100 Essential Business English Verbs

Here are 100 commonly-used verbs you should know and be able to use if you work in an English-speaking business environment.
accept
add
admit
advertise
advise
afford
approve
authorize
avoid
borrow
break
build
buy
calculate
call
cancel
change
charge for
check
choose
complain
complete
confirm
consider
convince
count
decide
decrease
deliver
develop
dismiss
dispatch
distribute
divide
drop
employ
encourage
establish
estimate
exchange
extend
fall
fix
fund
get worse
improve
increase
inform
install
invest
invoice
join
lend
lengthen
lower
maintain
manage
measure
mention
obtain
order
organize
owe
own
pack
participate
pay
plan
present
prevent
process
produce
promise
promote
provide
purchase
raise
reach
receive
recruit
reduce
refuse
reject
remind
remove
reply
resign
respond
return
rise
sell
send
separate
shorten
split
structure
succeed
suggest
write
vary

List of 100 Essential Business English Nouns

100 commonly-used nouns you should know and be able to use if you work in an English-speaking business environment.

advantage
advertisement
advice
agenda
apology
authorization
bill
brand
budget
change
commission
comparison
competition
competitor
confirmation
costs
creditor
customer
deadline
debt
debtor
decision
decrease
deficit
delivery
department
description
difference
disadvantage distribution
employee
employer
enquiry
environment equipment
estimate
experience
explanation
facilities
factory
fall
feedback
goal
goods
growth
guarantee
improvement
increase
industry
instructions
interest
inventory
invoice
knowledge
limit
loss
margin
market
message
mistake
objective
offer
opinion
option
order
output
payment
penalty
permission
possibility
preparation price
product
production
profit
promotion
purchase
reduction
refund
reminder
repairs
report
responsibility
result
retailer
rise
risk
salary
sales
schedule
share
signature
stock
success
suggestion
supply
support
target
transport
turnover

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs
Commencement Address at Stanford University
delivered 12 June 2005, Palo Alto, CA

I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife -- except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college. This was the start in my life.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.
So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out okay. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned coke bottles for the five cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the "Mac" would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever -- because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky -- I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz¹ and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a two billion dollar company with over 4000 employees. We'd just released our finest creation -- the Macintosh -- a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.
And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. And so at 30, I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down -- that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me: I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, and I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometime life -- Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love.
And that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking -- and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking -- don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I've looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die.
Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It's Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the "bibles" of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 60s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I've always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 glasses of wine...A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, 'I want you To recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.The sand is everything else; the small stuff.If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the wine represented.The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend.'

A list of adjectives

-a- able adorable adventurous acidic afraid aggressive agreeable ajar alert alive amazing amused amusing ancient ashamed attractive average awesome awful

-b- bad beautiful beneficial better best big bite-sized bitter black black-and-white blushing boiling bouncy brave breakable brief bright broken brown bumpy bustling busy

-c - calculating calm careful careless caring charming chubby cheap cheerful clean clear closed cloudy clumsy cluttered cold colorful comfortable concerned cool cooperative coordinated
courageous crazy creepy crooked crowded cuddly cumbersome curly curvy cute

-d- damaged dangerous dark dazzling dead deep defiant delicious delightful delirious descriptive deserted disastrous disgusting dreary different difficult dirty distinct dizzy drab dry dull

-e- eager early easy elated elderly elegant embarrassed empty enchanted enchanting energetic envious equal even evil excellent excited exciting expensive extra-large extra-small

-f-fair familiar famous fancy far far-flung fast fat fearful fearless filthy fine first flaky flat flimsy fluffy foolish frail free fresh friendly frightened frightening full fumbling funny fuzzy

-g- giant gigantic gifted glamorous gleaming glistening glorious good gorgeous graceful grateful gray great greedy green grotesque gruesome grumpy gullible

-h-handy happy hard hard-to-find hateful healthy heavenly heavy helpful helpless hideous high homely horrible hot hungry husky

-i- icky icy ignorant ill-fated ill-informed impolite important incredible infamous insidious intelligent interesting irritating itchy

-j- jealous jittery jolly joyous juicy jumpy

-k-keen kind kindly

-l- lame large last late lazy lean light limping little long long-term loose loud lovely loving low lucky lumpy

-m- magnificent marvelous mammoth massive meaty meek mellow melodic messy milky miniature misty modern motionless mountainous muddy mundane murky mushy mysterious

-n- narrow natural naughty near neat new next nice nimble nippy noisy normal nutritious nutty

-o- obedient obese odd old old-fashioned open orange ordinary outgoing outrageous outstanding

-p- pale paltry perfect plain plastic pleasant polite poised poor powerful precious pretty precious previous pricey prickly proud puny purple pushy puzzled puzzling

-q- quaint quick quiet quirky

-r- rapid rare real red remarkable rich rigid right ripe roasted robust rotten rough round rude

-s- sad safe scared scary scrawny second second-hand selfish serious sharp shiny short shrill shy sick silent silky silly simple simplistic skinny sleepy slim slimy slippery slow small smart smoggy smooth soft solid sophisticated sore sour sparkling spicy spiffy spiteful spotless spotted squares tale steep sticky stingy stormy strange straight striped strong stupendous stupid sturdy substantial super superb superficial sweet

-t- tall tame tan tart tasty tedious tender tense terrific testy thankful thin third thirsty thoughtful tidy tight tiny tired tough tremendous tricky troubled truthful

-u- ugly unequal uneven unhealthy unique unkempt unknown unnatural unruly unsightly untidy unused unusual unwieldy unwritten upset used useful useless

-v- valuable vast victorious violet vivacious

-w- warm watery wealthy weak weary well-groomed well-made well-off well-to-do wet white whole wicked wide wide-eyed wiggly wild windy witty wonderful wooden worried wrong

-y-yellow young yummy

-z-zany zealous zesty

Adverbs -- Common List in American English

accidentally afterwards almost always angrily annually anxiously awkwardly
badly blindly boastfully boldly bravely briefly brightly busily
calmly carefully carelessly cautiously cheerfully clearly correctly courageously crossly cruelly
daily defiantly deliberately doubtfully
easily elegantly enormously enthusiastically equally even eventually exactly
faithfully far fast fatally fiercely fondly foolishly fortunately frantically
gently gladly gracefully greedily
happily hastily honestly hourly hungrily
innocently inquisitively irritably
joyously justly
kindly
lazily less loosely loudly
madly merrily monthly more mortally mysteriously
nearly neatly nervously never noisily not
obediently obnoxiously often only
painfully perfectly politely poorly powerfully promptly punctually
quickly quietly
rapidly rarely really recklessly regularly reluctantly repeatedly rightfully roughly rudely
sadly safely seldom selfishly seriously shakily sharply shrilly shyly silently sleepily slowly smoothly softly solemnly sometimes soon speedily stealthily sternly successfully suddenly
suspiciously swiftly
tenderly tensely thoughtfully tightly tomorrow too truthfully
unexpectedly
very victoriously violently vivaciously
warmly weakly wearily well wildly
yearly yesterday

All the prepositions you need to know for your tests

aboard about above absent according to across after against ahead of
all over along alongside amid or amidst among around as as of as to as + ADVERB OF TIME + as as early as as late as as often as as much as as many as, etc.
aside astride at away from bar barring because of before behind below beneath beside besides between beyond but by by the time of circa close by close to concerning considering despite down due to during
except except for excepting excluding failing for from
given in in between in front of in keeping with in place of
in spite of in view of including inside instead of into
less like minus near to next to notwithstanding
of off on on top of onto opposite
other than out out of outside over past
pending per plus regarding respecting round
save saving similar to since than thanks to (this means because of) through throughout till to toward or towards (both forms are correct, but toward is considered slightly more formal)
under underneath unlike until unto up
upon up to versus via wanting with
within without