Iceland to submit bill that could ban whaling in its waters
Listen to Course
0:00
0:00
Recommended Courses
Learner Reviews
Write a review
EN: The idiom 'be set to + infinitive' indicates that an event is scheduled, planned, or highly likely to take place in the near future. It conveys a strong sense of formal preparation or readiness, commonly used in news media and official announcements.
The committee is set to release its final report early next month.
EN: The relative clause 'that could permanently ban commercial whaling...' functions as a defining relative clause modifying the antecedent 'a bill'. The modal auxiliary 'could' expresses theoretical possibility or potential future outcome contingent on the bill passing.
The council approved a measure that could reduce urban traffic congestion by twenty percent.
EN: Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, is one of the very few nations that have continued commercial whaling despite the 1986 International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium. The issue is deeply tied to national sovereignty and maritime heritage in Icelandic politics, making the prospect of a complete legislative ban a significant turning point in international wildlife conservation.
EN: In formal or journalistic English, conditional clauses with 'if + should' can be inverted by omitting 'if' and placing the auxiliary 'Should' before the subject (e.g., 'If the legislation should pass' becomes 'Should the legislation pass'). This structure conveys a tentative or formal hypothetical condition.
Should negotiations fail, the union will call for an immediate nationwide strike.
EN: The relative clause 'that still permit...' uses the relative pronoun 'that' (or 'which') to restrictively modify 'nations'. The verb 'permit' takes the structure 'permit + noun phrase (the hunting...)' or 'permit + object + to-infinitive', and here is accompanied by prepositional modifiers specifying the object of hunting ('of marine mammals') and purpose ('for commercial purposes').
Several member states that enforce strict emissions regulations have already met the treaty targets.
EN: Commercial whaling is strictly regulated or banned globally under the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium established in 1986. Only a tiny handful of countries—notably Norway, Japan, and historically Iceland—have continued commercial or scientific whaling, often facing substantial diplomatic, legal, and environmentalist scrutiny.
EN: The past participle clause 'driven by...' functions as a non-finite participial modifier, offering additional background or causal information about the noun phrase 'a dramatic shift'. It is an economical, journalistic structure equivalent to 'which has been driven by...'.
The sudden reform represents a milestone in educational access, fueled by widespread public dissatisfaction.
EN: The correlative conjunction 'both... and...' is used to coordinate two parallel grammatical elements ('domestic' and 'international'), emphasizing inclusion and balance between both modifiers before the noun 'advocacy groups'.
The initiative received substantial funding from both governmental and private organizations.
EN: Iceland has a contentious, decades-long history with commercial whaling alongside Norway and Japan. In recent years, public opinion within Iceland has pivoted sharply toward marine conservation and ecotourism (such as whale watching), which now generates significantly more revenue than the commercial whaling industry.
EN: The passive idiom 'can be traced to [something]' is used to identify the origin, source, or root cause of a development, idea, or phenomenon. 'Trace' functions as an ergative/transitive verb denoting retrospective historical tracking.
The origins of modern environmental regulations can be traced to industrial accidents in the mid-twentieth century.
EN: The compound adjective 'government-commissioned' follows the pattern [Noun + Past Participle], indicating an action performed or authorized by the noun (commissioned by the government).
A court-appointed expert testified regarding the integrity of the digital evidence.
EN: The past participial phrase 'published in 2023' acts as a post-modifying reduced relative clause, equivalent to 'which was published in 2023'.
The guidelines drafted last year remain subject to international review.
EN: In democratic legislative processes, major policy overhauls—particularly on contentious topics like whaling or environmental bans—are frequently preceded by independent or government-commissioned scientific and ethical reports. These findings provide empirical backing and political legitimacy needed to counter entrenched commercial lobbying.
EN: Participle clause as an adverbial of result or accompanying circumstance: The present participle phrase ', taking approximately two hours to die' functions as a supplementary clause modifying the preceding clause, indicating the result or duration of the enduring process.
The factory emitted toxic fumes into the air, creating severe respiratory hazards for local residents.
EN: Past participle as a pre-nominal modifier: 'harpooned' is derived from the transitive verb 'harpoon' and functions as an adjective modifying 'whales', implying passive voice ('whales that had been harpooned').
The injured hiker waited patiently for the rescue team to arrive.
EN: Reporting verb + noun clause complement: 'The findings revealed that...' is a standard objective academic/journalistic pattern where the transitive reporting verb 'reveal' takes a declarative 'that'-clause containing new factual evidence.
Recent studies revealed that microplastics have entered every major marine food web.
EN: Commercial whaling in Iceland has increasingly become a controversial ethical issue. Under Icelandic animal welfare laws, animals killed for human use must be killed as swiftly and painlessly as possible. The revelation from government reports that explosive harpoons often failed to cause instant death—leaving large fin whales to suffer for hours—directly challenged the legality and ethics of the practice under modern animal welfare standards.
EN: Negative/emphatic inversion with 'So + adjective': When 'so + adjective' is placed at the very beginning of a sentence for dramatic emphasis, subject-auxiliary inversion occurs (the verb precedes the subject). The structure is: 'So + adj + be/auxiliary verb + subject + that-clause'.
So severe was the storm that all coastal flights were cancelled.
EN: Result clause with 'so... that': The conjunction 'that' introduces a subordinate clause expressing the consequence or result of the extreme degree established in the main clause ('So alarming... that...').
The noise was so loud that nobody could concentrate on their work.
EN: In journalism and formal registers, writers often use fronted 'So + adjective' constructions to create dramatic tension and underscore the direct causality between public revelations and governmental actions. In Iceland's whaling debate, the 2023 veterinary report revealed that some harpooned whales took up to two hours to die, prompting an immediate intervention under animal welfare regulations.
EN: The sentence features compound predicates sharing the same subject: 'Iceland's Minister of Industries, Hanna Katrin Fridriksson' is followed by two coordinated past-tense verbs, 'argued [that...]' and 'emphasized [her support...]'. Coordinated predicate structures streamline discourse without repeating the formal subject.
The committee reviewed the environmental proposal and recommended several strict amendments.
EN: Apposition occurs when two noun phrases are placed side by side so that the second clarifies or identifies the first. Here, 'Hanna Katrin Fridriksson' is an appositive naming 'Iceland's Minister of Industries'. Non-restrictive appositives are enclosed in commas and provide supplemental identification.
The chief executive officer, Sarah Jenkins, announced her resignation at yesterday's press conference.
EN: The phrase 'support for ending the practice' uses the preposition 'for' followed by a gerund clause ('ending the practice entirely'). When prepositions are followed by actions, the verb must take the gerund (-ing) form.
Public support for transitioning to renewable energy has reached record levels.
EN: Commercial whaling has historically been a significant cultural and economic staple in Iceland, deeply intertwined with national maritime identity. However, changing domestic public opinion, heightened scrutiny over animal welfare, and international pressure have led Icelandic political leaders to reassess its viability, transforming what was once an untouchable tradition into an increasingly contested environmental policy issue.
EN: The structure 'describe [something] as [something]' is used to state what character, quality, or role is attributed to a person, object, or event. Here, 'as' functions as a preposition introducing an object complement.
Critics described the new policy as a desperate attempt to regain public trust.
EN: The prepositional phrase 'of [organization]' immediately following a person's name indicates affiliation or organizational representation, common in journalistic and formal registers.
Dr. Aris of the World Health Organization briefed reporters this morning.
EN: In environmental policy and international journalism, the term 'milestone' specifically signals a turning point in ongoing negotiations or legislation, often used by advocacy groups like Humane World for Animals (an international animal welfare NGO) to highlight progress while maintaining pressure on governments.
EN: The reporting verb 'caution' can take a 'that'-clause to introduce a warning, reservation, or condition. Notice the parenthetical adverb 'however' inserted between the reporting verb and the conjunction 'that', framed by commas to create a pause and signal contrast with previous statements.
He cautioned, nevertheless, that economic recovery would take several years.
EN: The modal passive 'must be considered' combines the modal auxiliary of necessity 'must' with the passive infinitive 'be + past participle'. It emphasizes the action and necessity of deliberation while keeping the agent implicit and objective, a standard feature of formal news and academic registers.
All potential risks must be evaluated before finalizing the contract.
EN: In the subordinate time clause 'before the legislation can succeed', 'before' functions as a temporal conjunction introducing a condition prerequisite to success. The modal 'can' denotes potentiality or ability within an eventual outcome.
Extensive testing is required before the new vaccine can be approved.
EN: In legislative and environmental policy reporting, animal welfare debates often cite 'veterinary' evidence specifically. This refers to scientific post-mortem assessments of prolonged suffering, such as the time it takes for marine mammals to die after being struck by explosive harpoons, serving as objective legal and regulatory benchmarks rather than purely emotional appeals.
EN: The reporting verb 'contended' introduces a declarative content clause (that-clause) functioning as the direct object. 'Contend that...' is an advanced formal reporting frame used to state an argument or assertion strongly, often in a debate or persuasive context.
Scholars contend that climate change will exacerbate global economic disparities.
EN: The phrase 'killed by an exploding harpoon' is a reduced relative clause (passive participial phrase) modifying 'every whale'. It is structurally equivalent to 'that is killed by an exploding harpoon'. Note that 'exploding' is a present participle used as an adjective modifying 'harpoon'.
Any artifact unearthed by the archaeological team must be cataloged immediately.
EN: The linking/copular verb 'constitutes' means 'is considered to be' or 'amounts to', followed by a predicate noun phrase 'a tragic and needless loss of life'. Within this phrase, 'loss of life' is further qualified by the prepositional phrase 'for an industry...', which itself contains a restrictive relative clause 'that serves no legitimate purpose'.
Failure to comply with safety regulations constitutes a severe violation of federal law.
EN: Modern commercial whaling often utilizes explosive harpoons (grenade harpoons) designed to detonate inside the whale to cause rapid death. However, international animal welfare groups and veterinary assessments frequently criticize the method, reporting that many animals experience protracted, agonizing deaths lasting hours. This ethical debate plays a central role in Iceland's transition toward banning the hunt.
EN: The past perfect passive construction ('had been' + past participle) indicates that an action was completed before a specific reference point in the past (here, 'by early September this year'), with the grammatical subject receiving the action.
By the time inspectors arrived, dozens of illicit traps had been confiscated along the coast.
EN: The prepositional phrase 'up to' functions as an adverbial quantifier meaning 'as many as' or 'to the maximum limit of', used here to emphasize the high upper boundary of the count.
Up to five hundred volunteers joined the beach cleanup campaign over the weekend.
EN: 'By' followed by a time expression indicates a deadline or a point in time before or not later than which an action culminated, frequently triggering perfect tenses.
The committee had finalized the environmental report by mid-afternoon.
EN: The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is the second-largest mammal on Earth and is classified as vulnerable internationally. Icelandic commercial whaling has long faced fierce resistance from international animal advocacy groups such as Humane World for Animals, which routinely monitor quotas and catch statistics during the seasonal hunt to influence global conservation policy.
EN: Non-defining relative clauses are set off by commas and provide supplementary, non-essential information about the noun phrase they modify ('The annual hunting season'). The relative pronoun 'which' acts as the subject of the clause, followed immediately by the verb 'runs'. Notice that 'that' cannot be used in a non-defining relative clause.
The migratory period, which begins in late autumn, attracts ornithologists from around the world.
EN: The preposition 'through' is used in American English (and widely in international news style) to denote inclusivity across a time span, meaning 'from June up to and including September'. In British English, this is often expressed as 'from June to September inclusive'.
Registration remains open from Monday through Friday.
EN: The phrase 'up to' functions as a prepositional/numerical modifier signifying an upper ceiling or limit ('a maximum of'). It modifies the following numeral ('one hundred and fifty') rather than the head noun directly.
The auditorium can accommodate up to five hundred attendees.
EN: Whaling quotas in Iceland are historically set by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, balancing economic interests with international scrutiny from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and environmental groups. The explicit mention of a maximum quota ('up to one hundred and fifty animals') underscores regulatory control over fin whale hunting during the short Arctic summer season.
EN: The phrase 'notably the second-largest creatures on Earth' acts as a non-restrictive appositive noun phrase set off by commas. It provides supplementary, parenthetical information about the subject ('Fin whales') without restricting its meaning. The adverb 'notably' emphasizes this prominent and well-known characteristic.
Lake Baikal, famously the deepest lake in the world, holds roughly twenty percent of the globe's unfrozen surface freshwater.
EN: The present perfect construction 'have long been' combines the present perfect tense ('have been') with the adverb 'long' (meaning 'for a long time'). It denotes a continuous state or ongoing condition that began in the past and persists into the present moment, typically used with stative verbs to express duration.
Renewable energy sources have long been considered a key solution to mitigating climate change.
EN: The compound modifier 'second-largest' uses hyphenation to link an ordinal number with a superlative adjective, creating a precise ranking modifier. Such hyphenated compounds are standard before nouns (e.g., 'third-highest peak', 'second-fastest runner').
Canada is the second-largest country by total area, trailing only Russia.
EN: Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) are classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, having suffered catastrophic population declines during twentieth-century commercial whaling. Iceland has historically been one of very few nations maintaining a commercial fin whale hunt under an objection to the 1986 International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium, making Icelandic whaling a prominent flashpoint in global environmental diplomacy.
EN: Inverted conditional clause with 'were to': In formal or written English, the conditional 'if' can be omitted by inverting the subject and the auxiliary verb 'were'. The structure 'Were + subject + to-infinitive' expresses a hypothetical or unlikely future condition, equivalent to 'If + subject + were to + verb'.
Were the government to raise taxes again, public dissatisfaction would inevitably escalate.
EN: The noun phrase 'effort to + infinitive': The abstract noun 'effort' is frequently followed by a to-infinitive to specify the intended goal or action of the effort. Here, 'the global effort to protect...' functions as a complex noun phrase acting as the object of the preposition 'in'.
She dedicated her life to the international effort to eradicate poverty.
EN: Commercial whaling has long been deeply controversial globally. Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, has historically been one of the very few countries continuing commercial whale hunts despite the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) 1986 moratorium. Iceland's legislative move towards an outright ban reflects increasing international pressure and a domestic economic pivot toward ecotourism, notably whale watching, which has proven far more lucrative and culturally accepted than whaling.
Key vocabulary words with IPA pronunciation, definitions, example sentences, and interactive quizzes.
Phrases with type tags, bilingual definitions, usage notes, and example sentences.
The practice of hunting and killing whales for profit or trade, rather than for subsistence or scientific research.
The waters under the sovereign jurisdiction of a nation or state, typically extending up to 12 nautical miles from the coast.
To originate from or be attributed to a specific source or cause.
A time at which an important change in a situation occurs, especially one with significant consequences.
The central point of attention or interest in a discussion, debate, or visual space.