The Phone in Your Pocket Crossed 15 Countries
Grammar: Reported Speech
A Business English English lesson exploring business.
What's in this lesson
A Business English ESL lesson on business, practising reported speech. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: The Phone in Your Pocket Crossed 15 Countries
In 2023, the average smartphone contained components sourced from over 60 countries, travelled through at least 15 national borders before reaching a retailer, and accumulated logistics costs equivalent to roughly 6 percent of its final sale price. That figure sounds modest until you consider that Apple shipped approximately 225 million iPhones that year — meaning the combined freight bill ran to billions of dollars before a single handset was switched on. The supply chain behind a consumer device is not a line; it is an intricate lattice of parallel dependencies, each segment governed by different rules, currencies, and lead times.
Vocabulary
- bottleneck
- freight
- just-in-time
- outsource
Grammar: Reported Speech
- Reported speech: form
- The CEO said that the shipment had been delayed. — present → past in backshift
- Backshift: tense pairs
- "We are expanding." → She stated that they were expanding. — one step back
Discussion questions
- Have you ever waited weeks for a delivery that should have taken days — what happened?
- Which product shortage in your lifetime surprised you the most, and why?
- When did you last notice a price spike and wonder what was actually behind it?
The Phone in Your Pocket Crossed 15 Countries
Grammar: Reported Speech
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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