BA105W EXAM 2 T/F – Flashcards
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Sharon is trying to decide whether to call her boss or to send an e-mail message. Sharon is in the first phase of the writing process.
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F (first phase is the purpose of the writing the letter)
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6.Robert is gathering data for a business proposal he is writing. Robert is in the first phase of the writing process.
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F(research 2nd phase)
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7. The third phase of the writing process involves revising, proofreading, and evaluating your message.
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T
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8. Business communicators generally spend the most time on the prewriting phase of the 3-x-3 writing process.
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F
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9. The steps in the 3-x-3 writing process must be followed in order.
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F
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The first question to ask yourself when composing a business message is "What channel should I use to send the message
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F
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11. Business messages that "inform" explain procedures, announce meetings, answer questions, and transmit findings.
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T
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12. Business messages that "persuade" sell products, convince managers, motivate employees, and win over customers.
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T
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13. The only thing that matters when choosing a channel to send a business message is the cost involved.
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F
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14. A face-to-face conversation is considered a richer medium than a written report or proposal.
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T
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Meaghan must deliver confidential information to her boss. She should choose e-mail as her communication channel
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F
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Anticipating and profiling the audience for a message helps a communicator determine what to emphasize, how to be convincing, and what words and tone to use.
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T
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Deciding whether the receiver of your business message will be neutral, positive, or negative will help you to effectively organize the message.
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T
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Profiling the audience means anticipating how both primary and secondary audiences will react to a message
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T
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You need to make a decision by the end of the day is an example of sentence that uses a positive tone.
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F
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You can start lowering your energy expenses immediately is an example of an audience-focused sentence.
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T
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The "you" view emphasizes second-person pronouns instead of first-person pronouns.
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T (second-person you, your) (first person I)
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I have decided to allow you to take Friday off effectively applies the "you" view.
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F
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Instant messages, e-mail messages, business letters, memos, and reports are most effective when they use a formal tone.
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F
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Professional business messages should not include IM abbreviations such a BTW, slang, sentence fragments, or chitchat.
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T
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Words like denigrate, the undersigned, and expropriate should be used in business messages because they will make you sound more professional.
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F
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The sentence You neglected to provide your account information makes good use of positive language.
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F
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27. Exhibiting sarcasm or anger in a business message can help you get your point across or meet your goals.
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F
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Good attorneys always defend their clients demonstrates better business writing than A good attorney always defends his client.
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T
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Race, ethnicity, and age should never be mentioned in business writing
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F
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Because jargon can be confusing, it should never be used in business writing.
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F (technical terms should be used in proper environment)
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Many of today's progressive organizations will employ teams in some capacity to achieve their objectives.
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T
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Collaborative writing is especially important for documents that require the expertise or consensus of many people.
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T
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Team-written documents and presentations are standard in most organizations because collaboration produces a better product
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T
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In team writing projects, team members usually work most closely together during Phase 1, the prewriting phase
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T
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35. One of the most frustrating tasks for teams is writing shared documents.
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T
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. Online collaboration tools such as mailing lists, discussion boards, groupware, and wikis are useful when team members are not physically in the same location.
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T
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software tools such as Google Docs can help student groups collaborate on assignments.
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T
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Business communicators can protect themselves and avoid litigation by knowing what is legal and by adapting their language accordingly
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T
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In the area of human resources, only written comments can trigger lawsuits.
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F
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Courts are more likely to allow fair use for educational purposes than for commercial ventures
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F
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1. The first step of Phase 2 of the 3-x-3 writing process is to conduct research to collect all the needed information.
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T
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Research can be formal or informal, depending on the nature of the message.
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T
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Doing Web research is an example of an informal research method.
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F
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4. The Web has made manual searching in libraries obsolete and unnecessary.
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F
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Scientific experiments involve the use of controlled variables
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T
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Looking in the company files is an example of an informal research method.
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T
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7. The best brainstorming sessions have time limits.
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T
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8. The focus of a brainstorming session should be on the quality of ideas, not the quantity.
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F
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9. A well-organized message helps the reader understand relationships and accept the writer's view.
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T
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10. Many communication experts regard poor organization as the greatest failing of business writers.
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T
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The alphanumeric and the decimal outlining formats help business writers to focus on the topic, identify major ideas, and support those ideas with details, illustrations, or evidence.
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T
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Each major category in an outline should be divided into at least four subcategories.
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F (least two subcategories)
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As you move from a major point to a subpoint in an outline, you are progressing from large, abstract concepts to small, concrete ideas.
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T
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The primary difference between the direct pattern and the indirect pattern is where the main idea is placed.
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T
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In the indirect pattern, the main idea comes first, followed by details, explanation, or evidence. In the direct pattern the main idea follows the details, explanation, and evidence.
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F
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The direct organizational pattern should be used when writing to an audience that will be unwilling, uninterested, displeased, disappointed, or hostile.
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F
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Molly is writing an e-mail message to ask about hotel availability and rates. She should use the direct pattern.
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T
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The development team will meet Friday, August 7, at 10 a.m. uses the direct pattern to inform team members of an upcoming meeting.
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T
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Trey is writing a memo to refuse an employee's vacation request. He should use the indirect pattern
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T
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Caitlin is writing a sales letter to encourage customers to add features to their wireless data plans. She should use the direct approach.
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F
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21. Organizing one's ideas ahead of time is a good way to prevent writer's block.
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T
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22. Most experts recommend trying to produce error-free first drafts of your documents.
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F
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23. Dependent clauses have subjects and verbs; independent clauses do not.
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F
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24. As long as a group of words has a subject and a verb, it is considered complete sentence.
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F
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25. In our largest conference room is an example of a phrase.
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T
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26. If you have any questions is an example of an independent clause.
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F
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27. The first ATM opened near London in 1967 is an example of an independent clause.
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T
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28. With a solid plan and careful planning is a sentence fragment.
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T
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29. June is our busiest month, February is our slowest contains a comma splice.
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T
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30. What you need to do, therefore, is consult a specialist is a run-on sentence.
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F
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31. Sentences that average 20 words are most effective for business writing.
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T
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32. Placing the main idea first or last in a sentence is a good way to emphasize it.
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T
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33. The sentence Clara was accepted into an MBA program is an active-voice sentence.
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F
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34. The sentence James responded to the inquiry is an active-voice sentence in which James acts as the subject.
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T
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35. Passive voice can be used to conceal the doer of the action.
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T
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36. The following sentence contains a dangling modifier: Working all night, the report was finished by Robert.
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F
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37. The topic sentence of a paragraph must always appear first.
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F
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38. Paragraphs arranged in the direct plan start with supporting sentences and conclude with the topic sentence.
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F
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39. Sentences are "dovetailed" when an idea at the end of one connects with an idea at the beginning of the next.
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T
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40. To be most effective, paragraphs in business messages should be limited to eight or fewer printed lines.
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T
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The first step of Phase 3 of the 3-x-3 writing process is evaluating the document
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F (Revision is the first step of Phase 3 Followed by proofreading and evaluating)
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. Some experts recommend spending about half the total composition time revising, proofreading, and evaluating a documen
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T
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3. Most experts who have had a lot of practice can prepare a perfect document on the first try
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F
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4. Concise messages are easier to read and comprehend than wordy messages.
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T
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Expressions such as at this point in time and due to the fact that can help your business documents sound more professional
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F
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The sentence This letter is to inform you that your loan application has been approved is an example of effective business writing.
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F
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There are and it is are examples of unnecessary opening fillers
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T
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In the sentence Let me refer back to something I said earlier, the expression refer back is redundant
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T
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As a general rule, feel free to, and in the near future are examples of redundancies
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F
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10. Opening fillers, long lead-ins, compound prepositions, and redundancies all make business documents wordier.
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T
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11. Clauses beginning with that, which, and who can often be shortened without loss of clarity.
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T
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The following sentence contains a redundancy: After studying the basic fundamentals of the provisions, I have decided to vote for the contract.
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T
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The primary goal of business writing is to impress your reader.
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F
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One way to achieve clarity is to use active-voice sentences in your messages.
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T
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The following is an example of effective business writing: Further instructions will be sent to you under separate cover
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F
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6. Use phrases such as please do not hesitate to and feel free to to make your writing sound businesslike.
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F
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The sentence Enclosed please find the contract we have prepared for you contains wording that is preferred over Enclosed is the contract that we have prepared for you.
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F
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8. To sound professional and businesslike, you should try to use common expressions such as last but not least and shoot from the hip.
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F
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. If you want to sound professional, avoid using slang such as bombed and getting burned in your business writing
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T
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The following sentence contains a verb that has been converted to a noun: Morgan performed an analysis of the quarterly sales figures.
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T
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To add exuberance to your business documents, freely use words such as totally, definitely, extremely, and actually
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F
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Blank white space in a document can improve readability.
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T
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23. Ragged right marginsthat is, without alignment or justificationprovide more white space and improve readability.
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T
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24. Use a wide variety of typefaces in a business document to make it interesting and exciting.
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F
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25. Underlining, bold type, or italics can be used to call attention to important points and terms.
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T
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26. This sentence contains parallel construction: Our new copier sorts, collates, and it can staple documents.
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F
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27. All items in a bulleted or numbered list should be parallel in construction.
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T
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28. Numbered and bulleted lists can improve readability, comprehension, and retention.
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T
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Allan is writing instructions for filing an employee grievance. He should use a bulleted list because the order of steps in the process is important.
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F
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Add ending punctuation to a numbered or bulleted list only if the items in the list are complete sentences.
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T
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The first word of every item in a numbered or bulleted list should be capitalized.
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T
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Headings are used only in reports; they are never used in letters, memos, or e-mail messages.
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F
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Today's advanced spell checkers are capable of identifying all spelling errors
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F
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In the following sentence, the pronoun agrees with its antecedent: Everyone on the development team shared their creative ideas.
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F
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5. The sentence The development team discussed the proposal carefully and all team members voted to accept it is punctuated properly.
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F
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Routine documents and complex documents are proofread using the same method
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F
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A useful technique for proofreading important documents that must be perfect is to read the message aloud
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T
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It is safer to proofread from a printed copy than to proofread on your computer screen.
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T
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Soft proofing" of PDF files enables collaborators in distant locales to proof each other's work electronically.
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T
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. Encourage the receiver to respond to your message to evaluate its success
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T
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All business reports have one or more of the following purposes: to convey information, to answer questions, and to solve problems.
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T
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Based on their function, most business reports fall into two broad categories: informational or analytical
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T
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Everett's boss has asked him to research and recommend a new insurance provider for employees' health insurance. Everett should write an analytical report.
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T
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Michelle attended a professional conference and must submit a report to her supervisor. She should write an analytical report.
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F
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Readers usually find reports organized in an indirect pattern most rational because this organizational pattern follows the normal thought process.
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T
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If readers are familiar with or supportive of the topic, the report should be organized directly.
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T
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Brad started his report with a description of the problem. He followed this with his facts and findings. Finally, he ended his report with his conclusions and recommendations. Brad has used the direct pattern to write his report.
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F
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Research reports prepared by consultants for their clients tend to be rather formal.
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T
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Lydia should use a manuscript format for a long, formal report being sent to one of her company's clients.
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T
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Preprinted forms are useful for presenting repetitive data, such as monthly sales reports, performance reviews, and merchandise inventories.
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T
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The first step in the report-writing process is anticipating how the audience will react to the information in the report.
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F
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An example of a simple statement of purpose for a business report might be To recommend a new process for handling employee grievances.
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T
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An expanded statement of purpose includes three additional factors: the scope, significance, and limitations of the report.
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T
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Business report writers should anticipate primary audiences only
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F
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A work plan gives a complete description of a research project, including how the investigator plans to generate or collect data.
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T
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Nearly every research project should begin with a search of primary data.
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F
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You are reading an article in The Wall Street Journal that discusses the research findings of a Centers for Disease Control study on workplace hazards. This newspaper article is an example of primary data.
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F
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The ability to access information electronically has made using books for business research obsolete.
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F
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Primary data can be generated through surveys, interviews, observation, and experimentation.
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T
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The best survey questions provide quantifiable data.
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T
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21. Are you in favor of requiring seatbelts to save lives? is an example of a leading question.
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T
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When little has been written on a research topic, some of the best information comes from interviews with experts in the field.
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T
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23. Yes-no questions produce the best results in an interview with an expert.
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F
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24. Formal experimentation produces data suggesting causes and effects.
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T
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25. Companies rarely use social networking sites because of these sites lack formality.
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F
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26. The two types of search tools are subject directories and search engines.
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T
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27. Business researchers can safely assume that the great majority of Internet sources are reliable.
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F
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28. If you find numerous errors as you evaluate a Web site, you should be alert that the data may be questionable.
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T
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29. Documenting data presented in a research report strengthens your argument.
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T
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. An individual who is caught plagiarizing or using another's words or ideas without giving proper credit faces the possibility of losing his or her job.
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T
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31. Documenting data is necessary in academic reports but not in business reports.
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F
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32. As long as you put the research you find into your own words, you don't have to cite your source.
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F
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33. The more direct quotes you use in a business report, the more professional and credible it will seem.
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F
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The two most common citation formats are those presented by the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA).
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T
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In a business report, graphics can be used to clarify data, to make numeric data meaningful, and to create visual interest.
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T
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Sandra wants to illustrate how her company's sales have increased over the past five years. She should use a pie chart to do this.
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F
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Brady wants to come up with a graphic that will clearly show new staff members how a customer's order proceeds from sales to delivery. The best graphic for him to use is a flowchart
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T
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Stephanie is preparing a visual to show the chain of command and reporting structure within her company. An organization chart will best illustrate this data.
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T
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Table 4 shows that three fourths of the respondents oppose the proposed tax is an effective reference to a visual aid in a report.
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T
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40. Use the color red in a visual aid to suggest positive values.
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F
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