Q&A Hero

Q: List four characteristics of effective document design.

Q: Rewrite the following sentence to be more concise by using short, simple words: "Effective immediately, all employees need to terminate their excessive utilization of the office duplication machine for personal affairs and activities."

Q: Rewrite the following sentence to eliminate redundancies: "The engineers collaborated together in order to produce the uniquely original final outcomes of their research."

Q: Rewrite the following sentence to eliminate the unnecessary phrases: "In view of the fact that the customer service department is closed, we do not have the capability of offering refunds until such a time as they reopen."

Q: Rewrite the following sentence to avoid camouflaged verbs: "The manager will make a determination about when the payment of refunds will occur."

Q: Rewrite the following sentence to improve clarity and avoid the long noun sequence: "The financial estimates and accounting consulting firm will be closed next week."

Q: Rewrite the following sentence to remove the dangling modifier: "Lying next to the filing cabinet, the office manager found the financial report."

Q: Briefly describe at least three advantages of using lists in business documents.

Q: Conclusions should accomplish what two tasks?

Q: Briefly explain what the opening of a document should accomplish.

Q: A computer __________ gives you alternative words.

Q: When you begin the revision process, focus your attention on content, organization, style, and __________

Q: Using a(n) __________ is a wonderful way to weed out major typos, but you can't use it to replace good spelling skills.

Q: A(n) __________ is a standard format with preset aspects of page design such as margins, headings, paragraphs, etc.

Q: __________ typefaces have small crosslines at the ends of each letter stroke.

Q: Space on a page that is free of text or artwork is called __________ space.

Q: __________ verbs are those that have been changed into nouns or adjectives.

Q: A modifier is said to be __________ when it has no real connection to the subject of the sentence.

Q: With __________ construction, two or more similar ideas are expressed with the same grammatical pattern.

Q: A(n) __________ sentence uses words such as may and seems to avoid stating a judgment or fact.

Q: Word combinations that are needlessly repetitive are called __________.

Q: You use a __________ to give you a rough idea of how educated your audience must be to read your message.

Q: In the first phase of editing, you should pay particular attention to the __________ and __________ of the message.

Q: When it comes to proofreading your documents _____________ A) use a methodical approach to help you find errors. B) it's okay to let a few mechanical errors slip through, since the content is what counts. C) you should focus primarily on grammar and spelling; it's too late to do anything about the design or format. D) it's OK to review quickly if you have done a thorough job editing.

Q: Using __________________, you can customize your documents to meet the individual information needs of your readersjust as you can on a webpage. A) coloured text B) hyperlinks C) graphics D) paragraphs

Q: A grammar checker cannot tell _____________ A) the difference between passive and active voice. B) whether a sentence is long or short. C) whether your document communicates clearly. D) any of the above.

Q: A grammar checker _____________ A) scans visual images into your computer. B) highlights phrases in passive voice. C) suggests correct spelling. D) helps you find just the right word for a given situation.

Q: A spellchecker ____________ A) compares your document with an electronic dictionary. B) comes in English only. C) identifies and corrects all spelling errors within a document. D) automatically rewrites paragraphs for improved readability.

Q: A template is _____________ A) a type of computer software used to help sort files. B) a preset design or standard format. C) an unethical means for plagiarizing the work of others. D) a cumbersome, time-consuming series of actions required by some word processors.

Q: To create a pleasing document design _____________ A) take readability formulas into account. B) use as many decorative touches as possible to make the pages look more interesting. C) balance the space devoted to text, artwork, and white space. D) all of the above.

Q: When selecting typefaces for a business document _____________ A) avoid using more than two typefaces on a page. B) make generous use of such styles as all caps, underlines, and boldface. C) choose a nice sans serif face for your main body text. D) all of the above.

Q: Serif typefaces are preferable to sans serif faces for _____________ A) display treatments. B) headings and captions. C) large blocks of text. D) none of the above.

Q: Justified type will _____________ A) darken your message's appearance. B) lighten your message's appearance. C) distract from your message. D) create more white space in your message.

Q: Using white space in a document _____________ A) is considered "cheating." B) is only an option when you can't use colour. C) makes your document look unappealing. D) provides contrast.

Q: "The above-mentioned book" is an example of _____________ A) a redundancy. B) a strung-out sentence. C) an indefinite pronoun starter. D) an awkward reference.

Q: Which of the following sentences contains a camouflaged verb? A) "Some do; others don't." B) "She is a marketing manager but also serves as ad manager." C) "It is John's recommendation that she be hired." D) "He slowly, deliberately added the numbers."

Q: "Government task force report recommendations" is an example of _____________ A) redundancy. B) a dangling modifier. C) a dependent clause. D) stringing together a series of nouns.

Q: What is wrong with the following sentence? "Walking to the office, a red sports car passed her." A) It lacks parallelism. B) It contains a dangling modifier. C) It contains an awkward pointer. D) It is grammatically correct as written.

Q: Headings and subheadings serve these important functions: ____________ A) organization, attention, connection. B) organization, hedging, connotation. C) organization, sequence, flow. D) sequence, flow, attention.

Q: Starting a sentence with "It" or "There" is _____________ A) using an indefinite pronoun starter. B) perfectly acceptable, and you need not try to rewrite the sentence. C) a sign of the active voice being used. D) using a prepositional phrase to begin a sentence.

Q: "Visible to the eye" is an example of _____________ A) a clich. B) redundancy. C) the passive voice. D) obsolete language.

Q: Which of the following sentences is the most concisely worded without being ambiguous? A) "The project manager is in charge of specifications until such time as the project gets underway." B) "The project manager should provide specifications prior to the start of a project." C) "Project managers have the capability of changing specifications." D) "The project managers told the engineers last week that the specifications were changed."

Q: Most business messages score in the ________________ for readability. A) first- to fourth-grade level B) fifth- to sixth-grade level C) eighth- to eleventh-grade level d. twelfth- to thirteenth-grade level

Q: One readability formula that is built into MsWord is the ____________ A) Flesch Kincaid Grade Level Index. B) 2 + 2 formula. C) scan plan. D) Carnegie Index.

Q: When editing for content and organization, pay special attention to _____________ A) grammar and usage. B) punctuation and spelling. C) the beginning and ending of the message. D) style and tone.

Q: Most information transmitted by internal memo is now sent via email. A) True B) False

Q: For all the technological advances in communication, there is still no way of attaching a spoken message or other sound to particular places in a document. A) True B) False

Q: Because computers have become so powerful, grammar checkers can easily determine whether your document states your message correctly and communicates it clearly. A) True B) False

Q: Spell checkers are the only tool you need to guarantee error-free documents. A) True B) False

Q: Using company document templates ensures a consistent look and feel for all print and online company documents) A) True B) False

Q: To add interest to your message, it is a good idea to vary the margins, typeface, type size, and spacing. A) True B) False

Q: The software for creating business visuals falls into two basic groups: presentation software and word processing software. A) True B) False

Q: To make your message more interesting and accessible, use as many design elements and decorative touches as possible. A) True B) False

Q: Using as many different typefaces as possible makes your business documents more appealing. A) True B) False

Q: Sans serif typefaces are preferable to serif typefaces when designing long blocks of text. A) True B) False

Q: You should not centre text paragraphs because it "darkens" you message's appearance. A) True B) False

Q: To avoid wasting paper and to get as much on a page as possible, you should keep all margins narrow and fill any potential blocks of white space. A) True B) False

Q: Informative headings put your reader right into the context of your message. A) True B) False

Q: To save words, make liberal use of such directional points as "the latter," "the former," "the aforementioned," and "as mentioned above." A) True B) False

Q: The subject and predicate of a sentence should be kept as close together as possible. A) True B) False

Q: A camouflaged verb is a verb that has been turned into a noun or an adjective. A) True B) False

Q: Dangling modifiers are often the result of passive constructions. A) True B) False

Q: When you have two or more similar ideas to express, make them parallel. A) True B) False

Q: To avoid making a judgment in your business messages, you should use as many hedging words (such as may or seems) as possible. A) True B) False

Q: You can help clarify your writing by stringing together several short sentences into one long one. A) True B) False

Q: If you start a sentence with an indefinite pronoun, chances are the sentence can be shorteneD. A) True B) False

Q: "Visible to the eye" is an example of a redundancy. A) True B) False

Q: Redundancies are useful to readers because repetition leads to better recall of information. A) True B) False

Q: Short words are more vivid and easier to read than long words. A) True B) False

Q: The word very is usually unnecessary and contributes to sentence clutter. A) True B) False

Q: Parallel forms are more difficult to read and skim. A) True B) False

Q: Professional communicators get their message right the first time and don't need to worry about rewriting. A) True B) False

Q: Although readability indexes are easy to apply, they ignore some factors that contribute to reading ease. A) True B) False

Q: The most common readability formulas measure the number of letters in all the words of a sample paragraph to give you a rough idea of the level of your material. A) True B) False

Q: The middle section of a message has the greatest impact on the audience. A) True B) False

Q: It is a good idea to set aside a first draft for a day or two before beginning the revision process. A) True B) False

Q: Grammar, spelling, clarity and other fundamentals of good writing are just as important, or even more important, in electronic media as they are in other written media. A) True B) False

Q: When completing a business message, you should evaluate content, organization, style and tone, review for readability, edit for clarity, and edit for conciseness. A) True B) False

Q: A(n) ___________ sentence expresses two or more independent but related thoughts of equal importance.

Q: A(n) __________ word expresses a concept or quality, not a tangible object.