1. Which of the following is an example of nonverbal communication?
a. An online blog where employees in different cities can share ideas
b. A company logo designed to project the organization’s image
c. An e-mail message reminding employees of an upcoming staff meeting
d. A phone call from an attorney to a client

2. External audiences include all of the following except

a. stockholders.
b. customers.
c. peers.
d. government agencies.

3. Organizations expect writing to appear professional and to be free from typos and grammatical errors, so it makes sense to
A)do the best you can with your existing abilities.
B)practice your proofreading skills.
C)depend on secretaries to do all of your writing.
D)rely exclusively on a spell check software program.

3. What describes a “request to deviate from policy and procedure bulletin?”

a. Memo accompanying document, telling why it’s being forwarded to the receiver
b. Report summarizing profitability, productivity, and problems during period.
c. Statement of company policies and instructions.
d. Persuasive memo arguing that another approach is better for a specific situation

4. The primary audience for a business message is made up of

d. people who represent the opinions of the majority.
e. everyone who receives it.
f. decision makers in an organization.
g. individuals with the highest status in an organization.

5. Identify the person who has the power to stop your message instead of sending it on to other audiences.

a. Watchdog audience
b. Gatekeeper
c. Primary audience
d. Auxiliary audience
6. Which of the following is not true of gatekeepers?

a. They have the power to stop your message.
b. They control whether your message gets to the primary audience.
c. They must be reached to fulfill the purpose of your message.
d. They can sometimes include the supervisor who assigns the message.

7. The you-attitude is a style of communication that

a. disregards the audience’s ego.
b. looks at things from the audience’s point of view.
c. emphasizes what the writer wants the audience to know.
d. at times questions the audience’s intelligence.

8. What does wordiness mean?

a. It is having more words than the meaning requires.
b. It is a style of communication that looks at things from the audience’s point of view.
c. It is having fewer words than the meaning requires.
d. It is a style of communication that looks at things from your point of view.

9. All of the following pertains to the “you-attitude” except

a. it protects the audience’s ego.
b. it looks at things from the writer’s point of view.
c. it emphasizes what the audience wants to know.
d. it respects the audience’s intelligence.

10. A sentence that sounds like an afterthought might begin with which of the following?
a. And we have a new training program…
b. Furthermore, the tax laws are in our favor…
c. Moreover, it is getting increasing difficult…
d. But in the future we will try to…

11. All of the following are points that should be kept in mind for report writing, except

a. make it less formal than letters and memos.
b. avoid contractions.
c. spell out acronyms and abbreviations the first time you use them.
d. avoid personal pronouns.

12. All of the following are the points that should be kept in mind while choosing a level of formality for a specific document, except

a. using a friendly, informal style to someone you fear or when you must give bad news.
b. avoiding contractions, slang, and even minor grammatical lapses in paper documents to people you do not know.
c. editing your writing so that you sound confident, whether you feel that way or not.
d. paying particular attention to your style when you write to people you fear or when you must give bad news.

13. Good writers are likely to

a. use one writing strategy for all situations.
b. adhere strictly to a set of established rules for writing.
c. carefully analyze the initial problem before beginning a draft.
d. edit documents during the process of writing the first draft.

14. Good writers are more likely to

a. realize that the first draft can be revised.
b. follow rules rigidly.
c. break small jobs into smaller chunks.
d. have a single strategy to follow.

15. All of the following are the reasons why good writers differ from poor writers except

a. they identify the initial problem more effectively.
b. they understand the task more broadly and deeply.
c. they draw from a limited repertoire of strategies.
d. they are good at evaluating their own work.

16. Information overload

a. keeps people well informed and up to date
b. forces people to be selective about the messages they open and read.
c. is a primary purpose of informative and positive messages.
d. ensures that people get all the important information that they need

17. A(n) _____ message conveys information to which the receiver’s basic reaction will be neutral.

a. positive
b. informative
c. negative
d. instructive

18. Which of the following observations concerning informative messages is true?

a. It emphasizes negative elements.
b. It asks the receiver to take some action immediately.
c. It has a persuasive element.
d. The receiver’s basic reaction could be neutral or negative.

19. Which of the following is NOT a primary purpose of a negative message?

a. To have the reader read, understand, and accept the message
b. To encourage the reader to contact you again about the same subject
c. To give the reader the bad news
d. To maintain as much goodwill as possible

20. All of the following are the primary purposes of negative messages except

a. to give the reader the bad news.
b. to have the reader read, understand, and accept the message.
c. to maintain as much goodwill as possible.
d. to build a good image of the writer’s organization.

21. Identify the primary purpose of negative messages.

a. To build a good image of the writer’s organization.
b. To build a good image of the writer.
c. To have the reader read, understand, and accept the message.
d. To reduce or eliminate future correspondence on the same subject.

22. Which is NOT true about cultural differences?

a. People in the same culture all have the same values.
b. People in different cultures have many different beliefs.
c. People in different cultures have different norms of behavior.
d. Being culturally different does not mean that someone is bad or inferior.

23. In 2002, which community became the largest minority group in the United States?

d. Asian
e. Native American
f. African American
g. Latino

24. Identify the statement that is true of high-context cultures.

a. The context is very important and most information is explicitly spelled out.
b. Most of the information is inferred from the social relationships of the people and the context of a message.
C. The written word is seen as more important than oral statements.
e. They favor direct approaches and may see indirectness as dishonest or manipulative.

25. Positive roles and actions of individuals that help a group build loyalty, resolve conflicts, and function smoothly include

a. planning work, giving directions, and fitting together contributions of group members.
b. being silent in meetings and not contributing.
c. showing group members that they have been heard and that their ideas are being taken seriously.
d. identifying gaps in the group’s knowledge.

26. All of the following holds true of listening except
a. it is crucial to building trust.
b. errors in listening can result from one’s emotional response to a controversial topic.
c. a “you” attitude is as helpful for list
ening as it is for writing.
d. it is more effective when the listener focuses on formulating a reply while listening.

27. To reduce listening errors caused by misinterpretation,
a. paraphrase what the speaker has said.
b. ignore the other person’s background and experiences.
c. focus on yourself and do not check into who does what next.
d. ignore instruction that you think are unnecessary.

28. Which of the following is a formal report?

a. A two-page document justifying why new equipment is needed
b. A long document with a title page, a transmittal, and a table of contents
c. A three-page document that summarizes quarterly sales figures
d. PowerPoint slides printed out and bound together

29. The reports that collect data for the reader are best known as
a. information reports.
b. analytical reports.
c. recommendation reports.
d. diagnostic reports.

30. What type of report evaluates two or more alternatives and recommends which alternative the organization should choose?

a. Justification report
b. Annual report
c. Feasibility report
d. Quarterly report

31. Which of the following must be written after the research is complete and the data are analyzed?

a. Recommendations
b. Methods
c. Scope
d. Definitions

32. All of the following are things that you should check if your report is based on secondary data from a library or online research except

a. looking at the sample.
b. checking the sample target.
c. checking the exact wording of questions.
d. to see what the data actually measures.

33. Which of the following does not hold true of analyzing numbers?

a. Reports can analyze numbers from databases and sources.
b. If properly analyzed, they can make a clear case in support of a recommendation.
c. There can be only one interpretation of the same data set.
d. The responses on the survey form can be converted into numbers.

34. Which of the following is an informative presentation?

a. Promoting a new service that your company is offering
b. Convincing customers to upgrade to a higher level of service
c. Demonstrating three successful sales techniques to new employees
d. Entertaining the audience to stroke the customers’ egos

35. These presentations entertain and validate the audience.

a. Persuasive presentations
b. Narrative presentations
c. Informative presentations
d. Goodwill presentations

36. Training sessions in an organization is primarily an example of

a. informative presentation.
b. persuasive presentation.
c. narrative presentation.
d. goodwill presentation.