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  • hi everybody this is neil from bbc learning english

  • it's news review and i'm joined by georgina hi georgina

  • hi neil hi everybody so today we're looking at

  • the story behind the headlines all about noah lyles and how he attempted to beat

  • a 200 meter world record it's a great story and

  • you can test yourself on the vocabulary on our website at bbclearningenglish.com

  • now let's hear some more about that story from this bbc radio one newsbeat

  • report a pretty spectacular mistake last night

  • left athletics commentator steve cram almost lost for words he is loud he's

  • about to finish that cannot be right i cannot be right

  • yeah this is the kind of stuff you can't make up us sprinting noah lyles was

  • racing against two other athletes over 200 meters

  • all in different locations using a special timing system

  • and he is very fast but he's not that fast he crossed the line in a time that

  • would have smashed usain bolt's world record only to find

  • out he started the wrong start line around

  • 185 meters make of that what you will so he was 15

  • meters short it means he technically didn't complete the race he was moved

  • into third place so he didn't bag the 8 000 prize either

  • not his best day out yes so athletics commentator steve cram

  • was almost speechless when he thought that

  • noah lyles had managed to beat usain bolt's

  • 200 meter world record in fact he hadn't because unfortunately

  • he had started the race at the wrong start line so was in fact 15 meters

  • short of the full 200 meters okay well that explains why he was so

  • fast you've been having a look at this story and picking

  • out the vocabulary people need to talk about it what have you got

  • i've got blunder transpires and mix-up blunder

  • transpires and mix-up let's start with your first headline with that word

  • blunder please so the headline is from sky news it is

  • noah lyles sprinter beats usain bolt's 200 meter world record before blunder

  • is uncovered blunder careless or serious mistake yeah and that's spelt

  • b-l-u-n-d-e-r and it is a noun and in this headline obviously

  • the serious mistake was that noah lyles started the race at

  • the wrong point and we should stress this was not

  • he had no idea that this had actually happened so it was uh

  • yeah it was it had serious consequences and made it impossible for him for to

  • complete the 200 meter race this word is um very popular in

  • headlines isn't it when we're speaking normally we're more

  • likely to use the word mistake aren't we yeah exactly i think it's a great word

  • for news headlines because it has such a distinct

  • meaning and everyone knows that it basically means a serious mistake that

  • has consequences it's also a verb isn't it

  • it is a verb yes so and often when it's used as a verb it's used with around

  • so to blunder around and it means uh when someone's very clumsy

  • so for example um oh my gosh have you made any

  • blunders lately neil i certainly have okay

  • tell us about your blunder georgina so i don't embarrass myself

  • yeah well this is very embarrassing and i have to be honest i think this may

  • have happened a few times but very recently a friend's boyfriend

  • told me about a surprise party that he was giving her but i didn't

  • really hear the surprise bit so when i saw my friend i was like oh

  • i'll see you on saturday at your birthday party

  • and it was a surprise and she didn't know anything about it so i made

  • a yeah it was a big blunder that i made and as you said then you made a blunder

  • so when when we use it as a noun blunder and we want to

  • make it into a verb we say make a blunder

  • yeah so that's the verb we use with it to make a blunder

  • great let's have a summary

  • time now for our second headline please georgina

  • the second headline is from cnn and it is

  • noah lyles breaks 200 meter world record but then it transpires he only ran 180

  • meters transpires becomes apparent yeah and it's about t-r-a-n-s-p-i-r-e

  • and it is a verb now this is used when something uh becomes clear but later on

  • so it's when something wasn't known but then it becomes common knowledge

  • and in this case uh noah lyle uh it became clear that he hadn't started

  • the race at the correct point which is why he unfortunately

  • couldn't break the world record or in fact

  • complete the 200 meter race and it is quite formal when it's used so

  • that's something to be aware of the last time i heard we used it

  • uh neil can you remember well there was a very obvious example

  • pretty much the last day we were in the office before lockdown

  • uh you brought in a lovely tin of biscuits didn't you

  • yeah they were delicious i actually don't know if they were delicious

  • because i didn't get any but yes that's the

  • problem nobody knows uh that they were delicious apart from

  • one person uh nobody thought that he'd been in but

  • it did actually transpire that rob had come into the building and uh well

  • you know helped himself yeah he was spotted

  • leaving the building with a you know uh crumbs of biscuits behind him

  • yeah he he said he enjoyed them later yeah so

  • we didn't know who did it in the end i'm sure i'm sure he did look happy

  • let's have a summary if you like stories about sport we've

  • got a great one for you haven't we georgina we do so it's a news

  • review episode we did a while ago and it's all about

  • how uh training for the premier league was starting again

  • so take a look at it just click on the link below

  • okay time now for our next headline so the next headline is from the daily

  • mail it's quite long so bear with me and it is american noah lyles smashes

  • usain bolt's 200 meter record before being told he had only 185

  • meters in a mix-up over using the right starting line with commentator steve

  • cram left laughing in disbelief

  • mix up mistake that creates confusion yes so it's about mix hyphen up

  • and it's made up of two words in this case it has a hyphen between the two

  • words because it is a noun so it's uh

  • for example it's a mix-up it's when something confusing happens

  • and you know uh does this ever happen to you

  • well you were telling me uh that you are very kind of

  • precise with certain things for example your

  • uh your spices when you're cooking you have them in a

  • distinct order is it alphabetical order yeah they have to be in alphabetical

  • order and so basically when i'm cooking i just reach

  • up grab the right spice because i know exactly where they are

  • and put it into the recipe i'm cooking so if that order is mixed up

  • then what happens it becomes confusing very very confusing because suddenly i'm

  • about to pour the wrong spice into into a dish or a you know meal i'm

  • making that would make it taste very very

  • i wouldn't like to say disgusting but definitely

  • interesting so it would be very and it has happened before actually it can be

  • very confusing yeah okay this can be used as a verb as

  • well yes it can so um yeah and when it's used

  • as a verb it's not used with a hyphen so for example uh my friend

  • came around to cook and she mixed up all my spices

  • a terrible a terrible thing to happen to you georgina

  • you must have felt very mixed up

  • okay let's have a summary

  • time now for a recap of the vocabulary please georgina

  • so the first word we looked at was blunder

  • careless or serious mistake the second one was transpires becomes

  • apparent and the third one was mix up and it is mistake that creates confusion

  • we are all over social media look for bbc learning english

  • and we also have a free app to download stay safe and join us again soon goodbye

  • bye

hi everybody this is neil from bbc learning english

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