Collins English for Business - Reading

English for Business

READING Anna Osborn

Introduction

Collins English for Business: Reading will help you to improve how you read business texts. You can use Reading:

• as a self-study course

• as a supplementary material on a business communication or business English course.

This book includes a wide variety of types of text including business reports, schedules and budgets, social media, and business media. Many of the reading texts are authentic or based on authentic sources. You will find a list of the sources we have used at the front of the book on page iv

Reading consists of 20 units, divided into four sections:

• Section 1 Emails

• Section 2 Doing business

• Section 3 Marketing and advertising

• Section 4 Business media and books

Unit structure

For ease of use, each unit follows a similar structure. It is recommended that you follow the order of exercises when working through a unit.

How to read – contains advice on the best reading approach for the text type.

Getting started – contains first reading activities that give you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the content of the text before you start looking at it in detail.

Understanding – helps you to check your comprehension of the text.

Developing your reading skills – practises one or more types of reading skills which are most relevant to the type of text.

Language focus – highlights and practises useful language from the text.

Review – provides a conclusion to the topic of the unit.

Other features

At the back of the book you will find these four useful sections:

1 Answer key

2 Extended lear ning through COBUILD

In order to help you extend your vocabulary as you work through the material, further uses of key language are explored through references to examples taken from the Collins COBUILD Corpus. If you tur n to page 101, you will find more information on meaning, usage, and collocations related to words used in the units.

3 How should I read? Choosing a reading approach

4 Improving your reading speed

We recommend you read How should I read? Choosing a reading approach and Improving your reading speed before you start using the course. These two sections have lots of useful tips.

Using Reading

You can either work through the units from Unit 1 to Unit 20, or you can pick and choose the units that are most useful to you. For example, you might want to concentrate on Doing business but spend less time on Business media and books. The Contents page will help you in your selection of units and your own plan for lear ning.

Keep a vocabulary notebook and, after completing each unit, add any new words from the text to your book.

Language level

Reading has been written to help business lear ners at B2 level and above (Upper Intermediate to Advanced).

Other titles

Also available in the Collins English for Business series: Speaking, Listening, and Writing

1 Managing your inbox

How to read your inbox and short emails

Email is the most common form of business communication. When you get an email:

• Scan over the subject lines of the emails in your inbox and focus on any topics that you know need your immediate attention.

• Pay particular attention to any emails marked as ‘urgent’.

• Skim through emails that are not urgent and come back to them when you have more time.

Getting started

1 Scan over the new emails in Alex’s inbox below and answer these questions.

1 Whose email should he read first and why?

2 Whose email has an attachment and what is it?

3 Whose email refers to plans for a future event and what is it?

Li Sung Programme for conference 6 March 09.52 !! Nora Stephens Approval needed urgently 6 March 09.27

Ella Wood James project update 6 March 09.23

Pierre Valois Sales reports attached 6 March 09.15

Rose Mills Interview con rmation 6 March 09.13

2 Skim over the three emails opposite in just one minute. Which of the three emails might Alex leave until later to read in detail? Why?

Dear all,

Events Organizer 1

Please nd below details for the company conference to be held on 23 April.

Conference venue: The Great Hall, Grants Hotel, London, W6 4AJ

Attendees: All senior management

Timetable for the day:

09.30 Welcome breakfast

10.00 Address from CEO

10.30 Annual nancial results and budget for next year

11.30 Sales and Marketing annual review

12.30 HR presentation

13.30 Lunch

14.30 Strategic plan for next year: ‘Greater and better’

16.30 Address from Managing Director

17.00 End

A detailed breakdown of all the day’s presentations will be sent out in due course. I apologize for the delay in circulating these details and if any changes are made, I’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop.

Best wishes,

[…………………………………….]

Hi Alex,

Sales and Marketing Account Manager 2

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner with the information that you need for the conference – the sales reports that you asked for are attached.

Could you possibly take a look at January’s gures because there are some loose ends that we need to tie up.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

[…………………………………….]

Dear Alex,

Finance Manager 3

Please note that the deadline for budget approval was close of play yesterday. I would appreciate it if you could give me the green light as soon as possible because I need to submit them to the board today.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me – I’m on extension 231.

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you in advance,

[…………………………………….]

Understanding

1 Insert the senders’ names in the spaces in the three emails on the previous page.

2 Are the following statements True or False? Correct any that are false.

1 All employees are expected to attend the conference. ............................................................................................................................................

2 There may be further changes to the plans for the conference.

3 Pierre sent the sales reports to Alex as soon as he was asked.

4 There are some unresolved issues regarding July’s figures.

5 Alex must approve the sales reports by 2 p.m. today

6 Nora Stephens is planning to submit the budgets to the board by the end of today. ............................................................................................................................................

Developing

your reading skills

1 What is the purpose of each of the emails? Tick the box(es) as appropriate.

Email 1 Email 2 Email 3

To send Alex information about something

To ask Alex to do something

To apologize about a delay in something

To invite a response from Alex regarding something

2 After reading his emails, Alex marks each with a note to prioritize his tasks. Match the comments to the emails that they refer to.

1 Email 1 A Approve budgets right away

2 Email 2 B Not urgent, look at when time allows.

3 Email 3 C Look at first thing tomorrow to sort out unresolved issue.

Language focus

1 Fill the blanks in the sentences with one of the words or phrases from the box. attachment bcc cc recipient reply reply all sender subject

1 The ..................... is the person who writes and sends an email and the ..................... is the person who receives it.

2 The ..................... field or box is where you write a brief summary of the email contents.

3 An ..................... is a file that is sent along with an email.

4 ..................... is used in an email to indicate that a copy is being sent to another person, while ..................... is a way of sending an email to a number of recipients without revealing their email addresses to each other.

5 If you want to send an email back just to the sender, then you press ....................., but if you want to send an email back to the sender and also to each person who received the original email, you press ..................... .

2 Insert the expressions from the emails into the correct section of the box.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Hi Alex,

Could you possibly ...?

Dear Alex,

I apologize for ...

I would appreciate it if you could ...

Look forward to hearing from you. Please find below ... Thanks, Sorry for ...

Thank you in advance, The sales reports are attached. I look forward to your reply.

Purpose More formal expression Less formal expression

To start an email

To advise about information sent with an email

To ask somebody to do something

To apologize about something

To invite a response from the recipient

To end an email/express gratitude

Dear Alex,

3

Look at the idioms from the emails and write them with the correct definitions.

close of play give somebody the green light on something in due course in the loop some loose ends to tie up

1 end of the working day:

close of play

2 fully informed about something:

3 some problems that still need to be solved:

4 when the time is right:

5 give permission for somebody to do something:

Review

How many emails do you receive each day? How do you manage your inbox?

Remember to deal with the ones that are marked urgent and skim through emails that are not urgent, and come back to them when you have more time.

Dealing with group emails 2

How to read group emails

Group emails are ones that are sent to more than one person at the same time – much like a discussion that you might have with your colleagues in a meeting, only by email.

• Skim through long group emails to get the gist of the discussion.

• Scan over them to look for any specific areas that you may need to respond to, to make sure that you are happy with decisions that are being made by your colleagues, or to take note of any tasks that are allocated to you along the way. Read these sections intensively for detail.

• With a long series of emails with the same subject line in your inbox, start with the most recent email. Remember that you will have to read backwards up the chain of emails to understand the points of reference that people make.

Getting started

Skim through the series of five emails, which are presented with the most recent one first, in just 60 seconds and choose the best summary of the situation.

1 There has been a problem with the Traverse software, which manages the company’s travel arrangements, that is resolved.

2 There is a problem with the Traverse software, which manages the company’s travel arrangements, that is unresolved although they know how to solve the problem.

3 There is a problem with the Traverse software, which manages the company’s travel arrangements, that is unresolved.

Re: Meeting invitation

Sent: 4 April 11.36

To: Tom Becaveric; Xavier Justino; Jacky Miller; Ben Wade

Location: Meeting room 5

Date: 5 April

Time: 9.30 a.m.

To discuss: Double payment of commission to six external travel agencies Please RSVP.

Regards, Dina

PA to Finance Director

Blom eld Wright Travel Associates

From: Tom Becarevic

Re: Overpayment of commission

Sent: 4 April 11.12

To: Ben Wade; Jacky Miller

Cc: Xavier Justino; Dina Finn

This is a serious issue.

Ben – please email the agencies immediately to inform them of the technical error. We’ll advise about how we will resolve the matter in due course.

Xavier – we’ve had these problems with Traverse in the past. I thought they’d all been resolved by your team in IT. Please advise ASAP.

Dina – please arrange a meeting rst thing tomorrow with Xavier, Jacky, and Ben so that we can get to the bottom of how this happened, gure out how to resolve it, and ensure it never happens again.

BW, Tom

Finance Director

Blom eld Wright Travel Associates

From: Ben Wade

Re: Overpayment of commission

Sent: 4 April 10.59

To: Jacky Miller; Tom Becaveric

Dear Both,

FYI, it looks like we’ve paid six agencies double their usual rate of commission this month, which equates to an overpayment of $150,000.

Best regards,

Ben

Sales team manager

Blom eld Wright Travel Associates

From: Jacky Miller

Re: Overpayment of commission

Sent: 4 April 10.47

To: Ben Wade

Cc: Tom Becaveric

Dear Ben,

We need to get an idea of the scale of the problem as soon as possible. Please could you investigate exactly how much we’re talking about here.

Tom – we had similar problems last year, which were supposed to have been resolved with the Traverse systems upgrade. Any thoughts?

Best, Jacky

Sales Director

Blom eld Wright Travel Associates

From: Ben Wade

Re: Overpayment of commission

Sent: 4 April 10.36

To: Jacky Miller

Dear Jacky,

It has come to my attention that we have paid double commission to some of our external travel agencies this month. This appears to have been caused by a glitch in the Traverse computer system. What are your thoughts on this?

Regards, Ben

Understanding

Look again at the emails and answer these questions.

1 Why does Ben email Jacky in email 5?

2 Has this problem occurred before?

3 Who does Jacky bring into discussions and why? ..............................................................................................................................................

4 How much money is involved? ..............................................................................................................................................

5 Which two people does Tom bring into discussions and why? ..............................................................................................................................................

6 What is happening tomorrow in an effort to resolve the issue? ..............................................................................................................................................

Developing your reading skills

1 Imagine that you are the Xavier, the IT Manager and you come to the group email late. Choose the best response.

1 I’m afraid that this is the first I’ve heard about this problem, but I’ll get my team onto it straight away and update you at the meeting tomorrow.

2 I’m afraid that this is the first I’ve heard about this problem, but I don’t really want to get involved.

3 I’m afraid that this is the first I’ve heard about this problem, but I’ll email the external travel agencies to find out what went wrong.

2 When you are copied into a long group email, you often need to scan through to find the exact details about a task that has been allocated to you. Match the person with the action point or action points.

1 Xavier

2 Ben

3 Dina

4 Jacky

5 Xavier, Tom, Ben, and Jacky

A Set up a meeting for tomorrow morning and send out an email to invite the attendees.

B Find out exactly what went wrong with the Traverse system in time for tomorrow’s meeting so that I can explain it to my colleagues.

C Prepare for and attend the meeting tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

D Get Ben to find out exactly how much money we have overpaid.

E Find out how many agencies we’ve overpaid and let everybody concerned know the exact cost.

F Email the affected travel agencies to inform them of the technical error

3 Sometimes you need to be able to ‘read between the lines’ to understand what people really feel and think about a difficult situation, that is to interpret what they really mean. Identify the speakers below by reading between the lines of their emails above.

1 I’m annoyed. I’m the one who’s going to have to explain a $150,000 hole in this month’s takings. How was this allowed to happen? I need some answers. ....................................................................................................................................

Tom Becaveric

2 I’m worried. It sounds as though this was due to problems with the Traverse system, which I or my team should have spotted and resolved before it went live. ....................................................................................................................................

3 I’m frustrated. My team and I have had these problems with Traverse before and they should have been sorted out before any more mistakes were made. ....................................................................................................................................

4 I’ve discovered a problem and think I need to bring it to the attention of my superiors so that I don’t get blamed for it.

....................................................................................................................................

Language focus

1 Group the phrases under the correct heading in the box. Any thoughts? I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Please advise ASAP

Ben will circulate exact figures shortly We will keep you updated. What are your thoughts on this? Phrases requesting further information Phrases promising further information Any thoughts?

2 Complete the sentences with these words. attention bottom get present glitch

1 She understands how urgent the situation is, so she’s going to ....................... her team onto it right away

2 It’s not working – there must be a ....................... in the system.

3 Let’s try to get to the ....................... of this issue, so that we can understand why it happened.

4 It has come to my ....................... that employees are using the Internet for nonwork purposes.

5 I’m afraid I don’t have all the information in front of me, so I can’t comment at ....................... .

Review

A colleague stops you in the corridor and says ‘I hear the Traverse system is causing problems. Do you know what is happening?’ Briefly explain the situation to your colleague from your reading of the emails.