1. Has digital transmission changed the nature of communication? Your authors argue that the basic elements of communication have not changed as a result of digital transmission. Successful communication still requires the transmission of meaning from sender to receiver. However, others might contend that communication has profoundly changed as a result of new technologies. Explain your position.

2. Why do you think employers prefer messages that are not written like high school and college essays? Explain.

3. Why should business writers strive to use short, familiar, simple words? Does this "dumb down" business messages? Explain.

4. A wise observer once said that bad writing makes smart people look dumb. Do you agree or disagree, and why?

5. In a letter to the editor, a teacher criticized an article in USA Today on autism because it used the term autistic child rather than child with autism. She championed people first terminology, which avoids defining individuals by their ability or disability. For example, instead of identifying someone as a disabled person, one would say, she has a disability. What does people-first language mean? Can language change perceptions?