The Price of Intelligence
Grammar: Passive Voice
A Business English English lesson exploring business.
What's in this lesson
A Business English ESL lesson on business, practising passive voice. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: The Price of Intelligence
Sixty-three percent of organisations surveyed by McKinsey in 2023 reported that AI deployment had already been scaled beyond the pilot stage — yet fewer than a quarter could demonstrate clear justification for that expenditure in writing. The gap between implementation and documentation is not a technical problem. It is a language problem. Boards approve budgets; CFOs sign off on allocation frameworks; project leads submit proposals. All of it requires the precise, impersonal vocabulary of formal business writing — and in the field of AI, that vocabulary is still being invented.
Vocabulary
- deployment
- justification
- expenditure
- implementation
- allocation
- integration
- efficiency gains
- assessment
- oversight
- deployed
Grammar: Passive Voice
- Verb → noun
- The company decided to implement the system → The implementation of the system was approved. — verb becomes abstract noun
- Adjective → noun
- The process is efficient → The board noted the efficiency of the process. — adjective becomes abstract noun
Discussion questions
- Do companies communicate their AI strategies honestly, or do they hide behind jargon?
- Should a CFO need to understand AI technically before approving its budget?
- Is formal business language a sign of rigour — or a way to avoid being held accountable?
The Price of Intelligence
Grammar: Passive Voice
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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