1.Introduction 1.1Research background The study of political discourse has its place in linguistics. Government Work Report, as an important white paper, is worth studying. It includes the review of the annual work. Moreover, it maps out things that the government intends to do in the next year. The report acquaints Chinese people and foreigners with domestic current development. And it shows the image of Chinese government. This study focuses on shell nouns of the 2018 Government Work Report. In the last two decades, shell noun, a kind of abstract nouns, has gained extensive attention. (娄宝翠, 2013) It has different meanings in different contexts. Shell noun doesn#8217;t have specific meanings. It functions as a ”shell” because when it is used in this function, it can enclose or anticipate the meaning of the preceding or succeeding discourse.(Aktas, 2008) 1.2Need for the study The study is beneficial and deserves to do. For one, the thesis that discusses shell nouns based on the corpus of political discourses is rare, either in China or in foreign countries. Undoubtedly, this study is capable of making shell noun field flourishing. Besides, it would increase scholars#8217; interests in doing more researches in this field. Consequently, these studies work together to enrich the contends. Secondly, the study is apt to help people understand the Government Work Report clearly. The stance features and semantic categories of shell nouns are demonstrated in the study. Readers find it easy to figure out exact meanings of shell nouns. Thirdly,the study intends to promote the political discourses#8217; writing teaching. The thesis enables readers to pay attention to the use of shell nouns and use them both correctly and frequently when it is necessary. Last but not least, to some degree, the study promote cultural interaction. Government Work Report is an essential way for foreigners to know more about China. It presents the image of Chinese government and makes foreigners be more eager to dabble in Chinese culture. Therefore it boosts cultural communication. 1.3Research purpose The thesis intends to study the use of shell nouns in 2018 Government Work Report. It would specifically focus on semantic categories and evaluative stances#8217; characteristics. So far, there is a few papers that discuss shell nouns based on political discourses. Taking its importance into consideration, this paper aims to enrich this field. From the result of this thesis, we would know that what features semantic distribution of shell noun are in Chinese authentic political discourses. Are there any differences between those in foreign political discourses and in Chinese political discourses? Further more, the study would make it clear that which stance is largely used in the Report, attitudinal stance or epistemic stance? Thus, readers know more about the image of Chinese government and China#8217;s situation and current policies. 2.Literature review It it Schmid (1998) that named these special abstract nouns as ”shell nouns”. They also called ”general nouns” (Halliday Hasan, 1976; Mahlberg, 2005), ”unspecific nouns” (Winter, 1982), ”anaphoric nouns” (Francis, 1986), ”carrier nouns” (Ivanic, 1991), ”labels” (Francis, 1994), and ”signal nouns” (Flowerdew, 2003). It is Schmid(2000) who was the founder of the systematic study of shell nouns based on a large corpus. He introduced their semantic features and muti- functions. In the last two decades,there are more and more researches that focus on the use of shell nouns. Aktas(2008) did a research on cohesive devices of shell nouns and claimed, ” students used some of these nouns more frequently than published authors and that the functional patterns in which these nouns were used varied between the two groups of writers.” Hyland(2005)#8217;s study focused on the construction of evaluative stances of shell nouns. Charles(2003) studied he use of retrospective labels in the construction of stance. Liu(2017) studied ”the N- be- that construction in popular and professional science articles with a focus on shell nouns”. The research showed that although two groups#8217; semantic distributions are similar, there are still apparent differences in shell-noun use. Massam (2017)#8217;s investigation focused on the syntax of extra be construction. In contrast, there are limited studies of shell nouns in China. Hei(2011) studied the evaluative function of abstract nouns based on academic discourses. Lou(2013) found that Chinese graduate learners can not use high- frequency shell nouns frequently and they ” lack the consciousness of using shell nouns in their academic writing”. Hu(2018)#8217;s study investigated shell nouns in Trump#8217;s speeches before and after inauguration. As shown in his study, ”the proportions of semantic categories before and after inauguration are close，both of which are dominated by factual and eventive shell nouns”. So far, the research on the use of shell nouns in political discourses is rare. Thus, this thesis intends to study the use of shell nouns in 2018 Chinese Government Work Report. And discuss shell nouns#8217; semantic categories and stance characteristics. 2.1Semantic categories of shell nouns Based on the semantic connotation of shell nouns, Schmid(2000) divided shell nouns into six types: factual, linguistic, mental, modal, eventive, and circumstantial type. Factual shell nouns are used to state affairs and facts, like ”fact”, ”result”, ”problem”,etc. Linguistic shell nouns are related to written or spoken language. They can be used to report and characterize utterances. For example, ”statement”, ”command”, ”offer”,etc. Mental shell nouns can be used to report ideas. By using them, writers have access to make both their own ideas and others#8217; ideas clear. Modal shell nouns are used to ”express writer#8217;s subjective judgments as to the degree to which it is possible, probable or certain that the facts they shell are true or the events they shell will take place”. Eventive shell nouns help to distinguish events form facts. They relate to action, act and process, like ”mistake”, ”triumph”, alternative”,etc. Circumstantial shell nouns describe situations, times, locations, manners of doing things and conditions for doing things. For instance, ”situation”, ”context”, ”place” etc. 2.2Evaluative stances of shell nouns Biber(1999) divided evaluative functions into two stances: epistemic stance and attitudinal stance. Epistemic stance represents the writer#8217;s assessment of the possibility, truth of statements. For instance, ”it is possible that...”. While attitudinal stance indicates the writer#8217;s attitude toward the statement or sentiment for the proposition. For example, ”I hope that...”. Hyland(2005) put it that in academic writing, epistemic stance is largely used than attitudinal stance. References Aktas, R. N. (2008). Shell Nouns as Cohesive Devices in Published and ESL Student Writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7(1) : 3-4. Biber, D., Johanssan, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., Finegan, E. (1998). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Beijing: Foreign Language and Research Press. Charles, M. (2003). ” This mystery.#8217;: A Corpus- based Study of the Use of Nouns that Pattern in These from Two Contrasting Disciplines. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2(4), 313-326. Hyland, K. Polly, T. (2005). Hooking the Reader: A Corpus Study of Evaluative that in Abstracts. English for Special Purposes, 24(2) : 123-139. Liu Qingrong Deng Liming. (2017). A Genre-based Study of Shell-noun Use in the N- be-that Construction in Popular and Professional Science Articles. English for Specific Purposes, 48(4) : 32-43. Massam, D. (2017). Extra be : The Syntax of Shared Shell-noun Constructions in English. Language. (1) : 121-152 Schmid, H. (2000). English Abstract Nouns as Conceptual Shells: From Corpus to Cognition. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 黑玉琴，黑玉芬（2011），抽象名词在英语学术语篇中的评价功能，《外语教学》， （1）：37-41. 胡元江，陈晓雨 (2018), 基于语料库的美国总统演讲语篇外壳名词研究#8212;#8212;以特朗普就职前后演讲为例, 《外国语文》, 34(4): 81-86. 刘芹，王心怡（2016），理工科硕士论文英文摘要中的外壳名词使用研究，《外语界》，（2）：52-60. 娄宝翠（2013），基于语料库的研究生学术英语语篇中外壳名词使用分析，《外语教学》，（3）：46-53.w