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WorksheetsST2
Total questions: 100
Worksheet time: 50mins
Good business writing is concise. Concise means that the writing
avoids the use of redundant phrases.
is free of errors in grammar and punctuation.
has been revised to include examples and research.
contains proper documentation of resources.
Communication skills
are not as important as technical skills for career success.
are not necessary in today's competitive job market.
are ranked by recruiters at the top of qualities they most desire in job seekers.
cannot be learned; they are innate.
Which of the following best avoids flabby expressions?
In very few cases do job applicants perform adequate research about a company.
The CEO is of the opinion that stock prices will increase next quarter.
Although many employees have requested training, we can't afford the extra expense.
We do not expect any pay raises at this point in time.
Which of the following statements is most accurate?
Because today's workers are more geographically dispersed, the need for well-written messages has declined.
Employers rank oral and written communication skills as less valuable than hard skills such as mathematical computation, computer literacy, and
Communication skills are critical to your job placement, performance, career advancement, and organizational success.
Business letters and interoffice memoranda remain the top forms of business correspondence.
Effective communicators avoid the flabby expression in the near future by using the word
now.
soon.
probably.
for.
What communication channel would be most appropriate when a written record or formality is required?
Report or proposal
Letter
Blog
Long sentence lead-ins
are unnecessary introductory words.
introduce the "meat" of the message.
avoid reader confusion.
demonstrate effective language usage.
What is the preferred channel choice for today's corporate communicators?
Memos
Letters
Instant messaging
I am writing this letter to inform you that is an example of
a flabby expression.
an effective introductory statement.
a long lead-in.
strong business writing.
Neil must develop a proposal for his supervisor that will describe the cost savings for an automated call center. Where should he begin?
Writing the proposal
Locating other proposals that he can copy
Researching the proposal
Determining an appropriate layout
Which of the following best avoids a long lead-in?
Yes, we will send the information you requested.
This is to advise you that we will send the information you requested.
You may be interested to learn that we will send the information you requested.
I am writing this letter to inform you that we will send the information you requested.
Before composing a business document, you should gather information that will answer which of these questions?
Will I have enough time to complete thorough research?
What is the receiver to do?
What information will be the easiest to locate?
How will I use this information?
It is important to avoid long lead-ins because
they are grammatically incorrect.
conciseness is enhanced through long lead-ins.
the reader is delayed from reaching the meaning of the sentence.
they result in faulty parallelism.
Which statement is accurate?
Proofreading involves using only a spell checker.
Revision should always occur after you have completed writing.
Business messages must be clear, concise, and readable.
Revising and proofreading involve the same steps.
There are 15 candidates who applied for the job opening is an example of a sentence with
concise wording.
a wordy prepositional phrase.
a filler.
faulty parallelism.
Which of the following is true about writing and revising business documents?
Rarely is the first version satisfactory, but usually the second version is excellent.
Experts say only amateurs expect writing perfection on the first try.
Revision is not necessary for informal documents such as internal memos or e-mail messages.
The real work of revision should happen in the writing stage as you select words and form sentences.
Which of the following is a redundant expression?
Uniquely combined
Recent facts
Fundamental difference
Absolutely essential
Which of the following statements about communication in the workplace is most accurate?
Today's workplaces are nearly all paperless; employees conduct business with digital media and communicate only with electronic messages.
Most employees exchange documents and complete projects on the Web, but only management creates content, reviews products, or edits projects.
More data are stored on and accessed from PDAs and individual computers rather than on the Internet or a network.
Although today's workplaces are still far from paperless, increasingly information is exchanged electronically and on the go.
Which sentence avoids redundant expressions?
It is absolutely essential that our accounting records are accurate.
Let's not repeat our competitor's mistakes.
Please refer back to the June financial statements.
I want to thank each and every stockholder.
Businesses are storing and accessing ever more data along with software in remote network clusters. This process of remote storage is called
community sourcing.
networking.
cloud computing.
data dumps.
What is the current advice on the use of a greeting on business e-mail?
Omit greetings because they make an e-mail appear too casual.
Add a greeting only when forwarding an e-mail with a lengthy header.
Don't waste precious digital space on the nonessential keystrokes of a greeting or salutation.
Begin with a greeting to provide a visual cue and to show friendliness.
Which of the following statements best describes the use of letters, e-mails, and memos in business today?
Businesses use memos to deliver positive messages internally and externally, but they use a formal business letter to deliver negative messages.
E-mail delivers most internal communication, hard-copy memos deliver most external communication, and letters communicate only legal issues.
Despite the popularity of e-mail, in certain situations letters remain the preferred channel of communication for delivering messages outside an organization.
Businesses today use e-mail, memos, and letters interchangeably for all audiences, purposes, and messages.
If a coworker is using company computers to communicate with family members, what is the best advice?
Send e-mail to family or friends if you wish because the employer can't monitor non-business e-mail anyway.
Use company computers for e-mail and shopping, but don't visit any gambling sites.
Don't use company computers for personal matters.
Be certain to complete all personal communication during break time.
Although e-mail is incredibly successful for both internal and external communication, you should still use letters when
you need immediate feedback.
the message must reach your reader very quickly.
formality and sensitivity are essential.
you have too little time to proofread.
If you have to send a long message via e-mail, what is the best advice?
Place all information in the body of the e-mail message.
Attach a separate document to the e-mail message, leaving the body of the message blank.
Attach a document to the e-mail message, including identifying information in the body of the e-mail.
Send it another way because you should not send attachments via e-mail.
Every business person will need to write a negative business message that may disappoint, irritate, or anger the receiver; these messages must be written
thoughtfully.
by top-level management only.
by any department with legal department final approval.
deceitfully.
The final element of an e-mail message should be
your name.
a witty phrase and your name.
the name of the business or organization only.
the final paragraph of the message containing action information.
You can reduce the receiver's bad feelings by ensuring your receiver thinks that you have revealed the news sensitively, treated the matter seriously, made the decision fairly, and
explained the reasons for the rejection clearly.
revealed the bad news directly and bluntly.
explained the legal options.
delivered the bad news via certified mail.
Business e-mail users must learn that e-mail can be dangerous because messages travel long distances, are difficult to erase, and
can't be used to transmit official documents.
are informal, allowing a few spelling and punctuation mistakes.
may become evidence in court.
are challenging to type using only two fingers.
Tanya is planning a persuasive message. What should she do in her opening?
Explain the purpose of the request completely.
Ask a stimulating question.
Show the value of her proposal.
Focus on the sender's direct and indirect benefits.
E-mail is the No. 1 communication channel in business today. To make your messages effective, you should
consider the receiver.
compose quickly.
organize indirectly.
edit and revise as you draft.
When using the indirect strategy in a persuasive message, you should place the reasons and explanations
in the closing of the message.
after the main idea.
before the main idea.
in an attachment to the message.
Which of the following situations is most appropriate for sending an e-mail message?
Matthew is angry with one of his colleagues and wants to let her know exactly how he feels.
Jane found a great political joke she wants to share with her colleagues.
Chris must send the monthly sales data to his department.
Maggie needs to vent her frustrations about working conditions to her shift supervisor.
Which of the following statements about reports is accurate?
Business professionals rarely write reports.
Writers develop reports for internal audiences only.
Informal reports of eight or fewer pages are the most common report in the workplace.
Business writers deliver reports only through hard copies.
Which of these is the best recommendation for business communicators using e-mail?
Use e-mail to deliver bad news or to resolve arguments to limit or avoid workplace confrontation.
Add humor or tongue-in-cheek comments to lighten the tone of serious e-Add humor or tongue-in-cheek comments to lighten the tone of serious e-mail topics.
Use e-mail, not hard-copy memos, for messages that the business would not want to be made public or for topics that should not be published.
Care about tone, correctness, and conciseness to create messages with the reader in mind.
Reports convey information, answer questions, and ________
present your opinions.
solve problems.
comply with government regulations.
demonstrate your proficiency as a technical writer.
Podcasts, blogs, and wikis are part of the new user-centered virtual environment called
the Total Network.
Web 2.0.
Cloud Computing.
VPN.
Reports that present data without analysis or recommendations are
informational reports.
analytical reports.
cost-benefit analysis reports.
justification reports.
Which of the following statements best describes use of social networks by businesses today?
All companies are comfortable with using social networking for brainstorming and teamwork.
Companies struggle with finding the right balance between permitting access to the Web and protecting security as well as ensuring productivity.
Companies must run their own social networks to capitalize effectively on the benefits this medium offers.
Large companies (like McDonalds and British Telecom) create buzz and promote their brands via social networking, but social networking offers no benefit to small businesses.
Which of the following is most likely to be written as an informative report?
A recommendation from the Information Technology Department that your company install a wireless network
A feasibility study addressing tuition reimbursement to all employees
A comparison of five handheld communication devices that your company might purchase
A summary of information presented at a recent conference for technical writers
On the job you are more likely to be taken seriously and promoted if you
look and sound professional.
frame your degree or certificate and hang it on your office or cubicle wall.
appear to be busy even when you're not really doing anything.
attend office parties.
Communication is defined as "the transmission of information and meaning from one individual or group to another." The crucial element of this definition is
transmission.
information.
meaning.
individual.
During the second phase of the writing process, you conduct research,
clarify the audience demographics, and edit word choices.
anticipate audience reaction, and adapt the message.
organize ideas, and compose the message.
evaluate message effectiveness, and revise as needed.
In the final phase of the writing process, check the message for clarity and readability, proofread for errors, and
evaluate for effectiveness.
assess the cost in the selected delivery channel.
solve the problem.
forward the document to the publishing department.
Experts say that writers should spend the most time in the ____ stage of the writing process.
prewriting
writing
revising
transmission
The primary purpose of business writing is typically to inform or persuade; a common secondary purpose is to
promote goodwill.
comply with governmental regulations.
create written documentation.
avoid lawsuits.
Which of the following business messages would use the direct strategy?
A letter denying credit to a customer.
A sales letter.
A letter rejecting a customer's claim.
An e-mail to your staff reminding them of the upcoming all-staff meeting.
Which of the following is an advantage of the direct strategy?
Minimizes a negative reaction
Saves the reader time
Respects the feelings of the reader
Encourages a fair hearing
Which of the following is an advantage of the indirect strategy?
Saves the reader's time
Respects the feelings of the audience
Prevents frustration
Sets a proper frame of mind
When you expect a reader of your message to be uninterested, unwilling, displeased, or hostile, you should
put the bad news first.
begin with the main idea.
explain all background information first.
send the message via e-mail, text message, or IM.
Which of the following sentences avoids clichés?
We can prove the benefits of exercise for stress reduction beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Employees who engage in a regular fitness program are likely to pass the physical exam with flying colors.
Please encourage your department members to join the health club.
Last but not least, you, too, should join the fitness program.
Converting verbs into noun expressions
decreases sentence length.
drains verb strength.
increases the reader's ability to process the information.
All answer choices are correct.
Which of the following sentences avoids noun conversion?
Your supervisor will give consideration to all capital budget requests.
The committee worked on the establishment of a fund for scholarships.
The benefits committee will be responsible for the acquisition of an endowment.
The scholarship committee approved the plan.
Which statement about margins and text alignment is true?
Margins define the reading area and provide important visual relief.
Nearly all text in Western cultures is aligned at the right.
Business letters and memos usually have side margins of 2 inches.
Ragged right margins decrease white space and readability.
Which of the following situations is most appropriate for sending an e-mail message?
Matthew is angry with one of his colleagues and wants to let her know exactly how he feels.
Jane found a great political joke she wants to share with her colleagues.
Chris must send the monthly sales data to his department.
Maggie needs to vent her frustrations about working conditions to her shift supervisor.
Which of these is the best recommendation for business communicators using e-mail?
Use e-mail to deliver bad news or to resolve arguments to limit or avoid workplace confrontation.
Add humor or tongue-in-cheek comments to lighten the tone of serious e-mail topics.
Use e-mail, not hard-copy memos, for messages that the business would not want to be made public or for topics that should not be published.
Care about tone, correctness, and conciseness to create messages with the reader in mind.
Podcasts, blogs, and wikis are part of the new user-centered virtual environment called
the Total Network.
Web 2.0.
Cloud Computing.
VPN.
Which of the following statements best describes use of social networks by businesses today?
All companies are comfortable with using social networking for brainstorming and teamwork.
Companies struggle with finding the right balance between permitting access to the Web and protecting security as well as ensuring productivity.
Companies must run their own social networks to capitalize effectively on the benefits this medium offers.
Large companies (like McDonalds and British Telecom) create buzz and promote their brands via social networking, but social networking offers no benefit to small businesses.
Although e-mail is incredibly successful for both internal and external communication, you should still use letters when
you need immediate feedback.
the message must reach your reader very quickly.
formality and sensitivity are essential.
you have too little time to proofread.
Businesses choose letters to conduct transactions for which of these reasons?
Letters convey a sense of urgency and indicate the need to complete transactions promptly.
Letters represent the business's awareness of current trends and show customers its ability to communicate via up-to-date channels.
Letters are the No. 1 channel of communication in business today, and businesses use letters to conduct most external transactions.
Letters provide confidentiality, formality, and sensitivity to transactions that may also require a permanent record.
Why is the format of a business letter important?
Incorrect letter formats will invalidate legal agreements.
Businesses use only one letter format: full block.
The appearance of a business letter carries a silent message about the sender beyond the printed words.
Even e-mails follow business letter format.
Which parts of your letters are readers likely to find most interesting and read first?
Address
Opening and closing
Middle paragraphs of justification and explanation
Salutation
Which of the following bad-news letters is best suited to a direct strategy?
An announcement of changes in business services
A layoff notice for a long-time employee
A denial of benefits on an insurance claim to an angry customer
A notice of an unexpected plant closure to the city council and mayor
Which of these patterns is typical for bad-news messages presented in the indirect strategy?
Buffer, reasons, bad news, and goodwill closing
Buffer, bad news, and goodwill closing
Explanation, bad news, buffer, and closing
Bad news, explanation, and goodwill closing
The indirect strategy works best when the bad news is personally upsetting, the news will prompt a hostile reaction, and
the message arrives unexpectedly.
firmness is necessary.
the receiver may overlook the bad news.
the bad news is not damaging.
The direct pattern, with the bad news first, would be appropriate when you are
cancelling your weekly sales meeting.
informing employees of a major increase in their health insurance premiums.
turning down a request for a charitable contribution.
denying a customer's request for a credit increase but wanting to continue business with the customer.
Which statement about professionalism is accurate?
Professionalism refers to those behaviors exhibited only to customers.
Professionalism describes desirable workplace behavior.
Professionalism emphasizes hard skills or technical knowledge desired by employers.
Professionalism is important only in large companies.
A synonym for professionalism is
hard skills.
social acceptance.
business etiquette.
diversity.
Professional behavior is comprised of six dimensions, including courtesy and respect, appearance and appeal, tolerance and tact, honesty and ethics, reliability and responsibility, and ________
soft and hard skills.
self-actualization and self-control.
diligence and collegiality.
education and training.
Which of the following statements about professionalism in the workplace is accurate?
Unprofessional behavior affects only the individual who displays it.
More organizations are establishing procedures or policies to encourage professionalism.
Employees need to exhibit professional behavior only when working at their desks.
You exhibit professional behavior only through nonverbal actions such as dressing appropriately or maintaining eye contact with others.
During your interview you will
convince the employer of your potential.
research the company.
create success stories and match them to common interview questions.
organize yourself and your materials into a persuasive package.
The job interview provides the opportunity for you to
expand on information in your résumé.
find out more about the job and whether it suits your career goals.
learn more about the company to decide whether you would fit into the company culture.
do all of these.
Which of the following statements about hiring/placement interviews is most accurate?
During sequential interviews sell your qualifications to each interviewer.
A hiring manager in the department with the job opening will probably ask more general questions than will a human resources representative.
Panel interviews occur when a company interviews several candidates for the same position at the same time.
The most common type of interview is the stress interview.
When interviewing for high-pressure positions, companies may use stress interview techniques, which include being
greeted immediately by the interviewer.
asked rapid-fire questions by members of a team.
given a test with no time limit.
offered challenging food, beverages, or tobacco products.
Michael is an active job seeker now that he has submitted several job applications. Which of the following is the best advice for Michael?
If you put your cell phone number on your application, answer the cell phone professionally.
Call the company every day to check on your application status.
Send a thank-you note only if you are offered the job.
Do not apply for more than one job at a time.
Which of the following is the best advice to make a positive first impression in a phone conversation with an employer?
Don't refer to your résumé or references during the first phone call because these are appropriate only in the placement interview.
Take notes about the conversation immediately after hanging up to avoid forgetting details.
In the first phone call, be polite and enthusiastic; but don't be pushy by discussing your qualifications.
If caught off guard by the call, ask whether you can call back in a few minutes.
Which of the following is recommended for job seekers to complete as "homework" when preparing for an interview?
Google the interviewer.
Allow a "cooling-off period"; stop thinking about the interview for 12 hours.
Select an interesting and appealing fragrance (aftershave or perfume).
Develop a thick skin because rejections are likely.
Rebecca has an interview with a large company in a nearby city. What information should she learn about the company before her interview?
The company's mission and goals.
The company's customers and competitors.
The management structure and names of leaders.
Rebecca should find out all this information about the prospective employer.
Which of the following is the best advice when answering interview questions?
Focus your answers on your strengths, but reveal a weakness or two to show your humanity and humble nature.
Use the interviewer's name and title each time you answer a question to show respect.
To be concise, answer questions with a simple yes or no whenever possible.
Aim answers at the key characteristics needed, such as expertise, motivation, and a pleasant personality.
The primary difference between ethical and unethical communicators is that unethical communicators
intend to deceive.
use only the indirect strategy regardless of the audience, purpose, or topic.
use only the direct strategy regardless of the audience, purpose, or topic.
omit the buffer from their bad-news messages.
Although businesses prefer to deliver bad news to employees personally, when bad news must be given to large groups of employees, businesses are most likely to use which of the following?
Newspaper advertisements
Traditional interoffice memos
Tweets (Twitter messages)
Blog
All of the following are helpful tips to deliver a bad-news message personally in the workplace except
consider taking a partner if you fear a "shoot the messenger" reaction.
focus on the future and avoid discussing the past or the present.
think about timing and do not deliver bad news on a Friday afternoon.
prepare and rehearse; outline what you plan to say.
A bad-news message, whether delivered in person or in writing, is usually better received when you
give the reasons before the bad news.
immediately share the bad news.
provide the reasons and explanations but conceal the bad news.
combine the buffer and bad news.
Personally delivering bad news is sometimes recommended, but written messages are important to establish a record of the incident, to formally confirm follow-up procedures, and
to promote good relations.
to denote your leadership rank.
to persuade the receiver to follow your recommendations.
to allow you to identify your organization and position.
In deciding to share bad news within an organization, what question should you consider first?
Will I profit personally (promotion, bonus pay, or honors)?
Was the act criminal or hostile behavior or just a one-time mistake?
How should I time the information delivery (before or after a meeting)?
How can I avoid being identified as the tattle tale by other employees?
Letters saying no to emotionally involved receivers is a challenging communication task. Which of the following is the best advice for this task?
Use the refusal-before-reason pattern to present the information artfully.
Place blame where blame is due, including on the customer if he or she is responsible.
Avoid offering resale information because it may weaken customer confidence.
Use neutral, objective language to explain the reason the claim is refused.
What is the optimum number of participants for most group projects?
Two
Four to five
Ten
There is no "optimum" number; more is always better.
The most successful workplace teams
have a small number of members.
are homogeneous.
avoid conflict.
The most effective groups have members who
do not establish rules.
make excessive jokes to make everyone laugh.
ignore silent group members.
offer information and try out their ideas on the group to stimulate discussion.
What term describes groups of people who work interdependently with a shared purpose across space, time, and organization boundaries using technology?
Blogs
Virtual teams
Team players
Social networking
Which of the following statements about workplace teams is most accurate?
Teams tend to respond more slowly to competition or problem solving.
Because conflict often results, teams tend to have decreased productivity.
Team members who are involved in the decision-making process show less resistance to change.
Individuals tend to make better decisions than teams.
Which of the following is the best advice to follow when you proofread a document?
Proofread both routine and complex documents from your computer screen to save time.
Read the document at least twice.
Concentrate on ideas rather than words.
Increase your reading speed.
Proofreading includes which of the following tasks?
Improving content and tone
Fine tuning sentence and paragraph structure
Correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation, names and numbers, and format
Determining whether the message should be written using the direct or indirect
Which of the following statements regarding bulleted or numbered lists is accurate?
Lists decrease a reader's comprehension of the main ideas.
Lists allow readers to review main ideas quickly.
Lists confuse readers because they are visually distracting.
Lists decrease the readability level of a document.
Which statement regarding type sizes and fonts is accurate?
Font styles are a stylistic means of adding emphasis to your words.
Readers are generally most comfortable with 8- to 10-point type for body text.
Fonts include caps, boldfacing, italics, underlining, outlining, and shadowing.
Writers should always use all caps to emphasize their ideas.
Which statement about margins and text alignment is true?
Margins define the reading area and provide important visual relief.
Nearly all text in Western cultures is aligned at the right.
Business letters and memos usually have side margins of 2 inches.
Ragged right margins decrease white space and readability.
Which of these is the most effective response to the question, what do you think is your greatest weakness?
Some people complain that I'm a workaholic with nearly too much passion for this field.
To tell the truth, I become frustrated with lazy coworkers who don't pull their own weight.
My typing speed isn't as fast as I would like, but this position doesn't require me to use the computer.
I've worked hard to eliminate every weakness, and I am confident you will
When the interviewer asks you questions about the future, you should provide answers that
show ambition and interest in succeeding with this company.
enable you to work in your practiced success stories.
demonstrate you have the skills required for the target position.
illustrate your interest in their organization and in the open position.
If an interviewer says “Why do you want to work for us?”, you should
briefly summarize problems at your current job that require you to change employers.
show what you know about the interviewer's company and how your goals match the company and its culture.
explain that as a recent graduate you want to work for any company needing a person with your skills and background.
tell the truth about your reasons for seeking this job; for example, you are unemployed, you need more pay or better benefits, or you just graduated.
If an interviewer says Tell me about yourself, what is the best way to respond?
Present your brief biography as a chronology, beginning with when and where you were born.
Briefly discuss educational, professional, or business-related strengths.
To start the interview positively, provide a few humorous personal anecdotes.
Tell several success stories, making sure to fill at least ten minutes of interview time.
