Grammarians and professional editors agree on the rules of grammar.
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The functions of footnotes and endnotes are identical; the only difference between the
two is their placement.
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Body language is particularly important during the warm-up phase of a job interview.
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Group members who play team-maintenance roles help everyone to work better
together.
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Members of a well-established culture tend to view their culture as complete, which can
dull or even suppress curiosity about other cultures.
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Today’s employers want all jobseekers to submit video résumés.
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You should always use APA style for documentation in your reports, even if your
employer or client normally uses a different form.
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When it comes to personal appearance in the workplace, it’s best to match your style to
the expectations of your organization.
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Because promotional messages are not legally binding contracts in most states, it is
usually acceptable to imply offers or promises you cannot deliver.
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Instant messaging is a faster communication tool than email.
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Once you have established your purpose, it’s best to consider whether the timing for
your message is right.
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Location-based applications link the virtual world of social networking with the
physical world of retail outlets and other businesses.
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Transitional words and phrases such as, “Now that we’ve covered…” are generally less
important in oral presentations than in written reports.
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Within a business context, a community manager writes software code for corporate
social media networks.
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Mobile devices can help you learn another language or communicate with someone
who doesn’t speak your language.
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Unlike with verbal language, the meanings of nonverbal signals are consistent across
cultures.
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When creating questions for a survey, include leading questions that suggest the answer
or contain the information you’re looking to have confirmed.
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When analyzing your audience, you should ignore everyone except the key decision
makers.
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When concluding a presentation, don’t bore your audience by restating points you
already made in the body.
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You should always include your college GPA on your résumé.
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Regardless of the audience’s specific needs, if your product is good and your message is
clear, you will likely persuade them to make a purchase.
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If you’re writing a message for mobile devices, don’t worry about including white space
(blank space) between message elements.
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Think in ‘small chunks” of information when writing for someone who’ll read your
message on a smartphone.
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Policy statements or procedural changes are generally neutral, so readers will not react
emotionally to them.
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When making a claim or requesting an adjustment from a company, you should
document your initial complaint and every correspondence after that.
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Business reports don’t require a work plan.
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Induction refers to reasoning from a generalization to a specific conclusion.
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To keep an audience’s attention, try to present every point you make in light of the
audience’s needs and values.
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In the workplace, readers will prejudge the quality of your products or services by the
proposal you submit.
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Insert three blank lines between the complimentary close and the sender’s typed name.
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International business communication has been hampered by opening trade barriers
throughout the world.
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Starting with your initial contact and continuing throughout the interview process, you
should
A) stress how much getting the job will mean to you.
B) press for a decision because you are scheduled for other interviews.
C) let the employer determine how to use your knowledge, skills, and abilities.
D) explain how your skills and accomplishments will meet the needs of the employer.
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Which type of interview would be likely to include a question such as, “You seem
wholly unqualified for this job, and your answers so far have been terrible. Why should
we continue with this?”
A) Stress
B) Structured
C) Screening
D) Situational
Answer:
Business communicators use ________ to illustrate interrelationships between the
positions, units, or functions of an organization.
A) XY diagrams
B) data visualizations
C) communication mockups
D) organization charts
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Companies can use ________ to identify and capitalize on market opportunities that are
contained in large, complex, or dynamic sets of data.
A) telepresence
B) enterprise IM systems
C) data visualization
D) crowdsourcing
Answer:
Excluding important negative information about a candidate in a recommendation letter
A) is expected otherwise no one would be able to get a good job.
B) has led some employers to sue after hiring the candidate and discovering problems.
C) is the only way to prevent the candidate from suing you.
D) is okay, as long as you explain to the candidate that you are doing it.
Answer:
A key distinction of the oral medium, in-person channel is ________ because it enables
the nuances of nonverbal communication more than any other media-channel
combination.
A) being in the same physical space
B) using digital means to transmit vocalizations
C) conveying spatial relationships and technical processes
D) overcoming barriers of time and location
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One important goal of a buffer is to
A) delay stating the bad news.
B) establish common ground with your reader.
C) make your reader wonder what the message is about.
D) divert the reader’s attention to a more pleasant subject.
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A content note
A) offers additional information or provides a cross-reference.
B) documents direct quotes.
C) documents paraphrased passages.
D) documents visual aids.
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All of the following except ________ are challenges inherent in using a written digital
channel to deliver a business message.
A) compromising employee productivity
B) delivering messages quickly
C) requiring online connectivity
D) raising security and privacy issues
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When you have to enter data on a mobile device, using ________ in public areas or
shared offices can expose private message content and annoy anyone within earshot.
A) a stylus pen
B) a portable computer keyboard
C) voice recognition software
D) a touchpad or an external mouse
Answer:
Consider the following statement: “Our profits, which have been disappointing, are
only part of the total picture.” This statement uses a ________ to deliver negative news.
A) mixed metaphor
B) parenthetical expression
C) deflective reference
D) contingent modifier
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a compelling advantage of email in the workplace?
A) Email is universal.
B) Email closely resembles one-on-one conversations.
C) Email is an effective medium for private, short- to medium-length messages.
D) Email allows senders to write messages and recipients to read them, according to
their schedules.
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Use a ________ to show frequency or distribution of parts in a whole.
A) bar chart
B) histogram
C) flowchart
D) pie chart
Answer:
Do all of the following except ________ when you’re editing a document for
conciseness.
A) eliminate redundancies
B) shorten long words and phrases
C) delete unnecessary words and phrases
D) convert sentences to “it is” or “there are” structures
Answer:
When you’re appraising employee performance, ________ to support any decisions that
need to be made about pay, promotions, or termination.
A) write down your frustrations
B) document performance problems
C) evaluate each employee differently
D) focus on each employee’s faults and shortcomings
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a strategy for structuring reports focused on logical
arguments?
A) 2 + 2 = 4 approach
B) Direct approach
C) Yardstick method
D) An approach that compares a solution to a set of predetermined standards
Answer:
The general purpose of a ________ is to persuade the audience to do something.
A) proposal
B) presentation
C) press release
D) research report
Answer:
When planning a meeting, the group leader prepares a(n) ________ of items to discuss,
topics to present, or decisions to make.
A) agenda
B) shortlist
C) roster
D) proforma
Answer:
Only one sales representative can go to the conference in Hawaii, but both Susan and
Sean want to go. After much discussion and arguing, they draw straws and Susan gets
the trip. This is an example of
A) a win-lose situation.
B) the five-step decision-making process.
C) the best way to deal with a conflict.
D) all of the above.
Answer:
Companies that use the mobile-first approach
A) allow employees to bring their mobile devices to work.
B) design their websites for optimum viewing on smartphones and tablets.
C) control operating costs through telecommuting and other nontraditional work
models.
D) ignore traditional standards of grammar, punctuation, and spelling when writing
messages.
Answer:
A euphemism is a word or phrase that is
A) possibly offensive.
B) general or abstract in meaning.
C) highly technical.
D) a milder term for one with negative connotations.
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“All the characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals” is the
definition of
A) ethnicity.
B) diversity.
C) culture.
D) none of the above.
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The desire phase of a conventional marketing or sales message should
A) cut through “the clutter” to get your audience’s attention.
B) build interest in the product or service that the message is promoting.
C) expand on your explanation of how the product or service will benefit them.
D) include a persuasive call to action.
Answer:
All of the following guidelines except ________ will help you avoid ethical lapses
when you’re creating visual support for a business message.
A) aggregating data carefully
B) oversimplifying complex situations
C) providing background information
D) avoiding emotional manipulation
Answer:
In terms of the three-step writing process, podcasts differ mostly from written messages
in the ________ step.
A) planning
B) writing
C) completing
D) finishing
Answer:
When writing persuasive messages, one way to avoid faulty logic is to
A) avoid induction.
B) avoid deduction.
C) avoid praising your opponent.
D) avoid hasty generalizations.
Answer:
Which one of the following interview questions is discriminatory?
A) Did you graduate from high school?
B) This job requires that you speak Spanish. Do you?
C) Do you have physical or mental disabilities?
D) Do you have the legal right to work in the United States?
Answer:
When offering compliments in a goodwill message, you should
A) feel free to exaggerate.
B) keep them broad and general.
C) back them up with specific points.
D) temper them with comments on areas for improvement.
Answer:
When you’re creating a website, think of it as ________ that visitors must learn how to
operate before they can use it efficiently.
A) a data-driven dynamo
B) a panorama of possibilities
C) a modular multimedia matrix
D) an information-delivery machine
Answer:
The term ________ refers to the physical design of letters, numbers, and other text
characters.
A) type style
B) typography
C) typeface
D) serigraphy
Answer:
When drawing conclusions for a report, you should
A) introduce new information that wasn’t discussed in the report.
B) avoid getting input from other members of your research team.
C) ignore information in the report that doesn’t support your point of view.
D) interpret your research results logically, based strictly on the information in your
report.
Answer:
The Chicago Humanities style requires you to use
A) the author-date system.
B) the author-page number system.
C) footnotes or endnotes.
D) full citations within the text itself.
Answer:
What is wrong with the following sentence? “Having stalled for two days, the
assignment was now late.”
A) It lacks parallelism.
B) It contains a dangling modifier.
C) It contains an awkward pointer.
D) Nothing it is grammatically correct as written.
Answer:
When writing a persuasive claim letter, you should
A) assume the other person has no interest in helping you.
B) use a confident and positive tone.
C) mention as many additional complaints as possible about the company.
D) say you have already contacted an attorney (even if you really haven’t).
Answer:
Some terms and phrases called ________ have become so common that they have lost
some of their power to communicate, and ________ are newly coined terms often
associated with technology, business, or cultural changes.
A) euphemisms; idioms
B) clichés; buzzwords
C) colloquialisms; clichés
D) pull quotes; derivations
Answer:
Rewrite the following to make it a more active statement: “I was in charge of customer
complaints and all ordering problems.”
Answer:
What are seven guidelines to keep in mind when creating content for business-related
social media?
Answer:
Compare and contrast drawing conclusions and making recommendations in a report.
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You are faced with informing your supervisor about massive production delays.
Company policy dictates that you must provide this information in writing. What
questions should you consider when deciding between the direct and indirect
approaches for your message?
Answer:
What does it mean for a receiver to “decode” a message?
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List three guidelines to follow in order to avoid ethical lapses when conducting
research.
Answer:
Explain the content and function of the three types of navigation and support slides.
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How can you determine the best font size for the text in an electronic presentation?
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Briefly explain what the opening of a document should accomplish.
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Give at least three examples of how podcasts could replace more traditional message
formats in business.
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Explain the characteristics of an effective letter rejecting a job applicant.
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Briefly describe the elements of a negative message that uses the direct approach.
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List at least five types of visuals commonly used to present data in business documents.
Provide an example of a specific task for which one type would be especially useful.
Answer:
If you are new to a company, what is the best way to decide what type of dress is
appropriate in that organization?
Answer:
What six tasks do you need to complete to prepare for a successful job interview?
Answer:
What are the three categories of social networks used by businesses and professionals?
Answer:
Describe five techniques you can use to compose effective messages for mobile
devices.
Answer: