Because/Because of 16/17 ep.15

In this week's Premier Skills English podcast, Rich and Jack talk about last weekend's World Cup qualifiers and the performances of some Premier League players for their countries. Rich makes a big fashion mistake when he buys some Liverpool earmuffs and this week's language focus is the difference between 'because' and 'because of'. We also have a reminder about our Big Football Quiz, where you can win a Nike Ordem football! On top of this, we have a new football phrase for you to guess and a Premier League prediction for you to make. Enjoy!

How much did you understand?

Vocabulary

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some words and phrases that might be new for you. You can see two examples here:

Four out of the five candidates for the BBC's prestigious African Player of the Year Award play in the Premier League.

Tadic had the last laugh because Serbia scored a late equaliser.

There were a few more tricky words in the podcast. Can you remember all of them? Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words in context. This can really help with understanding.

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?

Language - Because

The word 'because' is a conjunction like 'and', 'or', 'but' and 'although'. We use conjunctions to give more information, give alternatives, give reasons or results. We use 'because' to give reasons. Here are a couple of examples taken from the podcast:

You might see Southampton's Dusan Tadic in a mask next weekend, because he broke his nose last week.
Rich bought some earmuffs, because he thought they looked good.

In both these examples, the second part of the sentence explains the reason for the action in the first part of the sentence; 'because' answers the question 'why?'. When we use 'because' it is followed by a verb phrase; in the examples above you can see the subject 'he' followed by the verb 'broke' and 'thought'.

Language - Because of

The phrase 'because of' is not a conjunction like 'because', it is a preposition. It usually has the same meaning as because and is used to give reasons but how we use it is a bit different. Take a look at these examples from the podcast:

The Premier League took a break because of World Cup qualifiers last weekend.

Chelsea are playing so well because of Victor Moses.

In both these examples, like with the examples which use 'because', the second part of the sentence explains the reason for the action in the first part of the sentence. However, when we use 'because of' it is followed by a noun phrase; in the examples above the nouns are 'World Cup qualifiers' and 'Victor Moses'.

You may also see 'because of' followed by a gerund (verb+-ing). In these cases, the gerund is acting as a noun and it is a noun rather than a verb phrase which is being used. Here is an example from the podcast:

Victor Moses is playing better because of moving position.

In this activity, take a look at the sentences and decide if you should be using 'because' or 'because of'.

Activity 2: In this activity, look at each sentence and decide if you should use 'because' or 'because of'.

Can you decide which sentence uses which word?

Who should win the BBC African Player of the Year Award?

You can vote for the BBC's African Player of the Year Award by following the link on the side of this page. Here are the five candidates, four of them play their football in the Premier League. Who do you think should win?

Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City and Algeria)
Sadio Mane (Liverpool/Southampton and Senegal)
Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
Andre Ayew (West Ham/Swansea City and Ghana)
Patrick Aubayemang (Borussia Dortmund and Gabon)

Transcript

If the listening was difficult, listen again and read the transcript at the same time.

Read and listen at the same time.

Welcome

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Jack: and I’m Jack

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Latest news headlines

Jack: Let’s start with the Premier League headlines this week.

Rich: Premier League stars in action around the globe.

Jack: The Premier League took a break because of World Cup qualifiers last weekend but there was no break for Premier League players. Some of the big results included Brazil 3 Argentina nil with Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho with one of the goals; Nigeria, beat Algeria 3-1 with goals from Chelsea’s Victor Moses and Jon Obi Mikel; and finally England beat their local rivals, Scotland, 3-0.

Rich: Four Premier League stars up for the BBC African Player of the Year Award.

Jack: Four out of the five candidates for the BBC’s prestigious African Player of the Year award play their football in the Premier League. The candidates are Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez, Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, West Ham’s Andre Ayew, Manchester City’s Yaya Toure and Borussia Dortmund’s Patrick-Emerick Aubameyang. You can vote for your favourite on the BBC - we’ve put a link to the vote on the side of this page.

Rich: Tadic gets one in the nose for Serbia.

Jack: You might see Southampton’s Serbian, Dusan Tadic, in a mask this weekend because he broke his nose when playing for Serbia against Wales. He got a boot in the face from Swansea’s Neil Taylor and there was blood everywhere! But, Tadic had the last laugh because Serbia scored a late equaliser to get a 1-1 draw.

Competition

Rich: Don’t forget! We still have our new competition for you! It’s called the Big Football Quiz! You have to answer 10 questions. Five are about Football English and five test your football knowledge.

Jack: And if you get all the answers right, you could win a Premier League match ball. The Nike Ordem 4 is exactly what is used on matchday and is worth about £100.

Rich: The Big Football Quiz is on our home page and there is also a link on the side of this page. Remember you need to be logged in to do the big football quiz. Let us know in the comments section if you have any questions or send us an email at premierskills@britishcouncil.org

Jack: You have till midnight, that’s 12 o’clock at night, on the 22nd of November to enter the competition.

Player of the Week

Jack: Some fantastic performances around the world by Premier League players last weekend. Romelu Lukaku scored twice in Belgium’s 8-1 win against Estonia, Paul Pogba and Dimitri Payet scored for France, and Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen scored twice for Denmark against Kazakhstan.

Rich: But our player of the week this week is Nigeria’s Chelsea forward……. Victor Moses. He scored twice in Nigeria’s 3-1 win against Algeria to give his country a great chance of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia. He’s also in the best form of his life for Chelsea.

Jack: Yes, he’s having a fantastic season. I think one of the reasons Chelsea are playing so well is because of Victor Moses.

Rich: Yeah, I didn’t think he would play for Chelsea this season because he’s been on loan at Liverpool, Stoke City and West Ham in the last three seasons. But, maybe, he’s playing better because of moving position?

Jack: That’s right; he’s playing further back this season in a more defensive position.

Language

Jack: What are you wearing?

Rich: Earmuffs.

Jack: Why?

Rich: Because it’s cold. Do you like them? Look they have the Liverpool badge on the side of each ear.

Jack: Errr very nice. Is that why you bought them? Because they have the Liverpool badge on them?

Rich: Not only because of the badge, although, you know I like my football merchandise - but because they go well with my Liverpool scarf

Jack: So, you only bought them because of that? Because of fashion - because they look good with the scarf?

Rich: No, also because of the price. They only cost £5.

Jack: Ahh, OK because they were cheap. Sounds expensive to me!

Rich: That’s because you are an Arsenal fan! And it’s not so cold in London because of all the pollution.

Jack: Careful, Rich! You don’t want to get knocked over. Especially in your new earmuffs.

Rich: And especially because I have something for you. Here.

Jack: How nice of you. A pair of Liverpool earmuffs.

Rich: Are you going to try them on?

Jack: Err.. maybe later, Rich.

Sting

Jack: In the last section, we were talking about something that Rich bought. But what we really want to do is to talk about some language that often confuses learners.

Rich: When we were talking about my new earmuffs we used the words ‘because’ and ‘because of’ a lot. The main difference between the two is the form or the structure. We use the words in a different way but the meaning is often the same.

Jack: Let’s look at an example. Rich said that he bought the earmuffs ‘because of the price’. ‘Because of’ is a preposition and needs to be followed by a noun phrase; so Rich said he bought the earmuffs ‘because of the price’.

Rich: Then Jack responded by saying ‘ because they were cheap’. He used ‘because’ not ‘because of’. Because is a conjunction which links two parts of a sentence together and is followed by the subject and a verb phrase. So, he said ‘because the were cheap’

Jack: So, Rich also said he bought them because of the Liverpool badge but he could have said he bought them because they have the Liverpool badge.

Rich: Jack told me that I bought them because of fashion, because they looked good. Because of followed by a noun phrase and because followed by a verb phrase.

Jack: I think because of is a little bit more difficult to use in a sentence. Earlier in the podcast, Rich said, ‘Victor Moses is playing better because of moving position’ here ‘because of’ is followed by a gerund. A gerund is a verb with an -ing form.

Rich: But we said that ‘because of’ is followed by a noun?

Jack: That’s right. Gerunds function as nouns so we can use them in sentences like what you said about Victor Moses.

Rich: Using a gerund after ‘because of’ is possible but not that common. Let’s take an example. We could say,’ ‘Jack is in bed because he is ill’ or we could say ‘Jack is in bed because of his illness’ or we could say ‘Jack is in bed because of feeling ill’.

Jack: Take a look at the activities and explanations below to practise this a little more.

Football Phrase

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week?

Jack: Yes, I have, but first last week’s football phrase. The phrase was title contenders. A contender is a team or an individual that has a good chance of winning something, so a title contender is a team that has a good chance of winning the title. Liverpool and Chelsea are strong title contenders this season.

Rich: Well done to Alex and Liubomyr from Ukraine, Kwesimanifest from Ghana and Shobonenek from Russia. You got the right answer last week!

Jack: This week’s phrase is * *******. When a player commits a foul the referee may give the player a yellow card, this is often called * ******* or a caution. This word is used because the player’s name is written down by the referee. In more general English, the word is a synonym of reservation. In the UK you can make * ******* at a restaurant or for a seat on a plane.

Rich: I think this phrase is used more in British English than American English.

Prediction

Jack: You didn’t make a prediction last week because of the international break. Have you got one for us this week, Rich?

Rich: Yes I do and it’s a big one. Manchester Utd are at home to Arsenal in Saturday’s early kick off. Manchester Utd haven’t been playing that well this season but if they win on Saturday they will only be three points behind Arsenal. Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez may not be available because of injury and because of this I’m going to go for a Manchester Utd win. Final score: Manchester Utd 2-0 Arsenal

Jack: Because I don’t think that’s a very good prediction and because I’m an Arsenal fan, I’m going to disagree with you. Final score Man Utd 0-2 Arsenal.

Rich: Ok, that’s all we have time for today. Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. And remember to take a look at our Fantasy Football page and enter our Big Football Quiz!

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football!

Quiz

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Formulário

Premier League Prediction - Gameweek 12 - Man Utd v Arsenal

In Gameweek 11, Arsenal and Spurs drew 1-1, Rich made the second correct score of the season! Well done, Rich! It takes him to the top of our leaderboard on 7 points! Jack is on 6 points and our podcast listeners stay on 4 points. Come on! We know you can do better! Remember, it's one point for the correct result and two additional points for the correct score. The big match in Gameweek 12 is - Manchester Utd v Arsenal! Can you predict the right score?

	GW 1	GW 2	GW 3	GW 4	GW 5	GW 6	GW 7	GW 8	GW 9	GW 10	GW 11	GW 12
Rich	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	2-0
Jack	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	3	0	0-2
Podcast Listeners	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	?

Make your prediction now!

What do you think?

In this week’s podcast, Jack and Rich used the words 'because' and 'because of' to give reasons. We would like you to use a mixture of these words when giving your answers to these questions:.

Which teams will qualify for the World Cup? Which region is it most difficult to qualify from? Why?
Who do you think should become the BBC African Player of the Year? Why?
What's the worst football injury you've ever seen? Why?

Remember to write your guess at this week's football phrase and 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.

Don't forget to enter our Big Football Quiz. Test your Football English & Football knowledge to win a big prize!

Comentários

hsn
10/08/2021

5557
points

What do you think?
1- I think Europe is a region in which qualifying more difficult.Because there are many powerful national teams such as England, Germany, Italy and Netherland.
2- May the best player of the tournament to be awarded for this.
3- I think worst football injury is broken leg.Because it takes at least six months to recover.
Football quiz
• Appreciation of my teachers is a "big prize" for me-:) No need any more.
Phrase
• Stock market dealer's cheated him by selling low price bonds. But he was having last laugh when the prices surprisingly go up.

hsn
10/08/2021 10:53

Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5557

mobeckham
15/05/2020

6536
points

The football phrase for this week is ( Booking )

mobeckham
15/05/2020 18:48

Turkey
Manchester United
6536

It was Beckham in 2002 when he broke his metatesal bone before the World Cup vs Deportivo La Coruna

mobeckham
15/05/2020 18:47

Riyad Mahrez should become the BBC African of the Year because he was exceptional in the recent year :)

Alex_from_Ukraine
20/11/2016

6573
points

I totally agree with Liubomyr and Aragorn1986 on the toughness and hardness of the South American qualifying tournament.

Alex_from_Ukraine
20/11/2016 18:21

Ukraine
Liverpool
6573

This week's phrase is * *******. And I've sent it for the third time. There's something wrong with connection, isn't there ? :-)

Alex_from_Ukraine
20/11/2016 18:10

admin
21/11/2016

560
points

Hi Alex

We are very sorry, but we had a problem with the site following an update on the server. It has been fixed now.

Thanks

Jack

admin
21/11/2016 00:00

United Kingdom
Arsenal
560

Alex_from_Ukraine
21/11/2016

Thanks, Jack. Keep it up !

Alex_from_Ukraine
21/11/2016 20:01

elghoul
18/11/2016

3988
points

1.It is most difficult to qualify in Africa because of the fised number of teams. 2. Mahrez will become the BBC African player because he is already the best player in the best Championship. 3. The worst football injury I ever saw in TV was the deathly falling of Tayeb Amrous from Mouloudia of Algiers. Guessing phtase . ****** or *******

elghoul
18/11/2016 17:21

Algeria
Manchester City
3988

Pavlo
18/11/2016

209
points

This week's phrase is * *******.

Pavlo
18/11/2016 11:17

Ukraine
Arsenal
209

f1ghter66
17/11/2016

18
points

1)hello,,,I predict that Spain,,England,,Italy,,Germany,,France will ceirtanly qualify for the World cup,,because they have great squad for it,,and because of having very goood players in team they will qualify,,,I think that the most difficult region for qualifying is the Europe,,because there are many great and powerfull teams there,,and thay all show great football,,,....2)I am sure that Riyad Mahrez will become the BBc African player of the year because he showed amazing football last year,,and because of him Leicester City became champions of Premier League..3) The worst football injury I have ever seen is the head injury of Peter Chech,,,because it was too painfull I think,,and he had to not to play many months after it!

f1ghter66
17/11/2016 17:49

Armenia
Liverpool
18

shobonenok
17/11/2016

989
points

1. I'm sure that France, Germany, Poland, England, Belgium, Nigeria and Egypt will qualify from the first places in their groups. Besides, hope to see Panama, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Ukraine in Russia in 2018. And answering the second question: it depends on the quality of national team. In my point of view the difference between the strongest and the weakest teams in Europe is the most tremendous. So, it's very complex to qualify from Europe for the weakest. I'm sure that we can use some quantative methods to define the complication of qualifying from each region.
2. 2 years later I would have definitely said "Yaya Toure". But from the last quarter of the previous season till Pep Guardiola became the coach he had played a lot despite of decreasing skills from one match to another. Yaya couldn't back with a bang and now he isn't even a part of City's starting 11. Unfortunately I don't give an eye to the other contenders but nevertheless think Sadio Mane deserves to win a title.
3. I agree with Liubomyr speaking about the worst injury. After that awful occasion my parents started to persuade me from playing football as a goalkeeper.

And the phrase is "* *******"

shobonenok
17/11/2016 15:04

Russia
Manchester City
989

kwesimanifest
17/11/2016

4779
points

Man United 2-1 Arsenal

kwesimanifest
17/11/2016 07:00

Ghana
Manchester United
4779

The worst football injury i have ever seen is Demba Ba's injury while playing in the Chinese league

kwesimanifest
17/11/2016 06:42

I think Patrick-Emerick Aubameyang will win the BBC African player of the year award even though Mahrez won the premier league because Patrick-Emerick Aubameyanghas been consistently excellent for his team for about last 4 seasons.

kwesimanifest
17/11/2016 06:40

Rich
17/11/2016

594
points

Sorry, but I have to say that I'm biased towards the Premier League and I want Mahrez to win it!

Rich
17/11/2016 12:14

Spain
Liverpool
594

I think Egypt possess a more advantageous opportunity of qualifying for the world cup in a group where my country, Ghana have been a shodow of themselves in previous qualifier performances.

kwesimanifest
17/11/2016 06:37

This week's phrase is * *******

kwesimanifest
17/11/2016 06:31

aragorn1986
16/11/2016

3557
points

One of the worst injuries I've ever seen is Demba Ba's injury couple of months ago. He suddenly twisted his leg and it cracked, and the curiosity is that he was alone with the ball..

aragorn1986
16/11/2016 17:12

Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

Yes, that was a strange one.

Rich
17/11/2016 12:19

It's most difficult to qualify from S.America for Mondial. Chile and Argentina are struggling this year to qualify, for example..

aragorn1986
16/11/2016 17:08

I agree with Alex. Mahrez deserved the BBC African player of the year award!

aragorn1986
16/11/2016 17:05

assemjuve
16/11/2016

3705
points

When will u choose the winner of the competition?

assemjuve
16/11/2016 16:22

Palestinian Territory
Liverpool
3705

The phrase is * *******.

assemjuve
16/11/2016 16:21

Rich
16/11/2016

Well done, Assemjuve, you got the right answer! The competition closes on the 22nd November and the winner will be announced in the following podcast.

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

Rich
16/11/2016 19:02

Actually there are a lot of nasty injures that i saw,injures are the worst thing in football,some injures may end a career of a player.

I think Mahrez deserve to be the BBC African Player of the year because he was the best player in the league last year and he also scored and made a lot of assists that led him to the top of the best players in the world.

assemjuve
16/11/2016 16:19

I think Nigeria will qualify to the world cup,i think it is difficult to qualify from Europe because there are a lot of amazing teams but there are a specific number of teams that will qualify to the world cup.

assemjuve
16/11/2016 16:17

Liubomyr
16/11/2016

4417
points

Correct me.
I think that the toughest region to qualify for the World Cup is South America because teams in this confederation are equally good (or almost all of them). One more thing that makes it tough is that they play a one group round-robin tournament. In Europe, for example, some average team may be drawn into an easy group and have a good chance to qualify, but in South America your team always plays against the same opponents. Even Argentina currently is out of direct-qualification top-4.
I don’t know what teams will qualify but I would like to see few debutants on the World Cup because it always high days to see your team in the WC and more nations shall have that experience. Also it’s a little bit boring to watch the same teams on each WC, especially if they couldn’t show a good performance. I think that Panama, Burkina Faso and Montenegro have a good chance to make there debut on the World Cup, so I wish a good luck to all of them.

The worst football injury I’ve ever seen was a collision in 2001 between CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Serhiy Perkhun and forward Budun Budunov who played for Anzhi. As a result of the injury Perkhun died few days later. He made his debut for Ukrainian national team just few days before the incident.

Liubomyr
16/11/2016 13:17

Ukraine
Watford
4417

Hi Liubomyr

This is really a great piece of writing. Phrases like 'drawn together' and 'toughest region' are very high-level phrases. There is not much to correct but I've made a couple of comments that you might want to think about.

(1) Prepositions: we can say 'in or at the World Cup' but not on, and we would say a good chance of making..' and 'a good chance of qualifying'.

(2) Modal verbs: we can say 'more nations could have that experience' but not 'shall'.

(3) The only phrase that causes a slight communication is 'high days' - you can't say this. Maybe, 'a dream' or 'a highlight' would be better.

(4) Articles: a few errors such as 'a good luck' and 'a few days before'.

On another note, I'd never heard the story about Serhiy Perkhun. A very sad and tragic story.

Rich
16/11/2016 20:04

Liubomyr
18/11/2016

Thank you Rich for your help

Liubomyr
18/11/2016 14:35

Alex_from_Ukraine
16/11/2016

Riyad Mahrez should become the BBC African Player of the Year because of his great achievements in his club and the national team.

Alex_from_Ukraine
16/11/2016 12:38

I think that the phrase is '* *******'

Liubomyr
16/11/2016 12:06

You're very quick with the answer this week, Liubomyr!

Rich
16/11/2016 12:27

Rank	Name	Score
1	Colombia	74670
2	Ukraine	33836
3	Spain	29414
4	Serbia	27426
5	Brazil	23401
6	Albania	20578
7	Vietnam	20437
8	Turkey	20095
9	Macedonia	19074
10	Bosnia and Herzegovina	16333

Rank	Name	Score
1	Manchester United	146586
2	Liverpool	111204
3	Chelsea	90125
4	Arsenal	86324
5	Manchester City	58726
6	Tottenham Hotspur	19418
7	Newcastle United	10560
8	West Ham United	7667
9	AFC Bournemouth	4915
10	Everton	4533

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