Market Expressions

Now complete the following presentation extract.

The US market was fairly 1__________________ when we finally managed to 2__________________ it three years ago, even though it was largely 3__________________ by two or three big American players. And over the next two years both the market itself and our market share 4__________________ significantly. Since then, as you know, much cheaper products from East Asia of almost equal quality to our own have 5__________________ the market. At first the main threat came from Korea, but now it looks as though Taiwan is set to 6__________________ the market too, I’m sure I do not need to tell you that if this trend continues the US market will become completely 7__________________ and may even 8__________________ altogether.

I’m afraid the picture in Western Europe is not much better. European trade disputes have further 9__________________ a market which was already 10__________________ from the effects of the recession.

The one piece of good news, however, is that going into Central Europe turned out to be the best move we have made for some time. We 11__________________ that market in October. At first, it looked as if the competition in Poland and the Czech Republic would 12__________________ us out of the market before we could establish ourselves, but fortunately that did not happen. And, in spite of currency difficulties, I can assure you that that market at least remains buoyant.

Opposites

Find six pairs of opposites in the following words relating to trade. Not all of them appeared in the article.

1. surplus	a. dumping
2. boom	b. hardship
3. stockpiling	c. triumph
4. disaster	d. shortage
5. failure	e. slump
6. prosperity	f. success

Complete the following using some of the words above:

In times of 7__________________ when there is very little money about, for example during an economic 8__________________ , people often stop buying all but the essentials. This then leads to one 9__________________ after another as companies find it more and more difficult to sell their products.

10__________________ becomes unavoidable as warehouses fill up with unsold goods, and some companies may be forced to engage in 11__________________ the unfair practice of selling goods at ridiculously low prices in overseas markets. These markets are then likely to suffer a 12__________________ of goods themselves, pushing their prices down further and destroying the conditions for fair trading which create long-term 13__________________.

Underline all the word partnerships you can find in the text above.

Word Grammar 1

All the following verbs except one can be prefixed by both under- (meaning to do this too little or too low) and over- (meaning to do this too much or too highly).

Which one is the exception? Does it match with over- or under-? What does it mean?

-estimate, -rate, -value, -react, -state, -cut, -charge, -price

Which of the verbs:

a. are concerned with money? ______________________________________________________

b. are concerned with opinions or attitudes? ___________________________________________________

Look in your English-English dictionary for other words which begin under- or over- which you think will be useful.