On the 128 pages you’ll find an A–Z of modern Business English, including useful words and expressions, corporate jargon, acronyms and initialisms, alongside explanations of British workplace culture and its unwritten rules. There are also context-based exercises to put the language into practice, interesting facts and plenty of humour to keep things from becoming painfully corporate. Free online audio provides additional pronunciation and listening support.
It’s a particularly good choice for proficient English learners, international professionals, postgraduate students preparing for work in the UK, and anyone who already knows formal Business English but would like to understand what people in British workplaces actually say and what they mean when they say it.
Teachers can absolutely steal from it too. For Business English or higher-level adult classes, individual entries can provide vocabulary work, discussion starters and a way into the cultural side of professional communication, the bit that’s often much harder to teach from a conventional coursebook.
Lair’s tip: As you work through the book, don’t try to remember everything. Pick a couple of expressions at a time. Write down a situation where each one might come up, then challenge yourself to use at least one of them in a real conversation, email or meeting that week.
If you don’t work in English yet, invent a realistic situation instead and say your response out loud. The aim isn’t to collect as much Business English as possible, it’s to make a smaller amount of it feel like your English.
