商务英语信函的句法特征

商务英语信函的句法特征

1.Introduction

1.1 literature review

This study focuses on the morphological and syntactic features of English business correspondences. In order to finish this study effectively, I read some related literatures and this helps me a lot. Now I shall do a detailed analysis about the literatures.

In the article “the features and application of English business correspondences in e-time”, the writer explained his main idea in accordance with the traditional principle “seven Cs”, that is Completen ess, Clearness, Concreteness, Conciseness, Correctness, Courtesy and Consideration. This article can be divided into two parts. The writer firstly makes an analysis of the business correspondences and makes sure that the readers are clear about the layout of business correspondences. And then the writer states the unique features of business correspondences in e-time. “This part is divided into two sub-parts to analyze the features, one from the aspect of the form of business correspondences and the other f rom the aspect of contents”[1]. At last the writer states the meaning of his study.

The article “the grammatical features of English business correspondences” by Gao Jiayong “talks about the features from five aspects”[2], but he viewed the features just from the syntax. Articles written by other people also account for the features, such as “the lingual features of business correspondences and several important principles” by Wang Yuanyuan, “lingual features of English in business correspondences” by Tian Lan and so forth. All those articles analyze the features from their own points of view.

1.2 purpose of this study

My study aims to seek out the morphological and syntactic features of English business correspondences. Before my study, there have been many researches about this topic, but through my reading those articles, I find that they are more or less incomplete. So I intend to make an analysis as comprehensive as possible.

Besides, as time goes by, everything is changing. The business nowadays can be somewhat different from that of before, and so are the English business correspondences. And they must have possessed some new features as they develop. This study also tries to find out these new features.

To sum up the morphological and syntactic features of English business

correspondences, the writer hopes that this paper will do some help to business men. And this study shall be a useful instruction to guide people to write business letters. An expert business letter will surely lead to success and unquestionably will also spur the development of economy.

This article is divided into five parts. The first part is instruction. The second part shall explain two basic related concept, morphology and syntax. The third part is about the morphological features of English business correspondences and the fourth part is about the syntactic features. The fifth part shall make a conclusion.

2.some basic related concepts

2.1clarification of morphology

Morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed. “Just as the formation of sentences is governed by rules, so is the structure of words. Morphology is divided into two sub-branches: inflectional morphology and lexical or derivational morphology. The former studies the inflections and the latter is the study of word-formation”[3].

2.2 clarification of syntax

Syntax is a subfield of linguistics. It studies the sentence structure of language. The term syntax came originally from Greek. It literally meant arrangement. It means that sentences are structured according to a particular arrangement of words. Well-arranged sentences are considered grammatical sentences. Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.

As a major component of grammar, syntax consists of a set of abstract rules that allow word to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences. “A sentence is considered grammatical when it is in agreement with the grammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers. Universally found in the grammars of all human language, syntactic rules comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker known as linguistic competence” [3].

3.morphological analysis of English business correspondences

English business correspondence is a kind of common style in trading activities. It serves varieties of business and reflects the main content of commerce, so its diction and sentences both possess some special features. In this chapter, the paper shall explain the morphological features of English business correspondences. And this chapter is divided into seven sub-parts: formal words, old English words adopted, commercial terms, words of politeness, word class shift, the usage of mandatory verbs and acronym.