vertisements. Thus, in this paper we discuss not only the similarities of language shared by all types of advertisements but also differences of language used in different kinds of advertisements.
2.2 Similarities at the lexical level
In order to make the information accessible to audience effectively, the choice of words in advertising is very cautious and skillful. The aim of the advertiser is quite specific. He wishes to capture the attention of the members of a mass audience and by means of impressive words to persuade them to buy a product or behave in a particular way, such as going to Hawaii for all their holiday needs. Both linguistic and psychological aspects are taken into consideration in the choice of words. Sharing the same purpose of advertising－to familiarize or remind consumers of the benefits of particular products in the hope of increasing sales, the techniques used at the lexical level by advertisers do not vary markedly. The following points are some prominent similarities.
2.2.1 Few verbs are used
G. N. Leech, English linguist, lists 20 most used verbs in his English In Advertising: Linguistic study of Advertising In Great Britain (方薇, 1997:20). They are: make, get, give, have, see, buy, come, go, know, keep, look, need, love, use, feel, like, choose, take, start, taste.
All these verbs listed above are also popular in the corpus we built.
You will often read such sentences in an adve英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】rtisement:
Buy x. Use it. We make… X will give you what you need. You’ll love x. Get x. Fox example:
We’ll make this quick. (Hertz Car Return)
Get great coverage that’s so weightless and water-fresh. (ALMAY)
All you need is a taste for adventure. (Millstone Coffee)
You’ll love it even more with the 2.1 megapixel C-2000 ZOOM. (Olympus Camera)
Don’t have much of a personality? Buy one. (Honda Motor)
…
All these frequently used verbs are monosyllabic and most of them have Anglo-Saxon origin that is the common core of English vocabulary. Linguistic study shows English native speakers tend to use words of Anglo-Saxon origin, because native words have comparably stable meaning. In advertising, these simple words can win the consumers by their exact, effective expression and a kind of closeness. Etymological studies show that the 20 verbs listed before, except use and taste which are from ancient French, all are Anglo-Saxon origin. Even the two words, use and taste have long become indispensable lexical items in the stock of common core vocabulary of the English people, developing their stable meaning and usage.
2.2.2 Use of emotive words
A close scrutiny of recent advertisements suggests that the soft-sell technique is now popular. By soft-sell technique we mean the one that favors a more emotive and less directive approach to promote a product, mainly focusing on the building of
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