talking about money
Level Six
Lesson 64
The ability to talk about money and how money is used is a practical skill for people who speak in English. In this lesson, you’ll learn the statements, questions, and vocabulary related to the following areas:
- costs
- prices
- spending money
- making money
- using money
- the value of money
- saving money
When you finish the lesson, take this quiz:
Money makes the world go round.
64a. asking about cost and price
Use the words “cost” and “price” to ask about the amount of money required to purchase something.
- A: What does that cost?
- B: It costs ten dollars.
- A: What is the cost for the apples?
- B: They’re two dollars a pound.
- A: What is the price for the ticket?
- B: It’s ten dollars.
There are some expressions that are used for cost:
- What does that come to? (come to = cost)
- What’s the damage going to be? (This is very informal. It’s usually heard for the cost of a service or labor such as the cost to have your car fixed.)
64a. asking about price
64b. talking about spending money
There are small differences that you should take note of when you are talking about spending money.
- A: How much do you spend every week on groceries?
- B: I spend about $80 a week.
- A: What did you buy when you were at the store?
- B: I bought some shoes.
- A: Did you pay your rent this month?
- B: Yes, the rent was due at the beginning of the month.
- A: Who(m) did you pay?
- B: I paid the landlord.
- A: Where can I go to purchase a used washing machine?
- B: You can go to a discount retailer to find that.
64b. talking about spending money
64c. earning money
Talking about how much money a person earns can be a delicate topic . Not everyone wants to share that information, but here are ways of asking and answer questions about making money.
- A: How much do you think he makes every year?
- B: He probably makes over $60,000 per year.
- or…
- B: He earns a lot of money.
- B: He makes good money.
- B: He gets $18.50 per. hour.
- B: He’s not making very much.
- B: He brought in over $100,000.
64c. earning money
64d. saving money
There are certain words, phrases, and expressions that are used when you talk about saving money.
- They put their money in the bank. (put = store)
- They keep their money in the bank. (keep = store)
- They’re saving for a house. (save = keep for later)
- We put away some money for emergencies. (put away = save)
- We’re saving for a rainy day. (This is an expression. To “save for a rainy day” is to prepare for a future situation, usually a bad situation.)
- We try to stay within a budget. (budget = a plan for spending money)
- We stick to a budget. (stick to = pay attention to)
- Our company has allocated a certain amount of money to be spent on investment. (allocate = plan)
64d. saving money
Next: In Lesson 65, you will learn about reflexive pronouns.