Microfinance: Changing Lives $50 at a Time

Unit 10

Microfinance: Changing Lives $50 at a Time

Microfinance services are provided to unemployed or low-income individuals because most of those trapped in poverty, or who have limited financial resources, do not have enough income to do business with traditional financial institutions. Microfinance allows people to take on reasonable small business loans safely, and in a manner that is consistent with ethical lending practices. 

Vocabulary

1)     Cottage industry: home- based business

2)     Sustainable: able to continue

3)     Pitfalls: dangers

4)     Overextended: owing too much money

5)     Compelling: interesting

6)     Characterization: description

7)     Bear the brunt: suffer the worst

8)     In perpetuity: for all future time

9)     Diminish: lessen

10)    Backlash: negative reaction

11)    Safety net: help in times of trouble

12)    Wiped out: destroyed

13)    Overnight: sudden

14)    Panacea: solution

Grammar

Unreal Conditionals

Present Unreal Conditional

Form

[If ... simple past ..., ... would + verb ...]

[... would + verb ... if ... simple past ...]

Use

The present unreal conditional (also called conditional 2) is used to talk about what you would generally do in imaginary situations.

Examples:

• If I owned a car, I would drive to work. But I don't own a car.
• She would travel around the world if she had more money. But she doesn't have much money.
• I would read more if I didn't watch so much TV.
• Mary would move to Japan if she spoke Japanese.

Past Unreal Conditional

Form

[If ... past perfect ..., ... would have + past participle ... ]

[... would have + past participle ... if ... past perfect ...]

Use

The past unreal conditional (also called conditional 3) is used to talk about imaginary situations in the past. You can describe what you would have done differently or how something could have happened differently if circumstances had been different.

Examples:

• If I had owned a car, I would have driven to work. But I didn't own one, so I took the bus.
• She would have traveled around the world if she had had more money. But she didn't have much money, so she never traveled.
• I would have read more as a child if I hadn't watched so much TV. Unfortunately, I did watch a lot of TV, so I never read for entertainment.