Read the first pages of Business English Practice, Review & Tests C1–C2

Before you start

Welcome

Welcome! At C1 and C2, the challenge is no longer knowing the language. It’s having the right word, the right structure and the right tone ready at the moment you need them: in a board meeting, a difficult email or a negotiation. This book helps you keep that language active.

There are 24 review units, one for each chapter of the C1–C2 companion books. Each unit brings together the words, the grammar and the useful phrases for one senior workplace theme, then checks what you remember. After every six units, a Progress Test shows how you’re doing. At the end, two Level Tests check your C1 and your C2 English.

You can do one unit a week, or two if you have more time. Regular practice works best.

How this book works

Before you start a unit, study the matching chapters in the other books, or simply start here and see what you remember. The Goes with line under each unit title shows which chapters it reviews.

Do the first step from memory. Don’t look back at the other books. Trying to remember is the best way to learn. Then check your answers in the key and look back at anything you forgot.

Use the key well. All the answers are at the back of the book. When more than one answer is possible, a slash (/) shows them all. For writing, the key gives a model answer: one good answer, not the only one.

Come back later. A few days after a unit, do its Unit check again, or write the text again without looking at your first version.

How each unit works

Every unit has seven steps and about 60 practice questions.

Step	What you do
1 · From memory	Remember the words and the grammar. No looking back!
2 · Words at work	Use the words in a real email or briefing, and with the words that go with them.
3 · Grammar at work	Choose, make and transform the right structures.
4 · Real-life task	Read a senior workplace text, answer questions and complete a conversation with useful phrases.
5 · Error clinic	Find and fix the mistakes that even very advanced speakers make.
6 · Write it	Write a short text of your own. Compare it with the model answer.
7 · Unit check	Ten quick questions. Each answer is worth two points: ______ / 20.

Tests and scores

Progress Tests 1–4 come after Units 6, 12, 18 and 24. Each test has 50 points: vocabulary, grammar, useful phrases, reading and writing.

Level Tests C1 and C2 come at the end of the book. Each has 80 points and mixes material from all 24 units.

What your score means

Score	What it means
85–100%	Excellent. You can use this language with confidence.
70–84%	Good. Look again at the questions you got wrong.
50–69%	OK, but not secure yet. Do the units again in a week.
under 50%	Go back to the matching chapters, then try again.

The tests in this book measure your progress against the Learn Real Business English series. They are not official CEFR results.

Using this book with C1 and C2

This book works on its own, but it works best with the C1–C2 companions: Business Vocabulary in Real Life C1–C2, Business Grammar in Real Life C1–C2 and Business Conversations in Real Life C1–C2, and with Learn Real Business English C1, C2 or the C1–C2 Collection. Each unit here reviews the chapter or unit with the same number in the three companion books.

Unit	Vocabulary	Grammar	Conversations
1 · Precision and Clarity	1 · Precision and Clarity	1 · Narrative Tenses for Career Stories	1 · Saying Exactly What You Mean
2 · Tone and Register	2 · Tone and Register	2 · Hedging and Degrees of Certainty	2 · Reading the Room: Tone and Register
3 · Hedging and Nuance	3 · Hedging and Nuance	3 · Modals of Authority, Expectation and Past Deduction	3 · Hedging and Qualifying a View
4 · Executive Meetings	4 · Executive Meetings	4 · Nominalisation	4 · Small Talk at Senior Level
5 · Strategic Discussions	5 · Strategic Discussions	5 · The Passive for Distance and Accountability	5 · Explaining Complex Ideas Simply
6 · Leadership	6 · Leadership	6 · Softening Through Structure	6 · Between the Lines: Implied Meaning
7 · Presenting Complex Ideas	7 · Presenting Complex Ideas	7 · Cleft Sentences	7 · Chairing a Leadership Meeting
8 · Persuasion and Argument	8 · Persuasion and Argument	8 · Inversion for Emphasis	8 · Exploring Strategic Options
9 · Negotiation	9 · Negotiation	9 · Fronting and Information Structure	9 · Challenging Ideas Constructively
10 · Conflict	10 · Conflict and Difficult Conversations	10 · Participle Clauses	10 · Building Consensus
11 · Diplomacy and Stakeholders	11 · Diplomacy and Stakeholders	11 · Advanced Relative Clauses	11 · Interpreting Data and Evidence
12 · Networking and Relationships	12 · Networking and Relationships	12 · Ellipsis and Substitution	12 · A Strategic Presentation and Q&A
13 · Executive Emails	13 · Executive Emails	13 · Advanced Conditionals	13 · Making the Case: Persuasion
14 · Reports and Summaries	14 · Reports and Executive Summaries	14 · Conditionals in Negotiation	14 · A Complex Negotiation
15 · Data and Evidence	15 · Data and Evidence	15 · Hypothetical Language	15 · Breaking a Deadlock
16 · Competition and Markets	16 · Competition and Markets	16 · Concession and Contrast	16 · A Difficult Conversation
17 · Finance and Investment	17 · Finance and Investment	17 · Cause, Effect and Hedged Causality	17 · Managing Stakeholders
18 · Governance and Compliance	18 · Governance, Law and Compliance	18 · Comparison for Trade-Offs	18 · Across Cultures: When Signals Get Crossed
19 · Crisis and Reputation	19 · Crisis and Reputation	19 · Discourse Markers in Writing	19 · Leading Through Change: A Town Hall
20 · Change and Transformation	20 · Change and Transformation	20 · Discourse Markers in Conversation	20 · Crisis Call: The First Hour
21 · Innovation and Technology	21 · Innovation and Technology	21 · Indirect and Hedged Questions	21 · Facing the Media
22 · Cross-Cultural Communication	22 · Cross-Cultural Communication	22 · Formal Writing Without Stiffness	22 · Coaching and Mentoring
23 · Careers and Executive Presence	23 · Careers and Executive Presence	23 · The Future Seen from the Past	23 · A Senior Interview
24 · Ethics and Sustainability	24 · Ethics and Sustainability	24 · Register: Neutral, Idiom-Free English	24 · The Keynote: Executive Presence

The people in this book

Most of the texts in this book come from Pellmoor Group, an international consumer goods company that makes food and household brands. Its head office is in Edinburgh, and it has regional offices in Amsterdam, Toronto and Singapore. You’ll meet the same leadership team, and the people they work with, again and again.

Person	Role
Helena Vass	Chief Executive, Edinburgh
Priya Nair	Chief Operating Officer, Edinburgh (new in Unit 1)
Tomasz Wieczorek	Chief Financial Officer, Edinburgh
Marcus Okafor	Director of Strategy, Edinburgh
Elin Sandberg	Communications Director, Amsterdam
Wei Lin Tan	Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Singapore
Rob Kincaid	Head of Supply Chain, Toronto
Jonah Reeve	Chief People Officer, Edinburgh
Sofia Marchetti	Senior Analyst, Strategy, Amsterdam
Callum Reid	UK Sales Director, Pellmoor
Ana Kovač	Co-founder and Chief Executive, Fernhollow Foods, Leeds
Graham Lister	Head of Buying, Brayford Retail
Martin Hart	Commercial Director, Merrowfield Packaging
Kenji Mori	Head of Buying, a large Japanese retail chain

All the people and companies in this book are fictional. Email addresses use the reserved domain example.com.

Ready? Let’s start.

Part 1 · Precision, Tone and Meetings

Unit 1 · Precision and Clarity

Goes with Vocabulary 1 · Grammar 1 · Conversations 1 · Your goal: You can say exactly what you mean, tell a clear career story with the right tenses, and pin down vague answers.

Senior people have little time and less patience for vague language. In this unit, Pellmoor’s new Chief Operating Officer starts work and asks for exact answers.

1.1 From memory

Exercise 1 · Remember the words. Write the word or phrase. The first letters are there to help you.

1. a rough number, good enough for planning: a b______ f______
2. to treat two different things as if they were the same: c______
3. using exactly the same words: v______
4. to mention a problem only briefly, so it seems smaller than it is: g______ o______
5. very detailed; broken into small parts: g______
6. totally clear, with no possible doubt: u______

Exercise 2 · Remember the grammar. Which form do you need in a career story? Use the forms in the box. There is one extra.

Use: past simple · past continuous · past perfect continuous · used to · present perfect

1. the main events of the story, in order: ______
2. a situation that had lasted for some time before a point in the past: ______
3. a past state that is no longer true (would is not possible): ______
4. a link from the story to now, often with since then: ______

1.2 Words at work

Exercise 3 · Complete the email. Use six of the words and phrases in the box. There are two extra.

Use: pin down · in a nutshell · clear-cut · to be precise · ballpark figure · glossed over · conflate · granular

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Packaging rollout · before Thursday

Marcus,

Thanks for the summary of the packaging pilot. (1) ______, it worked, but it cost more than we planned.

Before Thursday’s committee, I’d like to (2) ______ three things. First, the cost. A (3) ______ is fine for now, but the board will want exact numbers in June. Second, please don’t (4) ______ the savings from the pilot with the savings for the full year: they are two different figures.

Third, the risks. Last time, the summary (5) ______ the supplier delays in Toronto, and two board members noticed. This time I’d rather we were open about them.

Finally, could your team prepare a more (6) ______ breakdown of the costs, by market and by month?

Thanks, Priya

Exercise 4 · Words that go together. Choose the right word.

1. We need a ballpark figure for / with the Toronto line by Friday.
2. Nobody has pinned down / up exactly why the labels peeled off.
3. Please don’t conflate the forecast to / with the budget.
4. The press summary glosses on / glosses over the delays in Toronto.
5. Please send me the customer’s comments verbatim / verbal, not a summary.

1.3 Grammar at work

Exercise 5 · Choose the right form.

1. In 2021, I joined / have joined Pellmoor as a junior analyst.
2. By the time I arrived, the project was running / had been running for a year.
3. Before Pellmoor, I would be / used to be based in Rotterdam.
4. While we were negotiating / had negotiated the contract, the CEO resigned.
5. Since then, I led / have led two acquisitions.
6. The team had already lost / already lost two big clients when I took over.

Exercise 6 · Complete the story. Use the right form of the verbs in brackets. Sometimes more than one form is possible.

I (1) ______ (start) my career at a small food company in Leeds. For the first few years, I (2) ______ (work) in procurement. By 2016, I (3) ______ (manage) the supplier team for three years, and I was ready for something new. That spring, while I (4) ______ (visit) a factory in Poland, I met the founder of a start-up that needed an operations director. I (5) ______ (accept) the job a month later, and I (6) ______ (work) in operations ever since.

1.4 Real-life task

Marcus sends Priya the briefing note before the committee.

Briefing note · Recyclable packaging pilot

The pilot ran in Scotland and the Netherlands for twelve weeks, from February to April. Sales were broadly unchanged: down 0.4% in Scotland and up 1.1% in the Netherlands. Customer complaints about damaged packs fell by a third.

The cost per unit rose by 3.2p, because the new film is more expensive than the old plastic. The case for a full rollout in all markets is not yet clear-cut. Our ballpark figure is £4–5 million, depending on which supplier we choose.

Exercise 7 · Read and answer. True or false?

1. The pilot ran in two countries.
2. Sales fell in both markets.
3. Each pack is cheaper to produce in the new packaging.
4. The exact cost of a full rollout is not known yet.

Exercise 8 · Complete the conversation. Priya calls Rob Kincaid about a supplier delay. Use the phrases in the box.

Use: Let me play that back · Just so we’re on the same page · Can we put a number on that · What I can say with confidence is · just under · When you say

Priya: Rob, the supplier says there’ll be a “short delay”. (1) ______ “short”, do you mean days or weeks?
Rob: Weeks, I’m afraid.
Priya: (2) ______?
Rob: Three, possibly four. The extra cost would be (3) ______ £200,000.
Priya: OK. (4) ______: three to four weeks, and nearly £200,000. Is that right?
Rob: That’s right. (5) ______ that the new line in Toronto will be ready in May.
Priya: (6) ______, does “ready” include the new labelling machine?
Rob: Yes, it does.