Grammar project topic simple sentences in vietnamese and english and some common mistakes learners often make

VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT GRAMMAR PROJECT TOPIC: SIMPLE SENTENCES IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH AND SOME COMMON MISTAKES LEARNERS OFTEN MAKE... VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LAN

VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

GRAMMAR PROJECT TOPIC: SIMPLE SENTENCES IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH AND SOME COMMON MISTAKES LEARNERS OFTEN MAKE

VINH, MAY 2024

VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

-🙠🕮🕮🙢 - ENGLISH GRAMMAR

GRAMMAR PROJECT

Topic: Simple sentences in VietNamese and English and some common

mistakes learners often make

Lecturer: Nguyen Thi Lam Giang

Group 01 – Class 05

VINH, MAY 2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATION 1

INTRODUCTION 2

CONTENT 3

I Simple sentence in Vietnamese 3

1 The definition of Simple Sentences in Vietnamese 3

2 The structure of simple sentences 3

Types of special simple sentences 5

II Simple sentence in English 7

1 The definition of Simple Sentences in English 7

2 Simple sentence structure 8

III Comparison with Simple sentences in English and Vietnamese 9

1.Subject 9

2 Verb 10

3 Object 11

4 Structure of sentence 11

IV Some common mistakes of using Simple Sentence in English which learners often make 13

1 Survey table about the mistakes of students 13

2 The common mistake about using simple sentence in writting 18

3 Some advice for learner English 20

CONCLUSION 22

REFERENCES 23

APPENDIX 24

2

INTRODUCTION

Sentences play an important role of expressing the speaker’s complete thought and clearly communicating the writer's meaning to the reader In grammar, the most typical sentence structure contains subjects and verbs But the grammar in English is diverse, there are many types of sentences It has three main types of sentences that people usually use in speaking and writing English It includes simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences And simple sentence is a type of sentence which is the most common in English Although it is a common type of sentence and its structure is uncomplicated, a lot of learners still make mistakes when using simple sentence.In addition, there are differences and similarities between how to use simple sentences in English and Vietnamese It is the reason why

we chose the topic “ Simple sentences in Vietnamese and English and some common mistakes learners usually make”, it will help to understand better about using simple sentences

In daily communication, sentences are crucial for expressing the speaker's complete thought to the listener, especially simple sentences All of

us communicate with the help of language and most often, it is done using simple sentences The versatility allows us to deliver clear instructions and enhance the interest in the writing when combined with other sentence structure Our project will bring about using correctly simple sentences in English and Vietnamese

3

CONTENT

I Simple sentence in Vietnamese

1 The definition of Simple Sentences in Vietnamese

According to “ Nghien cuu Ngu Phap Tieng Viet” by Nguyen Kim Than, “ Ngu Phap Tieng Viet” of Diep Quang Ban, “ Ngu Phap Tieng Viet”

of Huu Quynh and Nguyen Thi Luong (2006) “Cau tieng Viet” Nha xuat ban Dai hoc Su pham: “Simple sentence is a sentence with a subject and predicate structure”

2 The structure of simple sentences

If a single sentence has only two main components: subject and predicate, it is

a minimum single sentence (examples 1,2) The single sentence has auxiliary components such as: adverb, initiation, predicate, adverb essence, single sentence expands the component

(3) Đến bây giờ, tôi / mới nhận ra mẹ tôi

4

According to page 105, a Vietnamese Sentences book by author Nguyen Thi Luong: If the core syntactic structure of a normal simple sentence is made up

of two main components: subject and predicate, then the syntactic structure of

a special simple sentence has only one main component - the subject is not defined or predicate This particular core can be a word or a phrase

a The special core is words

Example:

(1) Đêm Thành phố lên đèn như sao sa (Hà Ánh Minh)

(2) Chị Dậu vẫn thiết tha:

- Khốn nạn! Nhà cháu đã không có, dẫu ông mắng chửi cũng đến thế thôi (Ngô Tất Tố)

(3) Lão Hạc

-Vâng! Ông giáo dạy phải! (Nam Cao)

(4) Nhưng càng nhân nhượng, thực dân pháp càng lấn tới, vì chúng muốn cướp nước ta một lần nữa

Không! Chúng ta thà hi sinh tất cả, chứ nhất định không chịu mất nước, nhất định không chịu làm nô lệ (Hồ Chí Minh)

b The special core is the phrase

Isotonic phrase

( 5) Nhơ nháp, hôi hám, ngứa ngáy, bứt rứt, bực mình Chửi tục, cạu nhạu, thở dài

(Nguyễn Công Hoan)

(6) Soan ở lì nhà mẹ Buồn, thương thân, nhớ chồng ( Nguyễn Đình Thi ) Main and secondary phrases

(7) Cây tre Việt Nam Cây tre xanh nhũn nhặn, ngay thẳng, thủy chung, can đảm

(Thép Mới)

(8) Quốc dân Việt Nam

5

Khi xưa pháp cai trị nước ta, chúng thi hành chính sách ngu dân (Hồ Chí Minh)

Special simple sentences as well as two-component simple sentences, in

addition to the main components, can also have other secondary components such as: adverbials, initials, exclamations, supporting phrases, and modals

(1) Trong rừng hoa cỏ may ấy, ngụ những xóm chuồn chuồn (Tô Hoài)

(2) Ngoài đường, có tiếng chó sủa (Nguyễn Công Hoan)

Types of special simple sentences

In terms of function - effect, special simple sentences often used to determine the time and place where the event mentioned in the next sentence or the entire paragraph takes place, notify and describe the existence and presence of things, events, phenomen and express emotions, call, answer as well as negation, affirmation

Based on those functions and effects, special simple sentences can be divided into the following types:

a Special simple sentences used to specify time, place, and location

This type is usually composed of:

Noun or noun phrase:

(1) Ga xép Một giờ đêm Không một bóng người

(2) Mùa xuân, ngày 79 Kiến ở đông quá (Tô Hoài)

Phrasal verbs:

(3) Đã quá giờ ngọ (Tô Hoài)

(Kho tàng truyện cổ tích Việt Nam)

(2) Dưới bóng tre của ngàn xưa, thấp thoáng mái chùa cổ kính

(Thép Mới)

(3) Trong những luỹ tre thưa lao xao tiếng dân ở lán về

Mặt ruộng lố nhố từng đám người đang tập hợp

c Special simple sentences used to express emotions

The expressed emotions can be joy, anger, pain - often unexpected, sudden - so this special type of sentence is often interjections or exclamatory expressions: A, ôi, trời, hời ôi, can also be adjectives/adjective phrases or onomatopoeia

(1) Ha ha! Một lưỡi gươm!

7

d Special simple sentences used to call and answer

Special sentences used to call often include: proper noun 1 noun phrase

or pronoun / pronoun phrase combined with the words oh, oh (before or after); calling without schedule can use: ê, this

(1) Hỡi ơi lão Hạc! Thì ra đến lúc cùng lão cũng có thể làm liều như ai hết (Nam Cao)

(2) Lão chim Trả vừa ra khỏi, tôi gọi ầm:

- Trũi ơi! Trũi đâu?

(Tô Hoài)

(3) Thằng kia! Ông tưởng mày chết đêm qua

(Ngô Tất Tô)

e Special simple sentence used for negation – affirmation

This type of sentence is created by words with negative meanings: không, đâu, có ai bảo

(1) Nhưng càng nhân nhượng, thực dân Pháp càng lấn tới, vì chúng muốn cướp nước ta lần nữa

Không! Chúng ta thà hi sinh tất cả, chứ nhất định không chịu mất nước, nhất

định không chịu làm nô lệ

(Hồ Chí Minh)

(2) Hồn Trương Ba:

- Không! Ta vẫn có một đời sống riêng, nguyên vẹn, trong sạch, thẳng thắn

(Lưu Quang Vũ)

II Simple sentence in English

1 The definition of Simple Sentences in English

A simple sentence, according to the Cambridge Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2005), is “a sentence that has only one verb.” The Collins

8

Dictionary defines a simple sentence as “a sentence consisting of a single main clause.” And Angela Downing in English Grammar: A University Course Third Edition (Angela Downing , 2014) said: A simple sentence contains only one independent clause which contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought, and it may also have an object and modifiers A simple sentence is defined as “a sentence consisting of one independent clause only It usually has a subject and verb, and often an object or complement and one or more adjuncts”, according to the Macmillan Dictionary (Macmilan Education, 2002)

2 Simple sentence structure

In grammar, there are many structures to create a simple sentence Here are some typical structures of simple sentences that we often encounter in posts, articles, essays, and daily communication

According to “A University Grammar of English Book by Randolph Quirk”

there are seven basic sentence patterns

Coming to the first structure that is SVA

Example: Mary is in the house

S V A

The second structure is SVC

Example: Mary is kind

S V C

The third structure is SVO

Example: Somebody caught the ball

S V O

The fourth structure is SVOA

Example: I put the plate on the table

S V O A

The fifth structure is SVOC

9

Example: We have proved him wrong

S V O C

The sixth structure is SVOO

Example: She gives me expensive presents

S V O O

The last structure is SV

Example: The child laughed

S V

These sentence patterns represent the basic structure of sentences in

English According to Gerald Nelson (2019) English: An Essential Grammar

(3rd ed), notice that the Subject (S) and the verb (V) are present in all these sentence structures This means that all sentences contain at least a Subject and a verb There is one exception to this: imperative sentences like Look! and Move over! Have a verb, but no Subject

Gaining an understanding of these fundamental sentence structures will help learners to establish a strong grammatical foundation upon which to develop precise, logically constructed phrases Their ability to use sentence structures effectively will enable you to speak English with assurance, clarity, and ease

III Comparison with Simple sentences in English and Vietnamese

In general, English and Vietnamese have the same elements: subject, verb, object, adjunct (adverbial) and complement But in Vietnamese has two elements that has not in English They are theme complement (khởi ngữ) and disjunct (tình thái ngữ) Every element may play different functions in sentences

1.Subject

In English, a subject is normally a noun or a noun phrase or any word

sentence In Vietnamese, the subject has two types: the subject that co-occurs

10

with verbs and the subject that co-occurs with copulas la In first type, the subject can be a noun (Nhà hư) or a noun that show person's parts of body (Mắt của tôi đã bị cận), pronoun (Cô ấy đi làm) and "subject-verb structure" ( Trời lạnh làm nhiều con bò bị chết ) In this type, the subject always stand before the verb in sentence The second type, the subject can be a noun (Ba là bác sĩ ), a verb (Học tập là nhiệm vụ chính) or a pronoun (Họ là lính cứu hoả)

In this type, the subject can change its position without changing the form of word

In short, the subject in Vietnamese and English sentences is a noun, pronoun, noun phrase and always precedes the verb in sentence However, in Vietnamese, the subject can co-occur with copulas “ là”, can change its position but don’t change the form of the subject In addition, the subject in Vietnamese sentences can be “ subject verb structure” Otherwise, subject in English combine with “ is” also can change position and change subject’s form ( She is teacher → Teacher is her )

2 Verb

Although they are both verbs, there are differences between how to use verb in Vietnamese and English In English, verb is the main part of the verb phrase and it always combines with the tense in the sentence Verb can be transitive verb, intransitive verb, stative verb, auxiliary verb or modal verb

In Vietnamese, there are three types of verb First, verb directly combines with the subject that does not need copula in the affirmative and negative form (Cô ấy ăn cơm/Cô ấy không ăn cơm) Second, verb combines with the subject that has copula in the affirmative and negative form (Mẹ tôi

là giáo viên/Mẹ tôi không phải là giáo viên) Third, in the affirmative form the verb combines directly with the subject, but the negative form combines the subject that has a copula (Bố tôi 47 tuổi/Bố tôi không phải 47 tuổi )

11

In conclusion, the verb in English sentence is more complicated than in Vietnamese because the verb in English related to the usage of tense There are 12 types of tense, each tense will have its own usage of the verb The form of verbs is referred to the tense of the sentence Verbs that are followed

by direct objects are considered as a transitive verb The intransitive verb is not followed by a direct object (or an indirect object)

( Le Quang Thiem, 2004 Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu, HCM: Nhà xuất bản Giáo

In short, there are both differences and similarities However, in VietNamese, object can aslo be verb or verb phrase while object in English doesn’t include verb or verb phrase

1 Subject Verb Adjunct (SVA)

The coat was over his arm

2 Subject Verb Object (SVO)

The detective arrested the thief

3 Subject Verb Complement (SVC)

He put the coat in the hotel

5 Subject Verb Object Complement

According to “Eastwood J.(1994) Oxford Guide to English, New York:

Oxford University Press”

According to the previous table, there are seven basic structure in English Comparing the basic structure in English and in VietNamese, both the structures have some differences which are remarkable

Anh ta thuốc không hút

3 Object Subject Verb (OSV)

Quyển sách ấy Giáp tặng Tị

4 Object Verb Subject (OVS)

Cái xe này mua là Giáp

5 Verb Object Subject (VOS)

According to Diep Quang Ban (1987) “Ngu phap tieng Viet phan cau”

From the basic sentence patterns and examples from the two comparison tables above, it shows the difference between English simple sentence structures and Vietnamese simple sentence structure First of all, in Vietnamese, nouns can change position in the sentence, verbs and objects can appear before the sentence Because of this, Vietnamese sentence forms can make very different basic sentence structures than English

IV Some common mistakes of using Simple Sentence in English which learners often make

1 Survey table about the mistakes of students.