Glossary OF ENG201

Acknowledgment Nods, smiles, frowns, and words that let a speaker know you are listening.
responses :

Active verb: A verb that describes the action of the grammatical subject of the sentence

Adjustment: The response to a claim letter. If the company agrees to grant a refund, the
amount due will be adjusted.

Agenda : An ordered list of topics to be considered at a meeting, along with the name of
the person responsible for each topic

Analytical A report that interprets information

report :

Application A letter from a job applicant to a prospective employer explaining the

letter : applicant's interest in and qualifications for a position within the organization;
also called a cover letter

Assumptions: Statements that are not proven in a report, but on which the recommendations
are based.

Audience : The person or persons with whom you're communicating

Audience Identification of the needs, interests, and personality of the receiver of a

analysis : communication

Audit : To perform an independent review and examination of records and activities in

order to test the adequacy and effectiveness of data and integrity of data
procedures, to ensure compliance with established policy and operational
procedures, and to recommend any necessary changes

Bar graph : A visual consisting of parallel bars or rectangles that represent specific sets of
data.

Behavioural Job interviews that ask candidates to describe actual behaviours they have used
interviews : in the past in specific situations.

Bias-free Language that does not discriminate against people on the basis of sex, physical
language : condition, race, age, or any other category.

Blind ads : Job listings that do not list the company's name.

Blind copies Copies sent to other recipients that are not listed on the original letter or memo.

Block In letters, a format in which inside address, date, and signature block are lined
format : up at the left margin.
Body : The main part of a letter, memo, or report.

Body Nonverbal communication conveyed by posture and movement, eye contact,

language : facial expressions, and gestures.

Boilerplate : Language from a previous document that a writer includes in a new document.
Writers use boilerplate both to save time and energy and to use language that
has already been approved by the organization's legal staff.

Brainstorming A method of generating ideas by recording everything a person or a group

: thinks of, without judging or evaluating the ideas.

Branching Question that sends respondents who answer differently to different parts of the
question : questionnaire. Allows respondents to answer only those questions that are
relevant to their experience.

Buffer : A neutral or positive statement designed to allow the writer to bury, or buffer,
the negative message.

Build To create a good image of yourself and of your organization, the kind of image
goodwill : that makes people want to do business with you.

Business The practice of polite and appropriate behavior in a business setting

etiquette :

Business Terms that have technical meaning but are used in more general senses. Used
slang : sparingly, these terms are appropriate in job application letters and in messages
for people in the same organization, who are likely to share the vocabulary.

Channel : The physical means by which a message is sent. Written channels include
memos, letters, and billboards. Oral channels include phone calls, speeches, and
face-to- face conversations.

Chronological A résumé that lists what you did in a timeline, starting with the most recent
résumé : events and going backward in reverse chronology.

Claim A letter from the buyer to the seller, seeking some type of action to correct a
letter : problem with the seller's product or service Or A letter requesting a
replacement or refund.

Clear : A message whose audience gets the meaning the writer or speaker intended.

Cliché : An expression that has become monotonous through overuse

Close : The ending of a document.

Closed Question with a limited number of possible responses.

question :
Clustering : A method of thinking up ideas by writing the central topic in the middle of the
page, circling it, writing down the ideas that topic suggests, and circling them.

Comma Using a comma to join two independent clauses. To correct, use a semicolon,
splice or subordinate one of the clauses, or use a period and start a new sentence.
comma
fault: :

Communication The process of sending and receiving messages

:

Complaint A letter that challenges a policy or tries to get a decision changed.

letter :

Complete : A message that answers all of the audience's questions. The audience has
enough information to evaluate the message and act on it.

Complex Sentence with one main clause and one subordinate clause.
sentence :

Complimentary The words after the body of the letter and before the signature. Sincerely and
close : Cordially are the most commonly used complimentary closes in business
letters.

Compound Sentence with two main clauses joined by a conjunction.

sentence :

Connotation It is an implication of a word or a suggestion separate from the usual definition.

: These meanings also include qualitative judgments and personal reactions.

Conversational Conversational patterns such as speed and volume of speaking, pauses

style: : between speakers, whether questions are direct or indirect. When different
speakers assign different meanings to a specific pattern, miscommunication
results.

Copula : Copula is a word or set of words that serves as a link between the subject and
predicate of a proposition. A verb, such as a form of be or seem, that identifies
the predicate of a sentence with the subject. They are also called linking verbs.

Credibility : The audience's response to the source of the message.

Criteria : The standards used to evaluate or weigh the factors in a decision.

Cycling : The process of sending a document from writer to superior to writer to yet
another superior for several rounds of revisions before the document is
approved.

Data : Data means factual information; especially the information organized for
 analysis or used to reason or make decisions.

Decoding : Decoding is to extract the underlying meaning. It is an important step in

communication process. The receiver interprets, absorbs or understands the
message by decoding it.

Defamation : Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a
person's reputation, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person or
institution. Oral defamation is slander wheras written defamation is libel.

Denotation : It is usually the dictionary definition of a word. Denotative meaning inform the
receiver without indicating positive or negative qualities.

Direct It is generally preferred when you are targeting specific companies and are not
approach : afraid to be direct in stating your goal and also the audience is receptive to your
message.

Draft : A tentative, provisional,or preparatory writing out of any document (as a

resume, message, contract etc.) for the purposes of discussion and correction,
which is afterwards to be prepared in its final form.

Effective It is that communication in which the message is transferred by such

Communication. efficiency that it produced desired result as expected by the sender.

Ellipsis : It is a punctuation mark as (......) used to alert the reader that something has
been removed from the quoted material, that the speaker hesitated, or that there
is more material than is cited.

Empathic It is also called active listening. The goal of this listening is to understand the
Listening : speaker's feelings, needs, and wants so that you can appreciate his or her point
of view, regardless of whether you share that perspective.

Encoder : When you send a message, you are the "encoder" the writer or speaker,
depending on whether your message is written or oral. You try to chose
symbols-usually words and sometime also graphics or pictures -that express
your message so that the receiver (s) will understand it and react with the
response you desire.

Encryption : The reversible transformation of data from the original to a difficult-to-interpret

format as a mechanism for protecting its confidentiality, integrity and
sometimes its authenticity.

Ethnocentrism It is the tendency to judge all other groups according to one's own group's
: standards, behaviors, and customs as inferior by comparison.

Euphemism The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression to replace one that

: might offend or suggest something unpleasant. It is used to avoid
miscommunication because the sender has not considered the receiver's
probable interpretations and reactions.
facsimile It is a form of telegraphy for the transmission of fixed images. Fixed graphic
(FAX) : images, such as printed text and pictures, are scanned, and the information is
converted into electrical signals that may be transmitted over a
telecommunication system and used to create a copy of the original, or an
image so produced.

Filtering. : Filtering is screening out or abbreviating information before passing the

message on to someone else.

Impromptu : In this type of communication, the speaker or communicator is required by a

situation or a condition to orate without ANY formal or informal preparation or
any prior knowledge of the topic which he/she is required to speak about. The
extempore and impromptu techniques are more applicable to informal
occasions in one’s career.

Memorization Memorization This feature may be termed as cramming the entire length of
: verbal expression a person is supposed to deliver in front of an audience.
During such an exercise the orator may get some help from the script in front
of him but, the verbal expression is primarily prompted by his/her memory of
the plot which he/she prepared so well before the event.

Memos : A brief record written as an aid to the memory. It is also called memorandum.

Possessive Possessive nouns are used to show possession (owning, or having). They are
Nouns : words that would normally be nouns, but are used as adjectives to modify a
noun or pronoun. Possessive nouns tell you who or what the modified noun or
pronoun belongs to. An apostrophe (‘) and an –s are used with nouns to show
possession. Example: The dog's collar is too large.

Progress You write a progress report to inform a supervisor, associate, or customer about
report : progress you've made on a project over a certain period of time. The project can
be the design, construction, or repair of something, the study or research of a
problem or question, or the gathering of information on a technical subject.

Proposal : A Proposal is an act of suggesting or proposing something. Proposals are

informative and persuasive writing because they attempt to educate the reader
and to convince that reader to do something.

Reports : An official or formal statement of facts or proceedings. To give an account of;

to relate; to tell or convey information; the written statement of such an
account. There are different types of reports like short report, long reports etc.

Target A specified audience that an advertisement, product or service is intended to

Market : reach.

Visual aids : Visuals aids are a graphic representation of abstractions of reality; or symbols,
as seen in words and figures. They are applicable to both written and oral
communication.