Cultured Learning

Britain’s Andy Murray has made it to the finals of the Australian Open on Sunday, and he’s the first Brit to have done so in 33 years!

Here are some words and phrases that you might hear in the match. So do the exercises below, practise the chants, and get in the mood to cheer on the Scotsman!

1. Tennis players put every effort into winning, and to show that, we often use expressions which describe how they’re playing with their whole soul, heart, or stomach! Can you name three stomach-related phrases which we use in the following situations?

a. He’s very sad.

b. That’s brilliant, fearless play.

c. Is he brave enough to survive?

2. Below are some more phrases you might hear from the commentators in the game. Can you match them to their meanings?

Phrases

A sloppy shot!

A piece of genius!

He’s on fire!

He wallops a forehand

He blasts the ball back.

Neither player is willing to give an inch

That left him scrambling for the ball.

The ball whizzes past him

A brutal back-hand.

Bang on the line

A gruelling match.

What a shot!

Definitions

He could have played that better (2 phrases)

Brilliant play (3 phrases)

The ball moves very fast (4 phrases)

Nobody wants to lose (1 phrase)

Very accurate play (1 phrase)

It’s very hard (1 phrase)

Here are some chants and phrases of encouragement!

• Great Scott! (This is an old-fashioned way of saying “that’s amazing.” But it’s also fun to use here, because Andy Murray is Scottish, and a Scottish person is called ‘a Scott!’
• Come on!
• Let’s go!
• Atta boy! (lit. That’s the way to do it)
• Gone on my son!

We love you Andy, we do

/wiː/ /lʌv/ /jʊ/ /ændi/ /wiː/ /dəʊ/

We love you Andy, we do

We love you Andy, we do

Oh Andy, we love you

/əʊ/ /ændi/ /wiː/ /lʌv/ /juː/

And if you want to get technical, you can think about why the pronunciation of “you changes” in the last line. But we think you’ll be too busy screaming at the T.V to care!

Answers

1. Your ‘gut’ or ‘guts’ is another word for stomach.
   1. He’s gutted
   2. That’s real, gutsy play.
   3. Has he got the guts to come through?

He could have played that better -

A sloppy shot! That left him scrambling for the ball.

Brilliant play -

He’s on fire! What a shot! A piece of genius!

The ball moves very fast

He wallops a forehand The ball whizzes past him He blasts the ball back A brutal back hand.

Nobody wants to lose - Neither player is willing to give an inch

Very accurate play - Bang on the line

It’s very hard - A gruelling match

1. In the first four lines of the chant “love you”, is linked and becomes “luv ya”, but in the final line, “you” is the last word of the whole song, so it needs to be emphasised and pronounce as “you.” So now you know!

Good Luck Andy!

Introduction and history

B.1) taking place
2) the norm
3) vibrant

The Event

1) In Notting Hill, London, during the last weekend of August every year on Sunday and Bank holiday Monday
2) On Sunday there is the Children’s day parade and a lot of family events; on Monday there is a parade for everyone followed by parties in bars and clubs

To celebrate Selfridges’ 100th birthday, why not do our quiz, visit their exhibition and while you’re there, practise using these phrases?

Complete the missing word

1. Excuse me, ________’s the fitting room, please?
2. Do you ______ this in size 10?
3. Shop Assistant “Can I _____ you?”
4. You “No thanks, I’m just __________”
5. Could you tell me where I could ______ the menswear section?
6. Have you _______ this in blue?
7. I’m not sure what my shoe _____ is in Britain, but in France, it’s 38.
8. Can I ______ a tax refund from here?
9. I’m sorry, could you _______ what you said?
10. Can I _______ by card?

Answers

1. where
2. have
3. help
4. looking
5. find
6. got
7. size
8. get
9. repeat
10. pay

Happy shopping!  And if you want to check out the special events in Selfridges, visit: http://www.selfridges.com/

Quiz by Cultured Learning Ltd

SECTION A:

The article suggests that it is difficult to reconcile English law and Islam, but not impossible

SECTION B:

1) Find on page 1:

a) A word that means “a conflict” or “a difference that makes it difficult for people / things to work together” = clash

b) A word that means “coming” or “threatening” = looming

c) A phrase that means “there is a lot to be won or lost” = there is much at stake

d) A word that means “angry and offended” = resentful

e) A word that means “personal histories and experiences” = backgrounds

f) A word that means “limitation” = curtailment

g) A word meaning “a person involved in a lawsuit” = litigant

h) A word meaning “the clear understanding of things” = insight

1) Find on page 2:

a) A phrasal verb meaning “face something directly” = square up

b) A word meaning “cure” or “make better” = heal

c) A word meaning “help grow or develop” = foster

SECTION C

1) Find two differences between Islamic law and English law

English law focuses on the rights of the individual; Islamic law focuses on the rights of the community. English law acknowledges no duty to god; Islam law incorporates the principles from Prophet Muhammad.

2) Find three examples of Human Rights problems

The treatment of women; Guantanamo Bay; the intervention of religion in public and private life.

Hello everyone

We hope you had a beautiful sunny weekend.

Here are the answers to the “Dutch” questions.

To go Dutch = to share the cost of a meal between two people

If something is all double dutch = it doesn’ t make any sense

Dutch courage = to drink alcohol to make you braver!

Bye, see you again soon for our next “Improve your English” worksheet.

Many thanks to Tim Berners Lee for pointing this out to us, and apologies for getting it wrong in the first place.  Tim Berners Lee did not invent the Internet as previously stated, but he did invent the World Wide Web.  The Internet was in fact invented in the 1970s by Vint Cerf and his colleagues.

In case you want to find out more about the 20th anniversary celebrations of the WWW, check out Tim’s website:

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ#Internet
And here’s an extra bit of grammar for you.
Why have I used did in following sentence?

“…but he did invent the World Wide Web…”

The sentence is in the past, shouldn’t it just be in the past simple?

Shouldn’t it say “… but he invented the World Wide Web…”?

Any ideas? Well, I’ll let you know tomorrow