BUS 739 Midterm 1

Type

Quiz

Book Title

Business Communication: Building Critical Skills 6th Edition

ISBN 13

978-0073403267

July 13, 2015

The direct request pattern is most effective when the audiences are likely to object to

doing as you ask.

Though some colors carry different meanings in different cultures, the color black

signifies death in all cultures.

The best way to get more money is to convince the employer youre worth it.

Reader benefits are the easiest to develop for announcing policies.

An employers real fear about an older employee is not that he or she will retire in just a

year, but that the person wont be flexible, up-to-date, or willing to be supervised by

someone younger.

Denotation is a words meaning as understood by a reader and is typically different from

its literal meaning.

Groupthink is the tendency for groups to reward dissent.

You must always put a comma between the subject and the verb in a sentence.

Open issues are issues that are raised but not resolved.

A report can be as simple as a series of PowerPoint slides printed out and bound

together and submitted for peoples review.

A visual shows that 63 percent of a companys sales came from middle-class families.

Which of the following is the most inappropriate way to discuss the visual?

A. 63% of the companys sales came from middle-class families.

B. Sixty-three percent of the companys sales were generated from middle-class

families.

C. A major portion of the companys sales, 63 percent, came from the middle class

families.

D. Middle-class families accounted for sixty-three percent of the companys sales.

E. Both B and D are inappropriate.

In both solicited and prospecting letters, applicants should:

A. tell when they can begin work.

B. address the letter to all the managers of the company.

C. indicate where they learned about the job.

D. show a knowledge of the company and the position.

E. ask for a job.

Which of the following is a secondary purpose of an informative message?

A. To build a good image of the writers organization

B. To give information to the reader

C. To reassure the reader

D. To have the reader read the message and understand it

E. To deemphasize any negative elements

Which of the following is an appropriate response to a question on low grades?

A. "Everyones grades were low because the instructors were so tough."

B. "Grades were less important to me than the actual knowledge I got from my

courses."

C. "I faced some challenges when my parents went through a bitter divorce."

D. "Low grades show how well rounded I am-for instance, I spent much of my time

doing charitable work through the Greek system."

E. "Im sure that people with low grades have accomplished great things, and I intend to

be one of them."

Joes boss calls him to her office to critique his draft of a report. Most of her comments

are negative. Joe should still listen carefully mainly because:

A. listening to superiors is considered to be a corporate ritual.

B. if his manager sees him paying careful attention, her opinion with regard to his draft

would improve substantially.

C. he should know what kind of improvement counts.

D. the failure to listen will most likely lead to retaliation in the future.

How should one represent his or her strengths in an interview?

A. Strengths need to be represented as facts, without the backing of specific examples.

B. Introducing examples for each strength is time consuming and must be avoided.

C. Strengths can be presented at the end of an interview for lack of an earlier

opportunity.

D. Achievements are derivatives of character traits and not personal strengths.

E. A weakness that can be corrected should be put forth as a potential strength.

A job applicant writes a prospecting letter to:

A. respond to a job advertisement.

B. apply for a position that the organization has not advertised.

C. apply when he or she has been advised to apply by a professor or friend.

D. tap into popular job markets.

E. tell where he or she learned about the job.

Which of the following is true of a thank-you letter?

A. It should use language that isoverly condescending.

B. It must be prompt.

C. It must be lengthy.

D. It should include reader benefits.

E. All of the above.

For creating better memos and letters, one should:

A. avoid using bold headings.

B. avoid using proportional fonts.

C. avoid having a heading all by itself at the bottom of the page.

D. avoid changing tab settings or using different indents.

E. retain widows and orphans.

Which of the following methods helps in making a Web page easy to use?

A. Provide an introductory statement orienting the surfing reader to the organization.

B. Fill the page with links and extra information that may or may not be interesting to

visitors.

C. Use a lot of animation regardless of the content of the Web page.

D. Avoid visual variety.

E. Avoid using indentations and numbered lists.

As part of the employee motivation strategies taken up by a particular firm, it was

decided that employees would be encouraged to opt for online courses to pursue their

masters degree. Also, employees who would opt for such courses would have their

tuition fee reimbursed by the company. Which of the following is the most appropriate

subject line for this message, if it were to be communicated to all employees via

e-mail?

A. Tuition Reimbursement

B. New Tuition Reimbursement Program

C. Details on subsidized education for online courses leading to a masters degree from

premier institutes

D. Have you thought about going back to school?

E. Reimbursement

A store is designing a new catalogue for its fall collection. Which of the following is the

best way to increase the stores credibility?

A. Creating a glossy catalogue with colorful pictures

B. Stating the facts about each product

C. De-emphasizing the you-attitude

D. Writing in an exaggerated style

E. None of the above

Denotation is best defined as:

A. the emotional colorings or associations that accompany a word.

B. a words literal or dictionary meaning.

C. the root of a word.

D. a words description based on its usage.

To deemphasize a negative, one must put the negative information in the _____ of a

paragraph.

_____ are benefits that come from an activity or policy itself, apart from any financial

benefits.

Giving the reader an alternative or a compromise, if one is available, enables the reader

to reestablish the _____ you limited when you said no.

Define credibility. What are the ways of building credibility in persuasive messages?

What is the primary function of headings in a document?

What pattern of organizing negative messages should you use when you must pass

along serious bad news to peers and subordinates?

How should a speaker ideally close a presentation?