full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stacie Bosley: How to spot a pyramid scheme

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 2004, a new company called Vemma Nutrition started offering a life-changing opportunity to earn full time income for part time work. Vemma’s offer was open to everybody, regardless of prior experience or eotaucidn. There were only two steps to start get stetrad earning: purchase a $500-600 kit of their liquid nutrition pcudtros, and recruit two more mremebs to do the same.

Vemma Nutrition Company grew quklciy, becoming a global operation that brought in 30,000 new members per month at its peak. There was just one problem— while the cmoanpy generated $200 million of aaunnl revenue by 2013, the vast majority of participants earned less than they paid in.

Open Cloze


In 2004, a new company called Vemma Nutrition started offering a life-changing opportunity to earn full time income for part time work. Vemma’s offer was open to everybody, regardless of prior experience or _________. There were only two steps to start get _______ earning: purchase a $500-600 kit of their liquid nutrition ________, and recruit two more _______ to do the same.

Vemma Nutrition Company grew _______, becoming a global operation that brought in 30,000 new members per month at its peak. There was just one problem— while the _______ generated $200 million of ______ revenue by 2013, the vast majority of participants earned less than they paid in.

Solution


  1. company
  2. annual
  3. members
  4. quickly
  5. started
  6. education
  7. products

Original Text


In 2004, a new company called Vemma Nutrition started offering a life-changing opportunity to earn full time income for part time work. Vemma’s offer was open to everybody, regardless of prior experience or education. There were only two steps to start get started earning: purchase a $500-600 kit of their liquid nutrition products, and recruit two more members to do the same.

Vemma Nutrition Company grew quickly, becoming a global operation that brought in 30,000 new members per month at its peak. There was just one problem— while the company generated $200 million of annual revenue by 2013, the vast majority of participants earned less than they paid in.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
pyramid schemes 6
vemma nutrition 2
pyramid scheme 2
marketing companies 2


Important Words


  1. annual
  2. brought
  3. called
  4. company
  5. earn
  6. earned
  7. education
  8. experience
  9. full
  10. generated
  11. global
  12. grew
  13. income
  14. kit
  15. liquid
  16. majority
  17. members
  18. million
  19. month
  20. nutrition
  21. offer
  22. offering
  23. open
  24. operation
  25. opportunity
  26. paid
  27. part
  28. participants
  29. peak
  30. prior
  31. products
  32. purchase
  33. quickly
  34. recruit
  35. revenue
  36. start
  37. started
  38. steps
  39. time
  40. vast
  41. vemma
  42. work