UNIT 1

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Most people work to earn a living, and produce goods and services. Goods are either agricultural (like
maize and milk) or manufactured (like cars and paper). Services are such things as education, medicine
and commerce. Some people provide goods, some provide services. Other people provide both goods
and services. For example, in the some garage a man may buy a car or some service which helps him to
maintain his car.
The work people do is called economic activity. All economic activities together make up the
economic system of a town, a city, a country or the world. Such an economic system is the sum-total of
what people do and what they want. The work people undertake either provides what they need or
provides the money with which they can buy essential commodities. Of course, most people hope to
earn enough money to buy commodities and services which are non-essential but which provide some
particular personal satisfaction, like toys for children, visits to the cinema and books.
I. ORAL QUESTIONS
a) Why do most people work? to earn a living, and produce goods and services.
b) What do they produce? goods and services
c) What do education, medicine and commerce provide? Services
d) What two different things can a man buy in a garage? a car or some service which helps him to
maintain his car
e) What is an economic system the sum- total of? The sum- total of what people do and what they want
f) What two things can work provide for the worker? what they need or provides the money with which
they can buy essential commodities.
g) What can people buy with money? commodities and services which are non-essential but which
provide some particular personal satisfaction
II. COMPREHENSION
State whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F), and if they are false, state why
a) Most people produce either goods or services. T
b) Services are either agricultural or manufactured. F Services are such things as education, medicine
and commerce.
c) Schools and hospitals provide education and medicine. F
d) Cars and paper are agricultural goods. F
e) Paper is a non - agricultural commodity. T
f) An economic system is the work which people do. F is the sum-total of what people do and what
they want
g) A city has its own economic system. T
h) Economic activity is the sum-total of what people do and want. F The work people do
i) The work people undertake provides them with money, or with what they need. T
j) Most people do not want to buy non-essential commodities and services. F most people hope to earn
enough money to buy commodities and services
III. VOCABULARY
In each of these sentences a word is missing. Fill in the blank with a word from the text.
a) Transport system like railways, buses and aeroplanes provide the public with important…
services……………..
b) They told him to look at the……example…….and then do the exercises.
c) There are usually a lot of…………cars…….at any railway station or airport that handles a lot of
traffic.
d) He decided to……undertake……….the work in order to make some money.
e) It was………essential………., for him to go to the city as soon as possible.
f) They had………enough……….money to buy most of the things they needed.
g) It was a………personal…….matter and he did not wish to tell anyone else about it.

IV. WORD STUDY

In these sentences, certain nouns are underlined. Change them inti adjectives which can be used
in the blanks.
Examples: education → education + al → educational
commerce → commerci + al → commercial
a) These goods belong to the nation.
They are therefore…national……………...
b) Minerals are a part of nature.
They are therefore……natural…………...
c) Schools provide education.
They are therefore centres of ……educational…………...activity.
d) Shops are places of commerce.
They are therefore centres of ……commercial…………...activity.
e) He does not want everyone else to do this work. He wants to do the work in person.
It is his………personal………...concern.
V. SENTENCE STUDY

THE SENTENCE
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
THE SENTENCE
A sentence is a group of words used to communicate ideas in writing or in speech. It is a complete,
independent unit of thought and consists of two main parts: a subject and a predicate.
Subject
The subject is the word or words that name the person, thing or place that a sentence is about. It is
usually a noun or a pronoun.
Predicate
The predicate makes a statement about the subject. It consists of a verb and its modifiers or
complements. The verb is the most important part of the predicate. It expresses an action or a state of
being.
Complement
A complement is a word or words used to complete the meaning of the verb.
Example:
Travel Services has agents in many countries.
 (1) (2)
(1) = subject
(2) = predicate
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
A simple sentence is an independent statement and contains a single idea.
Examples :
– Travel Services is a small company.
– The company has an office in London.
– A team of five executives at Evans corporation are planning an advertising project.
The order of the words in a simple sentence is very important. Look at these two simple sentences.
They both contain the same words but they do not mean the same things.
– Finbank PLC lent Jim the money.
– Jim lent Finbank PLC the money.
A simple sentence can have six parts, although this is not always so.
Study the order of the words in the columns bellow.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Who? Action Who? How? Where? When?

Which? Which?
What? What?

Jim Watson wants a new

motorbike

Jim doesn’t have

enough money

He can borrow from his bank

the money

– Tomorrow he is going to the bank.

– He can buy the motorbike on credit..
– He must pay a deposit of $150.
You will use the six columns again for this exercise. In each sentence, the words are not in the right
order. Arrange them correctly according to the six columns and rewrite the sentence in the provided
space.
1. good / the / are / terms / very
The terms are very good.........................................................................................................................................................
2. loan / choosing / bank / Jim / the/ is
Jim is choosing the bank loan.................................................................................................................................................
3. over / Jim / a period / pay / years / five / of / to / has
Jim has to pay over a period of five years..............................................................................................................................
4. year/ of / number / Japan/ every/ tourists/ foreign/ to/ increases/ the
The number of foreign tourists to Japan increases every year................................................................................................
5. at /many /on /they /working /projects /are /moment /the
At the moment they are working on many projects................................................................................................................
6. packages / takes / the / messenger / the
The messenger takes the packages.........................................................................................................................................
7. next / going /Alison /is / for / year /apply /to /course /the /business
Next year Alison is going to apply for the business course....................................................................................................
8. you/ a rise/ Mr.Blake/approved/pay / for / yesterday / meeting /the / at
Mr. Blake approved a pay rise for you at the meeting yesterday...........................................................................................
9. we/ in/ finance/ decided/ hotel/ the /to/new/Cairo
We decided to finance the new hotel in Cairo........................................................................................................................
10. percent/ trade/ study/ of/ 25/ students/ the/ international
25 percent of the international students study trade.