Learning English

Hillary Clinton's illness

The world's media are talking about Hillary Clinton's illness - people are demanding to know why she kept it hidden, but Hillary says that she just didn't think it was that important.

Language challenge

Which TWO of these sentences describe someone who is honest and open? 

a) She’s economical with the truth
b) She’s an open book
c) She lays all her cards on the table

You'll hear the answer in the programme.

Watch the video and complete the activity

The story

The democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton has said in an interview that she didn't disclose her pneumonia diagnosis originally as she didn't think it would be a big deal.

She's been facing criticism that she hadn't revealed her condition when diagnosed on Friday, but only after she almost collapsed in public two days later.

Jon Sopel - BBC News

When the news broke that Hillary Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia it made headlines around the world.

But, in her interview last night, the democratic presidential candidate said she didn't think her illness was going to be that big a deal and she batted away suggestions that she'd been secretive. "People know more about me than almost anyone else in public life," she told CNN.

That may be true, but among many Americans there's a feeling that the Clintons are anything but transparent.

Key words and phrases

hold/keep/play your cards close to your chest
not share key information; be secretive

come clean
tell the truth about something you were keeping secret

big deal
something important

not that big a deal
important, but not very important

bout
short period when you are ill or unhappy; a short period of activity

bat away
(here) reject

To do

Try our quiz to see how well you've learned today's language.

Downloads

You can download the audio and PDF document for this episode here.

Language challenge - answer

The two sentences which describe someone who is honest and open are: b) She’s an open book and c) She lays all her cards on the table.

a) She’s economical with the truth means that she says things that are not true.

You can learn some other great phrases for talking about hiding - and revealing - the truth here.

End of Session 2

Join us in Session 3 for Lingohack - our video which teaches you words from the news using the latest BBC World News bulletins.