Business Communication and Applied English
What the examiner expects
Business communication is the exchange of information to achieve organizational goals. Learn the process: sender, encoding, channel, decoding, receiver, feedback, with noise as interference. Know formal and informal channels, upward, downward and lateral communication, and barriers such as language, filtering, fear and information overload. The seven Cs, conciseness, clarity, correctness, courtesy, concreteness, completeness and consideration, guide effective writing. Practise letters of inquiry, order, complaint and adjustment, memos, notices, agendas, minutes, reports and emails. Applied English tests grammar, vocabulary, tone and comprehension.
Traps
- With either/or and neither/nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: neither the manager nor the employees were informed.
- Affect is usually a verb; effect is usually a noun.
- Passive voice hides responsibility; use active voice when the doer matters.
- A memo is internal and brief; a letter is external and formal.
- Do not mix tenses within a sentence unless the time sequence demands it.
Worked example
Improve: 'In reply to your letter dated 5 May, we wish to inform you that the goods which you ordered are at present out of stock.' Revision: 'Thank you for your order of 5 May. The goods are temporarily out of stock and will be dispatched on 20 May.' The revision is shorter, gives a reason and a date, and keeps a courteous tone.
Rule of thumb
Plan before writing: purpose, reader, key message, then channel. One idea per paragraph and the most important information first.