Deck 9: Clarity

Question 1

Communication is the process of transmitting information from sender to receiver. The process is judged a success to the extent that the receiver accurately decodes the message (i.e., understands the message in the way intended by the sender).

Answer 1

True

Question 2

____ is the characteristic of a communication that is straightforward, unambiguous, and therefore able to be decoded accurately and with as little effort as possible.

A) Brevity
B) Conciseness
C) Inert
D) Clarity

Answer 2

D

Question 3

However well-meaning, speakers can look uncaring and dishonest-and might even be perceived as trivializing a situation-when they engage in evasiveness and linguistic trickery to make a point.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Which of the following is not a guideline for developing clear communications?

A) Be explicit.
B) Prefer fancy to simple terms.
C) Be literal.
D) Prefer positive to negative constructions.

Question 5

Which of the following is not a way to make a communication explicit?

A) Be direct
B) Be precise
C) Be ambiguous
D) Avoid equivocating

Question 6

To be ____ is to be to the point.

A) direct
B) precise
C) specific
D) vague

Question 7

Which of the following is a source of indirect language? Select all that apply.

A) Senders being uncomfortable with the more direct approach, wanting to avoid having to come right out and say something
B) Senders being unsure of his or her goals, thus taking a roundabout approach
C) Senders being aware of their goal, and thus targeting their goal unswervingly
D) Senders being overly concerned with word choice, thus taking too long to transmit the communication

Question 8

It is more important to be direct than to be tactful.

Question 9

____ refers to showing consideration for others and their situations.

A) Directness
B) Clear
C) Tactful
D) Eccentric

Question 10

To be ____ is to be exact.

A) direct
B) precise
C) abstract
D) vague

Question 11

We open ourselves to misinterpretation and various interpretations when we are vague.

Question 12

We can prevent misunderstandings by being precise, which means…. Select all that apply.

A) being exact
B) using concrete, descriptive, and specific terms
C) using abstract, vague, and general terms
D) using fuzzy terms

Question 13

Some words are too vague to carry much meaning.

Question 14

Which of the following is not a weak term?

A) better
B) worse
C) different
D) cheaper

Question 15

Pronouns can be a source of vagueness.

Question 16

Which of the following is a diluted term? Select all that apply.

A) honestly
B) literally
C) carefully
D) carelessly

Question 17

Which of the following is a diluted term? Select all that apply.

A) epic
B) vary
C) epidemic
D) variable

Question 18

____ means deliberately being unambiguous and evasive in an effort to avoid telling the truth.

A) Mercurial
B) Downplaying
C) Alienating
D) Equivocating

Question 19

When we equivocate, there is a single, clear interpretation of what we say.

Question 20

____ is the appropriate use of qualifiers to denote legitimate uncertainty.

A) Equivocating
B) Doublespeak
C) Hedging
D) Trimming

Question 21

____ involves words that just about anyone should be able to understand; it is accessible.

A) Common language
B) Plain language
C) Jargon
D) Slang

Question 22

____ is when novice writers replace simple terms with fancier terms in an effort to impress their audience.

A) Objectification
B) Gentrification
C) Sonoritis
D) Thesauritis

Question 23

We facilitate effective communication by using simple terms.

Question 24

Big words are not the best words unless they truly express the idea better than any smaller words.

Question 25

Most of the time, a fancy term is better than its simpler equivalent.

Question 26

Which of the following sets does not contain a fancy term and its simpler equivalent?

A) utilize  use
B) endeavor  try
C) organization  business
D) employ  use

Question 27

Which of the following is not an approach to using simple rather than fancy terms, as discussed in Chapter 9?

A) Repeat key words instead of looking for synonyms in order to avoid being repetitious.
B) After finding a word in a thesaurus, look up the word's definition in a dictionary.
C) Review your draft, looking for fancy terms that can be replaced with simpler terms.
D) Refuse to use words with more than 6 letters.

Question 28

____ is an informal way of saying something, which is known to and used by members of broad groups.

A) Slang
B) Doublespeak
C) Jargon
D) Cliché

Question 29

IMO, WRU, and TBH are examples of ____.

A) doublespeak
B) colloquialisms
C) texting slang
D) jargon

Question 30

____ is highly specialized language, which is understood by members of particular groups or professionals, and which therefore serves as informal code language between group members.

A) Slang
B) Jargon
C) Grouptalk
D) Doublespeak

Question 31

Some slang and jargon expressions have made their way into everyday use.

Question 32

To be ____ is to be metaphorical, while to be ____ means according to the exact meaning of words.

A) figurative, literal
B) literal, figurative
C) vague, specific
D) specific, vague

Question 33

Figurative language is appropriate in most criminal justice communications, but literal language generally should be avoided in criminal justice communications.

Question 34

Which of the following is a problem with using figurative language in technical communications? Select all that apply.

A) It is too direct.
B) It can be difficult to translate across cultures and languages.
C) It can be perceived as threatening and/or coercive.
D) It can be used to disguise, inflate, or trivialize the reality of a situation and true meaning of a communication.

Question 35

A(n) ____ is a delicate way to express something-a way of saying something without actually having to come right out and say it.

A) homophone
B) rumor
C) euphemism
D) pun

Question 36

Which of the following is not a euphemism for poor?

A) economically disadvantaged
B) broke as a goat
C) unable to make ends meet
D) temporary negative cash flow

Question 37

To be _____ is to intend to mean something other than, perhaps even opposite to, what is actually said.

A) ironic
B) didactic
C) trivial
D) obtuse

Question 38

A(n) _____ is an exaggeration intended to emphasize and/or be funny.

A) euphemism
B) litotes
C) hyperbole
D) idiom

Question 39

A(n) ____ is an understatement intended to emphasize and/or be funny.

A) euphemism
B) litotes
C) hyperbole
D) idiom

Question 40

A(n) ____ is a collection of words that, taken together, has come to mean something other than what the individual words mean.

A) euphemism
B) litotes
C) hyperbole
D) idiom

Question 41

Which of the following is an idiomatic expression? Select all that apply.

A) "under the weather" for sick
B) "miss the bus" for being too late to catch the buss
C) "hot potato" for controversial issue
D) "on the fence" for undecided on an issue

Question 42

For our writing to have clarity, we should prefer negative constructions to positive constructions.

Question 43

Which of the following is a negative construction? Select all that apply.

A) Don't you want to watch the movie?
B) Have you no preference for which movie we watch?
C) Might you be interested in a horror movie?
D) How can you not like that movie?

Question 44

A double negative occurs when there are two negative terms in the same sentence.

Question 45

Which of the following is an example of a double negative?

A) I never want to not wear socks.
B) He is always wearing no socks.
C) Nobody is ever going to believe she wore unicorn socks.
D) You and no one else wear those socks!

Question 46

A double negative is when we ask two questions at the same time.

Question 47

Which of the following is not an example of a double-barreled question?

A) Is the street clean and safe?
B) Do you think we should move and get a bigger house, or stay where we are and do no home improvements?
C) Do you agree or disagree that we should move and get a bigger house?
D) Why do you want to move out of our house?

Question 48

Plagiarism is but one form of unethical writing. Another form of unethical writing is presenting source material out of context, such that we give our audience the wrong impression of the point being made in the source.

Question 49

A common part of online courses, a blog is a virtual message board, where users can submit a message and read and reply to other people's messages.

Question 50

Where an original post responds directly to the discussion forum assignment prompt, a reply post is a response to a (reply or original) post.

Question 51

Which of the following is not a best practice for discussion forum posts? Select all that apply.

A) Explicitly address each component of the prompt.
B) Do not draw from the assigned readings; instead, draw from additional/outside readings.
C) Read all posts before submitting your own
D) Quote frequently rather than relying too heavily on your own words.

Question 52

Discussion forum posts do not require in-text citations or References.

Question 53

Expert witness testimony is the courtroom testimony of a lay witness.

Question 54

Both the prosecution and defense can have expert witnesses.

Question 55

Which of the following conditions must be satisfied for a person to testify as an expert witness? Select all that apply.

A) The expert's testimony must be relevant to some material fact.
B) The expert witness must have both educational and professional (career) experience in the subject matter about which s/he will testify.
C) The expert must be qualified in the subject matter about which s/he will testify.
D) The expert witness must have testified in a similar case before without incident.

Question 56

A key challenge in delivering effective expert witness testimony is striking the right balance between too much and not enough technical information.

Question 57

Which of the following strategies is not recommended to help jurors understand the testimony of expert witnesses?

A) Present as much detail as possible to be thorough and provide context.
B) Avoid jargon and specialized terms.
C) Break down complex concepts.
D) Use graphics to illustrate complicated processes and points.

Question 58

While an expert witness should not overshare, oversimplifying is a helpful way to communicate with jurors.

Question 59

Which of the following is not a best practice for delivering compelling expert witness testimony?

A) Answer the question that was asked.
B) Understand the question.
C) Give truthful and polite yet irrelevant and harmless responses to opposing counsel's questions.
D) Be prepared.

Question 60

As an expert witness, if the answer to a question is a qualified yes (e.g., "Yes, but …"), then how should you respond?

A) Begin your response with the qualification.
B) Ask the attorney to rephrase the question.
C) Keep it simple, and just say yes.
D) Refuse to answer the question.

Question 61

Which of the following is not a best practice for delivering compelling expert witness testimony?

A) Stick to the facts.
B) Respond quickly.
C) Tell the truth.
D) Remain calm.

Question 62

Which of the following should an expert witness giving testimony not do? Select all that apply.

A) Maintain eye contact with the lawyer questioning him/her.
B) Take on the role of victim advocate.
C) Argue as needed with the lawyer on cross-examination.
D) Make his/her testimony accessible to laypeople.