Language activity

Task 3. Write the plural form of the following words.

Alumnus, analysis, cargo, chief, curriculum vitae, diary, embargo, focus, forum, gas, genius, manifesto, phenomenon, prospectus, referendum, proviso, stimulus, stratum, thief, police, crisis, formula, index, memorandum, appendix, VIP, veto, factory, tax, saleswoman.

Task 4. Can you explain these proverbs in other words?

• The best things in life are free.

• Time is money.

• Save your pennies for a rainy day.

• Money talks.

• You can’t take it with you when you go.

• Money doesn’t grow on trees.

• Money makes the world go round.

Task 5. Look through these financial expressions and idioms and make up your own dialogues.

Finance and economy phrases:

1. weather the storm = survive bad times: “We’re trying to weather the storm by lowering our prices.”

2. be in good shape (the economy is in good shape) = to be strong: “Fortunately, we’re in good shape financially, so we should be able to weather the storm.”

3. live beyond your means = not earn enough money, so you need to borrow money: “We have to stop living beyond our means.”

4. pay the price = pay for your mistakes: “The country is paying the price for its previous spending policies.”

5. foot the bill = pay for someone else: “He took me out for lunch and footed the bill.”

6. at rock bottom = to be so low you cannot go any further down: “The economy must be at rock bottom now.”

7. in free fall = keep falling without anything stopping the fall: “The economy is in free fall.”

Money idioms

1. to break the bank = to cost a lot of money: “I can’t afford a skiing holiday this winter – it would break the bank.”

2. to cost an arm and a leg = be very expensive: “It costs an arm and a leg to buy all these Christmas presents.”

3. to pay through the nose = cost a lot: “They had to pay through the nose to get their son insured to drive.”

4. to splash out on something = to pay a lot for an important event: “They’re splashing out on their anniversary this year.”

Idioms meaning a person is rich

1. to be loaded: “He works in the City and he’s loaded!”

2. to be sitting on a small fortune/ goldmine: “She will inherit everything. She’s sitting on a goldmine!”

3. to have money to burn: “I’ve just received a bonus and I have money to burn!”

Idioms meaning a person is poor

1. to be as poor as church mice: “His family have always been as poor as church mice.”

2. to be skint = British slang that means having no money: “Can you lend me some money until next Friday? I’m skint!”

3. to be broke = have no money (also “flat broke” or “stony broke”): “She’s always broke at the end of the month.”

4. to scrimp and save = to make as many economies as you can to save money: “His parents scrimped and saved to send him to university.”

Idioms to mean you don’t want to spend money

1. a scrooge = Scrooge was a Dickens character, famous for being mean: “Why don’t you want to buy her a leaving present? You’re such a scrooge.”

2. a skinflint = someone who doesn’t want to spend money: “She reuses tea bags – she’s such a skinflint!”

3. tight-fisted: “One reason he has so much money is that he’s so tight-fisted!”

Other money idioms

1. to have more money than sense = to have a lot of money which you waste rather than spend carefully: “He just bought another camera – he has more money than sense.”

2. to burn a hole in your pocket = to not be able to stop spending money: “He can’t just go out window-shopping. Money burns a hole in his pocket.”

3. money for old rope = an easy source of income: “He sells bunches of flowers he has grown himself. It’s money for old rope.”

4. make a fast buck = to make money quickly and sometimes dishonestly: “He made a fast buck selling those shares. I wonder if he had insider knowledge.”