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Excellence in Business Communication, 12e (Thill/Bovee)
Chapter 6 Completing Business Messages
1) Regarding the three-step writing process, all of the following except ________ are important
elements of the completing step.
A) proofreading the message
B) revising the message
C) forecasting the message
D) producing the message
E) distributing the message
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Easy
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
2) When you begin the ________, focus your attention on content, organization, style, and tone.
A) production process
B) editing process
C) revision process
D) research process
E) distribution process
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Easy
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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3) In business communication, the ________ of a message usually have the greatest impact on
the readers.
A) body paragraphs
B) appendix sections
C) topics and subtopics
D) beginning and ending sections
E) visual aids
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
4) When you need to revise a long, complex document,
A) start the process as soon as you’ve finished your first draft.
B) start by focusing on misspelled words and grammar errors.
C) save time by multitasking while you’re revising the document.
D) try to put your draft aside for a couple of days before you start.
E) start by looking for sentence level issues, such as grammar and spelling.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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5) When reviewing your document for content, you should be concerned with
A) grammar and usage.
B) punctuation and spelling.
C) the accuracy and relevance of the information.
D) style and tone.
E) type styles and typefaces.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
6) When evaluating the work of others, you should
A) make sure you understand the writer’s intent before you begin suggesting or making changes.
B) talk with the writer about his or her intent only after you suggest changes, since this is a good
way to test the effectiveness of the document.
C) avoid talking with the writer about the document, since other readers may not have that
opportunity.
D) compare the other person’s writing style with your own, and if yours is better, rewrite the
document in your own style.
E) suggest ways to improve the writing, even if you don’t believe the author really needs them.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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7) The first draft a document is often
A) clear.
B) compelling.
C) improvable.
D) tightly written.
E) perfect.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Easy
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
8) Messages with spelling and grammar errors create an impression of
A) multitasking.
B) poor autocorrecting software.
C) blog use.
D) simple revision focus.
E) poor quality thinking.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Easy
Classification: Critical Thinking
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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9) When evaluating for content, organization, style, and tone, the conclusion of the message
should
A) be open ended.
B) offer an opportunity for further information.
C) present new ideas.
D) include links to research.
E) summarize the main idea and create a positive impression.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
10) Before revising someone else’s work,
A) identify the writing style you wish to use.
B) identify key points you wish to make.
C) identify the writer’s intent of the message.
D) identify ways you can help the writer change the emphasis of the piece.
E) identify ways to help the writer incorporate your agenda into the piece.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
11) After you have completed the first draft of your business message, the next step is to make a
final, quick pass through it to check for typos and spelling errors.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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12) Revising your message is important because readers are likely to equate the quality of your
writing with the quality of your thinking.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Easy
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
13) Briefly explain what the opening of a document should accomplish.
first drafts and the work of other writers.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Difficult
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
14) For general business messages, gear your writing toward
A) technical experts.
B) readers at the fifth-grade to sixth-grade level.
C) readers at the eighth-grade to eleventh-grade level.
D) readers at the twelfth-grade to fourteenth-grade level.
E) college graduates.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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15) Readability indexes measure ________, so they offer a useful reference point for improving
your writing.
A) style and syntax
B) sentence length
C) tone of voice
D) proper word usage
E) correct spelling and grammar
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
16) Using short paragraphs will help you improve the readability of your business messages
because
A) they will make your writing look more daunting.
B) they can help you emphasize key ideas.
C) they are more time consuming to read than long paragraphs.
D) they eliminate the need for transitional elements.
E) they can be easily understood by a less educated audience.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Critical Thinking
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
17) Business writers use bulleted and numbered lists to
A) simplify complex subjects.
B) minimize negative key points.
C) lighten the visual impact of the document.
D) add decorative elements to their messages.
E) extend the length of the work.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Application
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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18) When you’re writing a business message, use headings and subheadings to
A) achieve parallelism.
B) identify subordinate clauses.
C) focus on specific ideas.
D) minimize the relationship between ideas.
E) group related paragraphs together.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Synthesis
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
19) Which of the following is not a technique for helping readers who skim your document?
A) using lists and bullets instead of narrative
B) keeping all sentences the same length
C) including headings and subheadings
D) using shorter paragraphs
E) using informative headings
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
20) Skilled business writers
A) use long sentences to emphasize important information.
B) keep their sentences to an average length of 40 words or fewer.
C) vary the length of their sentences.
D) use sentences that are between 25-30 words.
E) never use sentences that contain fewer than 10 words.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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21) When it comes to paragraph length,
A) use long paragraphs with detailed information for direct-mail letters.
B) use long paragraphs if you want your document to look more inviting.
C) keep all paragraphs to fewer than 60 words.
D) use one-sentence paragraphs only occasionally, for emphasis.
E) avoid using topic sentences for each paragraph.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
22) When creating a list for a business document,
A) always use bullets, rather than numbers or letters.
B) mix listed items as phrases and sentences.
C) be sure to introduce it clearly.
D) any text in the list should be typed in all caps.
E) make sure it contains at least 7 items.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Moderate
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
23) Skillful writers use informative headings and subheadings to
A) conceal the basic structure of the document.
B) guide readers to think a certain way about the topics covered.
C) add a decorative flair to mundane documents.
D) take up space so the document doesn’t look too short.
E) simply identify topics covered in the document.
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Difficult
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
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24) The ________ assesses the readability of a document by ranking it on a 100-point scale.
A) Plain Language Manifesto
B) Carnegie Readability Ratio
C) Flesch Reading Ease score
D) Simplified Technical English equation
E) Kincaid Grade Level score
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Difficult
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages
25) ________ headings identify a topic but do little more; ________ headings guide readers to
think in certain ways about a topic.
A) Topical; interrogative
B) Universal; relational
C) Descriptive; informative
D) First level; second level
E) Major; sub
AACSB: Written and oral communication
Difficulty: Difficult
Classification: Conceptual
Learning Outcome: Revise, complete, and distribute business messages