MEETINGS 4: AGREEMENT AND DISAGREEMENT BUSINESS VOCABULARY IN USE

 

BUSINESS VOCABULARY IN USE 57. MEETINGS 4: AGREEMENT AND DISAGREEMENT

 

A Discussion without argument? Hillary Rhodes is talking about the importance of keeping calm in meetings: ‘In a meeting you discuss things. In the discussion, some people may agree with you. Others may disagree. They may have differences of opinion with you, but the important thing is to keep calm and remain courteous. It’s OK to disagree, but it’s not OK to be impolite or rude or to lose your temper. B Agreeing Strong agreement: a. You’re perfectly right. The costs involved must be incredible. b. I couldn’t agree more. We got our latest recruits after we won the industry award for best advertisement. c. Precisely. Creativity comes to some of our people in the middle of the night. d. Exactly. We have to look at the company as one unit. e. Absolutely. It’s the output, not the input, that counts. Mild Agreement C Disagreeing Mild disagreement: a. That’s not really how I see it. Everyone should be allowed to work in the way that’s best for them. b. I don’t really agree. The prizes are important, but people would come to work for us anyway. c. I can’t really go along with you there. I think we need to see people at their desks actually working. d. I think you’re mistaken. If the designers get to work late, they don’t go out for lunch. e. I’m afraid I can’t agree with you there. All you financial people do is worry about costs. Strong disagreement: EXERCISES 57.1 Complete the crossword using the correct form of words from A opposite. Across: 3 The opposite of ‘agree’. (8) 7 What you have if you do not agree with someone. (10,2,7) 8 See 2 down. 9 Whatever you do, keep ……………. (4) Down: 1 If you are pleasant and unaggressive, you are ……………. (9) 2 and 8 across. If you become angry, you ……………. your ……………. (4,6) 4 The opposite of ‘polite’. (8) 57.2 Match each statement (1-8) to an appropriate reaction (a-h) from B opposite. 1 And another thing: you should be looking at what we produce, not at the time of day we produce it. 2. Apart from that, if you try to control our working time, we’ll lose our creativity. 3. Besides that, the prizes help us to attract and keep the best designers. 57.3 Now match the statements (1-8) above with the reactions (a-j) in C opposite.

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