BCOM Chapters 3, 4, and 5

your choice of words should be guided by the purpose of your message

For a message to be clear and effective:

the doer of the action I unknown

The passive voice is most likely to take precedence over the active voice when:

they are abstract nouns

Which of the following is true of camouflaged verbs? a. they are abstract nouns b. they do not require the passive voice c. they typically reduce the number of words in a sentence d. they are concrete in nature e. when a verb is camouflaged, the verb describing the action in a sentence takes the form of a conjunction

C.

Which of the following sentences has been written correctly? a. its their car, so let them decide where were going b. the company needs to recover its loss c. whatever they're doing to this highway, it seems to be taking forever to finish d. these students have a poor attendance record. I'm worried about they're performance. e. I can't image why they're isn't a grocery store around here.

D

Which of the following sentences uses concrete, specific wording? a. please respond to the message as early as possible b. will you respond to the message at the earliest? c. please respond to the message soon d. could you please respond to the message by the first of January? e. please take your time to respond to the message

D.

Which of the following sentences uses gender-biased words? a. four women and six men sat on the discussion panel b. Shannon was hoping a doctor would give her a clearer idea about her illness c. Alison loves to write and dreams of becoming a famous poet d. Lynette has been the chairman of the company for two years now e. the geology professor taught the lesson using layperson's terms.

C.

Which of the following should typically be avoided in a business letter? a. the use of concrete words b. the use of gender-neutral words c. the use of words that typecast those with disabilities d. the use of the active voice e. the use of clear verb forms

make the reference plural

one of the most efficient ways to avoid the use of sexist pronouns is to:

redundancy

repetition of ideas in a sentence through the use of different words that mean the same thing is called______in sentence design.

D

which of the following arguments is true about using short words in business communication? a. a heavy use of short words, even those that are easily understood, hinders communication b. all short words are easy and all long words are hard c. long words are generally more effective than short words d. word length and word difficulty are related e. the use of short words should be avoided as they tend to be unfamiliar words

C

which of the following guidelines is most likely to enhance the effectiveness of a message? a. using complex words to demonstrate your knowledge to your readers b. using stiff words to make the communication precise c. using simple words that carry the intended meaning of your message without offending your readers' intelligence d. avoiding the use of familiar words as it reduces the credibility of your message e. avoiding the use of words that you would use in face-to-face communication with your readers

D.

which of the following is an example of a cluttering phrase? a. her handwriting is illegible, so I could not read her comments. b. social interaction at work is pleasant, but it should not affect the word at hand c. if payment is not made by December, our collaboration will cease d. it is interesting to note that numerous individuals required assistance, whereas, the remainder took a pass e. the grant proposals were reviewed by the students

D.

which of the following is true about the use of verbs in business communication? a. camouflaged verbs should be used as often as possible in business communication b. the verbs in a sentence can be made more active by using the passive voice c. when the doer of an action is unimportant to the message, the active voice is preferred as it properly de-emphasizes the doer d. a sentence with a verb that can take a direct job can be written either in a direct pattern or an indirect pattern

B

which of the following is true of idioms? a. to grasp the attention of the reader, it is advisable to avoid using the expected word combinations in idioms b. idioms are word combinations that have become standard in a language c. when idioms sound arbitrary, you should not use the expected word combinations d. idioms are used to de-emphasize the do-er of an action e. idioms are concerned with the appropriate combination of words used in clichés and slang

B

which of the following sentence correctly uses the words "fewer" and "less"? a. fewer the traffic, the better it is for pedestrians b. fewer customers are opting for health insurance plans at present c. less customers are inclined to shop online d. customers are buying less books e. he has less friends compared to his sister

A.

which of the following sentences illustrates the faulty usage of idioms? a. this medicine is different than the one you were using b. we had to comply with this policy c. sally agreed to the new proposal d. the company is in search of qualified employees e. junk food and alcohol are equally bad for your heart

an unexpected tornado smashed several homes and uprooted trees in a suburb of Knoxville

which of the following sentences is in active voice?

A.

which of the following statements is true about sentence structures? a. it is best to use simple sentence structures to reach people with lower communication abilities b. it is best to use complex sentence structures to reach people who are not knowledgeable about the contents of the message c. the more words and ideas there are in a sentence, the greater the readability of a message d. in order to write an effective message, the use of active voice should be avoided e. complex sentence structures are required to convey the importance of a message

Mary was unable to attend the hockey game because she had jury duty

which one of the following sentences avoids the use of cluttering phrases?