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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 129. The noun phrase today is a

  • softball question. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone, especially a

  • politician or someone of significance is asked a softball question, he or she is

  • purposely asked an easy question. A hard ball question would be a difficult

  • question. We say that someone is playing hardball or if we say somebody's playing

  • hardball, it suggests that one is very aggressive and a highly competitive type,

  • in politics and business. Yeah. I think it was on MSN there was that show that was

  • called "Hardball." I think with Chris Matthews where that's that was the idea.

  • You know, that's why he named it hardball is I guess when a guest on a shows that

  • that he is implying that he acts the tough questions that you know, he didn't

  • just fool around with softball questions he really tried to get to the point.

  • Even though to be honest I think sometimes if it's if it's a politician

  • he likes I think he even he asks softball questions too.

  • But that's what it means. That's what we say. So that's why he named his show

  • hardball. And this is why we use hardball and softball. So let's continue here. The

  • origin comes from the idea that softball is a less dangerous and easier game. Okay.

  • Since a softball is a lot bigger and softer and usually cannot be thrown or

  • hit at the same speed as like a fastball in ... like in baseball or fast hardball in

  • baseball, therefore it is less dangerous and less aggressive. Yeah. Even though

  • they are we softball is still a bit hard. If you got hit with like a line drive

  • it would probably still hurt. but it can't do the same damage. I even remember I was in

  • Little League and when I was in Little League or even sometimes you know,

  • if you're in college, I think and you play you know, you're forced to wear a

  • cup. You know, those metal cups down there. You don't have to do that for softball

  • because again it's not considered to be quite as hard. Plus it's an easier ball

  • to hit. That's kind of like the idea of the softball question. It's kind of like

  • your lobbing, you are you are you ready, ready ?

  • Here It is. I'm going throw you this big fat ball. Now come on get ready. You can

  • hit it well.. It's kind of like that. You know like hitting it well. It's like

  • answering the question. So they're just purposely giving them easy questions to

  • answer. So we hear this a lot. You know, in talk shows and especially political talk

  • shows. We say that they you know, the journalists the reporters just gave them

  • a lot of softball questions. Okay. Well, anyway let's look at some examples. When

  • a news station is biased and wants to protect a politician or candidate they

  • like , they will often ask them a lot of softball questions. So that's one way we

  • use it. Or number two. If you want to have a serious interview or you know, be taken

  • seriously as a you know, a journalist or an interviewer, you cannot just ask

  • softball questions. You have to ask some of the tough questions. Or the last one

  • here. Asking a politician which baseball team is his favorite is a softball

  • question. Yes. So sometimes it may not even be about politics or what they're

  • into. That's a really easy question to answer or sometimes of course it is

  • about politics and they ask them the question that's not hard and they let

  • them talk and then they may not follow up with tough or hard questions or

  • hardball questions. You know, they'll just let them talk and they don't make them,

  • well , why ? Well, if you do this won't it cause this problem and won't this be

  • wrong if you do that ? You know, they don't ... they don't follow up with these

  • questions. They just throw them the nice softball and let them talk (blah, blah ) and

  • say oh yeah. That's wonderful. That's great.

  • And that's what they do. They just let them have a lot of softball

  • questions and they don't follow with a lot of the tough questions. Okay. Anyway, I

  • hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time.

  • Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 129. The noun phrase today is a

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A2 初級 美國腔

英語家教Nick P名詞短語(129)壘球問題 (English Tutor Nick P Noun Phrase (129) Softball Question)

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    anitawu12 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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