Unit 7 – At Work: Careers
Part A – A Career in Sales

1- telesales (noun) – selling goods or services by phone.
He started his career in telesales after finishing school.

2- telemarketing (noun) – marketing products by telephone.
Telemarketing requires strong communication skills.

3- cold calling (noun) – phoning people who have not requested a call to sell something.
Many customers dislike cold calling.

4- hard sell (noun) – a very forceful or persuasive way of selling.
The salesman used a hard sell technique.

5- persevere (verb) – continue trying despite difficulties.
She persevered and finally succeeded.

6- persuade (verb) – convince someone to do something.
He persuaded customers to buy the product.

7- part with (money) (phrasal verb) – spend or give money.
Customers were happy to part with their money.

8- TV shopping channel (noun) – a television channel devoted to selling products.
She works on a TV shopping channel.

9- merchandise (noun) – goods that are bought and sold.
The store sells sports merchandise.

10- leisure market (noun) – market related to free-time products.
The company focuses on the leisure market.

11- set up (a company) (phrasal verb) – start a business.
He set up his own company.

12- not look back (idiom) – move forward successfully.
After launching her brand, she never looked back.

Part B – Buying and Selling

13- purchasing power (noun) – the ability to buy goods.
Inflation reduces people’s purchasing power.

14- shop around (phrasal verb) – compare prices in different places.
You should shop around before buying a laptop.

15- stock (something) (verb) – keep a supply of something.
This shop stocks organic products.

16- trade up (phrasal verb) – buy something more expensive than before.
They traded up to a bigger house.

17- trade down (phrasal verb) – buy something cheaper than before.
He traded down to a smaller car.

18- brand loyalty (noun) – preference for one brand.
Brand loyalty influences purchasing decisions.

19- loss leader (noun) – product sold at a very low price to attract customers.
Milk is often used as a loss leader.

Present Perfect Progressive Tense (Present Perfect Continuous)

1- What is Present Perfect Progressive?

The present perfect progressive tense is used to talk about an activity that started in the past and is still continuing now or has just stopped but has a visible result.

2- Structure / Form

Affirmative Positive
Subject + have or has been + verb ing

Examples
I have been studying.
She has been working all day.
They have been playing football.

Negative
Subject + have or has not been + verb ing

Examples
I have not been studying.
He has not been working.

Interrogative Questions
Have or Has + subject + been + verb ing?

Examples
Have you been studying?
Has she been working?

3- Uses

a) Activity and duration
Action started in the past and continues until now

Examples
I have been studying for three hours.
She has been living here since 2020.

b) Recently finished with visible result
We see the effect now

Examples
You are tired because you have been running.
Her hands are dirty because she has been painting.

c) Repeated actions (focus on activity)

Examples
She has been calling me all day.
They have been trying to contact him.

4- Time Expressions
for, since, all day, all morning, recently, lately

Examples
I have been working all day.
She has been studying since morning.

5- Present Perfect vs Present Perfect Progressive

Present Perfect → result

Present Perfect Progressive → activity and duration

Examples
I have finished my homework.
I have been doing my homework for two hours.

6- Important Notes

Do not use state verbs in continuous form

Examples
I have known him for years.
Not correct

I have been knowing him

7- Common Mistakes

I have been work all day is not correct.
I have been working all day is correct.

She has been finish her homework is not correct.
She has been finishing her homework is correct.