【正文】 it totally focuses on the writer himself/ herself. This sentence seems to have nothing do with the reader, not to mention benefiting the reader, though it is really good for the reader. Because of the improper way of expression, it is hard to get positive response from the reader. But in sentence (4), this sentence really arouses the reader’s attention and makes the reader wonder what has to do with him/ her. In this way, the message is conveyed more effectively. The word “You” pared with sentence (3), sentence (4) is easier to be accepted. At the sentence levelIn most situations, words cannot express meanings clearly and pletely because of their limitation, so they should be put in a sentence. This part is going to learn how to choose proper sentence, most importantly, to discuss some useful techniques in order to achieve politeness in good news business letters. Using short sentencesIn writing a goodnews business letter, it is remended to use short sentences with simple structures. Admittedly, short sentences contain fewer words and are simple in structure, thus they are easier to read and understand. Using short sentences greatly decreases the possibility for the favorable messages to be missed or misunderstood, thus guarantees the successful delivery of the messages. Moreover, short sentences emphasize the contents. By giving a single message without the interference, the beneficial message can be emphasized. Thus the positive politeness is achieved.5) Congratulations to Jade Gillespie in customer service, our Employee of the Month.6) Congratulations to Jade Gillespie in customer service! She is our employee of the month. (Roddick, 2005:300)In sentence (6), the ideas of sentence (5) are expressed in two short sentences, so the name Jade is emphasized and bees the main information of the sentence. However, there is always too much unnecessary information in the sentence which makes the reader confused and greatly weakens the main idea of good news. Due to short sentences, the beneficial message bees more powerful and more outstanding. active voiceActive voice is preferable to passive voice in conveying good messages. With active voice, meanings are clearer and more direct than those in passive voice. Besides, active voice clearly shows who carries out the action and puts the actor, especially the subject at the very beginning of the sentence. In terms of conveying good news to the reader, active voice shows the writer’s willingness to take the reader’s benefit into consideration, thus it enhances the positive politeness. For instance:7) We are in receipt of your payment. 8) We have received your payment.9) Thank you for sending us your payment. (Roddick, 2005:300)Sentence (7) uses a noun phrase to state the fact of having received the payment, dull and without any personal emotion. Sentence (8) uses the active voice, which emphasizes the action of having received the payment. The expression is more natural and powerful, thus is better than sentence (7). Sentence (9) also uses the active voice, which not only emphasizes the action of having received the payment but also expressed thanks to the reader at the same time. The tone is natural and friendly, thus is more likely to get a good response from the reader. Therefore, in conveying good news, sentence (9) is the most polite among the three. Politeness in badnews business lettersPeople tend to feel unpleasant when they receive badnews, more attention should be paid to the techniques when the information is unfavorable. Different from goodnews business letters, badnews business letters convey messages that do harm to the reader’s benefit and may not be accepted by the reader (楊林聰，2002:400). If badnews business letter is written poorly, it may enlarge the unfavorable effect of the message. Therefore, in badnews business letters, the focus should be put on the techniques which can help convey the information effectively and clearly. At the word and expression level youlanguage when concerning impolitenessAs mentioned before, youlanguage emphasizes the reader. When the message is good for the reader, more youlanguage should be used to strengthen the effect. When it es to the bad news which is usually impolite in nature, it is better to avoid youlanguage in order to weaken the bad effect. For instance:10) You didn’t send your check on time.11) We did not receive the check on time. (Cao, 2000:29)The former sentence focuses on the subject “you”, which is great threat to “you”－the reader’s positive face. It is hard for the reader to accept, because the use of “you” at the beginning of a short sentence is impolite. On the contrary, the latter one uses the subject of “we” and suggests that the reader may be responsible for the bad message in a indirect way, thus avoids the direct face threat to the reader.Sometimes, the third person is often used instead of the second person “you”. Different from first person and second person, “third person does not correspond to any specific participantrole in the speech event” (Levinson, 1983:69). The following two examples worth parison.12) If you are late three times with no excused reason, you will be dismissed.13) Employees who are late three times with no excused reason will be dismissed. (Cao, 2000: 29)In sentence (13), “employees” with a more general meaning is used to take the place of “you”, which can help ease the tense atmosphere. general wordsWhen writing a badnews business letter, it is better to use general and abstract words than the specific and concrete ones. General words require more time and efforts to understand, so it is much more difficult for the reader to form a clear image, thus avoid the un