Grammar: 🌐 Grammar in Specialized Contexts - Application (C1) - Lesson 3: Grammar for Clear, Concise & Professional Business Communication (emails, reports, presentations)

🌐 C1 Lesson 3: Grammar for Professional Business Communication

While academic writing requires depth and complexity, professional business communication¹ has different priorities. In emails, reports, and presentations, your goal is to be understood quickly and effectively. Today, we focus on the "Three C's" of business writing: being Clear, Concise, and Courteous.

1. Clarity: Use the Active Voice & Strong Verbs

In most business situations, you want to be clear about who is responsible for an action. The active voice is usually clearer and more direct than the passive voice.

Passive (Less Clear): "The decision to hire a new tour guide for our Siem Reap office was made." (By whom?)

Active (Clear): "The management committee made the decision to hire a new tour guide for our Siem Reap office."

Similarly, use strong, direct verbs instead of turning them into nouns (nominalization).

Noun-heavy: "We will conduct an investigation into the matter."
Verb-strong: "We will investigate the matter."

2. Conciseness: Avoid Wordiness & Redundancy

Being concise² means communicating your message in as few words as possible without losing meaning. Avoid filler words and redundancy³.

Wordy Phrase	Concise Alternative
due to the fact that	because / since
at this point in time	now / currently
in the event that	if
a large number of	many

3. Courtesy: The Grammar of Politeness

Being professional means being courteous⁴. Your grammatical choices can make a request sound like a demand or a polite inquiry.

Use Polite Modals:
→ Instead of: "I need that report by 5 PM."
→ Say: "Could you please send me that report by 5 PM?"

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Use the Passive Voice to Soften Bad News or Errors:
→ Direct/Blaming: "You made a mistake on the invoice."
→ Polite/Passive: "It seems a mistake was made on the invoice." or "There appears to be a mistake on the invoice."

🧠 Practice Quiz: Professional Phrasing

Choose the sentence that is most appropriate for a professional business email.

1. a) We need to get this done ASAP.
   b) It is essential that this be completed as soon as possible.
   Answer: b. It is more formal and avoids slang like 'ASAP'.
2. Which sentence is more concise?
   a) In light of the fact that sales are down, we must develop a new strategy.
   b) Because sales are down, we must develop a new strategy.
   Answer: b. It replaces a long phrase with a single, clear word.
3. You need your assistant to book a hotel in Siem Reap. What is the most courteous request?
   a) Book the hotel for me now.
   b) Would you please book a hotel for me in Siem Reap?
   Answer: b. It uses a polite modal question structure.
4. Which sentence uses the active voice for clarity?
   a) The new marketing plan was approved.
   b) The Marketing Director approved the new plan.
   Answer: b. It clearly states who performed the action.

📝 Homework: Make it Professional

Rewrite these informal sentences to make them more clear, concise, and courteous for a business email.

1. Informal: I need you to finish the presentation by tomorrow.
   Professional: Could you please ensure the presentation is finished by tomorrow?
2. Informal: We gotta look into why we lost that client.
   Professional: It is important that we investigate the reasons for losing that client.
3. Informal: Just a heads-up, the meeting's off 'cause the director's sick.
   Professional: Please be advised that the meeting has been cancelled due to the director's illness.

Vocabulary Glossary

1. Business Communication: (Noun Phrase) - ការប្រាស្រ័យទាក់ទងក្នុងអាជីវកម្ម (kaa pra'sray'teăk'tông knong a'chii'vĕ'kâm) - The sharing of information between people within and outside an organization for commercial benefit. ↩
2. Concise: (Adjective) - សង្ខេប (sâng'khaep) - Giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words; brief. ↩
3. Redundancy: (Noun) - ការប្រើពាក្យដដែលៗ (kaa prae péak dâ'dael'dâ'dael) - The use of words that could be omitted without loss of meaning. ↩
4. Courteous: (Adjective) - សុភាពរាបសា (so'phéap'réap'saa) - Polite, respectful, or considerate in manner. ↩
5. Clarity: (Noun) - ភាពច្បាស់លាស់ (phéap ch'bah'leah) - The quality of being easy to understand. ↩