in today's English lesson we're going to read a news article together you're going to learn a lot of advanced vocabulary in context for formal and informal situations you'll also learn some important grammar tips for more natural speaking and writing in English after we analyze each paragraph you will have an opportunity to practice your pronunciation and listening skills by listening to me read everything from start to finish a little bit faster then I'll have some homework questions for you to practice your writing and as always I've created a free PDF for today's lesson you can download
all of today's notes by clicking the link in the description of this video are you ready today's article is about some big news in the music industry let's start with the head headline or the title of today's news article billboard names Beyonce the greatest pop star of the 21st century first we have the verb to name someone something which means to officially select or identify someone or something for a specific title for example she was named the winner of the competition after an amazing performance he was named employee of the month for his hard work
and dedication if you watched my other lesson about how to understand newspaper headlines then you already know that sometimes headlines don't use the typical grammer rules of standard speaking and writing this title uses something called the historical present tense this is when we use present tense to describe recent past events and this makes the event sound more interesting or more urgent that's why we're using names here but in the regular paragraphs of the article we switch back to standard grammar rules and the first sentence of the first paragraph is a great example of this let's
read that now Beyonce has been named the greatest pop star of the 21st century by billboard the music charting site announc on Tuesday as a part of an ongoing series Beyonce tops our staff chosen editorial list based on her full 25 years of influence so here we're using the present perfect tense has been named this is how we would typically describe an event that happened recently in the past but it has an effect on the current situation next we have the 21st Century not 21 century or Century 21 in English we use ordinal numbers for
centuries these are numbers like 1 second 3D fourth Etc the S at the end are the last two letters in the word first the 21st century now let's talk about billboard billboard is a famous American music and entertainment m magazine that creates official charts of the most popular songs and albums in the US every week these music charts are considered the standard for success in the music industry so when someone says that a song is on the top of the charts that usually means the Billboard music charts here we have a very useful adjective ongoing
this means that something is continuing to happen or is not yet completed the crime investigation is still ongoing there are ongoing discussions about how to improve the project a quick grammar note here I know that the word series looks like a plural noun but in English the singular form is also Series so you can watch a series or you can watch many series on Netflix for example here we're using top as a verb to top something means to be in the highest position on a list or to be better than a previous person or thing
for example the song topped the charts for 6 weeks she topped her previous high score in the game by 20 points an editorial is a type of article in a newspaper or a magazine a person who's in charge of a newspaper or a magazine is called an editor so the purpose of an editorial is to express the editor's opinions or ideas here we have a compound adjective these are phrases with two or more words that work together as an adjective to describe a noun so what type of editorial list is this you could say an
editorial list that was chosen by the staff but this sounds a bit long and the relationship between the adjective and the noun is unclear it sounds much better to say a staff chosen editorial list the words staff and chosen are connected with this punctuation mark which is called a hyphen we use a lot of compound adjectives in English and we'll see a few more examples of this later let's go to the next paragraph her commitment to Innovation Evolution and allaround Excellence has made her the bar against which all other pop stars this Century have long
been measured over the past 25 years let's talk about the word Innovation Innovation is the introduction of new and better ideas or methods you usually hear this word in the context of technology or inventions the late 19th and early 20th centuries are remembered as times of great Innovation Innovation is necessary to stay competitive in the technology industry next Evolution evolution is the process of slow change and development over time The Evolution of Music Styles reflects changes in culture the evolution of the internet has transformed how we communicate with people we have another compound adjective allaround
this means having many skills abilities or uses he's an all-around Entertainer who can sing dance and act now we have a lot of idioms in English that use the phrase the bar the bar is the standard level of quality or performance that is used to compare all others you often see this with the verb set so in the same way that you can set a goal or set an example you can also set the bar some other options are to raise the bar or lower the bar in this case billboard is saying that Beyonce is
the bar she is the standard when we talk about comparing other people or other things to the standard a more formal verb for this is to measure someone or something against someone or something else now pay attention because we have some very Advanced grammar here this word order is extremely formal and it's not how we would typically speak or write in everyday English let's use this part of the sentence as an example and I'm going to replace the subject with the word this this has made her the bar against which all other pop stars this
Century have long been measured in everyday English the more natural word order would be this has made her the bar that all other pop stars this Century have long been measured against yes you can end a sentence with a preposition in English in fact sometimes you must end with a preposition because sometimes there's no other choice in the comments let me know if you'd like a more detailed gramar lesson about the location of prepositions in sentences but wait what about this phrase have long been well this is a more formal way to say that something
has happened or has existed for a long time we especially like to use this to talk about historical Trends after the auxiliary phrase have or has been we can use a past participle verb an adjective or a noun education has long been considered the key to success the Statue of Liberty has long been a popular tourist attraction in the United States Beyonce is the most Grammy winning artist with a record 32 wins and after earning 11 more nods for her 2024 album Cowboy Carter is expected to scoop up more trophies come January before the noun
artist we have another compound adjective Grammy winning and just like all other adjectives you can use compound adjectives in the comparative form with more or the superlative form the most the most Grammy winning the Grammy Awards are usually just called the gramys and I would say that the gramys are like the Oscars of music we can use the word record as an adjective before a noun to describe something that's the highest the most or the best ever achieved the band has sold a record number of albums we've experienced record amounts of snow this winter the
noun nod is a more informal term that's common in the entertainment industry a nod is a nomination for an award or a title here's an interesting phrasal verb to scoop something up usually this means to lift or collect something with a scoop or scooping motion but in this context scooping up more trophies means winning something very easily so billboard is predicting that Beyonce will scoop up some more Awards because of the 11 nods specifically 11 Grammy nods that she received for her most recent album the Grammys will be in January and that's why you see
this phrase at the end of the sentence come January this is another way to say when January comes I know it sounds kind of strange but in this phrase the word come is a preposition and then you can add a particular time in the future I would say this sounds a bit old-fashioned but it's still pretty common in every day conversation for example my daughter will be 10 years old come next Wednesday the garden doesn't look good right now but come spring it will be filled with green grass and colorful flowers the Texas holdom singer
has a deep history on Billboard's charts as well she has nine number one songs and 24 top 10 songs on the Hot 100 eight of her albums have claimed the number one spot on the billboard 200 albums chart starting with her 2003 debut solo album Dangerously in Love after previously dominating the airwaves as part of girl group Destiny's Child 11 of Beyonce's solo albums have charted in Billboard's top 10 Texas holdom is the name of one of Beyonce's songs but what does that mean well it's a popular card game that originated in the state of
Texas Texas holdom is a well-known variation of Poker where you have two personal cards and there are five Community cards holdom is a reduction of hold them this spelling is not standard so so don't use this informal writing or speaking it's modified to represent colloquial speech or how native speakers pronounce these two words in everyday conversation not always but sometimes in fast spoken English you will hear hold them pronounced as hold them hold them so U my dad's a Texas hold them player Texas hold them Texas hold them when you purchase them and hold them
and hold them and hold them here n o period is an abbreviation for number also we have the name of two important Billboard music charts the Hot 100 is for the most popular songs and the billboard 200 is for the most popular albums in the US every week to claim something is a formal verb that means to gain win or achieve something the politician claimed Victory after a long and difficult campaign many people believe that he will claim the gold medal in the next Olympic race next we have the word debut debut the t is
completely silent a debut is the first time an Entertainer athlete or product is introduced to the public the director's debut film was a massive success The Talented actor made his Hollywood debut when he was only 18 years old we can also use this word as a verb The Talented actor debuted in Hollywood when he was only 18 years old next we have a noun phrase the airwaves the airwaves are the waves or signals that are used to broadcast radio or television programs so if you hear something on the airwaves then you hear it on the
radio or maybe you see it on TV so what does it mean to dominate the airwaves well in this context the verb dominate means to be the largest most noticeable or most important part of something Destiny's Child dominated the charts in the early 2000s when I was a child I had their albums I went to their concert I used to listen to Destiny's Child a lot since August billboard has been ranking their staff picks for the top 25 pop artists of the past 25 years Billboard's picks are artists who they believe have most defined pop
stardom and have exemplified pop greatness since the turn of the Millennium to rank someone or something this means to choose the order of people or things on a list based on quality importance or success it's very common to use the passive form of this verb be ranked as plus a number or position Princeton is ranked as one of the best universities in the United States next this is an informal noun a pick is just a selection or a choice Florida is a popular pick for winter vacation destinations what's your pick for the best restaurant in
town now let's talk about the word stardom we already know the word star so let's focus on this D suffix a suffix is a letter or a group of letters added to the end of a word and this creates a new word if you want to improve your vocabulary it's really really important to become familiar with the most common suffixes words that end with the D suffix are nouns that refer to a state status or equality for example freedom is the state of being free boredom is the state of being bored so pop stardom is
the status of being a pop star next we have a very formal professional verb to exemplify something exemplify this means to be a clear typical example of something his actions exemplify true leadership so his actions are a perfect example of true leadership this photo exemplifies popular fashion and makeup styles from the 1960s here we have the word greatness this is a combination of the word great plus the NSS suffix this is a very useful suffix that turns adjectives into nouns the adjective happy becomes the noun happiness kind becomes kindness great becomes greatness next the turn
of the Millennium just means the beginning of the Millennium or when the beginning of the Millennium came which was the year 2000 the phrase the turn of the focuses on the transition from one period of time in history to the next so this can be the start of a new century or decade or year Etc at the turn of the 20th century industrialization was transforming cities around the world music videos started to become popular at the turn of the 1980s last week Taylor Swift was announced as Billboard's number two pick with Rihanna claiming the third
spot Adele Ariana Grande Justin Bieber Kanye West Britney Spears Lady Gaga and Drake round out the top 10 at number 25 is Katie Perry with other pop artists including Bad Bunny the weekend One Direction Miley Cyrus Eminem Usher and others ranking in in between one of the most common questions that I receive is how do you use the word as well there are so many ways to use this word and I promise to talk about this in a future lesson but for now let's focus on the context of this sentence a common way to use
the word as is to indicate someone's title job role or function for example my Michel Jordan is known as one of the greatest basketball players of all time as your teacher I will always be here to support you okay our last vocabulary word today is a separable phrasal verb to round something out this means to make an experience Feel Complete or perfect usually by adding something final one final thing the coach is looking for one more player to round out the team the dessert rounded out the meal perfectly I think a great way to round
out this lesson is to go back and read the entire article again this time at a more natural speed remember you can slow down the video if needed billboard names Beyonce the greatest pop star of the 21st century Beyonce has has been named the greatest pop star of the 21st century by billboard the music charting site announced on Tuesday as part of an ongoing series Beyonce tops our staff chosen editorial list based on her full 25 years of influence her commitment to Innovation Evolution and allaround Excellence has made her the bar against which all other
pop stars this Century have long been measured over the past 25 years Beyond is the most Grammy winning artist with a record 32 wins and after earning 11 more nods for her 2024 album Cowboy Carter is expected to scoop up more trophies come January the Texas holdam singer has a deep history on Billboard's charts as well she has nine number one songs and 24 top 10 songs on the Hot 100 eight of her albums have claimed the number one spot on the billboard 200 albums chart starting with her 2003 debut solo album Dangerously in Love
after previously dominating the airwaves as part of girl group Destiny's Child 11 of Beyonce's solo albums have charted in Billboard's top 10 since August billboard has been ranking their staff picks for the top 25 pop artists of the past 25 years Billboard's picks are artists who they believe have most defined pop stardom and have exemplified pop greatness since the turn of the Millennium last week Taylor Swift was announced as Billboard's number two pick with Rihanna claiming the third spot Adele Ariana Grande Justin Bieber Kanye West Britney Spears Lady Gaga and Drake round out the top
10 at number 25 is Katie Perry with other pop artists including Bad Bunny the weekend One Direction Miley Cyrus Eminem Usher and others ranking in between now it's your turn to practice some of today's vocabulary I have two homework questions for you one who would be your pick for the top pop star of the past 25 years my personal pick would be Britney Spears two do you think that music charts or Awards like the Grammys are a good way to measure the greatness of an artist why or why not write your answers in the comments
all right I hope you enjoyed reading this article with me if this lesson was useful please like this video And subscribe to my channel a quick thank you to my channel members here on YouTube and on patreon for your support members can listen to exclusive podcast episodes and access the community chat group where you can ask me questions and practice your skills with other English Learners around the world click join below this video to become a member thank you so much for watching I'm Gina this is your world in English and I'll see you in
the next lesson bye
