Language Department

3rd PARTIAL EXAM

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
PROFESSOR: ARACELI MAYA

Test Score: ________

Evaluation: _____

Name:____________________________________ Student Number:_________________

Date:___________________________________

“In accordance with the student code of ethics at Tecnologico de Monterrey, I pledge that my
performance on this exam is governed by academic honesty. In congruence with the commitment
made by signing this code, I will take this exam in an honest and personal way, therefore
reflecting my knowledge and accepting the resulting evaluation.”

_________________________________________________

LANGUAGE
Complete the talk with a word from the box.
purposes / tail / picture / point / different / wrong /brick / hear / nutshell / beat

GOOD COMMUNICATION
Good communication is vital for businesses. To put it in a (1)__________, if you can’t communicate well,
your business will probably go under. As time is money, it’s best not to (2)__________ around the bush at
meetings. It’s important to get straight to the (3)__________. That doesn’t mean you have to rude, just
clear and relevant. The last thing you want is to be talking at cross-(4)__________, which will happen if you
are not clear about what you are saying. Neither do you want to waste time talking to people who give you
nothing back. Talking to a (5)__________ wall is a total waste of time. Keeping people in the (6) __________
is an important part of a good manager’s role. You don’t want people to get the (7)__________ end of the
stick, do you? I’ve listened to many speeches and not been able to make head nor (8)__________ of them
because they were so muddled. It seemed as if the presenter was on a completely (9)__________
wavelength from everyone else in the room. Finally, don’t always believe what you (10)__________ on the
grapevine. Check out the facts before you pass any information on.

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 Language Department

3rd PARTIAL EXAM

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
PROFESSOR: ARACELI MAYA

Put the words in italics in the correct order.

1 Our base/expanding/customer is one of the things we are very proud of.
2 We’re having the meeting at the business/centre/development/international.
3 You need to complete the claim/travel/form/insurance immediately.
4 The sales/amazing/figures last month cheered everyone up.
5 We have just signed the brilliant/deal/most/sponsorship.
6 We are now the leaders in the mobile/competitive/fiercely /market/phone.
7 The confidential/report/sales/highly is missing. We can’t find it anywhere.
8 We thought it was a campaign/interesting/really/advertising.
9 We’ve set up a new/department/services/customer to deal with the initial problems.
10 The feaures/innovative/product seem to appeal.

Complete the sentences with a verb and particle(s) from each box.
call/go(x2)/turn/build over/on with/ up(x2)
check/get/work /let/set off/down/in/round/out/on

1 I’ve just got to __________ at the hotel. Then I’ll call you to make arrangements for the meeting.
2 Have you __________ the meeting with their Chief Buyer yet? We need to see him as soon as
possible.
3 I __________ my new boss much better. She’s great to work for.
4 We’ll have to __________ the meeting as some people can’t come
5 I’m really sorry I didn’t get that order. I feel that I’ve __________you __________.
6 A lot of informal meetings __________ in our organisation.
7 The project was not on schedule until the new manager took over. He managed to
__________it__________ in four weeks.
8 It’s important to __________ a good relationship with your clients.
9 I don’t like it when people __________ my head straight to the boss. It makes me look bad.
10 He wasn’t sure if the new job would __________, but it did and he’s very happy there.

Underline the correct option.

The company (1) signed/has signed a contract for a joint venture with a Chinese supplier last week. Although
our current suppliers (2) had been/have been very reliable over the past three years, now they (3)were/are
unable to meet all our demands. Mr Gonzalez, our new deputy CEO, (4) joined/has joined the company two

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 Language Department

3rd PARTIAL EXAM

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
PROFESSOR: ARACELI MAYA

months ago. He (5) has been/was previously Finance Director of ZEE Plastics, where he (6) has/had worked
for 5 years. Currently he (7) leads/is leading the Chinese joint venture team. He (8) is speaking/speaks
fluent Mandarin and (9) spent/had spent a year in China 3 years ago. While he (10) is/was working there he
made some excellent contacts.

Put the verbs in brackets in the correct passive form.

Recently it (1)__________ (discover) that over 65% of employees are not satisfied with their jobs. This is a
worrying figure for HR managers. Many surveys (2)__________ (conduct) over the past few years by
companies and individuals. The most common methods which (3)__________ (use) are exit interviews,
feedback from employee performance reviews and conducting employee attitude surveys. The reasons
which (4)__________ (usually give) for this dissatisfaction are varied and many. This situation needs to
(5)__________ (deal) with by HR departments.
During the current economic downturn, which, in the past few months (6)__________ (compare) to the
Great Depression of 1929, job security (7)__________ (put) at the top of employee dissatisfaction lists. It
(8)__________ (widely know) that staff who are dissatisfied with their jobs are more likely to leave their
companies.
Of course, such external forces or trends affect an organisation in a variety of ways and these need to
(9)__________ (identify) in order to develop goals and train employees. In a report published last week,
using their skills and abilities (10)__________ (rank) among the top five most important things for job
satisfaction, so managers will have to work on challenging their staff with appropriate tasks if they want to
keep them.

Complete the sentences with the correct option.

1 Her predictions were fairly/utterly accurate, although a few were quite wrong.
2 The goods were terribly/slightly damaged when they arrived, but it was nothing serious.
3 The senior directors were quite/severely criticised for taking the decisions which led to the bank’s
failure..
4 The meal with our clients last night was thoroughly/deeply enjoyable.
5 I think your figures are mildly/totally unrealistic. It’s going to cost a lot more than that to build the
new factory.
6 They were badly/poorly hurt when the accident happened.

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 Language Department

3rd PARTIAL EXAM

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
PROFESSOR: ARACELI MAYA

7 I have to say that I’m deeply/superbly disappointed in your results. I’d expected you to do much
better.
8 The new designer is exceptionally/partly talented and has already won many awards for his work.
9 I don’t think she was fully/highly prepared for the meeting today, as she didn’t have any of the
relevant statistics.
10 The presentation was reasonably/absolutely awful. Half the audience was asleep and the other half
just started talking to each other. Nobody listened to the speaker.

Complete the sentences with a word from the box.

the former/he/these/them/the/the one/they/this/their/you
STAFF MEMO
As (1) __________ know, our potential new suppliers from China will be visiting our business next Monday.
(2) __________ will arrive here at 08.30 hours and (3) __________ Overseas Director, Fred Malkin, who was
(4) __________ who arranged the meeting, will meet (5) __________ first in the conference room. There
(6)__________ will welcome them to the company. After that, they will have a tour of the factory with the
Production Director, who will discuss the key issues of quality and delivery times. (7) __________ is
obviously very important because we were let down in (8) __________ area by our previous supplier even
though (9) __________ delivery times were very good. As (10) __________ delivery times will become more
frequent in future because of the increase in production, the Chinese company needs to be able to
guarantee deliveries.

Choose the correct option.

1 We must/should have had the meeting last week, then we could have stopped the situation from
getting worse.
2 We might/needn’t have been able to save the company, but we had to recall several products.
3 Sarah’s the best salesperson we’ve got. We must/should have made her the manager last year.
4 You shouldn’t/mightn’t have left your job. That was a big mistake.
5 You needn’t/couldn’t have asked him to help us. We have the skills to do it ourselves.
6 I must/would have left my laptop at the office because it’s not in my bag.
7 You could/needn’t have finished the report today but you decided to go home instead.
8 I think he wouldn’t/may have finished his phone call now. You can go in.
9 We would/ought to have won the contract if you had been there.
10 We needn’t/wouldn’t have been so successful if you hadn’t put in that extra work on the project.

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 Language Department

3rd PARTIAL EXAM

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
PROFESSOR: ARACELI MAYA

Complete the sentences with the correct preposition.

1 Our customers have been complaining __________ our prices since we put them up.
2 Our export sales account __________ 45% of our total turnover.
3 The recession has had a serious effect __________ our specialised market.
4 With reference __________ your last letter, we are pleased to enclose the requested documents.
5 The best we can hope __________ is to break even this year.
6 We need to find an alternative __________ our current supplier.
7 We are not aware __________ any problems with their business.
8 We have an excellent relationship __________ all our suppliers.
9 At the meeting we found a solution __________ the production problem.
10 We learned __________ his award through the company newsletter.

Choose the correct option.

We guarantee we will deliver the goods within 24 hours if customers (1) will order/order online. However,
our computer system crashed this morning and unfortunately, we won’t be able to meet that promise for all
of our customers today. The problem is that we lost last night’s orders. The warehouse would have received
these this morning if the system (2) didn’t crash/hadn’t crashed. (3) Were/Had this not happened the
warehouse would have been able to deliver all the goods on time. I think the problem is that our IT staff
don’t have enough training. If we sent our staff on courses more regularly, we (4) wouldn’t have/wouldn’t
have had these recurring problems. The computer engineer said he couldn’t come until this evening. Luckily
Jim, one of our operatives, stepped in and he’s a bit of computer geek. (5) Had/Were it not for him, the
computers would have been down all day. So (6) unless/providing he can solve all the problems, we’ll be up
and running this evening. We’ll have to work all night, to get the backlog of orders out to our customers. I
(7) am/would be very grateful if all staff could help us out here. (8) As long as/Unless you can work all
through the night, we’ll lose a lot of customers. Tell me what you need to work all night and we (9) will
give/give it to you. (10) Should/Supposing you have any questions, please contact me immediately.

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 Language Department

3rd PARTIAL EXAM

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
PROFESSOR: ARACELI MAYA

VOCABULARY
Choose the correct option (a–d).
11 The new assistant manager is rather __________. He doesn’t say much or seem very confident.
a) reserved b) eloquent c) responsive d) rambling

12 I’d like you to be more __________ in your summary. I don’t need every minor detail, just a broad
outline of the key points.
a) hesitant b) fluent c) succinct d) sensitive

13 It was very __________ of you to mention the mistake he made in front of everyone. He was very
upset.
a) persuasive b) tactless c) inhibited d) focused

14 His presentation wasn’t particularly __________. It didn’t link together very well at all.
a) articulate b) vague c) coherent d) emotional

15 His responses were completely __________. I learned nothing from them as there was no detail at
all.
a) vague b) inhibited c) concise d) extrovert

16 You can get __________ a lot using email instead of face-to-face meetings because it’s easier to
make excuses when no one can see you.
a) off b) away with c) out d) on with

17 Email is also a good way of directly __________ your ideas or products to someone powerful who
you may not be able to meet otherwise.
a) launching b) engaging c) influencing d) pitching

18 Could you please __________ what you mean exactly? I’m not sure I fully understand.
a) engage b) clarify c) interrupt d) digress

19 The audience was extremely __________ to our product presentation and asked lots of questions.
Some even placed big orders.
a) focused b) persuasive c) eloquent d) responsive

20 The speaker kept __________ and talking about his own experiences instead of the main topic.
a) digressing b) confusing c) interrupting d) clarifying

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 Language Department

3rd PARTIAL EXAM

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
PROFESSOR: ARACELI MAYA

Complete the sentences with one word from each box.

free/focus/luxury/marketing (x2)/ special/ market(x2)/niche/raw

penetration/plan/group/ samples/ brands/ segmentation/ offers/market/material/mix

11 We have drawn up a __________ for the new product.

12 It’s important to get feedback from the __________ . If they don’t like the product we’ll have to
make the changes very quickly.
13 I think that if we have __________ on all our products in October, it’ll help sales and focus people’s
minds on the brand.
14 We believe we’ve found a __________ which no one else has spotted yet.
15 We are sending out __________ of our new product to everyone in our database so they can try it.
16 They are in the business of designing some of the word’s most famous __________
17 You have to adapt all levels of the __________ to the different countries and regions you are in .
18 We’re going to have to make savings on our __________ costs. Can we find alternative, cheaper
suppliers?
19 They’re changing the image of their product to appeal to all age groups to gain maximum
__________ .
20 Our __________ is based on the income levels of our potential customers.

Choose the correct verb in each sentence.

11 We’ve just signed the contract and now we’re going to have dinner together to cement/sour our new
business relationship.
12 We need to develop/restore our reputation after the disastrous publicity last month.
13 Talks with the workers have resumed/restored this morning after the 3-day strike.
14 I’ve been promising/cultivating relations with the purchasing manager of EXO inc for several months
in the hope that he will give us a big order.
15 The strike severely disrupted/fostered the flow of orders leaving the factory last week.
16 Poor service seriously maintains/undermines our customer relations so we must give all our staff
regular training.
17 After the manager lost his temper with his staff, relations soured/severed considerably and now
nobody has any respect for him at all.
18 Your actions have jeopardised/established the whole project. It may have to be closed down now.
19 The open-door policy resumes/promotes good communication between all staff members.
20 We’ve severed/cemented all ties with that company. We simply cannot work with them any more.
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