Book excerpt: This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction for students and professionals who are studying English for business or workplace communication and covers both spoken and written English. Based on up-to-date research in business communication and incorporating an international range of real-world authentic texts, this book deals with the realities of communication in business today. Key features of this book include: use of English in social media that reflects recent trends in business communication; coverage of the concept of communicative competence; analysis of email communication; introduction to informal English and English for socialisation as well as goodwill messages, such as thank you or appreciation messages, which are a part of everyday interaction in the workplace; examination of persuasive messages and ways to understand such messages; an e-resources website that includes authentic examples of different workplace genres and a reference section covering relevant research studies and weblinks for readers to better understand the topics covered in each chapter. This book goes beyond the traditional coverage of business English to provide a broad and practical textbook for those studying English in a workplace setting.