An analysis of english inquiry letters in online shopping from a systemic functional grammars perspective

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES ---    --- PHẠM THUÝ HẰNG AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH INQUIRY LETTERS IN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES -    -

PHẠM THUÝ HẰNG

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH INQUIRY LETTERS IN ONLINE SHOPPING FROM A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL

GRAMMAR'S PERSPECTIVE

Phân tích thư yêu cầu tiếng Anh trong mua bán trực tuyến

theo quan điểm ngữ pháp chức năng hệ thống

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 2215

HA NOI - 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES -    -

PHẠM THUÝ HẰNG

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH INQUIRY LETTERS IN ONLINE SHOPPING FROM A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL

GRAMMAR'S PERSPECTIVE

Phân tích thư yêu cầu tiếng Anh trong mua bán trực tuyến

theo quan điểm ngữ pháp chức năng hệ thống

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 2215

SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN HƯƠNG GIANG, M.A

HA NOI - 2010

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement i

Abstract ii

Table of contents iii

Abbreviations used in this thesis v

List of Tables and figures v

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Design of the study 2

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: Theoretical background 4

1.1 The role of Grammar in Discourse Analysis 4

1.2 Theories of Systemic Functional Grammar 4

1.2.1 Ideational Meaning and its realisation through the system of Transitivity 4

1.2.2 Interpersonal Meaning and its realisation in the Mood and Modality system 11

1.2.3 Textual Meaning and its realisation through the system of Theme and Information focus13 Chapter 2: An Analysis of English inquiry letters from a Systemic Functional Grammar's perspective 2.1 English inquiry letters 17

2.1.1 Definition 17

2.1.2 Inquiry letters: Types and contexts 17

2.1.3 Template of an English inquiry letter 18

2.2 Features of English inquiry letters in shopping online from a systemic functional grammar's perspective 2.2.1 Transitivity in terms of Experiential Meaning 21

2.2.2 Mood in terms of Interpersonal Meaning 27

2.2.3 Thematic structure in terms of Textual Meaning 29

iv

Chapter 3: Implications of the study 34

3.1 Implications for writing an English inquiry letter 34

3.2 Suggested exercises for practising writing English inquiry letters 35

PART 3: CONCLUSIONS 38

1 Summaries and findings 38

2 Limitations 39

3 Suggestions for further study 39

REFERENCES 40

APPENDIX

KEYS

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Types of process in English

Table 1.1 Process types, their meanings and participants

Figure 1.2 A fragment of the Mood system in English

Table 2.1 Distribution of processes in English inquiry letters

Table 2.2 Distribution of Mood choice in English inquiry letters

Table 2.3: Distribution of Modal verbs in English inquiry letters

Table 2.4: Distribution of Theme in English inquiry letters

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Thanks to the open-door policy and renovation process, Vietnam has been expanding its relationship with a lot of countries all over the world in all fields, especially

in economic field English, therefore, has been widely used and it is considered a key to every success

In today's fast-moving society, like many other fields, the economy has many changes with a variety of business Selling and buying things happen not only at the real markets, shops, supermarkets but also on the Internet through websites, or in other words that is "online selling" People do not have to go to the shops, supermarkets or markets for seeing, choosing and shopping for products What they have to do is to go online, access the website and search for samples of products or the information of the products they want to buy, and then buy them online

With a variety of products, forms of business and the expansion of commercial operation with many other countries in the world, emails for exchanging information about products between Vietnamese companies and foreign companies, between customers and sellers are getting more and more popular and necessary These emails are one kind of inquiry letters Therefore, a linguistic study on English inquiry letters is, of no doubt, highly relevant and we hope that it can reveal the nature of English inquiry letters and suggest linguistic improvements that make communication through those documents more effective

co-2 Aim of the study

The study is conducted to investigate some features of language used in English inquiry letters requesting samples or information about products in shopping online - from

a Systemic Functional Grammar‟s perspective in order to provide deeper theoretical and practical insights into English inquiry letter texts Then, based on the research findings some suggestions are offered for improving the writing English inquiry letters This study hopes to help people who are working in economic field or those who are interested to understand perfectly and compose this kind of text better

The research is carried out by answering the following questions:

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1 What is an English inquiry letter?

2 What are the features of language used in English inquiry letters in shopping online from a Systemic Functional Grammar's perspective?

3 What implications does the study have for learners of English to compose a good English inquiry letter?

3 Scope of the study

The object of the study is the English inquiry letter However, not all kinds of

inquiry letters are covered but only the kind of letter that requests samples or information about products in shopping online is chosen There are fifteen English inquiry letters

under investigation and all of them are in English

Moreover, because of the limitation of a minor thesis, this study will analyze English inquiry letters from a Systemic Functional Grammar‟s perspective, which is explored only in terms of three metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal and textual functions through an analysis of Transitivity, Mood and Theme-Rheme

4 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims of the study, the following activities will be conducted

Firstly, set up a framework of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in order to define characteristics of English inquiry letters that request samples or information about products in shopping online as a type of discourse

Secondly, fifteen English inquiry letters that request samples or information about products in shopping online will be described and analyzed in terms of some grammatical devices: Transitivity, Mood and Theme-Rheme

Thirdly, necessary comments and conclusions as well as suggestions are made according to the data analyzed

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts

Part I is Introduction It presents the rationale of the study, states the aims of the

study, and identifies the specific tasks and the scope of the study Also, it provides an outline of the method to be applied and the structure of the study

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Part II is Development and it consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1 is Theoretical background of the study involving the subject under consideration: The grammatical role in Discourse analysis and Theories of Systemic Functional Grammar

Chapter 2 presents English inquiry letters in general and discusses the most typical features of English inquiry letter texts requesting samples or information about products in shopping online under a Systemic Functional Grammar's perspective: Transitivity in terms of Experimental Meaning, Mood in terms of Interpersonal Meaning, Thematic structure in terms of Textual Meaning

Chapter 3 is Implications for writing an English inquiry letter requesting samples or information about products in shopping online

Part III is Conclusion It summarizes the main points discussed throughout the

study Limitations and suggestions for further study are also presented in this part

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 The role of grammar in Discourse analysis

As we know, Discourse analysis is a new branch of linguistics "It is concerned with the study of the relationship between language and the contexts in which it is used Discourse analysts study language in use: written texts of all kinds, and spoken data, from conversation to highly institutionalized forms of talk" (Michael Mc Carthy: 5)

There are several approaches to discourse analysis including pragmatics approach, language variation, interactional social- linguistics, conversation analysis, integrated approach Each approach plays an important role and they study discourse in different aspects In this thesis, we base on Systemic Functional Grammar to analyze English inquiry letters as a kind of discourse The importance of grammar in discourse analysis is

obvious as Halliday stated " and it is sometimes assumed that this (discourse analysis) can be carried on without grammar- or even that it is somehow an alternative to grammar But it is an illusion A discourse analysis that is not based on grammar is not an analysis

of all, but simply a running commentary on a text "

Moreover, according to Halliday, language has three functions: ideational, interpersonal and textual All these functions are reflected in the structure of the clause

Therefore, when analyzing a discourse, it is important that we should analyze the grammar 1.2 Theory of Systemic Functional Grammar

Systemic functional linguists have summarized the way in which human beings use language under three broad categories and maintained that these categories of user are guided by three metafunctions They are ideational, interpersonal and textual functions

1.2.1 Ideational function and its realisation through the system of transitivity

Transitivity is the system of grammatical choice, which involves the experiential meanings of the clause Transitivity choices have relations with the field of discourse, so given what the discourse is about, analysts can predict the choice of processes that the interactants are making to achieve their communication goals, and given the process types used in a discourse, analysts can work out the meanings interactants are trying to communicate Transitivity, therefore, is sometimes, referred as process type Each process,

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as pointed out by Halliday (1994:107), consists of three components in principle: (i) the

process itself, (ii) the participants in the process and (iii) circumstances associated with the

process There are six types of process in English: Material, Mental, Relational,

Behavioural, Verbal and Existential Each of process has its own features and the

following figure is a diagrammatic summary of these process types, and they will also be

investigated briefly for more understanding

having identity

happening (being cheated)

cheating, changing

doing (to) acting

sensing doing

being

physical world

world of consciousnes

s

world of abstract relation

VERBAL

MENTAL EXISTENTIAL

MATERIAL

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(i) Material processes: processes of doing

Material processes express the notion that some entity 'does' something, which may

be "done" to some other entity, for example, reading, running, cooking, etc They answer the question "What did X do?" or "What happened?" Potential participant roles are ACTOR (or Doer of the process), GOAL (or Thing affected by the process), RANGE (or Thing unaffected by the process), BENEFICIARY of the process The following are examples:

Actor Process: Material Actor Pro: Material Goal

(ii) Mental processes: Processes of sensing

Mental processes encode the inner world of cognition (which is realized through verbs of thinking, knowing, understanding), perception (which is realized through verbs of seeing, hearing), affection (which is realized through verbs of liking, fearing) All mental processes involve two participants: Sensor (one who thinks, feels, senses and wants), and Phenomenon (one that is thought of, felt, sensed and wanted) Here are the examples:

(iii) Relational processes: Processes of being

The main characteristic of relational processes is that they relate a participant to its identity or description Relational process is typically realized by the verb "be" or some

verbs of the same class There are two main types of relational process: Relational Attribute, which relates a participant to its general characteristics or description; and

Relational Identifying, which relates a participant to its identity, role or meaning

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In relational attribute clauses, the participant carrying the characteristics or attributes is known as the Carrier and the characteristics are known as Attribute The attribute is typically an indefinite nominal group of nominal group with an adjective as

Head It cannot be a proper noun or a pronoun The verbs realizing the process include be and other verbs relating a carrier to an Attribute such as seem, look, appear, remain, and feel For example,

Relational identifying processes set up an identity role or meaning and they perform two separate functions and have two sets of labels

The first function is the one provides a new identity; the nominal group about

which the question is asked is labeled Identified and the new identity, the answer to the question is the Identifier

Example:

Identified Process: relational identifying Identifier

The second function of relational identifying processes allows us to take any form and identity its function and conversely, to take any function and identify its form In other

words, we take some token and give it a new value, or some value and give its token And

the participant roles for this function by which we give new Value to a known Token or supply a Token for a known Value The following is an example

(iv) Behavioral processes

Behavioural processes construe (typically human) physiological or psychological behaviour, like breathing, coughing, smiling, dreaming Behavioural processes are the intermediary between material and mental process Typically, a behavioural process has only one participant: The human behaver, which is always a conscious being Sometimes there is a Range like participant known as Behaviour, which extends the process;

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sometimes, especially with relation to those most closely related to mental processes, the Range is a separate entity somewhat like a Phenomenon

Examples:

(vi) Existential process

Existential processes represent exist or happens by positing that "there is/ was

something" The process typically employs the verb be or synonyms such as exist, arise, occur, stand In this type of process, there is only one participant known as Existent, and

one or two circumstantial elements

Example:

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Process: existential Existent Circumstance

The process types, their meanings and participants can be summarized in the

Actor, Goal, Recipient

Carrier, Attribute Identified/ Token, Identifier/ Value

Table 1.1 Process types, their meanings and participants

(Source: Halliday 1994:143)

In addition, all the processes in the transitivity system may be accompanied by circumstantial elements, typically realized by adverbial groups, prepositional phrases and even by a nominal group Halliday (1994) classifies Circumstances into different kinds: Extent, Location, Manner, Cause, Contingency, Accompaniment, Role, Matter and Angle The circumstances are identified by considering what the questions are used to explicit them The following are examples of different kinds of circumstances and the questions that are helpful in identifying them

(1) Circumstance of Extent: HOW LONG (duration); HOW FAR (distance)

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Actor Pro: material Cir: Extent (distance) Cir : Extent (duration)

(2) Circumstance of Location: WHEN (Time); WHERE (Place)

Actor Pro: material Cir: Location (Place) Cir: Location (time)

(3) Circumstance of Manner: HOW?WITH WHAT?(means); HOW? HOW-LY?(quality); WHAT LIKE (comparison)?

(4) Circumstance of Cause: WHY?(reason); WHAT FOR?(purpose); WHO FOR?(behalf)

(5) Circumstance of Accompaniment: WITH WHOM?

Actor Pro: material Cir: Accompaniment Cir: Location (place)

(6) Circumstance of Matter: WHAT ABOUT?

(7) Circumstance of Role: WHAT AS

(8) Circumstance of Contingency: expressed by in the case of, in the event of, in spite of, despite, in the absence of, in default of

(9) Circumstance of Angle: expressed by according to, in the view of, in my opinion

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1.2.2 Interpersonal function and its realisation in the Mood and Modality system

Besides the use of language to represent the world, we can use it to exchange meanings Within this function, language users generally choose an appropriate structure to ask questions, make statements or issue directives The system of choices available for us

to perform this task is Mood, or the grammatical system which involves the interpersonal meaning of the clause Below is a fragment of the Mood system in English

Yes/No interrogative

"Wh"

indicative

declarative MOOD

inclusive imperative

exclusive

Figure 1.2 A fragment of the Mood system in English

(Source: Hoang Van Van 2006: 55) The figure above shows that in the Mood system there are two choices: indicative and imperative If „indicative‟ is chosen, it will allow two more choices: interrogative and declarative; and if „interrogative” is chosen, it will give two more delicate choices: Yes/No and „Wh‟; and so on

On interpreting clause in their function as an exchange, Halliday divides the clause into two parts: The MOOD and the RESIDUE

The MOOD is the component whose function in the clause is to carry the syntactic

burden of the exchange It is made up of two functional elements: the subject and the finite Subject "realizes thing by reference to which the proposition can be affirmed or denied", and Finite "makes the proposition definite, anchor the proposition in a way that

we can argue about it" The finite also can be divided into Temporal Finite Verbal Operators that anchor the proposition by reference to time (as in the use of verb tense) and Finite Modal Operators that do the job by reference to Modality

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The RESIDUE is the remainder of the clause consisting of three functional

components: Predicator, Complement, and Adjunct

(1) The Predicator is present in all non-elliptical major clauses, and it is realized by a

verbal group The function of the predicator is fourfold (i) It specifies time reference other than reference to the time of the speech event (ii) It specifies various other aspects and phases like seeming, trying, hoping (iii) It specifies the voice: active or passive (iv) It specifies the process (action, event, mental process, relation) that is predicated of the Subject

(2) The Complement is an element within the Residue which has the potential of being a

Subject but is not It is typically realized by a nominal group

(3) Adjunct is an element that has not got the potential of being subject and it is typically

realized by an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase

Let have a look at the following examples for illustration:

Five years later the company sold $1,6 billion of books

Besides MOOD- expression of the speaker's choice of a particular speech role, MODALITY- expression of the speaker's judgment and prediction in the speech situation

is also an aspect of the interpersonal meaning There are different types of modality such as

possibility (e.g., He may leave the room), ability (e.g., He can play the guitar very well.),

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supposition (e.g., He must be a doctor.), permission (e.g., May I go out?), and intention

(e.g., I will finish my report today.)

1.1.2.3 Textual meaning and its realisation through the system of Theme and Information focus

The textual meaning is concerned with creating relevance between parts of what is

being said and between the text and the context It is expressed through the system of Theme and Information focus

The system of theme is realized through a structure in which the clause falls just

into two main constituents: a Theme and a Rheme Theme and Rheme represent the way in

which information is distributed in a sentence Theme is basically what comes first in the

clause and it is what is being talked about; it is "the point of departure of the message",

"the starting point of the utterance" or "the ground from which the clause is taking off"

(Halliday, 1994: 37-38), and Rheme is the rest, the remainder of the message, which

provides the additional information added to the starting point and which is available for subsequent development in the text The boundary between Theme and Rheme is simple: Theme is the first element occurring in a clause; the remainder clause is Rheme

Theme may be realized by a nominal group, a prepositional phrase, an adverbial

group or even a clause Theme may be simple, multiple or clausal, unmarked or marked

In many cases (unmarked), the Theme of a declarative sentence will be the grammatical subject that of the interrogative is the word and that of the imperatives the imperative form

of the verb Let‟s look at the following examples for illustration

Declarative:

I # had a little nut-tree

(Theme (simple, unmarked) =subject=pronoun as head= nominal group)

On Saturday night # I lost my wife

(Theme = Adjunct = Prepositional phrase) Interrogative:

Who # killed Cock Robin?

(unmarked theme)

After tea # will you tell me a story?

(marked Theme)

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Imperative:

Answer # all five questions!

Don’t let’s # quarrel about it!

Either the Theme construction or the information construction is speaker-selected, that is, it is the speaker who decides which should be the Theme, which should be the Rheme (Halliday, 2000: 299) It is the different choice of Theme that has contributed to a different meaning and English uses first clausal position as a signal to orient a different meaning of the sentences For example:

Mary read a very good book last night

A very good book, Mary read last night

Last night Mary read a very good book

What Mary read last night was a very good book

What makes these sentences different is that they differ in their choice of theme

and they tell us what Mary, A very good book, Last night or What Mary read is going to be about

One more important thing of the textual function is Thematic progression According to F Danes (1974), the organization of information in texts is determined by the progression in the ordering of utterance themes and their rhemes His spelling out of the relationship between successive themes and their Rhemes would appear to provide a more satisfactory account of the 'method of development' of texts Danes's important contribution is

to extend the concept of theme as point of departure of a single utterance (sentence) to that of explaining the inner connexity of texts

His basic assumption is that text connexity is represented, among other things, by thematic progression By this he means 'the choice and ordering of utterance themes, their mutual concatenation and hierarchy, as well as their relation to the hyperthemes of the superior text unit (such as paragraph, chapter, etc.), to the whole text, and to the situation Thematic progression might be viewed as „the skeleton of the plot‟ (1974:114)

Danes postulates three main types of Thematic progression:

(1) Simple linear progression:Each Rheme(R) becomes the Theme(T) of the next utterance T1 - R1

T2 (=R1) - R2

T3 (=R2) - R3 (2) Thematic progression with a constant (continuous) theme: Themes are derived from a 'hypertheme'

New is the information presented by the speaker as non-recoverable to the listener.

Non-recoverable means something not mentioned before, or something unexpected, whether previously mentioned or not to the listener

Accordingly, Halliday (1994) suggests that the speaker/writer will order given information before new information

Given + New and Theme + Rheme

There is a close semantic relationship between information structure (Given - New) and thematic structure (Theme-Rheme) In fact, Theme-Rheme and Given-New are often conflated

Theme Rheme Given New

it is very important to master this relationship

In conclusion, in this chapter we have introduced some of basic concepts related to Discourse and systemic theory of Functional Grammar - an useful framework for analyzing emails that request samples or information about products in shopping online

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CHAPTER 2:

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH INQUIRY LETTERS

FROM A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR'S PERSPECTIVE

2.1 English inquiry letters

2.1.1 Definition

A letter of inquiry is a general term used for a number of different kinds of business letters addressed to a company “A letter of inquiry is usually written to ask for specific information or sales literature about products and services, price list, catalogs, terms of business, quotations, discount schedules, dealer prices, the name of a dealer or a local supplier, or free samples or materials” (Alan Bond, 2005:9)

For example, the letter is written by a customer to the company seeking some information about a new product or service, or a company sends a letter of inquiry to their business partner when they need information about the goods they would like to order

2.1.2 Inquiry letters: Types and contexts

There are two types of inquiry letters: solicited and unsolicited

You write a solicited letter of inquiry when a business or an agency advertises its

products or services For example, if a software manufacturer advertises some new package it has developed and you cannot inspect it locally, write a solicited letter to that manufacturer asking specific questions If you cannot find any information on a technical subject, an inquiry letter to a company involved in that subject may put you on the right track In fact, that company may supply much more help than you had expected (provided

of course that you write a good inquiry letter) If you need to find the names and addresses

of businesses related to your report project, see the section on finding information in libraries

Your letter of inquiry is unsolicited if the recipient has done nothing to prompt

your inquiry For example, if you read an article by an expert, you may have further questions or want more information You seek help from these people in a slightly different form of inquiry letter As the steps and guidelines for both types of inquiry letters show, you must construct the unsolicited type more carefully, because recipients of

unsolicited letters of inquiry are not ordinarily prepared to handle such inquiries

The following are popular topics of inquiry letters:

* Request a copy of an official document

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* Request a response to a survey or questionnaire

* Request an explanation for a denial of credit

* Request application materials for admission to college

* Request estimates or bids

* Request information about an applicant

* Request information from a government agency

* Request samples or information about products or services

Here is a template of an English inquiry letter asking for samples or information of the product However, not all the English inquiry letters have to comply strictly with the sample while the following is the most common and a suggestion for a formal one Also,

an English inquiry letter in appendix 7 is chosen for illustration

SAMPLE TEMPLATE

1 Heading The heading portion of a business letter includes the writer's address and date

For traditional business letters, you do not normally include your name in the heading

E.g 006 Paul's Path

Austin, TX 78700

July 12, 1998

2 Inside address The inside address provides the full name, title, and address of the

recipient of the letter

E.g Technical Support

Red Hat Software, Inc

4201 Research Commons, Suite 100

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3 Salutation In this portion of the letter, the writer uses the same name as he did in the

inside address Be sure and punctuate the salutation with a colon, not a comma (which is for informal, friendly, non-business letters)

E.g Dear Technical Support Department:

4 Introduction The introduction to any business letter should be brief—four or five lines

at the most In this inquiry letter, the writer very quickly states the purpose of the letter, refers to a contact (how he heard about the product), and establishers a need for the information he is requesting

E.g

I am writing this letter to ask you some technical questions about hardware support

in version 5.1 of Red Hat Linux I saw Red Hat Software's advertisement for

version 5.1 of Linux in the August 1998, issue of Linux Journal I was quite

impressed with the capabilities as listed in the advertisement, and I would like to learn some more about the product Before I make the decision to purchase the software, I need to be certain that it will work properly on my computer

5 Other sources In this second paragraph, before stating his actual questions, the writer

indicates that he has attempted to find the information he is requesting through other sources - but has not succeeded It is important not to ask for information that is easily obtained from readily available sources

E.g.,

I have three hardware support questions that I would like you to answer I have reviewed the technical support information at Red Hat Software's home page

(www.redhat.com), but I have not been able to find answers to my questions

6 Need The writer has already established his need for the product - he needs to find out if

the product will meet his needs

E.g., I would like to learn some more about the product Before I make the decision to

purchase the software, I need to be certain that it will work properly on my computer

7 Specific inquiries Notice that this writer is asking very specific questions whose

answers are probably not available from any source other than those who are actually using the system on a day-to-day basis Notice too that the questions are numbered which should make it easier for the recipient to answer them

Usually in inquiry letters, the customers need information such as: Price/pricelist or catalogue; Sample/ pattern; Quotation; Terms of payment; Terms of delivery; Method of dispatch

8 Motivation Practically, in any inquiry letter, it is a good idea to provide some indirect

motivation as to why the recipients should want to help you with your inquiry

E.g., If the latest release of Red Hat Linux can support my video hardware, I will

definitely purchase the product.

9 Conclusion The last paragraph provides the recipients with several ways they can

respond E-mail is probably the most likely—in fact, the writer of this letter could have used e-mail to deliver this inquiry as well

E.g., For your convenience, you can respond to me by e-mail My e-mail address is

garyc@nnn.com If you prefer to respond by telephone, you can reach me at (512) 225-6745 I appreciate any assistance that you are able to provide me

10 Closing Close the letter by saying Thanks

E.g., Sincerely,

11 Signature/Name

E.g., Gary Clare

In conclusion, there are types of inquiry letters with a various topics but in this research, I only study English inquiry letters that request samples or information about products in shopping online from a systemic functional grammar‟s perspective to find out their typical features

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2.2 Features of English inquiry letters requesting samples of information about products in shopping online - an analysis from a systemic functional grammar's perspective

In this study, fifteen inquiry letters requesting samples or information about products in shopping online are chosen for analysis All these letters are in English and they were downloaded from the Internet Additionally, the authors of these letters are from English speaking countries (the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada)

Based on Systemic Functional Grammar‟s perspective, I analyze the collected data

in terms of Transitivity, Mood and Theme-rheme to draw typical features of English inquiry letters asking for samples or information about products in shopping online

2.2.1 Transitivity in terms of Experiential Meaning

Transitivity is the system of grammatical choice, which involves the experiential meanings of the clause The system of transitivity is concerned with different process types and their participants and circumstances In English, there are six types of process: material, mental, behavioral, relational, existential and verbal

The investigation of the fifteen English inquiry letters requesting samples or information about products in shopping online has revealed that the Material and Mental

are dominant among other processes The reason is that those discourses aim at actions, thoughts and feelings rather than existence or verbal exchange and thus Material processes and Mental processes are the best choices In addition, in those discourses the relational processes highly occur because some parts of those letters expressing quality and possession The following table shows the details

Types of

Total process

Material Process

Mental Process

Relational Process

Others (verbal, existential, behavioral)Number

of clauses

age (%)

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It can be seen from the table that of 186 clauses in fifteen English inquiry letters under investigation (=100%), 72 clauses are of Material processes accounting for 38.7% This would suggest that the texts are largely concerned with actions and events We have

the verbs such as provide, write, read, support, purchase, send, order, make, launch, give, visit, attend etc These verbs generally express the actions or events from both customers

and suppliers Here are examples for illustration

Please send us your illustrated catalog, export price list, and

terms of business

(appendix 1)

(appendix 2)

If the latest release of Red Hat Linux can support my video

hardware

(appendix 7) The Actors of Material processes are both human and non-human Human actors here are the letter senders/customers or receivers/supporters, and non-human actors are products For example,

Actor (non-human) Pro: Material Goal

(appendix 2)

Does the latest release of

Red Hat Linux

support the Diamond Viper 330 PCI video

card?

Actor (non-human) Pro: Material Goal

(appendix 7)

needs In addition to the perceptive verbs such as hear, feel, and see, we find affective verbs such as like, want, need, and cognitive verbs such as understand For instance,

I want all the details about

We need however the answer to the following questions

sensor Pro: Mental

on your own website

Sensor Pro: mental (perception) Phenomenon Circumstance Circumstance

(appendix 11)

In those letters, relational processes in 31 clauses with the rate of 16.6% appear to

express quality or possession Relational processes are realized by the verb "be" and

“have” and they are of relational attribute process which relates a participant to its general

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characteristics or description or possession Let have a look at the following examples for illustration

(appendix 7)

(appendix 7)

(appendix 7)The rest percentage (14.6%) belongs to existential, verbal and behavioral processes For instance,

Is there a timetable for when the card will be supported

(appendix 7)

Is there an online site for the latest list of supported hardware?

Please call me for an appointment at your earliest convenience

Pro: Verbal Receiver Circumstance Circumstance

(appendix 8)

We believe that there is a ready market for this in the United States.

(appendix 13)

25

Rare occurrence of existential, verbal and behavioral processes provided evidence

to explain that this kind of written discourse (English inquiry letters) has the choice of language use

Moreover, the processes are in the simple past, simple present, present perfect and simple future characterizing the actions which occurred, occur, have occurred and will occur at the moment of the letter sender‟s speaking

One more distinguishing features of the discourses under investigation is that most

of the clauses tend to be accompanied by circumstances In others words, closely connected to the processes are the attendant circumstances Through investigation, it can

be said that many clauses have more than one circumstance For instance,

When we attended the International

Electronics Trade Fair

in London last month,

of Location

Circumstance of Location (appendix 13 )

Our facility operates 24/7 Monday

(appendix 8) Additionally, circumstances of different categories as classified by Halliday (1994) are all found in the texts, however, the circumstantial components in the clauses of the texts under investigation are mainly of Location and Cause

This is with reference to the new perfume you have launched in the market

26

- Circumstance of Manner

Before I make the decision to purchase the software, I need to be certain that it will

If you prefer to respond by telephone, you can reach me at (512) 332-4511

(appendix 7)

If the latest release of Red Hat Linux can support my video hardware, I will

- Circumstance of Cause

Is there an online site for the latest list of supported hardware?

(appendix 7)

I saw Red Hat Software's advertisement for version 5.1 of Linux in the August,

1998, issue of Linux Journal

With reference to your advertisement in yesterday's New York Times, could you

I would be happy to talk to you further about your product

(appendix 2) This is with reference to the new perfume you have launched in the market

(appendix 12)

- Circumstance of Accompaniment

I will also need to meet with you after reviewing the requested materials

(Appendix 8)