Impact-e English Training

Lesson Seven Reading and Writing

In written English capitalization is very important. Pay attention to which words are capitalized as you read the following examples of industry descriptions and write one of your own. It is important to be able to talk about different industries in English. You may need to introduce your industry to someone or ask someone about the industry he or she works in. Here are some examples of industry descriptions.

Chris works in finance. He is a broker. The financial industry includes companies in asset management, investments, trust and fiduciary services, venture capital, consumer and commercial lending, and other services. Brokerages such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and Goldman Sachs give average people access to financial markets. Many firms offer online trading, which gives people inexpensive access to information about stocks and other investments. In the past this information was only available to investment professionals. This is changing the industry. Now several brokerages operate only on the Web, including Ameritrade, E*TRADE, and Datek Online.

The restaurant industry is ver large. There are about 8 million restaurants in the world and 300 restaurant companies. The restaurant industry divides itself into full-service and fast-food restaurants. Full-service restaurants include family restaurants (such as Advantica's Denny's), dinner houses (Darden Restaurants' Red Lobster), and grill/buffet type eateries (Metromedia's Ponderosa). The fast-food sector includes sandwich shops, which means hamburgers, pizza, chicken, Mexican food, etc. Companies in this sector include giants such as Diageo (Burger King), TRICON (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut), and of course, McDonald's. In this industry companies have a lot of competition.