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Session Three
Wording Characteristics of
English Advertising Texts
An advertiser’s main purpose
The advertisier’s main purpose is to present
and exhibit products or services, and to spread
Their influence to the extent that the potential
purchasing population become real and actual.
Generally, advertisers try various means at their
disposal to get people to buy the product or service advertised. They attempt to construct an advertisement that will fully involve the attention of
the potential purchaser and which will have
a persuasive effect. So they will make
full use of every word to attract readers’
attention. English advertising texts display
many unique diction features, such as
frequent use of monosyllabic verbs, perso
pronouns, and compounds, as well as cle
use of coinages, etc. which will be discus
briefly and separately in this chapter.
1.Proper Names Are Frequently Seen
The extreme frequency of references to
the advertised products and to their compo
nent parts or elements or ingredients provid
good reasons for the constant presence of
proper names. Products may be referred to
quite simply by the mention of brand name
such as Motorola , Marlboro, Coca-Cola , N
Besides product names, proper names of
places, countries, services and people are
often seen in English advertising texts. This
is especially true of advertisements for touris
Let us look at the following advertisements:
(1)
Just once in a lifetime
The World’s Fair and New Orleans. It’s a
magical combination that can only happen
once. So come on down the river, join Ameri
ca and other great nations in a celebration th
likes of which the world has never seen.
Sense firsthand the wonders of Egypt. Wa
from the French Quarter into a part of China
mysterious past. Stroll through an Italian villa
Tip a stein at a German beer garden. Travel
See every kind of show---from a nonstop
jazz and gospel tent to a lavish Broadwaystyle aquacade. See every kind of entertainment from Bob Hope to Oak Ridge Boys.
Taste every kind of food in over 70 restauran
from around the world. See the Space Shutt
Enterprise.
But first you have to get there. We have 2
000 hotel rooms waiting. Just tell your travel
agent or tour operator that you want to go to
Louisiana --- to the biggest celebration ever
the “Great Celebration”. For more informatio
The World’s Fair In New Orleans
THE GREAT CELEBRATION!
The italicized nouns or noun phrases are
the names of places, cities or services.
Such proper names arouse interest and
create desire, which are very important
to prospective tourists.
2. Monosyllabic Verbs Are
Frequently Used
Verbs used in English advertising are mos
ly short and simple. Typical ones are: be, do
get, buy, make, give, have, see, come, go,
call, try, know, keep, look, need, love, use,
show, help, prove, mean, meet, suit, save,
feel, like, take, choose, select, start, taste,
build, grow, offer, provide, enjoy, savor, etc.
Any advertisements in English you come ac
ross may contain a few or some of these ve
A number of the above-mentioned verbs have
varying grammatical functions and meanings
that vary accordingly. The linking verb be is
usually used to express the advertised produ
or service. The word do, which has many diffe
rent meanings, can refer to the practical functions or applications of the advertised produc
or service. Get, buy, have, give, take, and kee
are related to the possession of the advertise
product or service; have and have got convey
the idea of neutral possession; keep transmit
the idea of continuing possession; buy, get an
take express acquisition and give denotes the
conferring of possession on somebody else. Ano
ther group of verbs concern consumption: take (
one of its uses) and have (in one of its meanings
Meet and suit are associated with the practical fu
tions of the advertised product or service. Like,
love and need denote mental disposition towards
the product. Choose/select and taste indicate som
links between product and consumer. Look, feel
and taste can be descriptive of the consumer’s
sensation or feelings; with an inanimate
subject, they can describe the sensible
properties of the commodity being advertised
The verbs make, build and grow tell about
producer and product, or about the origin of
the product. Offer, provide, present, and enjo
are favorite items in estate and travel advertisements, where they are normally preceded
by impersonal subjects. At least one or two o
these four verbs often appear in an estate or
travel advertisements.
A number of the above-mentioned verbs are
frequently used in the imperative clauses
which encourage the audience to buy the
product. In imperative clauses the word ‘buy’
is rarely used. The tendency to avoid “buy”
might be put down to the unpleasant connotations of this verb. It is of course of vital impo
tance to the adman that he should not appea
to be imposing himself on his audience, for if
the reader feels the advert to be too obtrusive
he/she is likely to react negatively to its mess
or simply forget about it altogether. The adma
is therefore confronted with a problem: on the
one hand his advert should make people buy
the product; on the other hand he must not
say this in so many words lest they should
take offence (Vestergaard, T. and Schroder,
K. 1985: 67). Leech (1966:154) points out tha
in advertising language the most frequent wo
for ‘acquisition of product ’ is ‘get’ instead of
‘buy’. The reason for this is undoubtedly that
‘buy’ has some unpleasant connotations (mon
and the parting with it) which ‘get ’ lacks.
Advertisers usually make very careful effor
not to use the word ‘buy’. Instead they often
use such synonyms as: ‘try’, ‘ask for’, ‘get’,
‘take’, ‘send for’, ‘use’, ‘choose’, ‘look for’.
Please examine the following ad of Microsoft.
(2) Come and learn how to leverage Micro
soft’s family of adaptable, scalable embedded
platforms to enable you to quickly develop yo
32-bit connected Windows powered solutions
This is the only event that will up-date you on
all the latest developments in today’s supercharge
connected device industry. We’ll deliver hard
core information for developers with both
beginner and advanced tracks.
Get an early preview of the Microsoft road
Master the latest customizable embedded
platforms for building smarter devices---from
simple data-collection tools to the full-feature
Hear direct from the product team includin
the program managers, developers and arch
tects who are building these technologies.
Learn all about the tools and business mo
dels that this new market place is demandin
Register now!
In the above-mentioned example, the acti
verbs show the advertisement’s endeavor to
persuade readers that needs can be fulfilled
and problems can be solved through consum
ption.
The following sentences are frequently se
or heard in advertisements: “Make X your
toothpaste.” “Give him / her an X.” “Discover
the smoothness, etc. of X.” “Introduce your
the product with a certain brand name. In oth
cases, however, advertisers don’t ask their
customers to buy the product or service, but
try to make sure that their names will be present in their mind in a buying situation. They
usually employ such imperative sentences a
“Look for X at your dealer’s.” “Remember
there’s only one X.” This latter group request
the customers to contact the dealer/agent
with greater or lesser urgency.
“Call /See your X agent.” “Come to our sho
room.” “Come on / hurry, book now.” These
sentences are particularly frequent in adver
tisements for services such as insurance, tr
vel, and provision of luxurious accommodation or for products in the more expensive
range, such as cars. In advertisements usin
more cautious, indirect ways of calling to ac
tion, a variety of methods are employed. e.g
(3) You can use it at the table as well as in
your cooking.
(4) You’ll find 〔X〕 on all good cosmetic
In the two examples mentioned above,
indirect ways of persuasion are resorted to.
Obviously, different ways call for different
verbs, but which way and which verb to use
depend on the context and the advertiser.
Frequent use of monosyllabic verbs can help
kill two birds with one stone: on the one hand
it makes the language of English advertising
more concise and lively, and on the other
hand, it saves space , time and money.
3.
Adjectives are frequently used
G.N. Leech，a well-known linguist in Britain, lists in his Language in Advertising (19
66: 152) the following most frequently used
adjectives: (1) new (2) crisp (3) good/better/
best (4) fine (5) free (6) big (7) fresh (8) grea
(9) delicious (10) real (11) full, sure (12) ea
bright (13) clean (14) extra, safe (15) specia
(16) rich.
The first item on the list, new, which impli
the latest fashion or style or quality or type,
or unique feature of a product or service, an
almost describe all aspects of products, such
as size , shape , look, brilliance, color, formu
la, also it can collocate with abstract nouns :
contest, fashion, competition, ideas, trend, ti
wave, etc. It is frequently seen that new collo
cates with common nouns, such as booklet,
bottle, car, fish, steak, newspapers, shampoo
soap, toothbrush, tyre, weed-killer, tool, TV,
cosmetics, and many more. e.g. :
(5) Introducing Renurit Freshell. The new
wave in air fresheners.
Renurit Freshell. It’s a beautiful shell on
the outside. And inside it is a long-lasting air
freshener…that freshens all day, all week, all
month. The new wave in air fresheners…
new Renurit Freshell. In your choice of 4
delightfully fresh scents.
(6) Maybe you should come for this:
New Le Menu Light Style entrees.
Healthy…and delicious.
However, new cannot be used too freely, an
it must be used to the point. Although it is a
very positive word, yet new can not convey a
exact degree of the state of being new. For
‘Good/better/best might appear to be another all-purpose epithet, particularly in its com
parative and superlative forms’ (Leech, 1966:
152). Admen often use good/better/best collo
cating with two kinds of products: food and to
bacco. Good also collocates with many nouns
which don’t denote concrete products, such
as flavor, gravy, sandwich, breakfast. The use
of good with cigarettes and tobacco probably
reflects the difficulty of finding more suitable
adjectives. e.g.:
(7) What a good time for a good taste of a
(8) In just a few drops , this man’s skin is
going to feel better.
(9) This claims it’s good for arthritis pain.
This guarantees, it’s better.
Two Medipren relieve minor arthritis pain
better than two regular aspirin. We guarante
it – or your money back.
(10) What’s on the best-seller list in IBM Per
sonal Computer software?
People prefer IBM Personal Computer so
ware for a variety.
Because, for just about anything you wan
planning. To help teachers teach and studen
learn.
Or help you become an even more astute
games player. Every program in our software
library makes the IBM Personal Computer a
truly useful tool for modern times. That’s why
a lot of buyers like you have made them bes
sellers. And the library is still growing.
So the best may well be yet to come.
---- IBM Personal Computer software
Good and new are much more frequently
used than any other adjectives; wonderful,
in most cases; delicious, crisp , fresh and ric
are key words in food advertising; fresh and
clean are often used in the advertisements of
toothpaste; of course, clean can collocate wit
cleaning products, too , such as :detergent,
shampoo and soap; sure is only used in those
products which have something to do with
human beings; safe and sure are inevitably
used in connection with products related to
hygiene, such as deodorants and germicides
E.g. (11) This baby’s nappy is Lux-safe. Safe
with the safety that you get with pure soap.
(12) You’re sure of personal freshness---last
day and night freshness---and sure of a love
lingering perfume. This winter be sure. Use
double-sure Body Mist, the perfumed deodo
Extra and special have a function similar t
that of new, but they express the differences
of products. There are other words frequentl
used relative to new products, such as now,
suddenly, announcing, introducing, improved
Free, obviously cannot collocate with nouns
denoting products or brand names. It is often
used with an added attraction to consumers
Delicious, good and fresh are used as
adjectives to recommend food products.
Sometimes, they are found with other adjectives, such as chunky, crunchy, crisp,
flaky, juicy, homemade and light.
In English advertisements, good and
wonderful are more frequently used than
nice and marvelous. The other adjectives
mentioned above are associated with
products, showing their qualities and
properties.
4. Compounds
In English advertisements, you can see
compoundseverywhere. Some compounds
are written as single words and some with a
hyphen, but others appear as two separate
words. Because lexical restraints on compounds are few, the advertisers are relativel
free to create English compounds which are
appropriate to the copy text. As a result,
English compounds become a conspicuous
characteristic of English advertisements.
As we know, compound nouns are coined
in many different ways. In the following exam
ples, we can see structural types of the most
common compound nouns. (a) adjective +
noun: high-fashion knitwear, top-quality bulbs
(b) noun + noun: color freshness, economysize shredded wheat; (c) adverb + noun: the
any-time cereal, up-to-the-minute cycling; (d)
present participle + noun: arriving time, chew
ing gum; (e) past participle + noun: purified
salt, married couple.
Compound adjectives are often used to
describe products or services. Leech (1966:
135) pointed out: “ perhaps the most conspicuous characteristic of advertising language
to a casual reader or listener is an abundanc
and variety of adjectival compounds.” The fre
quently used compound adjectives types are
as follows: (1) Noun + adjective: world-famou
wine, feather-light flakes; (2) Adjective + adje
tive: light-blue “T” shirt, dark-red skirts; (3) pre
sent participle + adjective: shining-clean, pipi
hot coffee; (4) noun + adjective: brand-new,
fresh-tasting milk, innocent-looking; (6) Adverb + present participle: the best-selling toil
tissue, fast-foaming new S.P.; (7) Noun + pa
participle: honey-coated sugar puffs, homemade; (8) Adjective (adverb) + past participle
perfect-textured cakes, quick-frozen food.
Compound verbs are rarely used, but sinc
the 19 century, some compound verbs are
seen in English advertisements quite often,
such as: mass-produce, window-dress, aircondition, blue-print, cold rinse, warm iron,
line dry, etc.
Of particular interest are compounds which
themselves contain a compound as one of
their elements: coffee-pot-fresh, brand-newclean, the so-many-ways cheese. In addition,
there are a few compounds which are created
innovatively by the copy writers, such as bette
than leather-miracle-covering, look at the ohso-comfortable size, give that oh-so-good-tobe alive feeling. All these compounds make
advertisements more humorous, varied and
original, thus impressing people much.
The utility of compound pre-modifiers in English advertisements is very difficult to explain
Leech pointed out (1966:139)， “ Compoun
pre-modifiers, like noun and adjective pre-mo
difiers, can be used either attributively or des
natively: they can add emotively slanted description, or merely specify more exactly the
referential domain of the accompanying noun
Like noun pre-modifiers, their semantic relati
to the head is often not explicitly signaled, as
it would be in post-modification.” Usually, the
meaning of a compound pre-modifier become
quite clear when it is logically paraphrased by
means of putting it as post-modifier. Here are
some examples: feather-light flakes = flakes
which are as light as a feather; chocolateflavored cereal = cereal flavored with chocola
stiff-tufted mud remover = mud remover with
stiff tufts; economy-size shredded wheat =
wheat shredded in economic size; honey-coa
ted sugar puffs = sugar puffs coated with hon
Obviously, compound pre-modifiers
contribute to rendering the text much more