Assignment 1: Analyzing Effective Communication The e-mail below (also found in Exercise 1-6 on pg. 32 of your textbook) is from a supervisor to
his/her employees. Read it and then discuss:
1. How it does and/or doesn't meet the characteristics of effective business
communication—practicality, specificity, conciseness, persuasiveness (please discuss
each characteristic and how it is or isn’t present in the message, and make sure it’s clear
you understand each term); and
2. Any suggestions for improvement you have.
It has come to my attention that many of you are lying on your time cards. If you come in late,
you should not put 8:00 on your card. If you take a long lunch, you should not put 1:00 on your
time card. I will not stand for this type of cheating. I simply have no choice but to institute an
employee monitoring system. Beginning next Monday, video cameras will be installed at all
entrances to the building, and your entry and exit times will be logged each time you use
electronic key cards to enter or leave.
Anyone who is late for work or late coming back from lunch more than three times will have to
answer to me. I don't care if you had to take a nap or if you girls had to shop. This is a place of
business, and we do not want to be taken advantage of by slackers who are cheaters to boot. It is
too bad that a few bad apples always have to spoil things for everyone

Match each excerpt with the type of essay it represents. descriptive essay narrative essay expository essay persuasive essay essay excerpt type of essay when hal arrives at the pond, a bleak sight greets him as he discovers the surface of the skating pond is layered with snow. realizing he is facing a monumental task, he industriously begins to shovel the mounds of new snow from the frozen pond. lifting shovelful after shovelful of heavy wet snow, hal tirelessly works. while he works, he dreams of his brilliant future as a magnificent hockey star. soon a massive pile of glistening snow begins to appear on the bank, and the icy surface of the pond is smooth glass. hal’s back and arms ache as he eagerly exchanges his work boots for an old, worn pair of hockey skates. arrowright potter's lake used to be the nicest lake in the area. but these days the water is green with algae, and the lake is choked with weeds all summer long. as a result, people can no longer swim in it. experts have determined the cause of the problem.fertilizers from yards and farms have been running into the lake. they cause algae and weeds to grow out of control. they also kill birds and fish. arrowright a hard, gray mountain loomed over a serene, florescent-blue lake, which gently lapped at its granite base. miles above the lake, a trio of mountain peaks jutted into the sky. each seemed to be topped with a chilled scoop of vanilla ice cream. as a cold and distant sun crept over the peaks, the lake and valley below instantly became suffused with blue light, which seemed to touch everything but warm nothing. morning had arrived. arrowright since 1897, the population of the bachman's warbler in north carolina has decreased from more than 500,000 to fewer than 100. the main reason is the destruction of areas (like asbury woodlands) that the bird uses for its natural breeding grounds. bachman's warblers prefer thickly wooded swamps and wet thickets in heavy, full-grown forests. it’s there that they can build their nests and feed on insects. this fact does not mean that we cannot build a community theater. we simply must not build it in asbury woodlands. after all, our community has forever prided itself on caring for our natural surroundings. with the council’s and the support of our townspeople, future generations will be able to continue to appreciate the beauty of this little bird

The duke and the dauphin lie, cheat, and steal for the purposes of their own survival. answers: •true •false

Which summary of a story about a ship crashing into an iceberg is the most subjective