Business English Past Paper - SABARAGAMUWA University - Oct/Nov 2016 - PDF

# SABARAGAMUWA UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA ## FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES ### BSc DEGREE PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ### YEAR I SEMESTER I EXAMINATION - OCT/NOV 2016 **Index Number:** 605 **Time allowed:** THREE (3) hours **BUSINESS ENGLISH I - BM 1153** **BM/EBM/FM/MM/TM 1153** Answer al...

# SABARAGAMUWA UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA ## FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES ### BSc DEGREE PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ### YEAR I SEMESTER I EXAMINATION - OCT/NOV 2016 **Index Number:** 605 **Time allowed:** THREE (3) hours **BUSINESS ENGLISH I - BM 1153** **BM/EBM/FM/MM/TM 1153** Answer all questions in this paper itself. Marks will be deducted for basic grammar mistakes. | Question Number | Marks/First Examiner | Marks/ Second Examiner | |---|---|---| | 1 | | | | 2 | | | | 3 | | | | 4 | | | | 5 | | | | 6 | | | | 7 | | | | 8 | | | | 9 | | | | Total (Out of 100) | | | ## Grammar 1. Match the expressions on the left with the appropriate responses on the right by drawing lines clearly. (1x5 = 5) | | | |---|---| | Where do you come from? | I've been living with my family since I was born. | | How do you spend your leisure? | It's not easy to pronounce English words. | | Are you interested in fashion? | I come from Tokyo. | | Do you live with your family or with friends? | Yes, I like fashion very much. | | What do you find difficult about learning English? | I play basketball. | ## 2. Read the following description given by one of those Marks & Spencer managers. “I work for Marks & Spencer. In our shops, we have employees who have full time jobs. Full time employees usually work around 40 hours a week, but they can also do overtime. Some employees have part time jobs. For example, some people work 20 hours a week. Most people at Marks & Spencer have permanent jobs. Some people here do temporary work for a short period. Every employee has a contract. When employees at Marks & Spencer are 65, they retire. They receive a good pension. If someone leaves the company, for example to move to another company, they resign. We also make people redundant if we don't have work for them or if we have financial problems. If someone has done something wrong or stupid, then we dismiss them.” Now complete the table given below with words from the above description. (2x5=10) | | Noun | Verb | |---|---|---| | retirement | retirement | retire | | resignation | resignation | resign | | dismissal | dismissal | dismiss | | employees | employees | | | reception | | | ## 3. Fill in the blanks using Simple Present Tense form of the given verb accordingly. (2x5 = 10) 1. I'm Sunil. I **go** to the office every week day at 7'o'clock. 2. My wife is Sita and she **goes** to her office by 9'o'clock. 3. Our son is Saman and he **goes** to his bank by 7 a.m. and works there till five every day. 4. My friends, Gamini, Sarath and Nimal **go** to their working place; a café often from 8 pm until midnight. 5. We all **go** on a trip in weekends. ## 4. Fill the gaps in these sentences with a suitable preposition given in the box. Do not use each preposition more than once. (1x5 = 5) | | | |---|---| | 1. We'll let you know about our decision **tomorrow**. | over/for/by/during/ with | | 2. I like working **with** Saman because he is really supportive. | over/for/by/during/ with | | 3. The design process **for** this product is fairly complicated. | over/for/by/during/ with | | 4. The demand for our product has risen by 50% **during** the last two years. | over/for/by/during/ with | | 5. This is an issue that came up **in** the early stages of the project. | over/for/by/during/ with | ## 5. Fill in the blanks with the tag questions. (2x5 = 10) 1. They are working on the project, **aren't they**? 2. Saman is working hard for a promotion, **isn't he**? 3. He didn't start the meeting at 2'0' clock, **did he**? 4. Saman and Nimal haven't applied for jobs, **have they**? 5. Shani finishes her work by 5'o' clock everyday, **doesn't she**? ## Vocabulary ## 6. Read the following paragraph and then fill in the blanks with the underlined words. Do not use each word more than once. (2x5 = 10) **Company Banking** Mr. Kim is the finance director for a company in Korea. He says, “We're with HSBC Bank. We have a cheque account with a cheque book so we can write **cheques** - printed forms from a bank that you use to pay for things. Our customers pay us directly into our account. Further he says, “We also have a **deposit** account where we can put money for longer periods and earn **interest** the bank pays us money. The bank sends us **statements** every month showing us the balance for each account - how much money we have in our accounts.” “Each of our salespeople has a company credit card: MasterCard. HSBC is also our credit card company. Each card has a limit of 10 million and that's the maximum amount they can **spend**. They use credit cards to pay for hotels, restaurants and other expenses. They can also use the card to **withdraw** or take out money from an ATM when they need to pay cash for things but there is a **charge**, an extra amount that we have to pay for this. “We pay off what we **owe** - need to pay back every month. We don't want to get into debt with the credit card company. We don't want to pay interest." The finance director at one company decided to give (1) **credit cards** to all its salespeople. They used them to pay (2) **for** things like hotels and meals when they travelled. For the first year, everything was OK but then they started to use the cards to (3) **withdraw** money from cash machines. The company had to pay a (4) **charge** for this. After that, they started to use the cards for personal expenses. When the (5) **balance** arrived, it was impossible to pay off the balance at the end of every month, so the company had to pay interest. ## 7. Match the skills with what employees need by drawing lines clearly. (1x5 = 5) | | | |---|---| | Negotiating skills | Sell to countries where they speak another language | | Presentation skills | Find answers to their problems | | Management skills | Tell people clearly about their ideas and products | | Language skills | Sell products at the right price when the customers don't want to pay that price | | Problem-solving skills | Manage the company well | ## Reading ## 8. (i) Read the following passage and answer the given questions. **Effective Advertising** In recent years, advertising has been more preoccupied with grabbing attention and sustaining interest than with transferring persuasive messages. According to Sean Brierley, this has largely been due to a perception that advertising needed to stand out and appeal through numerous, artistic or educational content in order to be well received by consumers. The agencies who produced these kinds of commercials argued that there was so little product difference through the advertising. Others attacked this view: 'Advertising used to be about persuading people to want your product. Now the task seems to be to make people admire your advertising," complained one industry commentator (Wilkins 1998). This kind of debate is not new. Rosser Reeves called 'art' advertising on the TV in the 1950's "vampire video," arguing that it distracts the viewer from the product and makes the commercial's selling message less effective. Brierley notes that the debate around "effective" advertising became much more intense in the 1990's with increases in media costs and declining sales. Other experts also pointed out that consumers were less naïve and more professional and cynical than they had been. Being more aware of the process of manufacturing, marketing and communication, it was felt that "conclusion which the viewer has reached himself will last longer and be better internalized" (Lannon 1993). 1. Write down a similar word for advertisement selecting from the third paragraph. (1x1=1) Advertisement = **commercial** 2. Using the information in the text, match the comment with the correct commentator and write down the correct name in the blank. Do not use any name more than once. (1x4 = 4) | | | |---|---| | 1. It is unfortunate that the focus of advertising has changed. | **Brierley** | | 2. Reduced profits was one reason why advertisements changed. | **Lannon** | | 3. Consumers need to feel they have made their own decisions. | **Wilkins** | | 4. A heavy focus on the advertisement, rather than the product, is unsuccessful. | **Reeves** | ## (ii) Read the following descriptions carefully and do the exercises given below. This is a job advertisement for Homegoods Stores. They are looking for new staff - the people who work for a company. The job advertisement tells you the wages - the money you get if you are paid every week. It tells you the basic pay you will earn - money you get for working the normal week. In this job, the normal week is 35 hours. The advertisement also tells you how much money staff are paid for overtime - working more than the normal week. **Homegoods Stores** We are looking for staff for our stores. 35-hour week. Wages: Earn Rs. 700 per hour basic pay. Rs. 900 per hour overtime. Free meals: In the store restaurant. Email personal details to [email protected]. This is a job advertisement for a different company. It tells you the salary – the money you get if you are paid every month - and the benefits - the things you get in addition to money. One of the benefits of this job is a company car - a car owned by the company and used by an employee for work. You also get a company pension - money you get after you stop working. For example at 60 or 65 years old - and free meals - meals you don't pay for. The advertisement also tells you the working hours - the times in the week when an employee does the job or is at work. **Zany Consumer Products** We are looking for salespeople, based at our offices in Dubai. Salary: 450,000 dirahms per year. Benefits: 30 days holiday per year Company restaurant with free meals Company car - we give you either a jaguar or a BMW Company pension Working hours: Monday to Friday, 9 am - 5.30 pm Email: [email protected] (a) Select and write the correct word in the blank from the cage to make proper word combinations. (1x5=5) | | | |---|---| | basic **pay** | hours/ meals/ pay/ pension/ car | | company **pension** | hours/ meals/ pay/ pension/ car | | company **car** | hours/ meals/ pay/ pension/ car | | free **meals** | hours/ meals/ pay/ pension/ car | | working **hours** | hours/ meals/ pay/ pension/ car | (b) Two people are talking about their jobs. Complete what they say with word combinations from the above. (1x5=5) 1. I get **free meals**, but I don't like hamburgers. 2. The **working hours** are very long. I finish work very late. 3. The **basic pay** is very bad, but the overtime is good. 4. It's great. I can sell my own car. They are giving me a **company car**. 5. They offer a **company pension** for when I retire. (c) Match the sentences or part of sentences containing expressions by drawing lines clearly from A and B given below. (2x5=10) | A | B | |---|---| | I'm looking for a job with a better salary because | you have to pay Rs. 150 for lunch. | | The company restaurant isn't free, | I don't earn enough where I am now. | | I don't get much money, | but I can always work overtime. | | The other staff are very friendly and | that's six weeks! | | I get 30 days holiday a year - | for example, I have a company car. | | The benefits are excellent, | I like everyone working there. | ## Writing ## 9. Sales of LG Microwave Ovens from January to June of 2016 were given in the graph below. Write a description on the graph using the given reasons. Limit the description only to the given stages. Make sure to use Past Tense when you write the description. (20 marks) (Number of microwave ovens sold per month) **There was no publicity.** * Sales of LG Microwave Ovens **were** at 1000 in January. **A marketing campaign took place.** * Sales **increased** from 1000 to 1500 in February. **The government increased the tax for electronic items.** * Sales **decreased** to 1000 in March. **The government decreased the tax for electronic items.** * Sales **increased** to 2000 in April. **The same tax payments continued.** * Sales **remained** at 2000 in May. **Discounts were given.** * Sales **increased** to 3000 in June.