Stylistic Style of Business English

Please refer to the following articles:

A Study on Stylistic Style and Linguistic Features of Business English

Liao Ying

Business English, such as business letters, agreements, contracts, advertisements, documents and business speeches, all belong to the category of applied style. Although each has its own characteristics, all kinds of applied articles have their own styles. This paper discusses the incisive and concise style and language features of business English from the aspects of choosing words, making sentences, and constructing effective paragraph and text structure, hoping to help international business workers improve their ability to use proper English.

Keywords: business English; Stylistic style; language feature

Business English, such as business letters, agreements, contracts, advertisements, documents and business speeches, belongs to the category of practical writing. Although they have their own styles, all kinds of practical writing have their own common styles. This paper discusses the incisive writing style and refined language features of business English from the aspects of the use of words, the composition of sentences, the structure of effective paragraphs and the structure of articles, aiming at improving the ability of international business workers to use appropriate English.

Keywords: business English; Writing style; Features of language

1. Introduction

When using a language to communicate, we should not only know how to use its grammatical rules to make sentences, but also choose the corresponding style according to different contexts, so as to use it properly and receive good communication results. In the process of learning English, China people often misuse register for lack of "stylistic awareness" or "stylistic insight". The so-called "register" refers to the occasion of language use. "These occasions are mainly social occasions" (Wang Zuoliang, Ding Xiangdao, 1987). However, the size of society and the number of occasions are countless. Without stylistic competence, the misuse of register is inevitable. Halliday said that "choosing the wrong register and confusing different registers is the most common mistake foreigners make when learning another language" (Halliday, 1973), which is the truth. This paper first discusses the application of stylistic knowledge in business context according to the theory of modern linguistics, and then discusses the incisive and concise stylistic style and language characteristics of business English from the aspects of choosing words, making sentences, constructing effective paragraphs and text structure.

2. The relationship between linguistics and the formation of business English style

Stylistics is a science that uses modern linguistic theories and methods to study style (Qin Xiubai, 2000), and it is a knowledge that studies the effect of language expression. It is generally believed that it originated from rhetoric in ancient Greece and formed in stylistics at the beginning of the 20th century. With the development of modern linguistic theory, especially the rise of sociolinguistics in 1960s, stylistics has been developed. Based on the principles of modern linguistics, it investigates and describes various language styles, first focusing on spoken language, and then studying various written languages, such as scientific articles, legal documents and commercial advertisements. In 1970s, Halliday advocated that language should be investigated and studied together with society and people in his systemic functional stylistic model, and put forward the theory of "register". It can be said that Han's functionalism theory has laid a theoretical foundation for the study of modern stylistics, and the appropriateness of language has become the central issue of modern stylistics research. In fact, Halliday's "register" refers to the social and cultural groups that use a unique language, such as scientific English and business English. Due to different purposes and occasions, register has changed. Halliday also believes that the sign of register variation is language material, which can be manifested in vocabulary and grammar, and they change with the change of register. It can be inferred that business English is a kind of English unique to business culture groups and a functional variant of modern English. The difference between business English and general English lies not only in purpose and meaning, but also in words, sentences and text structure, which is the result of long-term communication between international business workers. Business English involves many marginal subjects, such as marketing, economy, finance, accounting, law and management. Business activities involve foreign trade, technology introduction, investment attraction, foreign labor contract, business negotiation, economic and trade contract, bank collection, international payment and settlement, foreign insurance, international tourism, overseas investment and international transportation. Therefore, the business culture group is a huge social group. According to statistics, among the 654.38+0.6 billion people in the world who use English as their first language, second language or foreign language, almost 90% of them deal with business English every day (Liu Fagong, 2000). This huge social group and the register variation of English in the communication process of this social group should attract the attention of language researchers. From the perspective of modern stylistics, we should do some research on the laws and results of this variation, which is helpful for people to master and use business English quickly and correctly.

3. Use proper words and express clearly.

Linguists believe that words are closely related to style. Business English is a practical style, and its content and readers are highly targeted. In order to make it clear to readers at a glance, there is no doubt that "practical writing must be concise, straightforward and clear-cut" and "the style is more formal, showing off is not required, and it is not allowed to be casually written (Chen Ran, 1999). Therefore, whether writing business letters, drafting business documents or conducting business negotiations, the choice of words should be not only correct and appropriate, but also simple and clear. This forms a concise business English writing style.

3- 1 Make a long story short and avoid verbosity.

In the eyes of businessmen, shopping malls are battlefields and time is money. Therefore, in the "register" of business, all members of social and cultural groups have reached a kind of * * * knowledge, or formed an idea that business language must be concise, that is, to make a long story short and avoid verbosity. take for example

Use concise expressions instead of lengthy ones.

1. At this time (now) → now

2. A draft of $2,000.

($2000 draft) → $2000 draft

3. Attached to the letter → here.

4. Endorse on the back of this check → Endorse on the back of this check.

5. According to your requirements

(According to your requirements) → According to your requirements

6. For the price of 500 dollars (the price of 500 dollars) → for 500 dollars.

7. Asking (Requirements) → Asking

8. Under a separate cover → Separate

Examples like this can be found everywhere in business English. It can be seen that the choice of words is based on brevity, which is one of the main stylistic styles and writing characteristics of business English.

3-2 concise business terms

English has its own typical expressions, so does business English. For example, commercial contracts, consumer goods warranties, tool manuals, forms, instructions, etc. Everyone has his own special way of writing, and it is difficult to understand if he is not familiar with it "(Wang Zuoliang, Ding Xiangdao, 1987). In the long-term use of business English, a series of business terms have been formed in order to express conveniently and save time. For example:

CIF (cost, insurance and freight) is a price term, which means "CIF".

O/C (export collection) is a trade term, which means "import collection".

B/D (bank draft) is a financial term, which means "bank draft".

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is individual capital, which means "Gross Domestic Product".

CPI (Consumer Price Index) is a marketing and individual capital, which stands for "Consumer Price Index".

C/A (current account) is an accounting term, which means "current account"

Tpnd (theft and non-delivery) is a trade and insurance term, which means "theft and non-delivery insurance".

Wait, the list goes on. Frequent use of business terms is a typical stylistic style and language feature of business English. These business languages are concise, easy to remember and easy to use. They are not only abbreviations of a certain phrase, but also rich in meaning, involving the knowledge of many marginal disciplines. For example, CIF not only represents the pricing conditions, but also implies the rights and obligations of buyers and sellers. For sentences containing CIF terms, please quote your lowest price C3 CIF Shanghai, which can only be understood by business people.

3-3 The language is unpretentious and unpretentious.

The exquisiteness of language is also reflected in its unpretentious language. It tries to avoid those old and general business jargon and expresses it in concise modern English. . For example:

Use instead of use

We have received …→ We have received …

We have to admit → thank you …

This is to inform you ... → Please tell you.

Please note that ... → (omitted)

Express my heartfelt thanks to you → Thank you …

Compare the following two sentences:

Please note that we have received your invoice No.248. ..

We inform you that invoice No.248 has been received.

Your invoice No.248 has been received.

Your invoice no.248 has been received.

Obviously, the first sentence uses general and old meaningless business terms, which is ostentatious and artificial and not suitable for the business field; The second sentence is straightforward, straightforward, unpretentious, concise and easy to understand, which is suitable for the specific requirements of business occasions.

4. The sentences are concise and effective.

From the perspective of stylistic analysis, the so-called simple sentences and effective expressions should not only be concise in choice of words and correct in grammar, but also be used appropriately. Because "stylistic analysis is different from grammatical analysis". Grammatical analysis has rules to follow and is dominated by rules; Stylistic analysis has no rules to follow and is dominated by principles. Stylistic analysis is based on the specific context and the author's intention (Qin Xiubai, 2000). The same word may have different stylistic effects in different registers. For example:

All telex quotations are valid for five days.

In business register, this sentence means "all telexes are valid within five days after opening", "offer" is translated as "opening" and "be open" is translated as "effective", which has special language characteristics and unique writing style in business register, but when used in literary register, its meaning is completely different. Another example is:

Please expedite the opening of your L/C so as not to delay the shipment.

The writer means "please open the L/C as soon as possible to avoid delaying shipment". However, the word "fear" in the original sentence is too literary to be used in the "register" of business, because business style is not literary style. However, "lest" can be changed to "in order to", "for" or "lest", that is, the original sentence can be changed to:

Please expedite the opening of your L/C so as not to delay the shipment.

Concise and effective sentences are related to the number of words and the conciseness of sentences. In business style, except for long sentences in contracts, the average length of sentences in other business letters and documents is often 10-20 words, not exceeding 30 words. Try to mourn those unnecessary words. For example:

We'd like to know whether you will allow us to extend the shipment date by 20 days. If you do, please reply us by fax as soon as possible.

We'd like to know if you will allow us to postpone delivery for 20 days. Being too polite in expression makes the sentence long and unclear. Moreover, the meaning of "extending the shipment time by 20 days" is very vague, which is undoubtedly written by an author who is not familiar with the style of business English. In order to express effectively with limited words, this sentence can be simplified as:

If you allow us to delay the shipment until April 2 1, please reply by fax immediately.

If you agree to postpone the delivery time to April 2 1 day, please reply by cable as soon as possible.

The full text only uses 17 words, which makes the problem clear. It can be said that the writing is refined and the language is concise.

5. Strong logic and clear organization.

Critical linguist Roger Fowler and others (1979), Robert Hodge &; Gunther Crixus (1993) and others believe that the structure of language expression is based on ideology. Some social and cultural groups and related activities have relatively fixed language expressions. Business English also has its own fixed language expression, and the discourse structure is logically coherent. Logical rationality includes reasonable sentence structure, reasonable paragraph arrangement and reasonable discourse thinking. Meaning coherence refers to semantic coherence between sentences, content coherence between paragraphs and ideological coherence between contexts. For example, if you want to write a complaint letter about late delivery, you should first list the outline in the order of expression: the first paragraph should mention the supplier's commitment; The second paragraph should explain that the other party has not fulfilled its promise; The third paragraph should specify the losses caused to you by breach of contract; The fourth paragraph puts forward a claim, and the last paragraph hopes to settle the claim. Under the guidance of this "problem-solving mode", that is, the discourse thinking mode of synthesizing first and then analyzing, we can write the following concise and logical letters:

Dear gentlemen,

Our order no.2468

Your sales contract number is 950 1

We wish to refer to our order No.2468 and your sales contract No.9501,in which you promised to ship the goods we ordered in the middle of June and deliver them to Shanghai Port before the end of June.

But we would like to draw your attention to the fact that up to now, you have no news about the goods under the title order and sales confirmation.

As we said, July is the season for this commodity in our market, and the delivery time is very important to us. Your delay in shipment cost us $200,000.

In this case, we have to lodge a claim with you for100,000 USD.

We believe that you will give our claim the most favorable consideration and let us settle it at an early date.

Yours faithfully,

6. Conclusion

Stylistic study of business English is still a new field. However, I firmly believe that it is a booming field. Because business English is widely used, it has a wide coverage and high application value. Business English is essential for the writing of business letters, the drafting of economic contracts, business documents, the filling of business documents, the translation of product manuals, disputes in trade negotiations and the appeal, arbitration and judgment of economic cases. According to statistics, at present, more than 90% lawyers of international economic law in China can't defend in court, and can't understand or write international economic and trade documents well, mainly because their English is not up to standard, and they are not familiar with the style of business English and many marginal subjects related to business. However, with the formation of global economic integration and China's accession to the WTO, this phenomenon can no longer continue. The purpose of learning English today is very clear, that is, to master English as a communication tool to obtain important information, especially in the fields of economy, politics and military affairs. Appreciative language learning in the past can no longer meet this demand. In the face of deepening communication activities, it is imperative to combine English teaching with a certain major or discipline. "Chen Liping, 2000.

The rise of sociolinguistics affirms the social attribute and communicative function of language. The research results of genre and register show that specific communication environment, specific communication objects and specific communication themes will have a specific impact on the scope, mode and style of language use. It can be inferred that in business social groups, communication in English around the theme of business will have a specific impact on the use of English, that is, business English with unique style and expression will be formed. As mentioned above, this kind of problem has attracted the attention of many famous linguists at home and abroad, and they have made many exquisite expositions in this respect. I firmly believe that it will also attract the attention of every language learner, because they know that the social function of language is communication, and learning language is not to appreciate the emperor's new clothes.