Reading check exercises

1. Consult a dictionary and practice the pronunciation of the following words. Pay attention to the stress.

Sole trader, proprietor, liability, business assets, commencing, statutory requirements, pay-as-you-earn, shareholders, entity, statutory, provision, financial flexibility, expansion, however, in a worse-case scenario, jointly own, withdrawal, debt, guaranteed, personally liable, statutory requirement, insurance, tax computations, required to issue shares, reviewed, natural monopoly, although, issue.

2. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the classification of business forms in the UK?

2. What are the main characteristics of Sole Trader type of business?

3. What is the difference between Sole Proprietor type of business and Partnership?

4. What is Limited company?

5. Why do Unlimited companies are regarded as useful entities?

6. What companies are nationalized in the Great Britain?

7. What are advantages/disadvantages of Sole trader/Partnership?

8. What are advantages/disadvantages of Limited companies?

3. Explain what is meant by:

public sector, private sector, market economy, sole trader, partnership, limited / unlimited company, nationalized company, private / public limited company, company limited by shares, company limited by guarantee, legal entity, third party, board of directors, auditors’ report, statement of cash flow, multinational company, low contributions, to have one’s pros and cons, financial flexibility, VAT, PAYE.

4. Retell the text.

Vocabulary and grammar work

1. Fill in the blanks with the proper words:

customers, proportions, mere symbols, another name, brands, time, a third, managers, reputation, illusion, driver, advertising, differences. differences

1. Brands are insubstantial things, ____________, names, associations.

2. Sometimes they signal real _____________ between products.

3. Sometimes they are pure ____________.

4. Either way, brands are akin to a product’s or company's ____________ and they influence consumers' perceptions.

5. The wearer of a Rolex watch is concerned with more than keeping ________; the BMW __________ with more than getting from place to place.

6. Brands add value by making ___________ loyal and, often, willing to pay more for the things branded.

7. Roses by ______________ might smell as sweet, but they would no longer fetch $30 a dozen.

8. Despite the evidence of the value of __________, creating and sustaining that capital are often neglected by consumer-goods companies.

9. Under pressure to make big short-run gains in sales, many brand __________ are cavalier about the long-term commercial health of their products.

10.Increasingly they are abandoning brand-building activities, such as ____________, in favor of tactics, especially price promotions, which aim to increase market share quickly.

11. In 1980 promotions accounted for about __________of all spending on marketing, with advertising taking up the rest.

12. Now, remarkably, the ___________ have reversed.