English In The News.

I always read this blog (the English Blog) and that’s why I recommend it. Here I have just published three examples of how we may learn a lot of things from the news. I confess that I feel that many people do not take some time to read something from the news today, but I still believe that real English comes from real situations like those reports.

I hope you enjoy reading and learning from them.

The Daily Express carries a warning that the value of UK savings and pensions could be cut by up to 20% because of an EU tax on financial deals. Full story >>

VOCABULARY 

If you say that businesses are being hammered, you mean that they are being unfairly harmed, for example by a change in taxes or bad economic conditions.

• The company has been hammered by the downturn in the construction industry.

The Daily Mail claims grieving families and MPs are calling for NHS head Sir David Nicholson to be sacked over the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal. Full story >>

VOCABULARY

To sack [British English informal] means to dismiss someone from their job [= fire]

• Hundreds of workers are to be sacked at the factory.

• They couldn't sack me - I'd done nothing wrong.

• He was sacked from every job he had.

• He was sacked for being drunk.

 Millions of workers will lose up to £70,000 from their State pension under a new deal, it was revealed yesterday.

VOCABULARY

If you slash something (informal, often used in newspapers) you reduce it by a large amount.

• to slash costs/prices/fares, etc.

• The workforce has been slashed by half.