An Analysis Of Power Trio In English For Tourism

Power trio includes power words, power grammar and power composition(Martin, 2013). This thesis explores the features of power trio in the textbook A Simulated Course for Tour Guides. For the sake of the accuracy and convenience of the research, the texts are divided into two categories: One is about professional skills, i.e., the steps and practical skills of tour guiding; the other is about scenic attractions, i.e., the introduction to scenic spots and culture. In the research, the frequency of power words, nominalization, verbalization, textual themes, interpersonal themes, topical themes, the patterns of thematic progression, hyperThemes, hyperNews, macroThemes and macroNews in the two types of texts are all calculated and compared for detailed exploration.The study shows that the distribution of power words is not regular and they are more frequently employed in the texts about scenic attractions than those in the texts about professional skills. Power words have the features of frequent usage in the formal and technical texts, especially the texts about mountains and rivers, Buddhism, traditional festivals, tea culture, Chinese calligraphy and painting etc.As for power grammar, the research indicates that nominalization in texts about scenic attractions is more frequently used than that in the texts about professional skills. It is the manifestation of formality, abstractness, technicality, logicality and conciseness of expression. Besides, nominalization diversifies the sentence patterns, shortens the expressions, conveys the courtesy between tour guides and tourists, formalizes the discourse, omits the doer and so on. The research also shows that verbalization is irregular and few in both two types of texts.In terms of power composition, in both types of texts, topical theme is the most frequently used among the three categories of themes, which helps to conveys information effectively. Interpersonal theme is less frequently used in the texts about scenic attractions, which suggests that these texts are more abstract, objective and complicated in wording, and personal attitudes and feelings are avoided. The research also attaches importance to the patterns of thematic progression. The two types of texts share the similar proportion in constant theme progression, constant rheme progression and crossing progression, but differ in linear thematic progression. As for hyperTheme, it is more frequently used in the expository or descriptive texts like texts about scenic attractions rather than narrative ones. MacroTheme is similar in both types of texts.Based on the analysis of power trio in the textbook of English for Tourism, the thesis ends up with the significant guidance for English teachers.