商务英语写作的文体特色

The Stylistic Features of Business English Writing

Abstract: In this paper, it describes the stylistic feature of business English writing and points out that it owns five characters:plainness, clearness, conciseness, formalness, courtesy.

Key words: business writing；stylistic；feature

It is generally accepted that: “ Business circle is like battlefield”. In the business circle, time and efficiency are both the struggling aims for both sides. Therefore, business English writing needs conciseness and pursuit of efficiency. Turning over business English writing, we can see obviously that most of them is coming straight to the point, frankly to the subject matter. It has no polite or seasonal greeting or salutation, nor does unnecessary pleonasm. And the body of it also keeps to the principle of plainness, clearness, conciseness, formalness and courtesy.

1 The Stylistic Feature of Business English Writing

1.1 Plainness

Generally speaking, business English writing is not like literatural English or advertisement English. It does not pursue shining words, especially avoiding the use of flaring ,deserted or obscure words; It does not aim at the artial beauty of language so it employs seldom the rethoric methods, Such as trope, exaggeration, personification and so on. The language is unadorned even if it is a sale letter for commodity. Please look at the following sale letter for men’s suits: Gentlemen:Last year we achieved 30% increase in the sales of our businessmen’s suits. We believed that this happy state of affairs can be attributed to two causes. First, we managed to avoid passing on any part of our increased manufacturing costs. Second, we believe our designs and colors are the most attractive that we have ever produced. And so we are happy to be able to tell you that our new season’s suits are, if anything, more attractive than last year’s and our prices will compare very favourably with those of any of our competitors. We believe that you will agree that our samples prove the truth of our claims. We look forward to an even larger order than the one you favoured us with last year.

Yours truly

In this sale letter, it only uses 1 number ( 30%) to show the improvement of the rate of sale; it just makes use of 2 facts to account for the reason of this situation. In the letter, it totally employs 4 adjectives and 1 adverb, in which it only has 1 adjective’s superlative degree ( the most attractive) and 2 comparative degrees.( more attractive, larger). It is no flowery, flaring words or exaggeration words. Indeed, the language is unadorned and simple.

1.2 Clearness

To meet the needs of improving the communicative efficiency in the both trade sides, the sentences are natural and straight, the attitudes are clear and explicit. And to reach the accuracy, the meaning will never cut both ways, let alone be obscure and difficult to understand through which it avoids causing the misleading and error of information. Business English writing has the following characteristics in the organization of sentence pattern, verb tense, paragraph so that could make the meaning clear:

(1) Use more imperative sentence. For example,there are plenty of imperative sentences in the sale letter. Its aim is to advise or urge to the customer to act immediately, and place an order to