Metaphor is a common phenomenon in real life.It refers to a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common.As for advertising,foreign studies focus on the analysis of ap plication and effects of metaphor.Based on the historical and current studies on metaphor,this paper aims at analyzing metaphor and its functions in advertising from systemic functional grammar perspective.It pointed out that metaphor,a rhetoric method in advertising language,has many functions,namely,politeness,imagination,subjectivity,objectivity,and textual cohesion,etc.Thus,metaphor can be seen as an important sales strategy,helping the advertisers to establish a good interpersonal relationship with the target audience so as to reach their business aims.In addition,it is also of great importance in that it can stimulate our in terest to learn English,and help us to improve English reading,understanding and writing.
