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Contents

Preface … xiii Collaborating on Communication Efforts … 26

Guidelines for Collaborative Writing … 26
Technologies for Collaborative Writing … 27
Part 1 Business Communication Foundations Giving—and Responding to—Constructive
Feedback … 29
1 Understanding Business Making Your Meetings More Productive … 30
Preparing for Meetings … 30
Communication in Today’s Conducting and Contributing to Efficient
Workplace … 1 Meetings … 30
Using Meeting Technologies … 31
Understanding Why Communication
Improving Your Listening Skills … 34
Matters … 1
Recognizing Various Types of Listening … 34
Communication Is Important to Your Career … 2
Understanding the Listening Process … 34
Communication Is Important to Your Company … 3
Overcoming Barriers to Effective Listening … 35
What Makes Business Communication
Effective? … 3 Improving Your Nonverbal Communication
Communicating as a Professional … 4 Skills … 36
Understanding What Employers Expect from You … 5 Developing Your Business Etiquette … 37
Communicating in an Organizational Context … 5 Business Etiquette in the Workplace … 38
Adopting an Audience-Centred Approach … 6 Business Etiquette in Social Settings … 38
Exploring the Communication Process … 7 Business Etiquette Online … 40
The Basic Communication Model … 7 Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 41
The Social Communication Model … 9 Practise Your Grammar … 42
Test Your Knowledge … 42
Committing to Ethical Communication … 10
Apply Your Knowledge … 42
Distinguishing Ethical Dilemmas from
Practise Your Skills … 43
Ethical Lapses … 11
Business Communication Notebook … 46
Making Ethical Choices … 11
Communicating in a World of Diversity … 11
Part 2 The Three-Step Writing Process
The Advantages and Challenges of a Diverse
Workforce … 11
Key Aspects of Cultural Diversity … 12 3 Planning Business Messages … 47
Advice for Improving Intercultural Understanding the Three-Step Writing
Communication … 15
Process … 47
Using Technology to Improve Communication … 17
Analyzing the Situation … 49
Keeping Technology in Perspective … 17
Defining Your Purpose … 49
Using Tools Productively … 17
Developing an Audience Profile … 50
Guarding Against Information Overload … 17
Gathering Information … 52
Reconnecting with People Frequently … 18
Uncovering Audience Needs … 53
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 18
Providing Required Information … 53
Practise Your Grammar … 19
Test Your Knowledge … 20 Selecting the Right Medium … 53
Apply Your Knowledge … 20 Oral Media … 53
Practise Your Skills … 20 Written Media … 54
Business Communication Notebook … 23 Visual Media … 54
Electronic Media … 54
Factors to Consider When Choosing Media … 56
2 Mastering Team Skills and
Organizing Your Message … 57
Interpersonal Communication … 24 Defining Your Main Idea … 58
Communicating Effectively in Teams … 24 Limiting Your Scope … 58
Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams … 25 Choosing Between Direct and Indirect
Characteristics of Effective Teams … 25 Approaches … 59
[ vi i ]
[ v i i i ] C ontents

Outlining Your Content … 60 Editing for Clarity and Conciseness … 99

Building Reader Interest with Storytelling Editing for Clarity … 99
Techniques … 61 Editing for Conciseness … 101
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 63 Using Technology to Revise Your Message … 102
Practise Your Grammar … 64 Producing Your Message … 103
Test Your Knowledge … 64 Designing for Readability … 103
Apply Your Knowledge … 64 Designing Multimedia Documents … 106
Practise Your Skills … 65 Using Technology to Produce Your Message … 107
Business Communication Notebook … 67
Proofreading Your Message … 108
Distributing Your Message … 109
4 Writing Business Messages … 69 Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 110
Being Sensitive to Your Audience’s Needs … 69 Practise Your Grammar … 111
Adopting the “You” Attitude … 70 Test Your Knowledge … 111
Maintaining Standards of Etiquette … 70 Apply Your Knowledge … 111
Emphasizing the Positive … 72 Practise Your Skills … 111
Using Bias-Free Language … 72 Business Communication Notebook … 115
Building Strong Relationships with Your Audience … 74
Establishing Your Credibility … 74
Part 3 Brief Business Messages
Projecting Your Company’s Image … 75
Controlling Your Style and Tone … 75
Creating a Conversational Tone … 75 6 Crafting Messages for Electronic
Using Plain Language … 76 Media … 117
Selecting Active or Passive Voice … 77
Using Electronic Media for Business
Composing Your Message: Choosing
Communication … 117
Powerful Words … 77
Media Choices for Brief Messages … 118
Balancing Abstract and Concrete Words … 79
Compositional Modes for Electronic Media … 120
Finding Words That Communicate Well … 79
Creating Content for Social Media … 122
Composing Your Message: Creating Effective
Social Networks … 123
Sentences … 80
Business Communication Uses of Social
Varying the Four Types of Sentences … 80
Networks … 123
Using Sentence Style to Emphasize Key Thoughts … 82
Strategies for Business Communication on Social
Composing Your Message: Crafting Coherent Networks … 125
Paragraphs … 83 Information and Media Sharing Sites … 126
Creating the Elements of a Paragraph … 83 User-Generated Content Sites … 126
Developing Paragraphs … 85 Media Curation Sites … 127
Using Technology to Compose and Shape Your Community Q&A Sites … 127
Messages … 85 Email … 127
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 86 Planning Email Messages … 128
Practise Your Grammar … 87 Writing Email Messages … 128
Test Your Knowledge … 87 Completing Email Messages … 130
Apply Your Knowledge … 88 Instant Messaging and Text Messaging … 131
Practise Your Skills … 88 Understanding the Benefits and Risks of IM … 131
Business Communication Notebook … 92 Adapting the Three-Step Process for
Successful IM … 131
5 Completing Business Messages … 94 Creating Effective Business Blogs … 132
Revising Your Message: Evaluating the First Draft … 94 Understanding the Business Applications
Evaluating Your Content, Organization, and Tone … 95 of Blogging … 133
Evaluating, Editing, and Revising the Work of Other Adapting the Three-Step Process for
Writers … 95 Successful Blogging … 134
Revising to Improve Readability … 97 Microblogging … 137
Varying Your Sentence Length … 97 Podcasting … 138
Keeping Your Paragraphs Short … 98 Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 139
Using Lists and Bullets to Clarify and Emphasize … 98 Practise Your Grammar … 141
Adding Headings and Subheadings … 99 Test Your Knowledge … 141
 C ontents [ i x]

Apply Your Knowledge … 141 Continuing with a Clear Statement of the

Practise Your Skills … 141 Bad News … 180
Cases … 144 Closing on a Positive Note … 181
Business Communication Notebook … 148 Sending Negative Messages on Routine Business
Matters … 182
7 Writing Routine and Positive Making Negative Announcements on Routine Business
Messages … 149 Matters … 182
Rejecting Suggestions and Proposals … 182
Strategy for Routine Requests … 149
Refusing Routine Requests … 182
Stating Your Request Up Front … 150
Handling Bad News About Transactions … 183
Explaining and Justifying Your Request … 150
Refusing Social Networking Recommendation
Requesting Specific Action in a
Requests … 184
Courteous Close … 150
Refusing Claims and Requests for
Common Examples of Routine Requests … 150
Adjustment … 185
Asking for Information or Action … 150
Sending Negative Organizational News … 186
Asking for Recommendations … 151
Making Claims and Requesting Adjustments … 153 Responding to Negative Information in a Social Media
Strategy for Routine Replies and Positive Environment … 187
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 188
Messages … 153
Practise Your Grammar … 190
Starting with the Main Idea … 155
Test Your Knowledge … 190
Providing Necessary Details and Explanation … 155
Apply Your Knowledge … 190
Ending with a Courteous Close … 155
Practise Your Skills … 190
Common Examples of Routine Replies and Positive
Cases … 193
Messages … 155 Business Communication Notebook … 197
Answering Requests for Information
or Action … 156
Granting Claims and Requests for Adjustment … 156 9 Writing Persuasive Messages … 199
Sharing Routine Information … 158 Using the Three-Step Writing Process for Persuasive
Announcing Good News … 158 Messages … 199
Fostering Goodwill … 160 Step 1: Planning Persuasive Messages … 200
Writing Procedures … 163 Step 2: Writing Persuasive Messages … 202
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 165 Step 3: Completing Persuasive Messages … 202
Practise Your Grammar … 165
Developing Persuasive Business Messages … 202
Test Your Knowledge … 166
Framing Your Arguments … 203
Apply Your Knowledge … 166
Balancing Emotional and Logical Appeals … 204
Practise Your Skills … 166
Reinforcing Your Position … 205
Cases … 168
Anticipating Objections … 206
Business Communication Notebook … 172
Avoiding Common Mistakes in Persuasive
Communication … 206
8 Writing Negative Messages … 174 Common Examples of Persuasive Business
Using the Three-Step Writing Process for Negative Messages … 207
Messages … 174 Persuasive Requests for Action … 207
Step 1: Planning Negative Messages … 175 Persuasive Presentation of Ideas … 208
Step 2: Writing Negative Messages … 176 Persuasive Claims and Requests for
Step 3: Completing Negative Messages … 176 Adjustments … 209
Using the Direct Approach for Negative Developing Marketing and Sales Messages … 209
Messages … 177 Planning Marketing and Sales Messages … 210
Opening with a Clear Statement of the Writing Conventional Marketing and
Bad News … 177 Sales Messages … 211
Providing Reasons and Additional Information … 177 Writing Promotional Messages for Social Media … 211
Closing on a Positive Note … 178 Maintaining High Ethical and Legal Standards … 213
Using the Indirect Approach for Negative Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 214
Messages … 178 Practise Your Grammar … 215
Opening with a Buffer … 178 Test Your Knowledge … 215
Providing Reasons and Additional Information … 179 Apply Your Knowledge … 215
[ x ] Contents

Practise Your Skills … 215 Illustrating Your Reports with Effective Visuals … 265
Cases … 218 Choosing the Right Visual for the Job … 266
Business Communication Notebook … 223 Designing Effective Visuals … 273
Integrating Visuals with Text … 273
Part 4 Longer Business Messages Proofreading for Accuracy and Ethics … 275
Completing Reports and Proposals … 275
Revising Reports and Proposals … 275
10 Understanding and Planning Reports
Producing Formal Reports and Proposals … 275
and Proposals … 225 Distributing Your Reports and Proposals … 294
Applying the Three-Step Writing Process to Reports and Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 295
Proposals … 225 Practise Your Grammar … 296
Analyzing the Situation … 226 Test Your Knowledge … 296
Gathering Information … 227 Apply Your Knowledge … 296
Selecting the Right Medium … 227 Practise Your Skills … 297
Organizing Your Information … 227 Cases … 298
Supporting Your Messages with Reliable Business Communication Notebook … 306

Information … 230
Planning Your Research … 230 12 Developing Oral and Online
Locating Data and Information … 230 Presentations … 308
Evaluating Information Sources … 231
Planning a Presentation … 308
Using Your Research Results … 231
Analyzing the Situation … 309
Conducting Secondary Research … 233 Selecting the Right Medium … 309
Finding Information at a Library … 233 Organizing Your Presentation … 311
Finding Information Online … 234
Developing a Presentation … 314
Documenting Your Sources … 236
Adapting to Your Audience … 315
Conducting Primary Research … 236 Composing Your Presentation … 315
Conducting Surveys … 236
Enhancing Your Presentation with Effective Visuals … 317
Conducting Interviews … 237
Choosing Structured or Free-Form Slides … 318
Planning Informational Reports … 237 Designing Effective Slides … 320
Organizing Informational Reports … 238
Completing a Presentation … 323
Organizing Infographic Reports … 239
Finalizing Your Slides … 324
Organizing Website Content … 240
Creating Effective Handouts … 324
Planning Analytical Reports … 240 Choosing Your Presentation Method … 324
Focusing on Conclusions … 242 Practising Your Delivery … 326
Focusing on Recommendations … 243
Delivering a Presentation … 327
Focusing on Logical Arguments … 244
Overcoming Anxiety … 327
Planning Proposals … 246 Handling Questions Responsively … 327
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 248
Embracing the Backchannel … 328
Practise Your Grammar … 249
Giving Presentations Online … 329
Test Your Knowledge … 249
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 330
Apply Your Knowledge … 249
Practise Your Grammar … 331
Practise Your Skills … 249
Test Your Knowledge … 331
Cases … 252
Apply Your Knowledge … 331
Business Communication Notebook … 255
Practise Your Skills … 331
Cases … 333
11 Writing and Completing Reports and Business Communication Notebook … 334
Proposals … 257
Writing Reports and Proposals … 257 Part 5 Employment Messages and Job Interviews
Adapting to Your Audience … 257
Drafting Report Content … 259
Drafting Proposal Content … 263
13 Building Careers and Writing
Writing for Websites and Wikis … 264 Résumés … 336
Drafting Website Content … 264 Building Careers … 336
Collaborating on Wikis … 265 Understanding Today’s Dynamic Workplace … 336
 C ontents [ xi ]

Adapting to Today’s Job Market … 338 Understanding the Interviewing Process … 375
Building an Employment Portfolio … 339 The Typical Sequence of Interviews … 375
Building Your Personal Brand … 340 Common Types of Interviews … 376
Finding the Ideal Opportunity in Today’s Interview Media … 377
Job Market … 342 What Employers Look for in an Interview … 378
Researching Industries and Companies Pre-employment Testing and BackgroundChecks … 378
of Interest … 342 Preparing for a Job Interview … 379
Translating Your General Potential into a Specific Learning About the Organization … 379
Solution for Each Employer … 343 Thinking Ahead About Questions … 379
Taking the Initiative to Find Opportunities … 344 Bolstering Your Confidence … 381
Building Your Network … 344 Polishing Your Interview Style … 381
Seeking Career Counselling … 345 Presenting a Professional Image … 384
Avoiding Mistakes … 345 Being Ready When You Arrive … 385
Planning Your Résumé … 345 Interviewing for Success … 386
Analyzing Your Purpose and Audience … 346 The Warm-Up … 386
Gathering Pertinent Information … 347 The Question-and-Answer Stage … 386
Selecting the Best Medium … 347 The Close … 387
Organizing Your Résumé Around Your Strengths … 347 Interview Notes … 388
Addressing Areas of Concern … 351 Following Up After an Interview … 388
Writing Your Résumé … 351 Thank-You Message … 388
Keeping Your Résumé Honest … 351 Message of Inquiry … 388
Adapting Your Résumé to Your Audience … 352 Request for a Time Extension … 389
Composing Your Résumé … 352 Letter of Acceptance … 389
Completing Your Résumé … 359 Letter Declining a Job Offer … 390
Revising Your Résumé … 359 Letter of Resignation … 391
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 391
Producing Your Résumé … 360
Practise Your Grammar … 392
Proofreading Your Résumé … 363
Test Your Knowledge … 392
Distributing Your Résumé … 363
Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress … 364 Apply Your Knowledge … 393
Practise Your Grammar … 365 Practise Your Skills … 393
Test Your Knowledge … 365 Cases … 396
Apply Your Knowledge … 365 Business Communication Notebook … 398
Practise Your Skills … 365
Cases … 367 A P P E N D I X A Format and Layout of Business
Business Communication Notebook … 368 Documents … 399

A P P E N D I X B Documentation of Report Sources … 416

14 Applying and Interviewing for
A P P E N D I X C Correction Symbols … 423
Employment … 370
Submitting Your Résumé and Application Letter … 370 Endnotes … 426
Writing Application Letters … 370 Credits … 440
Following Up After Submitting a Résumé … 374 Index … 443
This page intentionally left blank
Preface

No matter what profession you want to pursue, the ability to communicate will be an
essential skill—and a skill that employers expect you to have when you enter the work-
force. This course introduces you to the fundamental ­principles of business communica-
tion and gives you the opportunity to develop your communication skills. You’ll discover
how business communication differs from personal and social communication, and you’ll
see how today’s companies are using blogs, social networks, podcasts, virtual worlds,
wikis, and other technologies. You’ll learn a simple three-step writing process that works
for all types of writing and speaking projects, both in college and on the job. Along the
way, you’ll gain valuable insights into ethics, etiquette, listening, teamwork, and nonver-
bal communication. Plus, you’ll learn effective strategies for the many types of communi-
cation challenges you’ll face on the job, from routine messages about transactions to
complex reports and websites.
Business Communication Essentials offers you the opportunity to practise communica-
tion skills that will help you get jobs and be promoted in today’s workplace. In the words
of one Canadian business leader, your communication skills can give you “a sustainable
competitive advantage. Technology changes rapidly but your ability to write and speak
clearly will support you throughout your career.”1 The new, fourth Canadian edition is
student-friendly and features the most extensive end-of-chapter activities available,
including questions, exercises, assignments, and cases. P ­ ackaged with MyBCommLab,
this edition gives you access to tools for building your language skills while you develop
your business communication know-how.

New to This Edition

The key themes and elements in this edition include the following:

The social communication model. This edition includes up-to-date coverage of the
social communication model that is redefining business communication and reshaping
the relationships between companies and their stakeholders. Social media concepts and
techniques are integrated throughout the book, from career planning to presentations.
Here are some examples:
• Social media questions, activities, and cases appear throughout the book, using Twitter,
Facebook, and other media that have been incorprated into the business world.
• Examples of business applications of social media are illustrated and annotated to
explain how companies use these tools.
• Infographics and other social–visual communication strategies are explained and
illustrated in Chapters 3 and 10.
• The Twitter-enabled backchannel, which is impacting electronic presentations, is cov-
ered in Chapter 12.
• Tips on using social networking in the job search process are included in Chapters 13
and 14.

Compositional modes for electronic media. For all the benefits they offer, social media
and other innovations place new demands on business communicators. This edition
gives you practice in nine important modes of writing for electronic media (Chapter 6).

Personal branding. As the workforce continues to evolve, taking control of your career
is more important than ever. An important first step is clarifying and communicating
your personal brand, covered in the employment-message chapters (Chapters 13 and 14).
[ xi i i ]
[ x i v ] Preface

Storytelling techniques. Some of the most effective business messages, from advertising
to proposals to personal branding, rely on storytelling techniques.

Full implementation of objective-driven learning. Every aspect of this textbook is

organized by learning objectives, from the chapter content to the end-of-chapter sum-
mary and student activities, which makes it easier for you to study, practise, check your
progress, and focus on those areas where you need a little extra work.

New communication cases. Communication cases give you the opportunity to solve
real-world communication challenges using the media skills you’ll be expected to have in
today’s workplace; many of the cases in this edition are new or revised.

New figures and more annotated model documents. Dozens of new figures provide
examples of the latest trends in business communication. You can now learn from more
than 50 annotated model documents, ranging from printed letters and reports to web-
sites, blogs, and social networking sites.

Real-Time Updates. This new feature allows students to connect with carefully selected
online media items. These elements complement the text’s coverage by providing
­contemporary examples and valuable insights from successful professionals. They can be
accessed through MyBCommLab.

New or Expanded Content

The following topics are revised with new material, or streamlined for more efficient
­coverage:
The Communication Context
• Understanding why communication matters
• Communicating as a professional
• Communicating in a world of diversity
• Sensitivity to age and gender differences in the workplace
• The social communication model—improved illustrations
• Writing for multilingual audiences—new example
• Business communication uses of social networks
Teamwork & Interpersonal
• Communicating effectively in teams—new coverage of collaboration strategies and
technologies
• Improving your nonverbal communication skills—new coverage of nonverbal signals
as an element of professionalism
• Business etiquette in the workplace, in social settings, and online
Audience Analysis & Communication Planning
• Audience and context analysis—expanded coverage
• Considerations for choice of media—expanded to include oral, written, visual, and
electronic media
Writing, Style & Tone
• Additional resources for clarity and conciseness—streamlined through use of tables to
be more user friendly for students
• Increased emphasis on maintaining professional style and tone
• More discussion of online writing tools and readability in layout and design
 Preface [ xv]

Compositional Modes for Business Communication

• Writing email messages—streamlined
• More emphasis on creating content for social media
• Additional tips for applying the three-part process to blogging, podcasting, and
microblogging
• New material on requesting a recommendation, offering condolences, and integrating
news releases into social media
• New coverage on rejecting suggestions, proposals, requests for recommendations, or
social ­networking requests such as for LinkedIn
• New cases for social media, negative messages, and persuasive messages, including
handling negative commentary in social networking
• More coverage on persuasive appeals

Report & Proposal Writing

• More emphasis on:
• evaluation of sources, including use of social media sources, the importance of
citation, and Canadian “fair dealing” uses of others’ material
• how to summarize, including an improved example
• New material on infographic reporting, including online resources for making info-
graphics and activities to practise creating them
• Improved readability of this long chapter through the use of tables (five pages shorter
without losing sample documents)
• Expanded tips on drafting for websites, wikis, reports, and proposals

Presentations
• More tips and improved samples on designing effective slides
• Expanded discussion of advantages and disadvantages of structured and free-form
slide designs
• More emphasis on presentation practise and on knowing the subject
• Added section on proper use of handouts

Job Search Techniques

• A new Communication Notebook on how to use LinkedIn to further your career
• Additional emphasis on self-assessment and awareness, personal brand awareness, pro-
fessional persona, company research, and audience analysis, and on being realistic
when ­applying for jobs
• Social media tools and resources for finding jobs—expanded
• Added writing “the story of you,” including a sample “story” showing the value of
making a private document for self-assessment to use in the job search
• More emphasis on building networks—both online and in person
• Improved résumé samples
• Expanded discussion on the use of photos, videos, presentations, and infographic
or visual résumés—includes a sample infographic résumé of a Canadian ­digital
­strategist
• More emphasis and activities on how to use LinkedIn for interview preparation and
job searching
• New cases involving applying for jobs on Twitter (using Tweets) and on applying for
entry-level jobs that are outside the student’s primary field of interest (since many
young people don’t get to start their careers in a job that perfectly aligns with their
professional interests)
[ x v i ] Preface

Learning About Business Communication

Business Communication Essentials’ integrated learning system helps you develop your com-
munication skills so you will be prepared for the workplace. The following features of the
text will help you learn and apply the communication skills needed for a successful career:
• Learning Objectives are listed on the first page of each chapter and provide a clear
overview of the key concepts you are expected to master. Throughout the chapter,
margin notes mark the beginning of each objective’s discussion. At the end of the
chapter, Learning Objectives: Checking Your Progress summarizes the main con-
tent; these lists are no substitute for reading the chapters, but they can help you
quickly review a chapter and verify your grasp of important concepts.
• Opening Vignettes introduce each chapter with real-world examples. The related
Tips for Success give you advice from Canadian business leaders and communica-
tion experts on the chapter’s topic.
• The Three-Step Writing Process, which includes planning, writing, and complet-
ing, offers you a practical strategy for writing business messages. This process is
applied throughout the text to all business communication tasks.
• Model Documents provide a wide selection of documents that you can examine,
critique, and revise. In addition, pairs of poor and improved drafts help you recognize
the best writing practices.
• Pointers appear near many sample documents, giving you a concise list of writing
tips. You will also find these pointers handy when you are on the job and need to
refresh your memory about effective writing techniques.
• Marginal Notes highlight key points in the text and are good tools for reviewing
­concepts.

Practising Your Business Communication Skills

Applying what you learn through practise is the best way to develop your confidence and
ability as a communicator. Completing the end-of-chapter activities will help you develop
and improve your skills. Here are the review and practise activities you will find in each
chapter, each tagged by the relevant Learning Objective:
• Test Your Knowledge provides questions that review the chapter topics.
• Apply Your Knowledge offers exercises to get you thinking about the concepts
explained in the chapter.
• Practise Your Skills provides you with a wide variety of exercises and activities,
allowing you to explore how to handle situations and participate effectively on teams.
• Cases at the end of specific chapters offer you a chance to apply the three-step w
­ riting
process to scenarios from the real world.
• Business Communication Notebook centres on one of four themes: ethics, technol-
ogy, intercultural communication, and workplace skills.

Student Supplements
MyBCommLab MyBCommLab (www.mybcommlab.ca) combines multimedia, new mini business simula-
tions, tutorials, video, audio, animations, and assessments to engage you in your learn-
ing. You can learn at your own pace, completing exercises and having them evaluated for
instant feedback.
Select MyBCommLab Blog from the BusComm section of the Resources tab to gain
access to blog posts, links to articles, and content updates. The updates include podcasts,
PowerPoint presentations, and videos that complement the text’s coverage by providing
contemporary examples and valuable insights from successful professionals.
 Preface [ xvi i ]

MyBCommLab includes a Pearson eText, which gives you access to the text whenever
and wherever you have access to the internet. Pearson eText pages look exactly like the
printed text and offer powerful new functionality for students and instructors. Users can
create notes, highlight text in different colours, create bookmarks, zoom, click hyper-
linked words and phrases to view definitions, and read the text either in single-page or
two-page view. Pearson eText allows for quick navigation to key parts of the text using
both a table of contents or full-text search. The eText may also offer links to associated
media files, enabling users to access videos, animations, or other activities as they read
the text.
Get started with the personal access code packaged with your new copy of the text.
Personal access codes for MyBCommLab can also be purchased separately.

CourseSmart goes beyond traditional student expectations—providing instant, online

access to the textbooks and course materials you need at significant savings over the price
of the printed text. With instant access from any computer and the ability to search your
text, you’ll find the content you need quickly, no matter where you are. And with online
tools like highlighting and note-taking, you can save time and study efficiently. See all the
benefits at www.coursesmart.com/students.

Instructor Supplements
The moment you know. MyBCommLab

Educators know it. Students know it. It’s that inspired moment when something that was
difficult to understand suddenly makes perfect sense. Our MyLab products have been
designed and refined with a single purpose in mind—to help educators create that
moment of understanding with their students.
MyBCommLab delivers proven results in helping individual students succeed. It
provides engaging experiences that personalize, stimulate, and measure learning for
each student. And, it comes from a trusted partner with educational expertise and an
eye on the future.
MyBCommLab can be used by itself or linked to any learning management system. To
learn more about how MyBCommLab combines proven learning applications with pow-
erful assessment, visit www.mybcommlab.ca.
MyBCommLab—the moment you know.

The following instructor supplements are available for download from a password-­
protected section of Pearson Education Canada’s online catalogue (www.pearsoncanada.ca/
highered). Navigate to your book’s catalogue page to view a list of those supplements that
are available. See your local sales representative for details and access.

• The Instructor’s Manual provides chapter outlines, suggested solutions to exercises,

a pop quiz for each chapter, and fully formatted documents for every case in the
­letter-writing chapters. Additional resources include diagnostic tests of English skills
and supplemental grammar exercises.
• The Test Item File includes over 1500 multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-
blank questions. This test bank is offered in both Microsoft Word format and as a
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[ x v i i i ] P reface

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Acknowledgments
The dedicated professionals at Pearson Education Canada made working on this book
a pleasure. Sponsoring editor Joel Gladstone and developmental editor Jennifer Murray
provided excellent advice and support in shaping the fourth Canadian edition. I am
also very grateful to project manager Richard di Santo, production editor Rachel
Stuckey, and copy editor Caroline Winter for their clarity and attention to detail while
preparing the manuscript for production and overseeing the proofreading process.
Thanks also to Sonia Tan, media editor, for her assistance in integrating MyBCommLab
with this text.
Thank you to my inspiring and supportive colleagues in the communication depart-
ment at British Columbia Institute of Technology, in particular Gretchen Quiring and
Matthew Rockall, for their valuable suggestions, and Linda Matsuba, business librar-
ian, for her knowledge of Canadian business. Special thanks also go to Christopher
Wilson at Kwantlen Polytechnic University for his advice, to Kerri Shields of Centen-
nial College for contributing the running cases that appear on MyBCommLab, and to
Caroline Jellinck for her employment-related feedback and extensive contacts in
­Canadian business.
Many educators from across Canada have contributed to the development of this and
previous editions of the text. I would like to thank the following instructors who took
the time to give me detailed suggestions: Clay Armstrong, Vancouver Island U ­ niversity;
Marie Brodie, Nova Scotia Community College School of Business; Patricia Campbell,
Red Deer College; Gerta Grieve, JR Shaw School of Business, NAIT; Pamela Ip, Kwantlen
Polytechnic University; Condea Krewenki, Nova Scotia Community ­College School of
Business; Alexandra MacLennan, Centre for Liberal and Preparatory Studies, George
Brown College; Amy Mitchell, Fanshawe College; Norma-Jean Nielsen, Canadore
­College; Laura Ricotta, John Abbott College; Matthew Rockall, British Columbia I­ nstitute
of Technology; Rhonda Sandberg, Centre for Business, George Brown ­College; and
Diana Serafini, Dawson College; Bonnie Benoit, SAIT Polytechnic; Rebecca Book, ­Keyano
College; Sarah Bowers, Langara College; Neil Carter, Sault College; Bill Corcoran, Grande
Prairie Regional College; Brent Cotton, Georgian College; Les Hanson, Red River ­College;
 P reface [ xi x]

Tanya Haye, Douglas College; Paul Hutchinson, Niagara College of Applied Arts and
Technology; Keith Johnson, University of the Fraser Valley; Linda Large, Canadore Col-
lege; Diana M. Lohnes-Mitchell, Nova ­Scotia Community College; Alexandra Richmond,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University; Heather Thompson, Saint Mary’s University; and
Bruce Watson, SAIT Polytechnic.
A final thanks goes to my two daughters, Casey and Anna Wilson, for their ­encouragement.

Jean A. Scribner
Vancouver, B.C.
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This page intentionally left blank
 1
Understanding
Business
Communication
in Today’s
L e a r n in g O b jectiv es
Workplace
After studying this chapter, you will be able to

❶ Define communication, and explain the importance of effective business communication. Tips for Succ ess
❷ Explain what it means to communicate as a professional in a business context. “To connect with staff around
❸ Describe the communication process model and the ways that social media are the world, we use many different
changing the nature of business communication. channels to communicate as
❹ Define ethics, explain the difference between an ethical dilemma and an ethical lapse, effectively as we can—but
and list six guidelines for making ethical communication choices. nothing replaces face-to-face
discussions.”
❺ Explain how cultural diversity affects business communication and describe the
steps you can take to communicate more effectively across cultural boundaries. —Judi Hess
CEO, Copperleaf Technologies
❻ List four general guidelines for using communication technology effectively.

Copperleaf Technologies provides global consulting services in planning, analysis, and

asset management. Though Copperleaf staff use the latest technology to communicate
with clients and employees, the leadership team also believes in the power of face-to-
face communication. They bring clients from across Canada and around the world to
Vancouver for annual user group sessions, including the “Bull Pen,” an open forum and
conversation they use to build relationships and listen to client needs.

Understanding Why Communication Matters Learning Objective ➊

Define communication, and explain
Successful professionals such as Hess understand that achieving success in today’s work- the importance of effective
business communication.
place is closely tied to the ability of employees and managers to communicate effectively
with each other, with people outside the organization, and with people from many cul-
tures. Communication is the process of transferring information and meaning between
senders and receivers, using one or more written, oral, visual, or electronic channels.
The essence of communication is sharing. As Figure 1.1 indicates, this sharing can hap-
pen in a variety of ways, including a simple and successful transfer of information, a
negotiation in which the sender and receiver arrive at an agreed-upon meaning, and
situations in which the receiver creates a different message than the one the sender
intended to convey.
[ 2 ] PART 1: B us ine s s Co m m uni cat io n f o un d at ion s

FIGU RE 1.1 Sharing Information

You will invest a lot of time and energy in this course to develop your communication
skills, so it’s fair to ask whether it will be worthwhile. This section outlines the many
ways in which good communication skills are critical for your career and for any com-
pany you join.

Communication Is Important to Your Career

No matter what career path you pursue, communication skills will be essential to your
success at every stage. You can have the greatest ideas in the world, but they’re no
good to your company or your career if you can’t express them clearly and persua-
sively. Some jobs, such as sales and customer support, are primarily about communi-
cating. In fields such as engineering or finance, you often need to share complex ideas
with executives, customers, and colleagues, and your ability to connect with people
outside your field can be as important as your technical expertise. If you are an entre-
preneur, you will need to communicate with a wide range of audiences, from inves-
tors, bankers, and government regulators to employees, customers, and business
partners. As you take on leadership and management roles, communication becomes
even more important.
In fact, improving your communication skills may be the single most important step
Improving your communication skills
you can take in your career. The world is full of good marketers, accountants, engineers,
could be the single most important
thing you do for your career. and lawyers, but it is not full of good communicators. View this as an opportunity to
stand out from your competition in the job market. Communication skills ranked highest
on the list of employability skills in the Conference Board of Canada report Employability
Skills 20001.1
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 I have already referred to the influence of the French language in
Germany during the first half of the eighteenth century as presenting
a somewhat similar case; but the influence upon German thought
and German literature of the French language and literature,
rendered fashionable under the Court of Frederick the Great, was of
course slight and superficial as compared with the part played in the
Roman world by the language and the thought of the Greeks.
Towards the end of the second century Carthage became of literary
as well as commercial importance. Latin was the language of
administration, and the literary culture of Carthage took upon itself,
therefore, a Latin rather than a Greek form.[277] Among the authors
who gave form, each in his own very distinctive manner, to the
literary school of Carthage were Fronto and Apuleius, and a
generation later the Father of the African Church, the theologian
Tertullian.
Fronto’s books appear to have been made in Carthage, but were
certainly on sale with Roman dealers, and the same was doubtless
the case with the witty and popular Fables and Metamorphoses of
Apuleius, but the evidence in regard to a publishing trade in
Carthage is purely inferential. Aulus Gellius, writing about 170,
speaks of picking up in a second-hand book-shop in Brundisium a
volume from which he quotes a pretty story. The incident was
probably imaginary, for, as Simcox points out, the story was taken
from the elder Pliny; but the reference shows that the business of the
bookseller was, at the date specified, already sufficiently
systematized to support, even in the smaller towns, second-hand
book dealers.
It was evident that by the close of the first century the machinery for
the making and the distribution of books was sufficiently well
organized to secure for authors the opportunity of a world-wide
influence. It seems probable, however, that the works which at this
date obtained for themselves the widest circulation and influence
were not those of living writers, but were still the classics which
Greece had originated, but which were so largely given to the world
through Rome.
 In the fourth century a certain Firmicus Maternus published an
astrological work entitled Mathesis. The work was dedicated to the
proconsul Mavertius Lollianus, who had suggested its preparation,
and to him also the author appears to have assigned the control of
the publication, with the curious instruction that the two final books
(out of the eight of which the work was composed) must by no
means be permitted to come into the hands of the general public
(vulgum profanum), but that the reading of these should be restricted
to those who had led holy and priestly lives.[278]
Birt, who is my authority for the incident, does not make clear what
means were available for the proconsul by which to enforce this
special and difficult discrimination among readers. Birt cites the
case, however, as an evidence of the control that could be
exercised, and that from time to time was exercised, by the
government over the circulation of literature. It is certain, he says,
that even the very considerable increase in the facilities for the
reproduction of books did not prevent the authorities from
undertaking to stop the sale of, and to confiscate, works which, for
one reason or another, might work detriment to the State, or which
conflicted with the personal interest of the ruler. The earliest example
on record of a confiscation dates back to the time when the Athenian
Republic was at its height. In the year 411 b.c., as mentioned in the
chapter on Greece, the writings of the philosopher Protagoras were
burned on the Agora, while the philosopher himself was held to trial
for heresy.[279]
The emperors of Rome possessed, of course, a much more
unquestioned authority and a more effective machinery for the
suppression of doctrines and for the confiscation of books than
belonged to the shifting authorities of Athens, and there are
examples of a number of imperial decrees for literary confiscation,
some of which were based on the real or apparent interests of the
State, while not a few can be credited to personal motives.
The first instance of the kind was the order of Augustus for the
burning of 2000 copies of certain pseudo-Sibylline books. Those
charged with the task were directed not only to take all the stock that
could be found in the book-shops, but to make thorough search also
for all copies existing in private collections.[280] Caligula attempted a
more difficult task, when, according to Suetonius, he undertook to
suppress the writings of Homer—cogitavit de Homeri carminibus
abolendis.[281] He also gave orders, says the historian, which were
fortunately only partly carried out, to have destroyed all the writings
and all the busts of Virgil and of Livy contained in the libraries.
Tiberius ordered that the writings of a certain historian of the time of
Augustus should be abolished, abolita scripta, by which we may
properly understand simply that the copies were to be taken out of all
public libraries.[282]
The rigorous measures adopted by Domitian to discourage the sale
of the history of Hermogenes of Tarsus, by crucifying the publisher
and all the booksellers who had copies in stock, have already been
referred to.[283] This history was found objection to on the score of
certain designs contained in it, propter quasdam figuras. Two other
works which failed to secure the approval of this Emperor were the
Laudations by Junius Rusticus and Herennius Senecio of Paetus
Thrasea and Helvidius Priscus. The two books, that is, all the copies
of them that could be secured, were burned in the Forum after
having been solemnly condemned under a senatus consultum.
Senecio was nevertheless able to preserve his own copy.[284]
Not a few of the edicts of confiscation were, however, evidently
carried out by a house to house visitation, extending at least to all
domiciles known to contain collections of books. Diocletian caused to
be collected and destroyed all the ancient manuscripts in Egypt,
“which had to do with the chemistry of quicksilver and gold,” περὶ
χημείας ἀργυροῦ καὶ χρυσοῦ, i. e., with the subject of alchemy.[285]
The teachers in Africa of the doctrines of the Manichæans were also
ordered to burn their books. The edict of Diocletian, issued 303 a.d.,
directing the persecution of the Christians, also provided for the
destruction of the Christian Scriptures. According to Burckhardt,
many Christians came forward with the acknowledgment that they
possessed copies of the Scriptures, and, refusing to deliver the
same, suffered the martyrdom for which they sought.[286]
 Constantine permitted Arius to live unmolested, but his writings
were, whenever found, committed to the flames, and any one
concealing copies was liable to death. In 448, the Emperor
Theodosius issued an edict for the destruction of all works the
influence of which was opposed to the Christian faith, an instruction
which, if it had been faithfully executed, would have annihilated a
large portion of the world’s literature. Among other writers the loss of
whose works, excepting only a few fragments, was probably due to
the edict, was Porphyry of Tyre, who died about 300 a.d., and who
was the ablest of the later scholarly opponents of the Christian
doctrines.
St. Jerome relates that a certain Pammachius attempted to recall
and to cancel almost immediately after publication the edition of
Jerome’s controversial letters against the monk Jovinian, but that his
efforts were unsuccessful, for copies of the book had already been
distributed in every province.
The legislation of imperial Rome, which, as we have seen, made no
specific provision for the protection of the rights of authors, also
omitted to institute any measures for the public supervision of books.
It was under the general provisions of the criminal law that the
publication of writings on certain special subjects was prevented or
was punished, and that the authors, publishers, and sometimes even
the possessors of the works regarded as injurious to individuals or
as likely to cause detriment to the State, became subject to penalties
the severity of which varied with the times.[287] Several of the
imperial edicts characterized libellous publications as acts of lese-
majesté or treason.[288]
It would not be in order to bring to a close this sketch of the history
of literary property under the rule of the Romans, without reference
to the contribution made by Roman jurists to the analysis of its origin
and nature, although such contribution was but slight. The theories
and conclusions of these jurists are of interest not on the ground of
their having had any effect on the status of literary production
throughout the Empire, but on account of the far-reaching influence
of Roman jurisprudence upon the conceptions and the legislation of
the mediæval and of the modern world.
As Klostermann points out, the Roman jurists interested themselves
in the subject of property in an intellectual or immaterial creation
rather as a matter of theoretical speculation than as one calling for
legislation; and, as we have already seen, there is no record of any
such legislation, imperial or municipal, having been instituted during
the existence of the Roman State. Some of the earlier discussions
as to the nature of property in formulated ideas appear to have
turned upon the question as to whether such property should take
precedence over that in the material which happened to be made
use of for the expression of the ideas.
The disciples of Proculus (a lawyer living at about 50 a.d.)
maintained that the occupation of alien material, so as to make of it a
new thing, gave a property right to him who had reworked or
reshaped it; while the school of Sabinus (who was himself a
contemporary of Proculus) insisted that the ownership of the material
must carry with it the title to whatever was produced upon the
material. Justinian, or rather, I understand, Tribonianus, writing in the
name of the Emperor (about 520 a.d.), took a middle ground,
following the opinion of Gaius. Tribonianus concluded, namely, that
the decision must be influenced by the possibility of restoring the
material to its original form, and more particularly by the question as
to whether the material or that which had been produced upon it
were the more essential. The original opinion of Gaius appears to
have had reference to the ownership of a certain table upon which a
picture had been painted, and the decision was in favor of the artist.
This decision (dating from about 160 a.d.) contains an unmistakable
recognition of immaterial property, not, to be sure, in the sense of a
right to exclusive reproduction, but in the particular application, that,
while material property depends upon the substance, immaterial
property, that is to say property in the presentation of ideas, depends
upon the form.[289]
The opinion, as given in the Institutes of Justinian, is as follows:
 Si quis in aliena tabula pinxerit, quidam putant tabulam picturæ
cedere, aliis videtur picturam, qualiscunque sit, tabulæ cedere; sed
nobis videtur melius esse, tabulam picturæ cedere. Ridiculum est
enim picturam Apellis vel Parrhasii in accessionem vilissimæ tabulæ
cedere.[290]
It is certainly curious that a question of this kind, first presented for
consideration in the middle of the first century, should have been still
under discussion nearly five centuries later.
An application of this same principle is presented in legal usage to-
day, under which authors and artists are empowered to take
possession of reproductions of their works even against innocent
third parties or against the owners of the material on which such
reproductions have been made.
The fact that papyrus rather than parchment was the material
adopted by authors during the fruitful period of Latin literature, had of
course an important bearing in the continued existence of their
works, for papyrus was an extremely perishable substance. Damp,
worms, moths, mice, were all deadly enemies of papyrus rolls, but
even if, through persistent watchfulness, these were guarded
against, the mere handling of the rolls, even by the most careful
readers, brought them rapidly to destruction. We find, therefore, that
a constant renewal of the rolls was required in all public libraries, just
as to-day our librarians find it necessary to replace their supply of
copies of books of popular authors which have become worn out by
handling. The ancient librarian had, however, a more arduous and a
more expensive task with his renewals. A reference of Pliny gives us
an impression of the average age that could be looked for for a
papyrus book.
“Ita sint longinqua monumenta; Tiberi Gaique Gracchorum manus.
Apud Pomponium Secundum vatem civemque clarissimum vidi
annos fere post ducentos; jam vero Ciceronis ac divi Augusti
Vergilique sæpe numero videmus.”[291]
We understand, therefore, that (with certain precautions) a book
could last for one hundred years, but that a volume two centuries old
was for Pliny something so exceptional as to be almost incredible.
 The papyrus rolls were of course exposed to the most serious
friction at the opening portions which were in immediate contact with
one of the rollers where two rollers were employed, and which in any
case were exposed to the most frequent handling. As a
consequence, it was the initial page of books which first came to
destruction, and of not a few works which were otherwise in readable
condition these initial pages were lacking. A quotation from
Eusebius, cited by Birt, shows that it was even a matter of surprise
when a copy of the works of such a writer as Clement was found
complete, with title and preface.[292]
In many of the libraries, it was also not uncommon to find that the
different rolls of a particular work had been wrongly numbered in one
of the transcribings, and had consequently been mixed up as to their
arrangement. It was not infrequent even to find the rolls of the works
of different authors jumbled together, in such a manner that no little
scholarly skill was requisite for their proper understanding and
correct rearrangement.[293]
The papyrus manuscripts from the Athenian, Alexandrian, and
Roman workshops, as far as they have escaped destruction through
imperial edicts, civil wars, and invasions, were permitted to fall into
decay, and were not replaced. By the close of the fourth century, the
great collections of papyrus rolls, in which were contained the
classics of Greek and Roman literature, had practically disappeared.
For later book-making, parchment replaced papyrus, a change
which, if it had occurred two centuries, or even one century earlier,
would, in spite of edicts of destruction, have preserved for future
generations not a few of the lost “classics.” A small proportion of the
Greek and Roman writings, in copies dating from the later literary
period, had been placed on parchment, and some few of these have
been handed down to us through the intervention of Christian
monks, who had taken possession of the parchment for church
documents or codices, but who in their own inscribing had not
destroyed, or had only partially destroyed, the original writing. I have
already made reference to this practice of making one piece of
parchment do a double service, and to the name of palimpsest, by
which such a doubly inscribed parchment was known.
 In the early part of the fourth century several factors came into
operation which checked the development and finally undermined
the existence of the publishing and bookselling trade of Rome. First
among these factors I should name the growing power and influence
of the Christian Church.
In the centuries which elapsed between the downfall of the Roman
Empire and the invention of printing, the centres of intellectual
activities and of scholarly interests were undoubtedly the churches
and the monasteries, and it is probable that if it had not been for the
educational work done by the priests and monks, and for the interest
taken by them (however inadequately and ignorantly) in the literature
of the past, the fragments of this literature which have been
preserved for to-day would have been much less considerable and
more fragmentary than they are. As I understand the history, the
literary interests of the world owe very much to the fostering care
given to them by the Church, or by certain portions of the Church,
during the troublous centuries of the early Middle Ages. During these
centuries the Church not only supplied a standard of morality, but
kept in existence whatever intellectual life there was.
At the time, however, when the Christian Church was rapidly
extending its influence throughout the Roman Empire, and during the
century after it had succeeded in winning over to the faith the
emperors themselves, and had become the official Church of the
Empire, the evidence goes to show that its influence was decidedly
detrimental to the literary productiveness of the age and also inimical
to the preservation of the literary masterpieces of previous ages.
As the range of membership of the Church increased, so that it
came to include a larger proportion of men of cultivation and
scholarship, there came into existence a considerable body of
theological and controversial writings, the production of which has
gone on steadily increasing until very recent times. But the reading
of the works of “pagan” writers was discouraged, and the
manuscripts themselves were first neglected, and later suffered to
fall into decay. Such writing as was done by the Christian scribes
was in the main limited to the transcribing of the books then
accepted as scriptures and to the copying of prayers and hymns.
The mental activities of both writers and readers were turned in other
directions. Scholars gave their scholarship and trained copyists their
clerical skill to the service of the Church. It was not merely that the
Church took possession for its own work of so large a proportion of
the best minds of the time. It directly discouraged then, as it did for
many centuries thereafter, the study of any literature other than
ecclesiastical. The writers of Greece and Rome were, for Christian
believers, if not heretical, at least frivolous and time-wasting. Life
was short and Christian duties left no free hours for Homer or Virgil,
Plato or Epictetus. By the time of the accession of Constantine (306
a.d.) the book-shops on the Argiletum had lessened in number and
in importance, the connections of the Roman publishers with the
great towns of the provinces were for the most part broken off, and,
most important of the signs of the times, there are no new books and
no writers at work. Literary productiveness has for the time ceased.
The second cause which contributed to the destruction of the book-
trade of Rome was the decision of Constantine to remove the capital
of the Empire to Byzantium. The transfer was completed in the year
328, and for a number of years after that date there was no imperial
Court in Rome. The “world of fashion” had migrated to the
Bosphorus, and with the Court officials, the judges, the advocates,
and the military leaders, had gone a large proportion of the active-
minded men of the old capital, the men of intellectual interests.
There remained the Bishop of Rome (soon to become Primate of the
Latin Church) and his increasing staff of ecclesiastics, but to them,
as pointed out, the literature of the classical period was either a
matter of indifference or an abomination. The direction of the
education of the young Romans must soon have come into the
hands of the priests, and this would have increased their power to
crush out the interest in, and the remembrance of, the literary
productions of paganism.
A third factor which hastened the decline of Latin literature and the
extinction of the book-trade of Rome, was the revival of the use of
Greek, which, after the establishment of the capital at
Constantinople, speedily became the official language of the Empire
and the speech of the Court and of polite society generally.
 I do not forget that there shortly came into existence an Empire of
the West, under which Rome resumed (although with sadly reduced
splendor) its position as an imperial capital. But the western
emperors appear on the whole to have been a feeble lot, and they
certainly did not succeed in gathering about them any number of
men of “light and learning,” nor is there evidence of any substantial
revival of the social or intellectual activities of Rome. The times
continued troublous. The State had to fight almost continuously for
its existence, and the fighting was not infrequently near at home, the
city itself being from time to time menaced. The “peace of the
Empire” existed no longer. It was not a time for the development of
literature, and literature, excepting a small body of doctrinal and
controversial publications of the Church, practically disappeared.
After the expansion, in 379, of the prerogatives of the Roman See,
the literary activities of the ecclesiastics increased, but it does not
appear that any bookselling machinery was required or employed for
the sale or distribution of the works of devotion, of doctrine, or of
controversy. This distribution was doubtless managed directly by the
priests themselves. The capture of Rome by the Goths under Alaric,
in 410, brought destruction upon the accumulated wealth and trade
of the city, but it is not probable that the tradespeople whose shops
were despoiled included any considerable number of booksellers,
as, according to my understanding, the trade in books had in great
part disappeared some years before. The Goths doubtless had,
however, not a little to do with the destruction of as many of the
classic manuscripts as still existed in the public libraries or in private
collections. It is certain that they would have had no appreciation for
and no use for any manuscripts that fell into their hands. The more
recent and still inconsiderable collections of Church manuscripts
shared, of course, in the general destruction, but these (apart from a
few relics) could easily be replaced.
The Goths disappeared like the rolling back of a flood after its work
of devastation has been completed; and the insignificant series of
Emperors of the West resumed their sway over the ruins of the
imperial city.
 The city was restored to a semblance of its old self; but we find no
further traces of the production or of the sale of books. It is probable
that when, in 476, Odoacer, chief of the Herulians, gave the final
blow to the Empire of the West, and took possession of its capital, he
found there, outside of the few treatises and books of worship of the
Church, practically nothing in the shape of literature.
The rule of the Herulian was short; in less than twenty years he was
overthrown by the Goth, and Theodoric came into possession of
Rome and undertook the task of organizing a kingdom out of the
much harried territory of Italy.
In the later portion of his reign, after the city had been favored with
a few years of peace and of freedom from the dread of invasion,
there was some revival of intellectual and literary interests.
Cassiodorus, prætor, prefect, quæstor, and later “master of the
offices,” won fame as court orator and official letter-writer. He wrote a
Gothic history in twelve books (which has disappeared), and a
collection of letters and state-papers entitled Variæ, also in twelve
books. Of greater permanent importance was the work of the
philosopher Boëthius. Hodgkin says of him:
“Boëthius was the skilful mechanic who constructed the
water-clock and sun-dial for the King of the Burgundians
... a man of great and varied accomplishments—
philosopher, theologian, musician, and mathematician. He
had translated thirty books of Aristotle into Latin for the
benefit of his countrymen; his treatise on music was for
many centuries the authoritative exposition of the science
of harmony.”[294]
His greatest work was The Consolation of Philosophy, which was
composed while the philosopher was in prison awaiting sentence of
death. This was rendered into English by King Alfred and by
Geoffrey Chaucer; translations were made into every European
tongue, and copies were to be found in every mediæval convent
library. The Consolation is written partly in prose and partly in verse.
Hodgkin is of opinion that its writer was at the time a Christian.
 The production of this work is the only literary event which marks
the rule of Rome by the Goths, and in fact, unless we include the
“master of the offices,” Cassiodorus, with his court orations and
courtly letters, there appeared during the time no other writer of
whose work record has remained. We can infer that some means
existed in connection either with the Court or with the convents for
the production of copies of the Consolation and of the translation of
Aristotle. The latter work, having been prepared, as its translator
says, “for the benefit of his countrymen,” was evidently planned for
some general circulation.
As there is no evidence of the existence at the time of any
bookselling machinery, it is probable that for the multiplication and
distribution of his volumes, Boëthius depended upon the scribes of
the Church and upon the connections with each other of the
convents throughout Europe. It is undoubtedly through the libraries
of the convents (the only places in Europe which were to any extent
protected against ravages of war) that the Consolation was
preserved.
After the death of Theodoric, Italy became the camping ground and
the fighting place for successive hordes of Lombards, Saracens, and
Franks. Social organization must have almost disappeared. Of
scholarly or literary production there is again for some centuries
hardly a trace. Inter arma silent styli. What intellectual life, outside of
the monasteries, was still active in Europe must be looked for at the
Court of the Greek Emperors of Constantinople.
 CHAPTER VI.
Constantinople.

W HEN Constantine, in the year 328, removed to Byzantium the

capital of the Empire, he doubtless took with him from Rome,
or was followed by, a large proportion of the leaders of the social and
intellectual life of the city. It is said also that Greek scholars from
Magna Græcia, and from other parts of the Empire, foreseeing the
probable revival of interest in Greek learning, speedily gathered
themselves at Constantinople, and through their presence hastened
the replacing of the Latin tongue by their own vernacular.
For a century or more, however, after the establishment of
Constantinople, literary production appears to have been slight and
unimportant. There is some evidence of collections being made of
copies of the great classics, collections which later, unfortunately, in
large part perished at the hands first of Crusaders and afterwards of
Turks, and it is probable that a certain number of scribes were kept
employed in the production of such copies. Of new works or of new
editions of importance there is no record, while there is also no
evidence as to the existence of any bookselling machinery for
keeping the public supplied with the old classics.
The first revival of literary productiveness appears to have come
from the Court. About 440 a.d. the Empress Eudocia published a
poetical paraphrase of the first eight books of the Old Testament and
of the prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah. This was followed by a
cento of the verses of Homer, applied to the life of Christ; by a
version of the legend of St. Cyprian; and by a panegyric on the
Persian victories of her husband Theodosius.
An imperial author needed, of course, no bookselling machinery to
bring her writings to the attention of the public. The members of the
Court circles doubtless made for their presentation copies a full
return in the shape of loyal appreciation, while politic priests could be
depended upon to interest themselves in the reproduction and
distribution of books devoted to such sacred subjects, and
emanating from so high an authority.
After this literary outburst from the Court, there is a long period
during which there is no record of any original work of importance
being produced in Constantinople. I must not omit, however, to make
reference to the great undertaking carried out by Ulfilas (sixty years
or more before the time of Eudocia’s labors) in the translation of the
Bible into Gothic.
Ulfilas was a Goth by birth, but had been educated (as a hostage)
in Constantinople. He was made Bishop of Gothia, and the work of
his translation was probably completed in Dacia. For the preparation,
however, of the transcripts of his text he was apparently obliged to
resort to the scribes of the capital, and the “publication” of the work
may, therefore, be credited to Constantinople. A magnificent
manuscript of this Gothic version of the Gospels, a manuscript
known, on account of its beautiful silver text, as the codex argenteus,
and which dates from the sixth century, is now preserved in the
library of the University of Upsala in Sweden, one of the earliest
homes of the Gothic peoples. The wide circulation of these Gothic
Scriptures had a great influence in bringing the Gothic tribes into the
Christian fold, and exercised, therefore, an important effect on the
history of Europe.
The greatest of the earlier authors of the Eastern Empire was the
historian Procopius. His History of My Own Times, which was
published about 560 a.d., during the reign of Justinian, is devoted
more particularly to an account of the wars carried on by the Empire.
Procopius had held various offices, and, during 562, was Prefect of
Constantinople. After this post had been taken from him, he wrote a
volume called Anecdota, or “secret history,” in which Justinian and
his empress, Theodora, are very severely handled. A third and
earlier production is a description of the edifices erected by Justinian
throughout the Empire.
 By the beginning of the seventh century, says Oman, the use of the
Latin language in Constantinople had practically ceased. Oman
speaks of the seventh and eighth centuries as being the “dark age in
Byzantine literary history,” but, as far as we can judge from the
records, the “luminous” or productive periods must have been very
fitful and fragmentary.
After the extinction of the schools of Alexandria and Athens, “the
studies of the Greeks” (says Gibbon) “retired to the monasteries, and
above all to the royal college of Constantinople, which was burned in
the reign of Leo the Isaurian, about 750 a.d.” The head of the
foundation was named “the sun of science,” and the twelve
professors, the twelve signs of the zodiac. The library comprised
over 36,000 volumes. It included the famous Homeric manuscript,
before referred to, written on a parchment roll 120 feet long.
Between 886 and 963 a.d. Constantinople was ruled by the group
of so-called “literary emperors,” during whose reigns literature
became the fashion of the Court. The chief achievements of Leo the
Wise and of his son and successor Constantine Porphyrogenitus
were their books. The writings of Leo consist of a manuscript on the
Art of War, some theological treatises, and a book of prophecies.
The former, says Oman, contains some exceedingly valuable
information, while the prophecies have been the puzzle of
commentators.[295] The works of Constantine comprise a treatise on
the administration of the Themes or provincial districts, a biography
of his grandfather, and a comprehensive manual of the etiquette and
ceremonies of the Court. Towards the close of the eighth century or
at the beginning of the ninth appeared the commonplace books of
Stobæus, one series entitled An Anthology of Extracts, Sentences,
and Precepts, one grouped together under the name of Physical,
Dialectic, and Moral Selections, and a third entitled simply
Discourses. The extracts are drawn from more than five hundred
authors, whose works have in great measure perished. They include,
says Heeren (who, in 1792, published an edition of Stobæus),
passages from many of the ancient comic writers. The exact date of
the life or of the work of Stobæus is not known. Photius says that his
commonplace books were prepared as an educational guide for his
son Septimius.
By the ninth century there are indications of the existence of a
literary class, and there is evidence of the work of a few first-class
writers such as the patriarch Photius, 857-69, whose library
catalogue is the envy of modern scholars.[296] This catalogue,
composed while its author was an exile in Bagdad, comprises a
review or analysis of the works of two hundred and eight writers.
Gibbon points out, in connection with this catalogue of Photius, that
the students and writers of that period enjoyed the use of many
works of Greek literature which have since perished in whole or in
part. He cites, among other authors, Theopompus, Menander,
Alcæus, Hyperides, and Sappho.
In 867, under the direction of Basil II., were written the Basilics, or
code of laws. The Emperor himself was the author of a
comprehensive history of Greece and Rome, of which but fragments
have been preserved.
Early in the tenth century, the exact date is uncertain, Suidas
compiled his famous lexicon. According to Gibbon, Suidas was also
the author of some fifty plays, some of which were based upon
Aristophanes. In the latter part of the eleventh century Eudocia (wife
of Romanus and the second literary empress of the name), having
been imprisoned in a convent by her son, wrote, while in
confinement, a treatise on the genealogies of the gods and heroes.
During the first years of the twelfth century Anna Comnena,
daughter of Alexius Comnenus I., wrote, in fifteen books, under the
title of Alexias, a life of her father. Gibbon speaks of the style of the
history as being turgid and inflated, but says that it contains some
interesting accounts of the first Crusaders.
In the twelfth century, a name of distinction is that of Eustathius I.,
Archbishop of Thessalonica, who published, about 1150,
commentaries on Homer and on Dionysius the Geographer. Gibbon
says that in the former he refers to no less than four hundred
authors. At about the same time appeared the Chiliads of Tsetzes.
 Oman is of opinion that the most interesting development of
Byzantine literature were the Epics or Romances of Chivalry, written
at the close of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh centuries.
He names as one of the best representatives of these romances, the
epic of Diogenes Akritas, a mighty hunter, a slayer of dragons, and a
persistent and successful lover.
I have referred to the work of but a few of the more representative
of the Byzantine writers. It would be foreign to the purposes of this
sketch to undertake to present any comprehensive bibliography of
Byzantine literature, even if I had available the material for such a
bibliography. Of many of the authors whose names have been
preserved, very little except their names is known, while of the entire
literature of the Byzantine period it may, I judge, fairly be said that it
possesses but slight interest or value for later generations. The fact
that literary undertakings of importance at the time and of interest for
the readers of the day continued from generation to generation to be
presented to the public, undertakings which in not a few cases must
have involved the labor of many years, gives us the right to conclude
that some means or machinery must have existed for reaching this
public. As far, however, as my present information goes, there are
absolutely no data concerning the existence in Constantinople of any
publishing or bookselling trade, and we have no means of knowing
by what means the books of Byzantium were manifolded and
distributed.
It is to be noted that a very large number of the writers named
belonged to the Court, or held high official station. The fact that so
many books were the work of the emperors themselves and of the
members of the imperial families, is exceptional both in the history of
literature and in the history of royalty. It is probable that for the
transcribing of these books and for the books of officials generally,
the services of official scribes were utilized. Authors outside of official
circles may have gone to the convent, or may also have employed
private scribes. It is fair to assume, notwithstanding the absence of
any specific mention of such establishments, that some organization
of scribes, or of work-rooms for the manifolding of books, existed in
the city.
 In closing this chapter, I venture to recall to my readers the well-
known summary by Gibbon of the literature of the Byzantine Empire.
“The Empire of the Cæsars undoubtedly checked the
activity and the progress of the human mind. Its
magnitude might indeed allow some scope for domestic
competition; but when it was gradually reduced, at first to
the East, and at last to Greece and Constantinople, the
Byzantine subjects were degraded to an abject and
languid temper, the natural effect of their solitary and
insulated state. Alone in the universe, the self-satisfied
pride of the Greeks was not disturbed by the comparison
of foreign merit.... Their prose is soaring to the vicious
affectation of poetry; their poetry is sinking below the
flatness and insipidity of prose. The tragic, epic, and lyric
muses were silent and inglorious. The bards of
Constantinople seldom rose above a riddle or an epigram,
a panegyric or a tale. They forgot even the rules of
prosody, and with the melody of Homer still ringing in their
ears, they confound all measures of feet and syllables in
the impotent strains which have received the name of
‘political’ or city verses.”
The change first comes when there is a break in the insulation.
Gibbon continues: “The nations of Europe and Asia were mingled by
the expeditions to the Holy Land, and it is under the Comnenian
dynasty that a faint emulation of knowledge and of military virtue was
rekindled in the Byzantine Empire.”
The opinion of Lecky is still more emphatic. He says: “The universal
verdict of history is that the Byzantine State constituted the most
base and despicable form that civilization ever assumed, and there
has been no other enduring civilization so absolutely destitute of all
the forms of true greatness, none to which the epithet mean may so
emphatically be applied.”[297] Is it surprising that in a State thus
demoralized there is no record of the existence of a publisher?
It is only proper to add that the historian Oman, a much sounder
authority on the subject than Mr. Lecky, and writing with information
before him that was not available for Gibbon, contends that the talk
about the exceptional demoralization of the Byzantines is largely
rubbish, and points out that if the State were really as corrupt as it is
painted by Gibbon and by Lecky, it would have fallen to pieces of its
own rottenness within two or three generations, instead of enduring
as the bulwark of Europe for over a thousand years.
The fall of Constantinople in 1453, and the introduction into Europe
of the Turks, was unquestionably a great injury to Europe and to
civilization, and the destruction of the collections of manuscripts
existing in the capital itself and in monasteries and libraries in other
cities of the Empire, was an irreparable loss for literature. For the
educational interests and the literary development of Europe there
were, however, considerations to offset this serious disaster. Great
as was the destruction of manuscripts, a number were preserved by
individual scholars and in the hidden recesses of certain convents
and monasteries. Many of these were at once taken to Italy,
Germany, and France by the scholars flying from the barbarous
conquerors of their land, and the works were thus brought to the
knowledge and made available for the use of European students.
Other manuscripts were secured from their hiding-places years after
the capture of the city, by Greek scholars sent back for the purpose
on behalf of the publishers of Italy and France, or of the universities
of Bologna, Padua, and Paris, while some few valuable parchments
were hidden so safely that they have been forgotten for centuries
and are only to-day being brought to light from the vaults and attics
of old monasteries, so as again to be included in literature accessible
for the world.
In addition to the service done to the literary development of Europe
by the distribution westward of the texts of the almost forgotten
classics of the great Greek writers, there was the further important
gain for the scholarship of the continent in securing, for university
chairs, for tutorial positions, and for editorial work, the services of
hundreds of Greek scholars whose homes had been destroyed, or
who were unwilling to live under the rule of the hated Turk. Men of
the highest rank in scholarly accomplishments and possessing a
thorough knowledge of the literature of their race, either on the