Messages seldom need to be adapted to an audience-humans by nature are adaptable
and will find a way to understand the message.
“Providing courteous, excellent, and reliable customer service for AT&T broadband
subscribers” is a good career objective statement because it is specific and brief.
Truncated graphs are most acceptable when the audience knows the basic data set well.
You can improve the quality of closed questions by conducting a pretest with open
questions to find categories that matter to respondents.
The pro and con pattern is a variation of the divided pattern.
When designing Web pages, you should use “marketese” for better results.
In a groundbreaking study of professional employees, Frederick Herzberg found that
the things people said they liked about their jobs were all extrinsic rewards.
Tables are numbers or words arranged in rows and columns; figures are every other
type of visual.
It is acceptable to post the same kind of information on a professional social networking
page as on a personal one.
A T-letter is the same as a traditional job application letter.
It is inappropriate to follow up information and referral interviews with personal
thank-you letters.
Blind copies are copies of a document sent to other people without telling the reader.
When you grant a customers request for an adjusted price, discount, replacement, or
other benefit to resolve a complaint, you should emphasize your own process in making
the decision.
An example of a low-context culture would be Canadian culture.
In a formal presentation, one needs to speak more slowly and have longer pauses than
in an informal conversation.
Which of the following should a good meeting agenda specify?
A. The time and place of the meeting
B. The person sponsoring or introducing each item in the meeting
C. The time that is allotted for each item
D. Whether each item is presented for information, for discussion, or for a decision
E. All of the above are indicated in a good agenda
Which of the following is the best strategy to make ones writing coherent?
A. Substituting single words with wordy phrases
B. Eliminating the use of gerunds and infinitives
C. Using passive verbs instead of active verbs
D. Putting the weight of the sentence into the prepositions
E. Combining sentences so as to focus on key points
Which of the following is not a quality of a follow-up letter after an office visit?
A. Thanking the host for the hospitality
B. Including receipts for expenses to be reimbursed
C. Using error-free spelling and grammar
D. Showing enthusiasm
E. Providing an updated copy of the résumé
When doing business in Japan, which person in a group would look most authoritative
to the Japanese?
A. The youngest person
B. The heaviest person
C. The tallest person
D. The shortest person
E. The oldest person
Which of the following exemplifies a standard complimentary close?
A. Sincerely
B. Warmly
C. Thats all for now
D. With best wishes
E. Bye
Which of the following is best considered as an intrinsic reward or benefit of using a
product or a service?
A. A gift voucher received on purchasing a product
B. A free holiday won on purchasing a product
C. A sense of security or safety experienced on using a service
D. A discount received on repeated use of a service
E. None of the above
You are helping your friend Helena create a resume for a law-related position. She has a
few educational diplomas and degrees, and had passed her CPA exam five years ago. In
addition, she has worked part-time for three years as a waitress, a law-clerk, and an
intern, and full-time for two years as a legal assistant. About which of the following
should Helena provide minimal details in her resume?
A. Law-clerk two summers ago
B. Aide to a House Representative last summer
C. Waitress at a small diner
D. Passed the CPA exam five years ago
E. Vice President of the college accounting club
Which of the following is true of a goodwill ending?
A. It minimizes the visibility of the writer.
B. It summarizes a conversation for internal use.
C. It tells readers what a letter is about.
D. It focuses on the business relationship between the writer and the reader.
E. None of the above.
Which of the following should applicants not do when the first job offer they get isnt
the one they most want?
A. Accepting the offer over the phone
B. Expressing pleasure in being offered the job
C. Asking for time to think about the offer
D. Asking the date of joining
E. Calling other companies to check the status of their application
When an applicant does not have any evidence that the company is hiring, he or she
should not:
A. catch the readers interest.
B. tell when he or she can begin work.
C. create a bridge between the attention-getter and the qualifications.
D. specify the niche he or she wants to fill.
E. ask for an interview.
For accepting a job offer, applicants must make their acceptance contingent upon:
A. a written letter confirming the terms.
B. an experience letter from the past employer.
C. a letter from the prospective team leader.
D. a follow-up letter.
E. an appraisal letter.
Open body positions include:
A. keeping hands in pockets.
B. leaning back, sometimes with both hands behind the head.
C. crossing arms or legs.
D. leaning forward with uncrossed arms.
E. none of the above.
In general, a writer should do the same thing in the subject line of an informative
message that he/she would do in:
A. the first paragraph of the message.
B. the last paragraph of the message.
C. the reference line of the message.
D. the goodwill ending.
E. None of the above.
Intrinsic benefits are:
A. the benefits that come from an activity or a policy itself, apart from any financial
benefits.
B. the financial benefits that employees receive for superior performance.
C. the monetary benefits that employees receive for supporting a major change in the
organization.
D. the stocks owned by employees.
E. the benefits that come in the form of bonuses and promotions.
Which of the following cases is the direct request of organization used in a
recommendation progress report?
A. When the recommendations are easily acceptable to its readers
B. When the recommendations are likely to meet resistance from its readers
C. When there are multiple recommendations
D. When the recommendations do not include budgetary information.
E. Both B and C
In mixed punctuation:
A. a comma follows the salutation.
B. a comma does not follow the close.
C. all commas are omitted.
D. colons are not used.
E. a colon follows the salutation.
Paula Doharty, a manager working with Preston Labs in North Dakota, wants to present
some informative messages to prospective clients. In order to do so effectively, she
must avoid:
A. giving details.
B. providing a background.
C. using you-attitude.
D. using a goodwill ending.
E. leaving reader benefits unexplained.
Which of the following helps avoid procrastination?
A. Setting a regular time to write
B. Using the same tools in the same place every time you write
C. Freewriting
D. Setting modest goals and rewarding yourself for reaching them
E. All of the above
When should you use emdashes instead of hyphens?
A. To emphasize a break in thought
B. To indicate that a word has been divided between two lines
C. To join two or more words as a single adjective
D. To divide words at syllable breaks
E. None of the above
To avoid sexist language, secretary should be:
A. changed to administrative assistant.
B. changed to personal assistant.
C. changed to business associate.
D. changed to clerical assistant.
E. retained as it is, as the term is already neutral.
_____ questions direct different respondents to different parts of the questionnaire
based on their answers to earlier questions.
What is a subject line? List some standard practices pertaining to the writing of good
subject lines.
What is the most appropriate length of a sentence?
How should one address questions related to strengths or weaknesses in an interview?
What pattern of organizing negative messages should you ideally use?