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Vocabulary

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B2 Upper-Intermediate to C2 Proficiency

Sports expressions and their metaphorical sense

This is a free English mini-course containing 4+ hours of language study at the moment. We intend to add to this course so keep an eye on it for new material. It contains tutorials, definitions, example sentences and quizzes to test your progress, all on the topic of sports vocabulary, which is commonly used in business, professional situations and life in general. There are revision quizzes for each section of vocabulary with a final quiz to test what you have learnt. This final quiz is also downloadable as a PDF, which you can collect at the bottom of the Sports Vocabulary Final Quiz exercise page. 

There are three sections to the vocabulary. These are:

Ball games.  

Games with a ball and probably played in teams are a common source of lexical items in English. The notable exception to team sports is tennis, which is normaly played invividually with a maximum of two players together in doubles tournaments, so it is not considered a team game. 

Racing. 

The expressions here are normally a reference to sports like running or cycling, or even horse racing. They often decribe situations in which you have a time limit or you are trying to maintain an appropriate speed, either at work or study. 

Combat Sports. 

Mostly a reference to boxing, or occasionally martial arts, these expressions are agressive and assertive, for people who think of life or work as a fight or battle. 

Final Test. 

At the end, students can do the final quiz to test themselves, and they can also download this lesson with the answers on the page of the final quiz, by signing up to the Tailtiu Languages newsletter. In the newsletter, students will also receive a weekly language lesson. 

NOTE: This mini-course is intended to compliment a learner's course, so if you are a learner or teacher, you should use it in a larger learning cycle. Maybe this can help you revise wider sports vocabulary which you are learning or teaching in your classes?  

If you have suggestions for anything else you might find useful or something we could provide, you can leave a comment below in the Facebook comments. 

Course Contents

You can access each module by clicking on the module title below, or individual chapters or lessons by opening the module title and using the dropdown menus.

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A pre-quiz before you look at each of the sections of vocabulary. Which type of sport from ball games or team sports, to racing, to combat sports do you associate the following expressions or phrasal verbs with?

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A tutorial on sports expressions, who uses it and when, and how or why they use it.

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An English exercise and tutorial on sports vocabulary, with the opportunity to download as a PDF, and a quiz to test what you have learnt

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A short quiz to test ball game vocabulary. Match the definition to the example sentence which best matches it.

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Lesson 5:  Racing Vocabulary.

Racing vocabulary, from running or horse-racing for example, is common for describing professional or personal situations in which you are trying to come first, or you are trying to be successful before other competitors.

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A short quiz to test racing vocabulary. Match the definition to the example sentence which best matches it.

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If you are feeling a bit under attack or if you need to be assertive in a professional or personal situation, vocabulary from combat sports such as boxing are the perfect way to express your emotions.

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A short quiz to test combat sports vocabulary. Match the definition to the example sentence which best matches it.

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After you have finished looking over the vocabulary tutorials, you can try a quiz to test yourself. The quiz and answers are also downloadable as a PDF at the bottom of each page of this full tutorial.

About the Teacher

Martin Tailtiu

Writer, English-language tutoring and materials designer and provider.

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