A rule of thumb is to use your common sense. If you are communicating with people from a different culture, observe their behaviour and then decide how assertive you need to be. Tact and Diplomacy Tact and diplomacy are closely interlinked both with dealing with difficult people and with being assertive. The English language lends itself to being tactful and diplomatic and speakers of English are generally far less direct than speakers of other languages e.g., speakers of German. How do we do this? We achieve this through not only our tone of voice but also through our choice of language. Here are some ways in which we make our utterances more diplomatic. Making language more diplomatic 1. Use would, could or might to make what you say more tentative: That is too long a delay – That would be too long a delay That does not meet our specifications – That might not meet our specifications You must visit our London office – You could visit our London office 2. Questions rather than statements make your views less dogmatic: It’s a good idea to check with head office – Is it a good idea to check with head office first? first? The risk involved in this is far too serious – Would the risk be too serious? He’s not the right person for the job – Is he the right person for the job? 3. Introductory ‘softening’ phrases prepare your listeners for an unwelcome or unhelpful message: I’m afraid Frankly With respect To be honest To put it bluntly If I may say so Tact and Diplomacy 155 Example A: Could I speak to John, please? B: I’m afraid he’s out of the office. 4. Use qualifying words to soften what you say: a slight misunderstanding a bit of a problem some reservations a short delay 5. Soften your message by using a comparative form: Would Tuesday be a better day to meet? Would the afternoon be more convenient? Option C might be more cost-effective. Task 10 What would you write instead? Rewrite these sentences in a more tactful and diplomatic style suitable to business correspondence. 1. My report is going to be late. 2. I am not willing to give you more time to complete the project. 3. You still owe us EUR 5,000. 4. This information is wrong. 5. We want an immediate answer to this email. 6. I cannot accept your invitation because I’m already busy that day. 7. We can’t give you the information because we don’t know. 8. Can you let us know the minute you’ve sent the brochure? Task 11 Change the tone of this email to make it both more diplomatic and more formal. 156 Dealing with difficult people Dear Mr Oldman We are changing the date of the meeting from Tuesday 2 nd August to Thursday 4 th August. This is because the new chairman wants to meet you and he is only free on that day. So ignore the fax I sent you yesterday telling you the meeting was on Tuesday. I know you’re actually going on holiday on Thursday but you’ll just have to put it off. Sorry about that. Frances Alerma Appendix A Linking Words – A Summary I = word/phrase usually in the initial position in a sentence M = word/phrase usually in the mid position in a sentence F = word/phrase usually in the final position in a sentence Inf = informal usage Appendix B Punctuation Punctuation in written English is used as a means of conveying your message clearly and unambiguously. The full stop has two main uses: ᭤ To signify the end of a sentence, e.g., The European Union has faced a lot of opposition from some political parties in all countries. There is still a long way to go before Europe is truly united. ᭤ To show that a word has been abbreviated, e.g., Mr., Dr., e.g., Remember to keep sentences in English short and simple otherwise it may be difficult for your reader to follow you. The comma is used in sentences to show a pause between sense groups of words, e.g., The car industry expanded in the eighties, slowed down in the nineties, and it is anybody’s guess what it will do in the coming decade. The comma is also used to separate words in a list, e.g., The steel, coal, chemical, and gas industries all face a lot of competition from the Far East. Commas are also used for non-defining relative clauses, e.g., The response, which came rather late, surprised everyone concerned. Remember that in defining relative clauses no commas are needed e.g., The item which you ordered is no longer in production. Commas are not generally used before linking words like or, but or then, e.g., The presentation was quite long but everyone listened with great concentration. Commas are, however, used after subclauses in front position, e.g., Although interest rates have been falling, there is no sign of any recovery in the economy. The semi-colon is not used as much nowadays as it used to be. It is mainly used to separate main clauses whose ideas are closely linked, e.g., The advertising campaign was extremely successful; it helped us to sell more products than our competitors. However, the above sentence could be rewritten using so that or moreover. The colon is normally used to introduce an example or a quotation or a list, e.g., The following brands are the best selling soft drinks in the UK: Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola etc. Brackets are used: ᭤ To separate an additional idea from the rest of the sentence, e.g., A shortcut (although this is not recommended for beginners) could be to work on both programmes at once. ᭤ To give a reference source, e.g., The results obtained (Appendix A) demonstrated a regional difference. Question marks are used: ᭤ At the end of direct questions, e.g., Where are you going? ᭤ At the end of rhetorical questions, e.g., And I ask myself, who needs this kind of problem anyway? Remember that indirect questions don’t have question marks, e.g., She asked me where the station was. The hyphen is used to link together words or parts of words which start at the end of one line and finish on the next. Remember that when you separate a word from one line to the next, you should never divide a syllable. A sensible rule is that if you don’t know how to split a word or you’re not sure, then don’t do it. The apostrophe has two main uses: ᭤ To show that a letter has been missed out in contractions, e.g., it’s, won’t, can’t, needn’t etc. ᭤ To show possession, e.g., The manager’s office The apostrophe is probably the most frequently misused piece of punctuation in the English language. People most commonly misuse it when they want to make a word plural, e.g., Grow your own potatoe’s. Back in the 1990’s All the department’s were represented. All these examples are wrong, for a very good reason – you don’t need an apostrophe anywhere to pluralise a word. That isn’t what apostrophes were invented for. The possessive Add an ‘s’ to the person, people or thing doing the possessing: the children’s shoes, the tree’s shade, the cat’s eyes. The apostrophe goes after whoever is possessing, so in the last example, if you were talking about the eyes of lots of cats the apostrophe would go after the final ‘s’ of cats: the cats’ eyes. Appendix B Punctuation 159 . be too serious? He’s not the right person for the job – Is he the right person for the job? 3. Introductory ‘softening’ phrases prepare your listeners for an unwelcome or unhelpful message: I’m. political parties in all countries. There is still a long way to go before Europe is truly united. ᭤ To show that a word has been abbreviated, e.g., Mr., Dr., e.g., Remember to keep sentences in English. drinks in the UK: Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola etc. Brackets are used: ᭤ To separate an additional idea from the rest of the sentence, e.g., A shortcut (although this is not recommended for beginners) could