Please read one more good example.

5. Results and Suggestions

In accordance with the types of nominalization and its functions in English business letters, the author analyzes 37 English sentences of nominalization and their translations. From the analysis he summarizes three major types of nominalization of verbs, adjectives and clauses. He also finds that the application of nominalization in the English business letter can serve to present the desired formal, courteous and concise textual style. Based on these finding, some suggestions concerning the E>C translation of nominalized structures in the business letter are offered.

　　5.1Types of Nominalization

Nominalization involves a transcategorization between classes. It is found from the research that it is broadly classified into three major types. First, verbs can be nominalized to verbs such as from “consider” to “consideration” or “confirm” to “confirmation”. Second, a similar transformation may also occur between adjectives and nouns such as “helpful” and “help”, “honourable” and “honour”, etc. The third type entails a rank shift from a clause to a nominal phrase. For example, in the sentence “I am going to be newly assigned because my company is being reorganized”, the adverbial clause can be turned into a nominal phrase “as a result of the company reorganization”. Then why are such nominal structures used in business English letters? The research also comes up with some of their functions as follows.

　　5.2 Functions of Nominalization

　　　　5.2.1 Formality

From the data analysis we can see that the loss of modal meaning brought about by nominalization can render the business letter more formal. Because the loss of the modal meaning cannot only make the reader aware that the discourse is narrating an objective fact, but also avoid the impact from the subjective factor. And such a narrating way is a great characteristic of formal texts. Therefore we may often apply an objective mood to the official writing to express its formal textual style. Thus nominalization can weaken the subjective tone and make the textual style more formal and impersonal.

　　　　5.2.2 Courtesy

According to Cheng Rong (Cheng，1989), the use of nouns is the most courteous, gerund is the less and verb is the least. The data analysis shows us that the loss of the logical subject caused by nominalization can offer a kind of indirect expression to make the textual mood milder and more courteous. The direct expression, however, usually more easily sounds blunt and impolite.
Besides, the you-attitude is often assumed in the business letter to show politeness so as to have the other side find it easier to accept the request. That is why in the business letter a clause containing a verb is usually replaced by an nominal phrase equivalent in the meaning which normally consists of “your + nominal phrase”.

　　　　5.2.3 Conciseness

The data analysis also suggests that the rank shift in syntax by nominalization can make the business letter more concise due to the movement of a clause downwards into a nominal phrase. Hence nominalization can be regarded as the process of condensing a clause into a phrase. Such a rank shift process in syntax by nominalization contributes to the succinctness of the text.

　　5.3 Suggestions on the E>C Translation of Nominalized Structures in the Business English Letter

For the above-mentioned functions, nominalization is a distinctive feature of the English business letter. However, due to the linguistic differences between Chinese and English, it does not occur as frequently in the Chinese business letter. Therefore it is to many Chinese native translators, learners of translation in particular, an alien language phenomenon and consequently creates many difficulties for them. Based on the findings of this research, the author would like to make the following tentative suggestions on how to handle nominalized structures in the English business letter when they are being translated to Chinese.

First and foremost, a correct understanding of the nominalized structure is the prerequisite to translating it properly. To achieve this, translators are advised to capture the deep structure of a norminalized structure and make clear its logical relation with the other constituents of the sentence. Although the surface structure is a nominalized word or phrase, the deep structure can always be presented in a clause. It is easier to identify the logical relation by inserting the clause into the sentence to replace the nominalized structure. Translators, if finding it difficult to understand a nominalized structure, can try out on this “unpacking” method, unpacking the condensed nominalized structure into its clause form. Such a method can facilitate their comprehension of the nominalized structure before they undertake the translation.