时间：2022-08-25 01:03:13
【Abstract】It is well known that lots of documents are imperative to an exhibition. The opportunity-taking pattern is the common text pattern found in invitations to exhibitors. This paper is to analyze its way of organization and expression with the aims to summarize the general textual strategies and organizational rules for Invitation to Exhibitors so as to help the learner in the exhibition document writing.
【Key words】invitation to exhibitors； opportunity-taking pattern； writing rules
1. Introduction
It is well known that exhibition documents are indispensable to an exhibition. High quality exhibition documents can not only effectively deliver information about the exhibitions but also positively mirror the image of the exhibitions. It is said that they are the most important evidence for the target audience to evaluate whether it is worth joining in the exhibitions or not.
Invitation to Exhibitors is one of the typical exhibition documents， which has its unique textual features. From the perspective of textual macro-structure and on the basis of textual patterns approach， we found that The Opportunity-Taking pattern fully described by Hoey and McCarthy is commonly used in Invitation to Exhibitors. Therefore， this paper is to analyze its way of organization and expression with the aims to summarize the general textual strategies and organizational rules for Invitation to Exhibitors so as to help the learner in the exhibition document writing.
2. Opportunity-Taking Pattern
The Opportunity-Taking pattern often begins with an appealing opportunity that plays the function of inviting the participants to react. ‘The implicit questions this pattern answers are： What was the situation？； What opportunity arose for X within this situation？； What did X do about it？ ； and What was the result for X？’ The following figure represents it as follows：
An advertisement is given as an example. Sentence numbers have been added for convenience of reference.
TURNER’S VENICE
①A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO OBTAIN FOUR LIMITED LITHOGRAPHS FROM THE ARTIST’S FINAL TOUR OF VENICE
②A special Offer to Collectors
③Reply now and you will receive a free color brochure giving you a fascinating insight to Turner’s Venice. ④The publishers will immediately reserve a complete set of picture for you.
Signaled by the words ‘OPPORTUNITY’ and ‘Offer’， Sentence 1 and 2 provide the Opportunity on offer ‘TO OBTAIN FOUR LIMITED LITHOGRAPHS FROM THE ARTIST’S FINAL TOUR OF VENICE’ modified by the word ‘UNIQUE’， which has a strong tendency. Usually words like special， once in lifetime， outstanding and unusual co-occur with the Opportunity on offer. Sentence 3 describes how the Opportunity could be taken， that is， ‘Reply now’. Positive Result ‘The publishers will immediately reserve a complete set of picture for you.’ in Sentence 4 is given at last.
This pattern particularly exists in advertisements， newspaper offers and narratives.
3. Analysis of Opportunity-Taking pattern in Invitation to Exhibitors
The Opportunity-Taking pattern is composed of four elements， Situation， Opportunity， Taking and Positive Result or Negative Result， among which Situation and Positive Result or Negative Result are optional. This pattern often begins with an opportunity on offer， which plays the role of arousing the audience’s attention to react and take the opportunity.
The following sample is a typical Opportunity-Taking Pattern in the Invitation to Exhibitors of the Storage Expo 2013. Paragraph numbers have been added for convenience of reference.
①17-18 October 2013 London， Olympia
②The ONLY opportunity in 2013 to meet 1000’s of targeted visitors with immediate purchasing requirements
③Storage Expo is the UK’s most comprehensive convergence of data storage professionals. The 2012 event delivered a record attendance of nearly 5，000 visitors- comprising of end users with immediate purchasing requirements， hungry for education and information on how， what， why and when to purchase the products and services on offer.
④Importantly， the event also offers vendors the chance to network and develop profitable relationships with new and existing channel partners.
⑤Whether you sell to large enterprises， SMEs or via the channel， Storage Expo will provide you with the most targeted audience. Our visitor demographics prove that Storage Expo delivers the complete range of decision makers and IT professionals responsible for data storage.
⑥But don’t just take our word for itC the event is endorsed and promoted by an array of committed industry associations & media partners to ensure Storage Expo retains its position as the UK’s No 1 data storage exhibition.
⑦Exhibiting at Storage Expo will enable you to：
Increase Sales
Improve Customer Relationships
Build your Brand
Explore Channel Partnerships
⑧Storage Expo’s visitor attendance figures are rigorously audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation （ABC） - so you can be confident in making the right decision to exhibit. Download the Storage Expo 2012 ABC certificate.
Here follows the Opportunity-Taking pattern in the Invitation to Exhibitors of the Storage Expo 2013 in the following figure.
Paragraph 1 is Situation tells when and where the Storage Expo will be held. Paragraph 2 provides the exhibitors with ‘The ONLY opportunity in 2013 to meet 1000’s of targeted visitors with immediate purchasing requirements’， which has a strong tendency by using the word ‘ONLY’. Paragraph 3， 4， 5， 6 and 7 illustrate the concrete opportunities the Storage Expo will offer by using the signal vocabulary like ‘on offer， offer， provide， ensure and enable’. The final paragraph describes how the Opportunity may be taken and reports a Positive Result ‘You can be confident in making the right decision to exhibit’.
4. Signaling words of Opportunity-Taking pattern in Invitation to Exhibitors
It is easy to distinguish the Opportunity-Taking pattern in Invitation to Exhibitors because the signal words of this pattern are very clear. For example：
A. Opportunity： afford， chance， deliver， enable， ensure， give， help， make， offer， opportunity， present， provide， supply， support；
B. Taking： call， contact， dial， download， fill， get， obtain， reply； and
C. Positive result： answer， effect， outcome， result， （re）solve.
We can get that Invitation to Exhibitors with the Opportunity-Taking pattern in it sometimes includes three parts： ①brief introduction to when and where the exhibition will be held； ②opportunity is given to appeal exhibitors with the offers including meeting targeted audience， visitors， final decision makers， industry associations and media partners， etc.； and ③inviting exhibitors to take this opportunity by the means of contacting the organizing committee or downloading the relative information.
5. Conclusion
The significance of conformity to the textual patterns when writing Invitation to Exhibitors is： a） helping the learner organize and shape the text easier since diverse textual patterns serve as ready-made templates that can benefit the learner to have a guide to write， although not all of the good writings of Invitation to Exhibitors have to use textual patterns to abide by； b） making the writing coherent by using the signaling words of the textual patterns since the writer， armed with a set of characteristic signals， could start the writing with triggers of General statement， Question or Opportunity and finish with the signals of General statement， Answer or Taking， therefore no segment will be missed.
Therefore we need to train more specialized professionals especially in the aspect of the writing of exhibition documents so as to achieve the goal of becoming the leading exhibition destination country across the world since the competition of exhibition industry rests on the competition of talents.
References：
[1]McCarthy.Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers[M].Shanghai.Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2002.5-159.
[2]Hoey.On the Surface of Discourse[M].London.George Allen & Unwin，1983.66-95.
[3]Huang G.W & Ghadessy.Functional Discourse Analysis[M].Shanghai.Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2006.33-51.
作者介：苏晓娜（1980-），女，汉族，山东青岛人，讲师，硕士，主要研究方向为外国语言学及应用语言学。