quotas

IPA/ˈkwəʊ.tə/
KK[kwˈotəz]IPA/ˈkwoʊ.t̬ə/

quotas — noun

  • quotassingular
  • quotasesplural

1. the highest number or amount of something that a government or organization offi

1.名詞B2
釋義

the highest number or amount of something that a government or organization officially allows to be produced, imported, or used — for example, limits on how many foreign goods can enter a country or how much fish can be caught.

例句

The government imposed strict quotas on foreign cars allowed into the country each year.

collocation: strict quotas on [noun phrase]

Under the new trade deal, Minh's farm agreed to follow monthly quotas for rice exports.

collocation: quotas for [noun phrase]

同義詞
  • limit

    broader term — any restriction on amount, not necessarily an official allocation

  • cap

    informal; specifically refers to an upper limit that cannot be exceeded

  • ceiling

    formal; used for upper bounds on prices, wages, or spending

文法句型

quota + on + noun phrase

quota + for + noun phrase

用法筆記

Frequently appears in the context of trade policy, environmental regulation, and immigration rules. Often preceded by a noun specifying the area being limited (import quotas, fishing quotas, visa quotas).

常見錯誤

❌The government set a quota of limiting imports.
✅The government set a quota on imports.
💡quota is followed by on + noun, not of + verb-ing.
❌The number of visas has a quota of 10,000 a year.
✅There is a quota of 10,000 visas a year.
💡quota of is followed directly by a number, not an embedded clause.

2. a fair or expected share of something that each person or team is entitled to re

2.名詞B2
釋義

a fair or expected share of something that each person or team is entitled to receive or is required to produce — for instance, the number of new customers a salesperson must find each month or the number of tickets set aside for each school.

例句

Each sales team in Meera's company must meet its monthly quota of fifteen new clients.

collocation: meet a quota

Ava had already reached her fundraising quota for the charity event by early March.

同義詞
  • share

    less formal and less official than quota; used in everyday situations

  • allocation

    often interchangeable with quota in distribution contexts, but less tied to a required target

  • portion

    informal; a part of a whole, without the sense of a formal target

文法句型

quota + of + number

meet/reach + a + quota

用法筆記

Common in business contexts involving sales targets or resource allocation. Use meet/achieve a quota for reaching the target, and fall short of a quota or miss a quota for failing to reach it.

常見錯誤

❌She reached her quota of selling ten cars.
✅She reached her quota of ten cars.
💡quota of is followed by a noun phrase, not a verb phrase.
❌We need to fill our quota by hiring more people.
✅We need to meet our quota by hiring more people.
💡use meet a quota, not fill a quota.