A contrastive analysis of english and vietnamese verb phrases and its implication for teaching m a 60 14 10

This thesis examines the similarities and differences in term of word order in English and Vietnamese verb phrases.. This study is one of the first researches of its kind within the sco

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE VERB PHRASES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by NGUYỄN THỊ THƯ

Supervisor NGUYỄN TIẾN HÙNG, Ph.D

Ho Chi Minh City, 2009

I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other teriary institution

Nha Trang, September 9th, 2009

Nguyeãn Thò Thö

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratefulness to

my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Tien Hung, for his invaluable advice and whole-hearted assistance over the lengthy period of researching and writing this thesis Without his expertise and encouragement, I could not have finished my dissertation

I would also like to express my gratitude to Mr Nguyen Huu Le, Mrs Niamh Sinead Collier, Mr Truong Dinh Duc, who did not hesitate to offer their comments, advice and guidance in helping me to complete the various analyses involved in the research work

Great appreciation goes out to Mr Hoang Minh Tam and Mrs Nguyen Thi Huyen, leaders of Nha Trang Culture Art and Tourism College, from them I got the permission and financial support I would like to express my thanks to these people

Thanks also to all English teachers at Foreign Language Department of Nha Trang Culture Art and Tourism College and students

at General and Cultural Professionals Department in the same college for their willingness to be participants in this study Without them, this thesis would have never begun

Last, but far from least, I would like to thank my family for their patience, support and dedication, and for all the extra time spent on keeping things ‘ticking over’ while I sat with my head in a book, and my hands on the computer keyboard

This thesis examines the similarities and differences in term of word order in English and Vietnamese verb phrases However, due to the lack of resources and research on this matter, it is very difficult to

analyze English and Vietnamese verb phrases in the way: Initial

components + Centre + Ending components This study is one of the

first researches of its kind within the scope of Department of English Linguistics and Literature, which compares the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese verb phrases in terms of word order The thesis also suggests ways to teach English verb phrases to Vietnamese learners

Now with the fulfillment of this linguistic study of English and Vietnamese verb phrases in terms of word order, I believe that it may contribute as one of its small part to the field

E.C : Ending component

I.D : Indirect object

O.D : Direct object

Nha Trang CA&TC : Nha Trang Culture Art and Tourism College

Tables: Page

Table 2.1: Theory of syntactic word order 8

Table 2.2: The Frequency of Constituent Order – Basic

Table 2.3: Vietnamese word order of initial components 23

Table 4.2: Surveyed teachers’ years of teaching English 61 Table 4.3: How the teachers appreciate in teaching VPs 62 Table 4.4: How the teachers appreciate in showing

the similarities and differences 64 Table 4.5: Subject’s age and number of years of studying

Table 4.6: Student’s result for recognition part 68

Table 4.7: The result from the test of English-Vietnamese

Table 4.8: The result from the test of Vietnamese- English

Table 4.9: Percentage of all types of errors in VPs shown in

translation of 12 Vietnamese sentences 81 Table 5.1: Suggesting types of VP exercise 87

Figures:

the English VPs 63

Figure 4.4: Bar chart about students’ time studying English at

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1.2 Factors influencing the word order 10 2.1.2.1 Syntactic and pragmatic factors 10 2.1.2.2 The influence of the lexical category and the 11

internal structure of constituents

2.1.2.3 The influence of sentence type and the 12

distinction of main sentence/ subordinate clause

2.2.2.2.2 Initial component is a substantive 23

Vietnamese verb phrases

4.1.2 Similarities and differences of the two languages 54

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The study carried out in this thesis investigates English and Vietnamese verb phrases in terms of syntactics, then gives out the similarities and differences, finally draws out implications in language teaching This section starts by introducing the researcher’s rationales to conduct this study It then provides details of the thesis including the aims, the research questions, the significance, research scope, and research procedure Finally, a complete overview of this thesis is presented

1.1 Rationales

Every language in the world has its own characteristics Language is the vehicle of communication of human beings It is the bridge of all relationships of people on the planet Each person, to communicate, has their own way to express ideas, notions and thoughts through their language Both English and Vietnamese people possess their own ways of structuring language components so that ideas, notions and thoughts are

uniquely generalized ‘is going to buy a car’ in English, for example, makes sense but ‘a car to buy is going’ does not The same discipline is applied to Vietnamese as in ‘đang gặm cỏ ngoài đồng’ but not ‘ngoài đồng

cỏ đang gặm’ The emerging issue here is the language rules of these verb

phrases

In fact, in learning and mastering English, it would be deficient if we ignored the role of verb phrases that is defined by Quirk (1985) as the most important phrasal categories for functional reasons It operates as the verb

element in a clause, i.e as the most ‘central’ and indispensable part of the

clause As we observe, verb phrases exist in most sentences

So far, English and Vietnamese verb phrases have been mentioned

in certain researches, however, word order in these VPs is not dealt with It

is said that true grammar of English lies in word order How about Vietnamese? Although languages often differ in their word order, English, Chinese, and Vietnamese are examples of languages that can follow an SVO pattern (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) However, whereas English maintains a fairly rigid SVO word order mainly used to signal grammatical roles: subject, verb etc., Vietnamese is a more flexible language in which some words in a phrase can be exchanged their positions

It is indeed very difficult to make a comparison of the two languages, especially the verb phrases Nevertheless, knowing clearly about similarities and differences of verb phrases in terms of word order between the two languages can help Vietnamese teachers to teach English more effectively and Vietnamese learners to use English more confidently As a result, the author has a strong motivation for the study of ‘contrastive

analysis of English and Vietnamese verb phrases and its implications for teaching’

1.2 Aims and objectives

Verb phrases normally play an important part of sentence structure

in speaking and writing Therefore, there is a need to study the word order, i.e the language rule of English and Vietnamese verb phrases with the

hope of helping Vietnamese learners to use verb phrases more effectively and confidently

Aims:

This project will examine the basic word order of English and Vietnamese verb phrases to demonstrate their language rules To be equipped with the knowledge of syntactics and characteristics of verb phrases, Vietnamese learners of English will be able to handle such interesting and popular groups of verbs and verb phrases As a result, the author would like to help students with correct language practice and performance through contrastive analysis with Vietnamese Also, the understanding of word order in sentences in general and in English and Vietnamese verb phrases in particular would encourage Vietnamese learners of English at all levels to recognize and use in productive skill, writing

Objectives:

The paper is intended to have the following objectives:

 To identify and describe syntactic features of English and Vietnamese verb phrases according to structural grammar;

 To assist Vietnamese learners to be aware of the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese verb phrases mostly based on the thought of Nguyen Tai Can, Nguyen Kim Than, Diep Quang Ban and Dinh Van Duc in Vietnamese and Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Howard Jackson and Angela Downing in English

 To suggest solutions and hints aimed at enabling Vietnamese learners of English to use verb phrases more effectively in their writing;

 To draw out some implications for teaching

to a deficiency in knowledge, ability and time

1.5 Research procedure

This research is carried out on the basis of the qualitative and

quantitative method Suggested steps are as follows:

1 Collecting typical English and Vietnamese verb phrases from publications (grammar books, published works, novels) with reference to dictionaries and relevant materials; finding examples in which they are used;

2 Analyzing them in terms of the syntactic features;

3 Finding and making a comparison and contrast between English and Vietnamese verb phrases, then showing the similarities and differences in terms of syntactic characteristics between English and Vietnamese verb phrases;

4 Suggesting possible ways of learning and teaching English verb phrases

1.6 Scientific and practical significance

The scientific significance of the thesis lies in the systematic contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese verb phrases that clearly shows teachers and learners the similarities and differences of the two languages when dealing with verb phrases, thus helping them to find ways and means to overcome difficulties in the process of studying English verb phrases

The practicality of the thesis has been strongly demonstrated in the predictability of mistakes that may be committed by Vietnamese learners

of English, based on the differences shown in the constrastive analysis of

English and Vietnamese verb phrases, and also in the enrichment of learners’stock of vocabulary in both quantity and quality through the course

of studying English verb phrases

1.7 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters The first one as you are reading is

an introductory chapter introducing the rationale, aims, objectives, research questions and structure of the study, the organization of the remainder of this thesis is as follows:

Chapter 2 provides a review of the literature relevant to the study Chapter 3 presents the methodology employed in the study, including a presentation and description of the subjects, instruments, and data collection procedures

Chapter 4 comes to the contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese verb phrases; discussions and analyses of the research findings; at the same time some foreseeable troubles emerging in teaching English to Vietnamese learners will be highlighted

Chapter 5 is for the thesis conclusion; the summary of the findings and suggested teaching solutions to problems that arose in the course of teaching English verb phrases to Vietnamse learners

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In the previous chapter, the researcher’s rationales and an overview of the study have been given In this chapter, a review of the literature relevant to the study is presented in two sections: (1) word order and (2) verb phrase The research emphasizes the importance of the second one

2.2 Word order

2.2.1 Overview of word order

To the ordinary language user, “words are the basic elements of language They are clearly shown in writing; they are the units which dictionaries are organized around” (Biber, 1999, p.51) Words are materials and “bricks” to build phrases, clauses and sentences It is words that initiate utterances Therefore, “word” in dictionaries and “word” in verbal actions are basically different All functional actions of language are presented by the form that we often call “grammatical relations” According to Jackson (1998), it is clear that a word may not combine freely just with any other word or words There are constraints on the “grammar”

or combinability of words He thinks that some constraints arise from the general grammatical or syntactic system of the language, from the rules for phrase, clause and sentence structures Other constraints come from the nature of the word itself and its particular place and function in the language as a whole The first kind of constraint can be illustrated by the fact that adjectives usually precede nouns in noun phrases, or that subject noun phrases usually precede VPs in the structure of declarative clauses

The second kind of constraint falls into two categories: syntactic constraint and collocational restraint

Greenberg (1963), a famous linguist, did a research on 30 languages in the world and found that

 13 languages have the basic order: SVO in which 9 languages have NA order (Noun-Adjective) and 10 languages have pre-prepositions

 6 languages have the basic order: VSO, all these have NA Adjective) word order and have pre-prepositions

(Noun- 11 languages have the basic order: SOV, all these have AN (Adjective-Noun) word order and have post-prepositions

 Other orders such as VOS, OSV, and OVS have not been found However, up to now Comrie (1981) and Hawkins (1983), in other forms

of research, declared some significant statistics If we take the order of 3 elements: Subject, Object and Predicative to examine languages of the world, we have the following table:

32.4-41.8% 41-51.8% 9-18% 2-3% about 1% about 1%

Table 2.1: Theory of syntactic word order (Ly Toan Thang2004, p 40)

Russell S Tomlin introduces another table based on the frequency of basic word orders:

SOV SVO VSO VOS OVS OSV

1 Subject often precedes Object This ratio for languages in the world is 95%, for instance SVO, SOV, and VSO

2 Predicate (V) often stands next to Object This ratio is 85%, for instance SVO, SOV, VOS, and OVS

3 Subject often stands next to Object This ratio is 70%: SOV, VSO, VOS, and OSV

The theory of word order comes from the two basic relations in

language The first one is syntagmatical relation and the second one is

referential relation The former is a relation that connects language units to

become a string when language is used Its basic is continual characteristic which makes language units continue in utterances

e.g a – Mẹ về

- Mẹ tôi đã về

- Mẹ tôi đi chợ đã về

b - I play

- I play the piano

- I play the piano in the living room

2.2.2 Factors influencing the word order

According to Harm (1990), apart from the number of constituents, there are several other factors that influence the order of the constituents in

a sentence These factors in part involve the syntactic function, in part the pragmatic function of constituents within a sentence Furthermore, the lexical category (or categories) to which a constituent belongs and the internal structure of a constituent (e.g its size and its internal complexity) can influence the word order Finally, the sentence type also plays a role

2.1.2.1 Syntactic and pragmatic factors

English is usually considered a typical fixed word order language, in which syntax seems to play a predominant role Thus, the order of the arguments with regard to the predicate seems to be quite fixed

- Mary gave the visitor a glass of milk

(Harm, 1990, Latin Syntax and Semantics)

Any inversion of this order would be strange, unless some situational

or contextual element were to make a different order more appropriate In English, the finite verb has a kind of privileged position The subject normally proceeds, and the two objects follow However, so-called fronting

of non-subject constituents is acceptable in certain pragmatic conditions

Quirk et al (1985, p.1377) mention:

- Most of these problems a computer could take in its stride

Here an object constituent precedes the finite verb As is suggested

by the presence of these, the object contains known, topical information A computer, as appears from the presence of the indefinite article, does not represent information introduced earlier

From the examples given above it appears that also in English the word order is to some extent “free”, in the sense that the flow of information contains as a rule certain factors that favour or necessitate a certain order Our knowledge of English enables us to identify such factors

In this connection, intonation is an important element

2.1.2.2 The influence of the lexical category and the internal structure of constituents

Constituents of different categories are subjects to different placement rules Sometimes, for constituents belonging to different lexical categories different placement rules apply, even if they fulfill the same syntactic function in the sentence To illustrate this Harm (1990) gave two examples The first one is:

- Mary gave to the visitor a glass of milk

In many respects, this sentence is similar to ‘Mary gave the visitor a

glass of milk’; it differs in that here the function indirect object is fulfilled

by a preposition phrase (‘to the visitor’) This preposition phrase turns out

to be more “mobile” than the constituent ‘the visitor’ in the later sentence

- Mary gave a glass of milk to the visitor

- * Mary gave a glass of milk the visitor

Possibly, this difference in behaviour not only has to do with the difference in category (preposition phrase/subordinate clause), but also with the greater complexity of the purpose clause

2.1.2.3 The influence of sentence type and the distinction of main sentence/ subordinate clause

In some languages, such as Dutch and German, there is a difference between the position of the finite verb in main sentences and subordinate clauses Furthermore, in interrogative and imperative sentences in such languages the finite verb occupies a different position from that in declarative sentences As for English, we know that in imperative and concessive sentences the finite verb is often placed at the beginning of the sentence In interrogative sentences, the auxiliary precedes the subject In conclusion, for different types of sentences we can see the difference of word order

2.2 Verb Phrase

2.2.1 Definitions and the syntactic role of VP in sentences

So far a number of Vietnamese VP definitions have raised by the

authors like Diep Quang Ban & Hoang Van Thung (1992); Nguyen Tai

Can (1975); Dinh Van Duc (1986); Tran Trong Kim (1942); Nguyen Lan (1956); Do Thi Kim Lien (1999); Le Van Ly (1948); Nguyen Kim Than (1976); Ly Toan Thang (2004) etc… Generally, “VP is a free word phrase

having main-subordinate relation and containing a verb as the central element and many additive elements which modify the meanings for the central element” (Diep Quang Ban & Hoang van Thung, 1992, p 62) It

means that a VP always contains a verb as the central element and the central element usually governs additive elements VPs, in Vietnamese, often take the role of a predicate and it is the main element to create a

sentence It means that a VP can be a “theme” in a sentence

e.g

Phùng Quán cư ngụ ngay trong khuôn viên trường Trung học Chu Văn An(1) Căn nhà rộng thoáng mát, ngay cạnh hồ Tây, có một bể non bộ lớn, bên cạnh rải rác những chậu lan bằng men sứ xanh (2) Oâng lại cất thêm một căn lầu bằng gỗ để tiếp các bạn văn, uống rượu ngâm thơ, mà ông đặt tên là “Chòi ngắm sóng” (3) Khác với nhiều người làm văn nghệ trong nước, Phùng Quán có một đời sống tương đối thoải mái, vì theo lời nhà thơ Hoàng Cầm, trong thời gian ít năm gần đây, Phùng Quán đã được phục hồi, và do đó có thêm lợi tức do bản quyền các văn phẩm của ông (4)

(Many authors, Nhớ Phùng Quán, p 139)

In English, Angela Downing, Philip Lock (1992), Randolph Quirk

(1985), Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik, Douglas Biber (1999), Raymond Murphy (1998), Howard Jackson (1998), M.A.K Halliday (1989), R.C.B Fromkin (1999) and so on have discussed much about

English VPs and related subjects They do agree that VPs always contain verbs According to Biber and his coworkers, “VPs contain a lexical verb

or primary verb as head or main verb, either alone or accompanied by one

or more auxiliaries” (1999, p 99) In other words, VPs consist of a main verb, which either stands alone as the entire VP, or is preceded by up to four verbs in an auxiliary function (Quirk, 1985, p.62)

e.g

She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as

if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks She had no downry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, wedded by any rich and distinguished man; and she let herself be married to a little clerk at

the Ministry of Public Instruction

(Guy de Maupassant, The Necklace, p 90)

In linguistics, a VP is a syntactic structure composed of the predicative elements of a sentence and functions in providing information about subject of the sentences Quirk (1985) states that the only syntactic role of finite VPs is to serve as a central clause element Non-finite VPs have the same role in non-finite clauses

- I hate [travelling by myself]

- Already they have stopped [voting in racial lines]

(Quirk, A Comprehensive grammar of the English language, p 100)

In Quirk’s opinion, it is important to distinguish between the role of finite verb forms as VP in the non-finite clause and the role that the non-finite clause as a whole has in the larger structure It may be difficult to uphold a clear distinction where the non-finite clause consists only of the non-finite form:

non Stop talking

(Quirk, A Comprehensive grammar of the English language, p 100)

In the example above, talking may be analysed as the central element

in a minimal clause that is the object of stop

Besides, many verb forms can play the roles characteristic of nouns and

adjectives, participle forms (ending in –ed or –ing), for instance They

participate in more than one word class In these cases, verb forms tend to acquire the characteristics of nouns and adjectives

2.2.2 Vietnamese VPs

The Vietnamese VP is the enlargement of the verb related to other components to get a specific function in a sentence Like verbs in other languages, the Vietnamese VP is a very important part in the sentence The verb is the centre and it shows the meaning or implication of the predicate in a sentence about 95% - 99% of predicate is verb and adjective

Nguyen Tai Can in his “Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt” (1998) divides VP into

three parts as follows:

e.g - Nó đang học bài

I.C C E.C

- Bà ấy mệt quá Không lê được một bước Không kêu được một tiếng

I.C C E.C I.C C E.C

Ending component

(E.C.)

- Chàng chỉ có một mình Ngày cũng có một mình Đêm cũng có một

(Nguyen Huy Thiep, Trương Chi, p.378)

- Đoàn Phú Tứ đã sáng tạo một loại kịch mới ở Việt Nam

I.C C E.C

(Do Duc Hieu, Thi pháp hiện đại, p.337)

In deficient forms, VPs have only one or two components

2.2.2.1 Centre

In terms of VP, Nguyen Kim Than has clearly analyzed it and has made lots of examinations However, up to now there have been different opinions of the centre

+ If the VP is a verb, it is easy to determine the centre

- …đang học bài; …sẽ ăn cơm; …chưa viết xong (Nguyen Tai Can)

- Nó đang đọc cuốn sách mới; …vẫn chưa về nhà; …lại viết thư nữa;

…đang đọc tờ báo

(Dinh Van Duc, Mai Ngoc Chu, Vu Duc Nghieu, Hoang Trong Phien)

- Thứ đã xong, y đánh dấu những trang cần dùng bằng những mảnh

- Chợt ông Thào thét lên Mọi người ngạc nhiên (ĐQT, II, 526)

- Mong các cháu mai sau lớn lên thành những người dân xứng đáng

- Anh thề, anh hứa, anh đảm bảo

(Words in the Vietnamese film: Lập trình cho trái tim)

+ If the VP is a chain, it will be very complicated to determine its centre There are numerous points of view about it For example:

(1) đã đi học rồi; đã đi ngủ rồi; đang nằm ngủ ngoài sân…

(Mai Ngoc Chu, Vu Duc Nghieu, Hoang Trong Phien)

(2) không muốn đi; chưa có thể làm được; còn cần thảo luận lại…

(Nguyen Tai Can)

(3) ngồi học ở bàn; được thưởng lớn; muốn về quê…

(Dinh Van Duc)

The writers in (1) think that if a VP chain has not a private subordinate component for each verb, it is considered as a form of compound It is a kind of two verbs – real words Therefore, the central

verb in (1) is a cluster of two components like V+ V: đi học, đi ngủ, nằm

ngủ, ăn uống, dạy bảo, gom góp…

Together with the authors in (2) and (3), Diep Quang Ban (1999),

Nguyen Anh Que (1988), Bui Tat Tuom (1990) suggest two solutions:

 The first solution is that the centre in a VP will be an ending component In this solution, any verb in the ending position in

a VP can become the centre and of course, the first verb cannot The first verb is considered as a dependent verb or an independent verb but it just modifies a certain meaning for the verb behind

 For the second solution, almost authors agree that the main verb, in a VP chain, is the one which comes first This solution,

on the one hand, seems to be suitable to the Vietnamese’s

perception, on the other hand, it is suitable to the way that a

VP is built and analyzed

Although, there are various ways to determine the centre in a VP, we agree with the writers Nguyen Tai Can, Dinh Van Duc, Diep Quang Ban

that “In VPs, any verb coming first is the main verb” The ending

component takes the significant role of lexical meaning; meanwhile, the initial component often plays the main role to control grammar

In Vietnamese, most of state verbs are main verbs of VPs Cao Xuan Hao and Huynh Van Thong prove this in both grammatical structure and pragmatic meaning

e.g

- Bây giờ cần phải tính toán kỹ lưỡng xem, có nên rời hẳn Phú Thọ,

đưa cả gia đình về quê hương làm ăn không?

(Nguyen Dich Dung, Quê hương)

- Chị có biết đan không? - Biết

2.2.2.2 Initial Component (IC)

There are two kinds of IC: fixed and free

 Fixed Additive Component

This type always precedes or follows the centre in the VP Its position is not flexible but it has a very complicated usage

e.g

Mẹ: Nấu cơm chưa con?

Con gái: Dạ, con đang nấu

- Mai anh sẽ đi Hà Nội

- Anh định hút điếu thuốc

We can say - đang nấu not * nấu đang

- sẽ đi not * đi sẽ

- định hút not * hút định

“đang”, “sẽ”, “định” are called fixed initial components

 Free Additive Component

Free additive components in some cases can stand in front of or behind the centre without affecting the meaning of VP Thus, the

formula may be: subordinate + centre or centre + subordinate

e.g

We can say: Anh ta thong thả nói

We also can say: Anh ta nói thong thả

(Nguyen Tai Can)

2.2.2.2.1 Initial component is an expletive word

a Group (a): Words with sense of continuing activity or state: đều, cũng,

vẫn, cứ, lại, mãi, tiếp tục…

This group is often used to express uncompleted action and “cũng” is

used to express the relation between the doer and the state

- Chàng chỉ có một mình Ngày cũng có một mình Đêm cũng có một

- Vẫn biết mây trời mây là bay đi mãi Vẫn biết em chẳng như lời em

muốn nói, vẫn thương thật nhiều, vẫn yêu thật nhiều, vẫn luôn chờ mong dù

Vắng)

Generally, this group can combine themselves, vẫn cứ, cũng đều, for

instance This combination as mentioned above is not very stable

e.g

Trọng gặp một cô gái quen, sau câu chào hỏi, mừng rỡ, anh hỏi:

- Sao, lên đây có buồn không?

Nét mặt cô gái rạng rỡ tươi cười, trong khi miệng thì đáp:

- Buồn quá anh ơi!

- Chắc cũng vẫn còn nhớ nhà phải không?

(Thanh Giang, Vet Hat Trong Mua, p.38) Chồng: Tôi cứ đi dạy học

Vợ: Thế mà cũng nói

Chồng: Chứ không đi à Chỉ ba hôm nữa là tôi đi

Vợ: Không đi nữa

Chồng: Cứ đi

Vợ: Cứ đi là thế nào Tôi có để cho mình đi tôi chết (Nam Cao)

b Group (b): Words indicating the time of action or state: từng, đã, đang,

sẽ, vừa, mới, từng…

Normally, it seldom combines with each other inside the group

except đã từng - từng đã, vưà mới - mới vừa It often follows group (a) but

precedes all the rest groups apart from chưa từng (but not từng chưa)

e.g

- Đã đến giờ lên lớp rồi

- Đã bắt đầu hiệp hai của trận đấu rồi

- Phim đã chiếu được nửa tiếng rồi

c Group (c): Words indicate the frequency: thường, hay, năng, ít, thỉnh

thoảng, đôi khi, luôn luôn…

A: -Anh có thường tham gia câu lạc bộ tiếng Anh không?

B: - Thỉnh thoảng cũng có tham gia

C: - Anh có hay đi Nha Trang không?

D: - Rất ít khi đến đó

Generally, this group does not have ability to combine itself

d Group (d): Words indicating negation or affirmation: không, chưa,

chẳng, chỉ…

- Anh Uùt, thả tay ra Không được xúc phạm đến anh Thu

(Nguyen Truong, Hơn cả tình yêu)

- Không là kẻ giang hồ

Tôi là người đi chiến đấu (Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong)

- Có người con gái tôi yêu

Tiếc chưa kịp nói ra cái điều ấy thôi

(Nguyen Duy, Người đang yêu)

- Vô duyên chưa nói đã cười (Idiom)

- Chẳng hiểu cậu nói gì cả

Words in this group cannot combine with each other inside the group

They cannot combine with group (e) and (f) either, except chưa quá, hãy

không, hãy chưa…Their position is often at the end in the case they

combine with group (a) and (b)

e Group (e): Words indicating order: hãy, chớ, đừng…

They can combine themselves according to a fixed order: hãy đừng,

hãy chớ… In combining with other groups, the position that we can see most

is before group (a) and after words like chỉ, hay, có, quá…

- Em đừng khóc nữa Hãy đồng ý với anh một chuyện, xem như

anh cầu xin em (Quynh Giao, Giông bão, p.218)

- Hãy khai đúng sự thật đi Đây là cách tốt nhất đối với anh

(International short stories by many writers, p 158)

-Tôi muốn cô đừng nghĩ đến ai Đừng hôn dù thấy cánh hoa rơi Đừng ôm gối chiếc đêm nay ngủ Đừng tắm chiều nay biển lắm người (Nguyen Binh, Ghen)

- Chớ thấy sóng cả mà ngã tay chèo (Idiom)

-Khoan khoan ngồi đó chớ ra

Nàng là phận gái ta là phận trai

(Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Lục Vân Tiên)

f Group (f): Words indicate the level: rất, hơi, khí, quá…

These words cannot combine themselves, except hơi quá They can

follow the two groups (a) and (b) It is seldom for them to combine with

other groups apart from “quá”: hơi quá, không quá, chưa quá, đừng quá…

- Trong anh đã hình thành một thói quen, cả đội ai cũng biết là: rất

mong nhận được thư để biết tin nhà luôn (Le Luu, Người cầm súng)

- Phát biểu như thế là rất không tôn trọng tập thể

In conclusion, we can end the word order of initial components above by the flowing table:

Group (d):

không, chưa, chẳng

Table 2.3: Vietnamese word order of initial components (Diep Quang Ban

& Hoang Van Thung, Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt, p 79)

2.2.2.2.2 Initial component is a substantive word

Besides expletive words, substantive words can be the initial component in a VP They include two types:

 Onomatopoeias and pictographic words

- khe khẽ nói - tí tách rơi - ôn tồn nói – nhẹ nhàng khuyên

bảo

 Words which indicate point of departure

- ở nước ngoài về, từ trong Nam ra

In theory the additive elements can appear at the same time but we often see two or three ones in a VP The following can seldom be seen:

- Họ cũng vẫn cứ đang còn rất lo lắng về tình trạng sức khoẻ của bà

cụ

2.2.2.3 Ending Component

Although the ending component of a VP can be a lexical unit or an expletive word, lexical words take the majority It has a variety of syntactic structures and belongs to different word classes

2.2.2.3.1 Word class

Any of these: noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, numeral, or words indicating state of action can take the position of an ending component

- viết bài- đọc sách (noun)

- đi học-thi đỗ (verb)

- học giỏi-hát hay (adjective)

- nói đi (stating word)

- chia năm xẻ bảy (numeral)

- ghét nó-yêu anh (pronoun)

- ăn xong (expletive word)

- ăn trông nồi, ngồi trông hướng- đừng nói chuyện riêng

trong lớp- hướng dẫn nuôi cá nước ngọt (a phrase)

- thấy đoàn văn công biểu diễn- chết vì hầm sập- giảng cho

Besides, it can be a double-clause structure:

Yêu em nên anh yêu nghề Yêu con – anh yêu đời say mê Yêu em – yêu con và yêu nghề

(Mai Duy Khoi, Lại nói với tình, p.59)

2.2.2.3.3 Syntactic function

An ending compomnent includes two kinds of words: the lexical words as the modifiers or adverbs, and expletive words with different syntactic functions

a Lexical word: follows the main verb, consisting of two kinds + Object (direct object, indirect object or both)

- Bố mẹ mua cho Lan một chiếc xe đạp

I.D D.O

+ Adverb

- Duy đang làm bài tập trong phòng

centre + Object + adverb

In Vietnamese, if there are two adverbs in a VP, their position will be:

adverb of place + adverb of time

- Về thăm Phụ Tử đêm hôm ấy

Bãi cát đìu hiu sóng thở dài (Le Chi, Về thăm Phụ Tử, p.22)

- Gặp em quán nhỏ chiều hiu hắt

Ta bỗng nghe lòng chợt ngất ngây

(Phuong Dong, Quán chiều mưa, p.31)

- đi Mỹ để du học - vào Sài Gòn để bảo vệ luận văn

In some cases, we can see the following order It is quite popular in daily life

- Cuối tuần đi Nha Trang chơi

-Sáng mai đến chú Ba ăn giỗ

When ending components consist of a direct object and an adverb of manner, we can change their positions without affecting the meaning

- Hãy giữ tấm hình này cẩn thận!

- Hãy giữ cẩn thận tấm hình này!

When many adverbs are used at the same time, the following order may be taken:

e.g … nhập viện lúc 5 giờ sáng bằng xe cứu thương vì đau ruột thừa

adverb of place + adverb of purpose

adverb of time + V + adverb of place + adverb of purpose

centre + adverb of place + adverb of manner + adverb of time +

adverb indicating the cause

b Expletive word: follows the main verb, consisting of the following

kinds

+ Words indicating a completion: xong, rồi, đã…

- Bác Dương thôi đã thôi rồi

Nước mây man mác ngậm ngùi lòng ta

(Nguyen Khuyen, Khóc Dương Khuê)

+ Words indicating the offer, order in an informal way: đi, nào, thôi…

- đi học nào-nghỉ tay thôi + Words expressing results: được, mất, phải…

- Lan mua được chiếc áo đẹp

- Bà Tám chết mất con gà

- Chị Hoa mua phải hàng giả

- Hắn xéo phải chân một bà sang trọng (Nam Cao)

+ Words indicating self-help: lấy

- Nó tự đóng vở lấy

- Xót mình cửa các buồng khuê

Vỡ lòng học lấy những nghề nghiệp hay

(Nguyen Du)

+ Words indicating the meaning of doing together: với, cùng

- Chàng đi cho thiếp đi cùng

Đói no thiếp chịu, lạnh lùng thiếp cam (Folk verse)

- Cho em chơi với

+ Words indicating the reciprocation: nhau

- Yêu nhau, xin nhớ lời nhau (Folk verse)

- Chúng tôi vẫn gửi thư cho nhau đều đặn

+ Words denoting movement: ra, vào, tới, lui, qua lại…

- bàn vào - nói ra - đọc lại…

+ Words indicating manner: ngay, liền, tức khắc, tức thì, dần dần, từ từ,

nữa, mãi, hoài, luôn…

- Hò khoan chị em chúng mình, ta lướt nhanh con thuyền đưa

các anh… (Nguyen Van Ti, Qua sông) + Words indicating degree: quá, lắm

- Thương lắm Trường Sa ơi (Hinh Phuoc Long)

- nghĩ ngợi quá - thương quá

In conclusion, ending components in Vietnamese VPs can be a noun (or NP), and adjective (or AdjP), or adverbs in which nouns and adverbs

take the majority It is significant that in daily life, the structure V + adverb

seems very common, meanwhile, in literature it does not Nguyen Tai Can,

in his research of two novels, has found that in:

+“Song Nhu Anh”

- Onomatopoeia adverbs precede the main verb: 63%

- Onomatopoeia adverbs follow the main verb: 37%

+ “Mua Bong Diep”

- Onomatopoeia adverbs precede the main verb: 64%

- Onomatopoeia adverbs follow the main verb: 36%

2.2.3 English Verb Phrases

Generally a simple sentence has a Subject and a Predicate These elements are considered as a NP and a VP in a tree diagram

(http: www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/823693 by Heather Marie Kosur)

For VPs, a simple sentence has a VP which is a verb, one or several auxiliaries called “helping” verbs and a main verb Auxiliaries are elements preceding the main verb Words such as noun, adjective, verb in infinitive, numerals, adverb, etc can follow the main verb to be subordinate components In other words, a VP contains one lexical verb as head and may have up to four auxiliary verbs, besides the negative word

not, as modifiers (Jackson, 1999, p.18)

- John hasn’t been driving a car

auxiliaries lexical / main V

- The bride is wearing a long white dress and is holding some blue