6 Look at the sentences in activity 4 again. Look at the grammar. Then decide whether the following parts of grammar tend to be formal (f) or less formal (l) in English.

1) phrasal verbs e.g. ‘put up a price’, ‘get on with someone’

2) adjectives of feeling e.g. ‘great!’, ‘excellent!’

3) short, direct questions e.g. ‘Where is it?’, ‘When are you arriving?’

4) idioms e.g. ‘put your feet up’, ‘not a snowball’s chance in hell’

5) slang e.g. Using ‘guy’ instead of ‘man’, ‘quid’ instead of ‘pound’

6) modal verbs e.g. ‘could’, ‘would’

7) imperatives /orders e.g. ‘Write soon!’, ‘Pass me the pen!’

8) longer words and sentences e.g. ‘increase’ instead of ‘put up’, ‘reasonably- priced’ instead of ‘cheap’

9) more difficult grammar e.g. ‘When will you be arriving?’ instead of ‘When are you arriving?’

10) using the passive tense when describing a problem e.g. ‘A mistake has been made’ instead of ‘You have made a mistake’

11) using a question when giving an instruction e.g. ‘Could you …?’ instead of ‘You will …’

12) making a suggestion instead of using the present simple ‘Why don’t we …’ instead of ‘I want to …’

Keiko Fujumoto works in an office in Tokyo. She’s written an e-mail to her Scottish friend, Sue.

Keiko has a new boss at work, a British woman. The British woman is very different to Keiko’s previous boss, Ito-san, a Japanese man.

As you read the e-mail decide if you would expect a boss from your own country to be more like Mrs Gleave or more like Mr Ito.

Dear Sue Thank you for your e-mail. Scotland sounds cold. Try to stay warm! I’m writing to you to see if you can give me some advice about my new boss at work. My new boss is a British woman called Mrs Gleave, although she tells me to call her Sharon. Mrs Gleave, sorry Sharon, is very different to my previous boss, Ito-san, who was a Japanese man of course! I find Sharon’s behaviour a bit confusing, so maybe you can explain to me why she does and says some things. First of all, she tells me to call her Sharon, but that’s her first name! She also treats me like we’re good friends, but we’ve only just met and she’s my boss. I wonder if she’s lonely and not used to being a boss. She asks me for advice about business problems too, which is very strange. What do you think? There are some other things I can tell you about as well. Sharon never asks me to make her tea and coffee. Ito-san was always very pleased when I made him coffee. Sharon makes her own coffee, which makes me wonder if she’s angry with me. However, she’s happy to ask me to do new things in my work. I’m not always sure I’ve got the experience to do them and that makes me worried. Sharon checks my work too, which makes me afraid of making mistakes. I’m very interested in hearing your advice, so please write soon! Best regards Keiko

7 Look at the e-mail again and try to decide why Keiko is confused by her new British boss. Make notes of your ideas in the table below:

	Problem	Explanation
1	Example: Names	In Japan, a worker addresses their boss formally using the boss’s family name followed by ‘san’ to show respect. In a UK office, everyone uses first names.
2	Friendly bosses and working relationships
3	Business problems and decision-making
4	Tea and coffee and duties
5	New tasks and responsibilities
6	Checking work and accountability