{"id":65,"date":"2013-10-11T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-11T16:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monkeygrammar.org\/index.php\/2013\/10\/11\/4-common-mistakes-in-business-english-and-how-to-avoid-them\/"},"modified":"2020-04-15T13:46:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T13:46:47","slug":"4-common-mistakes-in-business-english-and-how-to-avoid-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/4-common-mistakes-in-business-english-and-how-to-avoid-them\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Common Mistakes in Business English and How to Avoid Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you know what the most common mistakes<\/span> in business English are?  There are 4 that you can’t afford to make.  Well,  not just the mistakes.  You will be given reasons<\/span> why people make it and of course, ways <\/span>to avoid making it yourself.<\/p>\n

Mistake 1: <\/b><\/span>Use ‘to+verb’ After Suggest<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Now you are having a big meeting<\/span> with the three big clients of your company, and it is just the right time for you to make a suggestion<\/span>, and you do make one: I suggest <\/span>to finish<\/span> the project by this Friday<\/span>.  Upon hearing that the Big Three feel disappointed and ……<\/p>\n


\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>What causes the mistake? <\/b> <\/b>It is ‘logical’ to say ‘I suggest <\/span>to finish<\/span> it by this Friday.’  Yet, in English, ‘suggest’ is followed by a noun, so what you need to do is to change ‘finish’ to a noun.<\/p>\n

How not to make it? <\/b>Add ‘ing’ to ‘transform’ a verb into a noun.  I suggest finishing<\/span><\/span> it by this Friday. Other verbs like ‘suggest’ include:<\/p>\n

                                       consider   recruiting<\/span> (graduates from the best universities)<\/span>
\n                                       finish        presenting<\/span> (a proposal) <\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/div>\n


\n<\/b><\/span>
\n<\/b><\/span>
\n<\/b><\/span>
\nMistake 2: Using a Comma to Separate Two Sentences<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This one is about your reports <\/span>or proposals.  I<\/span>t is less than professional <\/span>to write:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

At McCasual we sell quality clothing and textiles,<\/span> <\/span>we have a good reputation for casual wear. <\/span><\/p>\n

What causes the mistake?<\/b> Well, lots of reasons, one of which could be ‘SPE’.  What is ‘SPE’?  Supreme English?  No.  It is S<\/span>mart P<\/span>hone E<\/span>nglish<\/span>.<\/p>\n

How not to make it?<\/b> A commas is weak<\/span>, so weak<\/span> that it cannot<\/span> ‘hold<\/span>‘ two sentences together. So simply use a full-stop<\/span> to ‘stop’ the sentences.<\/p>\n

Mistake 3: <\/b><\/span>Forgetting to Add Something After Transitive Verbs <\/b>
\n
\n<\/b><\/span>What does that mean?  Read the dialogue from two spies.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Spy 1: Did you mail it yesterday?<\/span>
\nSpy 2:  Yes, I mailed<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You understand every word from the dialogue, right?  Yet ‘I mailed<\/span>‘ is not so ‘English’.<\/p>\n

What causes the mistake?<\/b><\/span>  It could be your mother tongue, especially if you are from Asia.<\/p>\n

How not to make it?<\/b><\/span>  To avoid making the mistake again, you must first work out what transitive verbs are, right?  A transitive verb is followed by something<\/span>.  By something, I mean a noun<\/span> or a pronoun<\/span>, for example:<\/p>\n

Just <\/span>do it.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n

Do + it<\/span><\/span>.  So you have to say ‘I mailed + it<\/span>.   <\/b>Other examples in business English include:<\/p>\n

contact<\/span>  + <\/span>(the) manufacturer<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
sell<\/span>  <\/span>    + <\/span>one hundred units<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mistake 4: <\/span><\/b>Information & Advice Are Not Countable<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

At a meeting<\/span>, have you ever said something like: I have lots of informations<\/span> and advices<\/span> to provide.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n


\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>What causes the mistake?  <\/b>In your culture you have a different way of thinking about ‘information’ and ‘advice’.  You can count them<\/span>, but not in English.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

How not to make it?  <\/b>Some rules of grammar are ‘not logical’.  So you have to think about how to remember it.  What about ‘AI<\/span>‘:<\/p>\n

                                    A<\/span><\/span>dvice & I<\/span><\/span>nformation<\/p>\n

And what about if you really want to count them<\/span>?  Add ‘a piece of<\/b>‘ <\/span>to make them become:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>Boss, there is really a piece of <\/span>information for you.<\/span>
\nWhat is it?<\/span>
\nI want to fire you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you know what the most common mistakes in business English are?  There are 4 that you can’t afford to make.  Well,  not just the mistakes.  You will be given reasons why people make it and of course, ways to avoid making it yourself. Mistake 1: Use ‘to+verb’ After Suggest Now you are having a big meeting with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/FreeGreatPicture.com-28730-interesting-material-of-commerce.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":926,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}