Details that add nothing to the title and are less impressive than the title must be
omitted.
High-pitched voices are generally considered to be more authoritative and pleasant to
listen to than low-pitched voices.
Questions about what media, formats, and styles being preferred for communication are
a good way of understanding a company’s discourse community.
Geert Hofstede’s power distance dimension states that a country with a high
power-distance index indicates more equality at all social levels than a country with a
low power-distance index.
A visual allows important information to be emphasized, even if the visual does not
appear at the beginning or at the end of a document.
A person who has an advanced degree, such as an MBA or JD, may use the headings
“Professional Affiliations” and “Community Service” instead of “Activities.”
Informal reports may be letters, memos, or computer printouts of numerical
information.
Closed questions are faster (than open questions) for subjects to answer and easier for
researchers to score.
Photograph is a popular visual because it can be relied upon to be a true record of a real
event.
In order to change from passive voice to active voice, one needs to make the agent the
new subject.
Writing a proposal for action does not require research or information gathering.
The use of “I” in a rsum is recommended because it personalizes the document and
makes it less wordy.
A way for managers to prepare for possible negatives is by giving full information as
and when it becomes available.
A job application letter is not required if you apply electronically through a company’s
website.
While writing a sales proposal, it is imperative to know a buyer’s priorities,
The best way to place information without emphasizing it is to put it in the middle of a
paragraph.
A good work schedule for a proposal of a class research project should provide
idealistic estimates for each activity and avoid time for unexpected, unnecessary snags.
A good leader may be defined as one who implies that he or she has the best ideas and
can do the best work.
A list of illustrations enables audiences to refer to visuals comprising of tables and
figures.
According to linguist Deborah Tannen, questions such as whether one shows interest by
asking lots of questions helps reveal one’s own conversational style.
While giving an alternative in a negative message, one should give the audience all the
information they need to act on it, but avoid taking necessary steps.
A solicited job application letter should be specific about what you’ve done and relate
your achievements to the work you’d be doing in this new job.
Language is nonracist and nonageist when it treats all races and ages fairly, avoiding
negative stereotypes of any group.
It is possible that authorities may differ on the interpretations of the same data sets.
Personality and aptitude tests can ascertain all of your strengths and tell you exactly
what job best suits you.
Effective communication skills rank at the top of the list of important qualities and
skills that an employee should possess.
Audience benefit for an informative or positive message is not necessary when
presenting policies.
One of the key ways that people in a certain country can relate better with other cultures
is to communicate with them about how they can change and adopt their ways of
working.
The cost of hardware in e-mail storage is much higher compared to the cost in
administering and maintaining archives.
A neutral subject line in a message ensures that the audience reads the message.
Visuals are design elements that help make data meaningful.
Good communication helps in making efforts more effective.
Rsums should not be more than one page long because readers find them too long to
skim.
Which of the following is true of interviews in the 21st century?
A. They are becoming less important compared to in the past.
B. They invariably conduct the first round through Skype.
C. They have replaced all face-to-face interviews with telepresence.
D. They place special emphasis on phone skills of employees.
E. They have done away with written tests altogether.
Color, dress, and age may be considered as symbols of _____ communication.
A. written
B. verbal
C. oral
D. nonverbal
E. text
Lisa Morris recently prepared a brochure on an AIDS Campaign. However, when the
brochure was distributed among the public, she received a general feedback that it was
not user friendly. Which of the following did Morris most likely do?
A. Used Arial and Calibri fonts since they are popular
B. Repeated design elements across all panels
C. Used proportional fonts for the text in the brochure
D. Created contrast between text and visuals
E. Underlined to make it easier to read
Kingsly Inc., a clothing retail line in London, recently expanded its business in
Scotland. The management knows that a majority of people prefer organic clothing with
a preference for cotton and silk. Keeping in mind their preferences, they launched their
store with clothes made from hemp and bamboo. This strategy worked very well for
their company and received a good response from buyers. Which of the following did
Kingsly Inc. most likely do?
A. Stereotyped groups which helped them understand the culture better
B. Adapted their company products to the needs of the local market
C. Understood that each member in the country has the same preferences
D. Avoided enquiring about preferences because it would seem curious
E. Understood that the tastes and preferences were inferior to other countries
Which of the following should be undertaken while providing alternatives in a negative
message?
A. Implement alternatives stated in the message to solve the problem
B. Provide only limited information to the audience to act on it
C. Limit the audience’s psychological freedom to refuse the alternative
D. Allow the audience to decide whether they want the alternative
E. Avoid mentioning a good alternative in the ending of a message
Which of the following sections in a report should the release date be included in?
A. Executive summary
B. Illustration
C. Title page
D. Letter of transmittal
E. Body
_____ is the first step in producing a good rsum.
A. Personal branding
B. A self-assessment
C. Networking
D. Internship
E. Phishing
Which of the following questions should a proposal answer?
A. Why would one not be able to complete work within a deadline?
B. Why should one define a problem based on the audience’s needs?
C. What problem is one going to solve?
D. Why are rates offered by other companies higher?
E. What benefits are other organizations giving?
A written message may be preferred over an oral message because it is easier to:
A. present extensive or complex data.
B. answer questions and build consensus.
C. focus an audience’s attention on specific issues.
D. use emotion to motivate an audience.
_____ are overviews which tell the audience what a particular section or report will
discuss.
A. Transitions
B. Forecasts
C. Criteria
D. Assumptions
E. Illustrations
Emma Tate recently presented a progress report to her team members on a marketing
project they have been working on. She prepared her presentation well ahead of time
and included all details required for it to be a success. However, her audience did not
respond well to it because it lacked you-attitude. Which of the following statements did
Emma most likely make?
A. “We have so far worked on getting the product marketed by print media."
B. “We have so far created a clientele base of 5800 members and 55 corporate
houses."
C. “You have managed to garner interest from corporate groups in the product."
D. “You have not achieved the milestone of reaching out to a 10000 figure customer
base."
Which of the following statements is inappropriate in terms of the “you-attitude”?
A. Under my presidency, the Quiz Club went on to the finals of the World Quizzing
Championships.
B. As my rsum shows, I did my BS in MIT and MS in Stanford.
C. Courses in media and advertising management gave me a clear understanding of the
current mass media strategies.
D. While I was in Italy, I did a short summer course in film-making.
E. I was solely responsible for MIT’s victory in the National Science Expo.
“Are you satisfied with your health care benefits? (Yes/No)” This is an example of:
A. a closed question.
B. an open question.
C. a branching question.
D. an overlapping question.
E. a hypothetical question.
Natalia who works for Trends, a fashion house, needs to give a presentation to her
superiors on the marketing plan for the newly launched, Vogue line of clothing. Once
she receives an approval on it, she will be sharing details of the launch with distributors,
clients, and fashion houses with which they have tie-ups. In addition, she will also be
presenting the plan to the press to spread word about the line. Which among the
following is Natalia’s internal audience?
A. Other Fashion Houses
B. Clients
C. Superiors
D. Distributors
E. Press
_____ are ploys from identity thieves seeking your personal information.
A. Virus
B. Phishing ads
C. Trojans
D. Pop-ups
E. Ponzi schemes
Sweeney’s Ice-cream Parlor recently advertised their new sundaes through fliers at
malls and Sunday markets. Their initiative was a huge success because the fliers were
created with the audience in mind and talked about them instead of the company. Which
of the following did Sweeney’s Ice-cream Parlor most likely say in the fliers?
A. “We at Sweeney’s are now offering fresh fruit sundaes at $5!"
B. “There are brand new flavors available at our parlor on St. Marks Street!"
C. “We are now serving the best fresh fruit sundaes in the city!"
D. “Sweeney’s is launching their new sundaes today!"
E. “You can now try our new fresh fruit sundaes for only $5!"
Which of the following is an example of a signpost?
A. “In addition, solar energy can replace usage of coal."
B. “If you have any questions, please raise your hands."
C. “Now let us talk about what we can do to help."
D. “Can you all hear me loud and clear at the back?"
E. “Please tell me if I speak too fast for you to follow."
Lillian works as a climate campaigner at an environmental organization in China.
Lillian Diaz is a popular pop music artist and recently had a chat with Tracy Butler, her
public relations executive to work on increasing her online presence as an effort to
increase her fan following. Butler uses a microblog which lets Diaz’s fans know what
music album she is working on and concerts she will be singing at through the use of
short text messages. Which of the following modes of social media is Butler most likely
to be using?
A. Facebook
B. Wikis
C. Twitter
D. Orkut
E. LinkedIn
A sales brochure for a computer includes graphs and data displays that are strategically
placed around the marketing piece. This is an example of visual communications
expert, Charles Kostelnick’s _____ level of communication design.
A. intra
B. inter
C. extra
D. supra
E. outer
The project managers at Carbon Footprint, an environmental organization, are meeting
to decide on a kind of social media which will help them track the progress of different
ongoing projects and monitor the tasks undertaken by campaigners. They need a social
media which is internal so that privacy of their campaigning strategies remains within
their organization. Which of the following would best serve the project managers’
purpose?
A. LinkedIn
B. Wikis
C. E-mail
D. Xing
E. Yammer
Which of the following is a characteristic of good questions?
A. They are asked in an order that influences answers.
B. They are phrased neutrally.
C. They mean different things to different people.
D. They ask several things and aspects.
E. They make certain assumptions about the respondent.
The hidden job market includes positions that are:
A. currently filled by existing employees who will retire within a few years.
B. advertised on the Web but not in newspapers.
C. unadvertised and therefore require a contact in order to learn about them.
D. those jobs that result from first having worked at a company as an intern.
E. reserved for management experts in case the company faces severe losses.
_____ is a form of employee-development assessment in which a team member
receives feedback from everyone who is in touch with that person’s work.
A. 360-degree feedback
B. Upward feedback
C. Peer-review
D. Top-down feedback
E. Self-assessment
John Rivers who works in the Colorado Department of Education needs to submit a
report on the literacy rate of children in the State. He has to present statistical details in
addition to ideas on developing the education system. Which of the following
arrangements will be most useful for Rivers’ audience?
A. Processing information before presenting it to the audience
B. Presenting information in the order in which he became aware of it
C. Working against the audience’s expectations to draw its attention
D. Grouping information into a minimum of ten categories
E. Using the word “you” in the report if there are multiple audiences
Leah, a communications manager at a travel company, needs to evaluate her team
members’ work in the last financial year. She needs to prepare a report on the evaluation
of objectives they helped achieve. Which of the following documents is Leah
preparing?
A. Career assessment
B. Performance Appraisal
C. Quarterly Report
D. Memo of congratulations
E. Role-based assessment
Donald Stewart is leading a team of 20 people on a “Campaign against Illegal
Logging.” Though the campaign is doing well and has been progressing as per
schedule, Stewart notices a conflict between the communications manager and public
relations manager at the meeting. Which of the following should he do to best help
manage the conflict?
A. Discuss the problem with them at the upcoming meeting next month
B. Ignore the problem because conflicts are natural when people work together
C. Discuss the problem with them immediately instead of putting it off
D. Realize that team members are responsible for each others’ happiness
E. Create ambiguous rules which offer flexibility during work and avoid conflict
_____ bar charts identify positive and negative values, or winners and losers.
A. Segmented
B. Grouped
C. Subdivided
D. Paired
E. Deviation
Leona Benson e-mails her colleague, Miriam Wolfe, to suggest that she should write a
comprehensive business plan for the company. The task will be rather challenging and
time-consuming; however, Miriam still takes up the task. Which of the following did
Benson most likely say to Wolfe that motivated her to take up the task?
A. “The company will be able to secure additional financing once it has a business
plan."
B. “The President will be able to use the document to communicate expansion plans to
stockholders."
C. “You will gain key writing experience that will help you in your future
projects."
D. “I will be very grateful if you can help me out by taking on this task."
E. “You will be able to strengthen our team’s image by taking up the task."
Martina, a campaigner at an environmental organization, has asked her project members
Megan and Alana to write individual progress reports on the campaign. Megan had not
achieved the objectives of the campaign and her report was filled with negative
connotations. On the other hand, though Alana too had not achieved her objectives, her
report avoided the use of negative words. Which of the following did Alana’s report
most likely incorporate?
A. “It is unfortunate that I did not manage to achieve the objectives of the
campaign."
B. “I failed to achieve the campaign milestones only because of lack of time."
C. “My inability to achieve the campaign objectives may create backlogs in the
campaign."
D. “I have not achieved all the milestones but will do so by the end of the week."
E. “I feel inadequate for not achieving the objectives because I worked very hard on
it."
Which of the following statements represent double negatives?
A. Work doubly hard to reach your targets.
B. It is important to reach your sales targets.
C. Never fail to reach you sales targets.
D. Always ensure you reach your sales targets.
E. Make sure you work hard to reach your targets.
A job application letter is different from a resume in that:
A. it presents a job candidate’s qualifications.
B. it uses short, parallel phrases and sentence fragments.
C. it is adapted to a position rather than to the needs of a particular organization.
D. it explains controversial material in a positive way.
E. it explains how you are equally skillful and capable as other candidates.
Which of the following does wordiness refer to?
A. Lack of words in a sentence or paragraph
B. Adding words to add to the meaning essential for it
C. Limited words which take away the sentence’s meaning
D. Having more words than the meaning requires
E. Reducing words from a sentence to make it concise
A job application letter is relatively ineffective if it shows employers that a candidate:
A. has strong business communication skills.
B. is as qualified as other candidates who are likely to apply.
C. has the ability to work well with people.
D. is knowledgeable about the company’s mission and operations.
E. is capable of performing the major requirements of the job.
What writing style should you use in rsums?
Explain reasons why threats do not work in a message.
Explain with an example, reasons for which written messages are more useful than oral
messages.
List the guidelines that need to be followed for sentence length and structure.
What are the sections that a proposal for a student report consists of?
How do rsums differ from job application letters?
What are informative and positive messages?
List the common reasons for not reporting ethical misconduct.
What are the three basic principles that one should keep in mind while organizing
information to fit audiences, the purposes, and the situation?
David Mason is a sales manager at a telecom company and recently reviewed the sales
report of one of the company’s outlets. He is disappointed to see the low sale of mobile
connections and now needs to convey the message to his subordinates. What kind of an
organization should he follow while conveying his message?
What are the roles of a translator in a business communication? What key points should
one communicate to them?
What does the close section of an interview comprise of?
Explain the importance of headings in a document.
John Perkins works as a human resource executive at a restaurant in London.
Brooklyn Holmes is a human resource executive at Rowland and Co, a small finance
firm. She recently wrote a general reference document on office guidelines. The
document served very beneficial for existing employees at the company and also will be
used as a future reference document. What steps or guidelines did Brooklyn follow
which helped her prepare a good general reference document?
What are some key factors for a writing team to work efficiently?
What are conventions and how are they best learned?
What are some key points one should remember while using a pattern of organizing
messages?