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Podcast 49 - Prepositions

Podcast 49 - Prepositions

Premier League badge.

In this week's podcast, Rich and Jack talk about Leicester City winning the Premier League and an interesting story about the word 'nutmeg', which has its roots in the nineteenth century import and export business. The language focus is on dependent prepositions, which are prepositions such as 'for', 'about', 'in' and 'on' that follow specific verbs, nouns and adjectives.

How much did you understand?

Vocabulary 

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some vocabulary that might be new for you. Try the activity below to see how much you understand:

"Norwich and Sunderland have a game in hand on Newcastle."

"It's embarrassing when a player puts the ball through your legs. This is called a nutmeg."

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?

An example of a nutmeg, which is when one player puts the ball through anopther player's legs.

Language - Dependent Prepositions

In the podcast, Jack and Rich used a lot of dependent prepositions, which are verbs, adjectives and nouns that naturally use specific prepositions. Take a look at these examples from the podcast: 

"There are a few possibilities but, according to a newspaper article I read, the use of nutmeg, in football, is probably connected to the nutmeg trade in the 1800s."

"I'm really interested in where words come from."

There aren't many general rules for learning dependent prepositions so it can be a bit difficult to remember them. One idea is to use Google to help you, type in the word and preposition and put it in speech marks (" "). If you get millions of possibilities for one result and only a few thousand for the other you can probably safely choose the first word you typed in. It also helps if you make a note of the preposition when you are learning a new word. If you learn the preposition at the same time as the noun or verb, and in context, it should help you remember it and then use it later. If you want to know more about dependent prepositions, have a go at the activity below, then, take a look at our LearnEnglish website for more activities and advice.

Some common dependent prepositions:

Verbs and Dependent Prepositions Adjectives and Dependent Prepositions Nouns and Dependent Prepositions
depend on according to on purpose
argue with someone/ argue about something interested in decrease in
apologise to someone/apologise for something afraid of difference between
believe in based on advantage of
agree with someone/agree about something frightened of reason for
rely on excited about at risk
comment on good at in theory
speak to someone/speak about someone/speak for someone keen on in trouble
talk to someone/talk about something similar to under guarantee
worry about famous for without doubt

 

Activity 2: Take a look at the sentences and decide which preposition to use.
Which preposition?

Wes Morgan, the Leicester captain, celebrates his equaliser against Manchester Utd at Old Trafford.

Transcript

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

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: This week, we’re going to talk about the latest news in the Premier League, the history of a strange football word and the language focus is on dependent prepositions.

Jack: And later, Rich will make this week’s Premier League prediction and we have another football phrase for you to guess in our football vocabulary game.

Rich: We had a new football phrase for you to guess last week. There were lots of guesses. Some of you got it wrong but lots of you got it right.

Jack: Well done to KopHG from South Korea, MS Aboelsafa from Egypt, Elghoul from Algeria, Kwesimanifest from Ghana, SalvaGH from Spain and AssemJuve from Palestine.

Rich: All of you correctly told us that last week’s football phrase was ‘suspended’. ‘To suspend’ is similar in meaning to ‘to ban’ and is used in the same way in football. Jamie Vardy was banned for two matches after his red card against West Ham and Dele Alli has been suspended for three matches after hitting an opponent against West Brom.

Jack: More generally, ‘to suspend’ means to stop something for a specific amount of time like 2 weeks or 6 months but ‘to ban’, in addition to this meaning, can also mean to stop something forever. So you can say, smoking is banned in public places in the UK.

Rich: Did we ask our listeners anything else in last week’s podcast?

Jack: Have you forgotten? That’s a bit embarrassing!

Rich: Of course. We asked you about embarrassing or awkward moments that you can remember. Aragorn1986 from Montenegro had a good one. He remembers two players fighting on the pitch.

Jack: That happens quite often, too often but is it that embarrassing?

Rich: Well, it is if they’re teammates! It happened quite a few years ago at a Newcastle match. I imagine it was awkward in the dressing room after the match.

Jack: You spoke about a few more embarrassing moments on the football pitch. Elghoul from Algeria said that players are often embarrassed when they score against their former clubs.

Rich: Yes, it can be embarrassing for them but I think it depends on the relationship they had with their old club. Sometimes it’s the exact opposite. I remember one player scoring a goal for his new club and running to celebrate in front of his old fans. They weren’t very happy.

Jack: HakanUslu1881 from Turkey said that in a recent match in his country the referee sent off the wrong player. That is definitely a little bit awkward.

Rich: It happened in an Arsenal match a couple of seasons ago. Yes, very embarrassing.

Jack: My favourite story is from HassanRaja447 from Pakistan who says that it’s embarrassing for a player when an opponent puts the ball through your legs. This is called a nutmeg and I think it’s a great word. It’s also a spice used in cooking, and is often used when making cakes.

Rich: I wonder why it’s used in football?

Jack: I was wondering the same thing, so I did a little bit of research and it’s very interesting. There are a few possibilities but, according to a newspaper article I read,  the use of nutmeg in football is probably connected to the nutmeg trade in the 1800s.

Rich: Really? How strange. Tell us why.

Jack: In the 1800s, nutmeg was very expensive and a very valuable commodity and there was a lot of trade or business in exporting nutmeg from America to England at this time.

Rich: Go on.

Jack: Well, some of the exporters, the people who were buying and sending the nutmeg to England wanted to make as much money as possible and some of them tried to trick the buyers.

Rich: How did they trick them?

Jack: When filling the bags or sacks with nutmeg they would mix wooden replicas or copies in the bags to make it look like there were more nutmegs than there really were. This trick became very common and it became known as nutmegging. The phrase implied that the buyer was a little bit stupid and the seller was clever.

Rich: And this is where the connection is to football?

Jack: Exactly. The player who performs the nutmeg is seen as clever and talented whereas the other player is made to look, well, a bit stupid.

Rich: I’m really interested in where words come from. We’ll have to look at the history of a few more phrases in a future podcast. Did you know that the word hat trick comes from cricket?

Jack: No, I didn’t. Maybe we should look at that next week? Let’s move onto the next section.

Rich: What’s the latest from the Premier League, Jack?

Jack: It’s all over. Leicester City are Premier League Champions! After a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford against Manchester Utd, Tottenham needed to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but they couldn’t do it, which means Leicester City are Champions for the first time in their 132 year history.

Rich: It’s an amazing story.

Jack: But there isn’t just the Premier League title to play for. We don’t yet know who is going to finish in the top 4 or who is going to be relegated. West Ham and Manchester Utd still have a chance of a top 4 place.

Rich: Newcastle got a great win against Crystal Palace and are out of the relegation zone. But Sunderland and Norwich both have a game in hand on Newcastle and will be fighting all the way.

Jack: Game in hand? That’s an interesting phrase. Can you tell us what it means?

Rich: Ah yes. We say a team has a game in hand if they have played a game less than another team. Norwich and Sunderland have played 35 games but Newcastle have played 36, so we say that Sunderland and Norwich have a game in hand on Newcastle.

Jack: And we use the preposition on with this phrase. We say that one team has a game in hand on another team. We don’t say a game in hand ‘of’ or ‘in’. We call this a dependent preposition and that’s the language focus of this week’s podcast.

Rich: When speaking about nutmeg earlier, Jack said ‘according to a newspaper article I read’ and ‘nutmeg, in football, is probably connected to the nutmeg trade’. In both of these examples, Jack used dependent prepositions. In these cases, the preposition is ‘to’.

Jack: A dependent preposition is a preposition that follows specific nouns, verbs and adjectives. There aren’t really any rules that tell you which preposition to use, so it’s probably best to try to learn them when you are looking at the word in a sentence.

Rich: Sometimes it’s possible to use more than one preposition. For example, a few week’s ago we spoke about saying sorry and apologies. We said  ‘Manchester Utd had to apologise to Tottenham for being late’.

Jack: This is because the verb ‘apologise’ uses two dependent prepositions; ‘to’ and ‘for’. You apologise ‘to’ someone but you apologise ‘for’ something.

Rich: One good way to check that you are using the correct preposition is to use Google or another web browser. A common mistake I hear my students make is with the verb ‘depend’. I might say; ‘Are you going to the beach this weekend’ and they say ‘It depends of the weather’. They should say ‘It depends on the weather’ because ‘on’ is the dependent preposition here. If you type ‘depend on’ putting speech marks (“) around the words, Google gives you over 242 million results. If I type in ‘depends of’ you get half a million and if you look at the first results they are all about English language learning!

Jack: So, it’s sometimes easy to find out which preposition to use. But sometimes it’s not so easy so it’s probably a good idea to make a note. Let’s look at some more examples.

Rich: The most common prepositions we use are; for, from, in, of, on, to and with. We’ve already said that you can use apologise with ‘to’ or ‘for’, according and connect go with ‘to’ and depend goes with ‘on’. In this next section, Jack’s going to ask me some quick questions and we’d like you to notice the prepositions that we use.

Jack: Do you believe in ghosts?

Rich: Believe in ghosts. No, not really but I do want to see the new ghostbusters movie.

Jack: What was the last film you saw?

Rich: The Hunger Games, it was really good. I know that it is based on a book and I want to read that now, too. I’m not sure who it was written by but, I’ll have to check that out.

Jack: Did you always agree with your teachers at school?

Rich: I hardly agree with anyone, to be honest. I think I do it on purpose. If someone says Liverpool will win easily I always say the opposite. I always end up arguing with them.

Jack: Are you afraid of anything?

Rich: No, I’m not afraid of anything. Nothing. Oh maybe, when my mum gets really angry then I’m afraid of her!

Jack: Does anybody rely on you?

Rich: My family rely on me, but I rely on my family, too.

Jack: Can you comment on this season’s Premier League?

Rich: It’s been the most exciting for years, I can’t remember so many people being interested in it. And it’s not over yet!

Jack: Right. I think that’s enough questions. Did you notice all the prepositions?

Rich: That brings us to this week’s questions and we are going to ask you to use prepositions in all of your answers. Question 1: Can you comment on this season’s Premier League? How would you describe this season?

Jack: Question 2: Do you usually agree with people? Who do you argue with? What do you argue about?

Rich: Question 3: Earlier we spoke about the history of the word ‘nutmeg’. Do you know the history of any other football words, either in English or your own language?

Jack: And remember, if you want us to correct your comments just write ‘correct me’ at the beginning of your message.

Rich: Right, do you have a new football phrase for our listeners to guess, Jack?

Jack: Yes, I do. This week it’s a word, the word is * *******. It is a noun which is used to describe a fantastic goal, usually a free-kick or a powerful shot from outside the penalty box. Andros Townsend scored * ******* for Newcastle Utd last weekend. To give you a little more help; * ******* is also a special Christmas item that is used in the UK. It is made of a tube of paper, and two people pull it and it makes a loud bang. Inside the tube, there is usually a paper hat, a small toy and a bad joke. The word is more commonly used to describe a type of biscuit or savoury snack.

Rich: That’s a pretty difficult one let’s see if anybody can get it right.

Jack: Have you got a prediction for us this week, Rich?

Rich: This week’s big match is Manchester City against Arsenal. Both teams have had a disappointing season by their high standards. Both will have wanted to win the Premier League but instead are fighting to make sure they are in the top 4 and in the Champions League next season. I think City are generally in better form so I am going to go for a City win to guarantee them Champions League football next season. It will mean Arsenal might need a point or a win on the final day to join City, Tottenham and Leicester in next season’s Champions League. Final score: Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal.

Jack: It’s going to be tense and exciting for some clubs up to the final match of the season.

Rich: Right, anyway that’s it for today - we’ve run out of time! Thanks for listening. And don’t forget to write your answers to our questions, your predictions and anything you want to say about the website or football English in the comments below.

Jack: Don’t forget if you sign in, you can score points to see if you can get your club, your country and your name to the top of our leaderboard.

Rich:  Bye for now and enjoy your football!

Quiz

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What do you think?

In this week’s podcast, we spoke about the word 'nutmeg' and dependent prepositions. Can you try to use some dependent prepsitions in your answers to these questions.

  1. Can you comment on this season’s Premier League? How surprising is Leicester's Premier League win?

  2. Do you usually agree with people? Who do you argue with? What do you argue about?

  3. Do you know the history of any other football words, either in English or your own language?

​Rich predicts that Manchester City will beat Arsenal 2-1 this weekend. Do you agree?

Remember to write your predictions, your guess at this week's football phrase and answers to 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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Comments

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016
GH
4768
points

Rich
I fancy Newcastle remaining in the league even though they haven't been convincing enough this season and also to Boston benítez's chance of managing another big club.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016 09:44
Ghana
Manchester United
4768

Rich
I fancy Newcastle remaining in the league even though they haven't been convincing enough this season and also to Boston benítez's chance of managing another big club.

Rich's picture
Rich
09/05/2016
ES
594
points

It looks like Sunderland are the favourites to avoid relegation now!


Rich's picture
Rich
09/05/2016 09:59
Spain
Liverpool
594

It looks like Sunderland are the favourites to avoid relegation now!

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016
GH
4768
points

In ghana we call our nutmeg "suulia" and we had a name for a low flying header that resulted in a goal from a cross while growing up called "bembe"


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016 07:52
Ghana
Manchester United
4768

In ghana we call our nutmeg "suulia" and we had a name for a low flying header that resulted in a goal from a cross while growing up called "bembe"

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016
GH
4768
points

I usually agree with people depending on the import of their submissions. I most often argue with my colleagues at school. Our arguments mostly revolves around football decisions made during a game.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016 07:45
Ghana
Manchester United
4768

I usually agree with people depending on the import of their submissions. I most often argue with my colleagues at school. Our arguments mostly revolves around football decisions made during a game.

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016
GH
4768
points

A score draw or a goalless draw will do for me in the Manchester City -Arsenal game.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016 07:41
Ghana
Manchester United
4768

A score draw or a goalless draw will do for me in the Manchester City -Arsenal game.

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016
GH
4768
points

1. This season's premier league ia being nervery rocking as one couldn't easily predict what happens every other week. Leicester City has shown that they really wanted to win ando held on to their beliefs such that even when they were down they made sure to equalise... to me they have been the most tactically disciplined team and absolutely deserve the title.
The bottom half of the table is equally interesting and one can't take his eyes off given that Norwich and Sunderland both have a game in hand everything is possible and at this point Newcastle will hope to win all their remaining matches to remain in the league.
A nervy season it's been.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016 07:39
Ghana
Manchester United
4768

1. This season's premier league ia being nervery rocking as one couldn't easily predict what happens every other week. Leicester City has shown that they really wanted to win ando held on to their beliefs such that even when they were down they made sure to equalise... to me they have been the most tactically disciplined team and absolutely deserve the title.
The bottom half of the table is equally interesting and one can't take his eyes off given that Norwich and Sunderland both have a game in hand everything is possible and at this point Newcastle will hope to win all their remaining matches to remain in the league.
A nervy season it's been.

Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016
ES
594
points

Hi Kwesimanifest

Which team do you think will escape? Newcastle?

Rich - The Premeir Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016 08:18
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Kwesimanifest

Which team do you think will escape? Newcastle?

Rich - The Premeir Skills English Team

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016
GH
4768
points

This week's phrase is screamer


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
04/05/2016 07:32
Ghana
Manchester United
4768

This week's phrase is screamer

Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016
ES
594
points

A screamer is a great word to describe a long range goal, but it's not this week's football phrase.

RIch - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016 08:20
Spain
Liverpool
594

A screamer is a great word to describe a long range goal, but it's not this week's football phrase.

RIch - The Premier Skills English Team

aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
03/05/2016
ME
3557
points

I remember when Totti scored goal from the penalty in France '98. Manager was angry because he simply touched the ball so it barely hit its target. He tricked the goalkeeper and took a great risk but he scored. Italians call this type of penalty 'il cucchiaio' which mean 'the spoon' but I never found out why they call it so.


aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
03/05/2016 22:26
Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

I remember when Totti scored goal from the penalty in France '98. Manager was angry because he simply touched the ball so it barely hit its target. He tricked the goalkeeper and took a great risk but he scored. Italians call this type of penalty 'il cucchiaio' which mean 'the spoon' but I never found out why they call it so.

aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
03/05/2016
ME
3557
points

This is the season in the Premier League. Many people were happy last night when Leicester won the title. The team with the team spirit made everyone believe in their dreams. I think that many fans would agree with this. Lads made dreams become reality, and that is terrific.


aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
03/05/2016 22:19
Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

This is the season in the Premier League. Many people were happy last night when Leicester won the title. The team with the team spirit made everyone believe in their dreams. I think that many fans would agree with this. Lads made dreams become reality, and that is terrific.

Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016
ES
594
points

Hi Aragorn1986

Leicester winning the Premier League is an amazing story. I can't think of another performance in football (or any sport) when such a huge underdog has managed to win. Did you know that they were 5000-1 to win the Premier League title at the beginning of the season?

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016 08:16
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Aragorn1986

Leicester winning the Premier League is an amazing story. I can't think of another performance in football (or any sport) when such a huge underdog has managed to win. Did you know that they were 5000-1 to win the Premier League title at the beginning of the season?

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
03/05/2016
ME
3557
points

I think Man City will draw with Arsenal 1:1.


aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
03/05/2016 22:15
Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

I think Man City will draw with Arsenal 1:1.

MUGEMANYI's picture
MUGEMANYI
15/05/2016
RW
2320
points

Well predicted,,, I was thinking it might be 0-0 draw!


MUGEMANYI's picture
MUGEMANYI
15/05/2016 21:12
Rwanda
Arsenal
2320

Well predicted,,, I was thinking it might be 0-0 draw!

elghoul's picture
elghoul
03/05/2016
DZ
3988
points

1.Yes the game is over and I can't still make it on my mind. Leicester is the winner.
2.I usually find difficulties to agree with people when they are talking about their favorite team.
3.I heard that the popular algiers word 'zagat' has its roots in the French phrase 'ça se gate' which means things are growing worst.
I think there will a draw between City and Arsenal.
Football guessing word : a sweet cake.


elghoul's picture
elghoul
03/05/2016 18:56
Algeria
Manchester City
3988

1.Yes the game is over and I can't still make it on my mind. Leicester is the winner.
2.I usually find difficulties to agree with people when they are talking about their favorite team.
3.I heard that the popular algiers word 'zagat' has its roots in the French phrase 'ça se gate' which means things are growing worst.
I think there will a draw between City and Arsenal.
Football guessing word : a sweet cake.

MUGEMANYI's picture
MUGEMANYI
15/05/2016
RW
2320
points

I don't like if my sister laughs and tell me that Arsenal can't win premier league when I'm still alive.


MUGEMANYI's picture
MUGEMANYI
15/05/2016 21:10
Rwanda
Arsenal
2320

I don't like if my sister laughs and tell me that Arsenal can't win premier league when I'm still alive.

Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016
ES
594
points

Hi Elghoul

Yes, it's difficult to comprehend how easily Leicester have won the title this season. 'Sweet cake' is not this week's football phrase, sorry.

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
04/05/2016 08:09
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Elghoul

Yes, it's difficult to comprehend how easily Leicester have won the title this season. 'Sweet cake' is not this week's football phrase, sorry.

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1mobeckham6510
2Alex_from_Ukraine6278
3hsn5525
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4768
6Liubomyr4408
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia71478
2Ukraine33300
3Spain28277
4Serbia27289
5Brazil23896
6Albania20578
7Vietnam19939
8Turkey19810
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United141846
2Liverpool110282
3Chelsea88559
4Arsenal85717
5Manchester City56951
6Tottenham Hotspur19169
7Newcastle United10457
8West Ham United7454
9AFC Bournemouth4454
10Crystal Palace4240

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

Skills: Listening

Vocabulary: Football phrases 

Language: Dependent prepositions