PHÂN t ÍCH DIỄN NGÔN báo cáo TIẾN độ KINH DOANH TIẾNG ANH ỨNG DỤNG ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG TÍCH hợp

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
As the business environment grows in its complexity, the importance of skillful
communication becomes essential in the pursuit of institutional goals. Without
communicating ideas and thoughts it would be impossible to identify common objectives
and purposes necessary for successful operations. Without communication the chances for
a successful outcome of any business endeavor are significantly reduced. Communication
in business is carried out via oral and written documents. These written documents, or
business correspondence, cover a wide range of genres including business letters, business
contracts, memos, and reports. Given the importance of communication, it should come as
no surprise that the primary purpose of a business report is to convey factual information
regardless of which kind of report it is. Whatever the reason and whatever form they may
take, reports have become an integrate part of our business society. The report plays the
great role in the planning and organization of the business house. But it is not the planning
and organization of the business alone which come under the review of a report; it is the
whole of business which benefits by it.
Business reports are required in disciplines such as accounting, finance, management,
marketing and commerce. Writing business reports is one of fundamental business writing
skills. Business reports here are defined as “ documents that present information on a
specific topic for specific purpose” ( Boone, 1986: 308). One common kind of business is
progress reports which are written to inform the reader what work has been done and what
work remains to be done. A progress report provides the reader with detailed information
regarding ups and downs of business through producing a record of a certain period of time
such as a month, a quarter, or a year. Progress reports represent not only the writer's work
but the writer's organizational and communication skills. To acquire these skills, report
writers should gain deep insights into the discourse of progress reports. Specifically, they

must have a good understanding of the common structure and linguistic features pertaining
to a progress report. Therefore, a thorough study of the discourse of English business
progress reports obviously promises a helpful and interesting research. It not only helps


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businessmen in their work but also students and teachers in the course of learning and
teaching business reports.
1.2. Aims of the study
This study aims at analyzing English business progress reports. The specific aims of the
research are as follows:
• To investigate registers of the discourse of business progress reports in terms of
parameters of registers, use of grammar, and use of vocabulary.
• To examine the factors creating coherence of the discourse of business progress
reports that is relevance and discourse structure.
• To provide some suggestions for writing better business progress reports.
1.3. Scope of the study
Due to the scope of a minor M.A. thesis, 10 English business progress reports are selected
for the investigation. The English language used in these documents is authentic and is
named in the Sources of data. Within the frame of a minor M.A. thesis, the analysis is
confined to registers and factors creating coherence in English business progress reports at
initial steps only. The limitations of this work would be good starting points for further
studies on the issue.
1.4. Significance of the study
The study adopts an integrated approach to investigate the discourse of business progress
reports. It is an attempt to find out registers, and coherence employed in this kind of
official documents. It makes a contribution to the study of business documents in general,
and that of business reports in particular. It not only helps businessmen in their work but
also students and teachers in the course of learning and teaching business reports.

1.5. Research methods used in the study
To achieve the aims mentioned above, the study adopted an integrated approach to
discourse analysis. Naturally, this is a functional approach regarding discourse as a process
of interactive communication among members of the society (Nguyen Hoa, 2003). This
approach looks into the concerned discourse in terms of registers and coherence. Firstly, all


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the 10 reports collected were analyzed in terms of registers. Then, two variables of
coherence including relevance and discourse structure were examined. To do this, all the
reports were examined to find out all the relevant factors. And finally, discourse structure
was identified.
1.6. Organization of the thesis:
The thesis is divided into five chapters.
Chapter 1 is the Introduction which presents the rationale for conducting the study, the
scope of the study, its significance, aims as well as research methods.
Chapter 2 provides a theoretical framework for the study, including the notion of
discourse, registers, coherence, and a brief description of English business progress
reports.
Chapter 3 reports the methodology used in the research including the subjects of the study,
data collection methods, and data analysis procedure.
Chapter 4 presents and discusses the results of discourse analysis in terms of registers and
relevance.
Chapter 5 is the last part of the study, “Conclusion”, that summarizes what is addressed in
the study, points out the limitations, provides some suggestions for writing business
progress reports, and for further study.


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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims at establishing the framework of investigation. The first section presents
briefly the notion of discourse and text, and distinguishes spoken and written discourse. In
the next section, the concept and parameters of registers are reviewed. What comes after
that is Coherence which involves the two constituting factors: relevance and discourse
structure. The last section provides a general description of English progress reports
focusing on definition and properties.
2.1. Discourse
2.1.1. Discourse and text
For some linguists, the two terms “discourse” and “text” are sometimes be used
interchangeably. According to Crystal (1992), discourse is seen as “a continuous stretch of
(especially spoken) language rather than a sentence, often continuing a coherent unit, such
as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative” and text is defined as “a piece of naturally
occurring spoken, written or signed language identified for purposes of analysis. It is often
a language unit with a definable communicative function, such as a conversation, a poster.”
However, it is important to make clear the difference between the two terms “discourse”
and “text”. Basically, there are two approaches to text (Nguyen, H, 1998: 10). The first
approach regards text as: “the verbal record of a communicative act” (Brown and Yule,
1983:6). Sharing this view Widdowson, 1984: 100 considers text as the linguistic product
of a communicative process. In the second approach, text is seen as a semantic or
communicative category. Following this approach are Halliday and Hasan , and De
Beaugrande and Dressler. Text is viewed by Halliday and hasan, 1976 as a “semantic unit”
characterized by cohesion or a framework that is logical and general. Meanwhile, De
Beaugrande and Dressler (1981:3) defines text as follows:
communicative occurrence which posses seven constitutive conditions of textual communication,
viz., cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, informativity, situationality and
intertextuality.
The difference and the interrelationships between the two terms is captured by Widdowson

(1984: 100) by the following:


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“Discourse is a communicative process by means of interaction. Its situational outcome is a change
in a state of affairs: information is conveyed, intentions made clear, its linguistic product is text.”
From the discussion of discourse and text above, in this thesis, I shall take the view that is
clearly stated by Brown and Yule (1983: 1) “The analysis of discourse is, necessarily, the
analysis of language in use.” As such, discourse is the communicative process while text is
the verbal or physical record of this process, and discourse analysis is concerned with the
functional analysis of language in use.
2.1.2. Spoken and written discourse
According to Brown and Yule (1983), spoken language and written language are different
in terms of their various functions. The first is used for the establishment and maintenance
of human relationships (interactional use) and the latter for the working out and
transferring of information (transactional use). Halliday (1985a) stated that “speaking does
not show clearly sentence and paragraph boundaries or signal the move into direct
quotation while writing leaves out the prosodic and paralinguistic contributions”. Cook
(1989: 50) also insisted: “Spoken discourse is often considered to be less planned, more
open to intervention by the receiver. There are some kinds of spoken discourse, however,
like lessons, lectures, interviews and trials, which have significant features in common
with typical written discourse etc. Conversely, there are times when readers do have rights
to affect written discourse. Writers respond to the marker”.
To sum up, spoken and written, despite some of their minor similarities, represent different
modes for expressing linguistic meaning.
2.2. Registers
2.2.1. The concept of registers
Register, or context of situation as it is formally termed, "is the set of meanings, the
configuration of semantic patterns that are typically drawn upon under the specific

conditions, along with the words and structures that are used in the realization of these
meanings" (Halliday, 1978:23). They also point out that “the linguistic features which are
typically associated with a configuration of situational features- with particular values of
the field, mode and tenor- constitute a Register”. According to Celce- Mercia & Olshtain,
2000, discourse registers usually reflect the level of formality or informality of an instance


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of a discourse or its degree of technical specificity versus general usage. Actually, register
reflects degree of formality of the particular discourse by using a characteristic set of
lexical and grammatical features that are compatible with the particular register. To put it
another way, register can be seen as speech variety used by a particular group of people,
usually sharing the same occupation or the same interests. The term "register" first came
into general currency in the 1960s (Leckie-Tarry, 1993:28). Halliday et al. (1964:77)
describe register as "a variety according to use, in the sense that each speaker has a range
of varieties and chooses between them at different times." This use-related framework for
the description of language variation (as contrasted with the user-related varieties called
dialects) (Hatim and Mason, 1990:39) aims to "uncover the general principles which
govern [the variation in situation types], so that we can begin to understand what
situational factors determine what linguistic features" (Halliday, 1978:32). For Halliday,
register is "the clustering of semantic features according to situation type", and "can be
defined as a configuration of semantic resources that the member of a culture typically
associates with a situation type" (Halliday, 1978:111). Seen this way, "the notion of
register is at once very simple and very powerful" and "provides a means of investigating
the linguistic foundations of everyday social interaction from an angle that is
complementary to the ethnomethodological one" (ibid.:31, 62). The theory of register thus
derived "attempts to uncover the general principles which govern" how "the language we
speak or write varies according to the type of situation" (ibid.:32). Galperin (1981: 33)
suggests five functional styles which appear mainly in the literary written language: the

belle- letters, the publicity literature, the newspaper (press), the scientific prose, and the
official document.
2.2.2. The parameters of registers
Halliday (1978:64) finds the concept of register "a useful abstraction linking variations of
language to variations of social context" and suggests "that there are three aspects in any
situation that have linguistic consequences: field, mode, and tenor" (Eggins, 1994:52).
According to him, field refers to "what is happening, to the nature of the social action that
is taking place," mode concerns "what it is that the participants [of a transaction] are
expecting language to do for them in that situation," and tenor has to do with who are
taking part in the transaction as well as the "nature of the participants, their status and roles


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(Hasan and Halliday, 1985:12). These three register variables, or parameters, delineate the
relationships between language function and language form. In other words, a register is
constituted by "the linguistic features which are typically associated with a configuration of
situational features—with particular values of the field, mode and tenor" (Halliday,
1976:22).
2.2.2.1. Field
According to Halliday (1978) “field is the total event, which the text is functioning,
together with the purposive activity of the speaker or the writer, it thus includes the subject
matter as one element in it”. It is clear that field is concerned with the purpose and subject
matter of the communication.
2.2.2.2. Tenor
The tenor of a text, which concerns the relationship between the addresser and the
addressee, can "be analyzed in terms of basic distinctions such as polite-colloquial-
intimate, on a scale of categories which range from formal to informal" (Hatim and Mason,
1990:50).
Tenor is divided into personal tenor and functional tenor. Personal tenor covers the degree

of formality, and technicality of linguistic exchanges. It is concerned with the social roles
of participants together with their status relationship and personalities such as the
characteristics of the social relationships of participants; formality or informality; social
identity; age; sex; power relations. Meanwhile, functional tenor is concerned with
determining the social function or role of utterance, identifying the purpose for which the
language is being used.
2.2.2.3. Mode
Halliday and Hasan (1976) defines mode as “ the function of the text in the event,
including therefore both the channel taken by the language spoken or written, extempore or
prepared and its genre, or rhetorical mode, as narrative, didatic, pursuasive, “ phatic
communication” and so on”. In other words, mode is concerned with the means of
transmission. The two basic modes are spoken (monologue, conversation) or written
(newspapers, reference books and so on). As such, the mode of an interaction which


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manifests the nature of the language code being used can be distinguished in terms of,
among other things, spoken and written.
On the micro scale, mode refers to the use of grammar involving the use of modality,
active and passive voices, kinds of sentences, etc and vocabulary innvolving archaic
words/ phrases and technical terms.
Use of grammar
* Modality:
A modal form is a provision of syntax that indicates the predication of an action, attitude,
condition, or state other than that of a simple declaration of fact. The modality of a
grammatical form is the quality or state in question. These include the assertion or denial
of any degree or manner of affect, belief, certainty, desire, obligation, possibility, or
probability on the part of the utterer. Modal verbs, like “can”, “could”, “will”, “would”,
“should”, and “ought to”, express distinctions of mood, such as that between possibility

and actuality.
* Active and Passive voices:
English verbs have two voices: active voice and passive voice. In grammar, the voice of a
verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the
participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.). In active voice sentences, the
agent or doer of the action is the subject. The receiver takes the action of the verb. Active
sentences follow the Agent- Verb- Receiver format. In sentences written in active voice,
the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts. In active voice, the
person acting is clear: "The manager wrote the report yesterday". The person acting is the
manager.
In sentences written in passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed in the verb;
the subject is acted upon. The agent performing the action may appear in a "by the . . ."
phrase or may be omitted. In passive voice, the writer does not specify who is acting: "The
report was written yesterday". It could have been written by the secretary, George Bush, or
the manager- we don't know.


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The sentence is still in passive voice if the writer specifies the actor later in the sentence:
"The report was written yesterday by the manager".
Sometimes the use of passive voice can create awkward sentences, as in the last example
above. While active voice helps to create clear and direct sentences, sometimes writers find
that using an indirect expression is rhetorically effective in a given situation, so they
choose passive voice. Most handbooks recommend using active voice, which they describe
as more natural, direct, lively, and succinct.
* Kinds of sentences:
There are three basic kinds of sentence structure: simple, compound, and complex. The
simple sentence forms the building block for the other two. A simple sentence has two
requirements. It must have a subject and a verb, and it must express a complete thought. A

compound sentence is formed when two simple sentences are joined together with a
conjunction. The most common conjunctions are and, but, and or. We use and to show
addition, but to show contrast, and or to suggest a choice. The following example is a
"traditional compound sentence": The plane was an hour late leaving, and many of the
passengers appeared upset. Of the three types of sentence structures, the complex sentence
is the most sophisticated. It allows you to use clauses to change the ordinary pattern of
"subject-verb-predicate." A complex sentence contains a clause, which is a group of words
that contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought. There are three
kinds of clauses: adverb, adjective, and noun. Of the three types of clauses, the business
writer uses adverb clauses the most. Adverb clauses answer questions such as "when,
where, how, why, and under what condition" something is done. Two examples of adverb
clauses are as follows: Since I joined this company…and Because I was promoted…Both
word groups have a subject and a verb, but neither expresses a complete thought.
Use of vocabulary:
* Archaic words and phrases
Archaic words/ phrases are the ones no longer in dictionary use, though retained for special
purposes. This type of words often appears in the works of formal style such as legal and
business documents. Some examples are in accordance with, pursuant to, hereby
* Technical words:


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Technical words terms define typical words or phrases on specific fields. These terms build
the technicality- a particular feature of a type of documents. For example, in legal
documents, these technical terms serve as linguistic means contributing to the clarity and
airtightness of legal documents. In business documents, these technical terms are business
terms that are used in the documents.
2.3. Coherence
Coherence is an essential matter in the course of discourse analysis. According to Nguyen

Thien Giap (2000: 192) “It is coherence that makes a product of language a discourse or a
text”. Coherence is really a combination of many variables, two of which are relevance and
discourse structure.
2.3.1. Relevance
The notion “relevance” is a concerning aspect in the theory of discourse analysis.
According to Brown & Yule (1983), relevance is an important factor helping to achieve
discourse coherence. Relevance is realized by relevant factors, and these factors often exist
together to form relevant structure which in turns makes coherence for discourse. Brown
and Yule (1983: 84) puts it:
A discourse participant is speaking topically when he makes his contribution fit closely to the most
recent elements incorporated in the topic framework.
2.3.2. Discourse structure
There have been a number of studies on discourse structuring. In this study, the author
presents Mann and Thompson’s (1987). Their Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) is a
theory of text organization which provides a framework developed to account for text
structure above the clause level, by hierarchically positing relations between spans of text.
The theory is based on the understanding that a text is not merely a string of clauses, but
consists instead of hierarchically organized groups of clauses that stand in various relations
to one another. These rhetorical relations can be described functionally in terms of the
purposes of the writer and the writer's assumptions about the reader. They hold between
two adjacent parts of a text, where, typically, one part is nuclear and one a satellite. In this
respect, they resemble Grosz and Sidner's relations. . As well as representing the
relationship between two text spans, rhetorical relations also convey information about


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which span is more central to the writer's purposes. The nucleus is the more central span,
and the satellite is the less central one. The central constructs in RST are rhetorical
relations. Text coherence is attributed principally to the presence of these relations; RST

provides a set of around 23 rhetorical relations. The numbers vary slightly from paper to
paper, but the central core of relations as presented in Mann and Thompson are given in
Table 1.
Table 1: Mann and Thompson's Relations



















subject
presentational
elaboration
solutionhood
Cause cluster
condition
otherwise

interpretation
sequence
circumstance
evaluation
restatement
summary
contrast
entithesis
background
enablement
evidence
motivation
justify
concession
Non- volitional result
Volitional cause
Volitional result
Non- volitional
cause

purpose


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An analysis of a text consists in identifying the relations holding between successively
larger parts of the text, yielding a natural hierarchical description of the rhetorical
organization of the text. RST characteristically provides comprehensive analyses rather
than selective commentary.
Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) (M&T; Mann & Thompson 1986) is an analytic

framework designed to account for text structure in running text above the clause level. It
takes clauses as its atoms, and relates them hierarchically, using a number of predefined
rhetorical relations. These relations are defined functionally, in terms of what their
intended effect on the reader is. Examples of such relations are JUSTIFY,
ELABORATION, PURPOSE, ANTITHESIS, and CONDITION. The full definition of
these relations consists of constraints on the text spans related (most relations are
asymmetrical, with a nucleus span differentiated from satellite spans); constraints on the
combined span; and a description of the relation’s expected effect. For example, the
relation JUSTIFY, between a nucleus span N and a satellite span S, is described as having
the effect “R[eader]’s readiness to accept W[riter]’s right to present N is increased” (M&T
1987:11). In other words, if a JUSTIFY relation is posited, then the span S is understood to
provide justification for the writer’s claim in N. The following example illustrates how this
definition is applied:
1. The next music day is scheduled for July 21 (Saturday), noon–midnight.
2. I’ll post more details later,
3. but this is a good time to reserve the place on your calendar.
In this text, units 2–3 are in a JUSTIFY relation with unit 1. They tell readers why the
writer believes he has the right to say unit 1 without giving ‘more details’, in particular
without giving the location of the music day event (M&T 1987:10).
Its popularity is perhaps best attributed to a combination of features: the emphasis on a
functional conception of relations; the carefully presented set of relation definitions; the
simply stated structural theory.
It is not easy to use the order of the clauses to locate S and N. Here are, however, some
preferred ordered featuring new information in final positions , such as:


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Satellite before Nucleus Nucleus before Satellite
Antithesis

Background
Concessive
Conditional
Justify
Solutionhood
Elaboration
Enablement
Evidence
Purpose
Restatement


2.4. General descriptions of English business progress reports
2.4.1. Definition
Progress reports is a very common type among many other types of reports which belong
to subcategory of business documents and can be referred to as a common genre. A
progress report is written to inform a supervisor, associate, or customer about progress that
has been made on a project over a certain period of time. Business reports is defined by
Boone (1986: 308) as documents that present information on a specific topic for specific
purposes. Business progress reports consist of progress reports in general business,
business plan, business proposal, marketing plan, strategic plan, business analysis, project
report, project analysis, project proposal, project review, financial plan, financial analysis,
and others. Business progress report is therefore understood as a report on business
activities over a certain period of time. Monthly progress reports are reports of business
activities over a month. In such reports, any or all of the following are explained:
• How much of the work is complete
• What part of the work is currently in progress
• What work remains to be done
• What problems or unexpected things, if any, have arisen
• How the project is going in general

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2.4.2. Properties of English progress reports
* Functions of progress reports
Progress reports have several important functions
• Reassure recipients that you are making progress, that the business activity is going
smoothly, and that it will be complete by the expected date.
• Provide their recipients with a brief look at some of the findings or some of the
work of the activity.
• Give their recipients a chance to evaluate your work on the business activity and to
request changes.
• Give you a chance to discuss problems in the activity and thus to forewarn
recipients.
• Force you to establish a work schedule so that you'll complete the activity on time.
* Content of progress reports
Most progress reports have the following similarities in content
1. Background on the business activity itself: In many instances, the recipient is
responsible for several business activities. Therefore, the recipient expects to be
oriented as to what your business activity is, what its objectives are, and what the
status of the business activity was at the time of the last reporting.
2. Discussion of achievements since last reporting: This section follows the progress
of the tasks presented in the proposal's schedule.
3. Discussion of problems that have arisen. Progress reports are not necessarily for
the benefit of only the recipient. Often, you the writer benefit from the reporting
because you can share or warn the recipient about problems that have arisen. In
some situations, the recipient might be able to direct you toward possible solutions.
In other situations, you might negotiate a revision of the original objectives, as

presented in the proposal.
4. Discussion of work that lies ahead: In this section, you discuss your plan for
meeting the objectives of the business activity.


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5. Assessment of whether you will meet the objectives in the proposed schedule and
budget. In many situations, this section is the bottom line for the recipient. In some
situations, such as the construction of a highway, failure to meet the objectives in
the proposed schedule and budget can result in the engineers having to forfeit the
contract.


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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1. The subjects of the study
The subjects of the study are business progress reports from different companies with
reporting time from 2006 to 2007.
3.2. Data collection methods
The study aims at providing an overall analysis of the discourse of English business
progress reports. To obtain reliable results, it is presumed that the research should be based
on a fair amount of description, presenting business progress reports as they as.
In this study, since there has not been any source indicating the number of reports that is
sufficient enough for analysis, 10 reports with reporting time from 2006 to 2007 were
selected for analysis by the author. It is hoped that this number would be sufficient data.
These 10 reports were collected from the Internet Sources and different companies, the
addresses of which were provided in the list of Source of Data at the end of the thesis.

3.3. Data analysis procedures
The study adopted an integrated approach in the hope of providing a thorough analysis of
the discourse of English business progress reports. As other approaches of discourse
analysis, the focus of the study was functional language in the relationship with society-
culture. Unlike other approaches, the integrated approach helped provide an overall
analysis basing on coherence. Naturally, this is a functional approach regarding discourse
as a process of interactive communication among members of the society (Nguyen Hoa,
2003). This approach looks into the concerned discourse in terms of registers and
coherence. Firstly, all the 10 reports collected were analyzed in terms of registers.
including the three parameters of, use of grammar, and use of vocabulary. To do this each
report was analyzed thoroughly, sentences in each report were numbered to examine
features belonging to grammar such as length of sentences, kinds of sentences, etc and
vocabulary such as the use of archaic words and phrases and technical words. Coherence is
really a combination of many variables. However, in this study, not all the variables were
considered. Two essential variables of coherence including relevance and discourse


17

structure were examined. All the reports were examined to find out all the relevant factors.
And finally, discourse structure was identified.


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CHAPTER 4
THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH BUSINESS PROGRESS REPORTS
This chapter aims at presenting the results of analyzing 10 English business progress
reports in an integrated approach. Firstly, coherence attained by different relevant factors is
explored. Next, on the basis of coherence and the organization of relevant factors, the

discourse structure of business progress reports is identified including: the beginning, the
body, and the ending.
4.1. Registers
4.1.1.Field
These reports are written with the aim to inform a supervisor, associate, or customer (or
interested partners) about progress that has been made on a project over a certain period of
time. Specifically, they provide background on the business activity, discuss problems
encountered during reporting time and propose some future activities. With this brief look,
the recipients have a chance to evaluate the work on the business activity and to request
changes so that the business activity will be completed on time.
4.1.2. Tenor
As mentioned in Chapter 2, tenor is divided into personal and functional tenor. All these
business progress reports are in the written form. Business progress reports belong to a
subcategory of business documents. Obviously, the language used in the progress reports
is the language of business documents. Furthermore, progress reports are written to keep
interested parties informed about what has been done on a business activity and about what
remains to be done. They represent not only the writer's work but the writer's
organizational and communication skills. Often the reader is the writer's supervisor. As a
result, in terms of personal tenor, the tone employed in business progress reports is formal,
serious and respectful. In terms of functional tenor, business progress reports are written to
provide recipients with a brief look at the progress of the business activity including
findings and also encountered problems. Thus, they can reassure recipients that the
business activity is going smoothly and that it will be complete by the expected date.



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4.1.3. Mode
As discussed above, the language used in business progress reports is formal and respectful

which is attained through the appropriate use of grammar and vocabulary.
4.1.3.1. Use of grammar
Modality
It is noteworthy that modality in English is a complicated concept. The analysis of
sentences in the data shows a surprising result that only modal “will” is used in progress
reports referring to activities in future. The explanation for this may lie in the fact that the
primary of a business in general and of a progress report in particular is to provide the
reader with factual information. Furthermore, a progress report states clearly what work
has been done and what work has not been done. The modal is mostly used in the “Future
activities” section. Below are some representative examples of the modals that occurred in
the data.
COG staff will continue to work with their software contractor to update GRH software as needed
The County will install a new computer for rideshare and the rideshare staff agreed to wait until the
new computer is installed.
GM and CRA will continue discussions and arrange to meet with IDNR to resolve issues. Additional
information in regards to the stream restoration will be submitted in September.
Use of active/ passive voices

73%
27%
Active
Passive
Chart 1: The frequency of
occurrences of active and passive voices in English business progress report.


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From the chart above, it can be seen that active sentences are used more frequent than
passive ones. The use of active voice helps convey the meanings of the sentences clearly.

Active voice is more direct and concise than passive voice. Active voice sounds more
responsible: "Duknyk and staff presented the mass marketing radio spots and TV
Storyboard at the September 17thTPB Work session".
Passive voice is, however, still appropriate for some sentences. It is most effective for
minimizing the role of the person performing an action, or for leaving out the actor
altogether, when the action, and not the individual’s identity, is the crucial point.
E.g: A total of 464 new applicants were registered and 377 commuters were re-registered.
However, business writers should use the passive voice very sparingly. It may make the
writing unclear by keeping the identity of the actor secret. Passive voice is also a poor
choice for sentences because it often sounds awkward and evasive. This is particularly true
in the case of progress reports. Readers may interpret passive voice as an attempt to avoid
admitting responsibility, as in the following example:
"A series of radio advertisements and direct mail as well as diorama’s for metro were developed for
review."
For business communication, the active voice is usually the better choice, and should
dominate. After all, business communication is mostly about people doing things with each
other, building trust, and being efficient However, too many active voice sentences may
lead to lack of variety. And in this case, passive voice can be used to add variety.
Sentence order
The sentence order, which is determined by which part of sentence coming first, is related
to thought patterns and affects the making of text. It was found in the data upon which this
study is based that most of sentences in the progress reports begin with subjects accounting
for 85%. This conforms to the fact that the most common sentence patterns in English have
the subject first, followed by the verb. For example:
The sampling program is being carried out under the supervision of Dr. Tom Nowicki of Mineral
Services Canada, a Qualified Person in terms of NI43-101.



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or
The company investigated the cost of commencement of manufacturing and other production ramp-
up issues in the range from 10,000 to 150,000 UFIT® units.
Less common are the sentence patterns that begin with a part of speech other than the
subject accounting for 15%. This can be illustrated by the following examples:
During September, CoG received 637 applicants for the GRH programs.
On August 7, 2003, GM met with the Lawrence County Road Commission to discuss county road
usage during the remediation project.
Notwithstanding the inefficiency of the diamond recovery circuit, kimberlite from the F and G
phases of the Mothae pipe have shown the best diamond potential to date and work is in progress to
extract the remainder of the planned 30,000 tonne sample from these two phases.
These sentence patterns are used sometimes to delay revealing what the sentence is about
and sometimes to create tension or suspense. Still other times, these patterns can be used to
connect ideas between sentences more clearly.
Length of sentences
It is believed by many researchers that the length of sentences is related to the easiness or
difficulty of understanding the text (Nguyen Hoa, 2003). Through surveying the business
progress reports, it is found that long sentences are the most preferably used by the report
writers. The average length of the sentences is approximately 23 words, which belongs to
the difficult level of understanding proposed by Mencher. Some examples to make this
point clearer are as follows:
The company received a shipment of approximately 1,000 replacement cuffs to fix a well-known
reliability issue in the industry, which affected the current inventory of UFIT® as well.
The Commuter Operations Center continued providing transportation information services on
alternatives to driving alone through the 800 telephone number, general marketing support, and
through the distribution of matchlists.
What I have discussed so far shows that reports writers tend to use long sentences and the
reason for this may lies in the fact that long sentences work well for incorporating a lot of
information. Short sentences, however, are sometimes employed which helps to maximize

crucial points. Taken together, the use of sentences of different length can help enliven
paragraphs and allow for effective emphasis.


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Kind of sentences
Chart 2 : The frequency of occurrences of four kinds of sentences in English business
progress reports

66%
15%
14%
5%
Simple sentences
Compound sentences
Complex sentences
Compound-Complex sentences

The data analysis of 10 business progress reports shows that the majority of the sentences
in the reports are simple sentences accounting for 66 per cent. Next comes to complex
sentences and compound sentences with the rate of 15 per cent and 14 per cent
respectively. Compound- complex sentences make up only 5 percent. It is apparent that the
simple sentence is the most preferably used in progress reports. The explanation for this
may be that the language used in progress reports belongs to the language of business
which requires high simplicity and clarity. And this high frequency of simple sentences can
help decrease the degree of “difficulty in reading”.
Furthermore, long, convoluted sentences, which may read very nicely in print can distract
readers from their primary goal of finding information. The intent of most business writing

is to communicate as quickly and efficiently as possible. This holds especially true for
business reports, the main purpose of which is to provide readers with factual information.
Sentences that are concise, varied, and focused will give the reports a polished,
professional touch. Consider the following sentences:
The problem was solved by closing the application and then opening it again.


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However, not only simple sentences are used in the reports but also compound and
complex sentences. By using a variety of structures, report writers can accomplish several
goals. First, they can provide their readers with an interesting document. This can be done
by getting away from the predictable subject-verb-predicate formula or sometimes by
beginning some of their sentences with an adverb clause followed by a simple sentence.
For example:
During September, COG received 637 applications for the GRH program.
or
On August 7, 2003, GM met with the Lawrence County Road Commission to discuss county road
usage during the remediation project.
Second, they establish a professional presence when they produce documents that are
polished and concise. When they carefully craft their sentences, they establish themselves
as a professional. Lastly, they will continue to hold their readers' interest if they constantly
strive to produce a variety of sentence structures that are interesting, varied, and precise.
The following sentence can serve as a good example to illustrate this point:
COG staff presented information about Commuter Connections services, including ridematching,
Guaranteed Ride Home, and the Commuter Connections Web site, at an employee information fair
which was held at the Potomac Yards shopping center in Alexandria, on September 12th.
4.1.3.2. Use of vocabulary
Archaic words and phrases
There are only some archaic words and phrases used in the business progress reports such

as hereby, in accordance with, pursuant to, in terms of, with access to, etc. The use of these
words and phrases help attain formality and clarity for business documents
Technical words
These business progress reports belong to a subcategory of written business documents and
their contents are related to business, so technical words in business are often used. Some
examples are campaign, commercials, produce, marketing, present, meeting, buy,
guarantee, reorganization, customer service, contractor, procedures, reports, promotion,
negotiations, and sales, etc. The use of these technical words in the business progress


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reports helps bring about conciseness and clarity which are regarded as a distinctive feature
of business documents in general and of reports in particular.
4.2. Coherence
4.2.1. Relevance
As was mentioned in chapter II, relevance is an important factor helping to achieve
discourse coherence.
The beginning of a business progress report consisting of Title and the introduction
possesses relevant factors including company name, name of business activity, reporting
period, name of receiver, name of sender (often the report writer) and the date when the
report is written. For example:
MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT
COMPANY: IMR Ltd
BUSINESS ACTIVITY: REGIONAL MASS MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Reporting period: 1
st
Sep 2007- 30
th
Sep 2007

Staff Contact: D. Franklin
Edited By: N. Ramfos
Today's Date: October 27, 2007
It can be seen from the above example, the typical relation in the title of a progress report
is Background which provides the reader with essential information as mentioned. And the
relation in the introduction is often Purpose which states right at the beginning of the report
the main objective of the report.
The body of a progress report is often subdivided into 3 main parts: Background activities
(or work completed), Problems encountered, and Future activities (or Plans for next
reporting period). To serve the different purpose, each part possesses different type of
relation. In the first part named “Background activities”, the main relation showing the
type of connection between portions is Elaboration, which is named by Mann and
Thompson (1987). This characteristic can be made clear by this example:
Background Activities
The Campaign was launch and implemented basing on following elements:
+ Distributed Commuter Connections summer newsletter, containing the following articles:


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 Cog Awards Local Businesses For Taking The Initiative On Alternative Commuting
 Greater Washington Region’s Best Workplaces For Commuters
 Value Pricing Strategies To Combat Urban Congestion
+ Redesigned InfoExpress Kiosk at Reeves Center in DC
+ Provided final approvals on Integrated Rideshare (Kiosk) Reston Town Center AutumnFest
sponsorship. Mini-FM radios are being given to customers who fill out a rideshare or GRH
application.
+ Made arrangements with MTA for Guaranteed Ride Home PSA to appear in the MARC Rider-
Guide.
The “ Problems encountered” section indicates all problems areas that are encountered As

a result, the typical relation in this section is Circumstance that helps explain in details
what the problems are and how they might affect key areas of the job (such as timing, price
or quality).
For example:
Problems encountered
Market, Political and Regulatory Trends Affecting Glenbriar
The rise in the value of the Canadian dollar reduces revenue from US and Mexican accounts, which
are priced in US dollars.
There has been a substantial weakening in the manufacturing sector in central Canada over the past
3 years. This partly reflects a continued downturn in North American automotive manufacturing,
which reduces demand for software and services from parts manufacturers and distributors that
operate in that sector. Peartree supplies software and services in that sector.
Overall, the North American economy is expected to slow down over the next year, including energy
and mining sectors, which affect Glenbriar’s BC and Alberta operations.
The last section in the body of a progress report- “Future activities”- provides a short
summary of the activities to be undertaken for the next period. Most of these activities are
related to the problems that have not been solved. In other words, these activities, to some
extent, can be regarded as measures that will be taken to solve the remaining problems of
the project. This is a very clear explanation for the main relation employed in this section
which is named Solutionhood. Let have a look at the following example: