Archives: Quiz

Which of the following measures would best allow one to compare the relative wealth of poor households to the typical household in an economy? A. The perfect-equality Lorenz curve. B. The Gini coefficient. C. The 90-10 wage gap. D. The […]

Compared to offering no unemployment benefits, the unemployment insurance system of the United States probably A. leads to shorter spells of unemployment. B. increases the unemployment rate. C. leads to lower post-unemployment wages. D. provides for a lower standard of […]

Connotations among cultures remain constant irrespective of changing time. African American women may be more likely to “talk tough” in response to unwelcome advances. Answer: TRUE African American women may be more likely to “talk tough” in response to unwelcome […]

A sales report is an example of a recommendation report. A good purpose statement makes the organizational problem or conflict clear. Answer: TRUE A good purpose statement makes three things clear: The organizational problem or conflict. The specific technical questions […]

General to particular, a pattern for organizing information, starts with the problem as the audience defines it and moves to larger issues of which the problem is a part. People who listen looking for flaws, tend to focus on the […]

The easiest way to learn about objections your audience may have is to ask knowledgeable people in your organization or your town. If a message is very short, it can be put in the subject line appended with “EOM.” Answer: […]

Square brackets should be used around words that are being discussed as words. After the first job interview, applicants must make follow-up phone calls to reinforce positives from the first interview. Answer: TRUE After a first interview, applicants must make […]

Sales promotion in an informative or positive message should be hard sell, not “low-key.” The desirable tone for business writing is stiff and groveling. Answer: FALSE The desirable tone for business writing is businesslike but not stiff, friendly but not […]

Justification reports recommend a purchase, investment, hiring, or change in policy. While giving bad news to peers and subordinates, you should ask for input or action, if possible. Answer: TRUE While giving bad news to peers and subordinates, you should […]

In a descriptive dictionary, words are defined as they are supposed to be used. Some meanings are negotiated as people interact one-on-one with another person. Answer: TRUE Some meanings are negotiated as people interact one-on-one with another person, attempting to […]

The most important notes to be included in meeting minutes are the decisions and assignments. Expert writers are more likely to revise and are usually better at evaluating their own work. Answer: TRUE Expert writers are more likely to realize […]

Scheduling controversial items early in the meeting makes people suspect that the leaders are trying to manipulate them. Hot buttons refer to issues to which your audience has a strong emotional response. Answer: TRUE Hot buttons are the issues to […]

One-sentence benefits are much better than those developed in three or more sentences. Emotionally charged situations often impair the listening skills of most people. Answer: TRUE Active listening techniques can be used when you disagree with someone. Most of us […]

RFP is the acronym for Reasons for Funding the Program. When you give bad news to a superior, you should avoid turning the negative message into a persuasive one. Answer: FALSE When you give bad news to a superior, also […]

Words fail to connote status. Thinking about the writing process and consciously adopting “expert” processes will help one become a better writer. Answer: TRUE Thinking about the writing process and consciously adopting “expert” processes will help one become a better […]

It is important to connect personally with the audience by using informal language like “You” in the message. Since white space reduces the aesthetic appeal of a document, it should not be used in business documents. Answer: FALSE The use […]

All e-mail communities follow the same norms. They rarely develop their own norms. Encouraging disagreement or assigning someone to be the devils advocate helps rectify groupthink. Answer: TRUE Groupthink is the tendency for groups to put such a high premium […]

Good business writing sounds like a person talking to another person. In a summary of a conversation for internal use, you need not identify who does what next. Answer: FALSE You may be asked to summarize a conversation, a document, […]

In informative messages, reader benefits give reasons to act and help overcome reader resistance. Some listening errors happen because the hearer wasnt paying enough attention to a key point. Answer: TRUE Good listeners pay attention, focus on the other speaker(s) […]

Unlike in an information interview, a person can ask for a job in a referral interview. Good Web pages have both good content and an interesting design. Answer: TRUE Good Web pages have both good content and an interesting design. […]

T-letters provide more information than the job application letter and resume combination. Any sentence that contains the word “you” is demonstrative of you-attitude. Answer: FALSE You-attitude is a style of writing that looks at things from the readers point of […]

A high-paying job always holds more value than a low-paying job. A sales presentation is considered a conversation, even if the salesperson stands up in front of a group and uses charts and overheads. Answer: TRUE A sales presentation is […]

Referring to a readers request specifically is a way to demonstrate you-attitude. In a stress interview, most of the stress is physical in nature. Answer: FALSE A stress interview deliberately puts the applicant under stress. If the stress is physical, […]

If you get feedback you dont understand, you should ask for clarification. Comparison and contrast cannot be used for organizing information in reports. Answer: FALSE Comparison/contrast is one of the seven basic patterns for organizing information in reports. Expert writers […]

A misplaced modifier can be corrected by moving it farther away from the word that it modifies. An ethical way of presenting negative information compactly is to keep the print far too small to read than while presenting positive information. […]

Interviewing skills improve with practice. Rehearsing before an interview helps prepare for the interview. Flaming includes insulting, swearing, and making hostile statements via e-mail. Answer: TRUE Writers using e-mail are much less inhibited than they would be on paper or […]

Blogging is so popular, some businesses are turning to it to aid in recruiting employees. Creating goodwill with content involves anticipating and answering questions that a reader is likely to have. Answer: TRUE Good messages apply you-attitude beyond the sentence […]

The Title Page of a report contains four items. Psychographic characteristics are quantitative rather than qualitative. Answer: FALSE Psychographic characteristics are qualitative rather than quantitative: values, beliefs, goals, and lifestyles. Freewriting involves writing your topic in the middle of a […]

In a formal report, the List of Illustrations tells the reader what the document is about. Pie charts force the audience to measure length. Answer: FALSE Pie charts force the audience to measure area. Bar charts enable the audience to […]

Using prepositional phrases or introductory clauses helps avoid beginning a sentence with “I.” An example of a high-context culture is German culture. Answer: FALSE In low-context cultures, context is less important; most information is explicitly spelled out. German, Scandinavian, and […]

In a skills resume, one should use headings that reflect the jargon of the job for which one is applying. A letter after an office visit is essential to thank the hosts for their hospitality. Answer: TRUE A letter after […]

A skills resume lists in chronological order the experiences a person has had that qualify him or her for a job. In mixed punctuation, a colon follows the salutation and a comma follows the close. Answer: TRUE In mixed punctuation, […]

Miscommunication can occur because different people have different frames of reference. The two most common letter formats are complimentary block and alternative block. Answer: FALSE The two most common letter formats are block, sometimes called full block, and modified block. […]

Negative and persuasive e-mail messages should not be direct. Even if a stress interview puts you under stress, you should do your best to stay at ease and respond assertively. Answer: TRUE A stress interview deliberately puts the applicant under […]

Subject lines are standard in memos. Credibility is the audiences response to you as the source of the message. Answer: TRUE Credibility is the audiences response to you as the source of the message. People are more easily persuaded by […]

It is not necessary to know the rules of grammar while using a grammar checker. Being treated fairly and earning enough to afford a comfortable standard of living are organizational motivations for safety and security needs. Answer: TRUE Earning enough […]

States with names of more than five letters are frequently abbreviated in letters and memos. If an applicants first offer is not from his or her first choice, the applicant should not express his or her pleasure at being offered […]

A verb is passive if the grammatical subject of the sentence does the action the verb describes. All messages should use you-attitude, but the words to achieve it will change depending on the situation. Answer: TRUE All messages should use […]

To find stories, one must simplify the data on that topic and convert the numbers to simple, easy-to-understand units. Ohio and 26 other states have “Im sorry” laws that allow physicians to acknowledge mistakes without fear of lawsuits. Answer: TRUE […]

In a persuasive presentation, the strongest point should be put in the middle. If all of a persons experience is in his or her familys business, he or she should use a family members name as a reference in the […]

Constructive ways to respond to criticism and get closer to the real concern include paraphrasing and checking for feelings. In a presentation, if the speaker is asked a question to which he or she does not know the answer, it […]

In a memo, writers must always use a separate heading for the first paragraph. A well-written follow-up letter refers to the applicants next move. Answer: TRUE A well-written letter refers to the next move, whether the applicant will wait to […]

Web pages should offer an overview of the content of the page on the first screen. A collection letter is originally negative. Answer: FALSE A collection letter is persuasive; it becomes negative in the last stage when the writer threatens […]

Keywords are useless when doing research with a computer. If a letter is accompanied by other documents, the writer should refer to them in the body of the letter. Answer: TRUE Many letters are accompanied by other documents. Whatever these […]

If you have good news to convey, you should not put it in the subject line of your e-mail message. Employers almost always offer jobs by e-mail. Answer: FALSE Employers almost always offer jobs orally. Good listening enables you to […]

Stories and psychological description fail to build emotional appeal. A root word followed by a minus (-) sign will yield other words that include the root word. Answer: FALSE A root word such as stock followed by the plus sign […]

To know whether your design is functional, you should consider testing it with your audience. A listener who mirrors the speakers feelings demonstrates active listening. Answer: TRUE In active listening, receivers actively demonstrate that theyve heard and understood a speaker […]

When designing black and white graphs, one should use shades of gray rather than stripes, wavy lines, and checks to indicate different segments or items. Once an applicant gets a job, he or she must take a few moments to […]

Professional listservs and electronic bulletin boards are a good way to get information about the industry one hopes to enter. If reader benefits are in you-attitude, they will sound selfish and won€t be as effective as they could be. Answer: […]

The best way to brainstorm is to write without stopping until a set time has elapsed, even if you must write “I will think of something soon.” If you need to probe for complexities of a topic for a survey, […]