Abstract: With the continuous progress of global economy and trade integration, international trade competition is becoming increasingly fierce. As we all know, polite language in international business activities plays an important role, which can create an atmosphere of mutual respect and seeking cooperation. By business English correspondence, people can exchange information, contact for business, negotiate with the other, deal with problems, and express friendship, etc. Therefore, it can help occupy a place in commercial competition. This thesis aims to analyze business English correspondence from the perspective of pragmatics. Based on the theory of Politeness Principle, the author wants to study how Politeness Principle is applied in business English correspondence, to tell the businessmen how to write business English correspondence properly.
Key Words: Business English correspondence; Politeness Principle; Linguistic features

摘  要：随着全球经济贸易一体化不断推进，国际贸易竞争日趋激烈。众所周知，礼貌用语在国际商务活动中发挥了重要的作用，它能营造一种互相尊重、寻求合作的气氛。通过商务英语信函，人们可以交流信息，联系业务，与对方洽谈，处理问题，并表达友好，等等。因此，它有助于在商业竞争中占据一席之地。本文旨在从语用学的角度分析商务英语信函。基于礼貌原则的理论，作者想要研究如何将礼貌原则应用于商务英语信函中，目的是告诉商务人士如何恰当地书写商务英语信函。
关键词：商务英语信函；礼貌原则；语言特征

With the rapid development of the national economy, China’s open policy has attracted a large number of foreign-invested enterprises. Business English correspondence, as an important means of written communication, has a critical impact on the success of the enterprises. A polite and well-designed business English correspondence can help establish a good corporate image, which will make a deal quickly; otherwise, it will bring the negative influence to the enterprises. Therefore, politeness can not be ignored in business English correspondence.
Another purpose is to improve the teaching methods of business English correspondence writing by finding the hidden politeness in business English correspondence. In this thesis, the author selects business English correspondence as the material to find out why and how Politeness Principle is applied in business English correspondence, in order to achieve the courtesy and the promotion of the successful business transactions.