4.1.2 Genre，Register and Style
After the general introduction of the corpus，an attempt is supposed to make to clarify the confusing terms genre，register and style.
In literature，genre has been known as an intangible taxonom y.The concept of genre can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle.Plato divided literature into three classic genres accepted in Ancient Greece：poetry，drama and prose.In the philosophy of language，genre is taken as a system for accomplishing social purposes by verbal means.Norman Fairclough em phasized the social context of the text：Genres are“differentways of（inter）acting discoursally”（Fairclough 2003：26）.Tourism promotional texts are a kind of written propaganda which aims to advertise for the tourist attractions and motivate the guests to visit.In this sense，tourism prom otional texts，either original or translated，are supposed to serve as the same genre because they perform the same pragmatic function in the community.
Figure 4.1 M etafunctions in Relation to Register and Genre
（From：David YW Lee 2001）
Traditionally，register is defined as a particular configuration of field，tenor and mode choices.In other words，register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting.Figure 4.1 provides us with a conspicuous illustration about the threefold division.(https://www.daowen.com)
Field：What is happening，the nature of the social interaction taking place：What is it that the participants are engaged in，in which language figures as an essential com ponent？
Tenor：W ho is taking part in；the social roles and relationships of the participants，the status and roles of the participants.
Mode：the symbolic organization of the text，rhetorical modes（persuasive，expository，didactic，etc）；the channel of communication，such as spoken／w ritten，monologic／dialogic，＋／－visual contact，computer-mediated communication／telephone／F2F，etc.（Halliday 1985：12）
House defined the relationship between register and genre“while register captures the connection between texts and theirmicrocontext”，“genre connects texts with themacrocontext of the linguistic and cultural community in which texts are embedded”.（House 2001：248）
Style refers to the variation in the language use of an individual，such as the form al／inform al style.Crystal pointed out that Halliday's“tenor”stands as a roughly equivalent term for“style”，which is amore specific alternative used by linguists to avoid ambiguity.（Crystal 1985：292）