英语毕业论文an analysis of language features in english advertisements

AN

ANALYSIS

OF

LANGUAGE

FEATURES

IN

ENGLISH

ADVERTISEMENTS摘要

本文旨在通过对书面英语广告的语言分析总结出广告英语在词汇﹑句法﹑篇章上的语言特点。为了使研究从数据出发得出科学结论，本文作者建立了一个拥有60篇各类广告的小型语料库。通过对此语料库中日用品广告﹑科技设备广告﹑效劳业广告的深入细致的定量和定性分析，总结出广告英语在此三类广告中的相同点与不同点，并且根据语言的意义，风格及功能解释广告英语的共性以及广告英语在不同类型广告中的特殊性。

本文共分五个局部，第一局部和第五局部分别为介绍与总结，中间三个局部为本文核心，分别展开广告英语在词汇﹑句法﹑篇章三个层面的分析。本文的结论均来自于对语料库的分析。整个研究从数据出发，由数据驱动，由此进行语言学上的分析与概括。关键词:

广告英语，词汇，句法，篇章，相同点，不同点

AN

ANALYSIS

OF

LANGUAGE

FEATURES

IN

ENGLISH

ADVERTISEMENTSAbstract

This

paper

presents

an

analytical

study

of

the

language

features

of

English

advertisements

at

lexical,

syntactic

and

discourse

levels.

In

order

to

conduct

a

data-driven

study,

the

author

builds

a

corpus

of

60

English

advertisements.

It

is

hoped

that

through

the

detailed

survey

of

three

types

of

advertisements:

namely,

daily

consumer

goods

ads,

technical

equipment

ads,

service

ads,

similarities

and

differences

in

advertising

language

features

can

be

summarized

and

possible

reasons

will

be

given

in

the

light

of

the

meaning,

and

function

of

language.This

paper

will

be

presented

in

five

parts.

The

first

part

is

the

introduction

and

the

last

conclusion.

The

focus

of

the

paper

is

laid

on

the

three

middle

parts

which

respectively

analyze

language

features

at

lexical,

syntactic

and

discourse

levels.

The

conclusion

of

this

paper

is

drawn

from

the

data

analysis.

In

the

analysis,

examples

from

the

corpus

will

be

given;

figures,

tables

and

graphs

will

also

be

offered

to

make

the

paper

understandable

and

persuasive.It

is

hoped

that

the

study

can

shed

light

on

the

language

features

of

advertisements

and

also

provide

help

to

copy

writers

and

advertising

English

learners.KEYWORDS:

English

Advertisements,

Lexical,

Syntactic,

Discourse,

Similarities,

Differences

Contents

1.Introduction

………………1.1Rationale

of

the

study

……………………1.2Definition

of

advertising

…………………...11.3Focus

of

the

present

study

…………………11.4Sources

of

data

…………….22.Lexical

features

……………22.1Classification

of

advertising

and

its

audience

……………..

22.2Similarities

at

the

lexical

level

…………….32.2.1Few

verbs

are

used

………...32.2.2Use

of

emotive

words

……………………..42.2.3Make

pun

and

alliteration

………………….42.2.4Use

of

weasel

words

……….52.3Differences

at

the

lexical

level

…………….62.3.1Gender

identity

in

advertisements………….62.3.2Selection

of

Adjectives

……………………72.3.3Compound

words

………….82.3.4Use

of

pronouns

……………83.Syntactical

features

………93.1Similarities

…………………93.2Differences

…………………103.2.1Headlines

…………………..103.2.2Comparison

of

headlines

of

different

types

of

ads

………...114.Discourse

features...………..124.1Body

copy

of

advertisements

……………...124.2Differences

in

body

copy

…………….125.Conclusion

…………………14Acknowledgement

Sincere

thanks

go

to

Dr.

Wei

Naixing

for

his

insightful

guidance

and

earnest

help

all

through

the

searching,

analysis

and

paper-writing

stages.The

author

also

wants

to

extend

her

thanks

to

Ms.

Linda

Frost

who

has

given

much

help

in

data

collecting.

References[1]

Bolinger,

Dwight

&

Sears,

Donald

A.

Aspects

of

Language

third

editionNew

York:

Harcourt

Brace

Jovanovich

1981[2]

Bovee,

Courtland

L.

&

Arens,

William

F.

Contemporary

Advertising

forth

editionHomewood,

[3]

Gove,

Philip

Babcock

Webster’s

Third

New

International

DictionarySpringfield,

[4]

Gregory,

Michael

Language

Varieties

and

Their

Social

ContextsLondon:

Routledge

&

Kegan

Paul

Ltd.

1981[5]

Jefkins,

Frank

William

Advertising

Philadelphia,

PA:

Macdonald

and

Evans

1985[6]

O’Donnell,

W.

R.

&

Todd,

Loreto

Variety

in

Contemporary

EnglishLondon:

George

Allen

&

Unwin

(Publishers)

Ltd.

1985[7]

Roberts,

William

H.

&

Turgeon,

Gregoire

About

Language

second

editonBoston:

Houghton

Mifflin

Co.

1989[8]

Vestergaard,

Torben

&

Schr

der,

Kim

The

language

of

AdvertisingOxford[Oxfordshire];

New

York,

[9]

方薇

?现代英语广告教程?

南京大学出版社

1997[10]崔刚，韩宝成，李营，?广告英语?北京理工大学出版社1993<P&NBSP;ALIGN=CENTER>1.

Introduction

1.1

Rationale

of

the

study

We

live

in

a

world

of

advertising.

As

potential

consumers,

we

are

endlessly

bombarded

with

all

kinds

of

product

or

service

information

from

various

media

including

newspapers,

magazines,

television,

radio,

posters

and

Internet,

etc.

Advertising

provides

a

valuable

service

to

society

and

its

members,

because

it

defines

for

consumers

the

meaning

and

the

role

of

products,

services,

and

institutions.

It

indicates

the

difference

that

exists

between

brands

of

products

and

alternative

services,

as

well

as

the

distinguishing

characteristics

of

companies

and

institutions.

Advertising

also

tells

the

consumer

what

a

specific

product,

brand

or

service

should

do

when

it

is

used

and

thus

helps

him

or

her

to

understand

and

evaluate

experience

with

the

products

and

services

that

he

or

she

uses.

On

the

other

hand,

by

making

people

aware

of

products,

service

and

ideas,

advertising

promotes

sales

and

profits.

Finally,

advertising

is

one

of

the

major

forces

that

are

helping

improve

the

standard

of

living

around

the

world.

Combined

with

all

these

communicational,

marketing

and

social

functions.

Advertising

becomes

indispensable

in

the

modern

world.Naturally,

advertisements

in

English

have

become

an

important

means

of

communicating

ideas,

demonstrating

a

variety

of

linguistic

features

of

its

own.

The

present

study

attempts

to

examine

these

features

at

the

lexical,

syntactic

and

discourse

levels,

in

the

hope

of

bringing

them

to

light

and,

thereby,

offering

help

to

advertisement

writers

and

language

learners.1.2

Definition

of

advertising

According

to

the

Definition

Committee

of

American

Marketing

Association(方薇,

1997:2),

advertising

is

defined

as

follows:Advertising

is

the

nonpersonal

communication

of

information

usually

paid

for

and

usually

persuasive

in

nature

about

products,

services

or

ideas

by

identified

sponsors

through

the

various

media.1.3

Focus

of

the

present

studyUsually,

advertising

communicates

information

in

three

types:

audio,

visual,

and

language.

It

is

a

more

common

case

that

an

advertisement

is

a

mixture

of

the

three.

In

radio

advertisements,

music

is

always

accompanied

by

language;

on

TV

and

motion

pictures,

music

and

language

illustration

are

mixed

with

each

other.

In

magazines

and

newspapers,

advertisements

are

a

combination

of

pictures

and

language

of

written

information.

Although

music

and

pictures

can

provide

some

hints,

or

create

a

kind

of

atmosphere,

the

information

about

the

product

is

limited.

Even

worse,

it

may

lead

to

misunderstanding.

Thus,

we

may

say

that

language

in

a

way

provides

more

exact,

detailed

and

dependable

information

whereas

music

and

pictures

only

act

as

a

supplementary

means

in

advertising.

Advertising

language,

playing

a

role

of

communication

and

persuasion,

has

developed

its

own

features.This

paper

will

focus

on

the

language

features

of

English

advertisements

at

lexical,

syntactic

and

discourse

levels.

It

is

hoped,

by

a

contrastive

study

of

advertisements

on

three

types

of

products

(daily

consumer

goods,

technical

equipment

and

service),

similarities

and

differences

of

the

three

types

of

advertisements

will

be

summarized

and

possible

reasons

will

be

given

in

the

light

of

the

meaning,

and

function

of

language.1.4

Sources

of

data

All

the

advertisements

studied

in

this

paper

are

taken

from

English

magazines.

They

are

chosen

from

Time,

People

and

Newsweek

(issues

from

1999-2000),

because

these

three

magazines

have

a

huge

circulation,

covering

all

kinds

of

audience.

Almost

all

kinds

of

advertisements

can

be

found

in

these

magazines.

In

order

to

get

valuable

information

for

the

study,

a

corpus

of

60

advertisements

was

built,

which

consists

of

20

daily

consumer

goods

ads,

20

technical

equipment

ads,

and

20

service

ads.

Conclusions

will

be

drawn

through

quantitative

and

qualitative

studies

of

the

data.2

Lexical

Features

2.1

Classification

of

advertising

and

its

audience

Generally

speaking,

advertisements

can

be

divided

into

two

types:

public

relation

ads

and

commercial

ads.

The

former

tries

to

advocate

reputation

for

a

social

group,

whose

purpose

is

to

leave

a

favorable

impression

upon

the

potential

audience.

The

latter

leads

to

the

act

of

purchasing

the

products

or

using

the

recommended

service.

Commercial

ads

are

much

more

presented

through

mass

media

for

the

reason

that

manufacturers

and

companies

are

willing

to

spend

a

large

sum

of

money

to

make

a

certain

product

known

or

to

boost

the

image

of

a

certain

brand.

In

some

cases,

competitors,

like

Coca-cola

and

Perpsi,

even

spare

no

expense

to

launch

advertising

campaigns

to

win

over

the

market

share.

Commercial

advertising

can

also

be

divided

according

to

the

target

audience

into

two

groups:

consumer

advertising

and

business

advertising.

Most

of

the

ads

in

the

mass

media

are

consumer

advertisements.

They

are

typically

directed

at

consumers.

By

contrast,

business

advertising

tends

to

be

concentrated

in

specialized

business

publications,

professional

journals,

trade

shows

targeting

at

a

certain

group

of

people

involved

in

some

business.

Since

consumer

advertising

is

most

accessible

to

common

people,

the

present

study

on

will

focus

on

consumer

advertising.

The

classification

of

advertising

is

clearly

shown

in

the

following

graph:Graph

1

Classification

of

advertisements

Public

ads

Daily

consumer

goods

ads

Advertising

Consumer

ads

Technical

equipment

ads

Commercial

ads

Business

ads

Service

ads

The

bold

parts

show

the

scope

of

advertisements

we

study.

Daily

consumer

goods

are

necessities

of

daily

life,

such

as

food,

detergent,

hygiene,

etc.

Technical

equipment

is

technical

toys

and

electric

equipment

such

as

camera,

vehicle,

hi-fi,

etc.

Service

covers

bank,

insurance,

fund,

etc.Actually,

advertising

works

effectively

some

of

the

time

and

doesn’t

work

other

times.

The

single

crucial

reason

that

advertising

does

not

work

is

that

in

specific

instances

the

information

it

conveys

never

reaches

the

consumer

at

all,

or

is

judged

by

the

consumer

to

be

either

redundant,

meaningless,

or

irrelevant.

For

example,

a

motorbike

advertisement

will

probably

be

invisible

to

housewives

on

the

lookout

for

new

cutlery.

Social

status

and

individual

interest

decide

that

consumer

goods

ads

are

mainly

targeting

at

women

while

technical

equipment

ads

are

largely

aiming

at

men.

The

amount

of

shared

knowledge

between

the

advertiser

and

the

audience

together

with

the

thinking

habit

of

the

audience

directly

influences

the

advertising

language.

Since

products

and

audience

change

in

every

advertisement

in

order

to

achieve

high

advertising

effectiveness,

language

used

differs

in

different

types

of

advertisements.

Thus,

in

this

paper

we

discuss

not

only

the

similarities

of

language

shared

by

all

types

of

advertisements

but

also

differences

of

language

used

in

different

kinds

of

advertisements.2.2

Similarities

at

the

lexical

level

In

order

to

make

the

information

accessible

to

audience

effectively,

the

choice

of

words

in

advertising

is

very

cautious

and

skillful.

The

aim

of

the

advertiser

is

quite

specific.

He

wishes

to

capture

the

attention

of

the

members

of

a

mass

audience

and

by

means

of

impressive

words

to

persuade

them

to

buy

a

product

or

behave

in

a

particular

way,

such

as

going

to

Hawaii

for

all

their

holiday

needs.

Both

linguistic

and

psychological

aspects

are

taken

into

consideration

in

the

choice

of

words.

Sharing

the

same

purpose

of

advertising－to

familiarize

or

remind

consumers

of

the

benefits

of

particular

products

in

the

hope

of

increasing

sales,

the

techniques

used

at

the

lexical

level

by

advertisers

do

not

vary

markedly.

The

following

points

are

some

prominent

similarities.2.2.1

Few

verbs

are

used

G.

N.

Leech,

English

linguist,

lists

20

most

used

verbs

in

his

English

In

Advertising:

Linguistic

study

of

Advertising

In

Great

Britain

(方薇,

1997:20).

They

are:

make,

get,

give,

have,

see,

buy,

come,

go,

know,

keep,

look,

need,

love,

use,

feel,

like,

choose,

take,

start,

taste.All

these

verbs

listed

above

are

also

popular

in

the

corpus

we

built.You

will

often

read

such

sentences

in

an

advertisement:Buy

x.

Use

it.

We

make…

X

will

give

you

what

you

need.

You’ll

love

x.

Get

x.

Fox

example:We’ll

make

this

quick.

(Hertz

Car

Return)

Get

great

coverage

that’s

so

weightless

and

water-fresh.

(ALMAY)

All

you

need

is

a

taste

for

adventure.

(Millstone

Coffee)

You’ll

love

it

even

more

with

the

2.1

megapixel

C-2000

ZOOM.

(Olympus

Camera)

Don’t

have

much

of

a

personality?

Buy

one.

(Honda

Motor)

…All

these

frequently

used

verbs

are

monosyllabic

and

most

of

them

have

Anglo-Saxon

origin

that

is

the

common

core

of

English

vocabulary.

Linguistic

study

shows

English

native

speakers

tend

to

use

words

of

Anglo-Saxon

origin,

because

native

words

have

comparably

stable

meaning.

In

advertising,

these

simple

words

can

win

the

consumers

by

their

exact,

effective

expression

and

a

kind

of

closeness.

Etymological

studies

show

that

the

20

verbs

listed

before,

except

use

and

taste

which

are

from

ancient

French,

all

are

Anglo-Saxon

origin.

Even

the

two

words,

use

and

taste

have

long

become

indispensable

lexical

items

in

the

stock

of

common

core

vocabulary

of

the

English

people,

developing

their

stable

meaning

and

usage.2.2.2

Use

of

emotive

words

A

close

scrutiny

of

recent

advertisements

suggests

that

the

soft-sell

technique

is

now

popular.

By

soft-sell

technique

we

mean

the

one

that

favors

a

more

emotive

and

less

directive

approach

to

promote

a

product,

mainly

focusing

on

the

building

of

brand

image.

As

a

result,

emotive

words,

most

of

which

are

pleasant

adjectives,

are

greatly

encouraged

to

use.Data

from

the

corpus

shows

that

the

most

frequently

used

adjectives

are

as

follows:new,

good/better/best,

fresh,

free,

delicious,

sure,

full,

clean,

wonderful,

special,

crisp,

real,

fine,

great,

safe,

and

rich.

These

adjectives

help

to

build

a

pleasant

picture

in

readers’

minds

and

manage

to

create

a

belief

in

the

potential

consumer:

If

I

buy

this

product

or

if

I

choose

this

service,

I

will

lead

a

better

life.

In

addition,

comparatives

and

superlatives

occur

to

highlight

the

advantage

of

a

certain

product

or

service.

For

example:Nothing

comes

closer

to

home.

(Vegetable

and

Chicken

Pasta

Bake)

Think

Lysol

is

the

best

disinfecting

spray.

(Disinfecting

Spray)

The

world’s

coolest

CDs

aren’t

made

in

New

York,

London

or

L.A.

They

are

made

in

my

apartment.

(Philips

CD

Recorder)

The

Compaq

Armada

family

is

lighter,

with

new

rounded

edges

for

easier

packing.

(Compaq)…2.2.3

Make

pun

and

alliteration

Pun

is

an

amusing

use

of

a

word

or

phrase

that

has

two

meanings

which

is

called

Polysemy

or

of

words

with

the

same

sound

but

different

meanings

which

is

called

Homonymy.

Pun,

the

game

of

words,

will

leave

a

deep

impression

on

readers

by

its

readability,

wit,

and

humor.

However,

to

make

a

successful

and

impressive

pun

is

not

easy.

Except

for

its

own

meaning,

the

word

used

as

a

pun

is

usually

closely

related

to

the

characteristics

of

a

certain

product

or

the

brand

name

of

the

product.

Such

coincidence

doesn’t

occur

often.

Here

we

present

several

classic

pun-

used

advertisements.

For

example:Give

your

hair

a

touch

of

spring.

Ask

for

more.

(More

is

a

famous

brand

of

cigarette)

Give

your

business

the

sharp

edge.

(Sharp

Corporation)…By

using

pun,

advertisements

will

be

easily

remembered

by

the

readers.

In

addition,

filled

with

wit

and

humor,

puns

help

the

advertised

product

win

favor

from

readers.Alliteration

is

the

use

of

words

that

begin

with

the

same

sound

in

order

to

make

a

special

communicative

effect.

Usually

they

are

pleasing

to

ears

because

of

the

clever

choice

of

the

word

by

the

advertiser.

In

addition,

the

repetition

of

the

beginning

sound

emphasizes

the

meaning

the

advertisement

wants

to

express.

The

following

are

examples

picked

from

the

corpus.…,

everything

you

need

for

that

big

bargain

basement

special.

…,

and

vitamin

E

to

leave

skin

soft

and

smooth.

Treat

your

weary

ghosts

and

goblins

to

a

warm

bowl

of

chill

and

……2.2.4

Use

of

weasel

words

A

weasel

word

is

defined

as

“a

word

used

in

order

to

evade

or

retreat

from

a

direct

or

forthright

statement

or

position〞

according

to

Webster

Dictionary

(Philip

Babcock

Gove,

1976).

The

use

of

weasel

words

has

become

a

device

in

advertising.

Weasel

words

make

people

hear

things

that

aren’t

being

said,

accept

as

truth

that

have

only

been

implied,

and

believe

things

that

have

only

been

implied

and

suggested.

Let’s

take

a

look

under

a

strong

light

at

several

frequently

used

words.Help

Ocean

Spray

Cranberry

Juice

Cocktail

helps

maintain

urinary

tract

health.

It

helps

control

the

bacteria

in

this

system.

A

breakthrough

way

to

help

stop

wear-out

Help

finance

the

video

equipment.

…

<P&NBSP;ALIGN=LEFT>All

the

examples

shown

are

from

our

corpus.

23%

advertisements

of

all

samples

use

the

word

help.

These

helps

can

be

omitted

because

they

have

lost

their

original

meaning:

aid,

assist.

Yet,

help

in

advertising

English

is

never

redundant.

It

has

magic

power

in

advertisers’

eyes.

Help

is

the

great

qualifier;

once

the

advertiser

says

it,

he

can

say

anything

after

it.

Help

qualifies

everything.

The

audience

has

never

heard

anyone

say,

“This

product

will

keep

you

young,〞

or

“This

toothpaste

will

positively

prevent

cavities

for

all

time.〞

Obviously,

advertisers

can’t

say

anything

like

that,

because

there

are

not

any

products

like

that

made.

But

by

adding

that

one

little

word

help,

in

front,

they

can

use

the

strongest

language

possible

afterwards.

And

the

most

fascinating

part

of

it

is

that

the

readers

are

immune

to

the

word.

The

readers

literally

don’t

hear

the

word

help.

They

only

knew

what

comes

after

it.

That

is

strong

language,

and

likely

to

be

much

more

important

to

the

readers

than

the

little

word

at

the

front.Like

It’s

like

getting

on

bar

free.

Cleans

like

a

white

tornado.

It’s

like

taking

a

trip

to

Portugal.

…

Like

is

also

a

qualifier,

and

is

used

in

much

the

same

way

as

help.

But

like

is

also

a

comparative

element,

with

a

very

specific

purpose;

advertisers

use

like

to

get

the

audience

to

stop

thinking

about

something

that

is

bigger

than

or

better

or

different

from

the

product

which

are

being

sold.

In

other

words,

they

can

make

the

audience

believe

that

the

product

is

more

than

it

is

by

likening

it

to

something

else.

Like

help,

like

doesn’t

catch

much

attention.

However

by

using

it,

almost

anything

can

be

said

and

promised

afterwards.2.3

Differences

at

the

lexical

level

2.3.1

Gender

identity

in

advertisements

While

we

found

quite

a

lot

of

similarities

in

the

choice

of

words,

we

have

also

found

some

delicate

differences

in

the

choice

of

words

in

the

three

types

of

advertisements

as

classified

before:

daily

consumer

goods

ads,

technical

equipment

ads,

and

service

ads.Language,

as

a

communicative

tool,

is

not

only

to

impart

information,

to

communicate

ideas

about

a

product,

etc.,

but

also

to

convey

information

about

the

relationship

between

the

addresser

(advertisement)

and

the

addressee

(the

audience).

An

intimate

relationship

between

the

advertisement

and

the

audience

is

always

hoped

to

achieve.

So

according

to

different

audience,

language

applied

is

different.What

constitutes

a

female

and

a

male

identity,

according

to

advertising?

Table

1,

based

on

the

language

of

advertising

(Torben

Vestergaard

&

Kim

Schr

der,

1981:74),

gives

the

commodity

profile

of

two

gender-identified

magazines:

Women

and

Playboy

and

also

provides

the

distribution

of

the

different

Table

1

Distribution

of

three

types

of

advertisements

Percentage

of

adsDailyConsumerGoodsHygiene103Beauty181Clothes1214Food,

Detergents31-Tobacco815Beer,

Spirits-25Leisure-3

Technical

EquipmentIt

can

be

seen

from

table

1

that

the

hygiene,

beauty,

food

and

detergents

ads

are

dominant

in

the

women’s

magazines

while

technical

equipment

ads

prevail

in

men’s

magazines.

The

reason

is

that

women

are

potential

purchasers

of

daily

consumer

goods

while

men

are

potential

purchasers

of

technical

equipment.

So

advertising

language

tries

to

win

its

audiences

by

noticing

audiences’

gender

identity.

In

addition,

since

the

subjects

involved

in

advertisements

vary

from

simple

to

complex,

shared

knowledge

by

the

addresser

(ads)

and

addressee

(the

audience)

varies.

For

example,

knowledge

of

technical

equipment,

sometimes

demands

high

educational

background

or

special

interests

in

a

certain

field.

To

convey

different

knowledge

clearly,

advertisements

don’t

always

speak

in

the

same

way.

In

the

following

section,

we

will

make

a

comparative

study

of

three

points

in

order

to

find

differences

in

the

choice

of

words

in

three

types

of

advertisements:

the

selection

of

adjectives,

the

use

of

compound

words

and

the

use

of

pronouns.2.3.2

Selection

of

adjectives

Adjectives,

as

emotive

and

exciting

words,

are

used

to

enhance

the

facts

of

a

certain

product

or

service.

In

the

study

of

the

selection

of

adjectives,

we

have

first

divided

adjectives

into

two

groups:

descriptive

adjectives

and

evaluative

adjectives.

The

former

is

used

in

objective

description

and

the

latter

give

the

advertiser’s

subjective

comments.

Then

we

have

listed

those

frequently

used

descriptive

adjectives

and

evaluative

adjectives

in

daily

consumer

goods

ads

and

technical

equipment

ads,

and

we

surprisingly

have

discovered

descriptive

adjectives

differ

from

each

other

in

two

kinds

of

advertisements.Table

2

Comparison

of

frequently-used

adjectives

in

daily

consumer

goods

ads

and

technical

equipment

ads

Descriptive

adjectivesDailyConsumerGoodsAdsradiant,

shiny,

dazzling,

goldsoft,

smoothfreshcreamy,

crispycleaneasy,

convenientrich,

effective,

crucialhealthy,

fastvaluable,

flewessentialgood/better/bestmagicTechnicalEquipmentAdsaudible,

visiblehigh-volume,

full-colour,high-speedmagnetic,

sharpinvisible,

multipleflexible,

versatileTable

2

shows

that

descriptive

adjectives

in

daily

consumer

goods

ads

such

as

fresh,

crispy,

and

soft,

tend

to

convey

the

sense

of

sight,

touch,

and

taste.

The

temptation

aroused

by

this

vivid

description

of

a

product

is

hard

to

resist

especially

for

women

who

tend

to

be

moved

by

pleasant

senses;

compared

with

men,

women

are

inclined

to

think

in

terms

of

images

and

perceive

through

senses.

However,

men,

the

target

audience

of

technical

equipment,

are

good

at

rational

thinking.

Men

are

not

controlled

by

senses.

On

the

contrary,

the

product’s

interior

quality

and

function

is

what

they

pay

attention

to.

So

the

descriptive

adjectives

used

in

technical

equipment

ads

are

the

ones

conveying

information

of

the

product,

such

as

audible,

visible,

high-volume,

high-speed,

etc.2.3.3

Compound

words

A

compound

word

is

often

a

noun

or

an

adjective

made

up

of

two

or

more

words.

Compound

adjectives

are

often

seen

in

advertisements.

In

the

present

study,

we

found

compound

words

turn

up

with

varying

proportions

in

three

types

of

advertisements.Compound-

used

AdsTotal

AdsPercentageDaily

Consumer

Goods52025%Technical

Equipment132065%Service72035%Obviously,

compound

words

turn

up

in

65%

technical

equipment

ads,

40

percentage

points

higher

than

that

of

daily

consumer

goods

ads;

30

percentage

points

higher

than

service

ads.Compound

words

in

technical

equipment

ads,

are

usually

combined

to

give

an

exact

description

of

a

certain

feature

or

a

certain

function

such

as

high-volume,

full-color,

multi-functional,

non-stop,

water-cooled.

Often

numbers

are

employed

in

front

of

the

hyphen,

which

is

seldom

seen

in

other

advertisements,

such

as

64-bit,

24-valve,

4-wheel,

255-horsepower.<P&NBSP;ALIGN=LEFT>This

difference

can

be

accounted

for

in

terms

of

the

different

complexities

of

the

goods.

In

comparison

with

daily

consumer

goods

and

services,

technical

equipment

is

much

more

complicated

in

function

and

structure.

It

is

just

the

advantageous

function

or

newly

designed

structure

that

the

advertiser

wants

to

highlight

in

technical

equipment

ads.

Thus,

the

advertiser

employs,

even

coins,

so

many

compound

words

that

they

can

make

the

introduction

of

complicated

technical

equipment

brief

and

precise.

Grammatically,

compound

words

help

to

avoid

using

clause,

which

enhance

the

readability

of

advertisements.2.3.4

Use

of

pronouns

Pronouns

of

the

first

and

second

person:

we,

I

and

you

outnumber

the

other

pronouns

in

advertisements.

It

is

because

that

you,

we

and

I

help

create

a

friend-like

intimate

atmosphere

to

move

and

persuade

the

audience.

Advertisements

with

lots

of

pronouns

of

the

first

and

second

person

are

called

gossip

advertisements.

Here,

gossip

has

not

the

least

derogative

meaning.

It

originates

from

old

English

god

sib,

meaning

friendly

chats

between

women.

Advertisements

that

go

like

talking

with

friends

closely

link

the

advertisement

and

the

audience.

The

audience

will

easily

accept

a

product,

a

service

or

an

idea

as

if

a

good

friend

recommended

them.Though

pronouns

of

the

first

and

second

person

are

popular

in

advertisements,

there

are

some

differences

in

the

use

of

these

pronouns

in

the

three

kinds

of

advertisements.

The

first

person

we

almost

never

occurs

in

daily

consumer

goods

ads

and

technical

equipment

ads,

whereas

we

is

used

in

almost

80%

the

service

ads

in

the

corpus.

The

following

are

some

examples.What

can

we

do

for

you?

So

come

on

and

join

us

as

we

celebrate

MillenniaMania

Singapore.

…,

we

help

our

neighbors

find

the

best

ways

to

give

to

their

favorite

charities

We’re

stronger

than

ever.…There

are

two

factors

to

explain

the

phenomenon.

First,

in

daily

consumer

goods

ads

and

technical

equipment

ads,

a

product

is

the

focus

of

information.

When

the

product

needs

to

be

mentioned,

“it〞

is

used,

and

in

most

cases,

the

brand

name

is

used,

even

repeated

to

impress

the

readers.

However,

in

service

ads,

service

is

actually

the

product.

Since

service

is

intangible,

we

can

be

regarded

as

the

replacement

of

the

service.

Second,

it

is

more

necessary

for

service

ads

to

create

a

friend-like

atmosphere,

because

winning

trust

is

the

first

thing

service

ads

want

to

do.3.

Syntactical

features

3.1

Similarities

The

purpose

of

all

advertising

is

to

familiarize

consumers

with

or

remind

them

of

the

benefits

of

particular

products

in

the

hope

of

increasing

sales,

and

the

techniques

used

by

advertisers

do

not

vary

markedly.

An

advertisement

is

often

merely

glimpsed

in

passing

and

so,

to

be

effective,

its

message

must

be

colorful,

legible,

understandable

and

memorable.

The

rules

governing

the

language

of

advertising

are

similar.

We

have

summarized

the

lexical

features

of

English

advertisements.

If

words

are

leaves

of

a

tree,

and

sentences

branches;

the

branches

must

also

possess

their

similarities.First,

length

of

a

sentence

in

advertising

is

usually

short.

A

sentence

in

daily

consumer

goods

ads

has

words

on

average;

in

technical

equipment

ads,

words;

in

service

ads,

words.Second,

as

to

sentence

structure,

simple

sentences

and

elliptical

sentences

are

often

used

in

advertisements.

Compared

with

complex

sentences