How to speak in a gender-neutral way in business English exams

Often in business examinations, we have to discuss, or write about general situations in the workplace.

This applies for normal daily business, too.

Let me give you an example:

Imagine you have to discuss the following topic:

“Choosing training courses for individual staff members.”

You can quickly get into speaking like this:

“I will speak to the employee and discuss with him (or her) what courses he (or she) would like to do.”

Clearly, if we speak about only him, or her, this would be wrong because employees are both men and women.

Always using the phrase “him or her” would be a bit tricky too.

So what is the solution?

Easy! All you have to do is speak in the plural. Thus, the dialogue would be, “I will speak to the employees and discuss with them what courses they would like to do.”

This might seem like a small issue, but the use of gender-correct language is becoming more and more important in the workplace.

In business exams, it will be expected, particularly at B2 and C1 levels.

Wayne Caers