British and American business etiquette modals practice

cultural training/ modals of obligation, prohibition and permission

Fill each gap below with at least modal verb or similar form (“have to” etc). You can also add adverbs like “usually” and “probably” if you like.

You _______________________ call a Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish person “English”.

In America, you ____________________ emphasise your (many) achievements in a job interview. In the UK you ___________________ be modest about your achievements.

In America, you _______________________________ say how proud you are of your children’s achievements, but in the UK you ____________________________________

The British often make critical comments about their country. You ________________ join in by making other negative comments about the UK.

In the UK, you ________________________ say sorry to someone who has bumped into you (even if it isn’t your fault at all).

In the UK, you ________________________________ pay each time you order a round of drinks for everyone and you ______________________________ take turns being the person on in your group who pays.

You ________________________________________________ smoke in a British pub.

In the UK, you _______________________________ bring humour into every meeting, presentation and conference speech.

You ___________________________ be exactly on time or a little early for a British business meeting, but you _______________________________ arrive ten to twenty minutes late for a dinner party at someone’s house

You ________________________________ use first names with managers of your company in both America and the UK

Check as a class or with the suggested answers.

Suggested answers

Many other answers are possible, so please check with your teacher if you wrote something different.

You _____mustn’t___________ call a Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish person “English”.

In America, you _____need to_______________ emphasise your (many) achievements in a job interview. In the UK you _______should____________ be modest about your achievements.

In America, you __________can_____________ say how proud you are of your children’s achievements, but in the UK you ______shouldn’t_____________

The British often make critical comments about their country. You __mustn’t___________ join in by making other negative comments about the UK.

In the UK, you _______should_________________ say sorry to someone who has bumped into you (even if it isn’t your fault at all).

In the UK, you _____have to _________________ pay each time you order a round of drinks for everyone and you ________have to/ must____________ take turns being the person on in your group who pays.

You __________can’t_______________ smoke in a British pub.

In the UK, you _____can/ should___________________ bring humour into every meeting, presentation and conference speech.

You ________must____________ be exactly on time or a little early for a British business meeting, but you _________should____________ arrive ten to twenty minutes late for a dinner party at someone’s house

You _________can (usually/ almost always) ___________ use first names with managers of your company in both America and the UK

What things above are different in your country? Make similar sentences about those and other things. Does your partner think it is true and/ or think the same is true about their country?

What other differences do you know between Britain and the USA?

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Related pages

Modals of obligation, prohibition and permission page

Modal verbs main page

British and American culture page

Cultural training main page