Business and Technical English (ENG201) Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, technical writing principles, document structures, and oral communication strategies from Business and Technical English (ENG201).

Functional Resume

A resume format organized around the applicant's accomplishments and abilities rather than chronological work history, emphasizing the specific tasks and functions the candidate can perform.

Target Audience

The specific demographic group, individuals, or decision-makers for whom a communication is designed and who possess direct decision-making power over the issue being addressed.

General Experts

Readers with extensive overall technical knowledge of a broad field who may nevertheless be unfamiliar with specific equipment, specialized technical terms, or recent advances in a particular topic.

Specific Experts

Readers whose technical knowledge about a document's precise subject matter matches or exceeds that of the writer.

Explicit Purpose

The clearly and formally stated objective of a document, such as providing information, giving instructions, persuading the reader, or enacting or prohibiting an action.

Implicit Purpose

The unstated but essential operational goals of a document, such as establishing professional relationships, cultivating trust and credibility, and documenting organizational actions.

Phantom Readers

Real but unnamed secondary readers who read and use communications that were officially addressed to someone else, such as advisors evaluating a report for a decision-maker.

Complex Readers

Diverse groups of readers from widely varying professional backgrounds and organizational responsibilities, each possessing different operational agendas and communication preferences.

Document Accuracy

The aspect of accuracy concerning the thorough and appropriate coverage of a topic in adequate detail, typically maintained via a clear problem statement and preliminary outline.

Stylistic Accuracy

The precise and careful use of language, word choice, and sentence and paragraph structure to express intended meaning clearly and without error.

Technical Accuracy

Grounding a document in an exact conceptual mastery of the specialized subject matter and vocabulary, accurately analyzing and shaping technical data with minimal distortion.

Structural Clarity

The ease of understanding achieved across an entire document through high-level orienting devices such as descriptive titles, headings, problem statements, abstracts, and tables of contents.

Contextual Clarity

Ease of understanding created by explaining the authorization, background history, institutional setting, and practical implications of the writer's work.

Coherence

The quality of writing in which ideas hang together logically and stylistically, providing the reader with a clear, smoothly connected, and easy-to-follow path of thought.

You-Attitude

A style of communication focused on the audience's perspectives, needs, and benefits, typically prioritizing the recipient's point of view over the sender's feelings.

Deadly Verbs

The verbs be, give, have, hold, make, put, and take, which weaken sentences when the primary action of the thought is hidden inside an accompanying noun.

Direct Approach

A deductive organizational pattern in which the main idea, request, or good news appears first, followed by supporting explanations, details, and evidence.

Indirect Approach

An inductive organizational pattern that presents buffers, explanations, and evidence before delivering the main idea, bad news, or persuasive appeal.

Functional Words

Grammatical words—such as prepositions, conjunctions, articles, and pronouns—that establish relationships between content words.

Content Words

Words that carry specific denotative and connotative meaning, primarily nouns and verbs, as opposed to structural connectors.

Camouflaged Verbs

Verbs that have been unnecessarily converted into nouns or adjectives through endings such as -ion, -tion, -ing, -ment, -ant, -ent, -ance, and -ency, weakening sentence vigor.

Memorandum

A brief, informal internal business document used within an organization to convey announcements, transmit information, outline policies, or maintain records.

Agenda

A meeting document listing the topics to be discussed in order of appearance, along with the names of the individuals designated to lead each discussion.

Meeting Minutes

The formal written legal record of what occurred, was discussed, and was decided during a meeting, maintained by a secretary or recorder.

Transmittal Letter

A cover letter accompanying a larger document that provides the recipient with immediate context and provides the sender with a permanent record of delivery.

Order Letter

A business letter, also known as a purchase order (PO) letter, that initiates the paper trail of a purchase by giving detailed fulfillment instructions to a vendor.

Claim

A formal legal demand, assertion, or complaint submitted by a customer seeking compensation, payment, or replacement for loss, poor service, or damages under a contract.

Adjustment Letter

A formal written reply to a claim letter, providing a brief description of the issue and stating whether the requested settlement is granted or refused.

Credit Reference

An individual or organization that can provide verifiable records regarding an applicant's past credit and payment history to evaluate creditworthiness.

Buffer

A neutral, non-controversial statement placed at the opening of an indirect bad-news message to establish common ground without hinting at the negative outcome.

AIDA Plan

A four-phase persuasive organizational framework consisting of Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

Analytical Report

A report written to investigate a problem, examine and analyze data, draw conclusions, and present actionable recommendations.

Informational Report

A report that presents data, feedback, facts, or instructions without performing situation analysis, drawing conclusions, or recommending action.

Feasibility Report

A specialized report written to help decision-makers choose between two or more courses of action by evaluating alternatives systematically against specific criteria.

Progress Report

A report that details accomplishments made toward a goal during a given reporting period, reviews costs and schedules, and outlines future objectives.

Gunning's Fog Index

A quantitative readability formula that calculates the approximate reading grade level required to understand a prose passage based on sentence length and complex words.

Writer's Block

The state of becoming unable to proceed with writing, commonly caused by a lack of information, poorly analyzed audience, ill-defined purpose, or lack of confidence.

Comma Splice

A grammatical punctuation error that occurs when two independent clauses are linked using only a comma without a coordinating conjunction.

Fused Sentence

A sentence error that occurs when two independent clauses run together with no punctuation or conjunction separating them.

Dangling Modifier

A modifying word or phrase whose grammatical connection to the rest of the sentence is implied rather than explicitly linked to a clear subject or noun.

Parallelism

The grammatical principle that sentence parts having the same function must share the same structural pattern, especially when linked by conjunctions.

Groupthink

A detrimental small-group dynamic wherein members suppress individual judgment and critical dissent to conform to the consensus of the group.

Content Listening

A mode of listening whose primary goal is to comprehend, retain, and identify key organizational points from information delivered by a speaker.

Restatement Questions

Interview questions that mirror or reflect a respondent's prior answer to encourage further elaboration, clarify ambiguities, or soothe concerns.

Extempore Delivery

A speech delivery mode in which the outline, ideas, and structure are planned and rehearsed thoroughly in advance, while the exact wording is chosen at the moment of speaking.

Impromptu Delivery

An off-the-cuff speech delivery mode executed without advance planning, organization, or rehearsal.