A Study of Business English Letters from the Perspective of the Cooperative Principle 英语毕业论文.docVIP

A Study of Business English Letters from the Perspective of the Cooperative Principle 1.0 Introduction Since China began to open up to the outside world and especially joined the WTO, business activities have increased rapidly. Today all kinds of communication means, such as letters, telegrams, telexes, faxes and e-mails, are applied in international business. However, most companies still choose business letters as the main method to establish business relations, cooperate with business partners and deal with commercial transactions. Besides being an efficient tool to convey information, letters are also accepted as permanent records, written contracts and legal documents of transactions, so business English letters attract more and more attention and become more and more necessary for businesspersons. As business letters have their unique linguistic features, they also arouse linguistic researchers’ interest. They analyze business English letters on the basis of many linguistic theories, one of which is the cooperative principle. This thesis aims to study business English letters from the perspective of the cooperative principle. First, an introduction to business letters is made. Then, an overview of the cooperative principle is made, after which analyses are made of the application of the cooperative principle to business English letters. It is hoped that this study could give businesspersons advice and help in their practical work. 2.0 A General Introduction to Business English Letters 2.1 Definition of Business English Letters As an important part of business activities, business letters are a special communication means. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (Hornby, 1997: 1003), a letter means a message written down or printed on paper, usually put in an envelope and sent to somebody or organization. Business letters refer to letters used to deal with business. As English is now widely used in the world, business