Revision Exercise: Elements of Writing
1 drawback/negative factor or aspect/con or minus (informal)
2 It is widely considered that the traditional high street shop is becoming redundant.
3 State-owned companies are often seen as inefficient, but certain industries do involve a ‘natural
monopoly’.
4 Example sentences:
The increase in house prices is due to rising demand for housing.
Rising demand for housing leads to an increase in house prices.5 The Rolls-Royce Company It
Henry Royce The former
Charles Rolls the latter
Henry Royce and Charles Rolls Their/they
6 Model sentences:
A Rolls Royce car is much more expensive than a Toyota Prius.
A Toyota Prius is far more economical than a Rolls Royce car.
The Toyota Prius is more popular than a Rolls Royce.7 See page 110
8 (a) A graduate is a person who has gained a first degree at a university.
(b) A scholarship is a sum of money awarded to a student to allow him or her to study.
(c) A limited company is a business whose owners’ liability for losses is restricted to their
investment.9 Example sentences:
(a) A few districts such as Silicon Valley are famous for technological innovation.
(b) Certain inventions, for instance mobile phones, have changed the way we live.
(c) Some successful entrepreneurs have had little formal business education, a case in point
is Richard Branson.10 (a) With the plural: Middle managers are under threat.
(b) Using ‘the’ + singular: The middle manager is under threat.
11 Google was begun in 1996 as a research project by Page and Brin. (passive)
Page and Brin began Google as a research project in 1996. (active)
12 The twenty-first century has seen the rise of the BRIC economies: Brazil, Russia, India
and China. The acronym was first used in a paper written by Jim O’Neill in 2001.
13 To be objective, accurate and impersonal.
14 (a) changes in time (b) function (c) proportion (d) statistical display