Business English Key Words in Writing- Word Formation Games

Key words in business writing word formation games

Game 1: Key words in business writing Word formation card game

Take one of the cards and try to make example sentences with as many different words (with different parts of speech) based on that word as you can. You will get one point for each different word form.

Suggested word forms

• Infinitive
• Third person S
• -ing form
• Adjective
• Adverb
• Nouns
• Plural
• Past Simple
• Past Participle
• Opposites

 

Words can be accepted as different even when their form is the same, e.g. adjectives and -ing verbs or nouns and -ing forms.

Accept	Add	Apology	Appreciate
Arrange	Attach	Attend	Available
Change	Come	Conclude	Confirm
Convenient	Detail	Email	Enquire
Expect	Find	Fly	Follow
Give	Grateful	Hear	Info
Invite	Love	Note	Outline
Please	Possible	Recommend	Refer
Regard	Remind	Request	Respond
Schedule	See	Sure

 

Game 2: Guess the key word from the different forms in business writing

Student A

Choose one of the words below and read out sentences with the base word missing until your partner guesses what the base word is.

1. Accept – Please accept our apologies for…/ Any feedback you can give me on this would be gratefully accepted./ We are presently accepting applications for…/ I hope that is acceptable with you./ Unfortunately, the level of service we received was completely unacceptable.
2. Add – Please let me know if there’s anything I should add before I send it to the client./ I’ve added some visuals and headings to the PowerPoint./ In addition to the feedback by the attendees, we also surveyed the presenters./ Additions to your first draft are in red./ I would also like some additional information about…
3. Apology – I expect a full refund and a written apology./ Please accept our apologies for the delay in the promised update./ Apologies were received from Alex Case and Sam Smithson./ We would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.
4. Appreciate – I really appreciate all your help with this project./ All your help with this project is very much appreciated./ We would like to express our appreciation for your contributions to this project./ We are very appreciative of your contributions.
5. Arrange – Can we arrange a time to meet?/ I will arrange for him to be available on the day you visit./ Sorry for the delay in arranging this./ I have arranged to visit one of your colleagues on Wed 25^th/ We hope this arrangement is acceptable with you.
6. Attach – Please find the report attached. / Please paste all information into the email rather than attaching documents. / As you can see from the attachment…
7. Attend – It would be our great pleasure if you could attend Mr Smith’s retirement ceremony./ I’m attending the AGM on Monday./ We met when we both attended the Tokyo trade fair./ Your attendance at this event would be much appreciated./ The vast majority of attendees rated the workshop as “good” or “very good”.
8. Available – I’ll be very happy to meet you first thing on Tuesday morning, if you are available then./ The large meeting room is unavailable next week, so we’ll hold the meeting in the free space./ Please let me know your availability in March./ Due to the unavailability of spare parts, we are reluctantly discontinuing…
9. Change – Can we change the venue of the meeting?/ Thanks for agreeing to the changes we suggested./ Thanks for changing the date of the meeting./ I’ve changed a few details, so can you have another look at it?/ The other details remain unchanged./ Due to changeable market conditions, we have decided to start with a lower profile partial launch.
10. Come – I’ve come up with some ideas for further improvements, detailed below./ How about also coming out for dinner after your other meetings finish?/ Thanks for coming to meet us last week./ How does your schedule look in the coming month?/ As you can imagine, this came as a complete surprise and was not something we could have prepared for./ I’m writing to you about the forthcoming changes in banking regulations in the EU.

11. Conclude – To conclude the meeting, the chair…/ It can therefore be concluded that…/ In conclusion,…/ Although it is difficult to draw conclusions from such a small survey,…/ The initial results were rather in conclusive, but another larger survey will be conducted.
12. Confirm – We would like to confirm our interest in some kind of joint venture in the North Korean market./ FF confirmed that production would drop again this month./ Please send confirmation of bookings for the main meeting room by the end of the month./ There are unconfirmed reports of a lower than usual cocoa harvest this year in West Africa.
13. Convenient – Please let me know what dates are convenient for you./ The meeting will be held at 5pm Friday – sorry for the rather inconvenient time./ Please reply at your earliest convenience./ We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
14. Detail – Can you describe the issue in more detail?/ Can I have some more details on...?/ A few customers have contacted us detailing problems with the screen on model TT453./ Thank you for your detailed feedback on our proposal.
15. Email – Thanks for your email yesterday./ As my many emails on the matter have yet to receive a satisfactory supply, I have contacted my lawyers about this matter./ I’m emailing you about the meeting on Tuesday afternoon./ I’ve emailed my boss about it and hope to get a reply soon.
16. Enquire – We would like to enquire whether you may be interested in…/ You also enquired about…/ Thank you for your enquiry about…/ Due to the number of enquiries about last year’s special edition, we have decided to restart production.
17. Expect – I have sent your proposal to my boss and expect a reply any day now./ I have sent your proposal to my boss and am expecting a reply any day now./ The standard of the hotel was not what we expected from your chain./ As expected, the number of attendees did not quite reach that of last year./ The food did not in any way meet our high expectations./ Due to an unexpected delay by one of our suppliers,…
18. Find – Please find my CV attached./ I hope this email finds you well./ Thanks for finding the time to meet me at such short notice./ Our findings from the survey include:…/ We would like to comment on unfounded rumours on Twitter about…
19. Fly – Well, I have a meeting in ten minutes so must fly./ Has it really been two years? Time flies, doesn’t it?/ I’m afraid I will be flying abroad on that day./ Your flight details are attached.
20. Follow – More details will follow shortly./ Please see the following list for details./ I’m a bit busy on Thursday of that week, but I’m free the following day./ Our publication has a large online following, but the print edition…/ The meeting will be followed by drinks in a nearby Japanese-style pub./ Many of our Twitter followers have commented that…

Student B

Choose one of the words below and read out sentences with the base word missing until your partner guesses what the base word is.

21. Give – Can you give me some more information about…?/ Thanks for giving me extra time to finish this./ Due to the reasons (which are) given above,…/ The respondents gave several reasons for losing interest in our products, including…/ Despite our initial misgivings,…
22. Grateful – We are very grateful to you for all your help./ Any feedback you can give me on this would be gratefully accepted./ We would like to express our gratitude for all your help with…
23. Hear – (I) hope to hear from you soon./ I look forward to hearing from you (soon)./ As you have probably heard, the department will be undergoing some major changes./ This unheard of series of events led to…
24. Info – If you need any more info, just let me know./ We regret to inform you that…/ We have been informed that customers are complaining online about your new model./ Thanks for informing us of your absence./ If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me./ We are sorry to hear that you were misinformed about…/ Despite this online misinformation,…
25. Invite – We would like to invite you to…/ Thanks for inviting me to…/ We are inviting experts in this area to take part./ We have been invited to organize a meeting for…/ Thanks for your invitation to…/
26. Love – Lots of love/ I’d love to. Where shall we meet?/ I would have loved to, but…/ Thanks for your hospitality when I visited last month. I had a lovely time.
27. Note – This is just a quick note to say…/ Please note that…/ We have noted your disagreement with this proposal and will take that into account in our discussions./ There has been a notable increase in…/ Noteworthy contributions from the attendees included…
28. Outline – Please find attached an outline of next year’s conference./ Can you outline the issues that need to be discussed in our next teleconference?/ Our main objections to this proposal are outlined below./ Please fill in the attached form, outlining exactly what occurred and the time frame involved.
29. Please –If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time./ I would be very pleased to meet you next week if that is convenient for you./ We were rather displeased with the changes in your hotel in the years since we last visited./ It would be our great pleasure if you could attend Mr Smith’s retirement ceremony./ I would like to express my displeasure with the recent changes in…
30. Possible – We will look into this and get back to you as soon as possible./ Could you possibly…?/ Is there any possibility of…?/ Due to the impossibility of changing everyone’s schedules at such short notice,…

31. Recommend – Due to the reasons given above, we strongly recommend…/ It is therefore strongly recommended that…/ I therefore feel justified in recommending that we…/ Our chief recommendation is…/ Do you have any recommendations for a hotel while we are there?
32. Refer – Please refer to the information on this webpage./ Thanks for your email referring to a day you spent on our premises last week./ You also referred to problems with the online registration./ With reference to your letter last week.
33. Regard – With regard to the problems you had on the second day,…/ Please send my regards to John./ The workshop will be given by highly regarded experts in the field./ Re: your email yesterday,…
34. Remind – This is just to remind all staff who want to attend the Xmas party to let us know by Thursday latest./ For those that need to be reminded,…/ For those who need reminding,../This is just a quick reminder of the earlier than usual deadline for travel claims next month.
35. Request – I would like to request your assistance with editing of…/ In answer to your request for more time to put together an estimate,…/ With reference to your email requesting further information on upcoming product,…/ As requested, please find the minutes of last week’s meeting attached.
36. Respond – In order to respond to this change in the market, the authors of this report recommend…/ Thank you for responding so quickly to my request for help./ Sorry for my late response./ Responses from the people surveyed ranged from…
37. Schedule – Please find the schedule for his visit attached./ I’ve scheduled weekly meetings for the first month of the project./ Due a scheduling clash, the meeting has been put back by one hour.
38. See – Hope to see you again soon./ See you then./ I’m seeing him on Tuesday, so I’ll ask him then./ I look forward to seeing you then./ How long has it been since we last saw each other?/ We don’t foresee any further complaints from that side./ The project will be put on hold for the foreseeable future.
39. Sure – I’m sure you’re really busy, but…/ If you are unsure about anything, please contact me at any time./ We would like to assure you of our complete support in your product launch./ You can rest assured that this will not happen again./ Despite assurances that the problem had been looked into,…