The Research of Linguistic Features of English Business Correspondence

朱昭颖

English business correspondence， as a channel to communicate with people all around the world， has applied in people’s conventional work and daily life. It can be regarded as an indispensable part in foreign trade. In the meanwhile， as a bridge of bilateral trade， English business correspondence can convey all kinds of information correctly and specifically， which is helpful to the development of foreign trade. In this passage， the author will analyze the features of English business correspondence from lexical features， syntactic features and textual features.

Lexical Feature of Business Correspondence

In the first place， there are a large number of common words in English. When you want to express yourself and make others know what you said， you need to choose some easy and simple words. This truth is also fit to English business correspondence. If you want to be understandable， you must use common words and remove some slang words. There is another reason for businessmen to use simple words- time. Today， businessmen are always busy in all kinds of affairs. They have lots of documents to deal with and many business correspondences to read. If the words that a business correspondence uses are too difficult， maybe the reader will ignore it.

Secondly， there is a proper use of technical terms and specialized vocabulary. They are always highly specialized and have the special meanings. In the business correspondences， we often use technical terms to explain some certain facts or phenomenon. If the affair that the two businessmen talk about in the business correspondence is familiar to both of them， then， the use of technical words can help the expression more specific and concise. With the help of technical terms， some long or difficult words can be avoided.

Thirdly， abbreviations are used in such letters. Today， both readers and writers would like to make their business letters be more clear， simple and efficient. So， the abbreviations are becoming more and more popular. With the help of abbreviations， people can spend less time to acquire much more information. Some abbreviations are simple， such as “Tks”， “Pls”. But as for other unfamiliar abbreviations， when people use them in their business letters， they are supposed to illustrate meanings in case of misunderstandings.

Syntactic Features of Business Correspondence

Syntax can be regarded as an important part in the grammar and it consists of a set of abstract rules that allow the words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences.

Firstly， there is the use of declarative sentences and imperative sentences. Usually， declarative sentences are used to state a fact or to explain something and they always occupy a large amount in a whole business correspondence. As for imperative sentences， they are always used to give commands or suggestions in the business correspondences. In real English business correspondences， imperative sentences are also very common and it has two main functions： to make a request and to remind something. Because of the little impoliteness of the imperative sentences， the writers always add a word “please” to the whole sentence in order to show his respect.

Secondly， simple sentences is the most frequently used. We can conclude that the writers are more willing to use some simple structure to pass on the information， which can make the writers more understandable. What’s more， the use of simple sentence can avoid some situation， such as the misunderstanding of the readers. Too many complex sentences will make the letters long and difficult. But， if there is only one type of sentence structure- simple sentence， it will let your readers feel dull. You need to focus on the variety of your sentence structure.

Textual Features of Business Correspondence

Business letters are used in some certain situation， it must follow some different textual characteristics.

Firstly， there are simple and straightforward subject headings. The function of the subject is to let the readers know if they are interested in the following content. In business correspondences， subject is crucial because it presents the main meaning of this letter and can avoid some people from taking this letter by mistake. There are some reasons for a writer to use the subject heading： to convey information， to require information， to request the readers to do something， to confirm something， to ask a question. What’s more， with the help of subject heading， it’s easy for people to file the different types of documents.

Secondly， there is the semi- formal salutation. The salutation can be regarded as a polite greeting. It is used at the beginning of the letter. Which kinds of salutation are used relies on the different degree of relation between writers and readers. We can group the salutation into four degrees： formal， semi- formal， informal and omitted.

Thirdly， there is a clear paragraph movement. When people write a business correspondence， the beginning paragraph is always a statement， which tells the reader the reason to write this letter. As for the main part of the business correspondence， it can be called the body paragraph. In this part， readers are expected to know about the most crucial information and the writers need to give a further explanation to the topic. The last part is a final paragraph in which the writer needs to conclude all the information appeared in the letter. It is also an important part for the whole letter.

Business correspondence can be used to exchange ideas， pass on information or to make both sides keep a good relationship and run their business. However， if you want to write an excellent business correspondence， it’s not an easy thing because any little error can result in a failure for the business organizations.

References

[1]Levison， s.c..1983. Pragmatics [M]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.

[2]常玉田，2007，《外貿函电写作》[M]，北京：中国人民大学出版社。