Abstract: Under the framework of grammatical metaphor, this paper analyzes the phenomenon of nominalization in business English correspondence from the aspect of lexical level and subordinate clausal level. From the lexical level, nominalization can be classified into de-verbal and de-adjective nominalization. From the subordinate clausal level, nominalization transformation includes the subject clause, object clause and adverbial clause. By giving some examples in business English correspondence, it can be concluded that nominalization is one of significant language features of business English correspondence and has functions for conciseness, formality and coherence. Therefore, the great employment of nominalization in business English correspondence makes the discourse more concise, formal and coherent. In other words, the more frequent the nominalization, the more formal the writing style.

Key words: Nominalization; Business English Correspondence; Lexical; Subordinate Clause; Discourse Function

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要：

1. Introduction1

2. Literature Review.1

3. Nominalization in Grammatical Metaphor 2

4. Application of Nominalization in Business English Correspondence .3

4.1 Types of nominalization

4.1.1 Lexical nominalization

4.1.2 Subordinate clausal nominalization

4.2 Functions of Nominalization

4.2.1 Conciseness

4.2.2 Formality

4.2.3 Coherence

5. Conclusion.9

Bibliography .11

Acknowledgements ..12