📝 Workbook · Business B1 · Unit 8

When things go wrong — Workbook

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Exercise 1

1. Vocabulary gap-fill

Complete each sentence with ONE word or phrase from the box.

Word bank — drag or tap, then tap a gap
  1. We've applied a temporary  drop  so orders keep going through.
  2. The 09:14  drop  affected 12% of transactions for 40 minutes.
  3. I've  drop  the ticket to my team lead — she can approve the refund.
  4. We  drop  the deployment at 09:15 and traffic recovered.
  5. The  drop  was a badly configured cache, not the payment provider.
  6. Please  drop  any similar errors so we can track them.
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Exercise 2

2. Past continuous vs past simple

Put the verbs in the correct tense.

  1. I (write) the report when the system (crash).
  2. We (test) the release when we (spot) the bug.
  3. While I (call) the vendor, my colleague (write) to the client.
  4. At 09:14 we (still / process) payments normally.
  5. When the alert (come) in, three of us (already / be) on the call.
  6. The team (roll out) the update when the site (go) down.
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Exercise 3

3. Which status update is stronger?

Choose the version that builds MORE trust.

  1. Opening line:

  2. Sentence two:

  3. Sentence three:

  4. Best language for the incident report:

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Exercise 4

4. Find and fix the mistake

Each sentence has ONE mistake.

  1. I was knowing there was a problem.
  2. When the system crashed, I write the report.
  3. While we rolled back, the phones were start ringing.
  4. The team was need help immediately.
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Exercise 5

5. Listening — three status updates, one outage

Three team leads brief the CEO on Slack voice-note about the same 40-minute outage. Who would you promote, coach, or worry about?

  1. Which voice sticks to the three-sentence rule?
  2. Which voice opens with excuses?
  3. Which voice sounds panicked?
Show transcript

Clara:Hi team, so as you know, the vendor has been having issues since Tuesday, we flagged this to procurement last month… anyway, payments went down this morning at some point, we're on it, more info when I have it.

Adam:Quick update. At 09:14 the payment gateway went down while we were processing the morning batch. I've routed traffic to the backup provider and 82% of orders are going through. No action needed from you — next update at 11:00.

Vera:So this is a disaster, we don't know what happened yet, everyone is on the call, the vendor isn't answering, I'll come back to you as soon as I know something.

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Exercise 6

6. Writing — your three-sentence status update

Choose ONE real (or realistic) incident from your work life. Write the three-sentence update. Sentence 1: past continuous + past simple ('At 09:14, we were processing… when…'). Sentence 2: past simple with ONE concrete action and ONE number. Sentence 3: what you need or 'no action needed from you — next update at [time]'. Max 80 words.

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Exercise 7

7. Case study preview

Before Case Study 8, answer briefly.

  1. A food-delivery app gets 40 one-star reviews in 48 hours after a bug. Do you reply publicly to each one, or issue one public statement?
  2. What is the ONE 'used to' sentence a founder should be able to say honestly by month 6?
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