UNIT 2 FIGURES IN BUSINESS

OBJECTIVES:
use figures for describing and interpreting graphs or statistics in
business
After having revised the main ways of using figures in written and oral
English for business, let us have a look on how to use them when having a
business presentation to make possible a correct decision-taking process.
a) Approximation is expressed:
nearly: ...nearly eight thousand pounds for each year
just under/over: just under the previous figure...
approximately: the rise was approximately equal to the one expected
coming/ going up/down to: the trend is coming down to...
roughly: its price level was roughly l million dollars
more or less... the fall was more or less of ten pounds well
over/under: ...the price raise was under the one predicted by specialists last
year
b) Rates and ratios are expressed:
population density per (unit)
ten items in one hundred were...
c) When presenting trends, some specific expressions are used:
upward movement:
a rise: ... a significant rise has occurred in...
an increase: ... an incredible increase in real estate prices...
a climb/jump ... a dramatical jump of the expenditures...
go up: ... the prices went up substantially last year...
downward movement
a fall ... a dramatic fall in consumers goods sales...
a drop: a sudden drop in cars sales...
a decline - ...an important decline is noticed in book sales lately
decrease ... business sector has decreased gradually...
Other ways of expressing tendencies and trends of different phenomena:

to level out/off: ... the prices levelled out this year

to remain stable: ... sales level remained stable for the whole year...
to fluctuate: ... the export level fluctuated the last years...
to come/reach to a peak: ... the Japanese car industry reached its peak in
l995...
Specific prepositions
productivity raised from 50% to 75%
productivity fell from 60% to 40%
the salaries in budgetary sectors stayed /stood/remained at the same level
a basic salary increase of minimum 37.5%
productivity rose by three percent
The extent of change is indicated through certain specific vocabulary:
fractionally / marginally / slightly / a little lower / higher
somewhat lower/higher
considerably/substantially/a great deal/far lower/much lower/dramatically
/noticeable/lower/higher
grow - dramatically/sharply/rapidly
grow gradual/steady fall
d) Contrast is expressed specifically too:
although / despite / in spite of / whereas / however / nevertheless/
Phrases like: in contrast (to); ...while ...;...against...; ...compared to...; in
comparison (to)... on the other hand...; on the contrary.
e) Similarity is shown using: - like/ alike/ the same/is similar to/ neither...
nor/ similarly
I.

Read the following text describing the rise of ATM usage and its
future growth. Look at the graph and then complete the
description.

II.
More ATMs
Between 1998 and 2oo4 world automatic teller machine (ATM) installations
are predicted to rise by 45% according to Retail Banking Research.. The
growth began immediately after 1975 and...

Evolution of ATMs
Retail Banking Research
II. Listen to the cassette and draw the corresponding graph. This example
teaches you that people respond to prices. When the price of some
commodity increases, consumers will try to use less of it but producers will
want to sell more of it. What is the response of the society, of industry, in
this case? When preparing to answer, take into consideration the following:
reduce the use of oil-based products
switch the gas-fired central heating
buy smaller cars
purchase substitute commodities
adopt solar energy
develop alternatives to petroleum in chemical production

more fuel-efficient aircrafts

electricity produced from more coal-fired generators
III. Write a report about the shock of the oil price and its economic effects.