Business Communication and English Grammar Tips
A. Meeting Arrangement for Next Week
I am writing to arrange a time for our meeting next week. We had arranged a meeting for tomorrow to discuss our business plans. Following conversations with our distributors and due to the suggestions that our staff have given us, we have decided to promote this fact. I would like to suggest holding the meeting in the small conference room at the Hilton Hotel in Madrid on Thursday morning.
B. Availability and Information Request
Unfortunately, I am not available on Thursday morning. I will be out of the office for approximately three hours. Please let me know what time would suit you. I would be grateful if you could send us details of your services. We would be pleased if you could inform us about how… I wonder if you could tell me what time… I apologize again for the changes, and I hope we can meet in the near future.
C. Closing Remarks
Thanks in advance. I look forward to hearing from you/meeting you next week.
Presentation Outline
First, I will talk about the structure of the product and its essential characteristics. Then, I will tell you about our suppliers that can give us the necessary raw materials. Finally, I will show you the financial requirements and plans about costs and prices for this product. If you have any questions, you can ask me at the end of the talk. Finally, thanks for coming to listen to my presentation. Thank you for your attention.
Order Confirmation
Following our discussions, I am writing to confirm the details we agreed upon regarding the purchase of this product. We agreed that we will give you 20 pieces at 10 euros each. The condition is that you would take back the bottles. In addition to this, we agreed to give you a discount of about 10% if you sell 20 boxes in two months. However, after discussing this with my other partner, we could give you one box of any type of wine as a gift. We will fulfill this order as soon as we receive your agreement.
Business Vocabulary
- Freelance: Independent
- Work on your own: To work by yourself
- Be in: To be present
- Time off: Free time
- Charge of: In control of
- Outstanding: Pending
- Invoice: Bill
- Entrepreneur: Business owner
- Supply chain: Distribution network
- Upmarket: Luxurious
- Forecast sales: Sales projection
- Saving: Savings
- Rather: Quite
- Outcome: Result
- Ploys: Plans
- Overhead: General expenses
- Assets: Property
- Avoid: Prevent
- Encroach: Invade
- Goal setting: Setting objectives
- Carry out research: Conduct research
- Affordable pricing: Reasonable prices
- Ad: Advertisement
Prepositions of Time
- AT: Exact moments of time, beginning or end
- IN: In the afternoon, in May, in 2010
- ON: On the 13th, on Monday
- FOR: For three hours
- DURING: Short period of time
- SINCE: Something that happened in the past and still persists
- FROM: From 2008 to 2010
- UNTIL: Up to that period
- BY: To indicate that something must be finished
Verb Usage
- Infinitive: To express a proposal, after adjectives (e.g., great to talk to you)
- Verb + -ing: Preposition + verb + -ing
- Prepositions:
- IN: Something has changed
- OF: How much something has changed
- AT: To express a level
- TO: The level to which something has changed
Conditionals
- 1st Conditional: If/unless + present — future
- 2nd Conditional: If/unless + past — would/could/might + infinitive
Countable and Uncountable Nouns
- Countable:
- Singular: a/an
- Plural: some/any, few/many, a lot of
- Uncountable:
- Singular: Some/any, little/much, a piece of/an amount of
Little travel, some/a lot of new equipment, the company does, people do, a place, some new research, a great deal of (a large quantity), suitable time.