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Unit 2. FACTORS OF PRODUCTIONДата публикации: 01.02.2017 19:09
“The supply-side claim is not a claim. It is empirically true and historically convincing that with lower rates of taxation on labor and capital, the factors of production, you'll get a bigger economy.” Jack Kemp(1935 –2009),an American politician, a collegiate and professional football player
LEAD-IN
PRE-TEXT EXERCISES
Ex.1. Practice reading the following words. y/i [aɪ] rye, fly, sky, dry, try, ply, dye, by-product, type, byte, cycle; lifestyle, item, size, dive, sizable [aɪ]falsify, intensify, notify, signify, specify [ɪ] myth, symbol, system, syndicate, Sydney [ɪ] security, property, economically, secondary, duty, baby, lady, study, noisy, lobby, pony, sorry, lorry, sym'phonic [aiə] tyre, tire, hire, fire y [j] yes, yet, you, yell, yelp, yield, youthful, yard, yawn u [ju:] use, mule, tune, due, suit u [ʌ] but, must, run, sun, up u [u:] rule, true, fruit, blue, flu [ɔ] – [ʌ] not – nut, boss – bus, dock – duck, lock – luck, sock - suck
Rhyme, single, rhythm, rivalry, yawn, risky, syllable, sight, historically, multiply, mind, pretty, think, nymph, yesterday, child, pyjamas, memory, kind, wish, analytic, behind, picture, category, yucca, desire, light, exactly, king, candy, miner, syndicate, typist, hymn, rice, myself, risk, pyramid, nylon, mineral, line, hydrant.
Ex.2. Read the words in the groups below. Pay attention to the word stress. a) words with the stress on the first syllable: access, acre, actual, balance, benefit, broker, capital, dwelling, enterprise, forecast, hectare, tangible, labour, luxury, maintenance, management, owner, ownership, parking, property, suburbs, quality, quantity, scarce, scarcity, service, urban, utilize; b) words with the stress on the second syllable: accumulate, accomplishment, consumer, commodity, delivery, environment, estate, inherit, inheritance, intangible, location, necessity, securities, utility; c) polysyllabic words with the main and secondary stress: acquisition, competition, exploitation, externalities, information,entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, entrepreneurship, privatization, profitability, relocate, substitution, telecommunication, termination, urbanization,undercapitalization, utilization.
Ex.3. Read the following two-syllable words in the box. Pay special attention to the word stress - it is different for noun and verb.
Now, read and translate the sentences with some of the words from Ex.3.
Ex.4. Using the endings -er, -or, -ian, -ee, -ant and -ist, change each of the following words into a noun referring to people. Model: law +-er → lawyer; audit + -or → auditor. Technical, employ, consult, scientific, drive, program, propriety, music, train, act, art, bake, bike, carry, correspond, dental, football, govern, humour, instruct, jog.
Ex.5. Complete each sentence with a noun that refers to the type of person described.
Ex.6. Make up nouns from the verbs and adjectives given. Verb → Noun: accept, promote, enter, initiate, occur, protect, store, waste, refer, recruit. Adjective → Noun: effective, free, reliable, social, real, aware, liable, important, competitive, industrial.
TEXT A: FACTORS OF PRODUCTION
Active Vocabulary
Choices concerning what goods and services to produce are choices about an economy’s use of its factors of production, the resources available to it for the production of goods and services. The value, or satisfaction, that people derive from the goods and services they consume and the activities they pursue are called utility. Ultimately, then, economy’s factors of production create utility; they serve the interests of people. The factors of production in an economy are its labour, capital, enterprise and natural resources. Labour is the human effort that can be applied to the production of goods and services. People who are employed or would like to be are considered part of the labour available to the economy. Capital is a factor of production that has been produced for use in the production of other goods and services. Office buildings, machinery, and tools are examples of capital. Enterprise means the activities of profit-seeking decision makers who determine which economic activities to undertake and how they should be implemented. Natural resources are the resources of nature that can be used for the production of goods and services. The fifth factor -information– is sometimes included as a factor of production in modern economics. Natural resources – land and mineral deposits The factor of production land comprises not only the actual land on which the firm has its factory or offices but also all the natural resources, such as the minerals, raw materials, vegetation and wildlife that can be extracted from it. Land is not produced, it was created. It is the world, the planet from which man evolved, with the sun that energizes it and the orbit that tempers it. Mankind did not create the Earth with its space and resources, nor can we add to them. We can only acquire them, often by fighting, or rent-seeking, or in other counterproductive ways. Man at best improves and develops capacities inherent in the free gift. "Land" in economics means all natural resources and agents, with their sites (locations and extensions in space). Economic land excludes many things, too. It excludes land-fill, for example, by which many cities are extended into shallow waters. The site and seabed are properly land; the land-fill is an improvement. There is no "made land" in the economic sense: it is reallocated from other uses. Expanding cities take farmland from producing food and fibre, much of it for the expanding city itself. Filled land in shallow water near cities is taken away from anglers and sailors and viewers and ecologists, who now organize to save it from being "made" away with. Drained and filled wetlands are taken away from endangered species, as well as from their primal role as filters protecting coastal waters from river trash and pollutants. Land as site is permanent and recyclable. Land as "site" (location plus extension) does not normally wear out, depreciate, spoil, obsolesce, nor gets used up by human activities incident to occupancy and production. In contrast, capital depreciates from time and use. After being formed, it must be conserved from entropy by continual maintenance, repair, remodelling, safeguarding against theft and fire, and so on. Land normally does not depreciate as a function of time. Most attributes of land also withstand use and abuse. Population, capital, and demands all grow while land remains fixed. Land is reusable. All the land we have is second-hand, most of it previously-owned. Our descendants, in turn, will have nothing but our hand-me-downs. As there is never any new supply, the old is recycled periodically, and will be in perpetuity, without changing form or location. Land supply is fixed. Being both irreproducible and permanent, land remains fixed. Both the overall quantity and the special qualities of specific lands remain fixed. Human resources – labour In order to produce the things we desire, a human resource must be used. That human resource consists of the productive contributions of labour made by individuals who work. The contribution of labour to the production process can be increased. Whenever potential workers obtain schooling and training and whenever actual workers obtain new skills, labour’s contribution to productive output will increase. The terms “labour” and “human resources” have essentially the same meaning in this context and are often used synonymously. These terms refer to the productive abilities of people. Labour, or human resources, is also limited. There are only so many people at any given time. However the skills, knowledge and talents of people can be improved or made more productive through education and training. Labour is human effort that can be applied to production. People who work to repair tires, pilot airplanes, teach children, or enforce laws are all part of the economy’s labour. People who would like to work but have not found employment (unemployed) are also considered part of the labour available to the economy. In some contexts, it is useful to distinguish two forms of labour. The first is the human equivalent of a natural resource. It is the natural ability an untrained, uneducated person brings to a particular production process. But most workers bring far more. The skills a worker has as a result of education, training, or experience that can be used in production are called human capital. Students who are attending a college or university are acquiring human capital. Workers who are gaining skills through experience or through training are acquiring human capital. Children who are learning to read are acquiring human capital. The amount of labour available to an economy can be increased in two ways. One is to increase the total quantity of labour, either by increasing the number of people available to work or by increasing the average number of hours of work per week. The other is to increase the amount of human capital possessed by workers. Labour is a meaningful activity with the aim to create goods and services. Labour does not exist itself; the bearer of labour is the man. Revenue for labour is wage. Demand for labour depends on wages, other resources of production, amount of capital, used technology. Demand for labour also depends on marginal product of labour and marginal revenue product of labour. Marginal revenue product of labour is wage. If the labour force increases, wages decrease. Labour supply depends on: wage in comparison to social benefits; population; a part of population which forms labour force (both the employees and unemployed); average number of working hours a year (number of working days/daily working hours); quality and quantity of work. Labour is the workforce of an economy and it is important to analyse labour in two ways: 1. The quantity of labour – obviously the numbers of workers (16-60/65 –population of working age) is finite. A low activity rate could indicate a high level of unemployment and/or high number of students / housewives / early retired. Many developed countries, including the UK, are suffering from falling birth rates and therefore there are fewer people joining the workforce. There are options open to the government for solving this problem such as a raising the retirement age or raising immigration. 2. The quality of labour – note that some workers are more productive than others. If workers receive more or better training they will be capable of producing more goods and services and this will raise an economy’s labour productivity (output per worker). The value of a worker is called human capital. Also, it is worth noting that labour can be geographically and occupationally immobile. Geographically people can be unwilling to move area (e.g. family /friends' ties, schools for children, house prices and cost of living) and people are often unwilling to change jobs due to the retraining involved. From a certain point wages are so high that some people value more free time than higher wage. Unemployment is measured by unemployment rate and is given in %. Forms of wages: Hourly rate is a reward for certain time of hour. Piece rate is derived from the performance standards - how many pieces on average are made per hour. Nominal wage is the amount of money we get as a wage. Real wage is the amount of goods and services which we can buy for the nominal wage. It depends on: the level of nominal wage; the level of prices of goods and services; taxation. Information as a factor of production As a factor of production, information is unlike any of the other factors in many important aspects. These differences cause the need for decision-makers to re-evaluate the way in which productive factors are combined to produce goods and services. Information is expansible, compressible, substitutional, transportable, diffusive, and shareable. Information is Expansible. Most information tends to expand with use. Thus, as information is used — even more is generated. The only limits on the use of information would be the capacity of users to analyze, store and retrieve it. The non-scarce nature of information must bring about a rethinking of the calculus of utility maximization or cost minimization. Information is Compressible. It is possible to concentrate, integrate, or summarize vast amounts of information for easier handling. Through the selection and compression of information into knowledge and wisdom, some of it is necessarily lost. Information is Substitutional. The evolution of mental processes which leads managers to think of information as a factor of production must also cause them to grasp the idea that information can be substituted for land, labour, capital, entrepreneurial ability and management. When other resources are used more efficiently (i.e. less of the resource is used due to the use of new information), the net result is a substitution of information for the more efficiently used resource in the productive process. Information is Transportable. Using telecommunications technology, information can be transported at the speed of light! Thus, it provides a lightning response time for decisions. While some cost is involved in the "transportation" of information, its speed and lack of physical bulk should keep this cost relatively low. Information is Diffusive. Information tends to leak. Because information lends itself to diffusion; secrecy, property rights, and confidentiality, are called into question. Yet, because information is easily "transported," potentially authorized users can have ready access to it. At the same time, processes can be established to deny, or limit, its pilferage. That is, ways should be found to secure it in much the same manner as the other factors of production without overly restricting the legitimate "transportation" of information. Information is Shareable. That is, I may give information to you without losing it myself. If information is shared — we both have it! My stock is not diminished because yours is increased. In fact, the same information can be sold or exchanged again.
Language notes: endangered species – зникаючі види output – обсягвиробництва, готовапродукція, виробництво marginal product of labour – граничний продукт праці piece rate – відрядна розцінка, розцінка від виробітку the salient characteristics - основні характеристики ready access – вільний доступ pilferage – розкрадання overly restrict – надмірно обмежувати
VOCABULARY FOCUS
Ex.1. Find the English equivalents in the text. Товари та послуги; служити інтересам людей; робоча сила, наявна в народному господарстві країни; осушені і засипані водно-болотні угіддя; загальна кількість та особливі якості; не змінюючи форму чи місце розташування; капітал зношується з часом; внесок працівників у процес виробництва; потенційні працівники отримують освіту та практику; носієм робочої сили є людина; збільшення середньої кількості робочого часу за тиждень; граничний продукт у грошовій формі; середня кількість робочих годин на рік; спад рівня народжуваності;вирішення проблеми; виробіток на одного працівника; погодинна оплата; здатність користувачів аналізувати; мінімізація витрат; підприємницькі здібності; більш ефективно використаний ресурс; вартість передачі інформації; право власності; запас інформації не зменшується.
Ex.2. Give Ukrainian equivalents of the following words and phrases. Factors of production; an economy’s factors of production create utility; the human effort that can be applied to; raw materials, vegetation and wildlife; the expanding city; capital depreciates from time and use; productive contributions of labour; actual workers obtain new skills; the aim to create goods and services; to increase the number of people available to work; revenue for labour; marginal product of labour; the employees and unemployed; а low activity rate; to join the workforce; to raise the retirement age; an economy’s labour productivity; unemployment rate; the level of nominal wage; to expand with use; the calculus of utility maximization; vast amounts of information; selection and compression of information; other resources are used more efficiently; at the speed of light.
Ex.3. Give three forms of the following verbs. Find the sentences with these verbs in the text. Can, be, have, undertake, do, mean, make, take, wear, get, grow, find, bring, learn, read, fall, rise, raise, lose, lead, think, cost, keep, leak, lend, give, sell.
Ex.4. Match the words on the left with the definitions on the right.
Ex.5. Make up verb+noun collocations (there may be several variants).
Ex.6. Choose an appropriate word or phrase to complete the following sentences. Capital stock, factor of production, human capital, human effort, labour, land, physical and mental, production process, resources, wages.
Ex.7. Fill in the gaps with appropriate prepositions or adverbs.
Ex.8. Combine two parts logically to make complete sentences.
Ex.9. Look through the text again and replace the words/phrases in italics with similar ones.
Ex.10. Translate into English
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Ex.11. Ask questions to which the following sentences may be answers.
Ex.12. Answer the following questions.
Ex.13. From your local paper collect advertisements or articles for each of the factors of production. Labour should be easy - job vacancy adverts. But the others will be slightly more difficult.
Ex.14. Make a presentation of the topic “Factors of production”.
WRITING
Ex.15. Write a plan of your summary based on Text A.
Ex.16. Using your plan as a base, write a brief summary (25-30 sentences) of the text.
Ex.17. Write an essay (100 – 150 words) about: - the importance of factors of production in an economy.
DISCUSSION POINTS
Ex.18. Discuss the following.
Ex.19. Consider the factors of production that went into the making of one sheet of notebook paper. Name some of them. Example: Suppose you go to the supermarket and buy a box of corn flakes. Each of factors of production went into the making of this cereal. For example, some of the things used in the production and distribution of the corn flakes are: box-making machinery, fertilizer, a storage warehouse, prairie or farmland, farm machinery, delivery truck and driver, wholesale middleman, retail grocery store, store clerk, etc.
Ex.20. Look through product advertisements in magazines, on the internet, in newspapers, or elsewhere. Choose any two products to investigate. Cut out the advertisement or draw a picture of each product. Design a chart titled “Factors of Production.” D o this for each product. List all of the resources (land, labour, capital, producer) utilized to create the product. Then, label each resource on your list as land, labour, capital, or business (producer / enterprise).
Text B: entrepreneurship
Ex.21. Scan the text below and give headlines to each paragraph. Land, labour, capital, and entrepreneurship: (0) ____________ . Of course, in a literal sense anything contributing to the productive process is a factor of production. However, economists seek to classify all inputs into a few broad categories, so standard usage refers to the categories themselves as factors. (1)____________ Entrepreneurship is a fairly recent addition. The factor concept is used to construct models illustrating general features of the economic process without getting caught up in inessential details. These include models purporting to explain growth, value, choice of production method, income distribution, and social classes. A major conceptual application is in the theory of production functions. One intuitive basis for the classification of the factors of production is the manner of payment for their services: rent for land, wages for labour, interest for capital, and profit for entrepreneurship. This category sometimes extends over all natural resources. It is intended to represent the contribution to production of nonhuman resources as found in their original, unimproved form. For the French physiocrats led by Francois Quesnay in the 1750s and 1760s, land was the only factor yielding a reliable gain to its owner. In their view, labourers and artisans were powerless and in excess supply, and hence they earned on average only a subsistence-level income; and in the same way what they produced outside of agriculture fetched enough to cover only their wages and input costs with no margin for profit. Only in agriculture, due to soil fertility and other "gifts of nature," could a labourer palpably produce more than required to cover subsistence and other costs, so only in agriculture could proprietors collect surplus. (2)____________ . They recommended taxes on land as the only sound way to raise revenue and land-grabbing as the best means to increase the government's revenue base. In 1821 David Ricardo, in The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, stated what came to be known as the classical view: that rent reflects scarcity of good land. The value of a crop depends on the labour required to produce it on the worst land under cultivation. This worst land yields no rent—as long as some of it remains unused—and rent collected on better land is simply its yield in excess of that on the worst land. Ricardo saw rent as coming from differences in land quality (including accessibility) and scarcity. The classical economists assumed only land—understood as natural resources—could be scarce in the long term. Marginalism, as expounded in 1899 by John Bates Clark in The Distribution of Wealth, takes a different approach. It declares that rent reflects the marginal productivity of land—not, as with Ricardo, the productivity of good versus marginal land. Marginal productivity is the extra output obtained by extending a constant amount of labour and capital over an additional unit of land of uniform quality. (3) ____________ . Their theory is based on the possibility of substituting among factors to design alternative production methods, whereby the optimal production method allocates all the factors to equalize their marginal productivity with their marginal costs. Long thought of as a self-sustaining input, land might depreciate just like produced assets do. In 1989 Herman Daly and Jonathan Cobb, in For the Common Good, distinguished between non-renewable resources that are consumed or depreciate irretrievably, and renewable resources where the rate of natural renewal is important. One consequence of this work in environmental economics is that natural resource accounting increasingly resembles capital accounting. The classical "labour theory of value" was an innovative theory in response to the physiocratic doctrine that only land could yield surplus. In 1776 Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, observed that with expansion of production and trade, enterprises were making profits over long periods of time, although they either had nothing to do with agriculture or else as agricultural enterprises. Classical economists tried to answer the question: Where does profit come from? (4)____________ . At prevailing prices, labour can yield a surplus over subsistence costs in many industries. The question arises of why proprietors, but not labourers, earn profit. Ricardo arrived at one answer: Technical innovation increases labour productivity. Owners of innovative equipment, until its general adoption, get the premium from reduced costs. In 1867 Karl Marx in Capital, added that wages reflect the cost of subsistence, not what labourers can produce, and that profit is the difference between the two. Even without innovation proprietors would reap surpluses, Marx held, since labourers lack market power and cannot afford their own equipment. Why do wages differ for different types of labour? Marx's answer was that higher wages cover costs, beyond personal subsistence, of training and cultivation of skills, acknowledging that one kind of "equipment," now known as human capital, was available at least to some labourers. Marginalist economists noticed the advance of technology, which according to classical and Marxist views made labour ever more productive, continually throws labourers out of work. (5)____________ . Referring to equipment as capital, they developed production functions featuring labour and capital as substitutes for each other. Choice among production techniques involving different combinations of labour and capital became a major theme in marginalist growth theory. This most controversial of factors is variously defined as produced equipment; as finance used to acquire produced equipment; as all finance used to begin and carry on production, including the "wage fund"; and as the assessed value of the whole productive enterprise, including intangibles such as "goodwill." In 1960 Piero Sraffa, in Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, showed that capital in the sense of produced equipment can fail to behave as expected in marginalist production functions when an entire economy is modelled. Specifically, equipment adopted to replace labour after wages rise from a low level, relative to interest on capital, may be abandoned again in favour of labour as wages rise still higher. This counterintuitive "reswitching" can happen because the equipment used is itself a product of labour and equipment, and because the ratio of labour to equipment varies for different products. Frequently capital is treated as finance, associated with the payment of interest. Yet the connection with equipment, in spite of Sraffa's demonstration, has never been severed entirely. One still studies capital depreciation, distinguishing wear-and-tear from obsolescence, and from the present value of investments in capital. (6) ____________ . Furthermore, acquired skills (as opposed to "know-how," an attribute of society rather than individuals) have come to be viewed as analogous to physical equipment, capable of yielding their owners a return. This analogy suggests their current designation as human capital. Thus capital is a concept still mired in confusion, and care must be taken in its use to be sure what it means. Until the twentieth century, this function was assigned to the capitalist and frequently conflated with capital. In the classical view, profit rather than interest was attributed to ownership of capital. In the marginalist view, capital earned interest, and profit was a mere residual after all the factors of production were compensated. In his Principles of Economics, first published in 1890, Alfred Marshall made extensive references to "organization" and "management," referring to the coordination function of entrepreneurship but to neither risk-assuming nor innovation. But in 1912 Joseph Schumpeter, in The Theory of Economic Development, featured the revolutionary role of organizer and innovator and contrasted it with that of the conservative financier, thus vividly distinguishing the entrepreneur from the capitalist. The entrepreneur's role in this view is not merely that of manager and risk-taker, but also of visionary - someone who seeks as much to destroy the old order as to create something new. Since innovation usually requires destroying old ways of doing things, Schumpeter gave it the name "creative destruction." Profit is now assigned to entrepreneurship, to innovation. With the rise of "venture capitalists" and other financiers willing to take on more risk and do more for innovation in the hope for supernormal returns, the distinction between capitalist and entrepreneur has again become fuzzier. (7)____________ . Although in business usage stock dividends are distributed profits, in economic analysis they figure as returns to capital, a kind of interest payment, since they are a return to finance rather than to entrepreneurship. The fact that stocks are legally equity rather than debt shares is thereby ignored. Similarly, salaries of corporate executive officers are treated as profit, a return to entrepreneurship, rather than as wages for labour services.
Ex.22. Read the text. Choose the best sentence A-G to fill each of the gaps 1-7. Do not use any sentence more than once. There is an example at the beginning. 0 These are four generally recognized factors of production.
A Increasingly, theory has come to treat any investment as a capital investment. B Before the twentieth century, only three factors making up the "classical triad" were recognized: land, labour, and capital. C Now there are entrepreneurial financiers as well as entrepreneurial producers and distributors. D Marginalists held that any factor of production could be scarce. E Their answer was that it came from labour. F This led them to attribute productivity to equipment rather than only to labour. G Thus the physiocrats explained land rent as coming from surplus produced by the land.
Ex.23. Read the text again and decide whether the following statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.
Ex.24. Answer the following questions.
Text C: Factors of Production for an Innovation Economy Ex.25. Before reading Can you anticipate what an innovation economy is?
Ex.26. Reading (1) Many years ago, economists from the industrial revolution identified three variables (productive inputs) for building industries; Land, Labour, and Capital. The rate of output was related to how these inputs were combined. If any of these factors of production were missing, the other two had little or no utility for production. The concept of Land, Labour, and Capital is still the foundation of much of today’s economic thought.
(2) We know that in the knowledge economy, the location of knowledge work is highly mobile – so “Land” does not have the same significance for making things as it did 100-200 years ago. What about “Labour“? Knowledge workers analyze situations, manage many variables, and create unique solutions. They do not really produce identical knowledge pieces like a machine operator or a production worker –so Labour also means something different than a century ago. The term “Capital” refers to money that would be needed now to build future structures, buy machines and to pay wages. Today money buys access to information, education, and knowledge workers. So we see that many old economic principles may not be as applicable in the new economies.
(3) The factors of production for the Innovation Economy are Intellectual Capital (also call Human Capital), Social Capital, and Creative Capital + Entrepreneurs. (Reference: Jane Jacobs, Robert Putnam, Richard Florida) (4) Intellectual Capital Theory suggests that concentrations of educated and motivated people attract investors to employ them and invest in the communities where they reside. This investment attracts other intelligent people who in turn attract more investment thereby creating a cycle of economic growth. (5) The Social Capital Model suggests that people acting in communities can create better solutions, greater accountability, and more economic growth than management, governments, or bureaucracy can induce on their own. Examples of Social Capital include Civil Rights Movement, community watch organizations, Democratic Government, and recently, Social Networking. (6) The Creative Capital Model suggests that engineers and scientists think more like artists and musicians than like production workers – their ideas come 24/7/365 – and that an environment of tolerance, diversity, and openness promotes creative output. (7) Many people argue that Silicon Valley, in fact, was created and sustained by a perfect storm of Social Capital, Creative Capital, an Intellectual Capital + Entrepreneurs. Other countries have tried to duplicate Silicone Valley but most have fallen short – if any of these factors of production are missing, the other two have limited utility for production of innovation. To demonstrate how these productive inputs might appear in an innovation economy, consider the following example: (8) Suppose that we take 5 mechanical engineers and lock them in a room with instructions to build a better mouse trap, they’ll emerge with a better shingle, a better spring, a better whacker, and a better trigger – but not necessarily a better mousetrap. Suppose that we now put a dog catcher, an engineer, a plastics manufacturer, an artist, and the mother of 4 rowdy children together with the same task. We can be quite certain that innovation will occur. They may actually come up with an excellent mouse trap. (9) Innovation Economics will bring the factors of production together in diverse combination rather than similar combination. In an Innovation Economy, the “secret sauce” for the production of innovation becomes far more valuable than any single innovation itself. The secret sauce provides a monopoly on dynamic repeatability rather than a static device. As such, technologies can be open sourced and innovation crowd sourced across a much wider domain of possible user applications. Such conditions will change the type of innovations that are favoured to reflect the broad and sweeping social priorities rather than innovations that are easy to patent, protect, and monopolize.
Task 1. Discuss what Dan Roblescould mean when he said that the rate of output was related to how the inputs (Land, Labour, and Capital) were combined. (para. 1) Task 2. Explain how you understand Dan Robles’s ‘knowledge economy’.(para. 2) Task 3. If something is innovative, is it a) recently made, built, invented, written, designed etc; b) more difficult to understand; c) new, different, and better than those that existed before? Task 4. How does the author describe Intellectual, Social and Creative Capital? (paras 3-6) Task 5. What does the author mean by “mouse trap building”? (para. 8) What place does he focus on in the above text?
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
In the office
Ex.1. Look at the pictures below and say which of them is a) a meeting room; b) a director’s office; c) a receptionist’s (secretary’s) office.
fig.1
fig.2
fig.3
Ex. 2. Read the words in the box and group them into categories. You can add other suitable words.
Ex.3. It so happens that many people spend more time in their office than at home. What things do you think can be used to decorate or personalise an office without spoiling its professional image? Discuss it with your partner.
Ex.4. Describe a room where a secretary/a receptionist works, their workstation and office equipment they usually use.
Ex.5. Rosa works as a chief executive secretary in a large industrial company. a) Which of the following statements do you think are true of her in her job?
reports.
letters and others.
b) Describe Rosa’s job and her everyday duties.
Ex.6. Read the following two texts about office equipment.
Walk into almost any business office, and you'll probably find a photocopier ("copier") with a line of people waiting to use it. For most businesses, small or large, the copier has become standard equipment, much like having a desk to work at and a chair to sit on. It’s pretty amazing to think that, in mere seconds, you can produce an exact replica of what’s on a sheet of paper!
The procedure of producing a copy is very simple.
Even though traditional fax machine is fast being replaced by e-mail and Internet fax services, this workplace workhorse is still used for transmitting information. They are easy to use and resemble dialing a telephone. Here are some basic instructions for sending a fax.
the information about the recipient’s name, his fax number, your phone number, a short message intended for the recipient, number of pages (including coversheet).
As soon as all of the pages have been scanned into the memory of the fax machine, you’ll hear a series of signals which mean establishing a communication link. Wait for a few minutes as the fax is sent and then see a short confirmation report.
Ex.7. Explain to your new colleague how to use
You may need the following phrases and linking words:
Work in pairs Ex.8. Read these mini-dialogues and role-play them. 1. O. Bruno, can you send us your pricelist by fax? B. Sure. I’ll fax you right now. What’s your fax number? O. 38 for Ukraine, 044 for Kyiv, then 455 77 07. B. OK. I’ve got that.
2. B. Have you got my fax, Oleg? Is everything legible? O. You’re not going to believe this, but the paper got stuck and the machine jammed. B. No problem. I’ll send it through again.
3. S. Will you be using the photocopier for long, Sue? D. No. Why? S. OK. I’ll wait then. I need to make a copy of the report for our meeting.
4. S. Will you be using the photocopier for long, Danielle? D. Oh, yes. I’ve got a pile of papers to copy. S. Sorry, could you stop for a minute and let me make one copy, please? Our boss needs it urgently.
Ex.9. Complete the dialogues. 1. A. __________________________________________? B. Sure. I’ll fax you right now. What’s your fax number? A. __________________________________________ B. OK. I’ve got that.
2. A. Have you got my fax, Berta? Is everything legible? B. __________________________________________ A. No problem. I’ll send it through again.
3. A. __________________________________________? B. No. Why? A. __________________________________________
Ex.10. Now make dialogues of your own and role-play them with your partner.
GRAMMAR
THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
Ex.1. Read and translate the sentences. Write out the verbs in the Present Perfect.
- Has he? Oh, I’m so glad for him. It has never been easy to find a job, particularly a good one. 10.- You’re right. There has been an increase in unemployment in our country recently. - Moreover, the situation is getting worse and worse these days.
Ex.2. The Present Perfect: full and short forms. Task A: Change the full Present Perfect forms to contractions:
Task B: Are these contractions hasor is?
Ex.3. Write the Past Participle of the following verbs.
Ex.4. Read the poem. Pay attention to the way of makingquestions. Have you ever seen the beaches of Mexico? Have you ever walked the streets of San Juan? Have you ever been to Haiti? Have you ever been to Spain? Have you ever walked barefoot in a heavy rain? Have you ever been in trouble? Have you ever been in pain? Have you ever been in love? Would you do it all again? Well, I’ve never seen the beaches of Mexico. I’ve never walked the streets of San Juan. I’ve never been to Haiti. I’ve never been to Spain. I’ve never walked barefoot in a heavy rain. But I’ve sure been in trouble, I’ve sure been in pain, I’ve sure been in love, I’d do it all again.
Ex.5. Ask general questions using the following word combinations. Model: change a wheel on a car → Have you ever changed a wheel on a car? take money out of a cash machine → Have you taken money out of a cash machine recently?
Ex.6. Put the verbs in brackets into the Present Perfect to make up questions. Complete the answers providing additional information.
9. And what about Betty? - You wouldn’t believe! She _______ (spend) everything, to a penny. 10.You _______ (see) Charles lately? – No, I ________ him since Christmas.
Ex.7. Respond to the following, using the Present Perfect.
– I’ve already had lunch. I’m not hungry.
10. Why don’t we go and see this film? – Oh no, _______________ (twice).
Ex.8. Choose the correct word (adverb of time) in italics. In some sentences both variants are possible. Translate the sentences.
Ex.9. Fill in for or since. 1. ______ 2010 – since 2010 2. ______ two hours 3. ______ I was five. 4. ______ ages 5. ______ they moved to Italy 6. ______ six months 7. ______ we were at college 8. ______ half an hour. 9. ______ last spring 10. ______ a long time
Ex.10. Complete the sentences, choosing for or since and putting the verbs into the correct form. The first two sentences have been done for you.
Ex.11. Fill in the gaps with have/has gone to, have/has been to or have/has been in.
Ex.12. Change the sentences using the constructionIt’s/This is the first/second/third/fourth time I/he + the Present Perfect. Model: Bill is a bit nervous. He has never driven a car before. (the first time) → Bill is a bit nervous. It’s the first time he has driven a car.
Ex.13. Read the sentences below and express the same idea in a different way. Model: I have never seen such a good comedy. → It/This is the best comedy I have ever seen.
Ex.14. Read the sentences in the box, and then match them with their description. Explain your choice. Model:
and continues up to the present. My elder brother lives and works there now.
see it now.
Ex.15. Correct the mistakes if there are any.
Ex. 16. Translate the dialogue into English. - Энн, я не бачила тебе вже сто років. Де ти пропадала весь цей час? - Я була в довгостроковому (тривалому) відрядженні в Торонто (to be on a business trip). Я щойно приїхала звідти. - Торонто? Я була там двічі. Гарне місто. - Розповідай, де ти живеш, працюєш! Як життя? - Працюю я в канадській фірмі у відділі маркетингу і реклами. Ось уже рік, як я там працюю. Нещодавно я вийшла заміж. - Дійсно? А хто він? - Ти його не знаєш. Це Гері Кларк з нашої фірми. - Він іноземець? - Так, мій чоловік з Канади. Але мешкає і працює тут вже кілька років. Досить гарно спілкується українською. - Ви мешкаєте з батьками чи окремо (on your own)? - У нас невелика квартира неподалік від центру міста. А як ти?
THE PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE Ex.17. Read and translate the sentences. Write out the verbs in the Present Perfect Continuous. 1. Mr. Grace has been teaching at the University of Leeds for ten years.
Ex.18. Write and read the he/she/it forms. Make other necessary changes.
10. I’ve been packing our things all morning. – Monica______________________.
Ex.19. Complete the sentences, putting the verbs in brackets into the Present Perfect Continuous.
Ex.20. Ask questions using the question words in brackets. 1. We have been working on this project for two years. (How long?) 2. Mike has been working with us since January. (Since when?) 3. He is an experienced specialist. But you know, he has been making too many mistakes lately. (Who?) 4. I hear Sharon is looking for a new job. - Yes, she is. She has been looking for it for about two or three months. (What?) 5. It seems strange but she has been avoiding me over the last few days. (Why?)
Ex.21. In pairs, ask and answer questions. Model: Valerie, run the hotel, since last year. - Has Valerie been running the hotel since Mr. Norris retired? - How long has Valerie been running the hotel? - She has been running it since last year. 2. People, use the telephone, 1876. – ____________________________________ 3. People, watch television, the late 1930s. – ______________________________ 4. People, print newspapers, the early 1600s. – ____________________________ 5. People in Japan, travel by “bullet trains”, 1964. – ________________________
Ex.22. Make up sentences using the Present Perfect Continuous to indicate the recent activities of the person or temporary effects. You can use the prompts in the list below. To eat pasta with ketchup, to wash the car; to play in the mud; to write for three hours/all morning; to run; to lie in the sun for too long
- She has been playing with her mother’s cosmetics.
Ex.23. Read these sentences and arrange them into two columns according to what they describe or indicate: a) the duration of an action which started in the past and continues up to the present; b) the recent activities of the person or temporary effects.
11. We’ve been walking all afternoon. My feet are killing me.
Ex.24. Correct the mistakes if there are any.
Ex.25. Translate into English.
THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS versus THE PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
Ex.26. Read and compare the sentences: Laura, the baby is crying. - She has been crying for almost ten minutes. I can’t do anything. Complete the situations in 1-4 like in the sentences above and explain the difference between them.
THE PRESENT PERFECT versus THE PRESENT PERFECT CONTNUOUS
Ex.27. Put the verbs in brackets into the Present Perfect or the Present Perfect Continuous. Model: I’ve checked the calculations.(the focus on the completion) → I’ve been checking the calculations since/all morning.(the focus on the activities)
- But she (read) ___________ it for about a month.
PRESENT TENSES REVIEW
Ex.28. Choose the correct tense form.
a) comes b) is coming c) has come
a) is b) has been с) have been
a) experience b) is experiencing c) has been experiencing
a) have been having b) have had c) have
a) are b) have been c) have been being - I started two years ago. I _________ in my third year now. a) am being b) have been c) am
a) have been doubling b) have doubled c) doubled 7. My brother __________ about how much the car costs because he is going to buy it anyway. a) is not caring b) doesn’t care c) don’t care 8. The police __________ information that now he ________ in Sicilia. a) have b) has c) is having aa) lives bb ) is living cc) has lived 9. Could you please close the window? I __________ a cold draught in here. a) feel b) am feeling c) have been feeling 10. Unfortunately, my pullover ________ in the wash, so it ________ me anymore. a) has shrank b) has shrunk c) shrank aa) is not fitting bb) doesn’t fit cc) hasn’t fit
a) fixes c) has fixed b) is fixing
a) haven’t decided b) didn’t decide c) are not deciding
a) is not going b) hasn’t gone c) didn’t go 14. Pete really makes me angry. He always ___________ me. I can barely get a whole sentence out of my mouth. a) interrupts b) is interrupting c) has interrupted 15. I __________ about the tense forms in this exercise right now. I ___________all of my answers are correct, but I’ll use the key answer to check them and make sure. a) think b) am thinking c) have been thinking aa) think bb) am thinking cc) have been thinking
Ex.29. Complete the introduction to Helen’s presentation by putting the verbs in brackets into the correct tense. You can choose from the Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect or Present Perfect Continuous. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Helen Flower and I __________ (work) in the marketing department here at MVC. I __________ (work) on this current project for two years now. Our project team __________ (consist) of myself and five more specialists. Antony Bright __________ (be) with us since the start of the project and he __________ (develop) a new model of marketing analysis which I am going to describe. At present we __________ (practise) it and we __________ (expect) to have some results at the end of this month. Now on to the presentation itself. I __________ (divide) it into two parts. The first part __________ (cover) the project and __________ (give) brief information about the team .
Ex.30. Are there any mistakes in the following sentences? If yes, correct them.
Ex.31. Translate into English.
Учені вивчають цю проблему вже багато років. У наш час ставлення до навколишнього середовища (the environment) змінюється. |