a fraction of
A fraction of something is a tiny amount or proportion of it. e.g.
Fake watches are sold at a fraction of the cost of the genuine articles.
In last week's 'Urban Farming' text, there was a True False Not Given question that depended on your understanding of 'a fraction of':
TEXT: "Urban farming is cheap to run, consuming a tiny fraction of the electricity used by some techniques. "
Question 10. Urban farming relies more on electricity than some other types of farming.
Answer: FALSE
We saw similar examples in the "Back to the future of skyscraper design" (Book 17):
TEXT:
- Communal wards would work just as well in today’s hospitals, at a fraction of the energy cost.
- The award-winning building uses a fraction of the electricity of comparable buildings in the UK.
And today I'm making a podcast about a Book 18 reading: 'The birth and Growth of Manhattan's Skyscrapers'.
Again, we can see 'a fraction of' as an important word:
- 'Foundation costs were a small fraction of the cost of development.'
Members: I've added both texts as PDFs for you to download in the Vocabulary Course ('BUILDING' section).
