The North London Derby

Jack: Hi everybody. I’m Jack and we’re here with a little bit of extra football English for you to think about.

Rich: That’s right, Jack. Just a little bit. Hi, everybody. I’m Rich and we’re here with this week’s Premier League Prediction and some football English for you to practise.

Jack: This weekend there is a huge London Derby between Spurs and Arsenal. 

Rich: This derby match is not only about local pride but the Premier League title and the race for the Champions League match, too. Like you say Jack, it’s a huge match!

Jack: Before you make your prediction let’s take a look at this word ‘huge’. I see it being used to talk about football matches a lot. 

RIch: Huge means very big or more informally very important. It’s what we call an extreme adjective - this means that you can’t use words like ‘very’ to change how strong the adjective is like by saying very big or very, very big.

Jack: But you can use specific adverbs like ‘absolutely’. Something can be absolutely amazing for example.

Rich: Huge is very common to describe important football matches. ‘Massive’ is another word you often hear. You may often  hear the phrases ‘an absolutely huge match’ or ‘absolutely massive game’.

Jack: On Premier Skills English, we often correct your English in our comments section. Extreme adjectives are something that we’ve been helping RafaelRC from Brazil with, who is a regular visitor to the website.

Rich: Common mistakes in this area of English are saying things like: This match is very huge or It was an absolutely exciting match.

Jack: Think of some phrases to describe the goals or matches from last weekend and try to use some extreme adjectives.

Rich: You can write them in the comments section at the bottom of this page and we will take a look at them.

Jack: Well, the North London Derby is a very important match so we can say it’s an absolutely huge game. What do you think the result will be, Rich?

Rich: You’re right Jack. It’s a massive match for both teams. The North London Derby is the match that fans from both clubs look forward to most in the season. Spurs have been on a fantastic run in the Premier League and they are still chasing Chelsea at the top. Arsenal are still trying to finish in the top four but haven’t been playing so well recently. However, in the FA Cup last weekend, Arsenal had an absolutely brilliant result against Manchester City and Spurs had a very disappointing result against Chelsea. I’m going to disappoint both sets of fns and go for a draw. Final score: Spurs 1-1 Arsenal.

Jack: No, no you can’t sit on the fence like that not in a derby match. Arsenal all day long for me. Spurs 0-2 Arsenal.

Rich: ‘Sit on the fence’ that’s a nice phrase. It means to avoid making a decision or not to choose one side over another. By saying it will be a draw I’m sitting on the fence.

Jack: RIght, that’s all from us for now. We’ll be back later in the week with a new podcast. Let us know who you think will win the North London Derby in the vote and in the comments section.

Rich: And remember to discuss the rest of this week’s football fixtures in the comments section. There are some other big matches this weekend, too.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.