英语汽车广告中夸张修辞的研究

摘 要

　　21 世纪，是一个开放的、国际化的时代。中国自改革开放以来，以包容的姿态汲取世界各国优秀的文明成果, 汽车文化正是伴随着这股潮流来到了中国。越来越多的学者随之研究外来汽车文化，尤其是汽车广告语的研究。此前有学者从翻译角度研究英语汽车语言文化，有的从社会学角度展开研究，也有从语言学角度展开。汽车广告语是一种说服性语用言语行为, 其目的和功能在于劝说消费者购买其宣传的汽车。文章认为,在汽车广告中,夸张修辞手段有助于强化广告的劝说效果。因此夸张成为汽车广告商经常采用的一种广告策略。为了分析英语汽车广告中夸张的使用，方便国内广大商务人士、学者对英语汽车广告的研究。在分析英语传统汽车广告和现代多媒体汽车广告的基础上，本论文介绍夸张的定义、夸张在英语汽车广告中的运用、及夸张在英语汽车广告中的功能，解读英语汽车广告中的夸张修辞手段。通过举例分析经典英语汽车广告语，本论文认为英语汽车广告商频繁运用夸张的修辞手法有夸大产品信息，引起消费需求，劝诱消费者购买三种功能。

　　关键词：夸张 英语汽车广告 语用功能

A Study of Hyperbole in English Cars Advertisements

ABSTRACT

　　The 21st century is an open, internationalized era. China has been absorbing outstandingachievements of civilization from other countries with tolerant attitude since reform and openingup. Automobile culture has accompanied this trend. Nowadays more and more scholars study theforeign automobile culture, especially the language applied in cars advertisements. Some of themstudy English cars advertisements language from the perspective of translation, some fromsociology and some from a linguistic angle. Automotive advertising language is a persuasivepragmatic speech act, whose purpose and function are to persuade consumers to buy theautomobiles propagandized. The thesis holds that, in cars advertisements, hyperbole contributesto strengthening the effect of persuasion. Therefore hyperbole has been frequently adopted byautomobile advertiser as an advertising strategy. To analyze the usage of hyperbole in Englishcars advertisements, and to make things convenient for the related businessmen and scholars, thisthesis studies hyperbole in English cars advertisements by means of introducing the definition ofhyperbole, hyperbole used in English cars advertisements, and functions of hyperbole in Englishcars advertisements. Examples of English cars advertisements both in traditional and modernmedia are collected for analysis. Thus, through the verification of classic English carsadvertisements, the thesis concludes that there are three functions of hyperbole in carsadvertising—exaggerating products information, creating consumers' demand, and persuadingconsumers to buy.

　　Key words: Hyperbole; English cars advertisements; Pragmatic function

TABLE OF CONTENTS

　　ABSTRACT
　　摘要
　　TABLE OF CONTENTS
　　Chapter One Introduction
　　Chapter Two Literature Review of Hyperbole

　　2.1 Definition of hyperbole
　　2.2 Classifications of hyperbole
　　2.3 Traditional researches on hyperbole
　　2.4 Contemporary researches on hyperbole

　　Chapter Three Hyperbole in English Cars Advertisements

　　3.1 Hyperbole in English cars advertisements in traditionalprinted media
　　3.2 Hyperbole in English cars advertisements in modernmedia

　　Chapter Four Functions of Hyperbole in English CarsAdvertisements

　　4.1 Information exaggeration function
　　4.2 Demand creation function
　　4.3 Persuasive function

　　Chapter Five Conclusion

　　5.1 Findings of the research
　　5.2 Limitations of the research

　　REFERENCES
　　ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Chapter One Introduction

　　With the full-scale development of economic globalization, and the increase in income ofboth rural and urban residents in China, a growing number of people intend to purchase cars,which is viewed as a tremendous treasure for automobile companies. However, compared withWestern automobile industry, the strength of domestic enterprises is still far behind. By thistoken, the domestic automobile enterprises are confronted with enormous pressure. For thesedomestic automobile firms, their products need to be advertised more effectively. A goodadvertisement can build favorable image for the product and the firm. Edwin L. Artzt points outthat advertising creates brand image, product information and brand loyalty. (Hua & Ma, 2005)Moreover, advertising is for delivering the proper message to customers and prospectivecustomers. Apart from upgrading technology, advertisements can help manufacturers to enhancetheir reputation. An enchanting car advertisement has a power to draw the audiences' needs, andhelps them to decide what to buy. Apparently, in the marketing of automobile, advertising playsan essential role.

　　In China an increasing number of business people and scholars, in order to understand andapply English cars advertisements properly and also to make domestic automobile industrybecome more competitive, have spared no effort in studying English cars advertisements fromdifferent angels. From the perspective of translation, Zhu Zhenzhou focuses on the translationstrategy by means of analyzing the language features of cars advertisements to winnow down thesimilarities and to compare the differences between Chinese and English advertisements fromfunctional translation theory in 2008; Zhang Min puts forward the translation strategy of Chinesecars advertisements copies from a literary point of view in 2011. From sociological point of view,Wang Jiecong advances interpersonal significance through the comparative research betweenChinese and English cars advertisements in 2012; Yang Xudong analyzes the interpersonalsignificance in the discourse of Chinese and English cars advertisements in 2013. From theperspective of linguistics, Ling Fang compares two English cars advertisements from the point ofmetafunction in functional linguistics in 2012; Zhang Weiping makes a text analysis of carsadvertisements from the angel of phonetics, vocabulary, rhetoric and syntax in 2014; ChengZhiying discusses automobiles and automotive advertising from the perspective of semioticsillustrated by the case of Date My Cars in 2015.

　　Through an overview of the previous studies, it is not hard to discover that the studies onEnglish cars advertisements before basically revolve around “translatology”, “sociology”,“linguistics”, etc. However there lies an issue in these studies: their subjects are too abstract andlargely remain in the superficial aspects; and in specific aspects, no serious attention has beenpaid to hyperbole. Few scholars integrate English cars advertisements with hyperbole to studythe linguistic phenomenon of English cars advertisements. “Probably because hyperbole hasgenerally been regarded as a classic trope whose study belongs to that of rhetoric.” (Mora,2008:106)

　　This thesis focuses on the application of hyperbole in English cars advertisements and itsfunctions. It consists of five parts: the first part is an introduction; the second part is a literaturereview of hyperbole, it can be divided into definition of hyperbole, classifications of hyperbole,traditional researches on hyperbole and contemporary researches on hyperbole; the third part isan analysis of hyperbole in English cars advertisements from perspectives of traditional printedmedia and modern media; the fourth part deals with three functions of hyperbole in English carsadvertisements—information exaggeration, demand creation and persuasive functions; the lastpart is a conclusion, reporting the findings of the research and its limitations.

Chapter Two Literature Review of Hyperbole

　　In terms of traditional rhetoric, hyperbole is actually an intentional exaggeration foremphasizing the feature and producing the designed effect. As far as we know, the emergence ofhyperbole can be traced back to the times of ancient Greece and Rome. This kind of figure ofspeech has been common in sagas, tall tales, Greek and Roman mythology, as well as in politicalrhetoric and advertising slogans in a broader way.

　　2.1 Definition of hyperbole

　　Hyperbole is “A figure of speech consisting in exaggerated or extravagant statement, used toexpress a strong feeling or produce a strong impression, and not intended to be understoodliterally” (Bruchfield, 1957:1005 ).

　　As a figure of speech, hyperbole is used to create a strong impression due to intense feelingsand great emphasis. It is more of an exaggeration to convey a keen emotion or to create an imagein readers' minds.

　　2.2 Classifications of hyperbole

　　The English word “hyperbole” comes from the Greek word—huperbolê. It is generallybelieved that hyperbole can be classified into “extensive” and “narrow”. In short, there aregenerally two kinds of hyperbole: auxesis and meiosis. (Han,2013) Through hyperbole, thedescription of object's image, quantity, function and degree would be changed and bombastic. Ina professional sense, Xu Peng (2007) holds that the utilization of English hyperbole roughly canbe split into these following types:

　　Using numerals; making meaning of the word extreme; utilizing verbs; usingadjectives and adverbs; using the superlative degree of adjectives and adverbs; usingprepositional phrases; using nouns; using negations.

　　2.3 Traditional researches on hyperbole

　　Researches on hyperbole have a long history. Numerous rhetoricians were born in theancient Greek and Roman, such as Quintilian. In retrospect, it can be found that the socialeconomy and culture of ancient Greek were highly prosperous, and literary works also showedunprecedented prosperity. To some extent, this proves that prosperity of literature is exactly themajor reason for the momentum of research on rhetoric.

　　According to Claudia (2011:1), “Love poetry, sagas, tall tales, classical mythology, politicalrhetoric and advertising as texts containing hyperbole, illustrating the great range of thephenomenon regarding both time and genre.”

　　It is obvious that the old research on hyperbole is still far from enough, like the tip of aniceberg. Thousands of years later, in the 1980s, the well-known English linguist Leech (1983)deems that interpersonal rhetoric consists of hyperbole maxim and litotes maxim, which islooked upon as the first time for hyperbole to be connected with pragmatics. Since then, theresearch on hyperbole has entered into a new stage.

　　2.4 Contemporary researches on hyperbole

　　As for the present time, people often use hyperbole in their daily communicationunconsciously. Cite a common case, when one is very hungry, he may say: I'm starving to death.

　　Or he may say: I can eat one hundred cattle. These two sentences are the exaggerated expressionto indicate one's hunger. Through the figure of speech, a simple sentence can deliver a strongfeeling—I am so starving I want to eat some food The example above directly shows the charmof hyperbole in ordinary life.

　　In recent years, the research on hyperbole is flourishing. By a rough calculation on the mostpowerful network platform of knowledge discovery in China, How Net, when I input“hyperbole”, the number of search result is the amazing “5337”.

　　So this thesis singles out several typical articles which concentrate on hyperbole, such as OnHyperbole, written by Ling Rushan in 1994, the author introduces the features of hyperbole andthe performance methods of hyperbole; On the Rhetoric Effect of Hyperbole, written by YangZhenglin in 2003, reveals the rhetoric aesthetic; On Relevance in Hyperbole, written by SongChanglai in 2006 who argues the view that hyperbole enables people to communicate in a betterway; and A Pragmatic Approach to English Hyperbole, written by Zhu Yali in 2010, illustratesthe main functions of hyperbole in pragmatics.

　　In the next chapter, the thesis mainly analyzes the methods of utilizing hyperbole in Englishcar advertisements by illustrating 5 advertisements from newspapers and magazines, as well as 2advertisements from videos.

Chapter Three Hyperbole in English Cars Advertisements

　　Advertising is an inevitable part of our society, whose outstanding feature is its competitivefight. According to The Discourse of Advertising, “advertising is not some external curiositywhich we examine, from which we are separate, but something of which we are part, and whichis part of us” (Cook,1996:182). “Advertising comes in all shapes and sizes” (Dahl,2007:11), suchas in newspapers, in magazines, on billboards along the streets, on TV and on the Internet. Theeffects of advertising influence us whether we like it or not.

　　For understanding the remarkable foreign car advertisements, this chapter dwells on the useof hyperbole in English cars advertisements in traditional printed media, such as newspapers andmagazines, and in modern media, such as broadcast, television, and Internet.

　　3.1 Hyperbole in English cars advertisements in traditional printed media

　　According to A History of Advertising from the Earliest Times: Illustrate, there is no doubtabout the desire that tradesmen and merchants try to make their goods popular is almost as longas the existence of the customs of buying and selling, and it is but natural to suppose thatadvertisements in some shapes or forms have existed not only from time in memorial, but almostfor all time. (Sampson, 2010)

　　Advertising has been associated with merchandising, which means that the production ofcars could bring about cars advertisements. With the progress of the Second IndustrialRevolution, the German Benz and Daimler invented the first automobile in the world. Since then,the automobile industry has developed rapidly, and cars have been the leading transport vehiclesinstead of previous carriages. Meanwhile, there is an increasing competition for marketingamong car companies, and these sophisticated businessmen mastered the importance ofadvertising, so car advertisements flourished at a blistering speed. Distinct advertisements havebeen utilized by automobile advertisers to promote and popularize the characteristic andadvancement of automobiles sufficiently. Therefore, cars advertisers make full use of linguisticstrategies to advocate their products, especially rhetoric.

　　Here is a classical advertisement slogan of Rolls Royce published on a newspaper in 1999:

　　Example 1:

　　At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the electronic clock.

　　Rolls Royce

　　As drivers all know, the sounds of engine could be heard continually when they drive theircars at a high speed. The designer Ogilvy takes advantage of hyperbole for the purpose ofarousing customers' desire to seek luxury from driving Rolls Royce by using the superlativedegree of adjectives. Just through their sense organs, the readers will perceive that the experiencein Rolls Royce is a great enjoyment, which is entirely different from in any other common car.

　　After reading this advertisement, people undoubtedly can not help imagining the scene that theyare driving a car with such a superior performance. (Cao,2011) By interpreting “the loudestnoise”, the readers would perceive that the loudest noise in Rolls Royce is like the sound of theelectronic clock. The use of hyperbole in this slogan exaggerates the excellent quality of RollsRoyce, especially its sound insulation effect of cabin.

　　There is no doubt that this is the most classical advertisement in the field of advertising,which surprises all international advertisers.

　　The following sentence is a fragment of an advertisement:

　　Example 2:

　　And this is the reinvented Toyota Camry available with everything you could possibly want.

　　Toyota

　　As readers catch sight of the pronoun “everything” in this advertisement, they willinevitably wonder at the omnipotence of Toyota Camry. “Everything” in this sentence is theessence of this slogan, which boasts that Toyota Camry sold in the stores could serve you withanything you want. And this advertisement also delivers the information that this Toyota Camryis a trustworthy professional automobile. The popularity of Toyota results from the charm of thisspecial figure of speech, hyperbole.

　　The enchantment of hyperbole is reflected in advertisements above. Another advertisementof Volkswagen also has such charm:

　　Example 3:

　　In a world that's far from perfect isn't it nice to find something that's practically there?

　　Volkswagen

　　In this advertisement, the adjective phrase “far from perfect” serves as a key factor ofexaggerating the sentence meaning. The designer hopes readers approve of that Volkswagen canbring you a perfect and spotless enjoyment in an imperfect world. For those who are pursuingperfection, there is no alternative to Volkswagen.

　　The following is an advertisement of Lotus Elise S Club Racer on Evo Magazine, which is aworld top-level car magazine:

　　Example 4:

　　Performance is just about perfect, not least because you get a huge amount from the car at less thanprison-sentence velocities.

　　Lotus

　　Lotus is a world famous sports car brand, and lots of racing fans choose Lotus for itsincomparable speed. This advertisement can be explained like this: Although drivers don't race,they can enjoy the exciting performance of Lotus fully and delightfully. By using “prison-sentence”, a hyperbolic description, the designer of this advertisement shows the extremepleasure even if you don't exceed the speed limit. There is no denying the fact that till now, theElise is regarded as a distinctive racing car in the world.

　　The next advertisement to be introduced is from a German car brand, Mercedes Benz, theworld's most upscale car brand:

　　Example 5:

　　The engine is a little cracker: it makes no apology for its relative lack of capacity and cylinders andnever feels short on performance.

　　Mercedes Benz

　　In this advertisement, Mercedes is also so confident that it uses the absolute tone. Thedesigner employs the negatives “no” and “never” subtly for perfectly showing this car's faultlessperformance, which presents the magical function of hyperbole. In the respect of attractingpeople to consume, the exaggerated performance of Mercedes Benz is surely a unique sellingpoint.

　　3.2 Hyperbole in English cars advertisements in modern media

　　Apart from traditional printed media, modern media involving broadcast, television, and theInternet have came to the frontline. In the highly informative and integrated economic time,advertisements are spread through various channels. First, for most automobile firms, they havebuilt their own official website in order to set up an excellent corporate image and enhance theability of communication with customers. For example, as one of the world's foremost Britishtop luxury car brands, Bentley puts advertising videos of its cars on its official website, theadvertisement is as follows

　　Example 6:

　　Technology reappraised

　　Performance redefined

　　We don't see an SUV

　　We see a Bentley

　　Is the most powerful the most luxurious and the most exclusive Suwe in the world and with a top speed of three hundred and one km/h it's also the fastest it is

　　Bentley

　　According to Tecent News in 2015, Bentley officials released a video of Bentayga, Bentley-owned all-new SUV, in a closed test field. In that video, Bentayga reaches the top speed 301km/h, surpassing the once top speed 284km/h from Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, and becomes thehighest speed SUV in the world consequently.

　　As to “301km/h”, people may not have a deep understanding, while the average speed ofmagnetically levitated train just is 300 km/h. “301km/h” is a marvelous speed and also is the topspeed of Bentayga, so exaggeration is obvious in its advertising.

　　In fact, there are still other top sports cars in the world automobile market. But for showingBentayga's perfect technology and performance, the designer uses a negation “don't” and anarticle “an” to induce customers to get a thought that no other SUV is better than Bentayga,meaning Bentayga is the top SUV. In addition, the employment of hyperbole like superlativeadjectives “the most powerful”, “the most luxurious”, “the most exclusive” and “the fastest”,conveys the same confidence of Bentayga's technology.

　　Super Bowl is well known to every American people. According to Forbes (2014), “theannual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominentadvertising event on television- with an audience of over 108 million and studies showing that50% of those only tuned in to see the advertisements” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising). Therefore, many advertisers especially automobileadvertisers, choose to publish their advertisements on TV during the intervals of Super Bowl.

　　Here is a humorous dialogue from the advertising of Silverado:

　　Example 7:

　　Where is Dave?

　　Dave didn't drive the longest-lasting, most dependable truck on the road... Dave drove a Ford.

　　Twinky?

　　Ya.

　　Chevy Silverado, from the beginning of your work day to the end of the world.

　　Chevy Runs Deep.

　　Chevy

　　The background of this story is the doomsday in 2012 predicted by the Mayan. When thedoomsday comes, there are several survivors who get rid of death because they are drivingSilverado. The designer wields the superlativeof adjectives and “the end of the world” for overstating Chevy's consummate performancewhen Chevy faces obstacles and difficulties. But in practice, for one thing Silverado is not thelongest-lasting and the most dependable truck. For another, the Mayan prediction is unreal.

　　In the next chapter, the commercial functions of hyperbole in English car advertisements areto be narrated. Just as advertising master David Ogilvy puts it, “Our goal is to sell, otherwise itwould not advertise.” Regardless of what kind of advertisement, its primary purpose is aboutgaining profit. So a well worded advertisement can produce enhanced features and functionality.

Chapter Four Functions of Hyperbole in English Cars Advertisements

　　Laura Cano Mora (2008) has introduced several pragmatic functions of hyperbole, such asemphasis, evaluation, expression of surprise, simplification, interest intensification, contrast ofdifferences and humor. Generally speaking, there are five functions of advertising: informationfunction, demand creation function, persuasive function, get action function and goodwillestablishment function. (Wang, 2011)

　　Based on these functions of both hyperbole and advertising, this thesis illustrates thefollowing three functions of hyperbole in English cars advertisements: information exaggerationfunction, demand creation function, and persuasive function.

　　4.1 Information exaggeration function

　　According to Widdowson, “language serves as a means of cognition and communication: itenables us to think for ourselves and to cooperate with other people in our community.”

　　(Widdowson,2000:3) It follows that advertising is a kind of communication between theadvertiser and the consumer. So the first purpose of car advertisements is showing information oftheir products such as exquisite appearance, excellent performance, rational technologicalparameters and reasonable price. When hyperbole is used in a car advertisement, the basicinformation will be overstated to a certain extent. Here is one car advertisement referred to thiskind of figure of speech:

　　Example8:

　　Torsion bars are twisted 100,000 times to make sure they torsion properly.

　　Keys are turned on 25,000 times to make sure they don't break off in the key locks.

　　Volkswagen

　　It is a representative advertisement in the field of international automobiles. The designeruses hyperbole to exaggerate its productive process in addition to providing information. Thisadvertisement shows manufacturer's preciseness and responsibility through exaggeratednumbers to gain customers' trust. In fact, every kind of qualified car needs to be tested throughtens of thousands of times before it leaves the factory, which is not widely acknowledged bycustomers. However, Volkswagen makes a big fanfare over the figure, accordingly it wins thecustomers' recognition. Therefore, it is no wonder that Ding Baiquan refers to it in his article,Number skill is a short cut in making advertisement document real and believable. (Ding,2005)

　　4.2 Demand creation function

　　The word “advertise” is actually originated from a Latin word “advertere”. Its originalmeaning is to attract people's attention to and interest in an object. With regards to the audience,advertisements arouse the impulse of aesthetic awareness through the stimulation of emotions,bringing about the emotional resonance in a rational state between the audience and advertiser.

　　(Yu,2009) A successful marketing has a magic that it can resonate with receivers and controltheir mind to buy many things with no explicit order. What is the magic? It is the function ofadvertising—creating customers' demands. Take the following cars advertisements as examples:

　　Example 9:

　　Summer 2010. Nothing but blue skies.

　　Mercedes Benz

　　Example 10:

　　Keeping ahead through technology. Everyone dreams of an Audi.

　　Audi

　　Example 11:

　　Jeep. There's Only One.

　　Jeep

　　Example 12:

　　The world's most exciting light car

　　Ford

　　Taking a glance at the four advertisements above, readers may perceive that the employmentof hyperbole is so fascinating that it boosts the audiences' demands. As an arrogant and implicitbrand, Benz declares that it can not only offer driver a wide vision, but also provide passengerwith an environmentally friendly experience. The advertising of Audi claims everyone is eagerfor an Audi. Jeep boasts they are unique in the world. And Ford announces they are the world'smost exciting light car. Through the bombastic description of these automobiles, the desire ofcustomers is evoked intensively—we need to buy the perfect and unique car That is the magicpower of advertising.

　　4.3 Persuasive function

　　Guy Cook states in The discourse of advertising, “In communication, language always hasphysical substance of some kind, serves as a trigger for the assignation of phonemes orgraphemes by the receiver, allowing him or her to build the signs” (Cook,2001:71). Thelanguage of advertising is a kind of art, which creates an exquisite envision in receivers' mindsby applying phonemes and graphemes. And imagination is responsible for creating similarity.

　　(Liu,2007) It has been integrated with exaggeration to constitute a fatal attraction for consumers.

　　One of the functions of advertising is to help people to erect a favorable imagination of theproduct and to entice people to buy it. As David Ogilvy in his book says,I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium ofinformation. When I write an advertisement, I don't want you tell me that you find it“creative”. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. (Ogilvy,1985:7)

　　The following cases reflect that.

　　Example 13:

　　You can search the world over for the finer things, but you won't find a match for the American road, andthe creatures that live on it.

　　Chrysler

　　Example 14:

　　Nothing new like Chevy's newChevy

　　Example 15:

　　No other car provides all thisBuick

　　In the Chrysler advertising, the designer stresses the road of America by using the negative“won't” for persuading American people to buy the reliable Chrysler for the purpose ofmatching their roads. The other two advertisements both overstate the performance of their carsand by using negatives and contrasting with other cars. All of these advertisements takemeasures to control customers' thinking and obtain their trust with the aim of persuading them topurchase.

　　Above all, these car advertisements depict the character of their cars fairly effectivelythrough using hyperbole. All in all, designer's application of hyperbole is asital as theapplication of language, which determines the embodiment of these functions of hyperbole.

　　It is quite clear that an advertisement that can become a work of art is mostly derived fromits aesthetic value. The aesthetic value of an advertisement may greatly depend on the languageit uses.

Chapter Five Conclusion

　　The study of hyperbole in English cars advertisements is promising. It will help Chinesepeople to understand English cars advertisements and culture, help scholars to study the areasconcerned deeply, and benefit automobile advertisers in the creation of future carsadvertisements.

　　5.1 Findings of the research

　　On the basis of hyperbole, this thesis has been managing to interpret the application andfunctions of this figure of speech in English cars advertisements by illustrating quantities ofcases. Conclusions drawn by the study of hyperbole in English cars advertisements are asfollows:

　　The form of hyperbole in English cars advertisements is diverse. In general, nouns, numeralsand adjectives are used to create hyperbole. It is easy to find out the signs of hyperbole whenreading or watching English cars advertisements.

　　In a car advertisement, advertisers can apply various ways to strengthen feeling, hyperbolebeing one of them. As is shown in the thesis, hyperbole is used frequently in caradvertisements in media, including traditional printed media and modern media.

　　The functions of hyperbole in English cars advertisements are varied, such as informationexaggeration function, demand creation function and persuasive function. Therefore, the useof hyperbole in the car advertising often plays a multiplier effect.

　　5.2 Limitations of the research

　　No thesis is faultless, just as nobody is perfect. Two types of deficiency exist in this thesis.

　　Firstly, the materials referred to in the thesis are not comprehensive because I am not able tocollect all data related to hyperbole and English cars advertisements. Secondly, due to thelimitation of the length of paper and my analytical ability, the research does not consider otherfactors besides hyperbole, such as cultural differences.

REFERENCES

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

　　I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all the people whohave given support to me in completing this thesis.

　　First and foremost, I feel very fortunate to be guided by professor ×××, a reallyperfect teacher. With his patient instructions, insightful suggestions and constant encouragement,I have completed this thesis.

　　Secondly, I also owe a big debt of gratitude to all the teachers who have taught me duringmy undergraduate study. Their lectures have broadened my mind and deepened myunderstanding of linguistic theories.

　　Thirdly, my sincere gratefulness goes to my classmates, and my friends. In the years I spentin Changshu Institute of Technology, they have provided me with warm help and company inmy study and life.

　　Finally, I want to thank my dearest mother. Whenever I meet with difficulties, whether instudy or in life, she always offers me her meticulous care and unconditional support.