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 send 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 send off.

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

Rich: He’s got to score. He’s one on one with the goalkeeper.

Jack: The goalkeeper has fouled him. That’s got to be a penalty and a red card.

Rich: Yeah. He’s got to send the goalkeeper off for that. Here comes the referee … he’s going to send him off … yep it’s a red card for the keeper.

Jack: So the phrase we are looking at is to send off. It’s a phrasal verb and it means to tell someone to leave the pitch because they have broken the rules.

Rich: In football, the referee sends a player off by using a red card.

Jack: The player was given a red card. The player was sent off. They mean the same thing.

Rich: A player is usually sent off because they have made a bad tackle.

Jack: But a player could also be sent off for handball, using bad language, or a player can be sent off if they get two yellow cards in the same match.

Rich: We use the preposition for to give the reason for the sending off.  Listen to these common reasons for getting sent off. Do you understand all three reasons?

Jack: He was sent off for deliberate handball.

Jack: He was sent off for serious foul play.

Jack: He was sent off for denying an opponent an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Rich: Sent off is a transitive verb which means it needs an object. This object is always the player. Somebody is sent off. The referee sent off the player. The referee sent him off.

Jack: Sent off is also a separable phrasal verb which means that you can put the object in different places like in the examples Rich just said. Listen to these examples:

Rich: The referee sent off the player.

Rich: The referee sent the player off.

Rich: The player was sent off.

Jack: This last example uses the passive and it’s very common in match reports after the match has finished. You might read something like ‘Henderson was sent off in the second half and Liverpool had to play with ten.’

Rich: Or, if you’re speaking more informally it’s more common to use have. You could say something like this: ‘We had a player sent off in the second half which made it really difficult’.

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

• Is it easier or more difficult to play against a team that has had a player sent off?
• Have you ever been sent off?

Write your answers in the comments section below.