[3] negocios, business. Related Words: Operaciones mercantiles; estar or entrar en negocios; asuntos; cosas del comercio.
[4] Como todo el mundo, As everybody. See I, 173.
[5] Note that in Spanish, much more strictly than in English, the agreement depends upon the grammatical construction rather than the meaning.
[6] fortunas, fortunes. Related Words: Riqueza privada; riqueza pública; hacerse rico, to become wealthy; disfrutar de buena posición, to be in good financial standing.
[7] levantadas. VARIANT: Fortunas que comerciantes ... han levantado.
[8] comerciantes, merchants. Related Words: Mercader; agente de comercio; agente de negocios; agente de cambios, moneychanger; agente de bolsa, stock broker; perito mercantil, business expert.
[9] por lo que se ve, by what we can see. VARIANTS: Por lo visto; según puede juzgarse.
[10] ganancia, earnings. Related Words: Entrada, income; producido líquido; resultar un saldo en favor, to show (showing) a balance in favor.
[11] grandes. Grande belongs to the class of adjectives having different meanings according to whether they precede or follow the noun. See I, 45.
[12] tan comunes ... como, as common ... as; so ... as. VARIANT: ¿Abundan los grandes almacenes en la América latina tanto como aquí?