Abstract：Nattinger & Decarrico put forward lexical chunks in early nineties of the 20th century. They called the words or phrases that are frequently used and highly accepted by people in their English learning lexical chunks. They thought that lexical chunks are patterned fixed phrases between sentences and words. They are always stored in memory and picked-out as a whole part which needn’t be produced or analyzed by grammar rules. business English correspondence is a special practical writing with its own style and characteristics. Present studies pointed out that lexical chunks were frequently used in business English correspondence and commonly accepted by writers. Although there are some studies on lexical chunks and business English correspondence, yet few studies were made on the application and functions of lexical chunks in business English correspondence. The author finds that lexical chunks in business English correspondence play an important role and can give a great help to complete a correspondence writing. Using lexical chunks in business English correspondence can help to promote the discourse organization, make the language expression more native, promote the accuracy and fluency. In order to write a native, decent, accurate and fluent business English correspondence we should cultivate our sense of lexical chunks and learn to use lexical chunks. This thesis focus on the application and functions of lexical chunks in business English correspondence in order to improve the writing level of business English correspondence.

Keywords:  lexical chunks  business English correspondence  writing  function

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 The Background and Significance of This Study-1

1.2 Lexical Chunks-1

1.3 Business English Correspondence-1

1.4 The Structure of This Thesis-2

Chapter Two Literature Review-4

2.1 Previous Studies on Lexical Chunks in English Learning-4

2.2 Previous Studies on Lexical Chunks in Business English Correspondence-5

Chapter Three Lexical Chunks in Business English Correspondence Writing-7

3.1 The Types of Business Lexical Chunk-7

3.1.1 Words and / or Poly-words.-7

3.1.2 Phrasal Constraints.-7

3.1.3 Institutionalized Expressions.-8

3.1.4 Sentence Builders-8

3.3 Functions of Lexical Chunks in Business English Correspondence Writing-10

3.3.1 Helping to Make Expression more Decent and Native-10

3.3.2 Helping to Promote the Fluency-11

3.3.3 Helping to Cultivate the Discourse Organizational Capability-12

Chapter Four Conclusion-14

References-15