Medium: Blow someone away

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase to blow someone away. 

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time.

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

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Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is to blow something away.

Jack: It can be used in and out of football and has a literal meaning and a non-literal meaning when it is used as a phrasal verb.

Rich: The verb to blow is most often used when it’s connected to air and air moving around.

Jack: We blow air out of our mouths. We need to blow to play a musical instrument like the trumpet or the flute.

Rich: We also use blow to describe wind. The wind blows.

Jack: If you drop some papers outside, they might blow away if it is very windy.

Rich: The papers might blow away - the wind takes them further away from you.

Jack: So, that’s the literal meaning of to blow something away. What about the non-literal meaning?

Rich: You might be blown away by something.

Jack: You could be blown away by the wind.

Rich: Yes, if the wind is very strong but you can also be blown away by something that is very surprising or spectacular. Listen to these two examples:

Jack: When I saw the view from the top of the mountain it blew me away. It was wonderful.

Rich: The last part of the film will just blow you away. It’s such a surprise.

Jack: So, to blow someone away can be used to describe something that surprises or impresses someone.

Rich: Remember it’s an irregular verb, too. Blow - blew - blown The end of the film will blow you away. The end of the film blew me away. I was blown away by the end of the film.

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Jack: We often hear the phrasal verb blow someone away when we listen to match reports. Listen to this:

Rich: The first half was very close but City just blew United away in the second half.

Jack: To blow someone away can also mean to defeat someone easily or to be much better than the others or the competition.

Rich: If one team blows another away they’ve won very easily; probably by three goals or more.

Jack: We can use blow someone away more generally about a competition. Liverpool have blown the rest of the Premier League away this season. They have won the League easily.

Rich: A company might have a new product or sell a product at a cheap price that blows the competition away.

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Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

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Discuss

When was the last time your team blew another team away?