【正文】 ave time and cut expense, thousands upon thousands of business munications were conducted through cable or telex before, are now being sent by fax or . In this case, mastering the skills of writing an effective business letter in short time has bee an emergence for those who want to represent themselves positively to their customers, petitors and employers. However, posing a good business letter is not a piece of cake for those who lack of basic information of business letter, especially English business correspondence, and pragmatic principles which guide the writing of correspondence.Commercial English is a special term given to English by nonEnglish speaking nations for international trade. What a special kind of character is mercial English? Commercial English is standard English adapted to special business purposes. Few international business transactions covering finance, law, advertisement and accountant, can be fluently carried out without correspondence at some point. What is more, English is widely used in letters written to customers, agents, suppliers, shipping panies and many other people concerned. So as the importance and popularity of using English in business, more people turn to study it in the hope of adapting to the development of our society. Nevertheless, the point that business English, a plex of English and business is a kind of language which is according with pragmatic principles in context should not be neglected. Under such circumstance, making a clear idea of pragmatic principles bees an essential task for people who want to conduct business. Basing on this background, this thesis is going to discuss the application of pragmatic principles in English business correspondence and has concluded some useful strategies of posing an effective English business correspondence.2. Introduction to English business correspondence Definition of business correspondenceAccording to Oxford Advanced Learner39。s Cooperative Principle 9 Quantity Maxim and the pleteness and concreteness principle 10 Quality Maxim and the correctness principle 11 Relation Maxim 13 Manner Maxim and the clear and concise principle 14 Leech’s Politeness Principle 15 Definition of politeness 15 Maxims of Leech39。s permanent records. They can be evidence verify bookkeeping, inventory entries or vouchers. If a manager has any question about a customer order or an agreement, he can check the letter while he can not do the same with a phone conversation.Last but not least, business letters act as formal or informal public relation materials. They can help reveal ideas and build goodwill between businessmen and the clients, suppliers and other public groups. How to express and what language style adopted in the letters will leave an impression in the reader39。t be misunderstood. To do so, much attention should be paid to the concise and accessible expressions and avoiding words with more than one meaning. For example, in the sentence “They have also a decided advantage in regard to freight.”, the word “freight” has different meanings: (a) freight charges (b) cargo (c) transportation. Therefore, the above sentence should be changed into “They have also a decide advantage in regard to freight charges.” (廖瑛, 2005: 5) ConcisenessConciseness is always considered to be the significant writing principle and language feature. Today, when most readers are inundated with a tremendous flow of written message, conciseness is given high priority, for it keeps the language simple, clear and easy to read. Concise writing, therefore, firstly, makes a long story short and tries to avoid wordiness。 otherwise it may be misunderstood and even go astray. Correctness is the most fundamental requirement of written munication. Business letters, as written certificates of documents and contracts of international trade, concern the rights and obligations of the two sides. They must convey correct and accurate information to the readers. Furthermore, correctness is free from errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling of words, which are the basic elements. Accurate facts, words and figures should be chosen.3. Pragmatic Principles in English business correspondence Brief Introduction to Pragmatic PrinciplesAs G. Leech (1983: 104) put it, “we can not really understand the nature of language itself unless we understand pragmatics.” The term “pragmatics” was first introduced into literature by the American philosopher Charles William Morris in 1937 under the title of Logical Positivism, Pragmatism and Scientific Empiricism. Later, George Yule (2003: 3) concluded pragmatics “as the study of speaker meaning, of contextual meaning, of how more gets municated than is said, of the expression of relative distance.”People tend to behave in fairly regular ways when it es to language use. That is because people are members of social groups and follow general patterns of behavior expected within the group and most people within a linguistic munity have similar basic experiences of the world and share a lot of nonlinguistic knowledge. Accordingly, researchers propose that there are regular principles of language in use, which people use to constrain their conversation and make sense of what they hear. Since a principle is what a person chooses to govern his conduct, often forming part of a code or a fundamental implication, therefore, “pragmatic principles can be considered as a set of inference rules, or a systematic set of constraints on the use of language, governing and regulating the generation and interpretation of meaning, and they are a set of assumptions the speaker and the hearer should conform to.” (馬軍軍，2004) Grice39。36Price: each pair at USS$40 CIF JakartaPayment: by confirmed irrevocable L/C at sightShipment: 30 days after receipt of L/CWe look forward to receiving your order．Yours faithfully,Mary Blake (曹菱, 2000: 92)This