5 Tips to Improving Your Spoken Business English

1. Use the present perfect for unclear past.

The present perfect is a mixture, blending the past and the present.
You can use it to announce news of your organisations:

Sample sentence:

Our company has changed the world.



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What is unclear past?  It means you have no idea when your company did it.




2. Use 'could' to indicate disapproval.

When something is not done, when you are angry with your co-workers, you can use 'could'.  How? Read the sample sentence:

Mr. No-So-Hard-Working could have made more of an effort.










What does that mean?  It means Mr. No-So-Hard-Working could work harder, but he did not.





3. Use 'will' to make an offer.

It is a mistake to use 'will' whenever you want to talk about the future.  So how to use it?  One of the functions of will is: to make an offer.



Sample sentence:

 

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        Where are you two big guys going?  

I'll give you a lift to the station.

4. Use 3 I(s) to warn your juniors.


Which three?  It is important  ...

How to use it?  Do you have any juniors who are always late for work?  So the sentence sample goes like:

It is important to be punctual.










5. Use 'verb + up' to mean something positive:

There are more sample sentences for this one:



a. More and more

The global economy is beginning to pick up.

d. Making something new

Our marketing team is trying to think up a new slogan.

c. Finishing something

There are something we need to clear up before we can move on.  

However, in business English, there are (usually) three exceptions to this rule:

mix up, 
slip up, 
   or hold up 

With 'up', they don't mean anything positive.  But on the contrary, they are all negative.


Sample sentences:

Don't mix things up!

Ms. Careless has slipped up on the order. (slip up = make a mistake)

Workshop Not-So-Good has threatened to hold up the production.

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