S5: English

Key Unit Competence: To use language learnt in the context of business and
                                               money.

Introductory activity

Picture observation and interpretation

While interpreting these pictures, do the following activity:
1. Explain the qualities of a good business man.
2. Discuss the environmental factors for business.
3. People of different levels of finance can do business. Discuss this
     referring to the business people in your community.

4.1 Describing business and money

4.1.1 Learning activities: Reading and text analysis

Activity 1

Reading comprehension
Read the passage below and answer the questions on it.

Profit making in business
Businesses should not be done in any way that can make profit. It is better
for every business or institution to have a code of ethics or morality. This
primarily indicates that the company should be treating all its customers/
clients with respect to their individual or institutional rights. It is a given that
companies may sometimes fail to earn a chunk of their profits in certain
cases. However, client security is non-negotiable and should be ensured at
the outset. Otherwise, these customers or clients will shift to competitors and
not return to the original company or business. There is an example of an
industry that manufactured a new kind of herbal soap without testing suitably.
Hence, this led to severe side effects, rashes, and hives for many users,
and many of them filed complaints in several courts across the world. The
leader of the industry took the vital decision to recall all herbal soap products
from the manufacturing line and distributors while paying compensation to
aggrieved customers for their future treatment and harassment. This led to
the industry losing a major chunk of its business revenues in a particular
year. However, it led to its image being salvaged and helping retain its core
customer base. The decision was a tough one. The leader acted courageously
while understanding that failure to act would cost the industry more in the
future owing to the lack of clients and revenues altogether and loss of brand
image and goodwill.

Secondly, for succeeding in a competitive contemporary business
environment, many organizations have to take on each other at various
levels. Many companies lose out on profits through reducing product prices.
They do not aim for higher profits but create long-term satisfaction for clients.
They do this because they want products to be sold and inventory to be
cleared while satisfying customers and retaining them for the long haul. They
also keep offering free delivery, incentives, coupons, free service, discounts,
free online access, returns, etc. This makes older customers happier while
also drawing newer ones in the bargain.

To conclude, a business where the sole objective is profit will not succeed
in the long run, especially in today’s fast-evolving business landscape.
Companies that put their customers and ethics first will ultimately gain and
double their profits manifold in the long run.

A. Comprehension questions
1. Should businesses be done in any way that can make profit?
2. What can happen to business people if they don´t have customer care?
3. Many companies lose out on profits through reducing product prices. Why
do they take this risk?
4. What do the following cervices help in business: free delivery, incentives,
     coupons, free service, discounts, free online access, returns, etc.

4.1.2 Application activities: Vocabulary and sentence writing
          Vocabulary

Activity 1

Use a dictionary and thesaurus to look up the meanings of the words or
phrases below.
a) Ethics
b) Morality
c) Negotiable
d) Non-negotiable
e) Outset
f) Distributors
g) Aggrieved
h) Haul
i) Bargain

Activity 2

Using the words in the above table, write meaningful sentences related to
the use of money.

4.2 Describing the role of money
4.2.1 Learning activities: Reading and text analysis

Activity 1

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

Functions of Money
Good money should be acceptable by everyone as a medium of exchange.
This is the prime requirement for money. The use of money is based on
confidence. One is prepared to accept money provided that they are confident

that others will also accept it. All transactions are made through the use of
money. Previously in the old ages, there was use of commodity and barter
system as medium of exchange. The introduction of money eased the
system of exchange because of its good qualities such as portability and
divisibility, among others. Good money should be easily divisible in small
units. Whatever physical commodity is being used as money, it must be easy
to divide it into smaller amounts to make smaller transactions possible. One
should also be able to carry good money from one place to another. It must
not be so heavy in relation to its value. It must be transportable in terms of
bulk and weight. Modern money consists of coins, bank notes, cheques and
bank drafts. All these must be carried without attracting attention.

Good money should be scarce because if it is common, it would lose value
due to increase in demand. Its supply must be less than its demand but it
must be available. The value of goods and services and factors of production
are expressed in terms of money. Determining the value of a commodity is
based on how much an individual is prepared to pay for it. The higher the
amount paid for a commodity, the more valuable it is; the lower the amount
paid, the less the value, other factors remaining constant.

Good money should be similar and difficult to forge. The features on the
same denominations must be the same as on another denomination. Varying
degree of quality will lead to confusion and uncertainty in the public and
eventually there will be loss of confidence. Good money must be made of
features and quality that cannot be easily forged. Otherwise, forged money
will increase money in the economic system which leads to inflation and in
turn money will lose value. Money which is forged is called counterfeit money.

Wealth or goods can be easily stored for future use in form of money than
assets. It is easy for James in Musanze district to sell Irish potatoes and store
millions of Rwandan francs for a period of one year or more than storing one
hundred sacks of potatoes. It is easier to store one million Rwandan francs
than storing a cow.

Many transactions are conducted on the basis of credit where goods and
services are sometimes given out on credit. When paying for the goods, it
is more convenient to express these future obligations in terms of money.
In a modern society, money is a mechanism through which most goods and
services are distributed by use of what is known as the pricing mechanism.
Goods can be moved from one place to another mainly from areas of low
price to those of high price through a process called arbitrage. All this can be
done through price mechanism which uses money.

Money can facilitate the physical transfer of property. For example, it may be
impossible to move a building from Nyamasheke to Nyagatare but the owner
can sell it and easily move with his money to the new area of location.

All business transactions and accounting are made possible by use of
money. When computing business transactions, statistics of national income,
to mention but a few, money is the most suitable medium. It may be easy to
record the amount got after selling a commodity than recording the actual
commodity.
Adapted from Economics for Rwanda secondary Schools, book five, p.158-159

Comprehension questions
1. What is the system that was used previously in the old ages before money
     as the medium of exchange?
2. What do you understand by portability and divisibility as qualities of
     money?
3. According to the passage, why is it important to make it difficult to forge
     money?
4. Explain he reasons why good money should be scarce
5. What should be done to prevent people from forging money?

4.2.2 Application activity

Activity 1

Sentence construction
Construct a meaningful sentence with each of the following words and
phrases as used in the passage.
a) prime
b) eased
c) bulk
d) bank draft
e) scarce
f) forge
g) features
h) price mechanism
i) arbitrage

Activity 2

Summary writing
In not more than 80 words, summarize the above passage emphasizing the
role of money.

4.3 Describing marketing
4.3.1 Learning activities: Reading and text analysis

Activity 1

Reading comprehension
Read the text bellow and answer the question related to it.

Hope, the entrepreneur
My name is Hope. I always thought I would work for someone else, I never
imagined I would have my business. But that’s how things have turned out
for me. I left school with quite a good certificate of secondary education and
as I had done well in accountancy. I managed to get a job in the accounts
department of a tourist hotel. I did this for about four years.

Meanwhile, my cousin Jimmy, who didn’t go to secondary school, was trained
as a carpenter. He got a grant from SIDO, which is the Small-scale Industries
Development Organization, to set up a workshop and started employing a
few untrained workers, who he trained up. Jimmy came to the hotel one day
and saw that they had a very poor selection of crafts for sale to guests. He
suggested asking the hotel if we could take over the tourist shop. He would
provide the goods and I would run the shop. We managed to get a loan from
an investment bank to set up the shop. The bank also gave us a lot of advice
and helped us put together a business plan. Eventually, it was agreed that
we would pay rent to the hotel and a percentage of the earnings. That was
ten years ago.

Since then I have done some courses in running a business and that has
helped us to expand. We now have a chain of 20 tourist shops in different
hotels. The workshop still supplies a lot of our goods but I also travel around
the country to find other suppliers. We have come a long way, and I think the
reason for this is that we have asked for advice from the people who know
and we listen to our customers. Tourists want to see a good variety of high
quality crafts and that’s what we give them.

Running a business is hard work and at the beginning you can’t expect to
make any money for yourself; all the profit goes into building up the business.
So you have to have a cool head and be prepared to take risks. We employ
40 people now and have made reasonable livings for our own families, so I
am satisfied. I am married and I’ve got two children.

Adapted from English in use Book 3 by Longman publishers

Comprehension questions
1. To what extent has the previous work experience of Hope helped her to
    get and do her current job?
2. Identify some good advice in this passage for young people about how to

    succeed as an employee or in your own business.
3. On the basis of what you have read in the above passage, what are
    advantages of running your own business?
4. Why do you think Hope has become a successful entrepreneur?

4.3.2 Application activity

Activity 1

Sentence construction
Construct a meaningful sentence with each of the following words and
phrases as used in the passage.
a) grant
b) small-scale industry
c) earnings
d) running a business
e) reasonable living

Activity 2

Debate
Debate the importance of cashless economy over cash economy.

4.3 Describing a business
4.4.1 Learning activities: Reading and text analysis

Activity 1

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

Avoiding illegal Profit making

I agree with the statement that businesses should be doing anything they can
to make a profit. I put forward my opinion based on several points. While there
may be scenarios where companies may have to forego profits on account
of several reasons, I believe that the abiding goal and motto of the business
should be to earn profits in whichever way they deem fit in the circumstances.
Businesses should always look at the silver lining and ways to maximize
profits. Let me give you an example of what I am trying to opine. Suppose
company A and company B are both rivals in the same business that offers
organic fruits and vegetables to customers at their dedicated stores and
outlets. During the coronavirus-induced lockdown and restrictions at several
levels by the authorities, all companies were initially suffering due to a lack of
profits from their physical stores. With lower footfalls, both companies were
forced to innovate. Company A announced delivery options for customers
at a specific cost, hiring delivery executives on salaries based on minimum
projections of per-day orders. Company B announced that customers need
not come to stores and instead hired delivery executives to deliver goods to
customers at no extra cost. Free delivery would be given to customers, and
the executives’ salaries would be borne by the company itself. A goodwill
gesture, yes, but with skyrocketing demand due to the lockdown, Company
A ended up earning higher profits from its delivery model, which created
a new income channel and buffered for any depletion of in-store orders.
Company B ended up foregoing profits instead of paying for delivery and
value-added services from its pocket. With its earnings, Company A paid all
salaries, retained all staff members, and contributed toward sanitization and
other community welfare measures. At the same time, Company B ultimately
had to lay off workers or slash their salaries in the interim to tide over things.
Which company did better? Company A, of course.

Secondly, I feel that the business can be financially stable without profits and
no hiring activity. It is important to keep the entire value chain running for
any business, and hence a profit-oriented outlook is what is most important.
Companies should always engage with their stakeholders to find out newer
products/services that work, tapping unused resources to generate income
and using money judiciously for future stability and expansion.

To conclude, companies should do everything they can to make profits, of
course, within the bounds of the law and legal provisions. However, it is a
competitive landscape out there. They should put their basic needs first, i.e.
the ability to keep serving customers, keep monetary inflows coming in and
keep retaining and maintaining employees and employment levels overall.

Adapted from: (Mandal, 2022)

Comprehension questions
1. Which company did the work better? Why?
2. As a business person with business ethics, explain the disadvantages of
     making profits out of bounds of the law and legal provisions.
3. Give the examples of the basic needs of a business man.

4.4.2 Application activity

A. Vocabulary

Activity 1

Make different correct sentences using the following words:
Skyrocketing
goodwill gesture
Depletion
Stakeholders
Stakeholder

Activity 2

Writing skills
Between 250 and 300 words, write a composition on how to maximize profit
in the business while following business ethics.

4.5 Language structure
4.5.1 Phrasal verbs used in business and money
A phrasal verb is a verb like pick up, turn on or get on with. These verbs consist
of a basic verb + another word or words. The two or three words that make up a
phrasal verb form a short “phrase” - which is why we call them “phrasal verbs”. But
a phrasal verb is still a verb. Look is a verb. Look up is also a verb - a different verb.
They do not have the same meaning, and they behave differently grammatically.
You should treat each phrasal verb as a separate verb, and learn it like any other
verb.

Examples of phrasal verbs that are used business and money:
Count on, pay back, lend money, cash in, cash out, carry out, sell off, pay off, pay
back, call in, step in, count on, run by, set up, save up, rip off etc.

Communicating with native English speakers in a business setting means you’ll
hear phrasal verbs at least once, if not several times, during a conversation.

Phrasal verbs are idiomatic — you can’t deduce the meaning of a phrasal verb by
interpreting each of the words it contains literally. For example, if you say, “I’ll look
into the mirror,” you are going to direct your sight to a mirror. In this case, look into
is not a phrasal verb; it’s simply a verb followed by a preposition. On the other hand,
if you say, “I don’t know what phrasal verbs are, but I’ll look into it,” you are not
directing your sight into phrasal verbs—you are going to find out more about them.

Adapted from: (EnglishClub, 1997)

4.5.2 Learning activity

Activity 1

71
4.5.2 Learning activity
Put in the correct phrasal verb (choose from the Phrasal Verbs 1 list)
1. Can you ___________ (think of an idea) a better idea?
2. She ___________ (showed / mentioned) that the shops would be
      closed.
3. I wish I hadn’t ___________ (become responsible for) so much work!
4. I ___________ (went to an event) for dinner with my husband last
     night.
5. He ___________ (entered a place where the speaker is) the kitchen
     and made some tea.
6. Where did you ___________ (become an adult)?
7. I’d love to ___________ (arrange / create) my own business.
8. I really want to ___________ (leave a building) of this office and go
      for a walk.
9. As I arrived, he ___________ (appeared from a place) of the door.
10. She ___________ (got something from a place) some dinner on the
       way home.
11. Could you ___________ (get information) what time we need to
        arrive?
12. I thought the conference was going to be boring, but it___________
       (in the end we discovered) to be quite useful.
13. What time did you ___________ (return to a place where the
       speaker is) last night?
14. She ___________ (appeared from a place) of the cafe and put on
       her gloves.
15. A performance ___________ (is happening) at the moment.
16. He ___________ (left a car) of the car.
17. He ___________ (went to an event) a lot at the weekend, so he’s
       tired today.
18. Can we ___________ (arrange / create) a meeting next week?
19. Would anybody like to ___________ (become responsible for) this
      new client?
20. He ___________ (returned to a place where the speaker is) before I
       left.

4.6 End unit assessment

Activity 1

Read the text and fill in the gaps with one of these words.
deal; expenses; inherited; shares; ceo; deposit; fired; heir;
profit; investing; sale; franchise; loss; chain; location

A few years ago, my best friend came into some money. If you don’t know
what that means, I’ll explain: Basically, his childless aunt died and as the
sole (1) _________ he (2) _________ her property and savings. People told
him to buy cars and expensive clothes, but I advised him to be careful: ‘A
fool and his money are soon parted’ we say in English.

My friend took notice of what I was saying and started weighing up different
options. He thought about (3) _________ money in different companies by
buying (4) _________, or just putting the money in the bank in a savings
account.

Eventually he decided to set up his own business. He went to a trade fair
and made a (5) _________ with a fast food (6) _________. He spent a lot of
money furnishing the premises, but when it opened it didn’t take off the way
he had been promised.

I think there were a quite a few reasons for this: Maybe he didn’t work out all
the details. The (7) _________ of the premises was not well thought out, for
example. He didn’t make a business plan. I think Mark realised that it was
not going to work out, because he tried to call it off at the last minute. The
problem was that he had already put down a (8) _________, and he had too
much money tied up in the project to back out.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the business went under after a couple
of years. After a few months Mark cut back on the (9) _________, but he
was still making a (10) _________. Eventually he just gave up: He (11)
_________the staff and put the premises up for (12) _________. He would
have gone bankrupt if he hadn’t reacted that way.

The franchise has since been taken over by another (13) _________. It just
wasn’t making a (14) _________ and its (15) _________didn’t have much
idea about the food industry. Mark didn’t seem so bothered. In fact, I think
he was relieved that he didn’t have to worry anymore. He hasn’t run out of
money yet, anyway!

Activity 2

Now find the matching phrasal verb in the text:
1. To start a business =
2. To lessen, to diminish =
3. When something is completely used and there is nothing left =
4. To inherit =
5. When an idea or project is successful =
6. To have second thoughts and leave a project before it has finished
=
7. When one company buys another (usually smaller) =
8. When a business stops activity due to economic failure (go
bankrupt) =
9. Stop doing something when you realise you are going to lose =
10. To cancel =
11. Have a good result or ending =
12. To calculate =

Activity 3

Complete the following sentences by choosing the most appropriate phrasal
verb from the list given. Make sure you conjugate them as well.

(Call off, turn off, bring up, give away, dawn on, break down, take off,
call in, hold on, turn down, sell out, fill in, take up, go through, take
off)

1. The truth of the matter finally _____________ Tina.
2. Please _____________ your socks before you enter the room.
3. The employees _____________ the strike.
4. The neighbour asked us to _____________ the music.
5. Please _____________ the lights when you leave.
6. The flight will _____________ any moment now.
7. _____________ the study materials the teacher gave you.
8. _____________ the surgeon immediately, the patient needs her.
9. Please _____________ this application and submit it there.
10. Tim and his family _____________ the kid as their own.
11. All the tickets for the Avengers were _____________.
12. My car _____________ in the middle of the road.
13. The kid decided to _____________ a new hobby.
14. The judges will _____________ to their decision for a while.
15. Please don’t-------------------- all your money.

Activity 4

Writing skills

Write an essay on the following topic do not exceed 300 words
Imagine you are a shopkeeper. What would you do to attract more customers?