The official documents FS

This FS is not homogeneous and is represented by the following substyles or variants:

1) the language of business documents;

2) the language of legal documents;

3) the language of diplomacy;

4) the language of military documents.

Like other styles of language, this style has a definite communicative aim and its own system of interrelated language and stylistic means. The main aim of this type of communication is to state the conditions binding two parties and to reach agreement between two contracting parties. The most general function of the style of official documents predetermines the peculiarities of the style. The most striking feature is a special system of clichés, terms and set expressions by which each substyle can be easily recognized. Thus in finance we find terms like extra revenue, liability. In diplomacy such phrases as high contracting parties, memorandum, to ratify an agreement. In legal language, for example, such word-combinations as to deal with a case, a body of judges are found.

The documents use set expressions inherited from early Victorian period. This vocabulary is conservative. Legal documents contain a large proportion of formal and archaic words used in their dictionary meaning. There is no room here for the realization of any other meaning here. In diplomatic and legal documents many words have Latin and French origin. There are a lot of abbreviations and conventional symbols, as M.P. (Member of Parliament), Ltd (Limited), $. Abbreviations are especially abundant in military documents. They are used not only as conventional symbols, but also as signs of military code.

The most noticeable feature of grammar is the compositional pattern. Every document has its own stereotyped form. The form itself is informative and tells you with what kind of letter we deal with.

Business letters contain: heading (name of the company /firm, date, etc.), addressing, salutation / greeting (Dear Sir/Madam, Dear Mr. Smith), the opening (I answer to your letter…), the body, the closing (Thank you…), complimentary clause (sincerely yours, best regards, best wishes, etc), the signature. Syntactical features of business letters are - the predominance of extended simple and complex sentences, wide use of participial constructions, homogeneous members.

Morphological peculiarities are passive constructions, they make the letters impersonal. There is a tendency to avoid pronoun reference. Its typical feature is to frame equally important factors and to divide them by members in order to avoid ambiguity of the wrong interpretation.