Grammar in Business Contexts
Workplace English relies on a small set of grammar structures that appear again in emails, reports, and meetings. This chapter reviews verb forms, conditionals, comparatives, and fixed patterns that show up in professional writing. Each point can be practiced one sentence at a time.
Passive Voice and Future Actions
Business writing often uses the passive voice when the doer is unknown or unimportant: 'The report will be distributed on Friday' keeps the focus on the report. Notice that future passive combines 'will be' with a past participle.
Conditionals for Consequences
A third conditional describes an unreal past: 'If the shipment had arrived on time, we would have met the deadline.' The 'if' clause uses the past perfect and the result clause uses 'would have' plus a past participle.
Fixed Patterns and the Subjunctive
Some verbs and adjectives take fixed forms. 'Be expected' is followed by a to-infinitive ('are expected to review'), while verbs of request such as 'ask that' or 'require that' take the base form: 'The manager asked that each member submit a summary.'