Business_Spotlight_-_Nr.2_2020

Illustrationen: romeocane1/iStock.com

LANGUAGE TEST

5. Getting stressed! (8 points)

How should you stress the words in bold in the

following sentences? Choose the correct option.

A. The changes in production were meant to be

minute. Well, they weren’t.

1. minute 2. minute

B. The object of the changes was to save money.

Well, they didn’t.

1. object 2. object

C. The new bracelets have a few serious prob­

lems. They no longer record any changes in

body temperature.

1. record 2. record

D. And the data is all over the place. People are

getting error messages that say the input is

invalid.

1. invalid 2. invalid

E. We may have to organize a product recall of

every bracelet that we manufactured in the

past three months.

1.recall 2. recall

F. As we produce over 1,000 bracelets a month,

this would be a major problem.

1. produce 2. produce

G. Sean would usually work on this, but he’s off

on his exploits again in South America — and

he won’t be back for another four weeks.

1. exploits 2. exploits

H. To tell you the truth, Sean needn’t come back.

After these problems, everyone expects him to

resign!

1. re-sign 2. resign
   6. Listen for the little words (6 points)

Match the questions or statements (A–F) to the

correct responses (1–6).

A. Have you heard of Sandra’s husband?

B. Have you heard from Sandra’s husband?

C. I’m still looking after the password.

D. I’m still looking for Sean’s password.

E. Sometimes, between 1 and 2 p.m., we stop to

have lunch.

F. Sometime between 1 and 2 p.m., we stopped

to have lunch.

1. I think I know where he wrote it down.


2. Could we have it earlier today?


3. Is it safe with you?


4. No. Should I have? Is he famous?


5. Are you sure it wasn’t earlier?


6. No. Did he try to call me?

A– ; B– ; C– ; D– ; E– ; F–

2/2020 Business Spotlight 33

So many words:

a difficult choice?

CHECK THE STRESS

All words with more than one syllable have a syllable that is

stressed more than the other(s). Sometimes, the position of the

stressed syllable can make a difference in meaning. For example,

the noun “content” [(kQntEnt] is not the same as the adjective

“content” [kEn(tent]. The first means Inhalt, whereas the second

means zufrieden! This is the reason why we provide information

on word stress in our word lists, in the form of a small superscript

mark [(] before the syllable to indicate the main stress, and a

subscript mark [)] before syllables that carry a secondary stress.

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