| Acknowledgements | 第1-5页 |
| Abstract | 第5-7页 |
| 摘要 | 第7-9页 |
| Contents | 第9-11页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第11-16页 |
| ·The background of the research | 第11-13页 |
| ·The reasons for the research | 第13-14页 |
| ·The significance of the research | 第14页 |
| ·The layout of the thesis | 第14-16页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第16-27页 |
| ·Vague language | 第16-23页 |
| ·The previous view on vague language | 第16-20页 |
| ·A working definition of the vague language | 第20-21页 |
| ·The connotation of some relative terms (fuzziness, ambiguity and generality) | 第21-23页 |
| ·The overview of English business letters | 第23-27页 |
| ·The different types of English business letters | 第23-25页 |
| ·The principles for English business letters | 第25-27页 |
| Chapter Three Theoretical Foundation | 第27-31页 |
| ·Leech's politeness principle | 第27-29页 |
| ·Verschueren's adaptation theory | 第29-31页 |
| Chapter Four The Pragmatic Usages of the Vague Expressions in EnglishBusiness Letters | 第31-54页 |
| ·The general occasions of adopting vague expressions in the communication | 第31-33页 |
| ·The data collection (sample letters) | 第33页 |
| ·The specific contexts of employing vague language in different types of English business letters | 第33-47页 |
| ·The employment of the vague language in good-news letters and neutral-news letters | 第33-39页 |
| ·The employment of the vague language in the bad-news letters | 第39-43页 |
| ·The employment of the vague language in the persuasive-news letters | 第43-47页 |
| ·The data analysis | 第47-49页 |
| ·Adaptation:the addresser's strategy | 第49-54页 |
| ·Adopting the vague language to adapt to the communicative intentions | 第50-52页 |
| ·Adopting the vague language to adapt to the politeness motivations | 第52-54页 |
| Chapter Five The Pragmatic Effects of the Vague Expressious in the EnglishBusiness Letter | 第54-60页 |
| ·Strengthening the accuracy and appropriateness of the language use | 第54-55页 |
| ·Making the expression more polite and alleviating the embarrassment | 第55-56页 |
| ·Making the business language more flexible | 第56-58页 |
| ·Achieving self-protection | 第58-60页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第60-64页 |
| ·The major findings | 第60-61页 |
| ·The limitations of the thesis | 第61-62页 |
| ·The orientations for the further study | 第62-64页 |
| Bibliography | 第64-66页 |
| Publications | 第66-67页 |
| Appendix:Selected sample letters | 第67-85页 |
