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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background
There is a common belief that business language should be concrete, concise andclear which indicates that vagueness should be prevented in Business Letters. However,in business communication, the truth is not always such a case. In order to realizesuccessful business communication, large number of vague language is employedwhich makes vagueness a typical feature of business language. The frequent use ofvague language and the indispensable role it performs in business letters provesvagueness should not be neglected.So far, many researches have been conducted on vague language use in all typesof business letters. Traditionally, most scholars employ Face Theory, CooperativePrinciple as the theoretical framework. And the study perspectives primarily confinedto the function of vague language, the pragmatic effect of using vague language orsimply frequency calculation.In order to make the vague language research more specific, the author will onlystudy persuasive business letters in this thesis. The reasons are as follows: firstly,persuasive business letters undertaking the task of persuading business partners to actas the content listed, many vague language need to be exploited to improve flexibilityin communication. Secondly, vague language use in persuasive business letters ishigher than other types of business letters. Thirdly, vague language performs manyfunctions in persuasive business letters like enhance the flexibility in expression,improve the accuracy of language and alleviate the tone in communication. Inaddition, by making the research subject more concrete, the research result will bemore convincing.
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1.2 Research significance
The contrastive study of vague language in persuasive business letters bears boththeoretical and practical significance.Theoretically, this study will surely contribute to the vague language researchand business letter research. It will bridge the two and widen previous researches inthis area. What’s more, the findings of this research will provide some theoreticalenlightenment for thesis writing concerning business letter area. Finally, thecontrastive analysis using Adaptation Theory will help people have a betterunderstanding of respective features of vagueness and give guidance to more effectiveinternational commerce.The study of vagueness phenomena in NES's and CEL's business Englishcorrespondence bears great practical importance, which enables us to see thesimilarities and differences in the application of vague language between NES's andCEL's persuasive business letters and sheds new light on how to write more authenticor genuine business letters in a tactful way. It will offer a fresh perspective to analyzeand comprehend business correspondence. Meanwhile it will promote students’capability in writing persuasive business letters and supply guidance to the effectivenegotiation in business commerce as well.
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CHAPTER TWO literature review

Since Vagueness phenomena were found, many scholars started their journey inthis road. Until now, many achievements have been made in this area. This thesis is anexpansion based on previous studies.From the thesis topic, we can clearly find out three key words: vague language;vague language in persuasive business letters; Adaptation Theory. So in this chapter,the literature review will be done mainly from these three aspects.