【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 r organizations”. So the meaning of the advertisement is obvious: “why not save your money in our bank? The value of your money will be increased here”.(5) A deal with us means a good deal to you. “A good deal” refers to “much” when it is in mon use, but in this advertisement, advertisers interpret it as “a good business”.(6) The unique spirit of Canada: we bottled it. (Advertisement for Whisky)It is the advertisement of whisky Lord Calvert Canadian. Here, two pairs of puns are used. “Spirit” means “typical quality”, and also refers to “alcohol”. “Bottle” could mean “put wine into bottles”, and could also mean “put the unique spirit of Canadian together”. Due to the employ of pun, the advertisement bees more meaningful and imaginative. Grammatical punEnglish is an analytic language: some part of a sentence can play a role of a grammatical ponent. We can have different understandings in different contexts. Grammatical pun is pun because of the grammatical use, such as omission of some structures, some words or phrases. For example:(1) Which lager can claim to be truly German?This can. (Advertisement for Beer)A bottle of beer is drawn beside the advertisement. “Can” could be used as a modal verb. When it is a modal verb, it means “be able to”. Besides, it could also be used as a noun, which means “tin”. The sentences make sense when “can” is a modal verb or a noun. With the drawing of a beer, consumers understand that “can” here means more “beer”. The play of “can” has an effect of humor and a deep impression on consumers. In America’s market, there are different kinds of beers, many of which e from other countries and very petitive. Therefore, the advertisement emphasizes the Germany taste of the beer.It is not unique that “can” is used by above advertisement.(2) Coke refreshes you like no other can. (Advertisement for Coke)Like the above advertisement, “Can” is used as a modal verb and a noun, which respectively refers to “be able to” and “tin”. So the advertisement could be understood as “coke refreshes you like no other (can: tin, drink) can (refresh you)”. For consumers, it is very easy to remember that product because of the use of “can”. Idiomatic punAdvertising language often adopts some idioms and slangs that are familiar to the audiences. These advertisements are often based on people’s knowledge of the society and culture. The unique and light language forms of pun, strengthening the advertisement appealing and artistic quality to the advertising language, make advertisement have an overtone to the audiences. For example:(1) A mars a day keeps you work, rest and play. (Advertisement for Mars Chocolate)Reading the advertisement will remind consumers of two familiar idioms: “an apple a day keeps the doctors away” and “all work and no play make Jack a dull boy”. The advertisement not only uses the form of the idioms, but also quotes the contexts of them. The consumers get a new conclusion from their familiar idioms: Mars can not only keep people healthy, but also make them enjoy work and rest.(2) When you make a great beer, you don’t have to make a great fuss. (Advertisement for Heineken Beer)Here the idiom “make a great fuss” means “make over nervous”. The advertisers make use of the structure of the idiom and create a new phrase “make a great beer”. The new phrase makes a contrast with “make a great fuss”, making the quality of the beer outstanding.(3) Two beer or not two beer, that’s a question—Shakesbeer. (Advertisement for Beer)While reading it, “to be not to be, that is a question” in “Hamlet” will e to consumers’ mind. “Two” and “to”, “beer” and “be”, “Shakesbeer” and “Shakespeare” have similar or even the same pronunciations. Besides homophonic pun, the advertisement employs idiomatic pun too. The refreshing feeling makes consumers remember the brand name much easier.(4) Better late than the late.It is an advertisement which propagates careful driving to drivers. Its original idiom is “better late than never”. Not only idiomatic pun, the advertisers use semantic pun. “Late” means late, and it also means “dead”. Here, “the late” refers to “the dead”. The advertisement advises drivers that “being late is better than being dead”.(5) All is well that ends well. (Advertisement for Cigarette)The advertisement is an idiom itself, which means “all is good as long as the result of good”. Here, “ends” has two meanings: “result” and “cigarette butt”. As it is a cigarette advertisement, the meaning of the idiom is that “cigarette is good when the cigarette butt is good”. The employ of pun conveys the connotation of the original context, and also makes the advertisement more persuasive.4. Functions of pun in advertisements Information conveyingAdvertising is used to convey information about the products or services advertised, to inform, report, and describe the features and their locations of sale. With regard to the appeal style of advertisements, advertising falls into two categories: rational appeal and emotive appeal, which respectively make for socalled hardsell advertisement and softsell advertisement. By rational appeal, the advertisement persuades not by appealing to their emotions but by listing hard factsdetailed or specific information, such as quality, convenience, workmanship, effects etc, whereas to softsell, the advertisement resorts to appealing to emotional motives so the language concentrates not on facts but on creating a mood, evoking a desire or satisfying a wish. Softsell advertisements contain the information about products, although the information is indirect and implicit. Whether the hardsell advertisements or softsell advertisements, the audiences are supplied with some information about the products. Attention attractingAttracting attention is the first and most important requirement for advertisements. Because the use of pun can strengthen the attention value and direct function of the adv