Money matters 1

Exercise 1:

Explain the differences between the words and expressions in bold in the following groups.

1. To lend and to borrow 14. A wage and a salary

2. Inflation and deflation 15. Extravagant and economical
3. A discount and a refund 16. A loan and a mortgage
4. Income and expenditure 17. A loan and an overdraft
5. To be insolvent and to be bankrupt 18. Shares and stocks
6. A bank statement and a bank balance 19. Commission and interest
7. To be in the red and to be in the black 20. Something which is worthless and
8. An invoice and a receipt something which is priceless
9. To make a profit and to make a loss 21. To credit and to debit
10. Gross profit and net profit 22. A pension and redundancy pay
11. To be undercharged and to be 23. A dividend and a royalty
overcharged 24. Tax and duty
12. Something which is overpriced and 25. To deposit money and to withdraw
something which is exorbitant money
13. To save money and to invest money 26. A bill and a check

Exercise 2:

Complete these paragraphs with appropriate words or expressions from Exercise 1. In some
cases you will need to change the form of the word, and in some cases more than one
answer may be possible.
1. The store is happy to exchange faulty goods, but it can only offer customers a ________ on
production of a valid ________.
2. Customer: Excuse me, waiter. I think you've ________ me. This ________ says that my pizza cost
$30.50.
Waiter: That's correct sir. It's $25, plus a service charge of 10%, and government ________ of
12%.
Customer: Well I think that's an ________ price to pay for a pizza!
3. This month's bank ________ shows that we have an ________ of $800. We can't afford to be
________ to such a large amount. It's time we reduced our ________.
4. Our sales representatives receive a basic ________ (pre-tax) annual ________ of $20,000, plus a
10% ________ for each item they sell. On average, their ________ (post-tax) ________ is around
$45,000 a year.
5. The company was declared ________ after it was unable to pay off all its debts. Many people who
lost their jobs as a result did not receive ________, and those who were about to retire lost half of
their ________. People who had ________ heavily in the company saw their ________ become
completely ________.

Also see Money matters 2 on pages 32 and 33, Earnings, rewards and benefits on pages
16 and 17, and Shopping and consumerism on pages 47 and 48.

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For reference see Easier English Intermediate Dictionary (0-7475-6989-4).