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11.3 Final -s: Recognizing Final -s

Application 1

The following paragraphs are from a student's essay. First read the paragraphs aloud, listening for the -s endings. Then reread the paragraphs, going over the text carefully with your mouse-cursor as you read.

Making money these days is a real challenge. First you have to race with inflation. Every time you start to catch up, something happens to set you back. The price of food seems to go up whenever you go to the store, and your food bills just get bigger every week. Then there are the gas and oil bills. They're all right in the summer, but when winter comes along, you either freeze or go broke. On top of all that comes paying the rent, which is just like burning money. The way things look now, we won't ever see prices going down—only up.

Another challenge is finding a good job that pays well. It seems you have to have either a college education or some kind of trade before you can apply, and that still does not mean you'll get hired. There are so many people who are lookng for work and so few jobs available that the competition gets fierce. Lots of times you just have to settle for a job that will get you by until you find something better. As long as unemployment stays this high, even those jobs are hard to find.

The only way things are going to change is for the government to get out of debt. Interest rates can't go down until the government gets the deficit under control. And as long as interest rates are high, companies can't afford to borrow the money they need to stay in business. When companies cut back on business or fold, more people get laid off, and jobs become even scarcer for everyone. Making enough money to live on will just get harder and harder until something changes. I hope that happens soon.

— John Carey

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