BA 3350 Chapter 6 Test Prep THIDA 80

You are applying the FAIR test to a business message. Which of the following questions are you most likely to ask while analyzing its factual accuracy? A. Are there any logical errors? B. Have you allowed message recipients to provide input? C. Have you considered how the message will impact stakeholders? D. Have you evaluated impacts on others from an ethical perspective? E. Have you demonstrated that you value others?

A. Are there any logical errors? The reviewing process includes three interrelated components: conducting the FAIR test, proofreading, and getting feedback. The "F" in FAIR test stands for "facts." At this stage you should check the validity of the content, including whether it contains logical errors.

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.

A. Providing too much information can distract the readers and weigh a business document down. 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.

What impact does beginning sentences with "it is" or "there are" have on a business message? A. The message is less precise because it is wordy and lacks a specific subject. B. The message is less precise because it contains figurative, not literal, meanings. C. The message is more concise because those are brief phrases. D. The message is more active because the second word is a verb. E. The message is less natural sounding because it is not parallel.

A. The message is less precise because it is wordy and lacks a specific subject. Readers naturally want to know precisely who or what the subject of a sentence is, particularly in business writing, where specificity is so important. Most sentences that begin with "it is" or "there are" fail to provide a specific subject and generally contain more words than necessary.

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.

A. They may doubt his competence on the subject he is writing about. 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.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the use of figures of speech, such as idioms and metaphors, in business writing? A. They should be avoided because they lack specificity. B. They send the signal that the writer is out of touch with the audience. C. They are an effective way to write more concisely. D. They should be avoided because they are too I-centered. E. They are an effective way to make a message more natural.

A. They should be avoided because they lack specificity. Figures of speech, such as idioms and metaphors, are generally out of place or inappropriate in business writing. Since they are nonliteral, they lack the precise meanings needed in business.

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.

A. be specific. 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.

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.

A. being accurate. 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).

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

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

It becomes easier for your readers to process the information you present when you A. match your writing style to the way your readers think and talk. B. use prepositional phrases extensively as they increase the clarity of the message. C. choose long and obscure words to pique their curiosity. D. avoid using parallel language, which makes it difficult to distinguish between the information provided. E. include a lot of text in your message and very little white space.

A. match your writing style to the way your readers think and talk. The more closely you match your writing style to the way your readers think and talk, the easier it is for them to process the information you present.

Which of the following is most likely to improve the ease of navigation in information-rich and complex messages? A. using headings to convey the contents of sections B. avoiding the use of numbered or bulleted lists C. using several different font styles in the document D. using a new style of formatting for each section E. avoiding the use of too much white space

A. using headings to convey the contents of sections In information-rich and complex messages, headings can help your readers identify key ideas and navigate the document to areas of interest.

Why is it necessary to ensure that business messages are accurate?

Accuracy is a basic objective of all business communications because colleagues, customers, and clients base important decisions on these communications. In short, accurate information is true, correct, and exact. Writers should aim for accuracy in facts, figures, statistics, and word choice. Accuracy, like specificity, strongly impacts the readers' perceptions of the writer's credibility. Just one inaccurate statement can lead readers to dismiss an entire message and lower their trust in the writer's future communications as well.

As a rule of thumb, for routine messages, the sentence length should be no more than A. 8 words. B. 15 words. C. 20 words. D. 25 words. E. 30 words.

B. 15 words. As a rule of thumb, for routine messages, you should aim for average sentence length of 15 or fewer words.

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

B. 40-80 words. 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.

Which task are you most likely to do during the final pass of proofreading? A. Check for adequate white space. B. Look for typographical mistakes. C. Imagine how the audience will respond. D. Ask yourself if you are confident in your facts. E. See if you have made logical errors.

B. Look for typographical mistakes. Proofreading involves rereading your entire document to make sure it is influential and accurate. You might consider rereading each sentence several times, each time with a different focus. On your first pass, place yourself in the position of your audience members. On your second pass, check for problems with writing style and language mechanics. You should check for typographical errors only after all your other corrections have been made.

Which statement about active voice and passive voice is true? A. The active voice diverts attention from the doer. B. People tend to think in a doer-action-object pattern. C. The active voice is best when you do not want to attribute blame. D. People tend to sound bossy when using the passive voice. E. The passive voice places the object first.

B. People tend to think in a doer-action-object pattern. People tend to think in a doer-action-object pattern, so using this pattern in your writing enhances comprehension. Active voice uses that pattern.

Which statement about buzzwords is true? A. They make text more active. B. They are trite due to overuse. C. They have very technical meanings. D. They shorten the length of the message. E. They improve a message's accuracy.

B. They are trite due to overuse. To keep your writing natural and engaging, make sure you do not distract your readers with overused or out-of-place words or phrases. Buzzwords, which are workplace terms that become trite because of overuse, can stir negative feelings among some readers.

People are most likely to process information quickly when writers use A. prepositional phrases. B. action verbs. C. the passive voice. D. complex words. E. long sentences.

B. action verbs. People can generally process information more quickly when writers use action verbs.

Dale has written a proposal for a new initiative. Which of the following will help him evaluate how his message will impact stakeholders? A. doing a first pass of proofreading B. applying the FAIR test C. doing a second pass of proofreading D. consulting the design department E. using the AIM planning process

B. applying the FAIR test The FAIR test ensures ethical business communication. The "I" in FAIR stands for Impacts. You should ask yourself whether you have thought about how the message will impact various stakeholders.

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

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

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

B. being specific 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).

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

B. exact. 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.

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.

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

For most written business communications, the first consideration should be to A. present the message in a visually appealing manner. B. get the message across in an easy-to-read manner. C. select the facts in a persuasive manner. D. construct the message in passive voice. E. demonstrate how much of an expert you are.

B. get the message across in an easy-to-read manner. Visual appeal is not the first consideration for most written business communications. Rather, the goal is to get your message across in an easy-to-read manner.

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

B. inaccurate statements 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.

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

B. omitting needless words. 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.

To create a more natural writing style and improve the ease of reading, a writer should use A. passive verbs. B. parallel language. C. the passive voice. D. figures of speech. E. buzzwords.

B. parallel language. Using parallel language means that you apply a consistent grammatical pattern across a sentence or paragraph. Parallelism is most important when you use series or lists, as it makes them easier to read.

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.

B. provides all the information necessary to meet the intended purpose. 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.

Consider the statement: "As most of you know, Mega Manufacturing had its most profitable year ever last year." One way to make this statement more concise is to A. eliminate the passive voice. B. remove empty phrases. C. replace a prepositional phrase with a verb. D. start with "It is" or "There are." E. remove redundant words.

B. remove empty phrases. Many phrases fill space without adding meaning. Many of these phrases are common in conversations but are not needed in written messages. The above statement can be written, "Mega Manufacturing had its most profitable year ever last year."

The "R" in the FAIR test stands for A. revision. B. respect. C. relevancy. D. redundancy. E. repetition.

B. respect. The reviewing process includes three interrelated components: conducting the FAIR test, proofreading, and getting feedback. The "R" in FAIR test stands for "respect."

Which statement about ease of navigation is true? A. You should avoid using headings in information-rich and complex messages. B. Visual appeal should be the first consideration for all written business communications. C. Documents with too much text and not enough white space look daunting or cluttered. D. Readers are likely to be distracted by bullets and numberings in a document. E. In general, you should use special formatting as much as you can so your ideas stand out.

C. Documents with too much text and not enough white space look daunting or cluttered. Your readers will form an immediate impression about your document based on how much white space (areas without text) it has. Documents with too much text and not enough white space look daunting or cluttered. On the other hand, documents with too much white space may look insufficient.

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.

C. He should include specific details and dollar amounts. Being specific would help Anwar assure his coworkers that he is not trying to hide any facts from them.

Which task are you most likely to do during the first pass of proofreading? A. Check for grammatical errors. B. Look for typographical mistakes. C. Imagine how the audience will respond. D. Check for problems with the writing style. E. Look for issues with language mechanics.

C. Imagine how the audience will respond. Proofreading involves rereading your entire document to make sure it is influential and accurate. You might consider rereading each sentence several times, each time with a different focus. On your first pass, place yourself in the position of your audience members. On your second pass, check for problems with writing style and language mechanics.

Salim has written a proposal advocating that his company should implement a schedule in which employees work four 10-hour days, with half of the employees having Monday off and the other half having Friday off. He claims that productivity will increase because fewer people will take days off to go to medical appointments, which they can schedule on their off day. Which of the following people has the correct expertise to give Salim helpful feedback about his proposal? A. a colleague in the Purchasing Department B. a colleague in the Shipping Department C. a colleague in the Human Resources Department D. a colleague in the Research and Development Department E. a colleague in the Public Relations Department

C. a colleague in the Human Resources Department One of the best ways to ensure that your communication is effective and fair is to get feedback from others. Get perspectives from trusted colleagues, particularly if they have some knowledge that relates to your business message. In Salim's case, because he is suggesting a change to working hours, he should ask a colleague in the Human Resources Department to give him feedback on his proposal.

Glen is writing a memo to suggest that his company hire someone to act on its behalf in a foreign market. If he wants to improve the ease of reading of his message, which term should he use to describe that person? A. fiduciary B. executor C. agent D. procurator E. envoy

C. agent To keep your writing natural and engaging, remember that people generally process simple, short, familiar words more quickly than long, complex or unfamiliar ones.

Using the active voice while writing business messages A. diverts the attention from the subject. B. makes the writer sound less bossy. C. allows for faster processing of the business message. D. makes the message difficult to navigate. E. is useful when the writer wants to avoid assigning blame.

C. allows for faster processing of the business message. Using active voice in writing includes many benefits. The doer-action-object approach allows for faster processing because most people's natural thinking occurs in this way. It also emphasizes the business orientation of action. Perhaps most important, it specifies the doer. Since business activities depend on accountability and coordination, knowing the identity of the doer of an action is usually important. Furthermore, writing in the active voice usually results in fewer words.

To improve ease of reading when using headings in business documents, A. avoid using headings in complex messages. B. use different font styles and formatting for different headings. C. make sure the headings accurately convey the contents of a section. D. use wordy prepositional phrases as headings. E. avoid using headings in information-rich messages.

C. make sure the headings accurately convey the contents of a section. As you develop your headings, make sure they concisely and accurately convey the contents of a section.

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

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

Consider the statement: "In order to build a sustainable organization, it is important to hire employees with sustainable qualities." One way to make this statement more concise is to A. eliminate the passive voice. B. remove empty phrases. C. replace a prepositional phrase with a verb. D. start with "It is" or "There are." E. remove redundant words.

C. replace a prepositional phrase with a verb. Eliminating extra words allows you to get your ideas across as efficiently as possible. You will often find that you can reduce word count by 30 to 40 percent simply by converting many of your prepositional phrases into single-word verbs. The above statement can be rewritten as, "Hiring employees with sustainable qualities helps you build a sustainable organization."

Consider the following sentence: "CEO Mike Maloney regrets to announce that PharmCo will be downsizing at the end of September." Which of the following actions would improve the ease of reading? A. Cut the prepositional phrase "at the end of September." B. Change "at the end of September" to "at the end of the third quarter." C. Change "PharmCo" to "PharmCo Drug and Pharmaceutical Company." D. Change the buzzword "downsizing" to "laying off employees." E. Change "CEO Mike Maloney" to "The CEO of PharmCo."

D. Change the buzzword "downsizing" to "laying off employees." To keep your writing natural and engaging, make sure you don't distract your readers with overused or out-of-place words or phrases. Buzzwords, which are workplace terms that become trite because of overuse, can stir negative feelings among some readers. Using the buzzword "downsizing" as a term for layoffs is likely to annoy employees.

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.

D. His message did not set a clear and specific production target. 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.

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.

D. It is not specific. 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.;

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.

D. Plan, write, and review your message strategically to provide all relevant information, but nothing irrelevant. 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.

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

D. four 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.

Your colleague Li has just finished drafting an important business proposal. Now he has asked you for advice on how to review the document. What should you tell him to do? A. Do a grammar check and spell check. B. Do a spell check, do the FAIR test, and proofread. C. Do the FAIR test and get feedback. D. Do a spell check, do a grammar check, and get feedback. E. Do the FAIR test, proofread, and get feedback.

E. Do the FAIR test, proofread, and get feedback. The reviewing process includes three interrelated components: conducting the FAIR test, proofreading, and getting feedback (generally not needed for routine messages).

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.

E. The company will have to terminate 50 percent of its employees. "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.

Chun has designed a flyer to invite employees to a workshop about time management. She wants to know if it is inviting and clear. Which of the following colleagues could provide the best feedback? A. a colleague in the Human Resources Department B. a colleague in the Shipping Department C. a colleague in the Legal Department D. a colleague on the Executive Committee E. a colleague in the Marketing Department

E. a colleague in the Marketing Department One of the best ways to ensure that your communication is effective and fair is to get feedback from others. Get perspectives from trusted colleagues, particularly if they have some knowledge that relates to your business message. In Chun's case, the colleague in the Marketing Department would best be able to comment on her flyer.

Which of the following choices is a component of the reviewing process? A. audience analysis B. identifying the primary message C. determining the key points D. determining the message structure E. conducting the FAIR test

E. conducting the FAIR test The reviewing process includes three interrelated components: conducting the FAIR test, proofreading, and getting feedback.

People reading a business message are most likely to be confused by a sentence that A. uses action verbs rather than passive verbs. B. uses active voice rather than passive voice. C. has parallel structure. D. contains redundancies to drive home the point. E. does not mention the subject.

E. does not mention the subject. When the subject or doer is missing from a sentence, readers may become confused.

The primary purpose of the FAIR test is to make sure that business communications are A. concise. B. accessible. C. error-free. D. understandable. E. ethical.

E. ethical. The FAIR test is a way of ensuring ethical business communication.

The use of familiar words in business messages is most likely to A. distract attention from the message. B. decrease the credibility of the message. C. cause the readers' attention to wander because of boredom. D. decrease the specificity of the message. E. help the readers to process the information easily.

E. help the readers to process the information easily. Whenever possible, one should choose short, conversational, and familiar words in business messages so that they are easier for readers to interpret. Using longer, less common words to "sound smart" rarely pays off. They slow processing and distract from your message. They may even inadvertently send the signal that you are out of touch, quirky, or arrogant.

Consider the following statement: "Employee managers can use our motivational tools to motivate their employees to increase productivity." The best way to make this statement concise is to A. eliminate the passive voice. B. remove empty phrases. C. replace a prepositional phrase with a verb. D. start with "It is" or "There are." E. remove redundant words.

E. remove redundant words. Removing the redundant words from a message is a way of making a business message concise. The above statement can be rewritten, "Managers can use our tools to motivate their employees to increase productivity."

The use of buzzwords in business messages usually stirs positive feelings among readers. True or False

FALSE Buzzwords, which are workplace terms that become trite because of overuse, can stir negative feelings among some readers.

Long paragraphs in a business message are a sign that the text is well organized. True or False

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

People can generally process information more quickly when writers use passive verbs. True or False

FALSE People can generally process information more quickly when writers use active verbs, which help achieve a more active, engaging tone.

Prepositional phrases should be used in business messages to increase clarity. True or False

FALSE Prepositional phrases are not bad in themselves. In many cases, they are perfectly appropriate. But their overuse leads to wordiness and less clarity.

The more specific you are, the more likely your readers are to become impatient and begin skimming your message. True or False

FALSE The more specific you are, the more likely readers are to have their questions answered. If you are not specific, your readers may become impatient and begin scanning and skimming for the information they want.

The more you use special formatting, such as italics or underlining, the more likely you are to communicate your emphasis to your reader. True or False

FALSE Typically, you will apply special formatting sparingly; if you use too much special formatting, your main ideas will not stand out.

In order to be concise, you must sometimes leave out relevant information. True or False

FALSE 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 (the relevant information).

Writers should typically use the active voice when they want to avoid blaming others or sounding bossy. True or False

FALSE While the active voice is the preferred writing style for most business writing, the passive voice is sometimes better when attempting to avoid blaming others or sounding bossy.

List three ways of ensuring the completeness of business messages.

One can ensure the completeness of business messages by: (1) providing all relevant information (2) being accurate (3) being specific.

Discuss two ways of reducing the overall word count in business messages. Give specific examples of each.

One way to reduce word count and make business messages easier to read is to avoid redundancies, which are words or phrases that repeat the same meaning. For example, consider the phrase "past history"; history can only be past, so there's no need to use both words. By eliminating redundancies, one can reduce overall word count. Avoiding empty phrases is another way of reducing the overall word count in business messages. Many phrases simply fill space without adding additional meaning. Many of these phrases are common in conversations but are not needed for written messages. Examples of such phrases include "Needless to say" and "In my opinion."

What techniques can a business writer use to make series and lists easier for readers to comprehend?

Parallel language is one way to make series and lists easier to comprehend. Using parallel language means that you apply a consistent grammatical pattern across a sentence or paragraph. Parallelism is most important when you use series or lists. For example, when you describe a product with three characteristics, begin all three items with an adjective, not just two out of three. When you use consistent grammatical patterns like this for items in lists and series, readers can process the information far more naturally and quickly. A second way to make lists easier for readers to comprehend is to use numbers or bullets to separate the items.

Discuss how to proofread a business document.

Proofreading involves rereading your entire document to make sure it is influential and accurate. You might consider rereading each sentence several times, each time with a different focus. On your first pass, place yourself in the position of your audience members. Imagine how they will respond. On your second pass, check for problems with writing style and language mechanics. In the final pass, look for and correct misspellings and typos.

Describe the significance of using white space in a business document.

Readers form an immediate impression about business documents based on how much white space (areas without text) it has. Documents with too much text and not enough white space look daunting or cluttered. On the other hand, documents with too much white space may look insufficient. So one must maintain a balance in the use of white space.

When readers see long paragraphs, they often stop reading and start trying to pick out significant words and phrases from the text. True or False

TRUE Before they even begin to read, readers form impressions about ease of reading by looking at paragraph length. When they see long paragraphs, they often enter skim mode—searching for certain words and ideas rather than reading.

If you are specific in your message, then your readers are more likely to believe you are credible. True or False

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

Documents with a lot of text and not much white space look daunting or cluttered. True or False

TRUE Documents with too much text and not enough white look daunting or cluttered. On the other hand, documents with too much white space may look insufficient.

Reviewing business messages minimizes the possibility of embarrassing and damaging mistakes. True or False

TRUE During the reviewing stage, you are most likely to improve your message, making it far more successful. You will also minimize the possibility of embarrassing and damaging mistakes.

Sentences that begin with "it is" or "there are" generally contain more words than necessary. True or False

TRUE Most sentences that begin with "it is" or "there are" fail to provide a specific subject and generally contain more words than necessary.

One primary cause of overly long paragraphs is placing more than one main idea or topic in a paragraph. True or False

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

By eliminating redundancies, you can reduce the overall word count in a business message. True or False

TRUE One way to reduce word count and make your messages easier to read is to avoid redundancies, which are words or phrases that repeat the same meaning.

One advantage of using simple, short words is that they help readers process information more quickly. True or False

TRUE People generally process simple, short words more quickly than long, complex ones.

Providing too much information can distract readers and weigh a business document down. True or False

TRUE Providing too much information can distract the readers and weigh a business document down. On the other hand, not providing enough information can leave the reader wondering how to respond.

A paragraph should rarely exceed 150 words. True or False

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

The FAIR test helps business writers to make sure their communications are ethical. True or False

TRUE The FAIR test is a way of ensuring ethical business communication.

The closer you match your writing style to the way your readers think and talk, the easier it is for them to process the information you present. True or False

TRUE The closer you match your writing style to the way your readers think and talk, the easier it is for them to process the information you present. Ease of processing means your readers need less mental effort to understand your message.

What is the purpose of including headings in a business communication, and how can you make sure they achieve this purpose?

The purpose of a heading in a business communication is to help your readers navigate the document with ease and to identify primary ideas. To make sure your headings do what they are designed to do, you should make them consistent throughout your document. You also need to make sure that they concisely and accurately reflect the contents of each section.

Describe the three components of the review process for business communications.

The three related components of the reviewing stage are applying the FAIR test, proofreading, and feedback. The FAIR test is a way to ensure ethics in business communication. It requires writers to consider facts, access, impacts, and respect. Proofreading, usually done in multiple passes, includes considering the audience response and checking for errors and problems with style and mechanics. Getting feedback means asking trusted colleagues to view the message, evaluate its success, and provide you with their thoughts about it.

What is the impact of using the active voice in business messages?

Using the active voice in writing includes many benefits. The doer-action-object approach allows for faster processing because most people's natural thinking occurs in this way. It also emphasizes the business orientation of action. Perhaps most important, it specifies the doer. Since business activities depend on accountability and coordination, knowing the identity of the doer of an action is usually important. Furthermore, writing in the active voice usually results in fewer words.

Is visual appeal the most important factor for creating a good business document? Explain.

Visual appeal is important, but it is not the first consideration for most written business communications. Rather, the most important goal is to get the message across in an easy-to-read manner. As writers design their documents, the focus should first be on providing easy navigation for the readers.