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 bring down.

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 bring down. Listen to this example from a match report.

Jack: Juan Mata doubled the lead from the penalty spot after Brandon Williams was brought down by Tim Krul.

Rich: If a player is brought down in the box or the penalty area, his or her team is awarded a penalty.

Jack: So it’s bad.

Rich: Yes. It’s not a nice thing to do. It’s not nice to bring someone down.

Jack: To bring someone down is a phrasal verb that means to cause someone to fall over. In football, it usually happens when one player tackles another.

Rich: And it’s usually a foul.

Jack: Yes - unless you’re playing rugby.

Rich: To bring someone down is a transitive phrasal verb. That means that it needs an object. You have to bring someone down, you can’t just bring down.

Jack: It’s also separable which means you can put the object in different places. Listen to these two examples.

Rich: The defender brought down the striker and gave away a penalty.

Jack: The defender brought the striker down and gave away a penalty.

Rich: The most common use of this phrasal verb is in match reports and most of the time in match reports, I think that the passive voice is used.

Jack: Yes. In match reports, the focus is usually the player that is fouled, especially if they win a penalty for their team.

Rich: You often read sentences like ‘the Liverpool striker was brought down in the box’.

Jack: Or the Arsenal defender was brought down by the Liverpool forward.

Rich: It’s common to read the time that a foul occurs, especially if it’s late in the match. So you might read ‘the Liverpool forward was brought down in the 88th minute’.

Jack: This is a common phrasal verb outside of football. It’s usually used to talk about powerful people, large corporations and governments when they are threatened by mistakes and misadventures.

Rich: Scandals - that is shocking stories of illegal or immoral activities - are often said to bring down important people, especially politicians.

Jack: Richard Nixon was brought down by the watergate scandal.

Rich: That was a long time ago. Can you think of anything more recent?

Jack: A President being brought down by scandal and shocking stories? No, I can’t think of anything …

Rich: You hear this phrase used about people who bring criminals to justice. One of my favourite films as a kid was the untouchables. It’s all about Eliot Ness who famously brought down Al Capone - the infamous American gangster.

Jack: Richard Nixon was brought down in 1973 and you asked for something more recent then spoke about Al Capone being brought down in the 1930s!

Rich: Er … yes … What about Sergio Aguero? He’s brought down by bad tackles nearly every week!

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

• Do you think it's necessary to bring a player down sometimes?

Write your answers in the comments section below.