📝 Daily Practice
🎯 Lesson Goal
This lesson helps you understand and use language for giving and receiving feedback during performance reviews at work. You will learn useful expressions and how to communicate your opinions clearly and politely. This lesson focuses on phrases and structures commonly used in workplace feedback to improve communication skills.
🧠 Grammar Focus
Performance reviews often use polite modal verbs and conditional structures to give feedback without sounding too direct. ‘Should’ gives advice: ‘You should improve your time management.’ ‘Could’ suggests a possible improvement: ‘You could attend more team meetings.’ Softer expressions include ‘It would be helpful if you could…’ and ‘You might consider…’. Positive feedback commonly uses present perfect forms to describe achievements up to now: ‘You have handled client relationships well.’ When giving feedback, combine clear examples with polite language so that suggestions sound constructive, professional, and specific.
📖 Short Reading
Maria had her yearly performance review last week. Her manager said she has done well, especially in handling client relationships. However, he suggested that she should improve her time management skills to meet deadlines more consistently. He also mentioned that it would be helpful if she could attend more team meetings to stay updated. Maria appreciated the feedback and said she might try new tools to organize her tasks better. She asked if she could receive monthly updates to track her progress. The manager agreed, explaining that regular feedback helps improve performance. Maria felt motivated and planned to work on the areas discussed, confident that this feedback would help her grow professionally.
✏️ Exercise 1 – Fill in the Blanks
1. The manager said that Maria ____ improve her time management skills. (should / might / can)
2. It would be helpful if you ____ attend more team meetings. (will / could / must)
3. If you ____ complete reports on time, the project will benefit. (does / do / did)
4. Maria ____ try new tools to organize her work better. (might / must / should)
5. The manager explained that regular feedback ____ help improve performance. (would / will / can)
6. I would suggest that you ____ clearer goals for your tasks. (set / sets / setting)
7. You ____ focus more on deadlines to meet expectations. (should / must / are)
8. Maria felt ____ after receiving positive feedback from her manager. (confident / confidenting / confidence)
🔗 Exercise 2 – Matching
1. performance review
2. suggest
3. constructive criticism
4. attend
5. time management
6. deadline
7. encourage
8. progress
✅ Exercise 3 – Multiple Choice
1. Which phrase is polite for giving feedback?
2. How can you express uncertainty about a suggestion?
3. What does ‘constructive criticism’ mean?
4. Choose the correct sentence for a conditional suggestion:
5. What is a good way to ask for feedback?
6. Which phrase shows polite disagreement?
7. How do you say improvement is possible?
8. Choose the correct modal verb to give advice:
📝 Writing Practice
1. Write 3–5 sentences explaining how you would give feedback to a colleague during a performance review. Use polite expressions and suggest improvements or praise.
📚 Key Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| performance review | a meeting to discuss work progress |
| feedback | opinions about your work |
| suggest | to give an idea or advice |
| improve | to get better |
| deadline | the time by which work must be done |
| time management | planning how to use time well |
| constructive criticism | helpful advice to improve |
| attend | to be present at a meeting or event |
| encourage | to give support or confidence |
| professional | relating to work |
| organize | to arrange things in order |
| regular | happening often |
| progress | movement towards a goal |
| confident | feeling sure about something |
🔎 Answer Key
- exercise_1_fill_blanks: 1.should 2.could 3.do 4.might 5.can 6.set 7.should 8.confident
- exercise_2_matching: 1.performance review – a meeting to discuss work progress 2.suggest – to give advice or ideas 3.constructive criticism – helpful advice to improve 4.attend – to be present at a meeting 5.time management – planning how to use time well 6.deadline – the time work must be finished 7.encourage – to support and give confidence 8.progress – moving forward towards a goal
- exercise_3_multiple_choice: 1.I would suggest improving this. 2.You might. 3.Advice to help improve. 4.If you work hard, you will succeed. 5.Can I receive monthly updates to track progress? 6.I see your point, but… 7.You might improve with practice. 8.You should finish earlier.
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