Business English: the language of 'business meetings'

Average: 4.7 (12 votes)

'What time does the meeting commence?'

Many people learn English because it is the language of the International business community. Business people love meetings. As a business person you will attend (go to) many meetings. Here is some useful Business English you should know.


Business Meeting Verbs

 

to adjourn a meeting (formal)= to end a meeting for a short time. To take a  break.

'Let’s adjourn this meeting. We'll arrange to meet again next week.'

 

to attend a meeting = to go to a meeting

'I'll be attending a meeting today between 2 and 3pm.'

 

to brainstorm = working in a group to think of some new fresh ideas.

'Take a few minutes to brainstorm some ideas on a new name for this product.'

 

to cancel a meeting = to decide that a planned meeting will not happen. The date is not changed.

'The boss has decided to cancel the meeting as he is no longer interested in the project.'

 

to commence = to begin/start a meeting.

'The meeting commences at 9:30. Please don’t be late.'

 

to hold a meeting = to be in charge of the meeting. It's your meeting, you are the chairperson.

'I'm holding a meeting on the effects of the increase in shipping costs.'

 

 to over-run = to take longer than expected or was scheduled for.

'Sorry I'm late. My meeting over-ran by 15 minutes.'

  

to postpone a meeting= to hold a meeting at a later time or date than was originally planned.

'Let’s postpone the meeting until the report has been finished.'

 

to reschedule a meeting = to change the time of a meeting for a reason. It can be before or after the originally planned time.

'Did you hear? There's no meeting today. It's been rescheduled for tomorrow at 12.'

 

to wrap up a meeting (phrasal verb/informal) = to end a meeting.

'Let's wrap up this meeting. We're out of time.'

  

Business Meeting Nouns

 

agenda = the topics to be covered in the meeting.

'Today's agenda covers our new policy on over-time pay.'

 

minutes = Notes taken about what is said and covered in a meeting.

'Mr. Khan. Can you take the minutes for today's meeting and then email them on to anyone who is not here?'

 

objectives = the goals of the meeting.

'The objective of this afternoons meeting is to agree on employees working hours.'

 

strategy = the business plan for success.

'Our strategy is to focus on our Asian market.'

 

Link: 'make', 'take'  and 'have'  quiz

Business English language courses

  • Simon is away on a business trip, so let's ___ until he comes back.




  • Are you all here? Yes.Good. Let's ___ . Thanks for joining today's meeting...




  • My sales team have ___ a few ideas on how we can improve our sales figures.




  • I've asked my secretary to take the ___ for tomorrow's meeting.




  • Our main ___ is to double last year's exports




  • Last year's ___ was a failure. We need to re-think our business plan.




  • The meeting ___ will cover our marketing budget and no other topics.








Comments

Excellent activity

Excellent activity...I did 100% Angel.

VERY NICE

i DID 100 %

I think it's great.But I can

I think it's great.But I can not understand answer of one question.Why we select "brainstormed"?How we understand event is past?

This tense is present

This tense is present perfect / have or has + pp
e.g/ I have finished my homework.
He has written his lessons.

anew membershipe in the website

hi.
ame not unedr stand what happen ate end wrieter letters and not kowon to use of subeject and comment to any tobicse.

brainstorm

If it's happening at the at the moment we use 'are brainstorming'. If we are talking about a future action we use 'will brainstorm.' I'll change the wording to make it clearer. Thanks..

100%

Great!
My business UNA FV will be proud of me! ^_^

Erin Ghrà Mo Chroi

100%

...........

100%

this is very interesting...thanks ...

Business meeting verb

Nice.

great! I answered all and i

great! I answered all and i got a perfect score!

(No subject)

How can I totally cancell a wrong comment? I couldn't manage to...

brainstormed

Why we choose past tense??
Carol

question on take a few minutes?

Most of the business words above are familiar to me.But i learned how to use these words in sentences.thanx

BTW,I have got one question

Take a few minutes.(I know this is the correct usage.Wondering about reason behind)
Few minutes is plural.Why is 'a' placed infront of few minutes.

few / a few

Few means 'not many'.
A few means 'some'.

Where is the seven letter game???

Thanks for this lesson
It is so usefull
I want to ask
Where is the seven letter game???

Thanks for this "business

Thanks for this "business meetings" vocabulary.It's very useful.

Thanks, very useful.

Thanks, very useful. Great!!! Applause

omg this is xactly wt i need

omg this is xactly wt i need Smile

Meeting Vocabulary

Excellent!!! I am about to attend one meeting in 20 minutes. Now I equip myself with useful knowledge. Thank you.

minutes

i took the minutes for today's lesson.
thank you Chris.

100%

Business English lessons are great and really helpful! Applause
Thank you so much!

This meeting I discussed 9

This meeting I discussed 9 ideas from 10 in our agend and I succeeded in convincing my team about my new ideas.Last week we had brainstormed
some ideas and this week we take our company strategy to the next year
thanks

please someone check my first try in writting

Business meeting

An excellent Business lesson I had only 1 error.

Thanks for the lesson Smile

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2010 to everybody. Smile

Meeting

Wow! Lesson without mistakes.

Thank you for these lessons. Smile