Notice: Did you know you can get an instant definition of any word on this page, just by double-clicking on it?

Try it now! Double-click any word on page to see the definition!



Shirley	Yuri

Views #1028 | Intermediate (B1)

Sports Divided

Shirley talks about how sometimes Scotland has its own team and sometimes not.

Script
Vocab
Quiz

Yuri: Shirley, one question. I'm a bit confused now. One thing, about sports. Sometimes, I can see U.K. play something with a team. Sometimes you're all divided. Why is that?

Shirley: So, we are essentially still four countries, four separate countries in a united kingdom, so yeah, basically each country just wanted to keep their national team.

In the case of the olympics, for some reason, and I'm not sure of the exact reason, but the olympics committee didn't want four divided teams from Great Britain. They wanted a representative of the United Kingdom, so they basically made the rule that Great Britain had to send a team and not teams from the four individual countries.

So, yeah, so we are United Kingdom but we're still very much four independent countries and each country is very proud of their own national teams for football and for rugby and things like that.

But, yeah, it's good that we get together for the olympics and we can perform as one united country.

Yuri: OK, thank you very much.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

a bit confused

I'm a bit confused.

This is a common phrase people use to show they are unclear about something. 'A bit' just means 'a little bit'. Notice the following:

I'm a bit confused. Is the homework due tomorrow?
If you find yourself a bit confused, please ask for help.

just wanted

Each country just wanted to keep their national team.

The words 'just wanted' means 'only wanted'. We use the word 'just' to show their is not much importance to the answer or meaning, or only one reason for it. Notice the following:

I just wanted to say goodbye before you left.
This morning I just wanted to stay in bed.

in the case of

In the case of Olympics, the committee did not want four teams.

'In the case of' means 'in the situation regarding', so in the sample above you could say, 'In the situation regarding the Olmpics'. Notice though that the phrase 'in case of' is different. It means 'if there is', as in 'In case of emergency, call for help'. Notice the following different uses:

In the case of the car company, they simply did not make good cars.
In case of an earthquake, please stand under a door.

exact reason

I am not sure of the exact reason.

When someone does not know the exact reason, that means they only know some of the reason, perhaps most of the reason, but that there might be details they do not know. Here are some examples: