Question 1

A survey of recruiters found that the most sought after characteristic of writing is
A) being accurate.
B) being concise.
C) avoiding redundancy.
D) avoiding buzzwords.
E) using parallel language.

Accepted Answer

Accuracy is a basic objective of all business communications because your colleagues,customers,and clients base important decisions on your communications.A recent survey of corporate recruiters showed which elements of writing style are most important.Accuracy was the most sought after characteristic of writing style (95 percent).

Question 2

Which of the following statements is the most specific way for a company to convey that it needs to reduce its current workforce by half?
A) The company will have to lay off a few employees.
B) The company will have to terminate a small percentage of its employees.
C) The company will have to terminate the majority of its employees.
D) The company will have to lay off about half of its employees.
E) The company will have to terminate 50 percent of its employees.

Accepted Answer

"The company will have to terminate 50 percent of its employees" is the most specific choice,because it states exactly what percentage of employees will be terminated.

Question 3

Julio has a long paragraph that describes the two main causes of employee absenteeism and gives a suggestion to address each cause.Ideally,how many paragraphs does Julio need to cover this material?
A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four
E) five

Accepted Answer

Long paragraphs can signal disorganization and even disrespect for the reader's time.One primary cause of overly lengthy paragraphs is placing more than one main idea or topic in the paragraph.Ideally,Julio should have a separate paragraph for each of the two causes and each of the two suggestions.Therefore,his one long paragraph should be broken into four.

Question 4

Emma's boss has reviewed her proposal.He tells Emma that she needs to make it more accurate.Which of the following should she try to eliminate?
A) prepositional phrases
B) parallel language
C) miscalculations
D) passive voice
E) redundancies

Accepted Answer

Inaccuracies may result from miscalculations,misinformation,poor word choice,or simply typos.

Question 5

To ensure the completeness of a business message,be sure to
A) be specific.
B) avoid empty phrases.
C) avoid redundancies.
D) control paragraph length.
E) use action verbs.

Accepted Answer

Most of your messages in the workplace have a clear goal: to update your team members,to promote a service to a client,to give an assignment,and so on.Your goal of completeness means that your message provides all the information necessary to meet that purpose.You can achieve completeness with three basic strategies: providing all relevant information;being accurate;and being specific.

Question 6

Which of the following guidelines should be followed to ensure that you are creating a complete business message?
A) Use longer,more unusual words to "sound smart" and increase the credibility of your message.
B) Avoid parallel language as it can distract the readers from the main message you want to deliver.
C) Include all the information you need by eliminating as much white space as possible.
D) Plan,write,and review your message strategically to provide all relevant information,but nothing irrelevant.
E) Use the active voice to avoid blaming others or sounding too bossy.

Accepted Answer

Strategic planning,writing,and reviewing will enable you to prepare a complete business message,one that provides all of the relevant information without any irrelevant distractions.

Question 7

Andre,the floor manager of a packing plant,is under pressure from his boss to increase productivity.He circulates a memo telling all of his workers that they need to increase the number of units packed each hour.After a month,production has not changed significantly.What went wrong in his communication?
A) He did not explain the pressure he was under.
B) His message was not concise enough.
C) He used a memo instead of a more formal document.
D) His message did not set a clear and specific production target.
E) His message was not friendly enough.

Accepted Answer

The problem with Andre's memo is that it does not give a target figure.He needs to tell his workers how many more units they need to complete in a set time period to meet new goals.

Question 8

Anwar's colleague tells him that some of his coworkers believe he has misleading them about his team's expenses.They believe that his reports have concealed the truth.What should Anwar do in his next report to avoid giving his coworkers that impression?
A) He should shorten his paragraphs and increase white space.
B) He should avoid using buzzwords that tend to annoy readers.
C) He should include specific details and dollar amounts.
D) He should avoid using unfamiliar words that may alienate readers.
E) He should include a personal note at the front of his report.

Accepted Answer

Being specific would help Anwar assure his coworkers that he is not trying to hide any facts from them.

Question 9

Which of the following is most likely to negatively influence readers' perceptions of your credibility?
A) long paragraphs
B) inaccurate statements
C) generous white space
D) passive voice
E) nonparallel language

Accepted Answer

Accuracy,like specificity,strongly impacts your readers' perceptions of your credibility.Just one inaccurate statement can lead readers to dismiss your entire message and lower their trust in your future communications as well.

Question 10

One way to solve the problem of overly lengthy paragraphs is to
A) include more figures of speech.
B) focus on one idea or topic in each paragraph.
C) use passive voice instead of active.
D) start more sentences with "There is."
E) replace verbs with prepositional phrases.

Accepted Answer

One primary cause of overly lengthy paragraphs is placing more than one main idea or topic in a single paragraph.

Question 11

Raj tends to generalize in his writing because he believes that makes his writing easy for most people to understand.What is the likely effect of his generalizations on his readers?
A) They may doubt his competence on the subject he is writing about.
B) They are more likely to read the message carefully.
C) They will be pleased that they can find the information they need quickly.
D) They will be assured that Raj is not hiding unpleasant facts.
E) They will focus their attention on Raj's primary message.

Accepted Answer

Being specific affects the judgments your readers make about your credibility.Specific statements lead your readers to believe that you know what you're talking about (competence);that you are not hiding anything (character);and that you want your readers to be informed (caring).Using generalities instead of specifics can have the opposite effect.

Question 12

Which of the following is most likely to positively influence your readers' perceptions of your credibility?
A) being wordy
B) being specific
C) using buzzwords
D) starting sentences with "There are"
E) using prepositional phrases

Accepted Answer

Being specific affects the judgments your readers make about your credibility.Specific statements lead your readers to believe that you know what you're talking about (competence);that you are not hiding anything (character);and that you want your readers to be informed (caring).

Question 13

In the context of creating a complete business message,which of the following is true?
A) Providing too much information can distract the readers and weigh a business document down.
B) Using action verbs focuses on the goal of coordinating action in the workplace and livens up your writing.
C) Using longer,more unusual words to "sound smart" can increase the credibility of your message.
D) Using the passive voice allows for faster processing by the readers,because most people naturally think in that structure.
E) Relying on parallel language can distract the readers from the main message you want to deliver.

Accepted Answer

One challenge while writing a business message is deciding which information is relevant for your message.After all,providing too much information can distract your readers and weigh your document down.On the other hand,not providing enough information can leave your reader wondering how to respond.

Question 14

Which of the following is most likely to help you write concisely?
A) using longer sentences
B) avoiding redundancy
C) using more prepositional phrases
D) avoiding the active voice
E) using buzzwords

Accepted Answer

Strategies for writing concisely include controlling paragraph length,using shorter sentences,avoiding redundancy,avoiding empty phrases,and avoiding wordy phrases.

Question 15

The typical paragraph length for a business message is
A) 10-20 words.
B) 40-80 words.
C) 150-200 words.
D) 300-400 words.
E) 500-850 words.

Accepted Answer

Typically,paragraphs in business messages should contain 40 to 80 words.For routine messages,paragraphs as short as 20 to 30 words are common and appropriate.Rarely should paragraphs exceed 150 words.

Question 16

Being concise means
A) removing relevant information.
B) omitting needless words.
C) omitting parallel structure.
D) removing white space.
E) removing paragraph breaks.

Accepted Answer

When you write concisely,your message is far easier to read.Conciseness does not imply removing relevant information.Rather,it implies omitting needless words so that readers can rapidly process your main ideas.

Question 17

A business message is complete if it
A) avoids all miscalculation,misinformation,and typographical errors.
B) provides all the information necessary to meet the intended purpose.
C) uses efficient language that says as much as possible in a few words.
D) maximizes paragraph length and minimizes white space.
E) keeps the word count as low as possible without redundancies or empty phrases.

Accepted Answer

Most of your messages in the workplace have a clear goal: to update your team members,to promote a service to a client,to give an assignment,and so on.Your goal of completeness means that your message provides all the information necessary to meet that purpose.

Question 18

When business messages contain long paragraphs,readers are most likely to think the writer is
A) disorganized.
B) intelligent.
C) accurate.
D) respectful.
E) professional.

Accepted Answer

Long paragraphs can signal disorganization and even disrespect for the reader's time.

Question 19

In order to be accurate,a business message must be
A) concise.
B) exact.
C) short.
D) redundant.
E) general.

Accepted Answer

Accuracy is a basic objective of all business communications because your colleagues,customers,and clients base important decisions on your communications.In short,accurate information is true,correct,and exact.

Question 20

Hugo includes the following sentence in his memo: "The increase in profits is greater than any I have seen during my career." What is the flaw in this sentence?
A) It uses obscure words.
B) It contains redundancy.
C) It uses passive voice.
D) It is not specific.
E) It uses a figure of speech.

Accepted Answer

Being specific affects the judgments your readers make about your credibility.Specific statements lead your readers to believe that you know what you're talking about (competence);that you are not hiding anything (character);and that you want your readers to be informed (caring).Hugo's sentence lacks specificity.It is unclear exactly how much profits increased.

Quiz 6: Improving Readability With Style and Design

A survey of recruiters found that the most sought after characteristic of writing is

Which of the following statements is the most specific way for a company to convey that it needs to reduce its current workforce by half?

Julio has a long paragraph that describes the two main causes of employee absenteeism and gives a suggestion to address each cause.Ideally,how many paragraphs does Julio need to cover this material?

Emma's boss has reviewed her proposal.He tells Emma that she needs to make it more accurate.Which of the following should she try to eliminate?

To ensure the completeness of a business message,be sure to

Which of the following guidelines should be followed to ensure that you are creating a complete business message?

Anwar's colleague tells him that some of his coworkers believe he has misleading them about his team's expenses.They believe that his reports have concealed the truth.What should Anwar do in his next report to avoid giving his coworkers that impression?

Which of the following is most likely to negatively influence readers' perceptions of your credibility?

One way to solve the problem of overly lengthy paragraphs is to

Raj tends to generalize in his writing because he believes that makes his writing easy for most people to understand.What is the likely effect of his generalizations on his readers?

Which of the following is most likely to positively influence your readers' perceptions of your credibility?

In the context of creating a complete business message,which of the following is true?

Which of the following is most likely to help you write concisely?

The typical paragraph length for a business message is

Being concise means

A business message is complete if it

When business messages contain long paragraphs,readers are most likely to think the writer is

In order to be accurate,a business message must be

Hugo includes the following sentence in his memo: "The increase in profits is greater than any I have seen during my career." What is the flaw in this sentence?