BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

Ideas
LESSON A1

I. WARM-UP

VOCABULARY
Occupation
assistancecommercialized
up-to-datefrequent
aspectComplete the sentences using the words listed above.
1. The new employee needs ____________.
2. The company has to consider every ______________ before giving a raise.
3. These days education has become _______________.
4. All employees are required to submit a/an ______________ Personal Data Sheet.
5. His ___________ tardiness is the reason of his forced leave.
6. Oliver’s _____________ doesn’t match with the job description.
II. DIALOGUE BOX
Sales Manager : So what ideas do you have then? We really need your assistance.
Consultant : Have you considered changing the name of the product? I think it’s too 		commercialized.
Sales Manager : I agree with you. Actually it’s one of the aspects we have already discussed.
Sales and Production just don’t get together often enough.
Consultant : I think you’ve got communication problems. I suggest you make the meetings
more frequent.
Sales Manager : I guess you’re right. Nobody knows what’s going on. Anything else?
Consultant : Have you considered altering the design? Let’s face it. Some of your products
look outdated. You need to get more up-to-date.

Comprehension Check
1. What are the problems that the consultant has looked into?
2. What are his suggestions / recommendations?

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6Ideas
III. LANGUAGE BOX
Useful expressions when giving suggestions
1. How about changing your job?
2. Have you considered redecorating the office?
3. What if you change your occupation?
4. We’d like to propose that you invest $9,000.00.
5. Why don’t you study the sales first?
Suggest and recommend are used for making sugges­tions
1. We recommend changing the dates.
2. She recommends that you change the name.
3. They suggest using the internet.
IV. SAY IT!

SCENARIO
How would you help a friend who often forgets meetings and names?

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

LESSON A2

PraiseI. WARM-UP

Vocabulary Complete the sentences using the following words.
brilliantinquiries		

trade		successful		compliments
awesome

1. Mr. Smith attended a seminar on Time Management and he thought that it was____________.
2. As a beginner in __________ business, I need your ____________ ideas on how to makethis company a _____________one.
3. I’d like to extend my _____________ to the employees who exerted much effort for thegood of our company.
4. The new secretary had a lot of ______________ about her job.
II. DIALOGUE BOX
Manager : Before we start, I’d like to say I’m very pleased with the outcome at the trade fairon Friday. The stall looked pretty good in its location. Well done Angel.
Angel : Thank you for the compliment, sir.
Manager : You deserve it. Also Bart did well by looking after the visitors making them feelat ease and comfortable to challenge any queries they had. At this time, we’vebeen quite busy with email and phone inquiries. In fact, we’ve already received
several large orders from people who visited the stand.
Bart : Wow! That’s excellent.
Angel : Fantastic! That’s really good news.
Manager : Indeed! Well done everybody. Let’s now move on to the agenda of our meeting.

Comprehension Check
1. What did Angel and Bart do well?
2. What has happened as a result?

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

PraiseIII. LANGUAGE BOX

Strong adjectives like excellent, fantastic, amazing and wonderful cannot be usedwith very. Really or absolutely is used.
CORRECT
That was absolutely brilliant.
You did absolutely wonderful.

WRONG
That was very Brilliant.
You did very wonderful.

Different words are used to make adjectives stronger or weaker.
WEAKERSTRONGER

pretty/fairly/quite/good
extremely/very/really/good

You can also replace the adjective with a stronger one
Extremely good----> fantastic / excellent
iV. SAY IT!

Imagine that you are the boss of a convenience store. A new crew member
noticed that somebody was regularly stealing from you, and by reportingit to you, it has saved you a lot of money.
• How will you praise the new crew member?
• How will you tell the rest of the crew the result of his action?

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

LESSON A3

How to Criticize

I. WARM-UP

Vocabulary
Try to guess the meanings of these words.
reportkey points

concisepoint out

target focused

II. DIALOGUE BOX
John : Could I have a word?
Kris : Yes, sure.
John : Well, it’s about the report you sent.
Kris : Yes, what about it? Was it late? I sent it to the head office on Friday.
John : No, it wasn’t. I just need to tell you something about the report. I know you 		haven’t had much experience in this area so I want to point out one or two things. 		
First, the head office doesn’t need so much information: only the key points. So, you 		don’t need to include so many details.
Kris : I see.
John : Perhaps I can show you one of Lee’s reports. It’s a bit more target-focused and 		concise.
Kris : Okay. Thank you.
John : I’ll send it to you before the end of the day .
Kris : Thanks for the help.
John : My pleasure.

Comprehension Check
1. What are they talking about?
2. What’s the problem with the letter?
3. What is John’s suggestion to Kris regarding the letter?

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

How to Criticize
III. LANGUAGE BOX

To describe a difference between two things, you can use not as and / or as.
For smaller differences, use not quite as.
For bigger differences, use not nearly as.
••••

Our return of income this year is not as big as last year.
We are not as engaged with work as last week.
These sample products are not quite as pleasing as I’d expected.
These hand-painted figurines are not nearly as good as the last ones.

iV. SAY IT!

You are working for a man who constantly puts down your female
co-worker when she is not around. Not only does your boss bash
your co-worker about the “terrible work she does”, but he makes rudecomments about her physical appearance. In addition, he tells very
offensive jokes, many of which are either sexist or racist. You havebeen listening to your boss’s comments for two months now. At thebeginning, you refrained from saying anything. You were concerned
that, as his subordinate, it may be out of the line. However, your boss
continues to make very obnoxious comments, and you know that it
makes others uncomfortable as well.

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

LESSON A4

How to Delegate

I. WARM-UPVocabulary
Try to guess the meaning of these words.
leafletdelegate

under controlcontract

feedback

reduceII. DIALOGUE BOX
Marc : Hello Joe. How are you?
Joe : I’m getting better, but I still cannot move around.
Marc : Just take it easy. Everything’s under control here.
Joe : But there are still several jobs that need doing. That’s the reason I called.
Marc : Well, what are they?
Joe : Somebody has to visit Esprit Ltd. We have to discuss the pricing of the new contract. Could you
get Anne to do that? She knows the company.
Marc : Just a second... Anne... Esprit Ltd... discuss new pricing... OK, go on.
Joe : I won’t be able to go to Paris for the sales conference, so could you ask somebody to go in myplace?
Marc : Yes, of course, no problem. Paris sales conference...
Joe : And then, there’s the meeting with the regional sales team. I know that’s not until the end of
next week, but perhaps you could ask either Arthur or Ian if they could look after that.
Marc : Won’t you be back at work by then? If so, you can perhaps attend the meeting yourself.
Joe : I hope so!
Marc : Anything else?
Joe : We also need to have some more leaflets printed--- say about 3,000.
Marc : Alright. I’ll have Anne call the printer. We could get some business cards done at the sametime too.
Joe : Good idea. That’s all about it, Marc. If you need anything, just phone me.
Marc : I will. Just look after yourself and don’t worry about work. Bye.

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

How to Delegate
Comprehension check

1. What do you think happened to Joe?
2. Why does Joe call Marc?
3. What are the events that Joe might not be able to attend?
III. LANGUAGE BOX

When delegating work, you can use the following expressions with the verbs askand get.
You can also use have. Note that “to” is not used.
• I’m going to ask Peter to send you the documents.
• I’m going to ask Lee to phone you when you get here.
• I’ll have Dan phone you.
• I’ll have the secretary inform you of my whereabouts.
Make your own examples.
iV. SAY IT!

There’s an emergency that needs more of your time. As a manager,
it is still your responsibility to keep the business work even
without your presence.
o How are you going to handle the situation?
o What is the first thing you should do?
o What are the things you have to consider when you delegate thetask?

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

LESSON A5

Compromising

I. WARM-UP

Vocabulary
Try to guess the meaning of the underlined words or phrases.
1. I will send you last month’s invoice so that you can compare the prices of thegoods we purchased.
2. Since our cash flow is running low, the company has agreed to cut down thebudget allocated to each department.
3. Clients, who order in large bulk, don’t need to pay in one go.
4. The employers who have conflicting ideas agreed to compromise for thebenefit of the company.
II. DIALOGUE BOX
Derek : Hello Rick. I’m phoning about our last invoice. You know the one I mean, it’s...
Rick : Yes, Derek, of course, I’m sorry about that. We’ve been having some problems with late payers.
I hope our cash-flow situation will improve in the near future.
Derek : I’m sorry to hear that. Of course, I understand your situation, and I know you always pay, butit’s been 4 months that this invoice remains unpaid.
Rick : Four months! Oh, that’s terrible. Is it really...?
Derek : I am afraid it is. So what I can suggest is that- you pay half of it this month, and the other half
will be next month. So you won’t pay in one go.
Rick : That’s a good compromise and please accept my apologies.

BUSINESS ENGLISH 6

Compromising
Comprehension check
1. How many months are the invoices left unpaid?
2. What is the reason for the delay of payment?
3. What suggestion does Derek give to Rick?
III. LANGUAGE BOX
When trying to compromise, we often discuss the effects of possible actions or events inthe situation. In order to do this, conditional sentences are used.

For something that is highly possible or with real possibility or an idea we are in favor of,
we use: if + SIMPLE PRESENT. The other part, the result of the sentence uses will.
Examples: If they give us a short period of time, we will not accept the project no matter how
big it is.
 If they join the party, we will need a bigger area.

For something that is unlikely possible or with unreal possibility, or an idea we are against,
we use: if + PAST SIMPLE. The other part, the result of the sentence uses would.
Examples: If we bought 3,000 copies of the book, we would have to pay more.
 If we signed the petition deal, there would be lesser problem between the union
and the company.
iV. SAY IT!

There is an urgent project at work. Your boss wants you to work
extra hours for the next two weeks, including Saturdays andSundays without extra pay. How would you compromise withyour boss?