Business English Tip of the Week

Small Talk

Whether you are holding the meeting or attending the meeting, it is polite to make small talk while you wait for the meeting to start. You should discuss things unrelated to the meeting, such as weather, family, or weekend plans. Here's a short sample dialogue:

Welcome

Once everyone has arrived, the chairperson, or whoever is in charge of the meeting, should formally welcome everyone to the meeting and thank the attendees for coming.

Here's a sample welcome from the chairperson of a meeting:

Here, we're going to introduce you to a few useful phrases for 1) watching the time, and 2) regaining focus in a business meeting.

Watching the Time

One of the most difficult things about holding an effective meeting is staying within the time limits. A good agenda will outline how long each item should take. A good chairperson will do his or her best to stay within the limits. Here are some expressions that can be used to keep the meeting flowing at the appropriate pace.

Regaining Focus

It is easy to get off topic when you get a number of people in the same room. It is the chairperson's responsibility to keep the discussion focused. Here are some expressions to keep the meeting centred on the items as they appear on the agenda.

You can use numbers or bullet points in your vertical lists. Vertical lists are a great way of presenting more complex information clearly. Here we're just going to show you three types of bulleted lists. The differences between the three types lie in the way the lists are punctuated.

Type 1

The initial phrase is a complete sentence but ends with a colon (:) to show that a list follows. Each point in the list is a complete sentence, so it starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Type 2

The initial phrase is a complete sentence but ends with a colon (:) to show that a list follows. Each point in the list is short (a phrase) and so the points do not start with a capital letter and only the last point has a full stop.

Type 3

The initial phrase is a complete sentence but ends with a colon (:) to show that a list follows. Each point in the list is part of a continuous sentence. The points do not start with capital letters and there is a semi-colon (;) separating each point. Before the last point there is 'and' to show that it is part of a continuous sentence.

With this type of list, be careful that the points coming after the introduction are grammatically consistent. Take a look at the following example of a grammatically inconsistent list.

This list is incorrect because you need another 'who' in the third point to make a grammatically consistent sentence.

This list is correct because "who live", "who are" and "who have" are all plural endings to match 'people'. The list is grammatically consistent.

Start out by asking the person questions that are easy to answer.

A good balance is around two or three closed questions, that have short answers, and then one open question, where they have to think and talk more. Early on, it is often better even with open questions to keep them simple and easy.

Tips

• Ask them something about themselves.
• If you do not know their name, then start there.
• Compliment them about their appearance. Ask them where they got that nice suit, watch, hat or whatever.
• Comment on their good mood, ask them why they are looking a bit down. Say they look distracted and ask why.
• Ask if they have family, the names of their children, how old they are, how they are doing in school and so on.
• Ask about their occupation, their careers and plans for the future.
• Ask about hobbies, interests and what they do with their spare time.
• Pay attention when they give you an answer. Show interest not only in the answer but in them as a person as well
• And when they tell you something, show interest in it. Follow up with more questions.

If you use a grammar-check feature, your sentences probably get flagged at times for a fault called “Passive Voice.” This flag is typically accompanied by advice to “Consider rewriting with an active voice verb.”

Is this fault serious? No! In fact, our grammar-checker has already flagged three of our sentences at the beginning of this Business Writing Tip, and we aren’t worried a bit.

We aren’t worried, but we do pay attention. That’s because there is a lot of good advice about limiting the use of passive verbs. For instance, we are told to change:

“The surface should be primed” (passive) to “Prime the surface” (active). This change makes sense. Readers need precise instructions.

“Your gift is appreciated” (passive) to “We appreciate your gift” (active). This is another fine suggestion. “Is appreciated” sounds impersonal, whereas “We appreciate” feels warm.

When we make these changes, we are replacing wordy, vague phrases with concise, direct words. That’s excellent.

But there are four places where passive verbs fit just right:

Passive verbs are perfect in these four instances. Likewise, the passive verbs in our opening sentences also work well (“get flagged” and “is typically accompanied”).

Know where passives verbs belong, and you won’t be intimidated by your grammar-check software again. Our grammar-checker just flagged the previous sentence, but we know the passive verb there suits our purpose and sounds just right!

One of the biggest problems is speed. Native speakers, especially business people, tend to speak very quickly on the telephone. As a non-native speaker, you need to develop techniques which will allow you to take control of the call. Here are some practical tips:

• Immediately ask the person to speak slowly

• When taking note of a name or important information, repeat each piece of information as the person speaks.

This is an especially effective tool. By repeating each important piece of information, or each number or letter, you automatically slow the speaker down.

• Do not say you have understood if you have not. Ask the person to repeat until you have understood.

Remember that the other person needs to make himself/herself understood and it is in his/her interest to make sure that you have understood. If you ask a person to explain more than twice they will usually slow down.

• If the person does not slow down begin speaking your own language!

In the key expressions box below, you'll find a number of standard phrases that you might find useful for showing empathy in business situations. Click on the audio link to listen to the expressions.

Strengthen word choice at the word and sentence level by adding precise verbs. Avoid non-specific verbs and the overuse of is, are, was, were, I or we. Always look for verbs that are masked as nouns. Convert the noun back to a verb by using its root and rewrite the sentence.

Have you ever received a letter or email where the sentences go on and on, one after the other in a stream, with only commas to separate them? These sentences often contain a number of points, some of which might be related. This makes them difficult to read and understand. Here's an example of an email we received from one of our subscribers:

With one idea in each clear, concise sentence, the message might read like this:

We did include more than one idea in two sentences so the message would not sound choppy. But they were closely related ideas.

So, the message here is: include only one idea in each sentence. Sometimes, it's acceptable to include two ideas in a sentence but only if they are closely related.

In the key expressions box below, you'll find a number of standard phrases that you might find useful for expressing opinions and agreement in business situations. Click on the audio link to listen to the expressions.

These four verbs are all similar, but have different shades of meaning and use.

Allow and permit can be followed by an object, and optionally, a verb or another object:

Let needs a different construction; the object is followed by an infinitive without to:

Note the use of allow to politely introduce something you want to say:

If you allow for problems, extra expenses etc. you include extra time or money to be able to deal with them:

To enable means 'to make something possible'; Allow also has this meaning as in:

Enable is often preferable if there is no idea of 'permission':

Note that these verbs must be followed by a personal object before an infinitive. We cannot say:

The correct version is:

In the key expressions box below, you'll find a number of standard phrases that you might find useful for handling difficult requests at work. Click on the audio link to listen to the expressions.

In the key expressions box below, you'll find a number of standard phrases that you might find useful for ending a conversation politely. Click on the audio link to listen to the expressions.

Overused words are words such as nice, got and OK which some people use to refer to many things. For example:

• Nice

• Got

• OK

Overused words should be avoided because you can usually another word that is more precise and closer to the meaning you intended. Compare the sentence above with those below:

• Words to replace nice

• Words to replace got

• Words to replace OK

So using vague words like nice, got and OK could be considered lazy in certain contexts. Think about what you really mean and try to use more precise language.

If you get your facts wrong.

If you have been going too fast and your audience is having trouble keeping up with you.

If you have forgotten to make a point.

If you have been too complicated and want to simplify what you said.

If you realize that what you are saying makes no sense.

If you cannot remember the term in English.

If you are short of time.