business writing quizlet

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

The Science of Strong Business Writing

• Bill Birchard

Lessons from neurobiology

Brain scans are showing us in new detail exactly what entices readers. Scientists can see a group of midbrain neurons—the “reward circuit”—light up as people respond to everything from a simple metaphor to an unexpected story twist. The big takeaway? Whether you’re crafting an email to a colleague or an important report for the board, you can write in a way that delights readers on a primal level, releasing pleasure chemicals in their brains.

Bill Birchard is an author and writing coach who’s worked with many successful businesspeople. He’s drawn on that experience and his review of the scientific literature to identify eight features of satisfying writing: simplicity, specificity, surprise, stirring language, seductiveness, smart ideas, social content, and storytelling. In this article, he shares tips for using those eight S’s to captivate readers and help your message stick.

Strong writing skills are essential for anyone in business. You need them to effectively communicate with colleagues, employees, and bosses and to sell any ideas, products, or services you’re offering.

Many people, especially in the corporate world, think good writing is an art—and that those who do it well have an innate talent they’ve nurtured through experience, intuition, and a habit of reading often and widely. But every day we’re learning more about the science of good writing. Advances in neurobiology and psychology show, with data and in images, exactly how the brain responds to words, phrases, and stories. And the criteria for making better writing choices are more objective than you might think.

Good writing gets the reader’s dopa­mine flowing in the area of the brain known as the reward circuit. Great writing releases opioids that turn on reward hot spots. Just like good food, a sooth­ing bath, or an enveloping hug, well-­executed prose makes us feel pleasure, which makes us want to keep reading.

Most of the rules you learned in school—“Show, don’t tell” or “Use the active voice”—still hold. But the reasons they do are now clearer. Scientists using MRI and PET machines can literally see how reward regions clustered in the mid­brain light up when people read certain types of writing or hear it spoken aloud. Each word, phrase, or idea acts as a stimulus, causing the brain to instantly answer a stream of questions: Does this promise value? Will I like it? Can I learn from it?

Kent Berridge, a pioneering University of Michigan psychologist and neuroscientist, notes that researchers originally believed that the reward circuit largely handled sensory cues. But, he explains, “it’s become clear in the past 50 years from neuroimaging studies that all kinds of social and cultural rewards can also activate this system.”

Whether it’s a succinct declarative statement in an email or a complex argument in a report, your own writing has the potential to light up the neural circuitry of your readers’ brains. (The same is true if you read the words to an audience.) The magic happens when prose has one or more of these characteristics: It’s simple, specific, surprising, stirring, seductive, smart, social, or story-­driven. In my work as an author and a writing coach for businesspeople, I’ve found those eight S’s to be hallmarks of the best writing. And scientific evidence backs up their power.

“Keep it simple.” This classic piece of writing advice stands on the most basic neuroscience research. Simplicity increases what scientists call the brain’s “processing fluency.” Short sentences, familiar words, and clean syntax ensure that the reader doesn’t have to exert too much brainpower to understand your meaning.

By contrast, studies have shown that sentences with clauses nested in the middle take longer to read and cause more comprehension mistakes. Ditto for most sentences in the passive voice. If you write “Profits are loved by investors,” for example, instead of “Investors love profits,” you’re switching the standard positions of the verb and the direct object. That can cut comprehension accuracy by 10% and take a tenth of a second longer to read.

Tsuyoshi Okuhara, of the University of Tokyo, teamed with colleagues to ask 400 people aged 40 to 69 to read about how to exercise for better health. Half the group got long-winded, somewhat technical material. The other half got an easy-to-read edit of the same content. The group reading the simple version—with shorter words and sentences, among other things—scored higher on self-efficacy: They expressed more confidence in succeeding.

Even more noteworthy: Humans learn from experience that simpler explanations are not always right, but they usually are. Andrey Kolmogorov, a Russian mathematician, proved decades ago that people infer that simpler patterns yield better predictions, explanations, and decisions. That means you’re more persuasive when you reduce overdressed ideas to their naked state.

Cutting extraneous words and using the active voice are two ways to keep it simple. Another tactic is to drill down to what’s really salient and scrap tangential details. Let’s say you have researched crossover markets and are recommending options in a memo to senior leaders. Instead of sharing every pro and con for each market—that is, taking the exhaustive approach—maybe pitch just the top two prospects and identify their principal pluses and minuses.

Specificity

Specifics awaken a swath of brain circuits. Think of “pelican” versus “bird.” Or “wipe” versus “clean.” In one study, the more-specific words in those pairs activated more neurons in the visual and motor-strip parts of the brain than did the general ones, which means they caused the brain to process meaning more robustly.

Years ago scientists thought our brains decoded words as symbols. Now we understand that our neurons actually “embody” what the words mean: When we hear more-specific ones, we “taste,” “feel,” and “see” traces of the real thing.

Remarkably, the simulation may extend to our muscles too. When a team led by an Italian researcher, Marco Tettamanti, asked people to listen to sentences related to the mouth, hand, and leg—“I bite an apple”; “I grasp a knife”; “I kick the ball”—the brain regions for moving their jaws, hands, and legs fired.

Using more-vivid, palpable language will reward your readers. In a recent letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos didn’t say, “We’re facing strong competition.” Channeling Tettamanti’s research, he wrote, “Third-party sellers are kicking our first-party butt. Badly.”

Another specificity tactic is to give readers a memorable shorthand phrase to help them retain your message. Malcolm Gladwell coined “the tipping point.” Management gurus W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne came up with “blue ocean strategy”; essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “black swan event.”

Our brains are wired to make nonstop predictions, including guessing the next word in every line of text. If your writing confirms the readers’ guess, that’s OK, though possibly a yawner. Surprise can make your message stick, helping readers learn and retain information.

Jean-Louis Dessalles, a researcher in artificial intelligence and cognitive science at Télécom Paris, conducted an experiment that demonstrated people’s affinity for the unexpected. He asked participants to read short, unfinished narratives and consider different possible endings for each. For example, one story read: “Two weeks after my car had been stolen, the police informed me that a car that might be mine was for sale on the internet….The phone number had been identified. It was the mobile phone number of….” The choices were (a) “my office colleague,” (b) “a colleague of my brother’s,” or (c) “someone in my neighborhood.” For 17 of 18 stories, the vast majority of people preferred the most unexpected ending (in this example, the work colleague). They didn’t want a story that fulfilled their predictions.

So reward your readers with novelty. Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman, of the Wharton School, saw the impact of surprising content when they examined nearly 7,000 articles that appeared online in the New York Times . They found that those rated as surprising were 14% more likely to be on the newspaper’s “most-emailed” list.

Readers appreciate unusual wordplay, too. A good example is John McPhee’s characterization of World War II as a “technological piñata.” Or consider how a Texas-based conglomerate described itself in its 2016 shareholder letter: “Think of Biglari Holdings as a museum of businesses. Our preference is to collect masterpieces.”

Stirring Language

You may think you’re more likely to persuade with logic, but no. Our brains process the emotional connotations of a word within 200 milliseconds of reading it—much faster than we understand its meaning. So when we read emotionally charged material, we reflexively react with feelings—fear, joy, awe, disgust, and so forth—because our brains have been trained since hunter-gatherer times to respond that way. Reason follows. We then combine the immediate feeling and subsequent thought to create meaning.

How sensitive are we to emotion? Experiments show that when people hear a list of words, they often miss a few as a result of “attentional blinks” caused by limits in our brain processing power. But we don’t miss the emotionally significant words. With those there are no blinks.

When we read emotionally charged material, we reflexively react with feelings—fear, joy, awe, disgust, and so forth. Reason follows.

So when you write your next memo, consider injecting words that package feeling and thought together. Instead of saying “challenge the competition,” you might use “outwit rivals.” In lieu of “promote innovation,” try “prize ingenuity.” Metaphor often works even better. Canadian researchers Andrea Bowes and Albert Katz tested relatively bland phrases like “What a very good idea!” and “Be careful what you say” against more-evocative expressions like “What a gem of an idea!” and “Watch your back.” Readers reacted more strongly to the latter.

Just a small touch can drive the neural circuits for emotion. So before you start composing, get your feelings straight, along with your facts. Zeal for your message will show through. And if you express your emotion, readers will feel it.

Seductiveness

As humans, we’re wired to savor an­tic­ipation. One famous study showed that people are often happier planning a vacation than they are after taking one. Scientists call the reward “anticipatory utility.” You can build up the same sort of excitement when you structure your writing. In experiments using poetry, researchers found that readers’ reward circuitry reached peak firing several seconds before the high points of emphatic lines and stanzas. Brain images show preemptive spikes of pleasure even in readers with no previous interest in poetry.

You can generate a similar reaction by winding up people’s curiosity for what’s to come. Steve Jobs did this in his famous “How to Live Before You Die” commencement address to Stanford University’s class of 2005. “I never graduated from college,” he began. “Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.” Are you on the edge of your seat to hear what the three stories are?

So start a report with a question. Pose your customer problem as a conundrum. Position your product development work as solving a mystery. Put readers in a state of uncertainty so that you can then lead them to something better.

Smart Thinking

Making people feel smart—giving them an “aha” moment—is another way to please readers. To show how these sudden “pops” of insight activate the brain, researchers have asked people to read three words (for example, “house,” “bark,” and “apple”) and then identify a fourth word that relates to all three, while MRI machines and EEGs record their brain activity. When the study participants arrive at a solution (“tree”), brain regions near the right temple light up, and so do parts of the reward circuit in the prefrontal cortex and midbrain. The readers’ delight is visible. Psychological research also reveals how people feel after such moments: at ease, certain, and—most of all—happy.

How can you write to create an aha moment for your readers? One way is to draw fresh distinctions. Ginni Rometty, formerly IBM’s CEO, offered one with this description of the future: “It will not be a world of man versus machine; it will be a world of man plus machine.”

Another strategy is to phrase a pragmatic message so that it also evokes a perennial, universal truth. The late Max De Pree, founder and CEO of the office furniture company Herman Miller, had a knack for speaking to employees this way. In Leadership Is an Art he wrote: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.” That’s wisdom not just for business managers but for parents, teachers, coaches—anyone in a guiding role.

Social Content

Our brains are wired to crave human connection—even in what we read. Consider a study of readers’ responses to different kinds of literary excerpts: some with vivid descriptions of people or their thoughts, and others without such a focus. The passages that included people activated the areas of participants’ brains that interpret social signals, which in turn triggered their reward circuits.

We don’t want just to read about people, though—we want to understand what they’re thinking as quickly as possible. A study led by Frank Van Overwalle, a social neuroscientist at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, found that readers infer the goals of people they’re reading about in under 350 milliseconds, and discern their character traits within 650 milliseconds.

One way to help readers connect with you and your writing is to reveal more traces of yourself in it. Think voice, world­view, vocabulary, wit, syntax, poetic rhythm, sensibilities. Take the folksy—and effective—speeches and letters of Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. His bon mots include “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago,” “It’s only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked,” and “Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”

Remember also to include the human angle in any topic you’re discussing. When you want to make a point about a supply-chain hiccup, for example, don’t frame the problem as a “trucking disconnect.” Write instead about mixed signals between the driver and dispatcher.

Another simple trick to engage readers is to use the second person (“you”), as I’ve done throughout this piece. This can be particularly helpful when you’re explaining technical or complicated material. For example, psychologist Richard Mayer and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, ran experiments with two versions of an online presentation on the respiratory system. Each included 100 words of spoken text paired with simple animations. But one version used the impersonal third person (“During inhaling, the diaphragm moves down, creating more space for the lungs…”), while the other was more personal (“ your diaphragm” and “ your lungs…”). People who listened to the latter scored significantly higher than their counterparts on a test that measured what they had learned.

Storytelling

Few things beat a good anecdote. Stories, even fragments of them, captivate extensive portions of readers’ brains in part because they combine many of the elements I’ve described already.

Research by Uri Hasson at Princeton reveals the neural effect of an engaging tale. Functional MRI scans show that when a story begins, listeners’ brains immediately begin glowing in a specific pattern. What’s more, that grid reflects the story­teller’s exactly. Other research shows that, at the same time, midbrain regions of the reward circuit come to life.

Experiments by behavioral scientists at the University of Florida produced similar results. Brain images showed heightened activity in reward regions among people who read 12-second narratives that prompted pleasant images. (A sample narrative: “It’s the last few minutes of the big game and it’s close. The crowd explodes in a deafening roar. You jump up, cheering. Your team has come from behind to win.”)

When you incorporate stories into your communications, big payoffs can result. Consider research that Melissa Lynne Murphy did at the University of Texas, looking at business crowdfunding campaigns. She found that study participants formed more-favorable impressions of the pitches that had richer narratives, giving them higher marks for entrepreneur credibility and business legitimacy. Study participants also expressed more willingness to invest in the projects and share infor­mation about them. The implication: No stories, no great funding success.

The eight S’s can be your secret weapons in writing well. They’re effective tools for engaging readers because they trigger the same neural responses that other pleasurable stimuli do. And you probably understand their value intuitively because millions of years of evolution have trained our brains to know what feels right. So cultivate those instincts. They’ll lead you to the writer’s version of the Golden Rule: Reward readers as you would yourself.

• Bill Birchard is a business author and book-writing coach. His Writing for Impact: 8 Secrets from Science That Will Fire Up Your Reader’s Brain will be published by HarperCollins Leadership in April 2023. His previous books include Merchants of Virtue, Stairway to Earth, Nature’s Keepers, Counting What Counts, and others. For more writing tactics, see his website .  

Partner Center

• Get started with computers
• Learn Microsoft Office
• Apply for a job
• Improve my work skills
• Design nice-looking docs
• Getting Started
• Smartphones & Tablets
• Typing Tutorial
• Online Learning
• Basic Internet Skills
• Online Safety
• Social Media
• Zoom Basics
• Google Docs
• Google Sheets
• Career Planning
• Resume Writing
• Cover Letters
• Job Search and Networking
• Business Communication
• Entrepreneurship 101
• Careers without College
• Job Hunt for Today
• 3D Printing
• Freelancing 101
• Personal Finance
• Sharing Economy
• Decision-Making
• Graphic Design
• Photography
• Image Editing
• Learning WordPress
• Language Learning
• Critical Thinking
• For Educators
• Translations
• Staff Picks
• English expand_more expand_less

Business Communication  - Business Writing Essentials

Business communication  -, business writing essentials, business communication business writing essentials.

Business Communication: Business Writing Essentials

Lesson 6: business writing essentials.

/en/business-communication/overcoming-phone-anxiety/content/

Business writing essentials

At some point in your professional life, you may need to write something. It’s nothing to be intimidated by, though!

Business writing is any written communication used in a professional setting, including emails , memos , and reports . It’s direct, clear, and designed to be read quickly. With time and practice, you too can become an effective business writer.

Watch the video below to learn some tips for business writing.

The basics of business writing

Good business writing shares crucial information and keeps the concerns of the audience in mind. So before you write anything, ask yourself these two questions:

What do I need to say?

Who is my audience?

Your answers will influence what and how you write, so take a moment to understand exactly why you’re writing. If you can’t clearly answer these questions, you’ll probably have trouble communicating effectively.

Most business writing needs a call to action , which is information that instructs and encourages a response. Let your readers know what they should do, where to go, and so on. Provide your contact information (such as your phone number or email address) in case anyone has questions. Essentially, make sure everyone knows what their next move should be, like in the following example.

Writing craft

Get to the point quickly. Do you need to tell your employees about a change in work schedules or an update to company policy? Tell them what they should know upfront, and don’t leave them guessing.

Make every sentence as short and clear as possible. Simplify your word choices, as you shouldn’t use complex words when simple ones will do. Also, cut any rambling thoughts. A company-wide memo about a health insurance change is not the best place to mention your recent fishing trip. In short, always omit needless words .

Although you’re in a professional setting, remember to speak to others how you would like to be spoken to. Consider using a brief greeting or conclusion, especially if you’re sharing unpleasant news, and remember that saying please and thank you goes a long way. And whenever you’re in doubt as to whether something is appropriate to write, don’t include it.

Aim to keep your paragraphs brief, as they will add focus to your message while making it easier to scan and remember. The example below is an efficient read, thanks to short paragraphs, clear sentences, and a polite, professional tone.

Good writing comes out of revision , so read over your first draft and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Clarify sentences and organize the loose structure until everything flows in a logical order. Don’t be surprised if it takes a few revisions until your document is ready to go.

As part of your revision process, try reading your work aloud, which may reveal problems you may not have noticed before. You can also get someone you trust to provide feedback on your work. Hearing their perspective can lead to new insights and issues you never knew were there.

Proofreading is another key part of revision. After you use a spell checker, read over your work again and look for spelling and grammar errors the spell checker may have missed. Also take a moment to ensure the information you’re writing about is accurate and up to date. If you submit incorrect information or sloppy writing, you may not be taken seriously. Does the following example look professional?

Remember, you won’t master business writing overnight. Effective writing is a skill that takes a lot of time and practice to develop. But once you get comfortable with it, you’ll possess an incredibly valuable job skill.

/en/business-communication/how-to-write-a-formal-business-letter/content/

Business Writing Fundamentals And Skills! Trivia Quiz

Business writing is an informative and instructional design which includes memorandums, reports, proposals, emails, and other forms of writing used in organizations to interact with audiences. A person should know how to write proper business letters or documents. This quiz has been developed to test your knowledge about the basics of business writing. So, let's try out the quiz. All the best!

While it is not easy to write effectively, the task will be less difficult if you ______ well.

Rate this question:

. Which of the following sentences is an example of specific, active language?

Their lunches will be brought to them soon.

Katarina arrived for her breakfast shift at 6 a.m. today.

The new executive housekeeper has many skills.

Lots of guests say good things about the food on the menu.

Which of the following sentences is an example of a passive sentence?

Joseph escorted the guests to the hospitality suite.

Jennifer demonstrated how to use the in-room bar.

Martin finished his security rounds on the first floor before he called into the front desk.

Mary was given two days to study the employee manual.

Which of the following sentences is an example of an active sentence?

Clients must feel comfortable that they have been taken care of by the sales staff.

. At small properties, the dining room is supervised by the dining room manager.

Bakers prepare a wide variety of bakery products following standard recipes.

Food servers are assisted by buspersons in clearing tables and re-setting them.

Consulting files or speaking with others in your department will help you know what your topic is and determine a purpose for writing.

Managers should expand their vocabulary because using complicated words will impress others., a topic sentence explains what the paragraph is all about., managers spend time rewriting memos, reports, and letters., the pre-printed part of the letter that appears across the top margin and includes the name of the business is called the .

Inside address

Addressee notation

What do we call the part of the letter that contains the receiver’s name and mailing address?

Related Topics

• English Level Test

Recent Quizzes

Featured Quizzes

Popular Topics

• Cartography Quizzes
• Civics Quizzes
• Economics Quizzes
• El112 Quizzes
• Geography Quizzes
• History Quizzes
• Humanities Quizzes
• Law Quizzes
• Linguistics Quizzes
• Logic Quizzes
• Math Quizzes
• Philosophy Quizzes
• Political Science Quizzes
• Politics Quizzes
• Science Quizzes
• Social Science Quizzes
• Sociology Quizzes

Related Quizzes

Wait! Here's an interesting quiz for you.

Business Communications Final Exam

Home » Flashcards » Business Communications Final Exam

Your page rank:

Calculate the Price

Share this flashcard, more flashcards like this, nclex 10000 integumentary disorders.

When assessing a client with partial-thickness burns over 60% of the body, which finding should the nurse report immediately? a) ...

NCLEX 300-NEURO

A client with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) tells the nurse, "Sometimes I feel so frustrated. I can’t do anything without ...

NASM Flashcards

Which of the following is the process of getting oxygen from the environment to the tissues of the body? Diffusion ...

Unfinished tasks keep piling up?

Let us complete them for you. Quickly and professionally.

Successful message sending

5 handy AI tools for school that students, teachers, and parents can use, too

During last year's back-to-school season, ChatGPT had not yet been unveiled, and generative AI wasn't on everyone's radar. However, now the topic is more popular than ever, and new helpful AI tools for students are released daily. 

A common misconception is that generative AI can harm education by promoting cheating. However, when used properly, these tools have the potential to help students learn more efficiently. They can also help parents and teachers help students with projects,  homework, and studying.

Also:  6 AI tools to supercharge your work and everyday life

I test AI tools every day, and  I wish I'd had these tools when I was in school.  

The key to correctly using AI for schoolwork is identifying the right tools and use cases. Since there are so many tools, I compiled the list below from months of testing to make your life easier. 

1. Bing Chat 

Bing Chat is at the top of my list because of its multiple potential use cases that could improve a student's workflow. 

If you are familiar with ChatGPT, Bing Chat is the same concept -- an AI chatbot, powered by OpenAI technology, but with significant differences that, in my testing, make it better. 

Also: American students are saving ChatGPT from traffic freefall

First off, Bing Chat uses OpenAI's most advanced large language model (LLM), GPT-4, for free. Besides Bing Chat, the only other GPT-4-based chatbot available is ChatGPT Plus , which costs $20 a month, which is a big outlay for a student who's already juggling school expenses. 

Another major pro for Bing Chat is that it's connected to the internet and has information on all current events and sites, making it possible to access any information you need. The technology also cites its sources as footnotes, making it easier to fact-check and to avoid hallucinations. 

Lastly, Bing Chat can answer everything that Google can, but instead of having to aimlessly search through the search results for what you're looking for, the technology gives you the answer in an easy-to-understand response with footnotes that you can follow to lead you to the site.

Also: 7 ways you didn't know you can use Bing Chat and other AI chatbots

Bing Chat also has the advanced writing, coding, and mathematical abilities that ChatGPT has, making it a great assistant for writing and editing essays, solving and explaining math problems, and generating and debugging code. 

Some other ways you can use Bing Chat in your studies are: 

• Answering questions you have about class or materials
• Researching for a paper 
• Finding answers for take-home exams or assignments
• Explaining complex topics, such as history, current events, politics, and scientific terms, in a more digestible way
• Writing Excel formulas
• Making graphs and charts
• Planning vacation itineraries (we all need a break from school sometimes)

To find the best way to use Bing Chat for your own workflow, I recommend applying it to the use cases discussed above and experimenting with different things. 

2. Quizlet 

I used Quizlet from middle school through college as a study tool to help me remember content for tests. Students can use it by building a study set with terms and definitions and then using different learning methods, such as flashcards (my personal favorite), matching columns, and more. 

Students can also browse the millions of study sets created by other users. When I was a student, I found that if I searched Quizlet for a study set about any topic or even a specific textbook, someone else had likely made one. 

Also:  How to use ChatGPT to write an essay

Although the platform is far from new, it has leveraged AI for more than six years to create its study features, such as its Learn mode, and to create testing options for students to review their material. 

Quizlet recently delved further into AI by using OpenAI's ChatGPT API to create an AI-enabled tutor called Q-Chat, which is available in beta for free. 

I tested the AI tutor, and its interactive question-answer prompt system impressed me. The AI tutor simulates a real conversation, either teaching you or testing you on the study information through a natural language dialogue. 

Also:  4 ways teachers can use ChatGPT in their classrooms

Quizlet also recently announced other AI features, including Magic Notes, Memory Score, Quick Summary, and AI-enhanced Expert Solutions. 

Overall, whether it's the older standard tools I used or one of the more advanced ones, Quizlet is a powerful tool for learning and studying classroom materials, and learners of all ages can benefit from it. 

3. ChatPDF 

As a student, a big portion of the documents you get are sent as PDFs. Whether these PDFs are class readings, research papers, or syllabi, they are often lengthy and tedious. ChatPDF can entirely change the way you interact with PDFs for your studies. 

With ChatPDF, all you need to do is upload your PDF, and it will process your file in seconds. Then, you are redirected to a chatbot interface where you can ask ChatPDF any question you have regarding the PDF.

Also: How to use ChatPDF: The AI chatbot that can tell you everything about your PDF 

The questions can be as broad as asking for a summary of the PDF, or as specific as asking for a particular term in the text and what it means. Once it finds an answer, it tells you where in the text it formulated its response from. 

This tool can be used when you read a research paper and are left with a million questions, or it can even quickly find the information you need to complete an assignment or paper. 

ChatPDF would have changed my life for the better when I was at college and sent papers to read almost every day. I even still use ChatPDF as a working professional to help me understand some otherwise complex topics and to double-check my findings. 

4. Duolingo  

Duolingo is a great app for learning a new language. Students can use it to supplement the language courses they are taking in school. 

The appeal of the Duolingo app is that it gamifies the language-learning experience through bite-sized lessons that feel like individual quests. It also has a streak, leaderboard, league, and point system that motivates learners to want to keep going. 

Even though I am not a student, I do have a 245-day streak in an attempt to learn a new language. 

Also:  How to access thousands of free audiobooks, thanks to Microsoft AI and Project Gutenberg

Foreign language courses are typically mandatory for students throughout their education, starting at the middle school level all the way through to college. 

As if learning a new language isn't already hard, my experiences suggest foreign language courses are not a priority for schools, especially at the younger learning levels, making them under-resourced and sometimes poorly taught. 

Duolingo would be a great way to bridge the understanding gap that is being created in class. Test yourself on your understanding of the language before an exam, or simply supplement your in-class lessons with some out-of-classroom practice. 

5. Socratic

Although younger learners can benefit from AI chatbots , such as Bing Chat, there are concerns about giving them access to the entirety of the internet. If you are a parent with those concerns, Socratic by Google is a great alternative. 

With the Socratic app, students can type in any question about what they are learning in school or upload their worksheets. Then, the app will generate a conversational, human-like response with unique graphics and even related YouTube video links.

The app will not just pump out answers or generate essays. Instead, it will give step-by-step explanations and instructions that students can use to get the answer themselves, functioning as an intelligent learning tool. 

Also:  How Google Socratic can help you with your homework

To give parents peace of mind, Socratic also blocks inappropriate questions from being answered.

The app isn't limited to younger learners, and Google actually refers to it as a "learning app from Google that helps high school and university students." However, due to its functionality, I would say it's actually better suited for younger learners because of the limits and fun graphics. 

Artificial Intelligence

6 AI tools to supercharge your work and everyday life

Generative AI can be the academic assistant an underserved student needs

Back to school? How ChatGPT can help you with your essay writing

Have an account?

Suggestions for you See more

KG -  1st  

Business writing, 9th -  university  , 45.5k plays, 4th -  6th  , 7th -  10th  .

9th - University grade

University grade

20 questions

Introducing new   Paper mode

No student devices needed.   Know more

When you need to request for information, what is the best document to use?

Telephone conversation

Letter of Enquiry

Letter of Complaint

When you write a letter of complaint, you need to

describe the problem

include your payment

describe the outcome you want

show your anger to the person reading the letter

attach a copy of relevant documents

What should you do if a product you received is damaged?

Simply accept the product

Write a letter of complaint

Go back to the shop and scold the seller

Buy a new product

Why are business writing skills so important?

Ensure effective business communication

Demonstrate your intelligence

To buy more products

Influence people

Which one of these is NOT the function of business writing

To persuade

To convey information

To start a conversation

To entertain

Professional business writing is important because

it gives you credibility

It helps form office relationships

It takes up a lot of time

People like reading

Identifying different types of writing is important because

As a professional you need to also be a writer

It helps you write in the appropriate style

It tells you who your reader is

It wastes time

When writing, a mind-map is a great planning tool because

It allows for free flow of information from brain to paper

It’s visually attractive

It creates a working draft

It identifies who I’m talking to

Redundant phrases mean

Saying the same thing twice

Creating confusion

Adding value to the audience

Sounding professional

Paragraphs are important because

They structure my thoughts, making them easy to follow

They show effort

They help with typos

They aren’t important

• Multiple Choice Edit Please save your changes before editing any questions. 30 seconds 1 pt What  piece of information should you write to ensure your letter goes to the correct person? Your name. The name of the recipient. The department of the recipient. Nothing.
• Multiple Choice Edit Please save your changes before editing any questions. 30 seconds 1 pt What information do you put in the first paragraph of a letter? What you would like the person to do. Details of your query. Information about yourself. The reason for writing.
• Multiple Choice Edit Please save your changes before editing any questions. 30 seconds 1 pt Why should you use conjunctions in writing? To join sentences together. To confuse the reader. To make your writing look good. What is a conjunction?
• Multiple Choice Edit Please save your changes before editing any questions. 1 minute 1 pt The conclusion does not include new information. true false

At the top of a business letter, the company writing the letter usually provides their address and business logo, also known as:

Letter Address or Inside Address

Complimentary Close

• Multiple Choice Edit Please save your changes before editing any questions. 30 seconds 1 pt Writing a business plan can ensure that an entrepreneur _________.  figures out how to make her business work. meets his target revenue goals. achieves her expense projections.
• Multiple Choice Edit Please save your changes before editing any questions. 30 seconds 1 pt A _____________ is a document that thoroughly explains a business idea and how it will be carried out. marketing plan financial analysis business plan

Oral communication consists of anything that is written.

To write effectively in school and the workplace, you should

know your audience, focus on content and style, proofread thoroughly and revise accordingly.

know jokes, focus on yourself, and style, proofread

know information, focus on style, proofread thoroughly and revise accordingly.

know your audience, focus on content of proofreading

Explore all questions with a free account

Continue with email

Continue with phone