(to) face pressure: Common English Expressions in the News

Who doesn't know pressure?

We know the expression "to feel pressure" but today we explore another expressions dealing with pressure: (to) face pressure.

The (CDC) has faced pressure over the past week from outside medical experts to include a testing component in its new shortened isolation period.

What is the Center for Disease Control facing pressure about, or to do?

 --

Here's a different news story:

Battered by Trump, the C.D.C.’s Director Faces Pressure to Speak Out

Who is pressuring the CDC director? And what is he facing pressure to do? What is he facing pressure to speak out about? 

Understanding the pressures children and teenagers face

In the article above, we find the expression "to face pressure" not only in the headline but later on.

"Many children feel under pressure to fit in, and sometimes this means they do things they may not feel comfortable with or are unsure of."

Activities for You

Can you list some of the ways that teenagers where you live face pressure? Do boys and girls, males and females, face different types of pressure? We will begin this list and you complete it:

1. Teens face pressure from their parents to do well in school.
   
   
2. Teens face pressure from _______ to ______.
   
   
3. Teens...
   
   
4. Teenagers...
   
   
5. Young adults ...
   
   
6. ... 

 What are some pressures that adults face?

1. Adults face pressure from __________ to__________.
   
   
2. Fathers ...
   
   
3. Mothers ...
   

 What are some techniques that you use when you face pressure?

 

 

Image by Sasha Wolff from Grand Rapids - Can't Concentrate: 14/365, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11343038 

Different Meanings but Frequently Confused Verbs: (to) REMIND or (to) REMEMBER:

As similar as these two verbs are, their meanings are quite different. For non-native speakers of English, not knowing this distinction can identify you as such.

In some cases, you can be saying something you don't even mean to say.

It is not correct, for example, to say "Remember me to mail this letter." Why is this not correct?

What's the difference?

First, let's do a pre-test. Which verb - remember or remind - goes in each blank? The sentences and short paragraphs below were written by ESL students.

• Do I hate anyone?I have nothing to hate and nobody to hate. Hatred can only hurt me so I always ________  myself not to hate anyone or anything.

• The book The Light in the Forest, by Conrad Richter, told me a lot that I hadn't known about the lives of the indigenous people of North America. It also ________ me of my native China, the way it used to be, and the way I perceive it now. . .

• When the autumn came. The wind blew and picked her petals off and blew them away. The wind left only one petal for him to ________ her by, he held onto her image for a short time, but then winter came and pressed against his mind and buried his dream.
  
  

One way of looking at these two verbs is to know that the verb (to) recall is similar in meaning to the verb (to) remember. Both imply thinking about something that occurred in the past. People who have developed certain forms of dementia have difficulty REMEMBERING. That is, the cannot recall what has happened in the past. We talk about short-term memory and long-term memory: These two forms of memory describe rembering things that happened recently and things that happened a long time ago.

The concept of (to) remind implies necessarily looking to the future. REMIND has a direct object and an indirect object: Somebody is reminding somebody of something. In the first example, I always ________  myself not to hate anyone or anything the only verb that can fit here is "remind". The person wants to remind WHO? of WHAT? WHO is  the writer herself, and OF WHAT is NOT TO HATE ANYONE OR ANYTHING. This verb has a direct - myself - and an indirect - not to hate anyone or anything - object.

Hence, I always remind myself not to hate anyone or anything.

In the second example, It also ________ me of my native China, the way it used to be, and the way I perceive it now In the second example, the only verb that can fit here is "remind". The person wants to remind WHO? of WHAT? WHO is the writer and WHAT is "the way her native China used to be and the way she perceives it now. This verb has a direct - me - and an indirect - the way China used to be - object.

Hence, It also reminds me of my native China, the way it used to be, and the way I perceive it now. . 

 In the third example, The wind left only one petal for him to ________ her by, as only one object, her. The writer thinks about the past and recalls the past.

Hence, The wind left only one petal for him to remember her by

 Look at this news headline:

18 years later, Americans stop to remember the September 11 attacks

We also have this headline:

New HIV strain reminds us that innovation is urgent and fundamental

The opposite of "remember" is "forget," as in "I forgot to mail the letter."

The opposite of "to remind" is "not to remind," as in "Don't remind me!"

ALL ABOUT A DEMOCRACY: (to) SPEAK OUT

People no longer stand on a soap box to make public their thoughts on any issue or person. The world has changed and there are lots of other ways of doing this now, not only with newspapers and radio and television, but with the world wide web. The idea of making ones thoughts public for any, or for all, to hear, is here to stay. Take a look at this one headline:

Why ex-FBI lawyer targeted by Trump is speaking out

This two-word verb is intransitive, as you see in the headline above.

The following sentence from that news story shows how to express a more complete treatment:

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, whose anti-Trump text messages were released to Congress, became a target of President Trump's tweets. She spoke out to The Daily Beast about her decision to go public.

Also, unlike most of the other two-word verbs that we've been discussing, this one does not have a noun counterpart. It's used only as a verb.

Let's look at some other examples from the news that reflect issues of our times:

Most Americans say it’s OK for professional athletes to speak out publicly about politics

Of course the issue raised in the above article indicates that a person doesn't have to be vocally speaking in order to speak out, as the image below shows.

In reading the article, what are several recent events that sparked the public discussion about whether or not it's okay for professional athletes to speak out publicly about politics? You may have to follow the hyperlinks to be able to answer.  If you are familiar with any of those events, did you have an opinion about it at the time each occurred?

Were there times when you have spoken out publicly on an issue? Tell us what those were!


The last example we will provide may be familiar to some of you.

U of R Students Speak Out After Hong Kong, Taiwanese Flags Moved in Campus Hall

U of R Students Speak Out After Hong Kong, Taiwanese Flags Moved in Campus Hall

U of R Students Speak Out After Hong Kong, Taiwanese Flags Moved in Campus Hall

U of R Students Speak Out After Hong Kong, Taiwanese Flags Moved in Campus Hall

U of R Students Speak Out After Hong Kong, Taiwanese Flags Moved in Campus Hall

Betrayed by the Big Four: whistleblowers speak out

An FT investigation reveals a culture of fear at the world’s leading accounting firms

The news is full of incidences when people speak out about issues and events that affect them and others and overcome the fear that has previously caused them to be silent.

PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS: (to) COVER UP

 

Historical Marker Installed Outside Deep Throat Garage

"I don't do cover-ups" 

... said Donald Trump.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said:

Pelosi says Trump engaged in (a) ‘cover-up’ to hide Ukraine call records

This noun, (a) cover-up, is getting plenty of action these days. 

Sometimes the two words are used as one:

The Trump administration’s desperate census coverup continues

This is also a transitive verb. 

Whistleblower says White House tried to cover up Trump's abuse of power

And if you're wondering whether this is a separable or not separable two-word verb, see the following: 

"President Donald Trump abused his official powers "to solicit interference" from Ukraine in the upcoming 2020 election, and the White House took steps to cover it up."

Can you think of any other well-known coverups in American history? Can you think of any other well-known coverups in the history of your native country, or the country of your ancestry?

VOCABULARY: (to) INHERIT

Now if we're going to talk about words in the news, here's a big one.

Example ONE:

"As you know, our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy. To be honest, I inherited a mess. It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country; you see what's going on with all of the companies leaving our country, going to Mexico and other places, low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas, no matter where you look. The Middle East is a disaster. North Korea -- we'll take care of it folks. We're going to take care of it all. I just want to let you know, I inherited a mess."

Another iteration of his use of the same word was his Tweet, "No president ever worked harder than me (cleaning up the mess I inherited)!"


Who else is using this term, (to) inherit?

Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette could inherit part of his fortune

Now we're talking about inheriting $$$ money! 

Next we find words related to the concept of inheritance: Which of the following words is related to the concept of inheritance?

a) cat hair
b) her
c) heir 

The correct answer is the noun, (an) heir.

What word forms are related to this verb (to) inherit?  Circle the noun in the sentence below from the above article about Choupette:

A judge later reduced the pampered pooch’s inheritance to $2 million, according to the New York Times, ruling that the total sum exceeded what was necessary to care for the dog.

Are You BULLISH? Or BEARISH? Animals and English Words in the News

We know what the stock market is. But do you know where that term came from? Today we know "stock" as an investment in some specific product or corporation with the hopes that in the future the buyer or holder of that stock will reap profits from that investment.  But the word "stock" has origins that go way back.

Then there's livestock. Livestock are animals such as cattle, swine and sheep, that have been raised in an agricultural setting in order to produce meat, eggs, milk and so on. 

So are you up on your animals? Some politicians even use the names of animals to describe - to insult - other politicians. Today's economic and political vocabulary includes the names of many animals to describe the mood of the country and the economy, not to insult individuals.  Bulls and bears are frequently refereed to with expressions such as "bullish" and "bearish." 

Today's headline:

What Could Hold Back a Democratic Wave? Economy, Confidence, Independence

This article says, "With two weeks until the election, Republican leaders and President Trump are increasingly bullish about Republican voters and moderate independents rallying behind the party’s candidates rather than taking a chance on a Democratic challenger or a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Now think of a bull. Does this adjective, bullish, mean highly optimistic or highly pessimistic?


Here's another example for you sports fans - or football fans:

Why Bruce Arians is so bullish on the Jets’ future

Does Bruce expect the Jets to have a winning season or a losing one?

"THE LAST STRAW": AN EXPRESSION THAT'S IN THE NEWS

Do you have a Facebook account? Do you use Facebook? Did you ever use the "Download Your Information" function?

Several scandals have occurred recently over Facebook: but more recently the very serious The Cambridge Analytica misuse of user information had global repercussions.

Many of the over 6 million worldwide Facebook users consider this Cambridge Analytica data breach to be "the last straw."  The expression is as widespread as it is old.

For Many Facebook Users, a ‘Last Straw’ That Led Them to Quit

 In this article, Dan Clark, a retired Navy veteran from Maine, is quoted as saying, “But you have to stand for something, so I just put my foot down and said enough is enough.”

What did Ben Greenzweig, from Westchester, New York, decided to do?

"The final straw" is another version of this expression.

Roy Moore is the last straw, you can now call me a Democrat

USA Today piece is an OPINION piece, but it expresses the writer's own "last straw." What happened, how did he feel about it, and what did he do about that?

This expression comes from a larger expression, "the straw that broke the camel's back." 

But enough for politics. The expression can be used in ones personal life too.

19 Divorced People Answer 'What Was the Final Straw?'

Some of these "final straw" or "last straw" moments are pretty shocking.

The earliest known expression dates from 1677. And it uses feathers, which appear to be light and weightless: "It is the last feather that breaks the horse's back" is from Archbishop Bramhall, Works 4:59. 

Why are feathers, and straw, and appropriate expression for this sentiment?

Have you ever had a personal "last straw" moment, a moment that makes the situation impossible to tolerate and go along with any longer? A moment that calls for change?

Meanwhile, go easy on your horses and camels! 


1 as quoted in George Latimer Apperson, English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: A Historical Dictionary (1929), reissued as The Wordsworth Dictionary of Proverbs

Photo of camel By Bart de Goeij (IMG_1725) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons