Up to now, we have analyzed language features of ads at three levels. Linguistic similarities analyzed in this paper and shared by all kinds of ads are shown as follows:
Ⅰ. Lexical features
a. One-syllable and simple verbs such as get and make are used.
b. Emotive adjectives are adopted to arouse reader’s interest.
c. Words are carefully chosen to make pun and alliteration.
d. Weasel words, such as help and like, make the use of strongest language possible in advertisements.
Ⅱ. Syntactical features
a. Sentences in advertisements are short. On average, a sentence consists of 11.8 words.
b. Elliptical sentences are used to spare advertising cost and at the same time improve advertising effectiveness.
c. Interrogative sentences and imperative sentences are common in advertisements
d. Present tense prevails in ads to suggest timelessness. And active voice is used to cater to audience’s habit in daily talk.
