Language Skills for Business and Everyday Use

By: Roberta E. BarryLoretta Scholten

Presented by:

Georgina V. Kusano

The first and most

important step in

writing is to know

who you’re writing to

– who they are and

what they want.

- David G.

Lyon, The XYZ’s

Business Writing

Principle 1. Organize your thoughts before

you write.

- know the purpose of the document

- know the intended audience.

- direct and efficient

General to the specific

- begin with a general statement

- proceed with the specific information such as

history

examples

reasons

Tough Wear 45123 Anytown, MI 45123

July 15, 2004

Jeremy Adams 541 Ramsey Court Yourtown, MI 78456

Dear Mr. Adams:

Thank you for shopping with us. You are a valued client and we appreciate your business and knowthat you want to keep your account current with us.

On May 3, 2004, you purchased $400 of merchandise from our store in Yourtown. Your payment of $150is now overdue.

In the credit arrangement you signed, you agreed to pay off your bill in three payments. The firstpayment of $150 was due June 3, 2004. Please send this amount now.

Failure to pay on time may affect your ability to charge merchandise at our store. Thank you for yourprompt attention to this matter.

You may call me at 1-888-895-2563 if you have any questions or concerns. Your continued patronage isimportant to us.

Sincerely,

Paime MimoneiCredit Manager

Specific to the general

- give the specific information such as

history

examples

reasons

- give the general statement

Tone Deaf Music 587 East Street, Anytown, MI 45123

August 15, 2004

Linda Goodman Guitars and Such 784 Peach Street Yourtown, MI 45126

Dear Mrs. Goodman:

I will be in Yourtown on September 5, 2004 and would like to meet with youat your office to discuss the new guitar models that you may be interested infor the upcoming year.

I have enclosed our latest catalogue. Please note the items in light blue highlights. They arethe new guitar models to come in and are now on a special to preferred clients.

I will contact you later this week to schedule an appointment. If you need to get in touch withme, please call me at 1-888-457-7896. I look forward to talking with you. Thank you for yourcontinued business.

Sincerely Yours,

Paime MimoneiSales Representative

http://www.business-plans-guide.com/example-of-business-letters.html

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/morejobletters/a/businessformat.htm

2. Time – Present the history, schedule, or sequence of events

4. Cause-Effect

– explain why something happened followed by the result

5. Problem-Solution

– present facts or examples to indicate a problem and then give the solution to the problem

Principle 2. Prefer the active voice.

Examples:

Active Voice: A broken cable stopped the printer.

Passive voice: The printer was stopped by a broken cable.

Active Voice: Ace hardware sold five bicycles.

Passive Voice: Five bicycles were sold by Ace Hardware.

Principle 3. Use a simple writing style that avoids “unbusinesslike” expressions.

The other guys have a better product.

We are dying to hear the news.

Our dispatcher is a dud.

She is crazy about your idea.

The new marketing representative made

an awful impression.

Avoid the italicized words:

Principle 4. Omit unnecessary words.

- wordy writing hides your message.

“Please try our product for one month”

than

“Will you be so kind as to try our product for the

duration of one month?”

ConciseAlong the lines of like

At a later date later

At this point in time now

For the duration of a month although(though)

In spite of the fact that although(though)

For the reason that because

On the basis of by

On behalf for

Will you be so kind as to please

Instead of Use

Absolutely complete complete

Advance planning planning

Assembled together together

Consensus of opinion consensus

Enclosed herewith enclosed

Exactly identical identical

Join together together

Same identical identical

Principle 5. Use positive word and specific words.

Avoid: Managers should tell employees not to wear jeans.

Use: Managers should explain the accepted dress code to employees.

Avoid: Do not forget to lock the file.

Use: Be sure to lock the file.

Principle 6. Use grammatical correct constructions.

- -grammatical correctness is necessary for effective writing.

- people who express themselves well grammatically are more likely to be respected and chosen for jobs and promotions.

Principle 7. Use a dictionary.

- words are the mainspring of the language

- the dictionary is a virtual treasure chest of useful information.

I. Noun – is a word that names something or anything such as persons, places, things, activities, qualities, and concepts.

Nouns

Classification

Proper NounsCommon

Nouns

Concrete

Abstract

Collective

Functions

Major Sentence Elements

Objects of Prepositions

Appositives

Modifiers

Direct Address

Clauses

Properties

Case

Person

Number

Gender

1. Proper Nouns

- name specific persons, places, things, activities, qualities, and concepts that are important to have a separate name.

- always begins with a capital letter.

2. Common nouns

- name a general class of persons, places, things, activities, and concepts.

- not capitalized.

- there are three groups of common nouns.

Concrete Nouns- names anything physical – something that you can perceive through one or more of the five senses.- bring pictures to your mind.

Abstract Nouns

- Name qualities, ideas, conditions, acts, or relationships that are formed in the mind and are formed in the mind and are separate from their objects.

- Many abstract nouns end in –ness and ty.

Names a group or collection of persons, places, things, activities, qualities, and concepts.

Are plural in meaning.

Examples: committee team audience jury club crew company classfamily group band school

a, an, or the (articles)

a computer

an effect

the department

a decorator an informant

the stockbroker

-You can also add the before the word and of after the word.i.e.the account of the building of the coat ofThe arrival of the bureau of the freight of

Many nouns add s or es to show plurals.

communication, communications

organization, organizations

business, businesses

loss, losses

mechanic, mechanics

tax, taxes

Descriptive words (called adjectives) often appear before nouns.

difficult problemlarge budgetefficientemployeeseveral computersyoung consultantsbeauty desksimilar reportzealous worker

- it is a word that replaces a noun (or another pronoun).

i.e.Paula deserves the

promotion.She deserves the

promotion.

Juan recommends the use of voice mail.

He recommends the use of voice mail.

II. Pronouns

Subject Possessive Object

Pronouns Adjectives Pronouns

I my me

He his him

She her her

It its it

We our us

You your you

They their them

Avoid this:

Diane prepared Diane’s own tax return.

Instead:

Diane prepared her own tax return.

the word or group or words that a pronoun replaces.

In each of the following sentences, the pronouns are in italics and the antecedents are in all-capital letter.

Justin is the PERSON who saw the accident.

The BOOK that Ms. Sachs requested is now in stock.

KATRINA has opened her own law office.

- - Expresses action

- - A group of verbs

- Function as a single verb.

- - State of being (existence)

- Usually begin the part of a sentence that tells what sentence or something is doing or being.

Transitive Verbs

- To complete their action, some verbs must transfer this action to another word that follows the verb.

- need direct objects to complete their action.

Example:

The president of the company bought a computer.

Intransitive verbs

- Complete verbs

- A verb that does not need an object to complete its meaning.

Example:

The new company president arrived yesterday.

auxiliary + main verbs

- According to Radford (2005), auxiliary hasthe semantic property of markinggrammatical properties such as tense, aspect, voice, or mood.

Aspect: perfect and progressive(i.e. have, has, had/be)

He has/had [gone] She is/was [staying at home]

Voice: (i.e. be, been, am, is, are, was, were)

They are/were [taken away for questioning]

Expletive or Dummy: (do, does, did)

He really does/did [say a lot]

Modal: (i.e. can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must, ought)

You can/could [help us]

Verbs can show a change of time (or tense) with endings such as:

s, ed, en, and ing.

Helping verbs

Time expressions

Every employee in the hotel works eight-shifts.

Yesterday, every employee in the hotel worked eight-hour shifts.

If it makes sense to put to, be, she, or they before a word.

to repeat he rescued

she sold they stopped

Is a descriptive or limiting word that modifies a noun or a pronoun.

A single-word adjectives always come before the noun they modify.

a conscientious

an indispensable

an efficient employee

a dissatisfied

a meticulous

a talkative

Often ends in ous, able, or ible, this will help you recognize some unusual adjectives.

Examples: marvelous, nervous, vigorous, conscious, delicious, desirable, payable, permissible.

Answers the following questions about a noun or pronoun:

How many? The manager hired ten employees.

What kind? Everyone like a helpful person.

Which one? Randall does not want to sit in theyellow chair

Adjectives usually precede the nouns and pronouns they modify.

They can appear as predicate adjective after a linking verb.

Written communications were sent to the new customers.

The company president like her nine employees.

All the company’s sales managers are young.

Adjectives make comparisons by adding the endings er and est or the words more and most.

Adjective Comparative Superlative

efficientdifficulthelpful

complexbrightangry

more efficientmore difficultmore helpful

more complexbrighterangrier

the most efficientthe most difficultthe most helpful

the most complexbrightestangriest

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Most adverbs answer the questions:

How? All new dictionaries quickly disappeared.

To what extent? The nearly finished report was returned to the accounting department.

Where? The new manager left early.

When? I will meet you here.

Mr. Baxter hurriedly SIGNED the contract. The proofreader DID his job well.

Our systems analyst is too SLOW.

You should replace this really OLD CABINET.

Our systems analyst is too SLOW.

You should replace this really OLD CABINET.

The applicant accepted the position somewhatHESITANTLY.

This new laser printer performs exceedingly WELL.

They frequently end in ly.

However, a word ending in ly can be an adjective, such as a costly mistake.

drove carelessly ran smoothly

walked briskly effectively presented

Sang frequently worked willingly

Adverbs make comparisons by adding the endings er and est or the words more and most.

Jane worked harder today than she worked yesterday.

Jane worked the hardest of all employees.

Is a word that shows the relation of an object (a noun or pronoun) to another word in the sentence, usually a noun or a verb.

It combines with its object and any modifiers to form a prepositional phrase.

- usually limit the meaning of another win the sentence more exact.

- it usually functions as adjectives or adverbs.

- sometimes it functions as nouns.

I will finish the project later.

I will finish the project on Friday.

in the mean time concerning the merger

from Chicago without delay

under hi breath by a prominent

of the errors at the end

Here are the common prepositions:

About behind for since

Above below from through

Across beneath in throughout

After beside into to

Against between like toward

Along beyond near under

Among by of underneath

Around concerning off until

As down on up

At during over with

Before except past within

is a connecting word that joins words or groups of words called clauses and phrases.

AND, BUT, OR, NOR, FOR, YET, SO

Subordinating clause joins clauses of unequal value

Although, because, if, since, that, until when, where, while

Pay now or pay later.

We purchased the machine because it is economical.

Mr. Durham and Ms. Sandusky did not report for work.

The new appraiser is slow but accurate.

You will get the promotion if your excellent work continues.

Business has been slow since Mr. Crane left the company.

Is a group of words used to show strong feeling or sudden emotion.

Usually an exclamation point or comma follows

Often interjections are independent of the rest of the sentence.

A pure interjection do not add to the basic meaning of a sentence.

Ouch! Something bit me!

Oh, do you really believe her story?

Hurray! Swenson has been promoted.

Wow! We all have a new chairs.

Write a one-page, double spaced paper about an occupation that interests you or about your present occupation if you are employed. Give some interesting facts about the occupation. What type of person enjoys this occupation? Considering the present economy, what is the future in this occupation? Will advancement be readily available?

When you are finished with your paper, go back and write N above each noun, V above each verb, Adj above each adjective, and Adv. above each adverb.

Tells time when an action occurs or the condition exists.

Can tell the stage of the action

Tense comes from Old French tens "time", from Latin tempus "time", a translation of Greek chrónos "time". "Tense" as an adjective is unrelated, since it comes from the perfect passive participle of the Latin verb tendere"stretch".

Function:* habitual action* general truth

* scheduled activity

Pattern:* V1 (s/es)* to be = is, am, areAdverb of time:* always, usually, generally, often, sometimes, occasionally, frequently, seldom, never, every, once/twice a week/a monthExample:* She bakes a cake every week.

Function:* in progress at the moment of speaking* near future

Pattern:* is/am/are + ing

Adverb of time:* now, at present, at this time / moment, today, this (week, month), still* expressions such as: Look!; Listen!; Be careful!; etc.

Example:* She is baking a cake now/at this time.

Function:* happened in the past and there is a result at present

Pattern:* have/has + V3

Adverb of time:* already (in positive sentence), yet (in negative and interrogative sentence), since, for, just, recently, lately

Example:* She has baked a cake already.

Function:* began in the past and still in progress at present (continuous action until present)

Pattern:* have/has been + ing

Adverb of time:* since, for

Example:* She has been baking a cake since I came and she hasn't finished it yet.

Function:* began and ended in the past and no relation with present

Pattern:* V2* to be = was/were

Adverb of time:* yesterday, last, ...ago, this morning, just now, once upon a time

Example:* She baked a cake yesterday.

Function:• was in progress at a certain time in the past (was in progresswhen another action happened)

Pattern:* was/were + ing

Adverb of time:* when, as, while, at 7 o'clock yesterday* (past continuous) when (simple past)* (simple past) when (past continuous)* (past continuous) when (past continuous)

Example:* She was baking a cake at this time yesterday.* I was taking a bath when she phoned me this morning.* She phoned me when I was taking a bath.* She was cooking while I was listening to my iPod.

Function:* result at the second action in the past

Pattern:* had + V3

Adverb of time:* before, by (the time), after* (past perfect) before/by (simple past)* (simple past) after (past perfect)

Example:* She had baked a cake before I came yesterday.* I arrived at her house after she had baked a cake.

Function:* future activity

Pattern:* will/shall + V1

Adverb of time:* tomorrow, next ..., tonight, soon

Example:* She will bake a cake tomorrow.

Function:* will be in progress at a certain time in the future

Pattern:* will/shall be + ing

Adverb of time:* at 7 tonight, at this time tomorrow, when she comes next week, in a few minutes/days, in a few years' time* when (simple present)

Example:* She will be baking a cake at this time tomorrow.

Function:* will be completed before another time in the future (result at the second action in the future)

Pattern:* will/shall have + V3

Adverb of time:* before/by + (simple present)

Example:* She will have baked a cake by the time I comes tomorrow.

Function:* still in progress at the second future action

Pattern:* will/shall have been + ing

Adverb of time:* for ... before/by + (simple present)

Example:* She will have been baking a cake for 10 minutes by the time I comes tomorrow.