Abstract

The international trade between different countries is more and more frequent and close with the development of globalization. As one of the most significant ways of international business communication, business correspondence plays an important role of intercommunication and contact. The further study of business correspondence is useful to reduce cultural barriers and make the business activities done successfully. Taking Politeness Principle as the major theoretical framework, this thesis firstly introduces the definition and maxims of Politeness Principle and writing principles of business correspondence and then takes the method of combining the theory with practice, listing some examples to analyze how Politeness Principle applies in business correspondence from the levels of lexicon, syntax, voice, tense and mood. The thesis aims at indicating that politeness and sincerity have important effects on business correspondence writing under the guidance of Politeness Principle.

Key Words: business correspondence; Politeness Principle; Cooperative Principle; application

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Theoretical Framework-2

2.1 Theories of Politeness-2

2.1.1 Cooperative Principle-2

2.1.2 Politeness Principle-3

2.2 Business Correspondence and its writing principles-4

2.2.1 About Business Correspondence-4

2.2.2 Writing Principles of Business Correspondence-4

3 Literature Review-5

3.1 The Related Study Abroad-5

3.2 The Related Study at Home-5

4 Politeness Principle in Business Correspondence Writing-6

4.1 words-6

4.1.1 Hedges-6

4.1.2 Personal pronouns-7

4.2 Sentences-8

4.2.1 Conditional Clause-8

4.2.2 Interrogative Sentence-10

4.3 Tense, Voice, Mood-11

4.3.1 Past Tense-11

4.3.2 Active Voice and Passive Voice-12

4.3.3 Subjunctive Mood-13

5 Conclusion-14

References-16