We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more

Higher Education

Communicating for Results, Third Edition: Chapter 7

Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the “Submit my answers” button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:


a) Demonstrate the logic of the bad news
b) State the bad news clearly by placing it at the beginning and again at the end
c) Promote follow-up discussion about the bad news
d) Erode goodwill

Question 2:


a) Plead for the reader’s understanding
b) Apologize profusely for the bad news
c) Assume the reader will accept the news
d) Be tactful

Question 3:


a) Positive
b) Negative
c) Neutral
d) Any of the above, depending on the situation

Question 4:


a) Direct
b) Indirect
c) Neither
d) Either, depending on the context and expected reader reaction

Question 5:


a) Forecasts the bad news
b) Leads the reader to think good news will follow
c) Establishes rapport with the reader
d) Increases reader surprise about the bad news

Question 6:


a) An expression of appreciation
b) A compliment
c) A chronology of past communication
d) Any of the above

Question 7:


a) Readers may be suspicious of the true intent of the message
b) Readers may see the indirectness as manipulative
c) Readers may not have the time or patience for a longer message
d) All of the above

Question 8:


a) When you don’t know the reader well
b) When important information would be overlooked otherwise
c) When the reader isn’t expecting the message
d) When the reader will likely respond

Question 9:


a) A statement of the bad news in the opening
b) An explanation for the bad news
c) An alternative
d) A reminder of the bad news in the closing

Question 10:


a) By placing it in a dependent clause
b) By implying the refusal
c) By using active voice
d) By using short sentences

Question 11:


a) Avoids repeating the bad news
b) Invites further correspondence
c) Apologizes for the bad news
d) All of the above

Question 12:


a) Use positive or neutral words
b) Use technical language to evade issues
c) State company policy to justify your decision
d) All of the above