31.   So options have become a cheap way to pay top staff.

32.   Such options become more valuable as the stock price rises, but do not benefit from dividend payments, arguably providing an incentive to companies not to pay dividends.

33.   That option became less viable as Vin and Sprit is keen to bolster its range of brands before the share sale.

34.   That option becomes more realistic as programmers develop encryption to protect credit card transactions on the Internet.

35.   The new treatment option became available in Fort Worth this summer through the M.D. Anderson Cancer Network-Tarrant County.

36.   The options become exercisable over a seven-year period.

37.   The options had become divisive among old and new managers.

38.   Those options may become even more popular now that Congress is considering making the earnings completely exempt from federal taxes.

39.   Those options will become worthless in about a month unless the shares rise above that price before then, perhaps because of a bid for the company.

40.   Top-five executives still get a third of all options granted, but options are becoming a bigtime benefit for workaday Americans, too.