Business decisions: expressing certainty and probability

Business decisions β€” a B2 English lesson. Practise expressing degrees of certainty and expand vocabulary for professional communication.

Business decisions: expressing certainty and probability
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Summary

This ESL lesson for B2 English students explores Business English, Certainty. Using a real article as the basis for discussion, students develop reading and listening comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar skills across a 90-minute class.

The grammar focus is Expressing degrees of certainty. Key vocabulary includes highly probable (adjective phrase), slight chance (noun phrase), absolutely certain (adjective phrase) and more, all drawn directly from the source material. The practical English section gives students useful phrases for real-life situations: You are in a team meeting discussing a new, high-risk project. You need to express your level of confidence, raise concerns, and ask for clarification..

Activities

It's highly probable that our new product launch will be a success given the market research.
However, we must consider that there's a slight chance of unexpected competition.
I'm absolutely certain that our marketing strategy is robust.
It's unlikely we'll face major issues with supply chain, but we should have a contingency plan.
We are fairly confident in reaching our sales targets for the quarter.
There's a strong possibility of expanding into new markets next year.
Nevertheless, we can't be entirely sure about the regulatory changes.
We definitely need to monitor those developments closely.
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Expressing certainty in business
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Vocabulary focus

The vocabulary section introduces B2-level words and phrases related to Business English, Certainty. Key terms include highly probable (adjective phrase), slight chance (noun phrase), absolutely certain (adjective phrase), unlikely (adjective), fairly confident (adjective phrase). Students practise using these terms in context through exercises drawn from the source material.

Grammar focus

This lesson focuses on Expressing degrees of certainty. In English, especially in business, it's important to show how sure you are about something. We use adverbs and specific phrases to modify our statements.

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Title: Expressing Certainty & Probability in Business Decisions
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