Abstract: Letter to Shareholders is the front of annual report and the mostly read part. Meanwhile, IT industry is one of the most lucrative industries now and a popular sector for investors. This essay based on self-build corpus by using AntConc and writer’s workbench to conduct a language study from genre perspective. From three aspects: lexicon, grammar and discourse, conducting an in-depth analysis. In lexicon, a considerable proportion of financial words and words that indicate positive trends are used in Letter to Shareholders; in grammar, sentences length of letter to shareholders is longer than normal, because it applies less simple sentence than BNC and applies more complex sentences, of which adverbial clause is applied most. Thus, possess features of ESP (English for Special Uses) and differ from standard English. The threshold of reading Letter to shareholder is higher. Letter to shareholders apply active voice more to express directly and avoid vagueness. In discourse, oral English chooses and use cohesion words differently from written English.

Key words: Letter to shareholders; IT industry; Stylistic features; Corpus

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction-1

1.1 Letter to shareholders-1

1.2 IT industry-3

1.3 Significance of the Study-4

2.Genre Study-5

2.1 Genre-5

1）Lexicon-6

2）Grammar-7

3）Discourse-7

3.Research Methodology-7

3.1 Method of Corpus-8

3.2 Sample Used in This Study-8

4. Data Analysis-9

4.1 On the Level of Lexicon-9

4.2 On the Level of Grammar-23

4.3 On the Level of Cohesion-28

5.Conclusion-31

References-33