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An Analysis of the Characteristics of English Advertising Language
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In modern society, the influence of advertising is so strong and widespread that no one can avoid it. With the overwhelming development of advertising, the advertisement is so closely related to social life. By means of its particular cultural effect, advertising has influenced social life style deeply. Meanwhile, with the further development of globalization, English has become an international language, thus English in advertising has become the focus of everyone’s attention. As a practical language, with its high effectiveness, English in advertising has evolved from common language into an informal professional language. English in advertising differs from common English not only in words but also in its style. With the rapid development of advertising and with the rapid advancement of science and technology as well as social changes，English in advertising has changed a lot. To those who learn and love English, learning the characteristics of English in advertising will improve themselves as well as provide them the chance to enjoy the language art.As a special language, English in advertising has its distinctive characteristics in lexicon, syntax and rhetoric. It differs from common English. In some cases, the final purpose of advertising is to persuade the consumer to buy certain goods or accept certain services. Thus, the language of advertising English pursues a sort of language art, on condition that to master this language art is to get the key to the success of advertising.This paper focuses on analyzing the characteristics of English in advertising from the aspect of language, it falls into four parts: the first part is the introduction, which explains the purpose, significance and the main content of this paper. The second part is some relevant theories and studies of advertising English. The third part will make a detailed analysis of the characteristics of English in advertising from the perspectives of lexicon, syntax and rhetorical devices. In the fourth part the author will sum up and emphasize the significance of English in advertising.
Key Words: rhetorical devices
在现代社会中，人们已无法回避广告无处不在的影响。随着广告业不断迅猛发展，广告与社会生活的关系日益密切。广告以其特有的文化能力，深刻影响着社会生活方式，而随着全球化的进一步凸显，英语作为一种国际性语言，英语广告也越来越受到全球的关注。广告英语作为一种应用语言，因其所具有的特殊效用，已逐渐从普通英语独立出来而发展成为非规范的专业语言，用词造句与普通英语也有很大差异，并随着广告的发展、时代的前进、科技的进步及社会的变更而变化。对于英语学习者和爱好者，研究英语广告语言的特点既是对自身学习的提高，又是对语言艺术的享受。广告英语作为一种特殊的语言在词汇、句法和修辞手法上有其特殊的特点，与日常英语有所不同，但无论怎样，广告的最终目的在于说服人去购买某种商品或接受某种服务。因此，广告的语言讲究的是一种语言艺术，而掌握了这种语言艺术就相当于抓住了广告成败的关键。本文主要是从语言的角度对英语广告语言的特点进行分析，本文分四部分：第一部分引言，将说明本文的目的、意义及主要内容；第二部分是广告英语的一些相关理论及相关研究；第三部分将从词汇、句法和修辞手法这几方面详细分析英语广告语言的特点；第四部分是对全文的总结并强调英语广告语言的重要性。
关键词：特点；词汇；句法；修辞
Ⅰ.Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1Ⅱ.Relevant Theories of Advertising English…………………………………………...1Ⅲ.The Characteristics of English Advertising Language……………………………….33.1 Characteristics of Lexicon……………………………………………………….43.1.1 Making the Wrong Spelling Intentionally…………………………………43.1.2 The Usage of the Weasel Words…………………………………………..53.1.3 The Usage of the Compounds and Contractions…………………………..63.1.4 The Usage of Verbs, Adjectives and Pronouns……………………………93.2 The Characteristics of Syntax…………………………………………………..133.2.1 The Usage of Interrogative and Imperative Sentence……………...….....133.2.2 The Usage of Disjunctive Clause…………………...……………………143.2.3 The Usage of Elliptical Sentence…………………………………………153.2.4 The Usage of More Coordinated Structure and Less Subordinate Structure……………………………………………………………….…153.3 Rhetorical Devices in Advertising English…………………...………………..163.3.1 Personification……………………………………………………….…...163.3.2 Pun………………………………………………………………………..163.3.3 Repetition…………………………………………………………………17Ⅳ.Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..17Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………19
&An Analysis of the Characteristics of English Advertising Language
Ⅰ.Introduction In modern society, the influence of advertising is so strong and widespread that no one can avoid it. With the overwhelming development of advertisement, it is so closely related with social life. According to O’ Neill’s statistic: an American will generally hear, see or feel 560 advertising information every day, after hearing or seeing advertisements, people have different reaction, some people like, some people hate, some people will be happy, some will be sad, some people are calm, some are mad, some people will say “I would never buy a product that I have seen advertised”, or “Come on, who do they think they’re kidding?”. But seldom people would immediately say: “By god, that makes sense, and I’m going right out to buy that product.” However, the advertisement broadcasted repeat can make the audience influenced unconsciously, can change people’s concept and shopping custom unknowingly.Zou Xin-xin (from Yueyang Radio& TV University) said in her thesis An Analysis of Language Features in English Advertising: “The English advertising language has particular language features in lexicon, syntax and discourse levels”. She analyzes the language in English advertisement from the perspectives of significance, style and function, and then discovers the general characters of advertising language and the particularity of advertising English in different kinds of advertisements.This paper focuses on analyzing the characteristics of English in advertising from the aspect of language and mainly from the perspectives of lexicon, syntax and rhetoric. The social appraisement of English in advertising is of every description, but English in advertising has already been a social phenomenon. It has existed for a long time and has formed its own particular characteristics and social significance. It will exist in the world continuously. What we have to do is to view it with appreciation and comprehension, so that it would be more perfect and acceptable. In the following sections, the author will discuss these in detail.&Ⅱ.The Relevant Theories of Advertising EnglishThe history of advertising can be traced back to the old Greece, at that time the peddler attracted customs by horn, and they appealed them and sold their products to them. This can be seen as the earliest advertising in the world. In the middle age in Britain, a golden arm that waves hammer repre in China the signs for things like the signboard for tavern came into being. In the 17th century, with the up surging of European’s industrial revolution, the newspaper pushed a further development for the advertising. Upon the entering of the 20th century and a hundred year after that the media of advertising developed more rapid than ever, from the wireless in 20s to the creation of the television station in1939, advertising made new breakthrough. In modern commercial society the importance of advertisement is as much as its products. The rapid development of information technology in the 20th century has provided new room for all areas. After the commercial use of international website the e-commerce came into being and flourished. With the rapid development as well as the quick spread of the Internet, the e-advertising has developed quickly, and it will become one of the most potential effective and economic means of advertising.According to the Definition Committee of American Marketing Association (Fangwei, 1997: 2), advertising is defined as follows: “Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.” Advertisement indicates the difference that exists between brands of products and alternative services, as well as the distinguishing characteristics of companies and institutions. Advertisement also tells the consumer what a special product, brand or service should do when it is used and thus helps his or her understand and evaluate experience with the products and services that he or she uses. On the other hand, by making people aware of products, services and ideas, advertisement promotes sales and profits. Finally, advertisement is one of the major forces that helps improve the living standard around the world. Combined with all these communicational, marketing and social functions, advertising becomes indispensable in the modern world.The advancement of science and technology as well as the development of human society has pushed the advertising technology to change all the time and it is not only on how they present a certain product but also they change the way to create an advertisement. The early advertisement was only used to exchange information about a product, while today’s advertisements are no longer the solely introduction of product, they try to appeal audiences from a certain angel and they try to create a warm romantic atmosphere. And the language tends to be more colloquial, more close to our daily life. It has already become an important standard for judging the levels of economic development as well as its culture for a country and it will finally be a form of culture that people like, that is advertising culture.With the deepening of human being’ socialization, commercialization and marketization, advertising is more and more indispensable. While the tendency of globalization is getting in great demand, English has become an international language, so advertising in English begins to be paid more attention by the whole world. Therefore, the relation of advertising and social activities i by means of its particular cultural effect advertising has influenced social life and producing style so deeply. And against the backdrop of growing economic globalization, English has become an international language, thus advertising in English has also become the focus of everyone’s attention. English in advertising, as a practical language, for its special efficacy, has evolved from common English and developed to be an informal but professional language. It differs from common English not only in selecting words, but also in making sentences. With the rapid development of advertising, and with the rapid advancement of science and technology as well as social changes, English in advertising, has also changed a lot.Generally speaking, English in advertising can be divided into two types: public welfare advertising and commercial advertising. The former is mainly to advocate certain social fashion, and the latter is mainly to stir up someone’s desire to purchase certain merchandise or consume a certain service. And the commercial advertising can also be divided into two types according to the audience: consumer advertising and business advertising. Many of the advertisements in the media like TV are consumer advertising. Its most remarkable characteristic is that it aims dire it is more popular and widespread than business advertisement.The style of advertising may be said rich in variety and
it can be poem, story, prose etc. but the carrier of advertising――advertising language, has some basic similarities.
Ⅲ.The Characteristics of English Advertising LanguageIn a highly developed society, advertisements have great impact on us almost everywhere. With the increasing trades between countries, the influence of English advertisements is becoming more intensive. In this section, the characteristics of the advertisements are explored in terms of lexical, syntax, and rhetoric with the expectation of promoting the appreciation of advertisements and English-Chinese and Chinese-English translation.3.1 Characteristics of LexiconEnglish in advertising and common English contains obvious differences in selecting words. Advertising language, as a medium of disseminating information, aims mainly at attracting the consumer’s attention, it uses the thriftiest words, explains the profound things in simple way, and produces instant results.In order to make consumers easily and effectively accept the advertising information, the English in advertising often be used carefully and skillfully, the characteristics of the language in advertising and the consumer’s psychology need to be considered. The lexicon characteristics of English in advertising summed up in following respects:3.1.1 Making the Wrong Spelling IntentionallyIn the creation of English advertisement, the copywriter often make the wrong spelling or add affix to some familiar words to make up the new words. So as to glorify the products’ novelty and uniqueness and to satisfy the consumer’s psychological need of pursuing vogue and glorifying the personality, these new words a they can effectively deliver the information of merchandise. Even though the new words are different from the original words in form, they can expr the most important thing is that they can make the consumer have a completely new impression, thereby willing to buy the merchandise. This reflects in advertising mainly in two aspects:3.1.1.1 Use Coined WordsFor example :(1) “The Orangemostest Drink in the world.”This is an advertisement of beverage, Orangemostest means orange +most +est, “most” and “est” are both superlative, this make consumer have an impression that this orange juice is “High-quality” and “High-purity”. In English advertising language some prefixes like “super”, “ex”, are frequently used to emphasize the good performance of the product. Other commonly used words are “supercalandared”, “superminent”, “superexcellent”, “Rolex”, “Playtex”, and “Kleenex” etc.Another example :(2) “Give a Timex to all, to all a good time.”This is an advertisement of Timex Watch, in the advertisement “Timex= Time + Excellent”, so “Timex” shows the outstanding exactness of giving the correct time.3.1.1.2 Make Mistakes in SpellingFor example: (3) “Drinka&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Pinta&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Milka&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Day.”This is an a actually the first three words should be “Drink” “Pint” “Milk”. According to the English grammar rules, this sentence should be written as “Drink a pint of milk a day.”Another example: (4) “We know eggsactly how to tell eggs.”“Eggsactly” actually is “exactly”.From the above examples we can see that some intentional wrong spelling in the English advertising can not only attract consumer’s attention to certain merchandise or certain service, but also make the consumers enjoy the advertising language.3.1.2 The Usage of the Weasel WordsA weasel word is defined as “a word in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position” according to Webster Dictionary (Philip Baknock 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 at several frequently used words.“Help” is one of the most frequently used weasel words. 20% advertisements of all samples use the word “help”. It seems that it has magic power in copywriter’s eyes. “Help” is the great qualifier, once the copywriter says it, he can say anything after it. Help qualifies everything. If saying a certain product can make people look young, the advertisement can’t be “This product will keep you young”, it should be “This product will help keep you young”. The maker of toothpaste can’t firmly say “This toothpaste will positively prevent cavities far all the time”, but he will say “This toothpaste will help prevent cavities for all time”. Just by adding that one little word “help” in front, the copywriter can use the strongest language possible afterward.Another frequently used weasel word is “like”. “Like” is also a qualifier, and it used in much the same way as “help”, but “like” is also a comparative element, with a very specific purpose. See the samples bellow:(5)It’s like getting one bar free.This is an advertisement of Ivory soap. “It’s like getting one bar free”, it’s just “like”, but not real. If it is real, that should be “buy three bars and get the fourth one free”. Saying “like”, actually it is three, there’s no the fourth one. There are many pores in the soap, so its volume is bigger than other brand of soap. Three Ivory soaps are as big as four other brands of soaps. So, like “help” or “like”, it doesn’t catch much attention. However, by using it, almost anything can be said and promised afterwards.Other common used weasel words are “up to” and “as much to”, these two phrases have the similar meaning in advertising. An advertisement of a shoe-shop is “Sneakers lower the price up to 40 percent off”, when the consumer came to the shop, they found that only two or three pairs of shoes lower the price to 40 percent off, and few lower the price to 10 percent off, most of the shoes in the shop do not lower the price at all. “Virtually” is also a frequently used weasel word, Wrighter used to list several samples, like “virtually trouble free”, “virtually never needs service”. What does “virtually” mean then? It means “in effect” or “in essence”, but not means “in fact”. William Lutz, the teacher of the English department of American New Jersey Rutgars University concurrently worked as the editor of Quarterly Review of Doublespeak magazine, once said in his article With These Words I Can Sell You Anything: According to the Webster’s Third International Dictionary, “virtually” means “almost entirely” and clearly it does not mean “absolute”. There are so many weasel words, so far as “feel”, “can be”, “look”, “work”, they can all used as weasel words.From the above samples, we can easily come to the conclusion: A weasel word is a word that is used to imply a meaning that can not be truthfully stated (―C. P. Wrighter). Man should be cautious to this kind of words, and be clearly discerning to avoid these nasty and credible unattainable words to attack pocketbooks.3.1.3 The Usage the Compounds and ContractionsIn advertising English, the copywriter uses a lot of compounds and contractions. Because of the component of formation for compounds can be any part of speech and it is not restricted by the word order in English sentence structure. Meanwhile, because of the cost of advertising is so expensive, use the contraction can save the length of writing and most importantly it can lower the price of advertising costs. Thus compounds and contractions are both commonly used in advertising English.3.1.3.1 CompoundsA compound word is often a noun or an adjective made up of two words. In modern English, the compounds especially compound nouns and compound adjectives increase day by day. They are widely used in newspapers and periodicals, technology and daily life. Among them, of the highest frequency and the largest number are compound nouns. It can be formed by most parts of speech. For example:
Adj. + n.: Beautiful full color copies are in full bloom from Minolta.N. + n.: If you were designing a state-of-art cell shorter, which features would you like?Adv. +n.: Tribeca’s finest move in immediately-condominiums.N. + adj.: Brand-new sportvision sunglasses.V-ing + adj.: Steaming-hot pies.N. + v-ed: Air-cushioned rubber-soled.Adv. + v-ed: Perfect-textured cakes.Adj. + v-ing: The standard-setting hiking boot maker.Adv. + v-ing: The best selling Italian pizza.Adj. + to+ v: Easy- to-read and hard- to-put-down books.N. +v-ing: Desert-dwelling elephants. (Qi Yunfang, )
And then came to the compound adjectives. Like compound nouns, compound adjectives embody the advertisers’ spirit of taking the initiative and daring to fabricate. The structure of the compound adjectives is very complicated, some common used compound adjectives are:N. + adj.: Rip-resistant nylon upper.N. + v-ing: Light-Diffusing made-up SPF 8Adj. (Adv.) + v-ing (v-ed): double-breasted cashmere coat.(Qi Yunfang, 2003: 97)In the present study, we find compound words turned up with varying proportions in three types of advertisement. Compound words are used in the advertisement:
Daily Consumer goods 25%; Technical Equipment 65%; Service 35%. Obviously, compound words turned up in 65% technical equipment advertisements, 40% higher than that of daily consumer goods advertisements, and 30% higher than service advertisements. Compound words in technical equipment advertisements, 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, and water cooled. (Courtland L. Bevee and William F Arens, 2004:42)
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 mush more complicated in function and structure. It is just the advantageous function or newly designed structure that the copywriter wants to highlight in technical equipment advertisements. Thus, the copywriter employs, even coins, so many compound words so that they can make the introduction of complicated technical equipment brief and precise. Grammatically, compound words help to avoid using clause, which enhances the readable ability of advertisements.3.1.3.2 The ContractionsIn English advertising, the use of contractions is very common. For the expenditure of advertising is extremely costly, using the contractions can lower the cost of advertising, and save the length of writing, especially in the printed matters like leaflets, newspapers and periodicals, contractions are frequently used. For example:(6) “To Let or For SaleFurnished Edinburth Court, 426 Argyly st, 2nd floor, 1,630 sqft, 4 bedrooms with dining and living room, private garage. Sale at 130,000. Rent 1,400. Tel. 38954 office time or 823748.”(George• Louis, 1999: 40)This is an advertisement to rent or sell a house. There are many contractions, such as: st = street, sq =square, ft = foot, Tel = telephone.In English advertising, these contractions are also commonly used: “you’ll, you’re, we’re, they’d, it’s, there’s.” In the following advertisements, they are both spoken English and contractions. They save the cost of advertising and also make the language vivid and novel:(7) “Take it to the ‘net’! (net = internet)”(8) “We found’em we got’em. (‘em = them)”(9) “‘Tis the season for giving. (Tis =This)”(10) “Nice’n Easy. (‘n =and)”From the above examples we can see that contractions in advertising language make the advertisement popular, acceptable and close to the common people, also it make the language colloquial and humorous.3.1.4 The Usage of Verbs, Adjectives and PronounsVerb, adjectives and pronouns are the most common parts of speech, but sometimes the ingenious use of these common parts of speech can achieve a outstanding effect. Some monosyllabic verbs, some commendatory adjectives and some pronouns which can enhance people’s relationship will make the advertisement cordial and acceptable. The consumer will also get a feeling of receiving suggestions from a friend or a neighbor but not taking his money out of pocket.3.1.4.1 VerbsG. N. Leech, an English linguist, lists 20 most used verbs in his English in Advertising: Linguistic Study of Advertising in Great Britain (Fangwei, 1997:20). They are: “make, get, give, have, see, buy, come, go, know, keep, look, need, love, use, feel, like, choose, take, start, taste”. These words’ meanings are differing from one another, some show the relation between the product and the consumer, some show people possessed of certain merchandise and some show people’s feeling and loving degree to a product. You will often read such sentences in an advertisement: Buy X. Use it. We make… You’ll love X. X will give you what you need. Get X. For example:(11) “We’ll make this quick. (Herz Car Return)”(12) “Get great coverage that’s so weightless and water-fresh. (ALMAY)”(13) “Are you need is a taste for adventure. (Millstone Coffee)”(14) “You’ll love it even more with the 2.1 mega-pixel C-2000 ZOOM. (Olympus Camera)”(15) “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 above, 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 meanings and usages.The appeal of advertising depend on consumer’s demand, people pursues various demand. The wealthier the social material is, the higher living level people pursue. Copywriter sometimes uses the verb “need”, “get” and “take” directly. Take the following advertisements as examples:(16) “Need a TAXI? (Car-renting advertisement)”(17) “Do you or your child need Braces? (Brace advertisement)”The verb “need” used in a general question make the consumer feels especially warm and kind. Other samples are:(18) “You’re getting a bonus.”(19) “Take a bite!”In advertising, the 20 monosyllabic verbs mentioned above is more frequently in use, but actually there are some other common monosyllabic verbs, such as: help, meet, save, bring, last, serve, choose etc. See the advertisements bellow:(20) “We would love to meet your family too.”(21) “It brings radiance to the look of your skin. (Cosmetic advertisement)”(22) “Choose your pen as carefully as you choose your words. (Pen advertisement)”(23) “Strength & Absorbency To Last The Whole Meal Through. (Washcloth advertisement)”What worthy to mention is “buy” and “spend” are used very carefully in English advertising. To avoid giving consumers a bad impression of paying money, copywriters usually adopt other gentle ways of expression to express his idea, for example:(24) “Take home an Opal. It’s a perfect gift. (Jewelry advertisement)”3.1.4.2 AdjectivesAdjectives, as emotive and exciting words, are used to enhance the facts of a certain product or service. The copywriter prefers to use commentary words to establish image and elevate reputation for the merchandise, so as to sell out the merchandise. In the study of the selection of adjectives, adjectives have been divided into two groups: descriptive adjectives and evaluative adjectives. The former is used in objective description and the latter give the advertiser subjective comments.G. N. Leech also lists 20 most used adjectives in his English in Advertising, they are: “new, good/better/best, fresh, free, delicious, full, sure, clean, wonderful, special, crisp, fine, big, great, real, easy, bright, extra, safe, rich.” These adjectives help establish a pleasure picture in audiences’ mind and make them persist in a conviction that “If I choose this service or merchandise, my life will be more beautiful. For example:(25) “Send today for free sample, and try the new flavor.”(26) “Deliciously simple. Simple delicious.”(27) “For people who care about their bodies. Dairy Farm brings great tasting fresh skimmed mil it keeps your body fit inside and outside. Fresh skimmed milk. Fresh Dairy Farm.”(28) “This baby’s nappy is Lux-safe. Safe with safety that you get pure soap.”(29) “You’re sure of personal freshness-and sure of a lovely, lingering perfume. This winter be sure. Use double sure body mist the perfumed deodorant.”Among those 20 most frequently used adjectives, “new” is most frequent in use, its embellishment ability is so strong, that it can embellish the size, shape, look, color, and constitution of the products. It can be used with abstract nouns like contest, competition, ideas etc, it can also be used with substance nouns like booklet, bottle car shampoo, soap, toothbrush, TV etc. “Good/better/best” can almost be embellish any product. Look at “good” and “new” in the following two groups of advertisement:
(30) Group1: A. good to the last drop. (Marwell Coffee)B. Wheat Thins---Taste good. Feel good. (Oatmeal)C.Crest Spin Brush---A better spin on clean. (Crest Toothpaste)Group2: A. The new digital Era. (Sony DVD)B. The choice of a new generation. (Pepsi Cola)C. A new, uniquely shaped bag.A new Dryel cloth.Discover new, improved Dryel, and keep your clothes fresh and clean with steam. (Dryel Laundering Bag)D.Feel the new space. (Samsung Electron)(Wang Yanxi, 2004:49)
In food advertisement, these adjectives often appear: delicious, crisp, fresh, in cosmetic advertisement “clean”, “soft” are frequent in use. Meanwhile, comparatives and superlatives are often used, comparatives in advertising show the peculiarity of the product, and superlatives show the incomparable superiority of the product. So using adjectives in advertising is very important. For example:(31) “Stronger, thicker hair guaranteed in just 7 DAYS.”(32) “Healthier, shinier hair doesn’t happen overnight. It could take as long as 14 DATS.”(33) “When your people are the best, you soar a little higher.”3.1.4.3 PronounsPronouns of the first and second person: we, I and you outnumber the other pronouns in advertisement. It is because that you, we and I help to 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 does not have the derogative meaning. It originates from old English god sip, meaning friendly chats between women. Advertisements that go like talking with friends closely link the advertisement and audience. The audience will easily accept a product, a service or an idea as if a good friend recommends 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: daily consumer goods advertisements, service advertisements and technical equipment advertisements. The first person “we” almost never occurs in daily consumer goods advertisements and technical equipment advertisements, whereas “we” is used in almost 80% the service advertisements in the corpus. The following are some examples:(34) “What can we do for you?”(35) “So come on and join us as we celebrate Millennia Mania Singapore.”(36) “…, we help our neighbors find the best way to give their favorite charities.”(37) “We are stronger than ever.”There are two factors to explain the phenomenon. First, in consumer goods and technical equipment advertisements, 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 audience. However, in service advertisements, service is actually the product. Since service in intangible, “we” can be regarded as the replacement of the service. Second, it is more necessary for service advertisements to create a friend-like atmosphere, because winning trust is the first thing service advertisements want to do.3.2 The Characteristics of SyntaxThe purpose of all advertisements 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 copywriters 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 sentence structure of advertising in English which should be the same as sentences in other literary styles is a relative complete and independent language unit and a unity of grammar structure, pronunciation structure and vocabulary meaning. But for the copywriters, the first thing that has to be considered is the consumer’s psychology. They have to make every effort to make the advertisement conspicuous, to arouse consumer’s shopping desire, and to make consumer take the activity of shopping. All these determine that advertising in English has extraordinary features of its own.Advertising regards social masses as the subject of consideration, everybody in the society may possible be the consumer. So the sentence in advertisement must be popular, simple and clear. The sentences must catch the consumer’s eyes all at once. Longwinded sentences oft simple sentences are understandable, powerful, colloquial, cordial and easy to be accepted by consumers. So, simple sentence is the basic characteristic of the sentence in English advertising. There are some main characteristics of the sentences in English advertising as follows.3.2.1 The Usage of Interrogative and Imperative SentenceAccording to incomplete statistics, every one in thirty sentences in English advertisem every one in four sentences in English advertising is imperative sentence. Why interrogative and imperative sentences are so favored, it depends on the two characteristics of English advertising: attention value and memory value.In the explanation of the high frequency of the use of interrogative sentences, linguist G. N. Leech discusses two main functions of interrogative sentences:
Viewing from the angle of psychology, interrogative sentences divided the process of information receiving into phases by first raising a question and then answer it. Thus it turns the passive receiving into active understanding. From the linguistic angle, interrogative sentences decrease the grammatical difficulty, because they are usually short in advertisements. (G. N. Leech G, )&Take the following interrogative sentences as examples, if it is asked to condense to one sentence, the condensed one will be complex and dull.(38) “What’s in women’s Realm this week? A wonderful beauty offers for you.→ there’s wonderful beauty offer for you in women’s realm this week.”English linguist Torben summarizes the fun “⑴ spreading information: ⑵ ⑶ ⑷stimulating.” Advertising language, as a particular practical literary style, its form and content are restricted strictly by the special literary form. In order to achieve the purpose of stimulating expenditure, loaded language is frequently used. Imperative sentence is short, encouraging and forceful. They are used to arouse audiences’ wants or encourage them to buy something. The most used words are: get, let, have, try etc. For example:(39) “Get the feeling. (Sports illustrated advertisement)”(40) “Let the New York Times find you.”(41) “Have some Harveys with your Christmas.”(42) “Try our smooth feeder system.”Some other verbs can also be used in imperative sentence, such as: choose, buy and put. For example:(43) “Choose your noise maker.”(44) “─Want your company talked about? Give it a buzz-worthy look. Cool, affordable officer furniture. That’s get people wound up.”(45) “Buy one. Get one free.”(46) “Put the web to work for you.”3.2.2 The Usage of Disjunctive ClauseDisjunctive clause is unique for advertising English, which separates a long, complex sentence into several simple sentences by using full stop, dash, semi-colon, hyphen, etc. Those sentences are independent in form, but are related in the content. The use of disjunctive clause could add more information and save more space and money. The separated parts are usually the features of the product, so that they could emphasize the good points of the product. (Grey Myers, ). For example:(47) “Yes.Avis is all over Asia Pacific.”“Yes” indicates that the consumers are so familiar with “Avis”. “Avis” is car-renting company, whenever the tourist needs a car the answer is always “yes”.(48) “So even if the Blue Bird’s other confidence---inspiring qualities don’t move you, its engine definitely will.” Blue Bird is the brand of car. Copywriter gives prominence to the important section of Blue Bird---the engine.3.2.3 The Usage of Elliptical SentenceElliptical sentences are actually incomplete in structure but complete in meaning. It is like the most common grammatical phenomena in English advertising. When Grey Myer stresses the function of the elliptical sentences, he said: “The omission doesn’t just let you fill in what you want. It makes you active in interpreting the sentence…” (Grey Myers, ). A remarkable characteristic of English advertising is using a large quantity of elliptical sentences. Since one or more components are omitted, the elliptical sentence appears refined and concise, and key words in the elliptical sentence are more conspicuous, the information is transmitted more directly and effectively to the audience. In advertising language, the subject or part of predicate or other components can be omitted, or sometimes even one word can be a sentence called single-word-sentence.The following are some examples:(49) “Fresh up with Seven-up. Taste that beats the other cold. (Seven-up Drinks)”(50) “Go for Gold. Our finest hour. (Gold Wine)”(51) “Baked. Drenched. Tasted to the extreme A Motorola cellular phone… (Motorola Phone)”3.2.4 The Usage of More Coordinated Structure and Less Subordinate StructureTo make the advertisement succinct and understandable, English in advertising tends to be used in more coordinated sentence, in contrary to coordinated sentence, subordinate sentence are less be used. Following are the examples:(52) “Easy to shoot. Easy to chare. Share moments. Share life. (Kodak Camera)”(53) “Today’s AARP ---Your Choice. Your Voice. Your Attitude. (AARP is a consulting Institution)”(54) “I click. I shop. I find the clothes I love. (On-line shopping)”Coordinated sentence usually give the audience an extremely deep impression. Obviously, by using coordinated structure, sentence is far more brief, eye-catching and forceful. What’s more, the coordinated structure implies a kind of appreciation for the product, by splitting the sentence into several fragments and rearranging its word order. Therefore skillful arrangement of coordinated sentence may add color to a sentence.3.3 Rhetorical Devices in Advertising EnglishRhetoric, in brief, is an instrument that on the basis of purport and context, using various kinds of language materials and expression techniques, expressing all the things being expressed appropriately. Rhetoric is used to study language from the angle of use, it is regarded as a powerful implement for strengthening the effect of language expressing, and it occupies an indispensable position in advertising English.Rhetorical devices in advertising English serves the purpose of the content, it should suit the content and induce the consumer to get into a wonderful world of product. This requests the copywriter to achieve the purpose of attention value and memory value. The copywriter tries to be fanciful in selecting words and making sentences and also tries to produce unconventional creative power.In this section, some commonly used rhetorical devices will be discussed.3.3.1 PersonificationPersonification in advertising is used to personate the things advertised, it gives new life into the product and makes the product lively and rich in human-interest, and it also makes the consumer doubly feeling good. For example:(55) “He was born in 1639, and he’s still flying with us today.”Here, “He” it is endued with the ability of flying.(56) “Oscar de La Ranta knows what makes a woman beautiful.”Here, Oscar de La Ranta is a cosmetic, using personification is better than explainin it is richer in implication and easier to move the women who are keen on beauty.(57) “Flowers by Interflona speak from heart.”This is an advertisement for flower shop. It means that flowers by Interflona can express the heartfe “speak” personates the flower.3.3.2 PunPun is an amusing use of a word or phrase that has two meanings, or of two words that have the same sound. Pun is usually implicit, so it pregnant with meaning and arouses lots of imagination. Following are some examples:(58) “Try our sweet corn. You’ll smile from ear to ear.”Here, “ear” has two meanings: ⑴part of your b ⑵the head of a grain producing plant, used for food. So this advertisement can be understood as: ⑴once you taste this sweet corn, you can’t he ⑵this sweet corn is so sweet, it makes you smile all the time.(59) “A Deal With Us Means A Good Deal To You.”In this advertisement, the use of “a good deal” is very ingenious, for it has “a lot of” and “business” two meanings.(60) “From Sharp minds come Sharp products.”Here, “sharp” has the meaning of “quick and sensitive”; it is also the brand name of this product.3.3.3 RepetitionRepetition is another very important rhetorical device. The copywriter gives prominence to the principle information and stresses the emphasis by repeating the key words or homological grammar structure. Appropriate using of repetition can give the consumer a deep impression. Following are some examples:(61) “Make up your mind before you make up your face.”(62) “When you’re sipping Lipton, you’re sipping something special.”This is a fruit-tea advertisement. “Lipton” is the brand name of the fruit-tea. Using “you’re sipping” repeat just shows that it is “something special”, it makes people cannot refrain from drinking.The entire above are only some commonly used rhetorical devices. Actually, many of advertisements use comprehensive rhetorical devices. Diversified rhetorical devices used simultaneously can make advertisements full of artistic quality and effectiveness.
Ⅳ. ConclusionTo sum up, the language in English advertising is the same as other professional English, it has a degree of excellence in lexicon, syntax, rhetoric and expression, and it strives for the final purpose of motivating the consumer’s shopping activities by AIDA (Attraction, Interest, Desire, and Action). Therefore, if an advertisement cannot attract the consumer’s attention, it undoubtedly means an agonizing defeat. In order to get a correct recognition and appraisement to the advertising English, the author analyzes the characteristics of English in advertising from the angle of linguistic.With regard to advertising language, the public hold various views: some think advertising language is an acceptable stimulus for the natural evolution of language. By using some techniques of advertising language, the characteristics and advantages of the products can be more e some think advertising debases English. Some advertisements don’t follow t they make the audience feels confused, sometimes even mislead the audience. Some hold the view that psychologically appealing images are those which appeal to our seven sins: sexual urges vanity, snobbery, gluttony, greed, etc. Even though different people hold the different views, but actually, advertisements and advertising language are both social phenomena, they have existed for a long time, changed and improved a lot with the cha they have become a kind of special culture, they have their own characteristics and principles. They will certainly exist and become more perfectThe copywriters often concentrate their efforts on the language of advertising. They do their best to make the letter concise and comprehensive, the style interesting and novel, and the rhetoric changeful and colorful. Along with the change of the market and the development of trading strategy, the form and the content of advertising are supposed to alter.With the establishment and development of market economy, the entering of WTO as well as the globalization of world economy, advertisements swarms from outside into China. Many enterprises in China also need some advertisements to promote their foreign markets. So it is a very realistic question to understand and make use of advertising English. Besides, from the language perspective, on the one hand, the advertising language has shown the common point of language. On the other hand, it shows the specialty of English in advertisement. To language learner, advertising English is especially appealing and it worthies researching.
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