Abstract:

With the high-speed development of commodity economy in the modern  world, the economic and trade contacts between China and foreign countries are growing rapidly. English commercials can be found everywhere, and it has gradually formed an applied language with its own unique style. Since the eventual purpose of commercials is to draw attention from customers, and at the same time stimulate their purchasing desire so as to help bring about a deal, semantic rhetorics are mostly applied to commercials. It can be known from the study that many semantic rhetorical devices are applied in English commercials, such as analogy, personification, hyperbole, pun, etc. And each of them has its own function. Among these semantic rhetorics, it is found out that analogy, personification and hyperbole are more commonly used: using analogy can make abstract and boring things vivid and concrete; personification can not only inject humanity and affection into the commodities but also make the language of advertising more dynamic and specific; the use of hyperbole can add artistic element to the portrayed products. The study also shows that the use of semantic rhetorics is a perfect combination of art and information. It succeeds in making commercials motivate people to buy a product willingly and at the same time set up a nice reputation for goods.       

Key words: English commercial; semantic rhetoric; rhetorical effect

摘要：

当今世界，商品经济高速发展，中外经济贸易往来日益密切，商业广告英语随处可见，逐渐形成了一种独具特色的应用型语言。为了使广告具有特殊的魅力，能引起消费者的注意，刺激其购买欲望，最终促成购买行为，许多商业广告运用了语义修辞。研究表明许多语义修辞手法如比喻、拟人、夸张，双关等被运用于英语商业广告之中，它们各自都有不同的功能。其中比喻、拟人和夸张的修辞手法则更加常见。比喻可以使抽象无趣的事物变得生动具体，拟人则在赋予商品人的生命和感情的同时为广告语言增添了活力和特色，而夸张却给予所描述的商品一些艺术元素。这些语义修辞手法的运用是艺术与商品信息的完美结合。正是由于它们的运用，才使得商业广告刺激了人们自愿消费的欲望并且为商品建立了良好的声誉。

关键词：英语商业广告；语义修辞；修辞效果

Introduction
The commercials, a tool for companies in the propagation of their products, has permeated every aspect and become one of the most indispensable component in our life. It is well known that English is prevailing all over the world and meanwhile, our Chinese government adhere to reform and opening policy all the time. So excellent English Commercials definitely help a corporate to appeal to the consumers and increase its sales and revenue. Semantic Rhetorics, which are always the carriers of  glamour, can be seen from many famous English commercials. This paper, therefore, is going to study the effect of the application of semantic rhetorics in some classical English commercials.