9. Read the following essay and divide it into three main parts. In each paragraph outline the topic sentences. Underline all special phrases.

“Improvements in health, education and trade are essential for the development of poorer nations. However, the governments of richer nations should take more responsibility for helping the poorer nations in such areas”.

Today’s world has been divided into developing and industrialized countries where the main difference between them is the amount of money that governments apply in important sectors such as education, health and commerce. Most of the poorer nations are buried in debts as a result of their unbalanced finances which are reflected in a poor health care, an unstructured education system and a weak international trade. This vicious cycle will continue indefinitely unless wealthier nations show interest in minimizing the worldwide economic differences, as well as taking more responsibility for assisting unfortunate countries.

Most of the African countries live in inhuman conditions because of the extreme poverty, upheaval, hunger, disease, unemployment, lack of education and both inexperienced and corrupt administrations. The devastating consequences of the AIDS epidemic in those countries could improve if the infected populations receive free drugs to control the disease, have access to health professionals and get information on how to prevent its spread. But this can only be achieved through international help programs in which leaders of the world’s richest countries donate medicine and also send doctors and nurses to treat and educate those in need.

Moreover, most of the poor countries rely on selling agricultural products and raw material to rich nations and buying industrialized products from them which results in a huge financial deficit. Consequently, they borrow a significant amount of money from the World Bank to try to improve their broken economies, but sometimes the money disappears with no significant changes and they cannot even pay the interest to the bank. Regarding this issue, last year the G8, which is comprised of leaders of the eight richest nations, decided to forgive billions of dollars worth of debt owed by the world’s poorest nations. In addition, they developed adequate loan programs to financially assist those countries.

In conclusion, leaders of the industrialized countries play an indispensable role in assisting developing nations deal with essential areas such as health, education and trade. Also, their aid is the key to breaking the vicious cycle, which results in poverty and death.

10. Write your own essay on the topic: Anyone can start a cleaning business because all people are familiar with cleaning their own home.

Grammar spot

The Gerund

Form

infinitive + -ing

	active	passive
Simple	writing	being written
Perfect	having written	having been written

Examples

Going to parties is fun.	I enjoy reading.
Gerund is subject	Gerund is object

We use the Gerund after prepositions.

adjective + preposition

We use the Gerund after the following phrases:
afraid of	They are afraid of losing the match.
angry about/at	Pat is angry about walking in the rain.
bad at good at	John is good at working in the garden.
clever at	He is clever at skateboarding.
crazy about	The girl is crazy about playing tennis.
disappointed about/at	He is disappointed about seeing such a bad report.
excited about	We are excited about making our own film.
famous for	Sandy is famous for singing songs.
fed up with	I'm fed up with being treated as a child.
fond of	Hannah is fond of going to parties.
glad about	She is glad about getting married again.
happy about/at	The children are not happy about seeing a doctor.
interested in	Are you interested in writing poems?
keen on	Joe is keen on drawing.
proud of	She is proud of riding a snowboard.
sick of	We're sick of sitting around like this.
sorry about/for	He's sorry for eating in the lesson.
tired of	I'm tired of waiting for you.
used to	She is used to smoking.
worried about	I'm worried about making mistakes.

noun + preposition

We use the Gerund after the following nouns:
advantage of	What is the advantage of farming over hunting?
chance of	There's a chance of catching a cold these days.
choice between	There's a choice between flying to London Heathrow or Stansted.
danger of	Peggy is in danger of making a mistake.
difficulty in	He has difficulty in sending SMS.
doubt about	He is in doubt about buying the correct software for his computer system.
hope of	There's little hope of catching Schumacher's Ferrari.
idea of	I like the idea of setting up a new email account.
interest in	There's no interest in writing letters.
method of	This is a simple method of finding solutions.
opportunity of	There's some opportunity of bringing her parents together again.
possibility of	These new wheels offer the possibility of riding tubeless.
problem of	He has the problem of swimming too slow.
reason for	There's a real reason for winning the contest.
risk of	There's a risk of digging too deep.
trouble for	He was in trouble for stealing.
way of	This is a new way of building a wall.

verb + preposition

Exception: to  Here we use the phrase: looking forward to + Gerund

Example: I'm looking forward to seeing you soon.