UNIT 4. LESSON 1.

WORDS WITH SIMILAR Or MULTIPLE MEANINGS. 

There are some words in this lesson that have similar, connected or multiple meanings. It's important to be able to distinguish between them. 

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS 

A merger is the joining of two companies as one. An acquisition is the purchased companiy sometimes becomes a subsidiary, an independently named extension of the parent company that bought it, or it becomes part of the main company under the same name.

Ex: 

IXW had considered a merger with Sunset computers.

IXW decided that an acquisition was a better idea, so they bought Sunset 

Sunset then became a subsidiary of IXW.

DIFFERENT MEANING OF POINT.

The word point, used as a verb, means to move your finger in the direction of something to draw attention to it. 

She pointed at the sales figures on the screen.

Used as a noun, Point can be an opinion or a fact. 

A: my pecit is, our sales are not strong enough now. 

B: you're right. That's a good point. AT

A point can also be something you score in a game.

She won the game because she had the most peinte 

DIFFERENT SUCANINGS OF "POINTER."

A pointer is a stick or electronic device that helps you point to information on a screen or chart.

She used the peintre to indicate the sales figure. on the chart.

A Pointer is also a useful piece of informatione dr advice.

Here are some helpful pointers on how to open a presentation. 

SUBJECT - VERB AGREEMENT WITH NUMBER OF.

Use a number of + plural noun + plural verb for

are inexact quantity. Notice that the indefinite

article a is used because the quantity isn't known. 

A number of companies have merged lately.

A number of the projectors are broken.

Use the number of + plural noun + singular verbs for a specific amount. The definite article (the) is used here because the quantity is known. 

The number of people in that company is tremendous.

The number of our subsidiaries bas increased to 15.

Here are some other ways to talk about mumbers of things. Notice that these expressions are all followed by a singular verb.

Each of my colleagues has a different opinion regarding the merger.

Every one of the board members was happy with the acquisition.

One of my colleagues has quit, another is thinking about it.