Example: business report (language)
time to complete: 25 minutes
Here, we will continue looking at the same business report, but we will do a bit of work on the language and its functions. Below is a series of tasks that aim to help you notice how the writer organises ideas and what language is used to signal these.
Task: Below are the sentences from the Turnover paragraph. What is the writer doing in the text? What’s their first move? What’s the second move? etc. Match the five moves to the five parts.
This grew by 13% for Tesco and only 2% for Somerfield. | finding (comparison) | The writer reports the first finding, the turnover for the two businesses. |
| Despite the differences in size and strategy of the two businesses, | acknowledging limitation | The writer anticipates a counter-argument i.e. the reader might think ‘How is that difference a cause for concern? The two business aren’t the same in terms of size!” So, the writer acknowledges this limitation before giving their argument. |
| this is clearly cause for concern. | interpretation of finding (assertive) | The writer thinks that this (the 2% for Somerfield) is an issue. |
| 2% is below the rate of inflation, | finding (more information) | The writer provides more information to help the reader understand why 2% is an issue. |
| so in real terms turnover probably fell in the period. | interpretation of finding (cautious) | The writer provides an interpretation of why the turnover is so low. |
Task: Below are the sentences from the Cashflow paragraph. What is the writer doing in the text? What’s their first move? What’s the second move? etc. Match the five moves to the five parts.
This has declined by 23% in the period | finding | The writer reports another finding, the cashflow for Somerfield (this). |
| and represents a real concern, | interpretation of finding | The writer thinks that this decline is a problem. |
| especially when benchmarked against Tesco’s 5% growth. | putting finding into context (comparison) | The writer puts the interpretation into a context (in comparison to Tesco). |
| This fall in cash flow would need to be analysed in more detail | suggestion | The writer suggests that this fall needs further analysis. But why? |
| to discover the drivers behind it. | rationale for suggestion | The writer thinks that the current analysis is limited as it is not clear what caused this fall in cash flow. |
Task: Below is the Total Number of Employees paragraph, but we removed some very important words that show what the writer is doing in the text. Can you put them back?
All texts in tasks are adapted from the British Academic Written English corpus via Flax
Language of Evaluation
We will now look at the final part of the business report, Evaluation, and focus on language that shows evaluation.
Task: Read the final part and decide whether it is positive or negative. Which words/phrases show positive evaluation? What about negative evaluation? Note down your answers, then click ‘Reveal answer’ to check.
Evaluation
Bringing each element of the analysis together, as suppliers to Somerfield with the reliance that we have on the company, we should be very concerned about the performance and future prospects for the firm.
The grocery industry is one which has significant external pressures upon it. Coupled with this is the fact that it is highly competitive and with just a few large companies competing for business. Having said that, the Tesco results show that growth is there to be had – even despite the fact that a large proportion of Tesco’s growth is in international markets in which Somerfield does not operate, its UK business did show significant growth during the period. Somerfield clearly does not have the competitive advantage against Tesco in the sector, and this is a concern for future years.
The overview and ratio analysis compound this concern. On almost every metric, Tesco outperforms Somerfield. On some metrics, Somerfield is in a particularly precarious position. Shareholder returns are poor and given that the company is almost entirely equity funded, should they choose to sell and move their money elsewhere to get a better return for a lower risk, Somerfield would be in a difficult position indeed. Of special concern are the liquidity and solvency ratios, given our position as a supplier. Somerfield pays consistently later than Tesco and that, coupled with the knowledge of the overall stability of the firm, gives cause for concern.
In summary, our company should reconsider the reliance it places on Somerfield and attempt to find other purchasers for our products. Not to do so represents a huge risk to our future.
Evaluation
Bringing each element of the analysis together, as suppliers to Somerfield with the reliance that we have on the company, we should be very concerned about the performance and future prospects for the firm.
The grocery industry is one which has significant external pressures upon it. Coupled with this is the fact that it is highly competitive and with just a few large companies competing for business. Having said that, the Tesco results show that growth is there to be had – even despite the fact that a large proportion of Tesco’s growth is in international markets in which Somerfield does not operate, its UK business did show significant growth during the period. Somerfield clearly does not have the competitive advantage against Tesco in the sector, and this is a concern for future years.
The overview and ratio analysis compound this concern. On almost every metric, Tesco outperforms Somerfield* . On some metrics, Somerfield is in a particularly precarious position. Shareholder returns are poor and given that the company is almost entirely equity funded, should they choose to sell and move their money elsewhere to get a better return for a lower risk, Somerfield would be in a difficult position indeed. Of special concern are the liquidity and solvency ratios, given our position as a supplier. Somerfield pays consistently later than Tesco and that, coupled with the knowledge of the overall stability of the firm, gives cause for concern.
In summary, our company should reconsider the reliance it places on Somerfield and attempt to find other purchasers for our products. Not to do so represents a huge risk to our future.
* NOTE: Obviously, ‘Tesco outperforms Somerfield’ is positive for Tesco, but we marked it as negative since the report focusses on Somerfield.
Text adapted from the British Academic Written English corpus via Flax
Obviously, this part is not the only one that offers an evaluation. This language of evaluation appears throughout the report. Let’s identify some of this language.
Task: Below are words/phrases from the report that show evaluation. Are they positive or negative? Put them in the correct group.