Business Communications Quiz - 8

1. Which of the following statements contains platitudes or other offensive expressions?
[A]Our reputation is important to us and we will work day and night to satisfy our customers
[B]We have forwarded your recent letter to the shipping department and they will contact you within the week
[C]Evaluations are based on your performance in the last six months and are the basis for your pay raise
[D]When you pay your rent by the first of each month, you will maintain your excellent credit reputation



2. You have decided to send a message to your supervisor requesting vacation time. You brainstorm some basic concepts and now must decide how to phrase this information for your supervisor. You are at which of the following steps in the communication process?
[A]Sending
[B]Receiving
[C]Encoding
[D]Decoding



3. While communicating in either written or oral form, style of communication has an impact on the receiver. In which of the following messages it is appropriate to talk about your emotions?
[A]Apology
[B]Layoff or termination
[C]Congratulations or condolence
[D]Offer of appointment



4. While writing the letter denying the credit request of a customer, which of the following is/are suggested as the first paragraph?
I. “Your order of March 28 has been received, and your request for credit privileges has been received. At this time, we do not believe it is in our best interest to sell to you on a credit basis.”
II. “The items listed in your order of March 28 have been selling very rapidly in recent weeks. Supplying customer’s demands for the latest in electronic technology is consistent with sound business practice.”
III. “We do not want you to give you any false hopes regarding the credit request. Hence, we are sorry to inform you that your credit request has been denied. The reasons for the same are as follows:….
[A]Only I
[B]Only II
[C]Only III
[D]Only I or II



5. Resume is primarily a sales letter, selling a particular commodity i.e.,you. There are many kinds of resumes; which of the following provides relevant information about educational qualifications and employment history sequentially in reverse order?
[A]The functional resume
[B]The Chronological resume
[C]Combination of chronological and functional resume
[D]The formal resume



6. An order letter is a letter sent to any person who has the goods we intend to buy. In this letter details are usually tabulated, especially when more than one item is ordered. The order letter should not start with which of the following sentences?
[A]“Please send”
[B]“I am interested,”
[C]“Please ship”
[D]“I order”



7. Groups, follow many methods to take decisions. In which of the following techniques, are members encouraged to generate as many ideas about a topic as they can, no idea is rejected at the initial stage and finally, the group returns to all the ideas and adopts those that seem most feasible or most useful?
[A]Brainstorming
[B]Reflective thinking
[C]Consensus
[D]Nominal group technique



8. Which of the following documents is called an interoffice correspondence?
[A]Letter
[B]Report
[C]Oral presentation slides
[D]Memo



9. Which of the following best defines a “buffer”
[A]It is a neutral, uncontroversial statement that is closely related to the point of the message
[B]It is a protective zone that the writer of a bad-news message creates around himself or herself
[C]It is a statement in a bad-news message that is not related to the point of the message
[D]It is a statement that changes the topic after the delivery of the bad news in a negative message



10. When faced with a conflict, different people respond in different ways. One of them is ‘avoiding’ the conflict—unwillingness to talk things out, pretending that a conflict does not exist. In which of the following situations ‘avoiding’ is advisable?
I. When you need time to gather facts or think about a situation
II. When you think delaying of the problem will solve the problem
III. When you perceive that you have no chance of satisfying your concerns.
[A]Only (I) above
[B]Only (II) above
[C]Only (III) above
[D]Both (I) and (III) above



11. Consider the following statements and identify, with which of the sentence/s an application letter should not be started?
I. “I wish to be considered an applicant for the position of sales representative”
II. “A degree in marketing and my interpersonal skills would enable me to be the ‘enthusiastic, hardworking sales representative’ you advertised for in the Economic Times dated October 12”
III. “This is an application for the post of sales representative”.
[A]Only (I) above
[B]Only (II) above
[C]Both (I) and (II) above
[D]Both (I) and (III) above



12. Identify the sentence(s) which is/are grammatically correct and convey(s) the meaning clearly.
[A]The workers removed all the furniture from the room and cleaned it
[B]After removing all the furniture from it, the workers cleaned the room
[C]The workers cleaned all the furniture after removing it from the room
[D]Both (b) and (c) above



13. Conducting a successful interview requires three important skills: questioning, listening, and the third one is
[A]Mentoring
[B]Criticizing
[C]Summarizing
[D]Predicting



14. Which of the following is not a purpose of a persuasive message?
[A]To have the reader act
[B]To overcome any objections which might prevent action
[C]To provide enough information so that the reader knows exactly what to do
[D]To have the reader request more information from the writer



15. Once the interviewer has decided on the format, he can start formulating specific questions. The question “Tell me about yourself” comes under which type of question?
[A]Open-ended question
[B]Closed-ended question
[C]Critical question
[D]Common question