SBP Writing Skills

1. What are some of the communication challenges of today's workplace?
Your Answer: Too much dependency on communication and too little time for real
business.
Correct Answer: Some of the communication challenges in today's workplace are the
following: the need to communicate more with a variety of advanced
technology, sifting through large amounts of information and using the most
relevant, communicating globally with a culturally diverse workforce, and
interacting within and with teams in the workplace.
Incorrect. The real challenges are the following: the need to communicate more with a variety
of advanced technology, sifting through large amounts of information and using the most
relevant, communicating globally with a culturally diverse workforce, and interacting within and
with teams in the workplace.
2. Communication is a dynamic, two-way process that can be broken down into _____ phases.
Your Answer: Seven.
Correct Answer: Six.
Incorrect. There are six phases in the communication process: (one) the sender has an idea;
(two) the sender encodes the idea; (three) the sender transmits the message; (four) the
receiver gets the message; (five) the receiver decodes the message; and (six) the receiver sends
feedback.
3. What are the most important themes that keep surfacing in business communication?
Your Answer: Committing to ethical communication, adopting an audience-centred approach,
improving intercultural and workplace sensitivity.
Correct.
4. What is plagiarism?
Your Answer: Plagiarism is stealing someone else's words or work and claiming it as one's own.
Correct.
5. When faced with an ethical dilemma in writing a business document, the best solution may be
the one that provides ________________________.
Your Answer: The greatest good for one's own interests.
Correct Answer: The greatest good to the greatest number of people.
Incorrect. The best solution is the one that provides the greatest good to the greatest number
of people.
6. How can you adopt an audience-centred approach in your business communication?
Your Answer: By developing a long-term relationship with the audience.
Correct Answer: By focusing on and caring about the members of the audience and making all
possible efforts to make your message meaningful to them.
Incorrect. An audience-centred approach can be adopted by focusing on and caring about the
members of the audience and making all possible efforts to make your message meaningful to
them.
7. How should we deal with cultural differences when communicating across cultures?
Your Answer: For effective cross-cultural communication, we should overlook cultural
differences.
Correct Answer: For effective cross-cultural communication, we should be aware of and
sensitive to cultural differences.
Incorrect. For effective cross-cultural communication, we should be aware of and sensitive to

cultural differences. Overlooking differences would not make the differences go away or take
care of any communication complications that may arise.
8. The pattern of physical cues, environmental stimuli, and implicit understanding that convey
meaning between members of the same culture is _____ _____.
Your Answer: Cultural awareness.
Correct Answer: Cultural context.
Incorrect. The correct answer is cultural context.
9. In a high-context culture, what do people rely on more to convey meaning?

Your Answer: In a high-context culture, people rely more on explicit messages to convey
meaning.
Correct Answer: In a high-context culture, people rely more on the context of nonverbal
actions and environmental setting to convey meaning.
Incorrect. In a high-context culture people rely less on explicit messages and more on the
context of nonverbal actions and environmental setting to convey meaning.
10. How are expectations and rules presented in low-context cultures?

Your Answer: Expectations and rules do not exist in low-context cultures.
Correct Answer: In low-context cultures, expectations and rules are usually spelled out
through explicit statements.
Incorrect. Expectations and rules exist in all kinds of cultures. In low-context cultures,
expectations and rules are usually spelled out through explicit statements.
11. Canadian and U. S. businesspeople usually keep a distance of about 1.6 m. during a
conversation, but this distance is uncomfortably close for people from _____ and _____.
Your Answer: Jordan and Brazil.
Correct Answer: Germany and Japan.
Incorrect. The correct answers are Germany and Japan.
12. Ethnocentrism is a belief that one's own culture is _____ to all others.
Your Answer: Indebted.
Correct Answer: Superior.
Incorrect. The correct answer is superior.
13. When communicating with audiences who do not use your language as a first language, avoid
_____.
Your Answer: Transitional elements.
Correct Answer: Slang, idioms, jargon, and abbreviations.
Incorrect. Slang, idioms, jargon, and abbreviations should be avoided. Transitional elements are
essential for a smoothly flowing and coherent document.
14. When speaking in English to people who speak it as a second language, you should stop _____.
Your Answer: At distinct punctuation points.
Correct.
15. If you cannot comprehend a comment made by another speaker, ask the person to _____.
Your Answer: Change it.
Correct Answer: Repeat it.
Incorrect. Changing the comment will change the topic and will not serve the purpose. But
repeating the comment will most likely make you understand it.
16. Effective communication occurs only when a message is understood by its receiver and elicits
action or new thoughts.
Your Answer: False
Correct Answer: True
Incorrect. Just getting the message understood does not make the communication totally
effective. It gets only half of the work done; the other half of the work of effective
communication is to elicit some response from the receiver of the message.
17. Poor writing skills cannot be responsible for costly mistakes on the job.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Poor writing skills can include grammar and spelling errors, lack of organization, and
lack of clarity and coherence. All of these factors will interfere with how a message is read,
accepted, and understood by its receiver. The impact of poor writing can be lost clients,
overlooked or misunderstood messages, lost time, and even possible danger if warnings fail to
be conveyed due to poor writing. All of these results would easily translate to loss of time and
money. So poor writing skills can be responsible for costly mistakes on the job.
18. Ethics, attention to audience, intercultural and workplace sensitivity are important recurring
issues in business communication.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Without attention to ethical issues, audience needs, differences between cultures,
and various differences between people working in the same office, neither business nor
communication in business can occur successfully.
19. Communication can remain ethical even if a communicator decides not to reveal some relevant
but negative information.
Your Answer: True
Correct Answer: False
Incorrect. Only a complete, true, and accurate message satisfies ethical requirements. If
relevant negative information is deliberately covered up, then the message is deceptive rather
than ethical.
20. If a company decision is the right choice for a group of shareholders, it is definitely the right
choice for its customers.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Various groups of stakeholders in a company have various kinds of needs.

Shareholders benefit from increased share prices, so an increased profit that may drive the
share prices high would be beneficial for them. But if the company increased its product prices
to get that profit, the customers would be negatively affected. So the same company decision is
producing two kinds of results for two groups of people.
21. An ethical dilemma is very much like an ethical lapse.
Your Answer: False
Correct. The two are not alike.
22. Business communication can be greatly improved by becoming sensitive to the similarities
existing between people from different cultures.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. We need to be sensitive to the differences rather than to the similarities. Similarities
usually do not create communication gaps or problems as differences could.
23. Culture is a system of beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, values, behavioural norms, and symbols
shared among the members of a society.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
24. If encoding (formulation) of a message occurs in one culture and its decoding (reading) occurs in
another culture, its intended meaning could be misunderstood.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. The message has been encoded using one culture's assumptions and decoded using
another culture's assumptions. The misunderstanding may occur due to the differences in
assumptions. For example, in a business letter encoded within the Japanese culture, it may be
customary to include discussion of family and health, while those same topics may seem
irrelevant or too personal if that letter is decoded by a North American using the assumptions
of North American culture.
25. We should treat other people the way we want to be treated.

Your Answer: (blank)
26. Cultures of the United States and Germany are high-context and cultures of South Korea,
Taiwan, and Greece are low-context.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. The opposite is true. Cultures of Germany and the United States are low-context and
cultures of South Korea, Taiwan, and Greece are high-context.
27. Simple hand gestures carry the same meaning from culture to culture, so we can safely
interpret hand gestures used in another culture in accordance with the norms of our own
culture.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Even hand gestures that appear to be the same can have different meanings in
different cultures. It cannot be safe to interpret hand gestures or any other nonverbal elements
of one culture using the norms of another.
28. Ethnocentrism is a belief that one's own culture is superior to all other cultures.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
29. In writing business documents for multicultural readers, using metaphors and long sentences
are essential to impress them.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Metaphors have multiple meanings and long sentences may steer one away from the
main point, so both elements may confuse multicultural business readers about the exact
meaning of a document. Precise wording and efficient sentencing would make a document's
meaning much more easily decodable by readers of all cultures.
30. Intercultural communication skills are required even when dealing with the Canadian
workforce.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. The Canadian workforce reflects the Canadian population, which has people of
multiple ethnic backgrounds bringing the influence of multiple cultures and languages. To
communicate effectively with this diverse workforce, people need the skills to communicate
between cultures.
1. A team is a unit of a minimum of _____ people who work together to achieve a goal.
Your Answer: Ten.
Correct Answer: Two.
Incorrect. A team can be formed even with a minimum of two people.
2. The aim of an effective team is to get members to collaborate on essential work, and much of
that collaboration takes place through _____ .
Your Answer: Telephone conversations.
Correct Answer: Meetings.
Incorrect. Telephone conversations may be used for exchange of limited information among
teams of two people, but documents cannot be shared over the telephone. So, a great deal of
effective team collaboration through sharing of information, ideas, and work is dependent on
meetings with members of a team.
3. What key topics should be covered in an effective meeting agenda?

Your Answer: Order of business.
Correct Answer: The goals of the meeting, issues to be discussed, required information that
will make the discussion possible as well as the time, place, order of
business, and names of participants.
Incorrect. A meeting agenda should include the goals of the meeting, issues to be discussed,
required information that will make the discussion possible as well as the time, place, order of
business, and names of participants.
4. What should the meeting leader do if a discussion lags?

Your Answer: Introduce topics that are not on the meeting agenda.
Correct Answer: Call on those who have not been heard.
Incorrect. If a meeting has a specific agenda, the purpose of the meeting is to stay focused on
the agenda. But calling on those who have not spoken before may bring in new ideas and raise
new points on the issues being discussed.
5. How should a leader conclude a meeting?

Your Answer: The leader needs to tie up loose ends.
Correct.
6. What activities are involved in effective listening?
Your Answer: Physically receiving a message.
Correct Answer: Five activities that usually occur sequentially. These five activities are
physically receiving a message, interpreting, remembering, evaluating, and
responding.
Incorrect. Physically receiving a message is just the first step in listening. Effective listening
involves five activities that usually occur sequentially. These five activities are physically
receiving a message, interpreting, remembering, evaluating, and responding.
7. What are three most crucial barriers to effective listening?

Your Answer: Too much listening, too many interests, and lack of self-control.
Correct Answer: Prejudgment, self-centredness, and selective listening.
Incorrect.
8. What is the key to making effective telephone calls?

Your Answer: Planning the purpose, outline, time, and method of handling the possible
outcomes of a call.
Correct.
9. Voice mail can be used to replace _____.

Your Answer: Short memos and phone calls that need no response.
Correct.
10. What option in an outgoing greeting on a voice mail system would save a caller from being
bounced around from one menu option to another?
Your Answer: An option to reach the appropriate person via the Internet.
Correct Answer: The option to reach a live operator.
Incorrect. When a person is on the phone, he or she is not automatically connected to the
Internet.
11. What aspects of communication reveal a person's honesty or deception more easily?
Your Answer: Nonverbal aspects of communication such as body language, facial expressions,
and tone of voice.
Correct. The nonverbal aspects of communication such as body language, facial expressions,
and tone of voice often reveal a person's true state of mind, while verbal messages can be
manipulated to suit any need.
12. Nonverbal communication usually _____ with verbal communication.

Your Answer: Breaks.
Correct Answer: Blends.
Incorrect. Nonverbal and verbal communication usually blend and work together, carrying part
of the message to enhance, reinforce, and clarify spoken words.
13. What happens to the interpretation of nonverbal signals from one culture to another?
Your Answer: The interpretation will take on a negative meaning.
Correct Answer: The interpretation can vary.
Incorrect. The interpretation of nonverbal signals can vary from one culture to another, but it
does not necessarily take on a negative meaning.
14. Why has touching become controversial in business environments?

Your Answer: Because touching can be interpreted as sexual harassment at times.
Correct.
15. What categories of nonverbal communications are listed in Business Communication Essentials,
Canadian Edition?
Your Answer: Facial expression and personal appearance.
Correct Answer: Facial expression, gesture and posture, vocal characteristics, personal
appearance, touching behaviour, and use of time and space.
Incorrect. These are only two of the categories listed. Altogether six categories of nonverbal
communication are listed in Business Communication Essentials, Canadian Edition. These are (i)
facial expression, (ii) gesture and posture, (iii) vocal characteristics, (iv) personal appearance, (v)
touching behaviour, and (vi) use of time and space.
16. Teams can help organizations succeed by increasing information and knowledge, diversity of
views, acceptance of solutions, and performance levels.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
17. Groupthink contributes to good decision making by members of teams.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Groupthink (the willingness of individuals to put aside their opinions and follow
others blindly) can actually lead to poor decision making. Resorting to groupthink will reduce
the analytical abilities of the individual members of the team and decisions may be taken
without judging their merit.
18. The key to conducting productive meetings is planning how to keep people engaged.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Keeping people engaged is not the issue in a meeting. The key to conducting
productive meetings is carefully planning the purpose, participants, location, and agenda of the
meeting.
19. A good meeting is a series of dialogues between individual members and the meeting leader.
Your Answer: False
Correct. A good meeting is a cross-flow of discussion and debate, not a series of dialogues
between individual members and the meeting leader.
20. Three barriers to effective listening are prejudgment, self-centredness, and selective listening.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
21. People's minds tend to wander because they can think slower than they can speak.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. People's minds are inclined to wandering because their thinking is faster than their
speech. So the listener's mind can move from one thought to another faster while the speaker's
progress with speech is slower.
22. We need to work at developing effective listening skills for success in business.
Your Answer: True
Correct. Listening effectively does not come naturally, so we have to work at it. If we don't have
effective listening skills, we will miss much of the information that comes to us verbally.
23. Some experts estimate that 95 percent of most companies' everyday contacts happen through
the telephone.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
24. Smiling while talking on the telephone has no impact on how one may sound.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Smiling while talking on the phone can actually make the speaker sound friendlier
and more positive.
25. It is best not to go into complicated details in a voice-mail message.

Your Answer: True
Correct. Since the listener has no option of asking clarifying questions if details get confusing, it
is best to avoid details in voice-mail and deal with details in an interactive conversation.
26. Body language, facial expressions, and vocal characteristics are easier to control than words.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Body language, facial expressions, and vocal characteristics tend to follow the
dictates of our true feelings and are harder to control. While words are easier to control and
can be crafted according to our needs.
27. Eye contact is so important in face to face communication that averting one's gaze can lead an
audience to find negative meaning even in a message with positive wording.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
28. In business situations, touching can suggest dominance.

Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Touching suggests dominance, and because of this association with dominance, a
person in higher position is more likely to touch a person in lower position than the other way
around.
29. In the business world, occupying a certain kind of space does not signify status.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Occupying the best space does signify a high status in the business world. Top
executives in corporations have well-appointed offices with the best view available.
30. In business communication, physical gestures can reinforce words.

Your Answer: True
Correct. Physical gestures can reinforce words, if used appropriately. Smiles, handshakes, and
cheerful eyes can strengthen words of goodwill.
1. How can business messages be more effective?

Your Answer: By being purposeful, audience-centred, and concise.
Correct. These are the three qualities that will make a message useful and convincing.
2. The writing process in business consists of _____ steps.

Your Answer: Four.
Correct Answer: Three.
Incorrect. The writing process consists of three steps: planning, writing, and completing
business messages.
3. How should time be distributed among the three steps (planning, writing, and completing) of
the business writing process?
Your Answer: Available time should be equally distributed among the three steps of the
writing process.
Correct Answer: Planning should get about half, writing should get less than a quarter, and
completing should get more than a quarter of the available time.
Incorrect. Planning should get about half, writing should get less than a quarter, and completing
should get more than a quarter of the available time. Since planning involves thinking about
purpose, getting more information about the subject and audience, and deciding on channel
and medium of transmission, it is a more time-consuming step. The actual writing of the first
draft can take the least time because it only involves the activities of outlining and writing one
draft. The completion step can take a little longer than the first draft writing step because it
involves the activities of review, analysis, editing, revising, and rewriting.
4. When we communicate in business, which part of our audience can be identified as our primary
audience?
Your Answer: The primary audience would be the segment of our audience with the power to
make crucial decisions and mould opinions of others on the subject of our
communication.
Correct.
5. What should we do if audience members do not share our general background in the topic of
our communication?
Your Answer: We should try communicating about a topic in which they have a
background.
Correct Answer: We should educate them about the topic of our communication.
Incorrect. We have to stay with our topic and deliver our message effectively to the audience
whether they share our background or not. We should educate them about the topic of our
communication through information and tools that will help them understand the material.
6. What are the necessary qualities of information included in business communication?

Your Answer: The information has to be specific and interesting.
Correct Answer: The information has to be complete, accurate, ethical, and pertinent.
Incorrect. Information included in business communication has to be complete, accurate,

ethical, and pertinent.
7. What kind of communication provides opportunity for the most immediate feedback?
Your Answer: Oral communication.
Correct. The oral communication channel through media such as face-to-face conversation,
telephone calls, speeches, presentations, and teleconferencing provides opportunity for
immediate verbal and nonverbal feedback more than any written channel because the sender
and the receiver are simultaneously in contact.
8. What kind of messages can be planned and controlled best?

Your Answer: Messages delivered through face-to-face conversations.
Correct Answer: Written messages.
Incorrect. Although face-to-face conversations can be planned to some extent, they are
delivered through the oral channel, so they are harder to control. On the other hand, written
messages can be planned and controlled best.
9. Which medium is the leanest in terms of offering feedback?

Your Answer: Addressed letters.
Correct Answer: Unaddressed documents such as fliers and posters.
Incorrect. Addressed letters may provide leaner feedback than oral media, but they have more
possibility of feedback than unaddressed documents such as fliers and posters.
10. What is the "you" attitude?

Your Answer: The "you" attitude is developing a friendly attitude towards the audience of
our communication.
Correct Answer: The "you" attitude is an approach in business communication that makes the
communicator speak and write in terms of the audience's preferences,
wishes, and expectations.
Incorrect. The "you" attitude is an approach in business communication that makes the
communicator speak and write in terms of the audience's preferences, wishes, and
expectations.
11. How can you persuade the audience to act upon receiving your message?
Your Answer: By sending repeated messages.
Correct Answer: By pointing out the benefits.
Incorrect. You can persuade the audience to act by pointing out the benefits they will get if they
act.
12. If your audience members do not know you, what do you need to do in the initial portion of
your message to earn their confidence?
Your Answer: Use a friendly opening sentence.
Correct Answer: Gain credibility.
Incorrect. A friendly opening sentence could be a very positive feature of a document, but it will
not earn you the audience's confidence. Gaining credibility will earn you the audience's
confidence.
13. If you have a negative message, how should you communicate it?
Your Answer: Avoid communicating the negative message.
Correct Answer: With tact and kindness.
Incorrect. Avoiding the communication is not the answer when the negative message has to be
communicated. You should communicate the negative message with tact and kindness to
maintain your goodwill.
14. What is biased language?

Your Answer: It is a language that expresses a bias towards one foreign language.
Correct Answer: It is a language that expresses biases about gender, race, ethnicity, age,
disability, or any other issue that differentiates someone, but is not relevant
to the topic of communication.
Incorrect. Biased language may express biases about gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, or
any other issue that differentiates someone, but is not relevant to the topic of communication.
15. How do you deal with your own views and individual style when you communicate with
outsiders on behalf of your company?
Your Answer: You express your own views and individual style.
Correct Answer: You subordinate your own views and individual style to the interests and
style of your company.
Incorrect. When you communicate on behalf of a company, you are its spokesperson. You have
to subordinate your own views and style to those of the company.
16. Business messages should be created by following a two-step process of planning and writing.
Your Answer: False
Correct. The creation of business messages involves three rather than two steps. The last step
of completing is for reviewing, revising, rewriting, editing, polishing, and coming out with the
finished product.
17. The three steps of planning, writing, and completing business messages need to be completed
in 1-2-3 order.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. You can jump back and forth between steps without any difficulty.
18. Before formulating your business message, you should check if its purpose is realistic and
acceptable and if the timing and conveyor of the message are also conducive to its success.
Your Answer: True
Correct. Considering these factors will inform you if it is worthwhile to send your message at
that time.
19. In writing to a number of people, you cannot respond to the particular concerns of key
individuals.
Your Answer: False
Correct. You need to address the concerns of key individuals.
20. When addressing a large and diverse audience, communicators should tap into the audience
members' common interests that could bring them together across differences in culture,
education, status, or attitude.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
21. If you expect a favourable response from the audience, then you can offer your conclusions and
recommendations at the beginning of your document.
Your Answer: True
Correct. If the audience is favourable towards an idea, an upfront recommendation will not be
hard to accept for them. If the audience is not favourably disposed towards an idea, they need
to see more evidence before they can accept a recommendation.
22. The written channel of communication is very conducive for getting quick and rich feedback.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. The oral channel is better than the written channel for getting quick feedback that is
both verbal and nonverbal.
23. People in Japan prefer written messages while people in the United States and Germany prefer
oral messages.
Your Answer: False
Correct. The opposite is true. People in Japan prefer oral messages and people in the United
States and Germany prefer written messages.
24. Though adopting an audience-centred "you" attitude may mean using the you pronoun more,
sometimes the you pronoun needs to be avoided to avoid sounding dictatorial or accusatory.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
25. Even bad news can have some redeeming feature that can be pointed out for making a message
more acceptable.
Your Answer: True
Correct. Although you will give the bad news, you should try to find and point out any
redeeming aspect of the situation to your audience.
26. In business messages, it is generally okay to use words with negative connotations, as required.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Words with negative connotations should be replaced with milder words whenever it is
possible to do so without distorting the meaning of a message.
27. Common background, credentials, important contacts, and evidence can be used to establish
credibility with an audience that does not know you.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
28. Words such as amazing, incredible, and extraordinary are quite convincing, with or without
specific proof.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Words such as amazing, incredible, and extraordinary are not convincing without
specific proof.
29. Written communication requires less tact than oral communication.

Your Answer: False
Correct. The opposite is true; written communication requires more tact than oral
communication.
30. Good communication does not need to be free of biases.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Good, ethical, and acceptable communication does need to be free of biases.
1. What pre-writing device can help keep your writing on the right track?
Your Answer: Research.
Correct Answer: An organizational plan.
Incorrect. Although research may be required for some writing, it is an organizational plan or
outline that keeps the writing on track.
2. How do you decide how much you should write?

Your Answer: Restrict the ideas to the space you have for writing.
Correct Answer: Decide how much to write by predicting what questions the audience would
have about your main idea.
Incorrect. Decide how much to write by predicting what questions the audience would have
about your main idea. Space can be changed to some degree to meet the needs of the
audience.
3. According to communication researchers, people can usually remember a maximum of _____

major points even in a long document.
Your Answer: Seven.
Correct Answer: Five.
Incorrect. The correct answer is five.
4. What possible approaches could a communicator use to present the topics of a document?
Your Answer: A communicator could use the direct or the indirect approaches to present the
topics of a document.
Correct. The approaches used to present points can be either direct or indirect. In the direct
approach, the main idea is presented first and the supporting evidence and ideas follow. In the
indirect approach, the evidence is presented first and the main idea comes later.
5. What should we do when composing the first draft of a document?

Your Answer: We should let our creativity flow and put our ideas down quickly when writing
our first draft.
Correct.
6. What is style in writing?
Your Answer: Style is writing with polish.
Correct Answer: Style is the way of using words to achieve a certain tone or overall
impression in writing.
Incorrect. Style is the way of using words to achieve a certain tone or overall impression in
writing.
7. What should business messages avoid to achieve an acceptable conversational tone?

Your Answer: Obsolete language, false familiarity, and humour.
Correct.
8. What is plain English?

Your Answer: Plain English is the English used in legal studies.
Correct Answer: Plain English is the English that is close to regular conversational English, can
be understood by people with eighth-grade-level education, and can be used
as a vehicle for conveying technical information simply and meaningfully to a
broad audience.
Incorrect. Legal studies use a very specialized legal language that is not easy to understand for
people outside the legal field. Plain English is the English that is close to regular conversational
English, can be understood by people with eighth-grade-level education, and can be used as a
vehicle for conveying technical information simply and meaningfully to a broad audience.
9. Which part of speech is especially powerful and tells what is happening in a sentence?
Your Answer: Adjectives.
Correct Answer: Verbs.
Incorrect. Verbs are especially powerful and tell what is happening in a sentence.
10. What parts of speech often evoke subjective judgments?

Your Answer: Pronouns and nouns.
Correct Answer: Adjectives and adverbs.
Incorrect. Adjectives and adverbs evoke subjective judgments.
11. What are clichés?

Your Answer: Clichés are metaphoric/figurative terms and phrases that have become too
common and worn out to be effective.
Correct.
12. How many types of sentences are there and what are their names?
Your Answer: There are these four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and
compound-complex.
Correct.
13. Define active and passive voices.

Your Answer: Active voice is the use of strong verbs in sentences and passive voice is the
use of weak verbs.
Correct Answer: Active voice is the placement of the subject (actor) before the verb and the
object after the verb. Passive voice is the placement of the subject after the
verb and the object before the verb.
Incorrect. Active voice is the placement of the subject (actor) before the verb and the object
after the verb. Passive voice is the placement of the subject after the verb and the object before
the verb.
14. How many basic elements does the typical paragraph contain and what are these elements?
Your Answer: The typical paragraph contains one basic element: a topic.
Correct Answer: The typical paragraph contains these three basic elements: a topic sentence,
related sentences developing the topic, and transitional words and phrases.
Incorrect. The typical paragraph contains these three basic elements: a topic sentence, related
sentences developing the topic, and transitional words and phrases.
15. What element of a paragraph shows the relationship between paragraphs and among
sentences within paragraphs?
Your Answer: Topic sentences.
Correct Answer: Transitional words and phrases.
Incorrect. Transitional words and phrases show the relationship between paragraphs and
among sentences.
16. In the United States and Canada, good organization in writing means creating a linear message
that proceeds point by point.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
17. The main idea of a document is the same as its topic.

Your Answer: False
Correct. The main idea and the topic are not the same. The broad subject of a document is its
topic, and the main idea is the statement you make about a topic.
18. Everything in a document should support the main idea or explain its ramifications.
Your Answer: True
Correct. The main idea is the driving force of the document and other things (supporting points,
evidence, examples, and comparisons) are used to illustrate the main idea.
19. In the direct approach of presenting points, the evidence comes first and the main idea comes
later.
Your Answer: False
Correct. The evidence is presented before the main idea in the indirect approach. In the direct
approach, the main idea comes first and the evidence comes later.
20. The direct approach is likely to be more suitable when the audience is resistant to your
message.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. When the audience is resistant to your message, it is better to use the indirect
approach and strengthen your main idea by presenting the evidence first and the main idea
later.
21. Varying our style can enable us to sound passionate or objective in a written document.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. We can vary our style (sentence construction and word choice) to sound passionate
or objective, formal or informal, colourful or bland in our written documents according to our
needs.
22. Obsolete language, false familiarity, and humour should be avoided when composing business
messages.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
23. Although plain English is very useful for general business messages, it lacks the precision
necessary for scientific research.
Your Answer: True
Correct. Plain English, which is close to conversational English, is easily understood by a broad
audience and is therefore very useful for most business messages that are written for audiences
with diverse levels of understanding. However, scientific research often needs to be
documented with precise and uncommon language that is special to that subject.
24. Abstract words should not be used in business messages.

Your Answer: False
Correct. We cannot write anything without using both abstract and concrete words.
25. Adding modifying phrases cannot expand a simple sentence, which has one main clause with a
subject and predicate.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. It is true that a simple sentence has one main clause with a subject and a predicate,
but it can be expanded to include modifying phrases.
26. A compound sentence has only independent clauses and a complex sentence has both
independent and dependent clauses.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
27. If you want to express two ideas of equal importance in one sentence, you should use a
compound sentence.
Your Answer: True
Correct. The two independent clauses of a compound sentence would be ideal for expressing
two ideas of equal importance in one sentence.
28. An idea can be emphasized by placing it in an independent clause, making it the subject of a
sentence, allocating more space to it, and placing it at the beginning or end of a sentence.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. All the devices mentioned can truly emphasize an idea to an audience.
29. In active voice, the subject comes after the verb and the object comes before the verb.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. The opposite is true. In active voice, the subject comes before the verb and the object
comes after the verb.
30. A paragraph is a cluster of unrelated sentences.

Your Answer: False
Correct. A paragraph contains a cluster of related sentences rather than unrelated ones.
1. Ideally, how long should a draft mature before the revision process begins?
Your Answer: One or two days.
Correct. One or two days would be the ideal time to give a writer enough distance to review the
draft with a fresh eye to detect flaws and make improvements.
2. In your first revision, where are you wise to spend a few extra moments?
Your Answer: We should only proofread instead of revising.
Correct Answer: We need to spend a few extra moments on the beginning and ending of the
message.
Incorrect. Proofreading cannot take the place of revision because it will not correct any
structural and conceptual flaws as revision will. As you revise, you need to spend a few extra
moments on the beginning and ending of the message, sections having the greatest impact on
the audience.
3. When we want to express two or more similar ideas, what grammatical construction should we
use for them?
Your Answer: Passive voice.
Correct Answer: Parallel construction.
Incorrect. The correct answer is parallel construction. Parallel construction is a way of repeating
a pattern of words, phrases, clauses, or entire sentences to express similar ideas.
4. What is the name of a modifier that has no connection to its subject?

Your Answer: Weak modifier.
Correct Answer: Dangling modifier.
Incorrect. The correct answer is dangling modifier.
5. To what extent can most first drafts be cut?

Your Answer: Most first drafts can be cut by about 75 percent.
Correct Answer: Most first drafts can be cut by about 50 percent.
Incorrect. Most first drafts can be cut by about 50 percent.
6. How are sentences affected if infinitives replace some phrases?

Your Answer: Sentences become shorter and clearer.
Correct.
7. The phrase "surrounded on all sides" is an example of _____.

Your Answer: An infinitive phrase.
Correct Answer: Redundant word combination.
Incorrect. "Surrounded on all sides" is an example of a redundant word combination in which

several words are combined when one of them would have conveyed the same meaning.
8. How can we give our message an attractive and contemporary appearance?

Your Answer: By designing our document carefully.
Correct. By using all of the design elements effectively and carefully designing our document,
we can give our message an attractive and contemporary appearance.
9. White space, margins and layout, typefaces, and type styles are examples of _____.
Your Answer: The formal elements of a document.
Correct Answer: Design elements.
Incorrect. They are examples of the design elements and are important to a document's
appearance.
10. What is justified type?

Your Answer: Justified type is flush on the left and flush on the right.
Correct. Justified type thus creates lines of uniform lengths and a straight margin on both sides.
11. What kind of type lightens a document's appearance?

Your Answer: Flush-left, ragged-right type.
Correct. The uniform margin on the left and the ragged margin on the right give a page the right
balance of uniformity and openness.
12. What is typeface?

Your Answer: Typeface refers to the faces of the keys on the keyboard.
Correct Answers: Typeface is an offensive slang referring to people who type a great deal.
Typeface is the physical design of letters, numbers, and other text

characters.
Incorrect. Typeface is the physical design of letters, numbers, and other text characters.
13. How many kinds of typefaces could we use on a page without making it cluttered and
confusing?
Your Answer: Anything more than one kind of typeface would clutter a document.
Correct Answer: We could use up to two different kinds of typefaces without cluttering a
document.
Incorrect. We could use up to two different kinds of typefaces without cluttering a document.
14. What is type style?

Your Answer: Type style refers to different styles of using the computer keyboard.
Correct Answer: Type style is any modification in type, such as underlining, italicizing,
boldfacing, that provides contrast or emphasis to type.
Incorrect. Type style is any modification in type, such as underlining, italicizing, boldfacing, that
provides contrast or emphasis to type.
15. What should you look for when proofreading?

Your Answer: Look for language errors, missing material, design errors, and typing errors.
Correct. Look for language errors, missing material, design errors, and typing errors.
16. Revision can occur throughout the writing process.

Your Answer: True
Correct. You can revise as you write, and then you can revise again after the completion of the
first draft.
17. The beginning and the ending of a message usually have the most impact on the reader.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. The beginning and the end of a message can have the most impact because if the
beginning cannot attract the reader's attention, the rest of the message could go unread. And if
the conclusion does not leave a favourable impression, any positive influence of the body of the
message would be weakened.
18. As you revise, you'll rewrite sentences and passages to cut down your points.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. You may well cut down points as you revise. However, your main reason for revising
is to improve the effectiveness of your writing.
19. Very long sentences with multiple clauses connected by and are good to use in business writing.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Overly long compound sentences are confusing and hard to read and cannot be good
for business writing.
20. Noun phrases with camouflaged verbs are stronger and more concise than directly used verbs.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Noun phrases with camouflaged verbs are longer and less emphatic than the verbs
that could replace them.
21. When the subject and the predicate are closer to one another, the clarity of a sentence is
enhanced.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Keep the subject and predicate of a sentence as close together as possible so readers
can understand who did what on the first reading.
22. Revising for conciseness means removing any word that serves no function and replacing every
long word with a short word if possible.
Your Answer: True
Correct. Conciseness means absolute economy with word usage and sentence structure.
23. Short words are usually more vivid and easier to read than long words.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Short words are easy to read and convey their meanings more vividly.
24. Sentences starting with "it" or "there" are usually indirect and longer than they need to be.
Your Answer: True
Correct. In most cases, such sentences make an indirect statement that can be made more
directly and concisely.
25. White space in a document plays no role in your document design.

Your Answer: False
Correct. White space is one of the design elements and white spaces between text and graphics
have to be planned and preserved to provide visual contrast and break for the reader.
26. Justified type lightens a message's appearance because of its uniform line lengths.
Your Answer: False
Correct. The opposite is true because justified type darkens a message's appearance because its
uniform line lengths lack the open spaces created by ragged margins.
27. Serif typefaces (fonts) have small crosslines at the end of each letter stroke.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
28. Underlining or using all uppercase letters for the body text of a message has no impact on
reading ability.
Your Answer: False
Correct. These type styles can interfere with people's ability to recognize shapes of words and
can slow their reading.
29. We can rely completely on our spell- and grammar- checking software to do our proofreading
for us.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Although such software is very helpful, it cannot detect all errors and some of its
detected errors are results of its limitations rather than real errors. We still need the human
brain for proofreading.
30. Proofreading a document involves checking its errors and omissions in content, and its aesthetic
features, grammatical, typographical, and spelling errors.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Proofreading does involve all these processes.
1. What format is most commonly used for reports requiring a formal approach?
Your Answer: Manuscript form.
Correct. In the manuscript form, the report presents itself in its core form, often with many
typical segments to guide readers through the document.
2. When is the direct approach more suitable in writing reports?

Your Answer: When the reader already trusts you and has a positive or neutral attitude towards
your topic.
Correct. A trusting and positive reader would appreciate knowing your main idea even before
you present the evidence.
3. What are the most common ways of structuring analytical reports?

Your Answer: Focusing on conclusions, recommendations, or logical arguments.
Correct. Depending on your needs and your audience, one of the three elements may be the
focal point of your report.
4. Through what means can numerical facts be presented most conveniently?

Your Answer: Through tables and charts.
Correct.
5. Information requiring thorough description of physical relationships or procedures is clearest in a

_____.
Your Answer: Pie chart.
Correct Answer: Flowchart.
Incorrect. Such information is clearest in a flow chart.
6. What kind of visual shows trends over time or plots the relationship of two variables?
Your Answer: Line graph.
Correct.
7. Ideally, where should the largest part of the pie be placed in a pie chart?
Your Answer: At the twelve o' clock position.
Correct. It should be placed at the twelve o'clock position because that is the highest point of the
pie.
8. What is the main purpose of a proposal?

Your Answer: To persuade readers to do something.
Correct.
9. What document should be referred to in the introduction of a solicited proposal?
Your Answer: The Request for Proposal or RFP.
Correct.
10. What tools within the body of a report or proposal can provide readers with a roadmap to the
document?
Your Answer: Visuals such as charts and tables.
Correct Answer: Headings, transitions, and previews and reviews of materials.
Incorrect. Headings, transitions, and previews and reviews of materials give readers a roadmap
to a report or proposal.
11. In which part of a report does an executive summary belong?

Your Answer: In the prefatory part.
Correct. The executive summary is a front material and belongs in the prefatory part of the
report.
12. How do you order the appendices of a formal report?

Your Answer: In the order of mention in the text.
Correct. At the back of the report, the appendices are put in the order of mention in the text.
13. What are the usual supplementary parts of a report?

Your Answer: Appendices, a list of references, and a glossary.
Correct.
14. What does a glossary do?

Your Answer: A glossary lists definitions of terms used in the report.
Correct.
15. For a solicited proposal, what message pattern should the transmittal letter follow?
Your Answer: The persuasive message pattern.
Correct Answer: The good-news message pattern.
Incorrect. If the proposal was solicited, its contents are already anticipated by the reader. So the
transmittal letter is giving the reader good news rather than doing a persuasive task.
16. You must choose the format, length, order, and structure of your report before drafting it.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
17. The memo format may be used for short reports directed to external audiences and the letter
format may be used for short reports directed to internal audiences.
Your Answer: False
Correct. The opposite is true. The report in the memo format can be sent to internal audiences,
and the report in the letter format can be sent to external audiences.
18. When your readers do not know you well or the material is nonroutine, you may have to explain
your topics in greater detail.
Your Answer: True
Correct. To establish credibility with an audience that does not know you or to make nonroutine
material comprehensible, you may have to explain your topics in greater detail.
19. An indirect argument is harder to follow than a direct one.

Your Answer: True
Correct. Because the main idea comes after the evidence in an indirect argument, it is harder to
follow than a direct one.
20. The materials of an informational report may be arranged according to importance, sequence,
chronology, spatial orientation, geography, or category.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
21. Detailed facts and figures are easier to understand in paragraph form.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Detailed facts, especially those with numerical content, are harder to understand as
text in paragraph form than as tables and charts.
22. If we use a graphic to illustrate a minor point, readers may take it to be an important point based
on the extra space allotted to it.
Your Answer: True
Correct. Readers often assume that the amount of space allocated to a topic points to its relative
importance.
23. A bar chart illustrates trends over time.

Your Answer: False
Correct. A bar chart shows numbers by the height or length of its bars and it can show changes in
one item over time. A line graph illustrates trends over time.
24. Pie charts show how the parts of a whole are distributed.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
25. An organization chart has nothing to do with an organization.

Your Answer: True
Incorrect. An organization chart shows the positions, units, or functions of an organization.
26. Just like other written business communications, a report or proposal text has three major parts:
introduction, body, and a close.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
27. Writing a proposal is very similar to writing a persuasive sales message.

Your Answer: True
Correct. Like a sales message, a proposal also wants to persuade the reader to buy a product or
service, or accept an idea.
28. For longer reports with complex information, an informal tone is more suitable to make the
readers comfortable with the subject.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Readers expect to get a more formal tone in longer reports with complex subjects.
29. The supplementary parts of a report are placed before the report and the prefatory parts are
placed after the report.
Your Answer: False
Correct. The opposite is true because the supplementary parts of a report are placed after it and
the prefatory parts are placed before it.
30. An executive summary is a fully developed "mini" version of the report itself and may contains
headings, transition, and visual aids.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
1. What are reports?

Your Answer: Reports are accounts of information gathered through research.
Correct Answer: Reports are written factual accounts that communicate information
objectively about some aspect of business.
Incorrect. The information in reports may or may not be obtained through research, so research
is not an essential feature of reports. A report's essential feature is that it has to be a written
factual account that communicates information objectively.
2. What do informational reports such as monitor/control reports focus on?

Your Answer: Inquiry.
Correct Answer: Presentation of data.
Incorrect. Monitor/control reports focus on presentation of data.
3. What is the purpose of compliance reports?

Your Answer: Responding to regulations.
Correct. The purpose of compliance reports is responding to regulations imposed mostly by

government agencies.
4. What do analytical reports typically present?
Your Answer: Solutions to problems often with recommendations for actions.
Correct.
5. What do problem-solving reports typically require in gathering information?

Your Answer: Primary or secondary research.
Correct.
6. What is a request for proposal (RFP)?

Your Answer: A request for proposal is when a company sends out requests for work to their
prospective clients.
Correct Answer: A request for proposal is an invitation from an organization to bid on their
work and includes guidelines about doing the work.
Incorrect. A request for proposal is an invitation from an organization to bid on their work and
includes guidelines about doing the work.
7. Why should you take extra care that your audience does not feel threatened by your plan when
sending internal proposals?
Your Answer: Because the audience is internal and may be doubtful about any new
proposals from co-workers.
Correct Answer: Because internal proposals ask for change.
Incorrect. Extra care must be taken because internal proposals mostly ask for changes and those
changes have to be presented without threatening the audience in any way.
8. What helps to define a problem when writing analytical reports?

Your Answer: Asking and answering some "What, Why, Who, Where, When, How" questions
about the problem.
Correct. Asking such questions about the problem help define the problem.
9. What kind of purpose statement is most useful as a guide to planning a report?

Your Answer: A specific purpose statement.
Correct. A specific purpose statement will clearly delineate all the goals of the report.
10. What kind of outline is most useful in guiding work and easier for others to follow?
Your Answer: Outlines with informative headings.
Correct. Outlines with informative headings are most useful in guiding work and also easier for
others to follow because they provide more specific and detailed points about the work.
11. What is the Internet Public Library?

Your Answer: It is a public library on the Web, modelled after a bricks and mortar library, and
has links to carefully selected online resources.
Correct.
12. What kind of business information can you get from the Web site of PRNewswire?
Your Answer: Press releases and general company news.
Correct. These are Web sites dedicated to news releases.
13. When can a survey be judged as reliable?

Your Answer: If it produces identical results when repeated.
Correct.
14. If you begin to run out of time during an interview, how should you deal with that situation?
Your Answer: You should skip the less important questions and ask only those that you need
most.
Correct. This solution will enable you to get the interview done without disturbing anyone's
schedule.
15. What should recommendations in a report be based on?

Your Answer: On logical analysis of facts and sound conclusions.
Correct.
16. Reports are mostly long, formal documents that cannot be presented as memos or letters.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Reports can be of any length; their formality varies from situation to situation, and they
can be presented as memos or letters or just as reports.
17. Informational reports present data and facts with analyses and recommendations.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Informational reports do not present analyses and recommendations because their
purpose is to present information only.
18. Reports for implementing policies and explaining procedures are informational reports.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
19. Interim progress reports on work are usually followed by a final report which focuses on the
progress of the work as well.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Interim progress reports focus on progress while the final report at the conclusion of
work focuses on the final results rather than the progress of the work.
20. Proposals and problem-solving reports are analytical reports.

Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Proposals and problem-solving reports do need analysis.
21. When an unsolicited proposal is sent, the proposal writer has to convince the reader that a
problem or need exists and that he or she can solve the problem or fulfill the need.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
22. External proposals are not legally binding.

Your Answer: True
Incorrect. External proposals are legally binding because once they are accepted, they form the
foundation of a contract.
23. The most efficient way to write purpose statements is to begin with infinitive phrases (to and a
verb).
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Infinitive phrases consisting of the word to plus action words help define the purpose
or goals of a report or proposal.
24. An outline and a work plan are the same.

Your Answer: False
Correct. An outline presents the points the document will cover, while a work plan provides
those points as well as a list of required tasks, schedules, resources, and any resulting products or
follow-up plans.
25. Secondary information is information that already exists because it has already been collected by
someone else.
Your Answer: True
Correct. When you are using information that someone else has found, collected, and recorded,
that information is secondary information to you.
26. The only way to read newspapers full text electronically is to access the Web sites of newspapers.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Newspapers can also be found in full text on electronic databases that libraries provide
to their users.
27. All search engines index all the pages they find.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Some search engines index all the pages they find, while others index only the most
popular ones.
28. Checking documents and conducting surveys are two of the methods of collecting primary
information.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
29. Surveys can tell us what a cross-section of people think on our chosen topics.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
30. There is a difference between a conclusion and a recommendation.

Your Answer: False
Incorrect. A conclusion interprets facts, and recommendations recommend what to do with

those facts.
1. What types of documents are used most frequently for external communication in business?
Your Answer: Letters and e-mail.
Correct. Letters have been used for external business communications for a long time and
nowadays e-mail messages are also used when deemed appropriate.
2. What type of brief business message is deemed to be most formal?

Your Answer: Letter.
Correct. The letter is thought to be the most formal among the three kinds of brief messages: the
memo, the letter, and the e-mail.
3. What part of a letter identifies the recipient fully?

Your Answer: The signature block.
Correct Answer: The inside address.
Incorrect. The signature block is where the sender signs his or her name. It is the inside address
that identifies the recipient fully with name, position, and address.
4. What type of document can be called an interoffice correspondence?

Your Answer: Memo.
Correct.
5. What is the guideline about using salutations for e-mail messages?
Your Answer: Optional but highly recommended.
Correct. A salutation is not as required in an e-mail message as in a letter, but is highly

recommended because it personalizes the e-mail.
6. How do busy readers typically read messages on their first pass?

Your Answer: They read so fast that they lose the chance of realizing the importance of a
message.
Correct Answer: Busy readers typically skim a message on their first pass reading only certain
sections carefully to assess its importance.
Incorrect. Busy readers typically skim a message on their first pass, but they do read certain
sections carefully to determine if the message is important and needs more careful reading.
7. What techniques can make a message easier to skim?

Your Answer: Using longer paragraphs and sentences of similar length in each paragraph.
Correct Answer: Using bullets and lists, headings and subheadings, shorter paragraphs, and
sentences of various lengths in each paragraph.
Incorrect. Messages can be made easier to skim by using bullets and lists, headings and
subheadings, shorter paragraphs, and sentences of various lengths in each paragraph.
8. What are medium-length sentences most useful for?

Your Answer: Medium-length sentences are best for summarizing information.
Correct Answer: Medium-length sentences are most useful for showing relationships among
ideas.
Incorrect. They can are most useful for showing relationships among ideas.
9. What can short sentences do best?

Your Answer: Short sentences can summarize information most effectively.
Correct Answer: Short sentences can emphasize important information most effectively.
Incorrect. Short sentences can emphasize important information most effectively.
10. What is the average sentence length of most good business writing?
Your Answer: 15 words per sentence.
Correct Answer: 20 words per sentence.
Incorrect. The correct answer is 20 words per sentence.
11. A list should be preceded by _____.

Your Answer: A summary of what is to come in the list.
Correct Answer: An introductory sentence.
Incorrect. A summary would be redundant since the list is already an economical presentation of
information. A list should be preceded by a brief introductory sentence.
12. Identify and define the types of headings.

Your Answer: There is only one type of heading: a functional one.
Correct Answer: Headings are of two types: descriptive and informative.
Incorrect. Headings are of two types: descriptive and informative.
13. What kind of message invariably benefits from using a descending order of importance in
presenting information?
Your Answer: A memo.
Correct Answer: An e-mail.
Incorrect. An e-mail message invariably benefits from using a descending order of importance in
presenting information because such order ensures that the reader will get the important
information on the first screen.
14. What is a flame?

Your Answer: A flame is a negative e-mail message containing insensitive, insulting, or critical
comments.
Correct.
15. If you are sending a document by e-mail, what do you have to check in your final edit?
Your Answer: That the promised documents are indeed attached.
Correct. Often the sender forgets to attach the promised document.
16. In business communication, we always have to use a formal tone.

Your Answer: False
Correct. We don't have to use a formal tone all the time. We can use a casual or a formal tone,
and the choice of tone depends on the audience and the circumstances.
17. Internal communication helps employees develop a clear sense of the organization's mission and
identify potential problems.
Your Answer: True
Correct
18. Memos have salutations and complimentary closings like letters and are more formal than
letters.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Memos generally don't have salutations and complimentary closings; and letters are
more formal than memos in their composition and presentation.
19. Appearance, organization, and style are not so important for e-mail messages.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Appearance, organization, and style are just as important for electronic messages as
for any other type of business message.
20. Long sentences are suited well for grouping or joining ideas, listing points, and summarizing or
previewing information.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
21. Business readers prefer to read large blocks of text.

Your Answer: False
Correct. Since business readers need to absorb and respond to information usually within tight
deadlines, they are put off by large blocks of text where information is hard to find.
22. Parallel construction is not recommended for items in a list.

Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Items in a list should be in parallel construction for easier comprehension and better
style.
23. Headings and subheadings show a document's organization, get the reader's attention, and also
demonstrate the relationship between different ideas in a document.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
24. E-mail can only be used as informal communication between friends.

Your Answer: True
Incorrect. E-mail can be used for many kinds of formal business communication as well as for
informal communication between friends.
25. When multiple e-mail messages have been generated due to the same topic over a period of
time, the subject line needs no modification.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Over a period of time and through multiple messages, the content of the e-mail
messages could get too modified for the original subject line to be effective anymore.
26. Closings such as "Thanks" or "Regards" are used more after e-mail messages rather than a closing
like "Sincerely yours."
Your Answer: True
Correct. In most cases, use simple closings such as "Thanks" and "Regards."
27. An e-mail message is most effective when it is on a narrow topic and uses concise sentencing.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Narrow focus and concise writing is preferred because too many topics and too many
long sentences will be harder to read on screen.
28. You may not need to send a reply to an e-mail to all team members.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
29. E-mail messages need to be edited carefully.

Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
30. E-mails should be answered quickly.

Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Slow down and be sure you answer at a comfortable pace.
1. When is a request considered routine?

Your Answer: When a request is made at least once every day during a company's regular
operating hours.
Correct Answer: When a request involves doing what is part of the normal course of business.
Incorrect. A request is considered routine when it involves doing what is part of the normal
course of business. The frequency at which the request occurs is irrelevant.
2. How should routine request messages begin?

Your Answer: With the main idea, which is the request itself.
Correct. Since the request is routine and the audience attitude will be neutral or positive, there is
no reason to delay the main statement.
3. What kind of communication channel is better for making a claim?

Your Answer: A personal visit to the organization to which you are making the claim.
Correct Answer: A letter.
Incorrect. A letter is better for making a claim because it creates a formal documentation of your
claim.
4. What can we generally assume when writing a claim letter to a company about a genuine
complaint that does not involve a large sum of money?
Your Answer: We can assume that the company will adjust the claim, so we can make a direct
claim request in the message.
Correct. Companies want to maintain good relations and will generally honour a well-
documented reasonable claim with a fair adjustment.
5. What is the first thing you do when you receive a complaint?

Your Answer: Ask for further details from the person complaining.
Correct Answer: You must determine who is at fault.
Incorrect. Try to work with the information given. You need to determine who is at fault.
6. In granting claims, what is the best option when a third party is at fault?
Your Answer: Simply honour the claim.
Correct. This option is most attractive. You maintain your reputation but bear no cost as you get
reimbursed.
7. How should a positive message open?

Your Answer: A positive message should open with some general words of appreciation
before getting to the main good news.
Correct Answer: A positive message should open with the main idea or the good news you
want to communicate.
Incorrect. There is no reason to delay good news and clutter it with unnecessary information, so
a positive message should open with the main idea or good news.
8. When a routine reply message needs to convey some disappointing information, what should
you do with the negative part of the message?
Your Answer: Begin your message directly with the negative idea.
Correct Answer: The writer should find a favourable context in which to place the negative
information to help reduce the audience's disappointment.
Incorrect. The negative idea should not be placed so directly; it should be placed into as
favourable a context as possible to help reduce the audience's disappointment.
9. What do companies mostly use for handling repetitive routine queries?

Your Answer: Generic form response letters.
Correct. Companies develop computerized form response letters to handle repetitive routine
queries since there is no reason to write new responses to the same query.
10. How do progressive businesspeople treat claims and adjustments?
Your Answer: As avoidable matters in order to progress in business.
Correct Answer: As opportunities for building customer loyalty.
Incorrect. Rather than being avoidable, claims and adjustments give businesses opportunities to
show their dedication to their customers and win greater customer support.
11. How should company errors be discussed in response to a claim (complaint) when the company
is at fault?
Your Answer: A particular employee or department should be blamed for the fault to spare
the company from the blame.
Correct Answer: Explain that your company tries its best to satisfy customers, and errors are
unusual and correctable.
Incorrect. Blaming an employee or department will make the company look worse. You should
explain that your company tries its best to satisfy customers, and errors are unusual and
correctable.
12. How do you deal with your finding of customer error when responding to a claim (complaint)?
Your Answer: Point out the customer's error very directly so that such error-prone
customers do not do business with you again.
Correct Answer: Let the customer understand his/her error in using the product or service
without insulting the customer.
Incorrect. You would not want to lose a customer even if the customer has made an error. You
need to help the customer understand his/her error so that such errors do not happen
repeatedly.
13. How can you cement relationships in business?

Your Answer: Friendly, unexpected notes for special occasions enhance relationships.
Correct.
14. Why can a letter of appreciation become very important in the recipient's professional life?
Your Answer: Because it becomes a personal memento of a professional life.
Correct Answer: Because it has the potential to become an important part of the recipient's
personnel file.
Incorrect. It is important because it has the potential to become an important part of the
recipient's personnel file.
15. What is a good advice for writing condolence notes?
Your Answer: Talk about the loss and bereavement at length so the reader understands your
sympathy.
Correct Answer: Mention the good qualities and positive contributions of the deceased person.
Incorrect. Dwelling on the loss and bereavement too much will increase your reader's pain.
16. The three-step writing process of planning, writing, and completing is not useful for preparing
routine messages.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Routine messages do require the three-step writing process to be prepared effectively.
17. You can be demanding when writing a routine request since it is routine and you expect it to be
granted.
Your Answer: False
Correct. A demand does not sound like a request; it is impolite to be demanding. Make your
request courteously.
18. A polite request in question form does not need a question mark.
Your Answer: True
Correct. A direct question does require a question mark.
19. A series of questions can be listed in the body of a request message.

Your Answer: False
Incorrect. When a request involves several questions, these questions can be listed in the body.
20. In some situations, to get a positive response to a request message, you need to point out if the
response will benefit the reader in some way.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
21. An angry letter can get better results than courteous ones for the purpose of claim settlements.
Your Answer: False
Correct. An angry letter will create undesirable tension in any business relationship.
22. Claims need to be submitted with evidence.

Your Answer: True
Correct. Claims need the support of evidence to be valid and convincing.
23. Routine letters should begin by telling the reader who you are and details of the situation.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. You will usually begin a routine message directly.
24. In a routine message you may close by highlighting a benefit to the reader or by expressing
goodwill.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. You may close by highlighting a benefit to the reader or by expressing goodwill.
25. A generic form letter cannot be more sincere and useful than a letter written for a specific
reader.
Your Answer: False
Correct. A carefully prepared computerized form letter may be even more sincere and useful
than a hastily written letter for a specific reader.
26. Few people go to the trouble of requesting an adjustment unless they actually have a problem.
Your Answer: True
Correct. Therefore, assume the claimant's account is honest.
27. If the customer is at fault, let the customer know how much time you spent investigating the
claim.
Your Answer: False
Correct. When the customer is at fault, either refuse the claim (with justification) or do what the
customer wants.
28. Compliments do not have to be backed up by specific points in letters of appreciation, because
general appreciation will make a recipient happy.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. General appreciation may make a recipient happy, but it will not be convincing or
useful.
29. Business acquaintances may be sent congratulatory notes on the occasion of their own or a
family member's achievements.
Your Answer: True
Correct. This is an acceptable practice in Canada.
30. Condolence letters are seldom written on letterhead stationery.

Your Answer: True
Correct. Condolence letters need to be personal, and letterhead stationery depersonalizes the
letter.
1. What are the best persuasive messages closely connected to?

Your Answer: To the message writer's needs and interests.
Correct Answer: To the audience's desires, interests, and needs.
Incorrect. The best persuasive messages are connected to the audience's desires, interests, and
needs.
2. What is Psychographics?
Your Answer: Psychographics is software used for studying the psychological characteristics
of people.
Correct Answer: Psychographics is information about the personality, attitudes, lifestyle, as
well as other psychological characteristics of people.
Incorrect. Psychographics is information about the personality, attitudes, lifestyle, as well as

other psychological characteristics of people.
3. Acceptable persuasive techniques are different in different cultures. For example, a hard-selling,
aggressive technique could antagonize an audience in _____.
Your Answer: The United States.
Correct Answer: France.
Incorrect. The correct answer is France.
4. When can persuasion be seen as negative?

Your Answer: When the message fails to persuade the target audience.
Correct Answer: When it involves dishonest and unethical practices.
Incorrect. Persuasion is seen as negative when it involves dishonest and unethical practices.
5. What kind of appeals do most persuasive messages include?

Your Answer: Direct and indirect.
Correct Answer: Emotional and logical.
Incorrect. The appeals can be classified as emotional and logical.
6. What are the elements of the AIDA plan?

Your Answer: The elements of the AIDA plan are Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
Correct. A persuasive message can be planned so that it stimulates these elements in the
audience.
7. When you want to use the indirect approach in a persuasive memo or an e-mail, how do you deal
with the subject line?
Your Answer: Omit the subject line from your memo or e-mail.
Correct Answer: Make the subject line relevant, informative, and interesting without revealing
your main point through it.
Incorrect. Memos and e-mails need subject lines even if they are using the indirect approach. So
you have to create a relevant subject line without revealing the main idea.
8. What is a good way to stimulate our audience's interest and desire to respond positively to our
persuasive claim request?
Your Answer: Reveal the consequences of other businesses that did not grant their
customers' claims.
Correct Answer: Appeal to their sense of goodwill and give them some positive reasons to
grant our claim.
Incorrect. It is much better to appeal to their sense of goodwill and give them some positive
reasons to grant our claim.
9. What strategies are crucial in preparation for writing a sales message?
Your Answer: Deciding whether to use hard-selling or soft-selling techniques.
Correct Answer: Knowing your product thoroughly and analyzing your audience carefully.
Incorrect. You will need to know your product thoroughly and analyze your audience carefully.
10. What are selling points?

Your Answer: Selling points are the most attractive features of an idea or product.
Correct.
11. Who do you want to benefit most from the selling points in a sales message?
Your Answer: The sales staff of the company will benefit most because the company will
make more money.
Correct Answer: Your readers must benefit most because their needs are being addressed.
Incorrect. Your product's benefits must correspond to your reader's primary needs. Nothing
moves forward unless you meet the reader's needs.
12. What kind of words are especially important to give strength to sales messages?
Your Answer: Friendly words.
Correct Answer: Action words.
Incorrect. Action words give strength to sales messages.
13. How can you de-emphasize price?

Your Answer: Put the price at the end of the paragraph.
Correct Answer: Break a quantity price into units.
Incorrect. The end of a paragraph is a point of emphasis. One way to de-emphasize price is to
break a quantity price into units.
14. What is a particular challenge in writing fundraising letters?

Your Answer: Supporting your claims.
Correct Answer: Motivating action.
Incorrect. Supports are important, but the greatest challenge is motivating people to act.
15. What is usually the best lead-in for fundraising letters?
Your Answer: A short paragraph describing the success of the fundraising organization.
Correct Answer: A real-life narrative.
Incorrect. A real-life narrative is usually the best lead-in for a fundraising letter because it appeals
to the reader's emotion.
16. Persuasive messages aim to influence audiences who are willing to be persuaded.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Persuasive messages aim to influence audiences who are inclined to resist or ignore
the message.
17. Demographics is information about gender, age, occupation, earnings, education, and other
quantifiable characteristics of a population.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
18. The persuasive techniques acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another culture.
Your Answer: True
Correct. One culture may accept aggressive selling techniques, while another may not. One
culture may demand more numerical evidence to be persuaded, while another culture may be
swayed more by specific comparable evidence.
19. Credibility is the ability to get a good credit report.

Your Answer: False
Correct. Credibility is one's ability to be trusted by others as reliable and worthy of confidence.
20. While writing persuasive messages, we must maintain the highest standard of business ethics
and avoid every attempt to manipulate.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. Without ethical standards, persuasion will turn into manipulation. Audiences need the
freedom to choose.
21. Only emotional appeals are needed for persuasive messages.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Both emotional and logical appeals are needed for persuasive messages.
22. Induction and deduction are methods of reasoning that can be used to gather evidence for
persuasive messages.
Your Answer: True
Correct.
23. The AIDA plan can be used both in messages using the direct and the indirect approaches.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect.
24. Claim letters are always written as persuasive messages rather than routine ones.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. Most claim letters under regular circumstances are actually routine messages not
requiring sophisticated persuasive techniques. Only claim letters with complicated issues need to
be written as persuasive messages.
25. Sales letters and fundraising letters have no difference between them.
Your Answer: False
Correct. There is one basic difference between sales and fundraising letters. Sales letters aim to
persuade readers to buy, and fundraising letters aim to persuade readers to donate.
26. A sales letter does not have to link a product's selling points, benefits, and the reader's needs.
Your Answer: True
Incorrect. A sales letter must link these three elements to be effective.

27. In planning a sales letter, you need to know if your audience is driven by bottom-line pricing or
quality.
Your Answer: False
Incorrect. You need to know what drives your audience to plan your selling points and benefits.
28. In sales messages your ultimate goal is to have many product benefits.
Your Answer: False
Correct. Ultimately you will single out one key benefit.
29. In a sales letter, if a price falls at the end of a paragraph, it is emphasized.

Your Answer: False
Incorrect. The end of a paragraph is a point of emphasis. To de-emphasize it, bury it in the middle
of the paragraph.
30. Even in fundraising letters, you have to think of including some benefits from the point-of-view
of the reader or potential donor.
Your Answer: True
Correct. The readers have to see that they are also getting something by helping the cause you
are writing about, though their benefits may be ideological.

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1. What are some of the communication challenges of today's workplace?

Incorrect. For effective cross-cultural communication, we should be aware of and sensitive to

Incorrect. The correct answer is cultural context.

9. In a high-context culture, what do people rely on more to convey meaning?

10. How are expectations and rules presented in low-context cultures?

Incorrect. The correct answers are Germany and Japan.

Incorrect. The correct answer is superior.

Incorrect. Various groups of stakeholders in a company have various kinds of needs.

Correct. The two are not alike.

25. We should treat other people the way we want to be treated.

Incorrect. A team can be formed even with a minimum of two people.

3. What key topics should be covered in an effective meeting agenda?

4. What should the meeting leader do if a discussion lags?

5. How should a leader conclude a meeting?

7. What are three most crucial barriers to effective listening?

8. What is the key to making effective telephone calls?

9. Voice mail can be used to replace _____.

12. Nonverbal communication usually _____ with verbal communication.

14. Why has touching become controversial in business environments?

25. It is best not to go into complicated details in a voice-mail message.

28. In business situations, touching can suggest dominance.

30. In business communication, physical gestures can reinforce words.

1. How can business messages be more effective?

2. The writing process in business consists of _____ steps.

6. What are the necessary qualities of information included in business communication?

Incorrect. Information included in business communication has to be complete, accurate,

8. What kind of messages can be planned and controlled best?

9. Which medium is the leanest in terms of offering feedback?

10. What is the "you" attitude?

14. What is biased language?

Correct. You need to address the concerns of key individuals.

29. Written communication requires less tact than oral communication.

2. How do you decide how much you should write?

3. According to communication researchers, people can usually remember a maximum of _____

Incorrect. The correct answer is five.

5. What should we do when composing the first draft of a document?

7. What should business messages avoid to achieve an acceptable conversational tone?

8. What is plain English?

10. What parts of speech often evoke subjective judgments?

Incorrect. Adjectives and adverbs evoke subjective judgments.

11. What are clichés?

13. Define active and passive voices.

17. The main idea of a document is the same as its topic.

24. Abstract words should not be used in business messages.

30. A paragraph is a cluster of unrelated sentences.

4. What is the name of a modifier that has no connection to its subject?

Incorrect. The correct answer is dangling modifier.

5. To what extent can most first drafts be cut?

Incorrect. Most first drafts can be cut by about 50 percent.

6. How are sentences affected if infinitives replace some phrases?

7. The phrase "surrounded on all sides" is an example of _____.

Incorrect. "Surrounded on all sides" is an example of a redundant word combination in which

8. How can we give our message an attractive and contemporary appearance?

10. What is justified type?

11. What kind of type lightens a document's appearance?

12. What is typeface?

Typeface is the physical design of letters, numbers, and other text

14. What is type style?

15. What should you look for when proofreading?

16. Revision can occur throughout the writing process.

25. White space in a document plays no role in your document design.

Incorrect. Proofreading does involve all these processes.