B2 · Business Writing · 10 minThe English business report, taught brick by brick.
A structured ten-slide lesson for B2 learners. Hear the core of a report in context, meet the three building blocks from a tutor — state the purpose, present the findings, make recommendations — then practise them in the interactive drills before a final quiz. The whole arc is under ten minutes and nothing requires a signup.
- CEFR levelB2 · Upper intermediate
- Time to completeAbout 10 minutes
- SkillsWriting, Vocabulary, Listening, Business English
- Bricks10 blocks
01 / 06
What a report has to do
A business report is written for someone who has to make a decision and has little time to make it. Often that reader is a manager who opens the report between two meetings, reads the first paragraph, glances at the headings and jumps to the recommendations. A good report is built for exactly that kind of reading. It says at the start what it is for, it keeps facts apart from conclusions, and it ends with clear proposals that someone can approve or reject. That gives it three blocks. Block one states the purpose and, briefly, where the information comes from. Block two presents the findings: the facts, the figures and what they suggest. Block three makes the recommendations: what should happen next, and who should do it. Many companies also expect headings such as "Introduction", "Findings" and "Recommendations", sometimes with a short summary at the top, so follow the format your company uses. In its shortest form, a single sentence can carry all three blocks: "The aim of this report is to assess our flexitime scheme: the survey shows that 68% of staff use it every week, so we recommend extending it to all departments." Purpose, findings, recommendation — the reader knows at once what was examined, what came out and what there is to decide.
02 / 06
Block 1: state the purpose
The introduction answers two questions: what is this report about, and where does the information come from? The usual openers are "The aim of this report is to …", "The purpose of this report is to …" and the slightly lighter "This report looks at …". In these openers, "aim" or "purpose" is followed by "of this report is" and then a to-infinitive: "The aim of this report is to assess the flexitime scheme introduced in January." Choose a precise verb. "Assess", "evaluate", "compare", "examine" or "present" tell the reader what kind of report to expect. Then add one sentence on the method: "Data was collected through an online survey of 120 employees and interviews with four team leaders." The passive is common here, because the method matters more than the person who carried it out, but "We surveyed 120 employees" is just as acceptable in many companies. Keep the introduction short. It sets up the report; it does not give away all the results. Two or three sentences are usually enough.
03 / 06
Block 2: present the findings
The findings section presents what you found, as neutrally as you can. Start with the facts and give each figure a source and, where relevant, a time period: "The survey shows that 68% of staff use flexitime every week." "According to the HR figures, overtime fell by 15% between January and June." "Most respondents said that they could plan their week better." Then, in a separate sentence, say what the facts mean — with the right amount of caution. "This suggests that …" and "This indicates that …" interpret a result without claiming more than the data can carry; "This proves that …" is rarely justified by a single survey. Watch the punctuation: after "shows", "found", "said" or "suggests", English puts no comma before "that" — "The survey shows that …", not "The survey shows, that …". If you have several findings, give each its own short paragraph or bullet point, ideally in order of importance. Keep recommendations out of this section: the findings describe the situation, the recommendations change it.
04 / 06
Block 3: make recommendations
The recommendations are often the part your reader reads first, so make each one concrete: what should happen, who should do it and by when. Link every recommendation to a finding, so the reader can see why it makes sense. Two patterns are safe and common. "We recommend" plus the -ing form: "We recommend extending the scheme to all departments from September." And "We recommend that" plus a clause: "We recommend that team leaders review the core hours every six months." For a more impersonal tone, use "It is recommended that …": "It is recommended that all departments adopt the scheme." Softer alternatives are "We would suggest …" and "One option would be to …". The verb "recommend" is not normally followed by a to-infinitive, so "We recommend to extend the scheme" is not idiomatic. If a recommendation has a cost or a risk, mention it briefly; a recommendation that hides its downside only invites more questions. If your company's format expects a closing sentence, add one, such as "In conclusion, the scheme has worked well and should be extended."
05 / 06
The German traps: recommend, the comma, information, aktuell
Four places where German gets in the way. First, "recommend": "Wir empfehlen, die Regelung auszuweiten" tempts you into "We recommend to extend the scheme". English does not normally follow "recommend" with a to-infinitive; use the -ing form or a that-clause instead: "We recommend extending the scheme" or "We recommend that all departments adopt it". Second, the comma: German puts a comma before "dass", so "Die Umfrage zeigt, dass …" turns into "The survey shows, that …" far too easily. In English, a that-clause after a verb such as "show", "find" or "suggest" takes no comma: "The survey shows that 68% of staff use flexitime." Third, "information" is uncountable in English: "useful information", "a piece of information", but not "informations" or "an information". The same goes for "advice", "feedback" and "equipment". Fourth, the false friend "aktuell": the current figures are "the current figures" or "the latest figures". English "actual" means "real", as in "the actual cost was higher than planned", and "actually" means "in fact".
06 / 06
Clear and easy to scan: getting the style right
A report should be easy to scan. Use headings that tell the reader where they are — "Introduction", "Findings", "Recommendations" — and keep paragraphs short, with one main point each. Bullet points work well for lists of findings or recommendations, but write full sentences inside them, so each point makes sense on its own. Choose a neutral register: "staff", "employees" or "respondents" when you mean exactly those groups, and "fell by 15%" rather than "went way down". "People" is neutral but less precise; "guys" is informal. In a formal report, leave out contractions such as "don't" and "it's". Be careful with absolute words: "all", "never" and "proves" invite the reader to look for the exception, while "most", "rarely" and "suggests" match what a survey can show. Finally, check that the three blocks fit together. Every recommendation should rest on a finding, and every finding should relate to the purpose you stated at the start. If a finding leads nowhere, cut it; if a recommendation has no finding behind it, add the evidence or drop the recommendation.