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Friedman on the Pencil

0 The best known statement of the principles of a free market, the kind of free market that operates in Hong Kong, was written on the other side of the world.
There is a free market in Hong Kong. The free market operates in Hong Kong and in many other places. In all those places, the principles of the free market are the same. The free market operates on the same principles. The best known statement of those principles was not written in Hong Kong. It was written on the other side of the world.
the best known This is the superlative form of the adjective well-known. The comparative form is better known.
26 Two hundred years ago in Scotland, Adam Smith taught at the University of Glasgow.
Adam Smith is famous because he explained how the market economy works. He was the first to explain how a market economy works. He lived two hundred years ago. He was a university professor. He taught at the University of Glasgow. Glasgow is a city in Scotland.
33 His brilliant book, The Wealth Of Nations, was based on the lectures he gave here.
Adam Smith gave lectures at the university. He used the materials of his lectures in writing his famous book, The Wealth of Nations. The book was based on his lectures. It was based on the lectures that he gave at the University of Glasgow.

was based Passive construction. The verb base in this meaning is mostly used in the Passive.

the lectures he gave here This is a noun phrase with a relative clause: the lectures that he gave here. The conjunction (that or which) is often left out.

42.4The basic principles underlying the free market, as Adam Smith taught them to his students in this University, are really very simple.
Adam Smith understood the principles underlying the free market. He taught those principles to his students. The principles are really very simple.
56.3 Look at this lead pencil: there is not a single person in the world who could make this pencil.
Consider this pencil. It is called "a lead pencil" because people think that the black material in the middle is lead. (In fact, it is graphite.) Nobody in the world could make this pencil alone. Not a single person could make it by himself or by herself.
who could make this pencil Friedman is talking about a hypothetical situation in which a single person would try to make a pencil all by himself. Since the situation is hypothetical, he uses could, rather than can.
62.7 Remarkable statement? Not at all.
You probably think that this is a surprising, remarkable statement. It is not remarkable at all.
Remarkable statement? This is not grammatically a question, but it is pronounced with the question intonation.
66.35 The wood from which it's made, for all I know, comes from a tree that was cut down in the State of Washington. To cut down that tree, it took a saw. To make the saw, it took steel. To make the steel, it took iron ore.
The pencil is made of many materials. Most of the pencil is made of wood. Wood comes from trees. The wood of this pencil probably comes from the State of Washington where many trees are cut for wood every year. For all I know, it comes from Washington. To cut a tree, you need a saw. It took a saw to cut that tree. Saws are made of steel. Steel is made from iron ore.

for all I know X is true I don't really know, but it seems likely that X is true

It takes X to do or make Y. You need X in order to do or make Y.

80 This black center - we call it lead but it's really graphite, compressed graphite - I am not sure where it comes from but I think it comes from some mines in South America.
The black center of the pencil is made of graphite. We call it lead, but it is really graphite. It is compressed graphite. I am not sure where graphite comes from. I think it comes from South America. Graphite lies deep in the ground. You need a deep hole in the ground such that people can go there in order to get graphite. Such holes are called "mines," and people who work in them are called "miners."
We call it X but it's really Y. The word really, or something similar (in fact, actually) is not an empty filler in this sentence. It is really needed.
92.6 This red top up here, the eraser, a bit of rubber, probably comes from Malaya, where the rubber tree isn't even native. It was imported from South America by some businessman with the help of the British government.
The red top of the pencil is an eraser. You use the eraser to erase pencil marks. the eraser is a round piece of rubber. Rubber comes from rubber trees. Rubber trees grow in Malaya. Malaya is part of Malaysia. Rubber trees did not always grow in Malaysia. They are not native to Malaysia. They were brought to Malaysia from South America. A businessman imported them to Malaya from South America. The British government helped the businessman to import rubber trees to Malaya.
eraser This noun is formed from the verb erase by adding the suffix -er.
107.4 This brass ferrule - I haven't the slightest idea where it came from, or the yellow paint, or the paint that made the black lines, or the glue that holds it together.
I don't know where the brass ferrule came from. I have no idea where it came from. I haven't the slightest idea. I have no idea where the yellow paint came from. Or the paint for black lines, or the glue. Glue holds the pencil together. The pencil is held together by glue. The pencil is glued together.

ferrule This is not a common word. He means something like "The brass container that holds the eraser."

The ferrule - I have no idea where it came from. This is a common emphatic construction. First you say what the topic of the sentence is going to be. Then you say the sentence using a pronoun to refer to the topic.

I haven't the slightest idea. This means the same as I have no idea or I don't have any idea. Note the negative form haven't without the auxiliary verb do, similar to isn't.

slightest is the superlative form of slight.

120 Literally thousands of people cooperated to make this pencil: people who don't speak the same language; who practice different religions; who might hate one another if they ever met.
Thousands of people cooperated to make this pencil. They don't speak the same language. They speak different languages. They practice different religions. If they met, they might hate one another. However, they cooperated to make this pencil, even if they didn't know that they were cooperating.
literally Sometimes thousands of people means vaguely "a lot of people." Here, the word thousand is used in its literal meaning.
133 When you go down to the store and buy this pencil, you are, in effect, trading a few minutes of your time for a few seconds of the time of all of those thousands of people.
In the capitalist system, labor is a commodity that you can sell and buy. The money you earn represents the time you worked. When you pay money for a pencil, you exchange a few minutes of your working time for that pencil. You trade your money for that pencil. Some of the money goes to the people who collaborated to make that pencil. The money pays them for a few seconds of their work. So you trade a few minutes of your working time for a few seconds or milliseconds of the time of all those people.
go down to the store The word down does not necessarily mean "down in the vertical dimension." It may mean "away from the central location, such as your home, to a less central location, such as the store." The word could be left out.
147 What brought them together and induced them to cooperate to make this pencil? There was no Commissar sending out offices.. sending out orders from some central office. It was the magic of the price system - the impersonal operation of prices that brought them together and got them to cooperate to make this pencil so that you could have it for a trifling sum.
What brought those people together? Why did they decide to cooperate? Nobody ordered them to do so. There was no official in a central office who sent them orders to cooperate. It was the price system that brought them together and got them to cooperate. Together they made that pencil that you could buy for a very small sum of money. The price system works like magic because it is invisible. However, the magic of the price system works well to bring people together and get them to cooperate.

Commissar is a Russian word meaning "a top Communist Party official who has the power to order people what to do."

a trifling sum a small sum (of money) The word trifle means "a small, insignificant thing."

171 That is why the operation of the free market is so essential - not only to promote productive efficiency, but even more, to foster harmony and peace among the peoples of the world.
The free market results in efficient production of things like pencils. It promotes efficiency of production, or productive efficiency. Even more importantly, it brings people together so they can cooperate. People who cooperate are less likely to make war with each other. The free market fosters peace and harmony.
productive efficiency This is a term in economics. It means the condition when things are produced at the lowest possible cost.
187.067

Grammar topics:

  • relative clauses
  • word formation: the suffix -er/-or

Expressions:

it takes X (to do or make Y); for all I know; I haven't the slightest (the foggiest) idea; a trifling sum;

Vocabulary:

lead; graphite; rubber; wood; steel; iron ore; paint; glue; trade X for Y; induce; cooperate

Exercises for F11-Pencil

Grammar topics

Expressions

to be based on for all X knows, for all X knew it takes X to do (or make) Y native to (vs. native of) with the help of I don't have (or haven't) the slightest idea trade X for Y

Vocabulary

best-known, lead, saw, steel, iron ore, mine, rubber, imported, brass, glue, literally, to cooperate, to induce, trifling, productive efficiency, to foster, harmony,

Exercise 1.

Non-restrictive relative clauses with who (for people) and which (for things).

In this exercise, you are given two sentences. Combine the two sentences using who, which or that.

Given: Adam Smith was a famous economist. He taught at the University of Glasgow.
Answer: Adam Smith, who was a famous economist, taught at the University of Glasgow. OR

Given: Glasgow is a city in Scotland. Glasgow has a famous university.
Answer: Glasgow, which is a city in Scotland, has a famous university.

Exercise 2.

Passive constructions

In this exercise, you are given a sentence in the active (that is, non-passive) voice. Change it into a passive construction without identifying the "doer.".

Given: He based this book on his lectures.
Answer: This book was based on his lectures.

Exercise 3.

Hypotheticals in the Present with could and a contrary-to-fact Past Tense.

In this exercise, you are given one sentence that expresses a possibility. Make it hypothetical, or less definite, using the helping verb could.

Given: It's possible for me to study in the U.S. next year but I'm not sure I want to.
Answer: I could study in the U.S. next year if I wanted.

Exercise 4.

Word formation with -er or -or.

In this exercise, you are given a sentence with a verb. Fill in the blank with a noun form based on the verb plus -er or -or, as suggested in brackets.

Given: He does a lot of things. He's a real ___ [er].
Answer: He's a real doer.

Exercise 5.

Word formation with -er or -or.

In this exercise, you are given a word with -er or -or. Try to figure out what verb it is based on.

Given: Tom Hanks is a famous American movie actor. He __s in movies.
Answer: He acts in movies.

Exercise 6.

Causatives with to get.

Given a sentence with the verbs to want or to ask, change this sentence into to get causative. Use pronouns where possible, and use negative forms of to get (can't get, couldn't get, etc.).

Given: The University of Glasgow wanted Adam Smith to lecture about economics, and he did.
Answer: They got him to lecture about economics.

Exercise 7.

<strong>Expression:</strong> to be based on. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of this expression.

Exercise 8.

<strong>Expression:</strong> for all X knows, for all X knew

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of these expressions.  

Exercise 9.

<strong>Expression:</strong> it takes X to make (or do) Y

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of this expression.  

Exercise 10.

Expressions native of usually a person [Note also: a PLACENAME native]:
Mr. Wong is a native of Hong Kong. He is a Hong Kong native.

Adjective: native to usually an animal, plant, or thing.
The rubber tree was not native to Malaysia.

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of these expressions.
 

Exercise 11.

Expressions with the help of X (X is most often God or a thing.) OR with X's help (X is usually a person)

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of these expressions. Use the word in brackets for X.
 

Exercise 12.

<strong>Expression:</strong> not to have the slightest idea (= a stronger way to say not to have any idea)

In this exercise, you are given one sentence about (not) knowing something. Express the same idea with this expression.

Given: I know nothing about how a market economy works.
Answer: I don't have the slightest idea how a market economy works.

Exercise 13.

<strong>Expression:</strong> trade X for Y

In this exercise, you are given one sentence about a transaction. Express the same idea with this expression.

Given: Hong Kong exports manufactured goods. It imports food in return.
Answer: Hong Kong trades manufactured goods for food.

Exercise 14.

Vocabulary: best-known, lead, saw, steel, iron ore, mine, rubber, imported, brass, glue, literally, to cooperate, to induce, trifling, productive efficiency (or productivity), to foster, harmony,

Replace the blanks with a word from the vocabulary list above. Use each word only once.

Exercise 15.

Comprehension Exercise: Watch the video clip again, and then read the following statements. If the statement summarizes the film clip correctly, say or write, "Yes, it is true that . . . ." or "Yes, Friedman says that/claims that/tells us that . . . . If it summarizes the film clip incorrectly, say, "It is not true that. . .  .  In fact . . . ."