英国dissertation范文：广告英语的文体特征
05-26, 2014
I. Introduction
Today, with the development of the technology and the diversity of the mass media, advertisement has influenced us persuasively in our daily life. Advertisement was defined as “The non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature various media” by American Marketing Association. It aims at attracting attention, arousing interest, creating conviction and getting action. So the language of advertisement must have strong persuasive power. As long as we achieve these aims, we can say that we create a successful advertisement. Different from usual English styles, advertisement has its unique characteristics. This paper will analyze the stylistic features of Advertisement English from syntactic, rhetorical devices and semantic.
II. Advertisement English of the Syntactical Level
2.1 Sentence Types
2.1.1 Use of Interrogative Sentences
According to statistics, in every 30 advertisements there is 1 interrogative one because interrogative sentences are quick and effective to arouse readers’ response. Let’s see the following examples:
1) Isn’t that the kind of car American wants?
2) Why Rolls-Royce flies ahead of the competition?
From the linguistic angle, interrogative sentences decrease the grammatical difficulty, because they are usually short in advertisements. Take the following advertisements as examples: if they are asked to condense to one sentence, the condensed one will be complex and dull.
3) What’s in Women’s Realm this week? A wonderful beauty offers for you.
There’s a wonderful beauty offer for you in Women’s Realm this week.
4) What do you want most from coffee? That’s what you get most from Hills.#p#分页标题#e#
What you get most from Hills is the most you want from coffee.
The special interrogative sentences have more chance to be used than the general ones because the special interrogative sentences need to be answered more exactly to express the astonishment, suggestion and demand, thus the questions urge the consumers to think then find the answer. The interrogative words, such as why and how, are used to trigger the consumers themselves to find out the answer.
5) Why smoke if you don’t enjoy it? -----I smoke because I enjoy it. Salem is why. It is more than just good menthol. It’s a good cigarette. Enjoyment is why I smoke. And that’s why I smoke.
2.1.2 Use of Imperative Sentences
In the advertisement language, imperative sentence takes an important position. The goal of advertisement is to persuade and urge consumers to accept its product or service. The imperative sentence itself has a meaning of claiming, calling and commanding. Some words are usually used, such as buy, come, enjoy, find, get, let, try, have, use, etc.
1) Get a taste of the Rich Life. Meaty. Flavourful. Always lean. A LOUIS RICH hot dog is something special.
2) Let your child in on a world of wonder: things of science. Let the New York Times find you.
In an advertisement, the slogan is the last few words. The admen often use imperative sentences to make a slogan. This kind of sentence is the most direct way to achieve the ideal effect.
3) Express card: Don’t leave home without it.
4) United Airlines: Life is a journey, travel it well.
The negative imperative sentences are seldom used in advertisement. But if the advertisers try to warn the consumers not to do something, they were used.#p#分页标题#e#
5) Don’t let the size fool you. The ultra compact OptioS4 digital camera from PENTAX is packed with the stuff the big guys are made of! You get the power of 4.0 mega pixels, a high-performance 3X optical zoom lens, movie mode with sound and much more-all in a digital that’s smaller than a deck of cards!
2.1.3 Use of Simple Sentences
The sentence in advertisement must be short and simple. It can not afford to be complicated and clumsy. Short simple sentences are easy to be remembered, while one main aim of an advertisement slogan is to be memorable and recited. So short and simple sentences serve advertising slogans right. A sentence in daily consumer goods advertisements has 10.3 words on average, in technical equipment advertisements has 11.8 words, and in service advertisements has 12.3 words. Generally speaking, simple sentences are more forceful and understandable.
As a matter of fact, simple sentence is achieved not only by careful selection of vocabulary, grammar and tense but also by the frequent use of simple sentences. Complex sentences in advertisements will most likely frustrate readers in understanding the advertiser’s message because of their trickiness and obscurity. With the neat structure and easy flow, simple sentences are more reader-friendly though similarly info-packed, thus becoming quite effective in getting messages across to readers. The following advertisement for Wolkswagen gives an idea of how simple sentences work to improve the comprehensibility.
1) The road to becoming a Volkswagen is a rough one.
The obstacles are many.
Some make it.
Some crack.
Those who make it are scrutinized by 8397 inspectors.
They are subjected to 1600 different inspections.#p#分页标题#e#
They’re driven the equivalent of 3 miles on a special test stand.
Every engine to be tested.
Every transmission.
Many bugs are then plucked from the production lines.
Their sole function in life is to be tested and not to be sold.
We put them through water to make sure they don’t leak.
We put them through mud and salt to make sure they won’t rust.
The climb hills to test hand breaks and clutches.
Then comes the dreaded wind tunnel and a trip over 8 different road-surfaces to check out the ride.
Torsion bars are twisted 100,000 times to make sure they torsion properly.
Keys are turned on 25,000 times to make sure they don’t break off in the keylocks.
And so it goes on.
Zoo Volkswagens are rejected every day.
It’s a tough League.
The advertisement for Volkswagen consists of eighteen sentences. Eleven of them are simple sentences, while five are complex sentences but formed in clear structures. Despite the apparently frustrating length of the body copy, the advertisement still reads smoothly on account of predominantly simple sentences.
We can say, simple sentences are frequently spoken or heard by people and high light the key points naturally and pleasantly without any sign of affectedness. Instead, they give people a kind of beauty by their forms, hence the ease and pleasure to remember and to spread. Let’s see some popular classics, which are going around among the public enduringly and lastingly.
2) Don’t miss a day. (Castelli)
3) Fresh up with seven-up. (Seven-up)
4) Good to the last drop. (Maxwell)
5) Just do it. (Nike)
6) Let’s do better. (Phillips)
7) You can’t beat the feeling. (Coca cola)#p#分页标题#e#
2.1.4 Use of Elliptical Sentences
The fierce competition in the market demands admen to work out more cost-effective advertisements compacted with useful information and compelled for memorability. To fulfill the expectation, elliptic sentences come to the stage with the strength to realize both the amount and the effect of information flow.
In elliptic sentences, the omitted elements can predicate other sentence elements. Even so, single-word sentences that capsulate key information in one word are not rare in modern advertisement. Though seemingly incomplete and capriciously-constructed, elliptic sentences meet the demand for brevity and rhythmization. Their intrinsic nature of extensibility leaves much room for imagination and thereby doubles the fun and delightfulness of advertisement reading. For example:
1) More than a timepiece. An acquisition. (PIAGIT watch)
2) Make it a mild smoke. (Mild Seven cigarette)
3) A work of art. (Scotch Whisk)
Advertisements are a kind of writing strictly limited on the length of the passage, for every unnecessary word means quite a lot of investment of money. The space of a newspaper or magazine is expensive, and especially the money spent on TV commercials is astonishingly massive. Considering the great amount of money input, advertisers have to stage their goods or services using as few words as possible to achieve monetary economy.
Ads use elliptical sentences to save time, money, space to impart enough information. Subjects, verbs, articles and clauses are often omitted.
The comprehensive application of elliptic sentences in modern English advertisements allows a unique syntactic role of phrases. According to English grammar, phrases constitute only part of sentences and function as subjects, objects, adverbials, etc. in modern English advertisement, phrases are no longer content with being only part of sentences but ready to steal the show by playing their role sa sentences. The new syntactic role of phrase goes a long way to accomplishing succinctness of advertisements as is shown in the following examples.#p#分页标题#e#
4) Coffee. Aroma-fresh pouch. (noun phrase)
5) Best for family use. Close to schools. (adjective phrase)
6) So completely absorbing, penetrating, enriched with Vitamin E. (verb phrase)
7) Up to 50% discount. (adverbial phrase)
2.2 Use of Phrases
Phrases in advertisements are a kind of special writing form. They can almost do without subjects. Phrases may be better than sentences. All kind of phrases can be put into use, noun phrases, verb phrases, preposition phrases, adjective phrases, etc. They are so concise and to the point that they are beyond our power to do any addition or subtraction. For example:
1) Think different. (Apple computer)
2) Beyond expectation. (Malaysia Airlines)
3) Good to the last drop. (Maxwell House)
2.3 Use of Tense
Almost all the advertising writing use simple present tense to satisfy the customer’s desire to know the present state of the product he wants to buy. But there is another aspect of the simple present: its implication of universality and timelessness. For example:
1) A diamond is forever. (DeBeers)
2) Time always follows me. (Rossini)
3) It fits your personality like a favorite pair of jeans.
2.4 Creative Use of Idioms and Proverbs
Idioms and proverbs are familiar to most potential customers in a society and have no difficulty to be popularized. The creative use of the idioms and proverbs can give them new meaning while making them memorable. For example:
1) No FT, no comment. (Financial Times)
2) I think, therefore IBM. (IBM)
Ⅲ.Rhetorical Devices in Advertisement English#p#分页标题#e#
3.1 Rhetorical Devices
In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertising writers pay much attention not only to such expressive devices as plates, color and the layout of a printed page, but also to the choice of words or phrases, to make an advertisement beautiful and attractive. In the practice of the advertising English, people pay more and more heed to the use of figures of speech to make the advertising English succinct, accurate and vivid and to provide rich imagination and plentiful associations for readers so as to stimulate their desire.
3.2 The Rhetorical Characteristics of Advertising English
The frequent and wide use of figures of speech is an important characteristic of advertising English, which is an effective way to make the advertisement attractive. A figure of speech is an example of the figurative use of words, which produces a particularly rhetorical effect when people use the language creatively in a specified context. The use of figures of speech in advertisements aims at arousing and persuading consumers to buy what is advertised. And their proper use can make an advertisement sweet to the ear, and pleasing to both the eye and the mind. So advertising writers often use figures of speech in advertisements.
3.2.1 Personification
Personification is a figure which represents abstraction or inanimate objects with human qualities, including physical, emotional and spiritual; the application of human being attributes or abilities to nonhuman entity. It makes the commodity advertised full of feelings so as to strengthen its affinity. For example:
1) To the ends of the earth, and to the top of the world. Only two of us have made it. It’s the only thing that’s been on all the trips with me and it’s never once let me down?#p#分页标题#e#
The advertisement personifies the product, a kind of watch. The use of the word “us” makes both the human and the watch become human beings, accompanying each other.
The effectiveness of personification in modern English advertisement lies in its potency of endowing products with emotion and liveliness. Intangible emotional benefits have strong appeals in advertising. “With our minds we assess the facts and attempt to conclude a logical course of action. But our hearts tell us what is right and what we must do as a consequence of our beliefs.” Browsing through English magazines today will yield advertisements that appeal to an entire spectrum of emotions such as love, fear, pride, anger, happiness, and so on. And all this is effectively done by personification. Most people agree that the personified products can foster more trust and affection in potential customers and therefore arouse more desire for the purchase. The following advertisements are just few among many which owe their success to the practice of personification. For example:
2) Flowers by Interflora speak from the heart.
It may be your car, but it’s still our baby.
Hi, I’m Rusty Jones.
These advertisements touch upon emotions of love, care and happiness. Flowers from Interflora are no longer emotionless plants but truthful messengers. Ford workers love and care Ford cars as much as much as they do their own children. And Rusty Jones takes pleasure in working for you. Copywriters of the advertisements succeed in establishing the affinity between customers and the advertised products with appropriate application of personification.
3.2.2 Hyperbole
The definitions of hyperbole differ in dictionaries. The Random House College Dictionary (Revised Edition): an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity”; The Cassell Dictionary of Literary and Language Terms (Ruse etal.,1992:143): a figure of speech that deliberately uses exaggeration in order to give emphasis; Longman Dictionary of the English Language (1984): a figure of speech based on extravagant exaggeration; Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student (Corbett, 1965:307): the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.#p#分页标题#e#
When they describe their products in advertisements, it is not enough for them to say they are simply “good”, they must be perfect, spectacular, out-of -this-world, superb, fantastic, etc. For example:
1) Nobody cares for eyes more than Pearl!
Here “Pearl” is a brand of glasses. It is obvious that the advertisement is exaggerated.
Hyperbole is a romantic rhetorical device, so it is generally applied in advertisement as its romantic feature.
2) Making a big world smaller
What difference does it make that Lufthansa files to more international destinations that and other single airline?
Or that every 40 seconds a Lufthansa plane takes off or lands in one of 180 cities around the world? The point is that over the years every experience with every traveler, from every corner of the world, has helped us understand you. We’ ve come to know cultures and customs form around the globe. All the better to help you feel at home everywhere, on the ground, and in the air.
Even in many cities we don’t fly to, you’ll find a Lufthansa office read to serve your needs. Experience that’s worldwide and world wise. It’s a difference that’s helped us make friends with a world full of travelers. And that can make this big world feel very small indeed.
In the advertisement of Lufthansa Airline Company hyperbole appears twice in the headline and at the end of sentence. It is concluded that this German Airline Company provides the perfect service all over his routine and makes the world seems closer and smaller.
3.2.3 Repetition
Repetition is a rhetorical device of using some words or sentences naturally and repeatedly to stress an important message or indicate a strong feeling. The figure has the characteristics of good layout of words and sweet winding sound. And the harmonious sound of the figure makes the advertising words easy to read and remember. For example:#p#分页标题#e#
Monita, finest to put you finest.
In the advertisement of Monita (the name of a camera), the first “finest” is used to praise the product, and the second “finest” to praise the consumer. The repeated use of the word makes the advertisement possess as good effects as the sound of the words
3.2.4 Rhyme
Rhyme is the use of words that end with the same sound as each other. The purpose of this rhetorical device is to obtain the effects pleasant to the ear. It has the same lasting and strong appeal as an alliteration, because it makes people easy to read. For example:
Spend a dime, save you time.
This advertisement of an electrical appliance uses the “dime” and “time” rhyme to tell the reader cleverly that the appliance can help him save time and that time is money.
3.2.5 Alliteration
Alliteration is a figure of speech in which the same sound or sounds appear at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other. Alliteration can make advertising words rhythmic and pleasing to the ear. The figure of speech usually makes people love the advertisement at first sight. In the advertisement it is used to strengthen the effects of the adverting words and the appeal of the advertisement. For example:
Sea, sun, sand, seclusion-and Spain. You can have this when you visit the new Hotel.
Reading the advertisement, people will promptly call to mind the beautiful scenery of sunshine, a sandy beach and rough sea. So they will be attracted easily by the advertisement. The words “sea, sun, sand, seclusion” describe a vast expanse of sea, the bright sun, a beautiful sandy beach and quiet villas, and what's more, the repetition of the initial letter of the words “s” - alliteration, makes people feel that sea breeze is stroking their faces, that the sea tide is singing and that lovers are murmuring; because the coherent sound makes a smooth and continuous reading.#p#分页标题#e#
3.2.6 Antithesis
Antithesis is a figure of speech, which uses the same or similar structure to express two opposite ideas so as to achieve the effects of emphasizing the meaning and the contrast. The figure has the characteristics of harmonious combination of sound and rhyme, balanced syllables, sharp rhythm and compendiousness. The combination of pleasant senses of vision and hearing often stimulates the good feelings of readers and arouses consumers' buying desire. For example:
Watehouse Clearance. Their Loss, Your Gain.
One man’s disaster is another man’s delight. The sale is now on.
The writers of these two advertisements use cleverly the figure of speech “antithesis” to catch readers’ attention and arouse their curiosity.
3.2.7 Parallelism
Parallelism means the parallel presentation of two or more than two similar or relevant ideas in similar structural forms. The structure of the figure gives you a beautiful sense of balance, and its sound gives you a beautiful sense of rhythm. Parallelism can help you express your strong feelings easily, emphasize the words and strengthen the beauty of the metre. These rhetorical characteristics are in agreement with the advertising prominence, persuasiveness and appreciativeness. So parallelism is often used in English advertisements. For example:
Earth is a person to be cared for.
Earth is a home to be managed.
Earth is a ball to be played with.
Earth is a pad for spaceships.
Earth is an eye watching us.
This advertisement includes 4 parallel sentences of similar structure. The subjects, link verb and indefinite article in each sentence are the same, and the whole advertisement is well organized with the rhythm sharply and the idea conveyed smoothly.#p#分页标题#e#
3.2.8 Simile
A simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. The comparison is purely imaginative. In the advertising English, the figure is used very often, and it is lively and vivid. For example:
Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.
In this advertisement, “breakfast without orange juice” is compared to “a day without sunshine” to stress the importance of the product advertised –orange juice. It is very vivid and impresses readers.
3.2.9 Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure that also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but this comparison is implied rather than stated. So it differs from a simile in form and artistry. It is, in a sense, a condensed simile. The proper use of a metaphor in an advertisement can make the advertising words vivid. Through the figurative comparison of the advertised product or service to the things with similar features, the characteristics of the product or service are vividly stressed, and it is easily understood and remembered by consumers. For example:
Fresh food and fresh air. The perfect recipe for a healthy life. I’ve chosen. It’s Candy.
In the advertisement of the refrigerator, “fresh food and fresh air” is compared to “the perfect recipe for a healthy life”, which is lively and vivid.
3.2.10 Metonymy
A metonymy is a figure of speech that has to do with the substitution of the name of one thing for that of another. This substituted name may be an attribute of that other thing or be closely associated with it. In other words, it involves a “change of name”, the substituted name suggesting the thing meant.#p#分页标题#e#
A metonymy is a very useful and effective rhetorical device, for it compresses much into a single word or a short noun phrase. Writers of advertisements use the figure of speech frequently, because a metonymy can express briefly and effectively what a whole clause or sentence would otherwise require. Brevity, vividness and concreteness are its chief virtues. For example:
Laurent Beaute invites you to discover his new collection of collors 卍 corals, pinks and peaches for lips; matte, muted earthy neutrals for eyes...
In this advertisement, all the nouns of colour are metonymies, and they are used to refer to cosmetics of different colours.
3.2.11 Analogy
Undoubtedly, analogy is the most frequently used device in modern advertisement. We repeatedly use words with nice associations or compare the advertised products to charming ones so that consumers may be impressed in its favor. For example:
1) It’s a taste of paradise.
This is the advertisement for Airlanka. The sentence steps into our sight with a appealing picture of paradise emerging in our mind: a pure blue sky, green and fresh grass, simple and sincere people. Who can turn a deaf ear to the call from the heaven? Let’s rush for a ticket. The magic power stems from the word “paradise”, simple but pleasant association, used here in a metaphorical sense. The same role of metaphor can be easily noted in the advertisements for Goldstar and Asian Institute of Management.
2) The brightest star electronics.
A pearl never loses its luster if you take good care of it--- as we have done for AIM these 30 years.....
In these advertisements, the word “star” symbolizes the company’s sophisticated technology, excellent products and well-trenched position in the electronic field, while Asian Institute of Management finds its living images in the “pearl with luster”.#p#分页标题#e#
3.2.12 Innovative Use of Expressions
The fourteenth rhetorical device is the innovative use of existing proper names, idioms, clichés and sayings. Advertisers make certain changes in set expressions so as to attract and charm more readers when they are advertising. Such a creative advertisement requires much intelligence and imagination from its inventors, but once it was born, it has assured more chances for success. Here is an advertisement for Benetten, a famous American brand for casual wears. For example:
1) United colors of Benetten.
Doesn’t it sound somewhat familiar? It derives from “United States of America”. The advertisement indicates that in the Benetten world, people of different colors and race are joined together and that the Benetten wear has all different colors. Its heterogeneity labels the products a kind of similarity to the “Melting Pot”. Since advertisements with creative innovation are based on set phrased and sayings that have been existing so long, people are usually quite willing to accept and remember them. Moreover, the interesting and unheard-of reading of these advertisements helps to ensure the favorable impression on consumers. More examples are as follows:
2) It’s never too soon to start. (Cosmetic)
3) One good beer deserves another. (Heinekein beer)
3.2.13 Pun
A really good pun can work miracles. However, noting the lack of brand identity in these otherwise excellent examples; almost any competing brand could use these lines. Although they are good, they have no specific identity of their own.
The strength of delicate pun is completely obtained in the proceeding advertisements. Since most brand names are suggestive and indicative, wise admen would like to embed them in advertisements and, by doing so, lock them in readers’ memory. As it turns out, brand names play so harmoniously with other elements in the sentences that, instead of being awkward and unlikely, all the advertisements make delightful reading.#p#分页标题#e#
Although in modern English advertisement, the majority of puns are semantic ones, usually achieved through euphony to strike home the same appealing effect. For example:
1) Moss Security: Alarmed? You should be.
2) Pioneer: Everything you hear is true.
3) Range Rover: It's how the smooth take the rough.
4) Kenco Really Rich Coffee: Get Rich quick.
5) Finish Detergent: Brilliant cleaning starts with Finish.
6) Here the brand goes to work, as inextricably part of the pun.
7 )Citibank: Because the City never sleeps.
8) Quavers Snacks: Do me a Quaver.
In these lines, the brand name appears, but as the solution or promise rather than part of the pun. These slogans with brand name in it can help the name be remembered while offer a two layered meaning to the slogan. The second layer of meaning can interest and impress the people with its smartness and its novelty.
Ⅳ. Semantic Realization of Advertisement English
4.1 Semantic Ambiguity
Advertisements have to conform to the code of commercial practice. Semantic ambiguity is needed to avoid any possible legal liability. For example:
Philips: Let’s make things better.
4.2 Hedges
The American linguist George Lakoff in his proposes of “fuzzy semantics” suggested that, “some of the most interesting questions are raised by the study of words whose meaning implicitly involves fuzziness, words whose job it is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy”. These are Lakoff’s “hedges”—sort of, kind of, technically speaking, etc.
In accordance with Lakoff’s main concern, the term hedge has later been defined by Brown and Levinson as “a particle, word or phrase that modifies the degree of membership of a predicate or a noun phrase in a set; it says of that membership that it is partial or true only in certain respects, or that it is more true and complete than perhaps might be expected”. This definition is interesting in that it includes in hedges both detensifiers and intensifiers.#p#分页标题#e#
4.3 Approximators
As is defined by Prince, Frader and Bosk as hedges that affect the truth conditions of propositions, approximators correspond to Hubler’s understatements, i.e. expressions of phrastic determination. Phrastic indetermination concerns the propositional content of a sentence, whereas the neustic type, which in Hubler’s terminology expresses itself as “hedges” is connected with the claim to validity of the proposition a speaker makes. Hubler admits that both understatements and hedges perform the same function of expressing indetermination, of making sentences more acceptable to the hearer and thus uncreasing their chances of ratification. Aproxiamtors can further be divided into two categories: Rounders and Adaptors.
Ⅴ. Conclusion
All the above-mentioned stylistic features of advertising English are necessary to make them neat, simple, original, strategic, and memorable. The advertising English is also a kind of poetic language, which we should pay attention to.
I find that three-sentenced advertisement and four-sentenced advertisement are the most favored in the creation of an advertisement with twenty-five and thirty-three advertisements for each type, and five or six sentenced advertisement are also widely used. Two-sentenced and eight-sentenced advertisements still occupy a share. The longest advertisement in this essay has eighteen sentences, which is a rare case, because it is too lengthy to be an advertisement. And one-sentenced advertisement cannot fully express the rich and multi-layered meaning that an advertisement wants to convey. The eight-sentenced advertisements are preferred than the seven sentenced-ones. That is because the former generally uses a parallel or contrasted structure, so for each advertisement of the structure, the length is just four sentences that are the most preferred length. The average length of an advertisement is 4.447 sentences. It is the trend for the advertisement to be short, about two to six sentences long. This is just my general analysis of the results.#p#分页标题#e#
It is useful to conduct a more detailed study of the Advertisement English, because more and more Chinese companies are going abroad to do their business and they need a good English advertisement to establish their image in the world business arena. This study will also help the development of Chinese advertisements in China.
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Today, with the development of the technology and the diversity of the mass media, advertisement has influenced us persuasively in our daily life. Advertisement was defined as “The non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature various media” by American Marketing Association. It aims at attracting attention, arousing interest, creating conviction and getting action. So the language of advertisement must have strong persuasive power. As long as we achieve these aims, we can say that we create a successful advertisement. Different from usual English styles, advertisement has its unique characteristics. This paper will analyze the stylistic features of Advertisement English from syntactic, rhetorical devices and semantic.
II. Advertisement English of the Syntactical Level
2.1 Sentence Types
2.1.1 Use of Interrogative Sentences
According to statistics, in every 30 advertisements there is 1 interrogative one because interrogative sentences are quick and effective to arouse readers’ response. Let’s see the following examples:
1) Isn’t that the kind of car American wants?
2) Why Rolls-Royce flies ahead of the competition?
From the linguistic angle, interrogative sentences decrease the grammatical difficulty, because they are usually short in advertisements. Take the following advertisements as examples: if they are asked to condense to one sentence, the condensed one will be complex and dull.
3) What’s in Women’s Realm this week? A wonderful beauty offers for you.
There’s a wonderful beauty offer for you in Women’s Realm this week.
4) What do you want most from coffee? That’s what you get most from Hills.#p#分页标题#e#
What you get most from Hills is the most you want from coffee.
The special interrogative sentences have more chance to be used than the general ones because the special interrogative sentences need to be answered more exactly to express the astonishment, suggestion and demand, thus the questions urge the consumers to think then find the answer. The interrogative words, such as why and how, are used to trigger the consumers themselves to find out the answer.
5) Why smoke if you don’t enjoy it? -----I smoke because I enjoy it. Salem is why. It is more than just good menthol. It’s a good cigarette. Enjoyment is why I smoke. And that’s why I smoke.
2.1.2 Use of Imperative Sentences
In the advertisement language, imperative sentence takes an important position. The goal of advertisement is to persuade and urge consumers to accept its product or service. The imperative sentence itself has a meaning of claiming, calling and commanding. Some words are usually used, such as buy, come, enjoy, find, get, let, try, have, use, etc.
1) Get a taste of the Rich Life. Meaty. Flavourful. Always lean. A LOUIS RICH hot dog is something special.
2) Let your child in on a world of wonder: things of science. Let the New York Times find you.
In an advertisement, the slogan is the last few words. The admen often use imperative sentences to make a slogan. This kind of sentence is the most direct way to achieve the ideal effect.
3) Express card: Don’t leave home without it.
4) United Airlines: Life is a journey, travel it well.
The negative imperative sentences are seldom used in advertisement. But if the advertisers try to warn the consumers not to do something, they were used.#p#分页标题#e#
5) Don’t let the size fool you. The ultra compact OptioS4 digital camera from PENTAX is packed with the stuff the big guys are made of! You get the power of 4.0 mega pixels, a high-performance 3X optical zoom lens, movie mode with sound and much more-all in a digital that’s smaller than a deck of cards!
2.1.3 Use of Simple Sentences
The sentence in advertisement must be short and simple. It can not afford to be complicated and clumsy. Short simple sentences are easy to be remembered, while one main aim of an advertisement slogan is to be memorable and recited. So short and simple sentences serve advertising slogans right. A sentence in daily consumer goods advertisements has 10.3 words on average, in technical equipment advertisements has 11.8 words, and in service advertisements has 12.3 words. Generally speaking, simple sentences are more forceful and understandable.
As a matter of fact, simple sentence is achieved not only by careful selection of vocabulary, grammar and tense but also by the frequent use of simple sentences. Complex sentences in advertisements will most likely frustrate readers in understanding the advertiser’s message because of their trickiness and obscurity. With the neat structure and easy flow, simple sentences are more reader-friendly though similarly info-packed, thus becoming quite effective in getting messages across to readers. The following advertisement for Wolkswagen gives an idea of how simple sentences work to improve the comprehensibility.
1) The road to becoming a Volkswagen is a rough one.
The obstacles are many.
Some make it.
Some crack.
Those who make it are scrutinized by 8397 inspectors.
They are subjected to 1600 different inspections.#p#分页标题#e#
They’re driven the equivalent of 3 miles on a special test stand.
Every engine to be tested.
Every transmission.
Many bugs are then plucked from the production lines.
Their sole function in life is to be tested and not to be sold.
We put them through water to make sure they don’t leak.
We put them through mud and salt to make sure they won’t rust.
The climb hills to test hand breaks and clutches.
Then comes the dreaded wind tunnel and a trip over 8 different road-surfaces to check out the ride.
Torsion bars are twisted 100,000 times to make sure they torsion properly.
Keys are turned on 25,000 times to make sure they don’t break off in the keylocks.
And so it goes on.
Zoo Volkswagens are rejected every day.
It’s a tough League.
The advertisement for Volkswagen consists of eighteen sentences. Eleven of them are simple sentences, while five are complex sentences but formed in clear structures. Despite the apparently frustrating length of the body copy, the advertisement still reads smoothly on account of predominantly simple sentences.
We can say, simple sentences are frequently spoken or heard by people and high light the key points naturally and pleasantly without any sign of affectedness. Instead, they give people a kind of beauty by their forms, hence the ease and pleasure to remember and to spread. Let’s see some popular classics, which are going around among the public enduringly and lastingly.
2) Don’t miss a day. (Castelli)
3) Fresh up with seven-up. (Seven-up)
4) Good to the last drop. (Maxwell)
5) Just do it. (Nike)
6) Let’s do better. (Phillips)
7) You can’t beat the feeling. (Coca cola)#p#分页标题#e#
2.1.4 Use of Elliptical Sentences
The fierce competition in the market demands admen to work out more cost-effective advertisements compacted with useful information and compelled for memorability. To fulfill the expectation, elliptic sentences come to the stage with the strength to realize both the amount and the effect of information flow.
In elliptic sentences, the omitted elements can predicate other sentence elements. Even so, single-word sentences that capsulate key information in one word are not rare in modern advertisement. Though seemingly incomplete and capriciously-constructed, elliptic sentences meet the demand for brevity and rhythmization. Their intrinsic nature of extensibility leaves much room for imagination and thereby doubles the fun and delightfulness of advertisement reading. For example:
1) More than a timepiece. An acquisition. (PIAGIT watch)
2) Make it a mild smoke. (Mild Seven cigarette)
3) A work of art. (Scotch Whisk)
Advertisements are a kind of writing strictly limited on the length of the passage, for every unnecessary word means quite a lot of investment of money. The space of a newspaper or magazine is expensive, and especially the money spent on TV commercials is astonishingly massive. Considering the great amount of money input, advertisers have to stage their goods or services using as few words as possible to achieve monetary economy.
Ads use elliptical sentences to save time, money, space to impart enough information. Subjects, verbs, articles and clauses are often omitted.
The comprehensive application of elliptic sentences in modern English advertisements allows a unique syntactic role of phrases. According to English grammar, phrases constitute only part of sentences and function as subjects, objects, adverbials, etc. in modern English advertisement, phrases are no longer content with being only part of sentences but ready to steal the show by playing their role sa sentences. The new syntactic role of phrase goes a long way to accomplishing succinctness of advertisements as is shown in the following examples.#p#分页标题#e#
4) Coffee. Aroma-fresh pouch. (noun phrase)
5) Best for family use. Close to schools. (adjective phrase)
6) So completely absorbing, penetrating, enriched with Vitamin E. (verb phrase)
7) Up to 50% discount. (adverbial phrase)
2.2 Use of Phrases
Phrases in advertisements are a kind of special writing form. They can almost do without subjects. Phrases may be better than sentences. All kind of phrases can be put into use, noun phrases, verb phrases, preposition phrases, adjective phrases, etc. They are so concise and to the point that they are beyond our power to do any addition or subtraction. For example:
1) Think different. (Apple computer)
2) Beyond expectation. (Malaysia Airlines)
3) Good to the last drop. (Maxwell House)
2.3 Use of Tense
Almost all the advertising writing use simple present tense to satisfy the customer’s desire to know the present state of the product he wants to buy. But there is another aspect of the simple present: its implication of universality and timelessness. For example:
1) A diamond is forever. (DeBeers)
2) Time always follows me. (Rossini)
3) It fits your personality like a favorite pair of jeans.
2.4 Creative Use of Idioms and Proverbs
Idioms and proverbs are familiar to most potential customers in a society and have no difficulty to be popularized. The creative use of the idioms and proverbs can give them new meaning while making them memorable. For example:
1) No FT, no comment. (Financial Times)
2) I think, therefore IBM. (IBM)
Ⅲ.Rhetorical Devices in Advertisement English#p#分页标题#e#
3.1 Rhetorical Devices
In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertising writers pay much attention not only to such expressive devices as plates, color and the layout of a printed page, but also to the choice of words or phrases, to make an advertisement beautiful and attractive. In the practice of the advertising English, people pay more and more heed to the use of figures of speech to make the advertising English succinct, accurate and vivid and to provide rich imagination and plentiful associations for readers so as to stimulate their desire.
3.2 The Rhetorical Characteristics of Advertising English
The frequent and wide use of figures of speech is an important characteristic of advertising English, which is an effective way to make the advertisement attractive. A figure of speech is an example of the figurative use of words, which produces a particularly rhetorical effect when people use the language creatively in a specified context. The use of figures of speech in advertisements aims at arousing and persuading consumers to buy what is advertised. And their proper use can make an advertisement sweet to the ear, and pleasing to both the eye and the mind. So advertising writers often use figures of speech in advertisements.
3.2.1 Personification
Personification is a figure which represents abstraction or inanimate objects with human qualities, including physical, emotional and spiritual; the application of human being attributes or abilities to nonhuman entity. It makes the commodity advertised full of feelings so as to strengthen its affinity. For example:
1) To the ends of the earth, and to the top of the world. Only two of us have made it. It’s the only thing that’s been on all the trips with me and it’s never once let me down?#p#分页标题#e#
The advertisement personifies the product, a kind of watch. The use of the word “us” makes both the human and the watch become human beings, accompanying each other.
The effectiveness of personification in modern English advertisement lies in its potency of endowing products with emotion and liveliness. Intangible emotional benefits have strong appeals in advertising. “With our minds we assess the facts and attempt to conclude a logical course of action. But our hearts tell us what is right and what we must do as a consequence of our beliefs.” Browsing through English magazines today will yield advertisements that appeal to an entire spectrum of emotions such as love, fear, pride, anger, happiness, and so on. And all this is effectively done by personification. Most people agree that the personified products can foster more trust and affection in potential customers and therefore arouse more desire for the purchase. The following advertisements are just few among many which owe their success to the practice of personification. For example:
2) Flowers by Interflora speak from the heart.
It may be your car, but it’s still our baby.
Hi, I’m Rusty Jones.
These advertisements touch upon emotions of love, care and happiness. Flowers from Interflora are no longer emotionless plants but truthful messengers. Ford workers love and care Ford cars as much as much as they do their own children. And Rusty Jones takes pleasure in working for you. Copywriters of the advertisements succeed in establishing the affinity between customers and the advertised products with appropriate application of personification.
3.2.2 Hyperbole
The definitions of hyperbole differ in dictionaries. The Random House College Dictionary (Revised Edition): an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity”; The Cassell Dictionary of Literary and Language Terms (Ruse etal.,1992:143): a figure of speech that deliberately uses exaggeration in order to give emphasis; Longman Dictionary of the English Language (1984): a figure of speech based on extravagant exaggeration; Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student (Corbett, 1965:307): the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.#p#分页标题#e#
When they describe their products in advertisements, it is not enough for them to say they are simply “good”, they must be perfect, spectacular, out-of -this-world, superb, fantastic, etc. For example:
1) Nobody cares for eyes more than Pearl!
Here “Pearl” is a brand of glasses. It is obvious that the advertisement is exaggerated.
Hyperbole is a romantic rhetorical device, so it is generally applied in advertisement as its romantic feature.
2) Making a big world smaller
What difference does it make that Lufthansa files to more international destinations that and other single airline?
Or that every 40 seconds a Lufthansa plane takes off or lands in one of 180 cities around the world? The point is that over the years every experience with every traveler, from every corner of the world, has helped us understand you. We’ ve come to know cultures and customs form around the globe. All the better to help you feel at home everywhere, on the ground, and in the air.
Even in many cities we don’t fly to, you’ll find a Lufthansa office read to serve your needs. Experience that’s worldwide and world wise. It’s a difference that’s helped us make friends with a world full of travelers. And that can make this big world feel very small indeed.
In the advertisement of Lufthansa Airline Company hyperbole appears twice in the headline and at the end of sentence. It is concluded that this German Airline Company provides the perfect service all over his routine and makes the world seems closer and smaller.
3.2.3 Repetition
Repetition is a rhetorical device of using some words or sentences naturally and repeatedly to stress an important message or indicate a strong feeling. The figure has the characteristics of good layout of words and sweet winding sound. And the harmonious sound of the figure makes the advertising words easy to read and remember. For example:#p#分页标题#e#
Monita, finest to put you finest.
In the advertisement of Monita (the name of a camera), the first “finest” is used to praise the product, and the second “finest” to praise the consumer. The repeated use of the word makes the advertisement possess as good effects as the sound of the words
3.2.4 Rhyme
Rhyme is the use of words that end with the same sound as each other. The purpose of this rhetorical device is to obtain the effects pleasant to the ear. It has the same lasting and strong appeal as an alliteration, because it makes people easy to read. For example:
Spend a dime, save you time.
This advertisement of an electrical appliance uses the “dime” and “time” rhyme to tell the reader cleverly that the appliance can help him save time and that time is money.
3.2.5 Alliteration
Alliteration is a figure of speech in which the same sound or sounds appear at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other. Alliteration can make advertising words rhythmic and pleasing to the ear. The figure of speech usually makes people love the advertisement at first sight. In the advertisement it is used to strengthen the effects of the adverting words and the appeal of the advertisement. For example:
Sea, sun, sand, seclusion-and Spain. You can have this when you visit the new Hotel.
Reading the advertisement, people will promptly call to mind the beautiful scenery of sunshine, a sandy beach and rough sea. So they will be attracted easily by the advertisement. The words “sea, sun, sand, seclusion” describe a vast expanse of sea, the bright sun, a beautiful sandy beach and quiet villas, and what's more, the repetition of the initial letter of the words “s” - alliteration, makes people feel that sea breeze is stroking their faces, that the sea tide is singing and that lovers are murmuring; because the coherent sound makes a smooth and continuous reading.#p#分页标题#e#
3.2.6 Antithesis
Antithesis is a figure of speech, which uses the same or similar structure to express two opposite ideas so as to achieve the effects of emphasizing the meaning and the contrast. The figure has the characteristics of harmonious combination of sound and rhyme, balanced syllables, sharp rhythm and compendiousness. The combination of pleasant senses of vision and hearing often stimulates the good feelings of readers and arouses consumers' buying desire. For example:
Watehouse Clearance. Their Loss, Your Gain.
One man’s disaster is another man’s delight. The sale is now on.
The writers of these two advertisements use cleverly the figure of speech “antithesis” to catch readers’ attention and arouse their curiosity.
3.2.7 Parallelism
Parallelism means the parallel presentation of two or more than two similar or relevant ideas in similar structural forms. The structure of the figure gives you a beautiful sense of balance, and its sound gives you a beautiful sense of rhythm. Parallelism can help you express your strong feelings easily, emphasize the words and strengthen the beauty of the metre. These rhetorical characteristics are in agreement with the advertising prominence, persuasiveness and appreciativeness. So parallelism is often used in English advertisements. For example:
Earth is a person to be cared for.
Earth is a home to be managed.
Earth is a ball to be played with.
Earth is a pad for spaceships.
Earth is an eye watching us.
This advertisement includes 4 parallel sentences of similar structure. The subjects, link verb and indefinite article in each sentence are the same, and the whole advertisement is well organized with the rhythm sharply and the idea conveyed smoothly.#p#分页标题#e#
3.2.8 Simile
A simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. The comparison is purely imaginative. In the advertising English, the figure is used very often, and it is lively and vivid. For example:
Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.
In this advertisement, “breakfast without orange juice” is compared to “a day without sunshine” to stress the importance of the product advertised –orange juice. It is very vivid and impresses readers.
3.2.9 Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure that also makes a comparison between two unlike elements, but this comparison is implied rather than stated. So it differs from a simile in form and artistry. It is, in a sense, a condensed simile. The proper use of a metaphor in an advertisement can make the advertising words vivid. Through the figurative comparison of the advertised product or service to the things with similar features, the characteristics of the product or service are vividly stressed, and it is easily understood and remembered by consumers. For example:
Fresh food and fresh air. The perfect recipe for a healthy life. I’ve chosen. It’s Candy.
In the advertisement of the refrigerator, “fresh food and fresh air” is compared to “the perfect recipe for a healthy life”, which is lively and vivid.
3.2.10 Metonymy
A metonymy is a figure of speech that has to do with the substitution of the name of one thing for that of another. This substituted name may be an attribute of that other thing or be closely associated with it. In other words, it involves a “change of name”, the substituted name suggesting the thing meant.#p#分页标题#e#
A metonymy is a very useful and effective rhetorical device, for it compresses much into a single word or a short noun phrase. Writers of advertisements use the figure of speech frequently, because a metonymy can express briefly and effectively what a whole clause or sentence would otherwise require. Brevity, vividness and concreteness are its chief virtues. For example:
Laurent Beaute invites you to discover his new collection of collors 卍 corals, pinks and peaches for lips; matte, muted earthy neutrals for eyes...
In this advertisement, all the nouns of colour are metonymies, and they are used to refer to cosmetics of different colours.
3.2.11 Analogy
Undoubtedly, analogy is the most frequently used device in modern advertisement. We repeatedly use words with nice associations or compare the advertised products to charming ones so that consumers may be impressed in its favor. For example:
1) It’s a taste of paradise.
This is the advertisement for Airlanka. The sentence steps into our sight with a appealing picture of paradise emerging in our mind: a pure blue sky, green and fresh grass, simple and sincere people. Who can turn a deaf ear to the call from the heaven? Let’s rush for a ticket. The magic power stems from the word “paradise”, simple but pleasant association, used here in a metaphorical sense. The same role of metaphor can be easily noted in the advertisements for Goldstar and Asian Institute of Management.
2) The brightest star electronics.
A pearl never loses its luster if you take good care of it--- as we have done for AIM these 30 years.....
In these advertisements, the word “star” symbolizes the company’s sophisticated technology, excellent products and well-trenched position in the electronic field, while Asian Institute of Management finds its living images in the “pearl with luster”.#p#分页标题#e#
3.2.12 Innovative Use of Expressions
The fourteenth rhetorical device is the innovative use of existing proper names, idioms, clichés and sayings. Advertisers make certain changes in set expressions so as to attract and charm more readers when they are advertising. Such a creative advertisement requires much intelligence and imagination from its inventors, but once it was born, it has assured more chances for success. Here is an advertisement for Benetten, a famous American brand for casual wears. For example:
1) United colors of Benetten.
Doesn’t it sound somewhat familiar? It derives from “United States of America”. The advertisement indicates that in the Benetten world, people of different colors and race are joined together and that the Benetten wear has all different colors. Its heterogeneity labels the products a kind of similarity to the “Melting Pot”. Since advertisements with creative innovation are based on set phrased and sayings that have been existing so long, people are usually quite willing to accept and remember them. Moreover, the interesting and unheard-of reading of these advertisements helps to ensure the favorable impression on consumers. More examples are as follows:
2) It’s never too soon to start. (Cosmetic)
3) One good beer deserves another. (Heinekein beer)
3.2.13 Pun
A really good pun can work miracles. However, noting the lack of brand identity in these otherwise excellent examples; almost any competing brand could use these lines. Although they are good, they have no specific identity of their own.
The strength of delicate pun is completely obtained in the proceeding advertisements. Since most brand names are suggestive and indicative, wise admen would like to embed them in advertisements and, by doing so, lock them in readers’ memory. As it turns out, brand names play so harmoniously with other elements in the sentences that, instead of being awkward and unlikely, all the advertisements make delightful reading.#p#分页标题#e#
Although in modern English advertisement, the majority of puns are semantic ones, usually achieved through euphony to strike home the same appealing effect. For example:
1) Moss Security: Alarmed? You should be.
2) Pioneer: Everything you hear is true.
3) Range Rover: It's how the smooth take the rough.
4) Kenco Really Rich Coffee: Get Rich quick.
5) Finish Detergent: Brilliant cleaning starts with Finish.
6) Here the brand goes to work, as inextricably part of the pun.
7 )Citibank: Because the City never sleeps.
8) Quavers Snacks: Do me a Quaver.
In these lines, the brand name appears, but as the solution or promise rather than part of the pun. These slogans with brand name in it can help the name be remembered while offer a two layered meaning to the slogan. The second layer of meaning can interest and impress the people with its smartness and its novelty.
Ⅳ. Semantic Realization of Advertisement English
4.1 Semantic Ambiguity
Advertisements have to conform to the code of commercial practice. Semantic ambiguity is needed to avoid any possible legal liability. For example:
Philips: Let’s make things better.
4.2 Hedges
The American linguist George Lakoff in his proposes of “fuzzy semantics” suggested that, “some of the most interesting questions are raised by the study of words whose meaning implicitly involves fuzziness, words whose job it is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy”. These are Lakoff’s “hedges”—sort of, kind of, technically speaking, etc.
In accordance with Lakoff’s main concern, the term hedge has later been defined by Brown and Levinson as “a particle, word or phrase that modifies the degree of membership of a predicate or a noun phrase in a set; it says of that membership that it is partial or true only in certain respects, or that it is more true and complete than perhaps might be expected”. This definition is interesting in that it includes in hedges both detensifiers and intensifiers.#p#分页标题#e#
4.3 Approximators
As is defined by Prince, Frader and Bosk as hedges that affect the truth conditions of propositions, approximators correspond to Hubler’s understatements, i.e. expressions of phrastic determination. Phrastic indetermination concerns the propositional content of a sentence, whereas the neustic type, which in Hubler’s terminology expresses itself as “hedges” is connected with the claim to validity of the proposition a speaker makes. Hubler admits that both understatements and hedges perform the same function of expressing indetermination, of making sentences more acceptable to the hearer and thus uncreasing their chances of ratification. Aproxiamtors can further be divided into two categories: Rounders and Adaptors.
Ⅴ. Conclusion
All the above-mentioned stylistic features of advertising English are necessary to make them neat, simple, original, strategic, and memorable. The advertising English is also a kind of poetic language, which we should pay attention to.
I find that three-sentenced advertisement and four-sentenced advertisement are the most favored in the creation of an advertisement with twenty-five and thirty-three advertisements for each type, and five or six sentenced advertisement are also widely used. Two-sentenced and eight-sentenced advertisements still occupy a share. The longest advertisement in this essay has eighteen sentences, which is a rare case, because it is too lengthy to be an advertisement. And one-sentenced advertisement cannot fully express the rich and multi-layered meaning that an advertisement wants to convey. The eight-sentenced advertisements are preferred than the seven sentenced-ones. That is because the former generally uses a parallel or contrasted structure, so for each advertisement of the structure, the length is just four sentences that are the most preferred length. The average length of an advertisement is 4.447 sentences. It is the trend for the advertisement to be short, about two to six sentences long. This is just my general analysis of the results.#p#分页标题#e#
It is useful to conduct a more detailed study of the Advertisement English, because more and more Chinese companies are going abroad to do their business and they need a good English advertisement to establish their image in the world business arena. This study will also help the development of Chinese advertisements in China.
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