MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY AN ANALYSIS OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN BUSSINESS LETTERS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHƯƠNG TIỆN LIÊN KẾT TRONG THƯ TÍN KINH DOANH TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2015 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY AN ANALYSIS OF COHESIVE DEVICES IN BUSSINESS LETTERS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHƯƠNG TIỆN LIÊN KẾT TRONG THƯ TÍN KINH DOANH TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Nguyen Dang Suu Ph.D Hanoi, 2015 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled“ An analysis of cohesive devices in business letters in English and Vietnamese” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except for the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2015 Nguyen Thi Thuy Approved by SUPERVISOR Nguyen Dang Suu Ph.D Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude Nguyen Dang Suu Ph.D, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to Post Graduate Falcuty and many others, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my friends for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT This research was conducted to gain more insights in the writers‟ use of cohesive deices and styles in business letters in English with reference to Vietnamese equivalents In addition, the author tries to figure out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese business letters, which is regarded as one of the effective communication tools in terms of cohesion aspects of Systemic Functional Grammar To fulfill these objectives, the authors conducted an analysis with a sample of 30 business letters, including fifteen letters written in English and fifteen translation versions of those letters in Vietnamese The research results indicate that there are some significant remarks on the style of business correspondence, the frequency cohesive devices and the similarities and differences in terms of cohesion between English and Vietnamese business letters The results show that while Vietnamese writers regard lexical devices as the most useful tools in their letters, English ones highly appreciate the effectiveness of reference The findings of this study can, to some extent, be usedas a referential material for Vietnamese learners and teachers in writing and teaching writing effective letters in English, especially business letters iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Adj: Adjective Adv: Adverb CDs: Cohesive Devices N: Noun Prep: Preposition V: Verb SFL: Systemic Functional Grammar iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 01 : Types of Cohesion Table 02: Grammatical and Lexical Cohesion Table 03 : The use of reference devices of business letter Table 04 : The use of personal reference of business letter Table 05: The use of demonstrative reference of business letter Table 06: The use of substitution of business letter Table 07 : The use of nominal substitution of business letter Table 08 : The use of clausal substitution of business letter Table 09 : The use of verbal substitution of business letter Table 10: The use of ellipsis of business letter Table 11: The use of substitution of business letter Table 12: The use of additive cohesive devices of business letter Table 13: The use of adversative cohesive devices of business letter Table 14: The use of causal cohesive devices of business letter Table 15: The use of temporal cohesive devices of business letter Table 16: The class of “General Nouns” in English business letters Table 17 : The frequency of grammatical collocations of business letter v Table 18: English and Vietnamese business letters in comparison in terms of grammatical cohesion Table 19: English and Vietnamese business letters in comparison in terms of lexical cohesion Figure 01: The frequency of reiteration of business letter Figure 02: The frequency of repetition of business letter Figure 03: The frequency of synonyms of business letter Figure 04: The frequency of near – synonyms of business letter Figure 05 : The frequency of grammatical collocations of business letter vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research 1.2 Aims of the research 1.3 Objectives of the research 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Significance of the research 1.6 Structural organization of the thesis Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.2.1 Theoretical Framework 2.2.1.1 Overview of business letter 10 2.2.2 Theoretical background 15 2.2.2.1 Concept of cohesive devices 17 2.2.2.2 Classification of cohesive devices 18 2.2.2.3 Function of cohesive devices 28 2.2.2.4 Discourse and Discourse Analysis 29 2.3 Summary 34 Chapter METHODOLOGY 35 3.1 Research - governing orientations 35 3.1.1 Research questions 35 3.1.2 Research setting 35 3.1.3 Research approach 36 3.2 Research methods 36 3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods 36 vii 3.2.2 Data collection techniques 37 3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 37 3.3 Summary 38 Chapter FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 39 4.1 Grammatical and Lexical cohesive devices used in English business letters 39 4.1.1 Grammatical cohesive devices used in English business letters 39 4.1.1.1 Reference 39 4.1.1.2 Substitution 42 4.1.1.3 Ellipsis 44 4.1.1.4 Conjunction 45 4.1.2 Lexical cohesive devices used in English business letters 51 4.1.2.1 The class of „General Nouns 51 4.2 Similarities and differences of cohesive devices used in English and Vietnamese business letters 64 4.2.1 Similarities 64 4.2.1.1 Grammatical cohesive devices 64 4.2.1.2 Lexical Cohesive devices 67 4.2.2 Differences 68 4.2.2.1 Grammatical cohesive devices 68 4.2.2.2 Lexical cohesive devices 69 4.3 Implications for teachers 70 4.4 Summary 72 Chapter CONCLUSION 73 5.1 Recapitulation 73 5.2 Concluding remarks 74 5.3 Limitations of the current research 77 5.4 Suggestions for a further research 77 REFERENCES APPENDICES viii Letter 19 R Hughes & Son Ltd 21 Mead Road, Swansea The Manager Welsh Co – operative Bank Seaway House Glendower Road Swansea 10 August 2000 Dear Mr Collis, Thank you for your letter of 8th August Please allow us to apologize for our oversight in not realizing We had a debit balance on my current account The reason We did not realize We had overdrawn our account was because we had received a post – dated cheque for £300.00 from a customer which had not been cleared However, to avoid a repetition we have transferred £500.00 from our deposit account and this should ensure against overdrawing in future Thank you for following the credit transfer to Homemakers to go through despite the debit balance it created Your sincerely, R Hughes Letter 20 Cửa hàng lưu niệm HANAH 345 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám, Q.3, TP Hồ Chí Minh ĐT: (08) 843.0016, Fax: (08) 843.0018 Ngày 23/02/2008 Bà Nguyễn Nam Nguyên Công ty Phân phối Hàng Lƣu Niệm 456 Nguyễn Công Trứ, Q.1 TP Hồ Chí Minh Thƣa Bà, Công ty bà cung cấp cho cửa hàng nhiều sản phẩm lƣu niệm chất lƣợng độc đáo suốt 15 năm qua Vào ngày 25 tháng giêng vừa rồi, có đặt hàng búp bê Fortune Teller giá 2.700 đôla Một khách hàng muốn mua búp bê để làm quà sinh nhật cho vợ ông ta Con búp bê đầu kỷ 18 Bà quảng cáo có chất lƣợng nhƣ vật bảo tàng với gỗ sơn nguyên thủy Sau kiểm tra, thật đáng tiếc lớp sơn búp bê bị bong Phần sơn làm giảm hẳn giá trị búp bê giả cổ Khách hàng muốn mua búp bê nhƣng không đồng ý toán theo giá gốc Ông ta cho phần sơn bong làm giảm giá trị búp bê hết 300 đô-la; vậy, đề nghị bà hoàn trả lại số tiền Nếu việc hoàn trả phần không thực đƣợc, trả lại búp bê mong muốn nhận lại đủ số tiền 2.700 đô-la Vui lòng điện thoại cho fax cho định bà vào ngày 05/03/2008 để khách hàng đƣợc có đƣợc thông tin xác Thân mến Hà Nam Anh Letter 21 CARTIERS Ltd 516 – Cathy Park, Cadiff Telephone: 0222 821587 Telex: 421649 Fax: 0222 498315 12 November 1999 Mr R Cliff Homemakers Ltd 54 – 54 Riverside Cadiff CF JW Dear Mr R Cliff, In reply to your letter of 10 November, we can quote £ 72.20 for picking up and delivering your consignment from your address to the consignee’s premises This includes loading and unloading, plus insurance If you fill out Despatch Note enclosed, and let us know two days before you want the delivery made, our driver will hand you a receipt when he calls to collect the consighnment Your sincerely, H.Welson Supervisor Letter 22 PARADISE TRAVEL 428 Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa, Q.1, TP Hồ Chí Minh ĐT: (08) 821.3333, Fax: (08) 821.3334 Website: www.paradise-travel.co ; Email: info@paradise-travel.com Ngày 18/03/2008 Ông Bà TRẦN LANG 289 Nguyễn Thái Bình, Q.1 TP Hồ Chí Minh Ông Bà Trần thân mến, MÙA XUÂN SÔI NỔI VỚI GOLD! Mùa xuân thời gian bắt đầu mới! Hãy đến thƣởng thức thi vô địch Sanddollar Golf Hilton Head Ba ngày xuân sôi với golf, tennis thƣ giản làm lại sống quý vị Hãy thƣởng thức ba ngày với golf tennis hai đêm thƣ giản khách sạn Sanddollar sang trọng với 750 đô-la cho hai ngƣời Sân golf 18 lỗ Sanddollar thử thách tuyệt diệu cho xác Các chƣớng ngại vật hồ nƣớc nhỏ bồn hoa làm tăng thêm vẻ đẹp thiên nhiên sân golf Phong cảnh tuyệt vời sân golf thời tiết dễ chịu tháng làm cho ngày thiên đƣờng ngƣời chơi golf Thêm vào việc tận hƣởng sân golf sang trọng, quý vị chơi tennis 12 sân, bơi lội hồ bơi, thƣ giản phòng xông tập thể dục phòng tập thể hình, khiêu vũ khán phòng thật lãng mạn Quý vị thƣởng thức nhiều ăn từ cá tƣơi, thịt bò, mì Ý đặc biệt, rau trộn ngon tuyệt nhà hàng Vui lòng đặt phòng cho mùa xuân sôi động thƣ giản cách gọi theo số (08)821.3333 Nếu quý vị chọn thuận lợi mùa xuân sôi động này, quý vị nhận đƣợc coupon cho bữa tối miễn phí nhà hàng Chào thân ái, Trần Việt Phƣơng Giám Đốc Kinh Doanh Letter 23 Perfect Office Suppliers Limited Canal Street, Manchester Fax transmission From: Mike Wilson To: Sue Franks Sue I have been in Bournemouth now since yesterday, and our clients seem to be most enthusiastic about our new range of notepaper Can you send some more samples and about 20 more catalogues? Please send them Datapost, then I will definitely get them tomorrow Also, just to let you know I will be in Norwich on Thursday 24 and Friday 26, and back at the office on Monday Thank, and see you next week Letter 24 TỔNG CÔNG TY ĐIỆN LỰC VIỆT NAM NHÀ MÁY NHIỆT ĐIỆN THỦ ĐỨC Số: 811/ EVN – DTD – Tp Hồ Chí Minh, ngày tháng năm 2007 V/v: Biến động 110kV bị chạm đất nhị thử Kính gửi: Công ty Phát Triển Kỹ Thuật – Công Nghệ EDH Nhà máy xin báo quý công ty tình trạng hƣ hỏng biến động dòng điện 110 kV quý Công ty cung cấp nhƣ sau: Khi kiểm tra thiết bị trạm sau lắp đặt, nhà máy phát biến động bị chạm đất phần nhị thử Nhà máy cô lập đầu đấu nối nhị thử core số để kiểm tra khẳng định phần nhị thử cuộn dây bị chạm đất ( cách điện ), sử dụng đƣợc Theo sơ đồ đầu nối, toàn core biến động đƣợc sử dụng, không core dự phòng Vì thiết bị phải đƣợc đóng điện trƣớc ngày 12 tháng năm 2007, Nhà máy đề nghị quý công ty xử lý gấp hƣ hỏng biến động để kịp đƣa thiết bị vào vận hành Trân trọng kính chào KT.GIÁM ĐỐC NM NHIỆT ĐIỆN THỦ ĐỨC Phó Giám Đốc Nguyễn Cảnh Letter 25 ECADS, IMCORPORATED 502 Beach Street Miami, FL 45253 (305) 834-4323 Fax : (305)834-5646 Email : ms.ecards@exec.com Mr.Joel Baker 3078 Terrace Boulevard Miami, FL 64532 January 18, 2001 Dear Mr.Baker, I received in today’s mail the defective part that we talked about last week on the phone As soon as one of our engineers can examine it, I will phone you Sincerely, Marylin Sanches Letter 26 TP Hồ Chí Minh, ngày 01 tháng 11 năm 2006 Kính gửi: Phòng Dịch Vụ - Cục Quản Lý Thị Trường Hà Nội Chúng là: CÔNG TY TNHH SẢN XUẤT THUẬN PHONG Địa chỉ: 114 – 116 – 118 Tuy Lý Vƣơng, Phƣờng 13, Quạn TP.Hồ Chí Minh Điện thoại: 0903-956808 Fax: 9501644 Nghành nghề đăng ký kinh doanh: sản xuất, mau bán keo dán tổng hợp, dây đèn trang trí loại Công ty có nhiều năm kinh nghiệm việc sản xuất loại dây đền dùng việc trang trí dịp lễ tết với nhiều chủng loại đa dạng phong phú Sau 02 năm nghiến cứu, tự thiết kế sản xuất loại dây đèn trang trí 400 bóng mang tên “ Đèn phát tài” Vì vậy, Công ty viết thƣ kinh xin Phòng Dịch Vụ I – Cục Quanr Lý Thị Trƣờng Hà Nội xem xét chấp nhận kiểu dáng dây đèn hiệu “Đèn phát tài” cảu công ty Chúng xin đảm bảo công dụng loại đèn chủ yếu dùng để trang trí tuyệt đối không vi phạm vào quy định Nhà Nƣớc Rất mong đƣợc giúp đỡ Quý quan Kinh chào trân trọng CÔNG TY TNHH SX THUẬN PHONG P.Giám Đốc Ngô Loan Letter 27 Dear Mr Deksen, Thank you very much for assisting Michael Hobbs while he was in Oslo I know he has already written to you expressing his gratitude, but I would like to add my own appreciation The introductions you made for him and the contacts and information he gained will be extremely useful in our Scandinavian export programme If I can offer you any similar service in the future, please contact me Your sincerely, Letter 28 CÔNG TY DU LỊCH VÀ THỂ THAO VIỆT NAM 49-Quang Trung, Hai Bà Trưng, Ha Noi Email: vietrantour@hn.vnn.vn Tel: (84.4) 9438777-78-5657-58 Fax: (84.4) 9438759 Hà Nội, ngày 22 thỏng năm 2006 Kính gửi: Phòng đặt vé máy bay 05 - Vietnam Airline Công ty Du lịch Thể thao Việt Nam (Vietrantour) xin gửi lời chào trân trọng tới Quý phòng Chúng xin đƣợc trình bày việc nhƣ sau: Vietrantour đặt cọc chỗ cho đoàn gồm 30 khách du lịch Thailand từ ngày 23/08/06 đến ngày 27/08/2006 chuyến bay VN 831 VN 830 Ngày 21/8/2006 hạn phải xuất vé máy bay nhƣng đoàn gồm 15 ngƣời lấy kịp hộ chiếu để khởi hành theo thời gian Vì xuất 15 vé tổng số 30 vé đặt cọc Công ty Vietran Tour kính mong nhận đƣợc xem xét không bị phạt đặt cọc 15 chỗ theo hành trình nhƣ Xin trân trọng cảm ơn./ Kính chào Đinh Nguyệt Ánh (Giám đốc) Letter 29 Royal Ace Ltd., Helmsley Avenue, UK 13tn June, 2001 Mr Ben Folder, Sales Supervisor, Metro Services Corp.) Dear Mr Folder, We would like to invite you to attend the (inauguration of our business) located at (Lispher Bldg.) on (September 12, 2009) at (8:00AM) It is ou honor to have you as our loyal customer in our other busnesses We are hoping that we will get the same support from you We have been in this business for quite some time now yet we have always managed to stay on top of our competitors This is not possible if not with your support to our business We have prepared something for you as our patrons as a way of saying thank you Please come early so that we can find a comfortable seat for you and so that you will be there as we acknowledge our loyal customers and you are definitely in the list Please let us know if you are attending the said event or not by (September 2, 2009) Hoping for your presence on that day We are looking forward to more fruitful business deals with you Sincerely Yours, Larry Hous General Manager Letter 30 Công Ty TNHH Tân Thành 55 Trần Xuân Soạn TP Hồ Chí Minh ĐT: 08 872 9660 Fax: 08 872 9666 Ngày 24 tháng 03 năm 2001 Anh Trần Văn Minh 25 Mai Thị Lựu TP Hồ Chí Minh Thƣa Anh, Chúng chân thành cảm ơn anh quan tâm đến chƣơng trình tuyển dụng nhân nộp hồ sơ dự tuyển vào công ty TNHH Tân Thành Qua nghiên cứu hồ sơ cảm kích đánh giá cao trình độ học thức nhƣ kinh nghiệm công tác anh Nhƣng nhu cầu tiêu có hạn nhƣ trình độ chuyên môn nghiệp vụ cần phù hợp với chức danh này, chƣa thể hợp tác với anh đƣợc Hồ sơ anh đƣợc lƣu giữ văn phòng công ty, xem xét lại hồ sơ anh có nhu cầu nhân Với phát triển ngày mở rộng hoạt động sản xuất kinh doanh, hy vọng đƣợc hợp tác với anh ngày gần Thân ái, Đỗ Văn Ngũ Trƣởng phòng nhân BLOCK STYLE 123 Anywhere Place New York, NY 10001 July 1, 2014 Mr John Smith XYZ Corporation 000 Utopia Drive San Francisco, CA 94109 Dear Mr Smith, My former colleague Joan Brown informed me that you are seeking to hire an office manager I worked with Ms Brown at Acme and have 10 years of experience as an administrative assistant I have long admired XYZ Corporation and would be honored to work for your company As you can see from my résumé, I have performed many administrative duties in my previous positions at Acme and Ajax corporations At Ajax, I facilitated the company's transition from handwritten to digital records That work paved the way for my move to Acme, where I assisted the director of innovation in tracking the development of new products I helped introduce the company's workflow management system, which enabled Acme to cut the average development time of its software upgrades from 18 weeks to 12 weeks I would be pleased to speak with you to discuss the details of the office manager position Thank you for your consideration of my application Your sincerely, Jane Doe MODIFIED BLOCK STYLE 123 Anywhere Place New York, NY 10001 July 1, 2014 Ms Joan Brown XYZ Corporation 1000 Utopia Drive San Francisco, CA 94109 Dear Joan, Thank you so much for informing me of the opening at XYZ Corporation I appreciate all the support you have given me throughout my career, and I would be delighted to work alongside you once again In order to build upon my qualifications, I have applied to the evening administrative degree program at Monroe College I would greatly appreciate it if you would be willing to serve as one of my references In the year since you left Acme, I have taken on additional duties as Mr Jones's administrative assistant In November, the company introduced a proprietary workflow management system, and I was charged with ensuring that each department received the upgrade on schedule Additionally, I completed 20 hours of software training in order to input updates As a result, I was able to pursue certification in Microsoft Office, which I received last month For your reference, I have also enclosed a copy of my current résumé Please let me know if you would like any additional information Thank you once again for your help Regards, Jane SEMI - BLOCK STYLE 123 Anywhere Place New York, NY 10001 July 1, 2014 Mr John Smith XYZ Corporation 000 Utopia Drive San Francisco, CA 94109 Dear Katie, I hope you are settled in comfortably in Buffalo I miss you already! But I know your new position will open up a lot of career opportunities for you It's also great that you'll be closer to your family And, at least for now, it's still warm! I too have some good job news My former boss just told me about a great position at her new company I would still be doing administrative duties but would be managing the whole office, and it'd include a nice bump in pay, too She says she's already talked me up to the guy I'd be working for, so I think there's a good chance it will come through Besides that, everything else is going pretty well I think I have finally gotten past my breakup with Dave, and I'm beginning to date again Your sincerely, [...]... out the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices used in English business letters (ii) Identifying the similarities and differences of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices uses in English and Vietnamese business letters (iii) Suggesting some possible implications for teaching the cohesive devices used in English to Vietnamese students of English as a foreign language 1.4 Scope of the research (i)... on International Trade in the textbook “International Business – An Integrated Approach” by John J Wild, Kenneth L Wild, and Jerry C Y Han (1998) The attention of the study is paid to considering contrastive analysis of lexical cohesive devices (including reiteration and collocation) in English (source language) in the original textbook and their equivalents in Vietnamese (target language) in the translation... Contrastive Analysis of English and Vietnamese Sales Letters by Tran ThiThanhHai (2001) In her work , she pointed out the frequency of occurrence of lexical devices in English sales letters The second study is also an M.A thesis written by Le Thi Mai Hien which is An Analysis of Cohesive Devices in English Application Letter” (2004) The process of researching on twenty English application letters has... the study including the research method , data collection techniques and data analysis techniques Chapter 4 : Findings and Discussion attempts to pinpoint out the style and the type of a business letter through the 30 collected letters and analyzes business letters in English in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar In this chapter, the four chosen terms of transitivity, mood, theme-rheme and cohesion... (i) Academic scope: Business letters are the primary and useful tools of exchanging ideas, facts, recommendations, proposals and so on within a business or between a business and other businesses and individuals, which give opportunities to businesses to operate efficiently and productively Effective letter writing involves the use of grammar and vocabulary, cohesive devices and the communicative strategies... one kind of cohesion that is proposed by Halliday and Hasan According to McCarthy (1991), it is “the surface marking of semantic links between clauses and sentences in written discourse, and between utterances and turns in speech” So, this kind of cohesion plays a particular role in creating cohesiveness between the sentences through grammatical means Reference In the view of Halliday and Hasan (1976),... aim at finding the grammatical and lexical cohesive devices in the English and Vietnamese business letters, thus suggesting some possible implication for teaching the cohesive device used in English business letters to Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language 2 1.3 Objectives of the research To achieve the mentioned above aims, some following objectives are put forward: (i) Finding out... theories in discourse analysis by working on a certain kind of discourse (Business letters) In addition to this, the author also hopes to help Vietnamese business doers and students gain a better insight in writing an effective business letter 1.6 Structural organization of the thesis This study is comprised of five chapters: Chapter 1: An introduction presents some background information and the rationale... field, particularly in business As a popular means of communication, English is considered a key to success in international business ventures Regarding a variety of tasks facing the Vietnamese in business area, we cannot help mentioning business letters writing Business letters are becoming more and more popular in the country today Therefore, the question “how to write effective business letters has become... check in the amount of 2000 USD The expression “ As per” and “ herewith” contribute nothing to the message while making the letter sound stilted and stiff Within the limit of using standard English, you should try in a regular way: As your request, I have enclosed a check for 2000 USD 12 d Parts of business letters According to Dudley-Evans and St John, business letters have certain features of discourse