxing match with a bang by knocking out his rival.
• As a result of good relations, he's run away with the title of the honorary consul of this country.
• My team is losing the game but there is everything to play for.They might win.
• Sailing off to the unknown seas. That is risk of losing in the financial market.
• He was brought down to earth (from clouds) after his marriage proposal was rejected.
• Home team last-gasp attempt to equalize score was blown out.

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020
TR
6539
points

I think the football phrase of this week is ( bolt from the blue )


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020 11:08
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

I think the football phrase of this week is ( bolt from the blue )

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020
TR
6539
points

Bayern Munich blew their chance to win the Champions League in 2012 after Drogba scored a brilliant header in the last few minutes


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020 11:07
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

Bayern Munich blew their chance to win the Champions League in 2012 after Drogba scored a brilliant header in the last few minutes

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020
TR
6539
points

A last-gasp winner that is unforgettable for me is the 1999 final at Camp-Nu between Manchester United and Bayern Munich
What an equaliser from Teddy and what a winning goal from Ole :)


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020 11:06
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

A last-gasp winner that is unforgettable for me is the 1999 final at Camp-Nu between Manchester United and Bayern Munich
What an equaliser from Teddy and what a winning goal from Ole :)

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020
TR
6539
points

I think Manchester City is doing well but they will be stopped very soon


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
15/05/2020 11:04
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

I think Manchester City is doing well but they will be stopped very soon

sabanoleg
29/10/2017
UA
2337
points

The national team of Ukraine blew a big chance to get their second qualification on the World Cup.


sabanoleg
29/10/2017 11:19
Ukraine
Arsenal
2337

The national team of Ukraine blew a big chance to get their second qualification on the World Cup.

aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
24/10/2016
ME
3557
points

It's too early for predictions but City is huge favourite. Yes, Benfica blew all 3 chances 2 years ago to lift a a trophy in all 3 competitions.


aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
24/10/2016 22:16
Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

It's too early for predictions but City is huge favourite. Yes, Benfica blew all 3 chances 2 years ago to lift a a trophy in all 3 competitions.

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
01/10/2016
GH
4779
points

This week's phrase is a marathon for a sprint


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
01/10/2016 22:30
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

This week's phrase is a marathon for a sprint

Rich's picture
Rich
02/10/2016
ES
594
points

Much closer, Kwesimanifest!


Rich's picture
Rich
02/10/2016 08:40
Spain
Liverpool
594

Much closer, Kwesimanifest!

davilillons
29/09/2016
ES
951
points

1- I think Manchester City are the best team this year so if the injuries respect them, they'll win the Premier League easily.
2- For example two weeks ago Alvaro Morata got a last-gasp header to win the first match of Champions League
3 I remenber the Champions League's final between Liverpool and Milan where Milan C.F. were winning 0-3 but Liverpool managed a great comeback and won in the penalty shootout


davilillons
29/09/2016 18:21
Spain
Arsenal
951

1- I think Manchester City are the best team this year so if the injuries respect them, they'll win the Premier League easily.
2- For example two weeks ago Alvaro Morata got a last-gasp header to win the first match of Champions League
3 I remenber the Champions League's final between Liverpool and Milan where Milan C.F. were winning 0-3 but Liverpool managed a great comeback and won in the penalty shootout

elghoul's picture
elghoul
29/09/2016
DZ
3988
points

1.Manchester City is obviously the favorite this year. A good run off with a fantastic manager appears convincing as evidence of a Champion.
2.The last-gasp I saw in TV is the winner for Real against Sporting Lisbonn in Champion League qualifier.
3.Brazil blew their chance to win the World Cup twice at home with Thiago Sylva missing the match they lost to Deutschland.
Prediction : City 3 / Spurs 1


elghoul's picture
elghoul
29/09/2016 13:57
Algeria
Manchester City
3988

1.Manchester City is obviously the favorite this year. A good run off with a fantastic manager appears convincing as evidence of a Champion.
2.The last-gasp I saw in TV is the winner for Real against Sporting Lisbonn in Champion League qualifier.
3.Brazil blew their chance to win the World Cup twice at home with Thiago Sylva missing the match they lost to Deutschland.
Prediction : City 3 / Spurs 1

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/09/2016
UA
6578
points

Manchester City won't run away with the Premier League this season, no doubt.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/09/2016 21:32
Ukraine
Liverpool
6578

Manchester City won't run away with the Premier League this season, no doubt.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/09/2016
UA
6578
points

This week’s phrase is * ******** *** * ******.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/09/2016 21:30
Ukraine
Liverpool
6578

This week’s phrase is * ******** *** * ******.

Liubomyr's picture
Liubomyr
28/09/2016
UA
4417
points

I think that the phrase is "** ** * ******** *** * ******"


Liubomyr's picture
Liubomyr
28/09/2016 15:50
Ukraine
Watford
4417

I think that the phrase is "** ** * ******** *** * ******"

Rich's picture
Rich
28/09/2016
ES
594
points

Well done, Liubomyr! You're the first to get the phrase this week!


Rich's picture
Rich
28/09/2016 22:44
Spain
Liverpool
594

Well done, Liubomyr! You're the first to get the phrase this week!

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/09/2016
GH
4779
points

Marcus Rashford's last-gasp winner against hull city this season was very important given that hull played very well and gave United a run for their money.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/09/2016 04:55
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

Marcus Rashford's last-gasp winner against hull city this season was very important given that hull played very well and gave United a run for their money.

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/09/2016
GH
4779
points

Its too early to decide as to whether City might win the league or not but if they continue with their winning streaks then they are absolutely winning the league


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/09/2016 04:51
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

Its too early to decide as to whether City might win the league or not but if they continue with their winning streaks then they are absolutely winning the league

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/09/2016
GH
4779
points

I think the other premier league teams would give City a goose chase and by January the gap would be very close if not close


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/09/2016 04:49
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

I think the other premier league teams would give City a goose chase and by January the gap would be very close if not close

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
27/09/2016
GH
4779
points

This week's phrase is a marathon for a sprinter


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
27/09/2016 18:40
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

This week's phrase is a marathon for a sprinter

Rich's picture
Rich
28/09/2016
ES
594
points

You're close but this isn't the right phrase. Have another go!


Rich's picture
Rich
28/09/2016 08:43
Spain
Liverpool
594

You're close but this isn't the right phrase. Have another go!

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6578
2mobeckham6539
3hsn5560
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia74689
2Ukraine33900
3Spain29544
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23661
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20460
8Turkey20111
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United147027
2Liverpool111542
3Chelsea90291
4Arsenal86309
5Manchester City59070
6Tottenham Hotspur19506
7Newcastle United10626
8West Ham United7701
9AFC Bournemouth4915
10Crystal Palace4627

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

Skills: Listening

Language: Idioms

Pronunciation: Consonant clusters

Extension

Check out this week's Fantasy Football Page and help us choose the Premier Skills team. Remember, you can still enter your own team, too. Go to the Premier League website and use this Private League Code: 155156-51385