Today’s photo: Two English fans watching New Zealand vs England

Part 1: Today's word

‘Substantially’ means a lot and the adjective ‘substantial’ means ‘large and important’. It’s a popular word in business. It’s quite common to see ‘grow substantially’ and ‘substantial savings’ or ‘substantial investment’ for instance. The expression ‘a substantial minority’ is used when you want to say that a group of people are less than half the population, but still an important group that shouldn’t be ignored

The company needs to reduce its costs substantially if it is to remain competitive

We’ve invested substantial sums of money in the project.

For more examples and links to exercises, click here www.academicenglishgenerator.com and go to Unit 1

Part 2: Test

Here are four sentences with our word of the day - but only three of them are correct. Which is the odd one out?

We’re looking for substantial people to work in our expanded factories.

Substantial changes were made to the original plan.

Although most households now have internet access, a substantial minority of the population depend on traditional sources of information.

We need to reduce our costs substantially if we are to avoid job losses.

Part 3: Practice Questions:

Have there been any substantial changes in your course or in your college or university over the last year?

Do you expect the population of this city or country to grow substantially over the next 50 years?

Part 4: Kiwi Quiz Question

Which of these cities CANNOT be reached by a direct scheduled flight from New Zealand?

Los Angeles
Rio de Janeiro
Buenos Aires
Tokyo

Part 5: Today's article: International – Law & Society

Judge cuts US dog's $12m legacy (from BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7457700.stm

Vocabulary for the article:

parties / plaintiff / defendant / legacy / to testify / your testimony / inheritance / to inherit / dubbed / tax evasion / an affidavit / executors of the estate / prestigious /prestige

Questions for the article:

How old is the dog and what breed is it?
Where does it live now?
How much are its living costs?
How much did its owner originally leave the dog in her will?
How much has the judge decided to reduce this to – and why?


Today’s musical intro: from Kenya

Safari by Zuhuru Swaleh. From the CD Jino La Pembe, Globestyle Records, 1995