Abstract:With the rapid development of international economy and trade, foreign trade correspondence, as an important tool to carry out foreign economic, trade and related business activities, is used more frequently than ever before in international business dealings. The discussion among today’s scholar on the application of You-Attitude and We-Attitude in foreign trade correspondence is controversial.

This paper first studies the relevant discussion about You-Attitude and We-Attitude of domestic scholars, then re-summarizes the definition and the content of You-Attitude and We-Attitude. Based on Brown and Levinson’s Face Theory and Leech’s Politeness Principle, the paper will carry out a systematic analysis of You-Attitude and We-Attitude in order to provide theoretical support for the effective study of foreign trade correspondence and promote the further development of our country’s foreign trade.

This paper has five chapters. Chapter One introduces the background of this paper, definition of the You-Attitude and We-Attitude and makes a comparison between them. Chapter Two is a Literature review, introducing the present study of the relevant subject in this paper. Chapter Three is an analysis of relationship between face theory, politeness principle and these two kinds of attitudes in foreign trade correspondence. Chapter Four deals with the concrete application of You-Attitude and We-Attitude in foreign trade correspondence. In Chapter Five, a conclusion is made and the author also points out the shortages of this paper. 

Keywords:  You-Attitude  We-Attitude  foreign trade correspondence  writing

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 The Background of This Paper-1

1.2 The Definition of You-Attitude and We-Attitude-1

1.2.1 The Definition of You-Attitude-1

1.2.2 The Definition of We-Attitude-2

1.2.3 The Comparison of You-attitude and We-attitude-2

1.3 The Structure of This Paper-3

Chapter Two Literature Review-4

2.1 General Statement-4

2.2 The Present Study of This Subject-4

Chapter Three Relationship between Face Theory, Politeness Principle and Two Kinds of Attitudes-6

3.1 Face Theory-6

3.2 Politeness Principle-6

3.3 Face Theory, Politeness Principle and You-Attitude-7

3.4 Face Theory, Politeness Principle and We-Attitude-7

Chapter Four Application of You-Attitude and We-Attitude in Foreign Trade Correspondence-9

4.1 Application of Pronoun “You” in Good-News FTC-9

4.2 Application of the We-Attitude in Bad-News FTC-9

4.3 Sincere Attitude in FTC-10

4.3.1 Application of Passive Voice in FTC-10

4.3.2 Application of Subjunctive Mood in FTC-11

4.3.3 Application of Positive Structure in FTC-12

4.4 The Comparison of Application of the “You-Attitude” and “We-Attitude” in FTC-13

Chapter Five Conclusion-15

5.1 Summary of This Paper-15

5.2 Shortages of This Paper-15

References-16