Syntactical Features of Advertising English广告英语的文体特征及分析

Syntactical Features
As the purpose of all advertising is to remind Simple Sentences consumers of the benefits of particular products in the hope of increasing sales, Elliptical Sentences advertising language must be concise, legible, understandable and memorable. It Imperative Sentences usually has its own characteristics in syntax. This part will discuss the syntactic features Interrogative Sentences of advertising English.
Intelligence everywhere. (Motorola)
It is evident that by using ellipsis, the sentence is far more brief, eye-catching and forceful. From the point of syntactical structure, the sentence cuts the important grammar component——the predictive verb ”is”. In elliptical sentences the minor expressions are omitted so as to give importance to the key words and expressions.
No business too small, no problem too big.
没有不做的小生意， 没有解决不了的大问题。
One certain advertisement can not be considered as a successful one unless it gets the audience’s immediate attention and interests and sends them into reading it along. We can conclude the characteristics with the well-known “KISS” principle, namely: “keep it short and sweet”.
Simple sentence
are the type of sentences which frequently occur in the advertising materials. People define a simple sentence as a sentence that just has an independent clause. People are inclined to use more simple sentences than complex sentences in spoken language and daily life. It can be seen that business use various advertising slogans in advertising again and again in some period of time so as to impress people with its products and coerrogative Sentences（疑问句）
Statistics show that in every 30 sentences, there is one interrogative sentence, because interrogative sentences are quick and effective to arouse readers’ attention. The interrogative sentence often calls for an answer and people more like to react to it than to a declarative sentence. Therefore, people use an interrogative sentence as the headline or the first sentence to provoke audience’s interest and lure them to read on.
Things go better with Coca-Cola.
Something cooler happens with Canada Dry.
Impossible is nothing.
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Elliptical sentences （省略句）
are usually used in advertising, the structure of which is in fact unfinished but the meaning is comprehensive. The use of elliptical sentences can save more print space, and readers spend less time finishing reading. Besides, a number of sentence fragments may have a special effect on advertising. Eg:
Disjunctive Sentences
1. Simple sentences with basically simple grammatical structure.
e.g. (1) Children cry for it. (2) They satisfy. (3) The flavor lasts. These three are simple sentences with only two or four words, but the meanings are clear and the language is descriptive. In the first example, the advertiser, instead of directly publicizing his production, describes the children’s strong liking for it. Thus this sentence sounds vivid and lively. The second example with only two words often appears in the advertisement of cigarettes of one kind. Actually this kind of cigarettes has become “social superiority”, whenever the sentence “They satisfy.” Is seen, the consumers will know what it means. The third sentence indicates that the fine quality of the food instead of describing how delicious the food is.
We usually use imperative sentences to express an order, request, or persuasion. To introduce and sell their products to the consumer, the advertiser tends to take direct exhortations with loaded language(鼓动性语言). In this case, it is imperative sentences that satisfactorily fulfill the function. In the sentences above, with such small but lively verbs as “enjoy”, , “do”, “engineer”, and “let”, the sentences are powerful and impressing. They excite the reader so much that they cannot wait to take immediate action.
Oh, I see!
This is the slogan of OIC Spectacles Company in America. It not only hilariously stresses the trademark of the spectacles, but also briefly and obviously shows that people will be happy to see the beautiful world again with the spectacles. More examples:
Skillful arrangement of elliptical sentences may add color to an advertisement. It is attractive and memorable easily by consumers and the characteristics of products are embodied completely.
The following is an insurance advertisement: Looking for a lifeline？ Let TUGU INSURANCE keep you float in the face of the worst of elements. TUGU INSURANCE-the back-up you can count on. The headline of this advertisement is a question, which is very eye-catching. Then an answer is provided. Thus, they expand the range of their services well.