QUIZ #1 REVIEWER

ACTCOMM

● Good Communication/Motivational
Communication: boost teamwork and
COMMUNICATION
lead to better project collaboration
● process by which information is ● important for streamlining internal
exchanged between individuals through communication
a common system of symbols, signs or ● ensures management and team below
behavior them are on the same page
● exchange of meanings between ○ employees: confident with the
individuals through a common system of work at hand
symbols ○ managers: assured team
● sending and receiving of information members are correctly
○ one-on-one, groups of people, undertaking that work
face-to-face, through
communication devices
FUNCTIONS
● imparting or exchanging of information
● act or process of communicating ● pass on information
● interchange of thoughts, opinions or ● persuade people to buy product/service
information by speech, writing, or signs ● discuss an issue
● document or message imparting news, ● recommend a course of action
views, information ● make or answer a request or complaint
● process of transmitting information from ● keep a record of something that has
1 person to another happened or been agreed
● act of sharing ideas, facts, opinions, ● explain or clarify a situation
thoughts, messages or emotions to ● give an instruction
other people
● sending and receiving messages ORAL COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS
through verbal and nonverbal means
● To have discussion
○ speech, writing, graphical
○ difficult to hold meaningful
representations, signals, behavior
discussion by letter, memo or e-
● “creation and exchange of meaning”
mail
● Communicare: to share or to make
● Receive instant feedback from your
common
audience
● process of understanding and sharing
○ speaking ➜ no need to wait for
meaning
response
○ disadvantage: considered
COMMUNICATIONS response might be better
● means of sending messages, orders, ● Judge your audience’s reaction to what
etc. you are saying
○ telephone, telegraph, radio, ○ applies to face-to-face
television communication
● routes and transportation for moving ○ judge from audience (comments,
troops and supplies from a base to an expressions, body language)
area of operations what they think of what you are
saying
○ adapt to style or tone accordingly
COMMUNICATION IN THE ● For speed
WORKPLACE ○ communicate something quickly
● building relationships ● If person with whom you are
● minimizing errors communicating has initiated
● working productively as possible conversation
● Effective Communication: message is ○ respond to an oral request orally
sent and received accurately ○ exemption: response is complex ➜
better in writing

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QUIZ #1 REVIEWER
ACTCOMM

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION IN
BUSINESS
● Retain permanent record
○ conversation can be forgotten,
misunderstood or twisted
○ sure to get the right information
○ reference if there will be any
dispute in the future
○ important if it constitutes a form
of agreement or case of
complaint
● Provide basis for discussion
○ discussion document to be
available beforehand
○ set out facts of the case and give
writer’s own views and
recommendations
○ saves time as meeting can focus
on implications and people’s
opinions
● Clarify complex subject
○ a graph or bar chart may be a
better way of presenting figures
and explain for a confusing
situation
● Send the same message to a number of
people
○ same information (e.g. date and
venue of meeting) ➜ e-mail or
memo is quicker and cheaper
● Reports: 3+ pages
● 2 groups
○ Relate to professional lives
○ Relate to business matters in our
personal lives
● Common form of written communication
● Serve: introduce you to a potential
employer, announce product/service,
communicate feelings and emotions
COMMON ERRORS
● Unprofessional formatting
○ Too much text or white space
● Forgetting to spell check; typos, poor
punctuation and grammatical errors
○ do not be lazy to proofread
● Forgetting an attachment
● Using informal language
○ Avoid abbreviations and
acronyms
● Writing too many idioms or phrases;
management speak and buzz words;
long words and elaborate phrases;
complicated jargon
● Including casual greetings and closings
○ Must be formal
● Forgetting the reader
○ Never overlook the reader
● Poor planning
● Ambiguity
● Lack of impression

BUSINESS LETTER WRITING EFFECTIVE BUSINESS

(IDENTIFYING ERRORS) LETTERS
BADLY
● Irritate colleagues and clients
● Fail to excite people into taking action
● Damage reputation of organization
● Lose business

WELL
● Critical business tool
● Demonstrate expertise and knowledge
● Influence decision making
● Win new business and help to build a
● Letters: brief messages sent to brand
recipients that are often outside the
organization
● Often printed on letterhead paper
ERROR VS MISTAKE IN GRAMMAR
● Represent business in 1-2 pages
● Shorter messages may include e-mails ● Error: something you don’t know or
or memos (hard copy or electronic) haven’t learned yet

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ACTCOMM

● Mistakes: accident; know it’s wrong ● Usually by adding -es or -s

● Irregular Plural Nouns: no specific rules
○ child → children
NOUNS
○ goose → geese
● Names a person, place, concept, or ● Some nouns look plural but are actually
object singular and vice-versa
● Can be singular or plural ○ Mathematics - Singular
● Examples ○ mice - Plural
○ Proper Noun: De La Salle
University INTERCHANGING OF WORDS; WRONG
○ Common Noun: mom CHOICE OF WORDS
● Most nouns have more than 1 meaning
COMMON ERRORS ● Example
○ People are not good here.
INAPPROPRIATE USE OF CAPITAL ■ Group of persons
LETTERS ○ The French are an old people.
● Only proper nouns should begin with ■ Tribe, community
capital letter ○ Peoples of Europe and the USA
● Some use capitalization for emphasis are friends.
○ “the Product” ■ People of 2 different
○ “the Balance Sheet” places
○ “the Project Launch” ● Use the correct word
● Some words can either be common or
proper
○ the Government PRONOUNS
■ Pertaining to a specific ● Substitute for specific nouns
country’s government ● Antecedent for the pronoun should be
○ a government clear
■ Pertaining to the ● Example
government as a group ○ Jungkook is a member of BTS.
He excels in singing and dancing.
COLLECTIVE AND COMPOUND NOUNS ■ He refers to Jungkook
Collective Nouns (antecedent)
● Name a collection of things
○ board
○ family COMMON ERRORS
○ committee AMBIGUOUS USE
● Generally singular unless components ● Not a clear referral to what the pronoun
do not act as one is referring to
Compound Nouns ● Pronoun must have a clear reference (to
● Consist of more than one word its antecedent)
● Joined by conjunctions ❌ Danielle and Hanni danced to ‘Attention’, and
● AND she got praise for it.
○ Singular when it represents one ✅ Danielle and Hanni danced to ‘Attention’, and
entity they got praise for it.
■ E.g. Peanut butter and
jelly is my favorite filling. INCORRECT USE OF RELATIVE
○ Plural if each are taken PRONOUNS
separately Relative Pronouns
● OR ● Introduce clauses that qualify a
○ Number of the verb will depend preceding noun or pronoun
on the words connected ● Examples
○ That
NUMBER OF NOUNS ○ What

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ACTCOMM

○ Which ❌ We need to clearly identify our key markets.

○ Who (subject of sentence)
○ Whom (object of verb or
preposition)
● Pronouns usually take the role of a
subject, except for relative pronouns
○ Cannot start a sentence with one
❌ Thank you for placing an order. Which is being
processed today.
✅ Thank you for placing an order, which is being
processed today.
✅ We need to identify clearly our key markets.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
● Subject and verb must match in number
(singular or plural)
❌ Daniel work at the vocal studio.
Daniel works at the vocal studio.
● Tip: analyze the sentence and the
subject (if its singular or referring to 1
thing/person, or plural or referring to 2+
things/people)

CONFUSION OVER USE OF SUBJECTIVE

ADJECTIVES
AND OBJECTIVE PRONOUNS
● Subjective Pronouns: pronouns as ● Modifies nouns
subject ● Fall right before nouns
● Objective Pronouns: pronouns as ● Example: The handsome guy in your
objects of verbs or prepositions class just asked for your number.

COMMON ERRORS
INCORRECT USE OF SUPERLATIVE
● Comparative: to compare 2 things
● Superlative: to compare 3 or more
❌ Of the 2 plans, Norma’s is the best.
✅ Of the 2 plans, Norma’s is better.
PRONOUN “NONE”
● Short for “not one” OMITTING AN ARTICLE
● Singular ● “the”, “a” and “an” qualify nouns and are
● Example called adjectives
○ None of the family’s decision is ○ Also known as articles
final. ● The: definite article
● A and An: indefinite articles

VERBS
INCORRECT USE OF “EITHER”
● Describe specific actions ● Either refers to 1 of only 2 things
● Example: Namjoon bikes around the ○ Not to be used for more than 2
park. ❌ The carpet comes in beige, green or gold. Either
● Action Verbs: physical action color would suit the room.
○ E.g. run ✅ The carpet comes in beige and gold. Either color
● Stative Verbs: describe subject’s state would suit the room.
or feeling
○ E.g. love CONFUSING “LESS” AND “FEWER”
● Less, Much: quantity
○ Less work, less confusion, less
COMMON ERRORS chance of promotion
● Fewer, More: number
SPLITTING THE INFINITIVE ○ Fewer employees, fewer
● Infinitive is the “to” form of the verb problems
○ E.g. to buy
● Do not split infinitive!
○ No word between “to” and the ADVERBS
verb

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ACTCOMM

● Describes adjective, verb or another USING WRONG PREPOSITION

adverb ● Certain verbs and adjectives are
● Example: Lea slowly lifted the heavy associated with particular prepositions
package. ❌ accompanied with
✅ accompanied by
COMMON ERRORS
❌ different to
CONFUSING POSITIONING ✅ different from
● Common with the adverb “only”
● May change meaning of the sentence ❌ opposite from
Examples ✅ opposite to
● I only asked you last week to submit the
documents.
● I asked you last week only to submit the CONJUNCTIONS
documents. ● Used to join 2 or more words, phrases,
● I asked you to submit the documents clauses or sentences
only. ● Example: Pat did not have enough
money to buy the tickets, so she asked
USING DOUBLE ADVERBS AND her mom if she could lend money to buy
PARALLELISM it.
● Some adverbs come in pairs
○ Not only COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
○ But also ● Join words, phrase or clauses of equal
● Make sure you use the same form of the grammatical rank
word after ● Use of comma before conjunction
● Example: You have not only failed to
supply us with what we need but also to Examples
give us a reason to cut connections. ● For
● And
PREPOSITION ● Nor
● But
● Relationship between other words in a ● Or
sentence ● Yet
● Indicate direction, time, location and ● So
spatial relationships
● Examples CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS
○ To ● Pair of conjunctions that work together
○ Since
○ At Examples
○ In ● Either/or
○ Under ● Neither/nor
○ Beneath ● Not only/but also
○ Between
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
● Join independent and dependent
COMMON ERRORS clauses
● Cause-and-effect, contrast, etc.
ENDING SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION
relationship
● Do not end a sentence with a
preposition
Examples
● Not strict in oral communication
● Because
❌ Jia is the person I spoke to you about.
● Since
✅ Jia is the person about whom I spoke to you.
● As

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ACTCOMM

● Although ● Send messages in English

● Though
● While
IMPACT OF POOR GRAMMAR IN
● Whereas
WORKPLACE
● Causes confusion
COMMON ERRORS
● Makes you look unprofessional
DOUBLE CONJUNCTIONS (EITHER…OR; ● Hinders productivity
NEITHER…NOR)
● Be careful with positioning of the
conjunctions PUNCTUATION
❌ The situation is that you either take action or ● Form of signaling, showing how you
we shall take our business elsewhere. intend your document to be read in
✔️The situation is that either you take action or order to make its meaning clear
we take our business elsewhere. ● When speaking, punctuate your words
automatically
USING CONJUNCTIONS TO LINK ● When writing, use symbols such as
UNRELATED IDEAS punctuation marks
● When you connect clauses using ● Strike a balance between too many and
conjunctions, make sure that the ideas too few punctuation marks
are connected
❌ We had to make a party for mom’s birthday and
PURPOSE
sales went up by 25 percent.
● Divides passage up
○ ‘I am enclosing our latest
INTERJECTION catalogue, in which you will find
● Demonstrates emotion or feeling all our current models.’
● Examples ● Indicates a relationship
○ Ew ○ ‘The catalogue (which has just
○ Ahem been published) contains details
○ Boo of our current models.’
● Differentiates between 2 meanings
○ ‘Sales are up by 15% more than
COMMON ERRORS
we budgeted for.’
SOUNDS LIKE ○ ‘Sales are up by 15%, more than
● Speaker accidentally uses interjection in we budgeted for.’
place of a word that has a similar sound ● Creates emphasis
○ “Wow” confused with “now” ○ ‘There is only one possible
outcome in this situation–
BE MINDFUL bankruptcy.’
● Context in which you are using the
interjection
● Tone of your voice END MARKS
● Facial expression
PERIOD .
HOW TO IMPROVE IN USING 8 ● Full stop
PARTS OF SPEECH ● Denotes end of a sentence
● Speak in English ○ Declarative: The CEO called for
● Read English materials an urgent meeting.
● Play close attention to grammar when ○ Command: Reproduce copies of
you read English the reports you submitted.
● Find tutor or friend who can help
● Work on some exercises

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ACTCOMM

○ Indirect Question: I asked him THE SAME NOUN

where he had learned to use
Canva. ● ‘Please enclose a large, self-adressed
Example envelope.’
○ It is Joonie’s birthday today. ● When adjective and noun go together to
form compound noun, ❌comma
● Used in initials or abbreviations ○ ‘Please supply a large filing
Example cabinet.’
○ Dr. Carol has requested that you
attend her meeting on time. JOIN 2 CLAUSES
● Two clauses joined by a coordinating
QUESTION MARK ? conjunction
● Ends sentence with direct question ○ Choose to use or none
○ Interrogative sentence, ○ Example: Diana wore her shoes,
incomplete question/statement and she left her house.
● Denotes shift in tone (when read out
loud) SEPARATING AN INTRODUCTORY
Example SIGNAL
○ Why are you studying at this
● Use a signaling device to indicate the
hour?
direction of your document is about to
take, you can use a comma to separate
EXCLAMATION POINT ! it from the rest of the sentence
● End of sentence to express intense ○ ‘Finally, may I offer my
emotion congratulations to you.”
○ Intense emotion: excitement,
disgust, anger, joy CREATING PARANTHESIS
● Emphasis to sentence
● Insert something which either expands
● Hardly used in business letters
on the main part of the sentence without
Example
affecting it, or qualifies part of it
○ Soobin went live!
○ ‘This is not, I am sure, what the
Board had in mind.’
COMMAS , ○ ‘Mr. Jones, the Senior Partner,
will be in touch shorty.’
● Most flexible
● Rules are not definite
● Used in variety of situations INTRODUCING QUOTATIONS
● Insert pause in sentence ● Set off a direct quotation from the rest of
a sentence
SEPARATE WORDS OR PHRASES IN A ○ “I need the reports tonight,” Atty.
LIST Lopes reiterated.
○ She said, “Kindly check if my
● When listing 2 or more items, separate
schedule is full.”
with comma
● Example: The members of TXT are
Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, SEPARATING PHRASES AND CLAUSES
and Hueningkai. FOR EASIER READING
● Oxford Comma: debated within ● Not essential in following sentences, but
academe it makes reading easier
○ Uses comma in last item of a list ○ ‘Since you have not replied to my
letter, I assume that you agree
SEPARATING ADJECTIVES QUALIFYING with my suggestion. Reading

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ACTCOMM
your report, I was struck by its
clairty.’
SEMI-COLON ;
● Most undervalued
● Extremely useful but seldom used
● Indicate longer pause than comma, but
shorter than period
MAKE CLEAR SEPARATION
● Used to separate statement that are
closely connected
○ But not too close to justify use of
a coma or conjunction
○ There is a concert tomorrow; I
need to fix my stuff for it.
EMPHASIZING A STATEMENT
● Only to emphasize a clause (only)
○ ‘We must improve our
productivity; we face bankruptcy
if we do not.”
CONVEYING CONTRAST
● Used to balance constacting statements
○ ‘We offer a home delivery
service; other firms do not.”
SEPARATING LONGER ITEMS IN A LIST
● I want to go to Los Angeles, California;
San Francisco, California; Las Vegas,
Nevada; and Houston, Texas.
COLON :
INTRODUCE LISTS
● Most especially those separated by
semi-colons
○ ‘These are the artists I love: TXT,
BTS and Taylor Swift.’
INDICATE 2 SIDES OF THE SAME THEME
● 1st part makes statement, 2nd part
explains it
○ “The solution is simple: train
more operators.”
BRACKETS
ROUND BRACKETS ( )
● Parentheses
● Like saying “by the way”
● Supply further details or information
○ Indicate that passage is not part
of the main theme of sentence
○ Extension
● Can often be replaced with commas
Example
○ J-Hope (who is a member of
BTS) is releasing his solo album
today.
SQUARE BRACKETS [ ]
● Not used as often as round brackets
● Used when you are quoting directly from
another souce and you want to add
something of your own
● Clarify something for technical terms or
explanations
● Clarify subject
Example
○ They [Eli and Margaret] are
planning to go together for the
BTS concert.
NOTE!
● Commas denote less of a pause than
brackets, which denote less of a pause
then dases
○ Comma < Brackets < Dashes
DASHES –
● Strong, dramatic punctuation mark
● Specific uses and should not be used as
a substitute for the comma, semicolon,
or parentheses
● Overuse diminishes its effectiveness
● Increase emphasis of what you are
saying
4 FUNCTIONS
● 2 dashes
○ used to put something in
parentheses when you want
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ACTCOMM

more emphasis and greater QUOTATION MARKS “

separation
■ ‘It was a desperate ● Denote text, speech, or words spoken
gamble–she stood little by someone
chance of winning–but she ● “Inverted commas”
took it anyway.” ● Indicate dialogue
○ pull together or summarize ○ “My goal is not to be the best but
several items to be the only one,” Yeonjun
■ ‘Computes, cabinets, mentioned to his fans.
printers–in fact all office ● For irony
equipment–should be ○ The Committee has come up with
listed.’ a “radical” new proposal.
● 1 dash ● Indicate a claim or point made by
○ sum up or comment on what has someone else
gone before in an empathic way ○ Boysen has developed a new
■ ‘You did not pay within the “quick-dry” paint.
specified time so we
stopped your account–as HYPHEN -
is normal practice.’
● Dash but shorter
○ indicate 2 sides of the same
● Connect 2 or more words to form a
theme but with more emphasis
compound word
■ ‘There can only be one
○ Step-sister
outcome–large scale
● Connect letter to a noun to form
redundancies.’
compound
○ T-zone
EN DASH ● Differentiate between words beginning
● Denote range (between numbers or with re- that spelled the same but have
days) different meanings
Example ○ Reform: improve
○ I am in Busan from October 14- ○ Re-form: form again
17. ● Differentiate between 2 possible
meanings of same passage
○ Grey flecked carpet: gray carpet
EM DASH is flecked
● Longer ○ Grey-flecked carpet: carpet with
● Separate extra information grey flecks
● Mark break in sentence ● Compound number
Example ○ Twenty-eight
○ My answer to the proposal was
clear – No.

APOSTROPHE ‘
● Meant to show letter/s have been
omitted
○ Example: don’t (do not)
● Indicate possessive or contractions
○ Peter’s clients
● Pluralize lowercase letters
○ Steve’s pet hedgehog has been
sleeping since the morning.