Corpus-based Study On Degree Adverbs In English Business News

This paper applies the definition and classification of degree adverbs by Quirk et al.and investigates the degree adverbs in English business news from three major aspects:the distributions,the placements and the syntactic features of degree adverbs.The self-made EBNC(the English Business News Corpus)is adopted as a collection of raw materials during the process of study,and by the comparison of BROWN,with the integration of quantitative and qualitative analysis,major findings are:1)Compared with amplifiers,downtoners and approximators,English business news is more inclined to use emphasizers;2)There is a significant difference on the placements of degree adverbs in English business news.To be more specific,the placements of the four classifications of degree adverbs(emphasizers,amplifiers,downtoners and approximators)are as follows,iE>eM>iM>I>E>mM;3)All of the four classifications of degree adverbs can be used within the scope of ellipsis,predication proforms and negations;besides,amplifiers are more often used in alternative interrogations,downtoners and amplifiers more in clause interrogations;4)The degree adverbs are not used freely in English business news without limitations.The research results have certain mirror and guidance significance in the corresponding pedagogical suggestions for the purpose of helping teachers’ teaching and students’ learning of English business news,and help English learners have a better understanding of different degree adverbs in English business news and provide a reference and inspiration for future studies in this field.