THE STYLE OF OFFICIAL

AND BUSINESS
DOCUMENTS: SPECIFIC
LEXICAL AND
GRAMMATICAL FEATURES
The style (the language) of official documents has the
following sub-styles:

a) the language of legal documents: (constitutions, laws,

treaties, agreements, exchanges of notes);
b) the language of business documents (contracts, letters,
memos);
c) the language of military documents (military statutes,
rules, regulations).
The aim of communication in the official
style of language is to bind the
addressee (the reader) to a certain kind
of behavior.
Communication by means of official documents
may occur between:
– two or more states or governments (international treaties,
agreements, charters);
– the state and its citizens (decrees, acts, reso­lutions, orders,
rules and regulations);
– two or more legal or physical entities such as companies, insti­
tutions or individuals (business contracts, letters, memos);
– a person who has authority and subordinates (orders,
regulations, inst­ructions).
The binding nature of official documents is ensured by the
extensive use of “binding” words (performative verbs and
nouns), such as advise, agree, undertake, guarantee, request
and modal verbs, such as should, would, need, must, have to etc.
 Besides that, preambles to international legal documents play
very important role ― they contain the ‘performative’ formula
‘have agreed’ or ‘agree as follows’, which makes the rest of the text
binding for the parties to perform what they have agreed upon.
 Texts of official documents are also characterized
by:
– conventionality of expression: division into struc­tural parts
(preamble, central clauses, opening addresses, closing sentences);
– set expressions and highly literary formal words (I beg to inform
you; Dear Sir; hereby; above-mentioned etc.);
– terms which have to do with the subject-field of the document
and which must be unambiguous (tax exemption, air services;
territorial waters etc.);

→
– the encoded character of language: the use of symbols,
abbreviations and acronyms, e.g., MP (Member of
Parliament); IMF (International Monetary Fund); UN (United
Nations);
– absence of any emotions, stylistic devices and expressive
means;

→
– complicated syntax: the use of the participial and infinitive
constructions, long compound and complex, sentences;
– reference to the present or future which is expressed by the
preference to use the Present Indefinite, the Present Perfect and
the Future Indefinite tense-forms.
Thank you for your attention!!!