Medium: Call off

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 call off. 

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.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is to call off.

Jack: Have a listen to this conversation and see if you can understand the phrase - call off.

Rich: Hey, Jack. Are you going to the match later? I’ll pick you up at about two.

Jack: Haven’t you heard? It’s been raining all day and the referee has called the match off.

Rich: It’s been called off! For a bit of rain. What are we going to do instead?

Jack: So the phrase we are looking at is to call off. It’s a phrasal verb and it means to cancel something.

Rich: Football matches are sometimes called off because of bad weather. It might have rained too much like in the example and the pitch is flooded or waterlogged.

Jack: Waterlogged means to have so much water in the ground that it can’t contain any more.

Rich: It’s a common reason to call off a match. Match called off - waterlogged pitch. 

Jack: To call off is not just used about football. We can call off lots of things. I had to call off my birthday party because I wasn’t feeling well.

Rich: Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear that. Why didn’t you invite me?

Jack: It’s just an example of call off, Rich. I didn’t have a party.

Rich: I’ve called off my wedding.

Jack: That’s a good example.

Rich: It’s not an example.

Jack: Oh no! What happened?

Rich: I don’t want to talk about it.

Rich: When we’re talking about football we often hear this phrase being used in the passive.

Jack: The match was called off. The transfer deal was called off at the last minute.

Rich: To call off is a transitive verb which means it needs an object. Something is called off or you call something off like a match or a party or a wedding.

Jack: To call off is also separable which means you can put the object in different places. Listen to this:

Rich: The referee called the match off.

Jack: The referee called off the match.

Rich: The match was called off. 

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.

Discuss

• Have you ever gone to a match that was called off at the last minute?
• What are matches usually called off for in your country?

Write your answers in the comments section below.