Lee's English Blog

Sorry for not writing anything recently.

I am writing a new article about using the passive, which should be available in the next few days.

If you have any requests for a topic or would like to try my lessons, please visit my website (www.leesenglish.com).

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Vocabulary

to assassinate = to kill an important or famous person. An assassin is the killer.

a riot = when a large group of people become violent. They usually destroy things and attack the police.

an inmate = a criminal that lives in a prison

the Kremlin = a large government building in Red Square, Moscow

to infiltrate = get access to areas controlled by an enemy

an intruder = someone who goes onto private property without permission

to raise the alarm = make people aware something is wrong

to pursue = to follow someone/something

a server = a central computer that shares files with other computers

a stunt = something dangerous that is done for entertainment

I watched Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol on Wednesday.

The main character in the film is Ethan, played by Tom Cruise. The film is action-packed and will not fail to impress lovers of action films.

It was action from the start. The film starts in Budapest, where an IMF agent (the good guys) is assassinated by a woman. Following that, there is a scene where Ethan is in a Russian prison. Some other agents, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton), rescue Ethan from the prison after causing a huge riot by opening most of the cell doors and allowing the inmates to escape into the corridors.

After Ethan escapes, he meets up with Benji and Jane who tell him that there is information that the assassin at the start of the film stole nuclear missile launch codes from the dead agent. It is then believed that a dangerous enemy, known as Hendricks, may use the launch codes to start a nuclear war.

Some secret information is being held in the Kremlin so the IMF team needs to infiltrate it and get the information. While Ethan and Benji are inside the Kremlin, an unknown person sends a message over the radio, which alerts the Kremlin's security to the intruders. The alarm is raised and Ethan and Benji need to get out fast. Just as they escape, a massive explosion destroys a huge part of the Kremlin, and America is blamed for it. The president closes IMF down, but the team continues to pursue Hendricks.

They go to Dubai and retrieve the launch codes from the assassin who is planning to sell them to Hendricks. They go to the tallest building in the world, which is where the meeting will take place. The IMF team must gain control of the hotel's lifts, but they need to access the server to do it. Ethan has to launch himself outside and climb the building, over 100 floors up!

The stunts were amazing. Tom Cruise really did jump out the building and do the stunts himself. It wasn't done on a computer.

The meeting goes wrong with Hendricks and he escapes. The team follows him to Mumbai where more action occurs.

I won't reveal what happens at the end. You'll have to watch the film to find out.

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There are different synonyms for 'Christmas':

• Crimbo, "What are you doing for Crimbo?"
• Xmas - This is used as a short form in writing, which is often seen on shop windows and in some Christmas cards. The 'X' is pronounced /krɪs/ when we refer to it or read in in our head, just the same as in Christmas /'krɪsməs/
• Noel - is often seen in Christmas cards and sang in Chrismas carols. E.g. "The first Noel ..."
• Yule - is an old word meaning 'Christmas'

Whether to use the verb raise or rise can be confusing.

to raise /reɪz/ means to put or lift something into a higher position.

to rise /raɪz/means to move into a higher position.

You can think if it in this way: if a living thing causes (makes) something go higher, we use the verb raise. If we aren't talking about the living thing that causes something to go up, we use the verb rise.

The video below gives an introduction.

Today, I asked someone how long some work was going to take to do (how much time). His reply was, "How long's a piece of string?"

A piece of string can be long or short, so this figure of speech means that he didn't know how long it was going to take. He wasn't asking me about the length of a piece of string.

It's important to be careful when you use this expression because some people might think you are being sarcastic.

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