ENG 208 Final, Spring 2004

RICAN ONTVERSET® LIBRARY ei English 208 Final Exam Spring 2003 — 2004 Name: Instructor: PART I: SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions by providing the proper short answer. (25 points) 1. Profits at Rasamny Younis Motor Company (RYMCO) dropped over 65 percent last year. In an attempt to stay afloat in spite of the decline in profits, management decides to extend customer services without incurring additional costs. As a result, employees in all departments will have to work two additional hours daily at different shifts every day. You have been encharged with writing the bad news memo informing employees of this new policy. a. Explain what is wrong with the following buffers: (4 points) e Asof June 30, management expects all employees in the sales department to work two additional hours. « Now that summer is here and the days are longer, we find we have more free time. b. Identify two different kinds of buffers that you could use to open your message and give an example of each. (5 points) KIND EXAMPLE c. Identify what is wrong with the following closing sentence to the same message. (3 points) It is with deep regret that we have to enforce this new regulation, but we have to make ends meet. d. Write an appropriate closing sentence for this paragraph. (5 points) 2. The minister of finance has come to the AUB business school to give a lecture on “Lebanon’s Financial Situation.” a. Identify the kind of opening used below: (3 points) How much do you think this paper (holds up A4 paper) costs AUB every year? b. Now write two different openings other than the type above. (5 points) KIND EXAMPLE PART Il: PERSUASIVE LETTER (35 points) Directions: Write a letter in response to one of the situations below. Points will be deducted for errors in Style, tone, and format. Invent any information you need. 1. You are the assistant manager at ALICO insurance company. For your annual vacation, you decide to spend five days at Fortina Spa Resort in South England. The hotel spa offere a full range of indulgences, cuch as a hydrotherapy hath, spa salt semth, a massage, a fully-equipped gym, and so on. The whole package, including the ticket and four nights with meals, costs $600. After the vacation, you realized, however, that the deal was unsatisfactory. For example, the spa resort did not include most of the facilities advertised on the brochure, two tours were canceled, the meals were served cold, and so on. Therefore, you decide to write a persuasive claim letter to the sales manager of Fortina Spa Resort requesting a partial refund on the package deal. When Microsoft agreed to open its office in Beirut, it received official guarantee that piracy of its software would stop. Now, few years later, we still find more and more copied, pirated, and shared Microsoft software. As the Public Relations Manager at Beirut Microsoft head office, write a persuasive claim letter to the Ministry of Commerce complaining about the situation and explaining its consequences. Request a reasonable adjustment. PART Ill: BAD NEWS MEMO (40 points) DIRECTIONS: Write a bad news memo in response to one of the situations below using the indirect organizational plan. Points will be deducted for errors in style, tone, and format. 1. On April 5, 2004 the initiation of the construction of Hostler Student Center started with the groundbreaking ceremony. This state-of-the-art Center will be the heart of students’ activities and an important stage of the AUB Master Plan. It will be constructed in the lower campus, and it will take several years to be completed. As a result, the current sea parking lot, where many staff and faculty members park their cars, will have to be closed, causing a major inconvenience. As the director of the Physical Plant, write a memo to both faculty and staff announcing this major change and asking them to look for altemative parking places. 2. The Planet, a well-known Lebanese cultural magazine, has recently been expenencing some financial difficulties. Therefore, to cut down on expenses, it has decided to reduce the working hours of part-time employees paid per hour of work. As personnel manager of The Planet, write a bad news memo to these part-time employees informing them of the administration’s decision.