The Impact Of Thought Patterns On Writing Styles

When comparing English business news and commentaries written by Chinese reportersand those by English native speakers, the author found that some differences in writing doexist although they are reporting or commenting on the same issues. Organizing andproducing business news or commentaries, which are special types of writing, are largelyinfluenced by ways of thinking. Originally rooted in two different cultures and languagesystems, Chinese and Western thought patterns enjoy a lot of differences. This thesis drawsheavily on theories about different Chinese and Western thought patterns and their influenceson writing to reveal differences in English business news and commentaries writing and tapinto the deeper reasons, by making a comparison between English business news andcommentaries selected respectively from China Daily and the Financial Times.After reviewing relevant studies and theories on Chinese and Western thought patterns,the author settles down to two pairs of Chinese and Western thought patterns: Synthesis vs.Analysis, and Induction vs. Deduction. According to the Chinese and Western differentpreferences on Synthesis and Analysis, hypotheses concerning their impacts on the writingstyle of leads and the coverage of background information in English business news aredeveloped. Based on differences on Induction and Deduction, the author develops thehypothesis about the written pattern of business commentaries. The methods employed in thisstudy include both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Based on the analysis of the collecteddata, all the hypotheses are confirmed in this study.The thesis finally concludes with the possible implications of the research, and pointsout that there's still room for improvement.