This lesson’s about economy words, so an English word family: economy, economize, economic, economical, economist, economics. They’re words you’ll often see in the news and they’re going to be useful if you’re using English at work or taking an exam.
Let’s compare their different meanings, uses and pronunciations.
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Economic, Economy, Economize etc. Video script
Come on over here everyone. Come on up front. Get your words here. Six words for the price of one. It’s a bargain!
Here’s a family words that you’ll often hear in the news. They’re useful if you need English for work or business, or if you’re taking an exam. They all come from the same root and they all mean something to do with money.
Let’s start with economy. This is about a system where money and goods are produced by a country. All countries want to grow their economies.
Hi everybody. Our top priority as a nation must be growing the economy. Creating good jobs and rebuilding opportunity for the middle class.
Now in a lot of languages people talk about the economy of company too, but English is different. When we’re talking about how much money a company has and how its managed, we usually say finances instead.
Jay.
Yes?
We need to talk about the company’s finances.
How are we doing?
Not good. Sales are down.
Well the economy’s been bad for everyone.
So we generally talk about the economy of a country and the finances of a company. Remember that. OK, next up we have a verb.
We’re spending too much money. We need to economize.
Impossible!
Do you really need to fly first class all the time?
Absolutely! I love the champagne they serve.
Well, we’ve got to cut down somehow.
So economizing means cutting down and trying to use less money than normal. So that’s a new meaning. It’s about trying to save money.
Great. Let’s look at two adjectives now. Economic and economical. They mean different things. We can say economic or economic and we can say economical or economical, but they mean different things.
And now financial news. Despite difficult economic conditions in Europe, the global economy continues to grow.
Economic means relating to the economy – production, trade, managing money. Economical is different.
You know we should buy bigger bags of pistachios.
Mmm. It would be more economical.
Economical is about using money carefully, so there’s no waste. So we’ve got these two different meanings again – money and saving money.
OK, just two more words. First one. What’s an economist?
And now for $100, can you name the economist who wrote the wealth of nations?
Ooo. I can. I can. It was Adam Smith.
You’re right for 100 dollars. Congratulations.
An economist is a person who studies economies. And the subject they study is… economics. The study of how money and goods are produced.
Economist. Economics. Notice the pronunciation. The stress moved. Let’s check all the words for that. Say them with me.
eCONomy
eCONomize
ecoNOMic
ecoNOMical
eCONomist
ecoNOMics
Now there are other words and meanings you can add to this family but you’ve got the basics here. Just remember there are two different ideas going on – money and saving money.
So that’s it for this week everyone. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel, if you haven’t already and see you next Friday! Bye!
Click here to watch a video about remembering English words
Click here to see our videos on prefixes and suffixes
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