Luận văn an investigation into the linearity to simple sentence in english and vietnamese

A change in element position may bring aboul a fundamental change in meaning Like in Victnarnese and some other languages, in English, Hincarity in a simple sentence plays an important r

VIETNAM NATIONAT, UNTVERSHY, HANOE TNIVERSITY Ò TANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYÊN THỊ THU QUỲNH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LINEARITY TO

SIMPLE SENTENCE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

NGHIEN CUU VE TRAT TU TUYEN TINH CUA CAU DON TRONG

TIENG ANILDOI CHIEU VOI TIENG VIET

M A MINOR TITESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60 22 15

HANOI, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST —- GRADUATE STUDIES

wiles

NGUYEN THT THU QUYNH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LINEARITY TO

SIMPLE SENTENCE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

TIENG ANII DOI CIIEU VOI TIENG VIET

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15

Supervisor: Nguyén Huong Giang, MA

HANOL 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

2 Aims of the study beeteeese ree teveneeeee es

3 Scops of the study

4, Method of the study

PART 2: DEVLOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

1.1 What is linearity?

1.2 Whatis a simple sentence?

1.3 Classifications of simple sentences according to

their communicative purpose

13.1 Statement 13.2 Question 1.3.3 Command 1.3.4, Exclamation Chapter 2: Linearity in the English affirmative statement

2 1 Elements and patterns of the English simple sentence

2 2, Traditional positions of these five elements in English

2 3 Inversion in Affirmative statement

2.3.1 Subject — verb inversion

2.3.1.1 Auxiliary verbs before Subject

2.3.1.2 Main verb before Subject

2 3 2 Subject - Object Inversion

Jn the English language, the position of clements is cssential to the meaning of a sentence in general and the meaning of a simple sentence in particular A change in element position may bring aboul a fundamental change in meaning

Like in Victnarnese and some other languages, in English, Hincarity in a simple sentence plays an important role We can depend on it to find out whether it is a statement (affirmative

or negative ong), a question, a command or an exclamation Thus an all — round understanding

of clement position in the simple sentence also contributes a grcat deal to the study of language both theoretically and practically

Many Vietnamese leamers (especially beginners and intermediale learners) carmot avoid making common mistakes in placing elements at the right position in the statement of simple sentence

The position of sentence slements in English and Vietnamese are not the same partly because different languages use different lingual and cultural habits,

For the above — mentioned reasons, research on lineatity in sentence should be given special altenlion by those who use Tiglish as a foreign language, especially by not ony all of

us, who are working as teachers of English, but also our students who are learning English as a compulsory subject

2 Aims of the study

Jn the Investigation into the Linearity to simple sentence in English and Vietnamese as

an M.A thesis, the author has the following aims:

~ lo find put the similarities and differences of the linearity in Engtish and Vietnamese affiinative statement

~to help Vietnamese leamers avoid some common mistakes in using English

In order Lo realize these aims, the study supports (o answer the following research questions

1

Jn the English language, the position of clements is cssential to the meaning of a sentence in general and the meaning of a simple sentence in particular A change in element position may bring aboul a fundamental change in meaning

Like in Victnarnese and some other languages, in English, Hincarity in a simple sentence plays an important role We can depend on it to find out whether it is a statement (affirmative

or negative ong), a question, a command or an exclamation Thus an all — round understanding

of clement position in the simple sentence also contributes a grcat deal to the study of language both theoretically and practically

Many Vietnamese leamers (especially beginners and intermediale learners) carmot avoid making common mistakes in placing elements at the right position in the statement of simple sentence

The position of sentence slements in English and Vietnamese are not the same partly because different languages use different lingual and cultural habits,

For the above — mentioned reasons, research on lineatity in sentence should be given special altenlion by those who use Tiglish as a foreign language, especially by not ony all of

us, who are working as teachers of English, but also our students who are learning English as a compulsory subject

2 Aims of the study

Jn the Investigation into the Linearity to simple sentence in English and Vietnamese as

an M.A thesis, the author has the following aims:

~ lo find put the similarities and differences of the linearity in Engtish and Vietnamese affiinative statement

~to help Vietnamese leamers avoid some common mistakes in using English

In order Lo realize these aims, the study supports (o answer the following research questions

1

reliance on suffixes and other ways of making senlence constituents Word order therefore appears to be a setting on a yet more general parameter of fimction marking But in no language is ward order totally insignificant

Hence, linearily is the basic properly of sentence structure I determines the location of

sentence constituents and the syntactic relationship between those constituents Changing the

position of sentence constituents will result in changing in meaning

1 2 What is a simple sentence?

Definition of simple sentence

‘Warriner 1.E (1997: 26) presented: “Simple sentence is a sentence that has one subject

and onc verb”, However, this definition is insufficicnt because in a sentenec there may be one

or more subject and a verb or, in tum, one subject with one or more verbs

lig Mary and her boyfriend are doctors

She came and sat down next to me

Quirk, R and S, Greenbaum (1990: 166): “A simple sentence is the sentence that

consists of only ane clause”

sonlones unil is the simpte

simple sentence normally has one finite verb St has a subject and a predicate” It is possible to

make sure that the last definition by L.G Alexander is considered the most sufficient and

satisfying one

Type of the simple sentence: Structurally, there arc usually two main types of the simple sentence:

~ G) complete simple ssnten

(Also called two member sentences)

- (ii) Special simple sentence is the sentence that has only subject or a verb, sometimes,

is the sontenes that has onc subject and one pred

w

Tn form of communicative purposes, there are four kinds af simple sertence: slalernent, question, command and exclamation Each kind has two forms affirmative and negative However, in my study, ! only focus on the affirmative statement

1.3 Classifications af simple sentences according ta their communicative purpose

According to Quirk R (1990: 190), the sentence may be divided into four major syntactic classes whose use correlates with different communication functions ‘They are

1.3.1 A Statement/ A Declarative sentence

A Statement or a declarative sentence is a scntonec that makes a statement in which the

subject is always present and generally precedes the verb

Ig John will speak to the boss today The declarative sentence is used more frequently than all of the types TL always

followed by a stop ()

There are two forms of statement, affirmative and negative Affirmative statement is a

statement that affirms a proposition, without nogative wards

E.g.: She is talking to her mother

Negative slaleront is a slalernent which contains 1

tive words such as nef, rare, seldom, never, hardly, etc

Eg She is not talking to her mother

1.3.2 A Question/ An interrogative sentence:

An interrogative sentence is the sentence that asks a question

Eg How many students are there in your class?

An inlerrogalive sentence is always followed by a question mark (2), In interrogative,

part of the verbs always come before the subject, Questions are marked by one or more of

these three criteria:

+ the place of operator immediately in front of the subject

E.g Wil John speak to the boss today?

~ the initial position of an intesrogative or “Wh” element

Big Who will you speak to?

4

Jn the English language, the position of clements is cssential to the meaning of a sentence in general and the meaning of a simple sentence in particular A change in element position may bring aboul a fundamental change in meaning

Like in Victnarnese and some other languages, in English, Hincarity in a simple sentence plays an important role We can depend on it to find out whether it is a statement (affirmative

or negative ong), a question, a command or an exclamation Thus an all — round understanding

of clement position in the simple sentence also contributes a grcat deal to the study of language both theoretically and practically

Many Vietnamese leamers (especially beginners and intermediale learners) carmot avoid making common mistakes in placing elements at the right position in the statement of simple sentence

The position of sentence slements in English and Vietnamese are not the same partly because different languages use different lingual and cultural habits,

For the above — mentioned reasons, research on lineatity in sentence should be given special altenlion by those who use Tiglish as a foreign language, especially by not ony all of

us, who are working as teachers of English, but also our students who are learning English as a compulsory subject

2 Aims of the study

Jn the Investigation into the Linearity to simple sentence in English and Vietnamese as

an M.A thesis, the author has the following aims:

~ lo find put the similarities and differences of the linearity in Engtish and Vietnamese affiinative statement

~to help Vietnamese leamers avoid some common mistakes in using English

In order Lo realize these aims, the study supports (o answer the following research questions

1

PART 2: DEVLOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

1 1 What is linearfty?

According to R A Jacobs (1995, p 80}, English Syntax, Linearity iy dhal sentences are

produced and received in a linear sequence

Tis undeniable that no one can utter simullancously all the words of a sentence Nor

could such an utterance be understood Hence, sentences are produced and received in a linear

sequence the principle of the linearity of language signs was established by Ferdinand de

Saussure A linguistic sign, as Saussure states, consists of two sides: signifie (ie the thing

significd) and significant (the thing singnifics) The significant of languag: sign bears lincarity

feature When language signs are put into communication, they come out successively forming

a sequence The occurrence of language signs is governed by the characteristic of time which is

one way by nature As a result, words are spoken (or written) and heard (or read) in a time

sequence from early to later, a sequence represented in the English writing system by a

mọi

ion of wrilten forms Gort tefl to ight There is « standard order for subject, verb and

object, In the English, we have an example:

Cassius sees Brutus

The subject of the sentence, Cassius, precedes the verb sees, while the object, Brats,

follows the verb Numbers of other languages fallow the same order Subject — Verb — Objeot (abbreviaied as SVO) We could try to switch around the subjeel and the object, converting the

SVO order into OVS, as in this example:

Bút if we diđ, English speakers wotld identif Bruwss as the subject The order would

still be SVO, but the meanings would be different

Also, according lo Jacobs, other languages may use different orderings The vange of

possible orderings of these words or phrases is known as the werd order parameter In many

languages, word order is less crucial than it is in English because, as in Latin, there is greater

iv

2 3 3 Subject - Conrplement Inversion -

2 3 4 Subject- Adverbial Inversion

Chapter 3: Linearity in the Vietnamese affirmative statement

3 1 Elements and pallens of the Vielnarnesc affirmative slaterent,

3 3 Inversion in Vietnamese affirmative statement

3.3.1 Verb before subjects

3.3.2 Complement af the beginning

3.3.3 Object before Subject and Verb

3.3.4 Adverbial at the beginning

Chapter 4:

Coutrastive analysis of linearity in English and Victnamese affirmative statement 4.1 Similaritics

4.1.4 Elements and structure of affixmative statement

4.1.2 Inversion in the emphasized sentence

4.2 Differences

4.2.1 Verb Phưase

42.2 Transformational relation

4.2.3 Inversion

Chapter 5: Tmplicalin for teaching and learning English

5.1 ‘Typical mistakes made by Vietnamese leamers

iv

2 3 3 Subject - Conrplement Inversion -

2 3 4 Subject- Adverbial Inversion

Chapter 3: Linearity in the Vietnamese affirmative statement

3 1 Elements and pallens of the Vielnarnesc affirmative slaterent,

3 3 Inversion in Vietnamese affirmative statement

3.3.1 Verb before subjects

3.3.2 Complement af the beginning

3.3.3 Object before Subject and Verb

3.3.4 Adverbial at the beginning

Chapter 4:

Coutrastive analysis of linearity in English and Victnamese affirmative statement 4.1 Similaritics

4.1.4 Elements and structure of affixmative statement

4.1.2 Inversion in the emphasized sentence

4.2 Differences

4.2.1 Verb Phưase

42.2 Transformational relation

4.2.3 Inversion

Chapter 5: Tmplicalin for teaching and learning English

5.1 ‘Typical mistakes made by Vietnamese leamers

SYMBOL AND ABBREYLATLONS

Veennp 2x tans Complex transitive Verb

Veus Ditransitive Verb

Viner, Intransitive Verb

Vmonern; Momotransitive Verb

SYMBOL AND ABBREYLATLONS

Veennp 2x tans Complex transitive Verb

Veus Ditransitive Verb

Viner, Intransitive Verb

Vmonern; Momotransitive Verb

iv

2 3 3 Subject - Conrplement Inversion -

2 3 4 Subject- Adverbial Inversion

Chapter 3: Linearity in the Vietnamese affirmative statement

3 1 Elements and pallens of the Vielnarnesc affirmative slaterent,

3 3 Inversion in Vietnamese affirmative statement

3.3.1 Verb before subjects

3.3.2 Complement af the beginning

3.3.3 Object before Subject and Verb

3.3.4 Adverbial at the beginning

Chapter 4:

Coutrastive analysis of linearity in English and Victnamese affirmative statement 4.1 Similaritics

4.1.4 Elements and structure of affixmative statement

4.1.2 Inversion in the emphasized sentence

4.2 Differences

4.2.1 Verb Phưase

42.2 Transformational relation

4.2.3 Inversion

Chapter 5: Tmplicalin for teaching and learning English

5.1 ‘Typical mistakes made by Vietnamese leamers

reliance on suffixes and other ways of making senlence constituents Word order therefore appears to be a setting on a yet more general parameter of fimction marking But in no language is ward order totally insignificant

Hence, linearily is the basic properly of sentence structure I determines the location of

sentence constituents and the syntactic relationship between those constituents Changing the

position of sentence constituents will result in changing in meaning

1 2 What is a simple sentence?

Definition of simple sentence

‘Warriner 1.E (1997: 26) presented: “Simple sentence is a sentence that has one subject

and onc verb”, However, this definition is insufficicnt because in a sentenec there may be one

or more subject and a verb or, in tum, one subject with one or more verbs

lig Mary and her boyfriend are doctors

She came and sat down next to me

Quirk, R and S, Greenbaum (1990: 166): “A simple sentence is the sentence that

consists of only ane clause”

sonlones unil is the simpte

simple sentence normally has one finite verb St has a subject and a predicate” It is possible to

make sure that the last definition by L.G Alexander is considered the most sufficient and

satisfying one

Type of the simple sentence: Structurally, there arc usually two main types of the simple sentence:

~ G) complete simple ssnten

(Also called two member sentences)

- (ii) Special simple sentence is the sentence that has only subject or a verb, sometimes,

is the sontenes that has onc subject and one pred

w

Tn form of communicative purposes, there are four kinds af simple sertence: slalernent, question, command and exclamation Each kind has two forms affirmative and negative However, in my study, ! only focus on the affirmative statement

1.3 Classifications af simple sentences according ta their communicative purpose

According to Quirk R (1990: 190), the sentence may be divided into four major syntactic classes whose use correlates with different communication functions ‘They are

1.3.1 A Statement/ A Declarative sentence

A Statement or a declarative sentence is a scntonec that makes a statement in which the

subject is always present and generally precedes the verb

Ig John will speak to the boss today The declarative sentence is used more frequently than all of the types TL always

followed by a stop ()

There are two forms of statement, affirmative and negative Affirmative statement is a

statement that affirms a proposition, without nogative wards

E.g.: She is talking to her mother

Negative slaleront is a slalernent which contains 1

tive words such as nef, rare, seldom, never, hardly, etc

Eg She is not talking to her mother

1.3.2 A Question/ An interrogative sentence:

An interrogative sentence is the sentence that asks a question

Eg How many students are there in your class?

An inlerrogalive sentence is always followed by a question mark (2), In interrogative,

part of the verbs always come before the subject, Questions are marked by one or more of

these three criteria:

+ the place of operator immediately in front of the subject

E.g Wil John speak to the boss today?

~ the initial position of an intesrogative or “Wh” element

Big Who will you speak to?

4

reliance on suffixes and other ways of making senlence constituents Word order therefore appears to be a setting on a yet more general parameter of fimction marking But in no language is ward order totally insignificant

Hence, linearily is the basic properly of sentence structure I determines the location of

sentence constituents and the syntactic relationship between those constituents Changing the

position of sentence constituents will result in changing in meaning

1 2 What is a simple sentence?

Definition of simple sentence

‘Warriner 1.E (1997: 26) presented: “Simple sentence is a sentence that has one subject

and onc verb”, However, this definition is insufficicnt because in a sentenec there may be one

or more subject and a verb or, in tum, one subject with one or more verbs

lig Mary and her boyfriend are doctors

She came and sat down next to me

Quirk, R and S, Greenbaum (1990: 166): “A simple sentence is the sentence that

consists of only ane clause”

sonlones unil is the simpte

simple sentence normally has one finite verb St has a subject and a predicate” It is possible to

make sure that the last definition by L.G Alexander is considered the most sufficient and

satisfying one

Type of the simple sentence: Structurally, there arc usually two main types of the simple sentence:

~ G) complete simple ssnten

(Also called two member sentences)

- (ii) Special simple sentence is the sentence that has only subject or a verb, sometimes,

is the sontenes that has onc subject and one pred

1 WRhaLis linearity oŸ snlenee?

2, What are similarities and differences of the linearity in English and Vietnamese affirmative statement?

3 What ara eornmen mistakes in linearity made by Vietnamese learners?

3 Scope of the study

According to communicative purpose, there are four kinds of simple sentence ‘They are slalemerl, question, commend and exclamation, Rach kind of simple sentsnce has two forms affixmative and negative However in my study, I only focus on the linearity in aflirmative

‘Vietnamese affirmative statement Last but not least, in chapter 5, the implication in teaching

and learning English of the study will bs montioned,

4 Method of the study

Contrastive analysis is the main linguistic method applied in my study in which the linearity in affirmative statement in English and Vietnamese is considered its objective Reading English Grammar books and Victnamese books is camicd out to get as mmch knowledge of the subject as possible Most of examples are taken from books widely used in English and Vietnam Morcaver in my study fnake contra

c analysis io find oul similaritics

and differences in the lineanty in the afiirmative statement between two languages

Jn the English language, the position of clements is cssential to the meaning of a sentence in general and the meaning of a simple sentence in particular A change in element position may bring aboul a fundamental change in meaning

Like in Victnarnese and some other languages, in English, Hincarity in a simple sentence plays an important role We can depend on it to find out whether it is a statement (affirmative

or negative ong), a question, a command or an exclamation Thus an all — round understanding

of clement position in the simple sentence also contributes a grcat deal to the study of language both theoretically and practically

Many Vietnamese leamers (especially beginners and intermediale learners) carmot avoid making common mistakes in placing elements at the right position in the statement of simple sentence

The position of sentence slements in English and Vietnamese are not the same partly because different languages use different lingual and cultural habits,

For the above — mentioned reasons, research on lineatity in sentence should be given special altenlion by those who use Tiglish as a foreign language, especially by not ony all of

us, who are working as teachers of English, but also our students who are learning English as a compulsory subject

2 Aims of the study

Jn the Investigation into the Linearity to simple sentence in English and Vietnamese as

an M.A thesis, the author has the following aims:

~ lo find put the similarities and differences of the linearity in Engtish and Vietnamese affiinative statement

~to help Vietnamese leamers avoid some common mistakes in using English

In order Lo realize these aims, the study supports (o answer the following research questions

1

1 WRhaLis linearity oŸ snlenee?

2, What are similarities and differences of the linearity in English and Vietnamese affirmative statement?

3 What ara eornmen mistakes in linearity made by Vietnamese learners?

3 Scope of the study

According to communicative purpose, there are four kinds of simple sentence ‘They are slalemerl, question, commend and exclamation, Rach kind of simple sentsnce has two forms affixmative and negative However in my study, I only focus on the linearity in aflirmative

‘Vietnamese affirmative statement Last but not least, in chapter 5, the implication in teaching

and learning English of the study will bs montioned,

4 Method of the study

Contrastive analysis is the main linguistic method applied in my study in which the linearity in affirmative statement in English and Vietnamese is considered its objective Reading English Grammar books and Victnamese books is camicd out to get as mmch knowledge of the subject as possible Most of examples are taken from books widely used in English and Vietnam Morcaver in my study fnake contra

c analysis io find oul similaritics

and differences in the lineanty in the afiirmative statement between two languages

reliance on suffixes and other ways of making senlence constituents Word order therefore appears to be a setting on a yet more general parameter of fimction marking But in no language is ward order totally insignificant

Hence, linearily is the basic properly of sentence structure I determines the location of

sentence constituents and the syntactic relationship between those constituents Changing the

position of sentence constituents will result in changing in meaning

1 2 What is a simple sentence?

Definition of simple sentence

‘Warriner 1.E (1997: 26) presented: “Simple sentence is a sentence that has one subject

and onc verb”, However, this definition is insufficicnt because in a sentenec there may be one

or more subject and a verb or, in tum, one subject with one or more verbs

lig Mary and her boyfriend are doctors

She came and sat down next to me

Quirk, R and S, Greenbaum (1990: 166): “A simple sentence is the sentence that

consists of only ane clause”

sonlones unil is the simpte

simple sentence normally has one finite verb St has a subject and a predicate” It is possible to

make sure that the last definition by L.G Alexander is considered the most sufficient and

satisfying one

Type of the simple sentence: Structurally, there arc usually two main types of the simple sentence:

~ G) complete simple ssnten

(Also called two member sentences)

- (ii) Special simple sentence is the sentence that has only subject or a verb, sometimes,

is the sontenes that has onc subject and one pred

PART 2: DEVLOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

1 1 What is linearfty?

According to R A Jacobs (1995, p 80}, English Syntax, Linearity iy dhal sentences are

produced and received in a linear sequence

Tis undeniable that no one can utter simullancously all the words of a sentence Nor

could such an utterance be understood Hence, sentences are produced and received in a linear

sequence the principle of the linearity of language signs was established by Ferdinand de

Saussure A linguistic sign, as Saussure states, consists of two sides: signifie (ie the thing

significd) and significant (the thing singnifics) The significant of languag: sign bears lincarity

feature When language signs are put into communication, they come out successively forming

a sequence The occurrence of language signs is governed by the characteristic of time which is

one way by nature As a result, words are spoken (or written) and heard (or read) in a time

sequence from early to later, a sequence represented in the English writing system by a

mọi

ion of wrilten forms Gort tefl to ight There is « standard order for subject, verb and

object, In the English, we have an example:

Cassius sees Brutus

The subject of the sentence, Cassius, precedes the verb sees, while the object, Brats,

follows the verb Numbers of other languages fallow the same order Subject — Verb — Objeot (abbreviaied as SVO) We could try to switch around the subjeel and the object, converting the

SVO order into OVS, as in this example:

Bút if we diđ, English speakers wotld identif Bruwss as the subject The order would

still be SVO, but the meanings would be different

Also, according lo Jacobs, other languages may use different orderings The vange of

possible orderings of these words or phrases is known as the werd order parameter In many

languages, word order is less crucial than it is in English because, as in Latin, there is greater

Jn the English language, the position of clements is cssential to the meaning of a sentence in general and the meaning of a simple sentence in particular A change in element position may bring aboul a fundamental change in meaning

Like in Victnarnese and some other languages, in English, Hincarity in a simple sentence plays an important role We can depend on it to find out whether it is a statement (affirmative

or negative ong), a question, a command or an exclamation Thus an all — round understanding

of clement position in the simple sentence also contributes a grcat deal to the study of language both theoretically and practically

Many Vietnamese leamers (especially beginners and intermediale learners) carmot avoid making common mistakes in placing elements at the right position in the statement of simple sentence

The position of sentence slements in English and Vietnamese are not the same partly because different languages use different lingual and cultural habits,

For the above — mentioned reasons, research on lineatity in sentence should be given special altenlion by those who use Tiglish as a foreign language, especially by not ony all of

us, who are working as teachers of English, but also our students who are learning English as a compulsory subject

2 Aims of the study

Jn the Investigation into the Linearity to simple sentence in English and Vietnamese as

an M.A thesis, the author has the following aims:

~ lo find put the similarities and differences of the linearity in Engtish and Vietnamese affiinative statement

~to help Vietnamese leamers avoid some common mistakes in using English

In order Lo realize these aims, the study supports (o answer the following research questions

1

w

Tn form of communicative purposes, there are four kinds af simple sertence: slalernent, question, command and exclamation Each kind has two forms affirmative and negative However, in my study, ! only focus on the affirmative statement

1.3 Classifications af simple sentences according ta their communicative purpose

According to Quirk R (1990: 190), the sentence may be divided into four major syntactic classes whose use correlates with different communication functions ‘They are

1.3.1 A Statement/ A Declarative sentence

A Statement or a declarative sentence is a scntonec that makes a statement in which the

subject is always present and generally precedes the verb

Ig John will speak to the boss today The declarative sentence is used more frequently than all of the types TL always

followed by a stop ()

There are two forms of statement, affirmative and negative Affirmative statement is a

statement that affirms a proposition, without nogative wards

E.g.: She is talking to her mother

Negative slaleront is a slalernent which contains 1

tive words such as nef, rare, seldom, never, hardly, etc

Eg She is not talking to her mother

1.3.2 A Question/ An interrogative sentence:

An interrogative sentence is the sentence that asks a question

Eg How many students are there in your class?

An inlerrogalive sentence is always followed by a question mark (2), In interrogative,

part of the verbs always come before the subject, Questions are marked by one or more of

these three criteria:

+ the place of operator immediately in front of the subject

E.g Wil John speak to the boss today?

~ the initial position of an intesrogative or “Wh” element

Big Who will you speak to?

4

PART 2: DEVLOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

1 1 What is linearfty?

According to R A Jacobs (1995, p 80}, English Syntax, Linearity iy dhal sentences are

produced and received in a linear sequence

Tis undeniable that no one can utter simullancously all the words of a sentence Nor

could such an utterance be understood Hence, sentences are produced and received in a linear

sequence the principle of the linearity of language signs was established by Ferdinand de

Saussure A linguistic sign, as Saussure states, consists of two sides: signifie (ie the thing

significd) and significant (the thing singnifics) The significant of languag: sign bears lincarity

feature When language signs are put into communication, they come out successively forming

a sequence The occurrence of language signs is governed by the characteristic of time which is

one way by nature As a result, words are spoken (or written) and heard (or read) in a time

sequence from early to later, a sequence represented in the English writing system by a

mọi

ion of wrilten forms Gort tefl to ight There is « standard order for subject, verb and

object, In the English, we have an example:

Cassius sees Brutus

The subject of the sentence, Cassius, precedes the verb sees, while the object, Brats,

follows the verb Numbers of other languages fallow the same order Subject — Verb — Objeot (abbreviaied as SVO) We could try to switch around the subjeel and the object, converting the

SVO order into OVS, as in this example:

Bút if we diđ, English speakers wotld identif Bruwss as the subject The order would

still be SVO, but the meanings would be different

Also, according lo Jacobs, other languages may use different orderings The vange of

possible orderings of these words or phrases is known as the werd order parameter In many

languages, word order is less crucial than it is in English because, as in Latin, there is greater

SYMBOL AND ABBREYLATLONS

Veennp 2x tans Complex transitive Verb

Veus Ditransitive Verb

Viner, Intransitive Verb

Vmonern; Momotransitive Verb

iv

2 3 3 Subject - Conrplement Inversion -

2 3 4 Subject- Adverbial Inversion

Chapter 3: Linearity in the Vietnamese affirmative statement

3 1 Elements and pallens of the Vielnarnesc affirmative slaterent,

3 3 Inversion in Vietnamese affirmative statement

3.3.1 Verb before subjects

3.3.2 Complement af the beginning

3.3.3 Object before Subject and Verb

3.3.4 Adverbial at the beginning

Chapter 4:

Coutrastive analysis of linearity in English and Victnamese affirmative statement 4.1 Similaritics

4.1.4 Elements and structure of affixmative statement

4.1.2 Inversion in the emphasized sentence

4.2 Differences

4.2.1 Verb Phưase

42.2 Transformational relation

4.2.3 Inversion

Chapter 5: Tmplicalin for teaching and learning English

5.1 ‘Typical mistakes made by Vietnamese leamers

1 WRhaLis linearity oŸ snlenee?

2, What are similarities and differences of the linearity in English and Vietnamese affirmative statement?

3 What ara eornmen mistakes in linearity made by Vietnamese learners?

3 Scope of the study

According to communicative purpose, there are four kinds of simple sentence ‘They are slalemerl, question, commend and exclamation, Rach kind of simple sentsnce has two forms affixmative and negative However in my study, I only focus on the linearity in aflirmative

‘Vietnamese affirmative statement Last but not least, in chapter 5, the implication in teaching

and learning English of the study will bs montioned,

4 Method of the study

Contrastive analysis is the main linguistic method applied in my study in which the linearity in affirmative statement in English and Vietnamese is considered its objective Reading English Grammar books and Victnamese books is camicd out to get as mmch knowledge of the subject as possible Most of examples are taken from books widely used in English and Vietnam Morcaver in my study fnake contra

c analysis io find oul similaritics

and differences in the lineanty in the afiirmative statement between two languages

SYMBOL AND ABBREYLATLONS

Veennp 2x tans Complex transitive Verb

Veus Ditransitive Verb

Viner, Intransitive Verb

Vmonern; Momotransitive Verb

PART 2: DEVLOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

1 1 What is linearfty?

According to R A Jacobs (1995, p 80}, English Syntax, Linearity iy dhal sentences are

produced and received in a linear sequence

Tis undeniable that no one can utter simullancously all the words of a sentence Nor

could such an utterance be understood Hence, sentences are produced and received in a linear

sequence the principle of the linearity of language signs was established by Ferdinand de

Saussure A linguistic sign, as Saussure states, consists of two sides: signifie (ie the thing

significd) and significant (the thing singnifics) The significant of languag: sign bears lincarity

feature When language signs are put into communication, they come out successively forming

a sequence The occurrence of language signs is governed by the characteristic of time which is

one way by nature As a result, words are spoken (or written) and heard (or read) in a time

sequence from early to later, a sequence represented in the English writing system by a

mọi

ion of wrilten forms Gort tefl to ight There is « standard order for subject, verb and

object, In the English, we have an example:

Cassius sees Brutus

The subject of the sentence, Cassius, precedes the verb sees, while the object, Brats,

follows the verb Numbers of other languages fallow the same order Subject — Verb — Objeot (abbreviaied as SVO) We could try to switch around the subjeel and the object, converting the

SVO order into OVS, as in this example:

Bút if we diđ, English speakers wotld identif Bruwss as the subject The order would

still be SVO, but the meanings would be different

Also, according lo Jacobs, other languages may use different orderings The vange of

possible orderings of these words or phrases is known as the werd order parameter In many

languages, word order is less crucial than it is in English because, as in Latin, there is greater

SYMBOL AND ABBREYLATLONS

Veennp 2x tans Complex transitive Verb

Veus Ditransitive Verb

Viner, Intransitive Verb

Vmonern; Momotransitive Verb

Jn the English language, the position of clements is cssential to the meaning of a sentence in general and the meaning of a simple sentence in particular A change in element position may bring aboul a fundamental change in meaning

Like in Victnarnese and some other languages, in English, Hincarity in a simple sentence plays an important role We can depend on it to find out whether it is a statement (affirmative

or negative ong), a question, a command or an exclamation Thus an all — round understanding

of clement position in the simple sentence also contributes a grcat deal to the study of language both theoretically and practically

Many Vietnamese leamers (especially beginners and intermediale learners) carmot avoid making common mistakes in placing elements at the right position in the statement of simple sentence

The position of sentence slements in English and Vietnamese are not the same partly because different languages use different lingual and cultural habits,

For the above — mentioned reasons, research on lineatity in sentence should be given special altenlion by those who use Tiglish as a foreign language, especially by not ony all of

us, who are working as teachers of English, but also our students who are learning English as a compulsory subject

2 Aims of the study

Jn the Investigation into the Linearity to simple sentence in English and Vietnamese as

an M.A thesis, the author has the following aims:

~ lo find put the similarities and differences of the linearity in Engtish and Vietnamese affiinative statement

~to help Vietnamese leamers avoid some common mistakes in using English

In order Lo realize these aims, the study supports (o answer the following research questions

1

PART 2: DEVLOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

1 1 What is linearfty?

According to R A Jacobs (1995, p 80}, English Syntax, Linearity iy dhal sentences are

produced and received in a linear sequence

Tis undeniable that no one can utter simullancously all the words of a sentence Nor

could such an utterance be understood Hence, sentences are produced and received in a linear

sequence the principle of the linearity of language signs was established by Ferdinand de

Saussure A linguistic sign, as Saussure states, consists of two sides: signifie (ie the thing

significd) and significant (the thing singnifics) The significant of languag: sign bears lincarity

feature When language signs are put into communication, they come out successively forming

a sequence The occurrence of language signs is governed by the characteristic of time which is

one way by nature As a result, words are spoken (or written) and heard (or read) in a time

sequence from early to later, a sequence represented in the English writing system by a

mọi

ion of wrilten forms Gort tefl to ight There is « standard order for subject, verb and

object, In the English, we have an example:

Cassius sees Brutus

The subject of the sentence, Cassius, precedes the verb sees, while the object, Brats,

follows the verb Numbers of other languages fallow the same order Subject — Verb — Objeot (abbreviaied as SVO) We could try to switch around the subjeel and the object, converting the

SVO order into OVS, as in this example:

Bút if we diđ, English speakers wotld identif Bruwss as the subject The order would

still be SVO, but the meanings would be different

Also, according lo Jacobs, other languages may use different orderings The vange of

possible orderings of these words or phrases is known as the werd order parameter In many

languages, word order is less crucial than it is in English because, as in Latin, there is greater

reliance on suffixes and other ways of making senlence constituents Word order therefore appears to be a setting on a yet more general parameter of fimction marking But in no language is ward order totally insignificant

Hence, linearily is the basic properly of sentence structure I determines the location of

sentence constituents and the syntactic relationship between those constituents Changing the

position of sentence constituents will result in changing in meaning

1 2 What is a simple sentence?

Definition of simple sentence

‘Warriner 1.E (1997: 26) presented: “Simple sentence is a sentence that has one subject

and onc verb”, However, this definition is insufficicnt because in a sentenec there may be one

or more subject and a verb or, in tum, one subject with one or more verbs

lig Mary and her boyfriend are doctors

She came and sat down next to me

Quirk, R and S, Greenbaum (1990: 166): “A simple sentence is the sentence that

consists of only ane clause”

sonlones unil is the simpte

simple sentence normally has one finite verb St has a subject and a predicate” It is possible to

make sure that the last definition by L.G Alexander is considered the most sufficient and

satisfying one

Type of the simple sentence: Structurally, there arc usually two main types of the simple sentence:

~ G) complete simple ssnten

(Also called two member sentences)

- (ii) Special simple sentence is the sentence that has only subject or a verb, sometimes,

is the sontenes that has onc subject and one pred

w

Tn form of communicative purposes, there are four kinds af simple sertence: slalernent, question, command and exclamation Each kind has two forms affirmative and negative However, in my study, ! only focus on the affirmative statement

1.3 Classifications af simple sentences according ta their communicative purpose

According to Quirk R (1990: 190), the sentence may be divided into four major syntactic classes whose use correlates with different communication functions ‘They are

1.3.1 A Statement/ A Declarative sentence

A Statement or a declarative sentence is a scntonec that makes a statement in which the

subject is always present and generally precedes the verb

Ig John will speak to the boss today The declarative sentence is used more frequently than all of the types TL always

followed by a stop ()

There are two forms of statement, affirmative and negative Affirmative statement is a

statement that affirms a proposition, without nogative wards

E.g.: She is talking to her mother

Negative slaleront is a slalernent which contains 1

tive words such as nef, rare, seldom, never, hardly, etc

Eg She is not talking to her mother

1.3.2 A Question/ An interrogative sentence:

An interrogative sentence is the sentence that asks a question

Eg How many students are there in your class?

An inlerrogalive sentence is always followed by a question mark (2), In interrogative,

part of the verbs always come before the subject, Questions are marked by one or more of

these three criteria:

+ the place of operator immediately in front of the subject

E.g Wil John speak to the boss today?

~ the initial position of an intesrogative or “Wh” element

Big Who will you speak to?

4

1 WRhaLis linearity oŸ snlenee?

2, What are similarities and differences of the linearity in English and Vietnamese affirmative statement?

3 What ara eornmen mistakes in linearity made by Vietnamese learners?

3 Scope of the study

According to communicative purpose, there are four kinds of simple sentence ‘They are slalemerl, question, commend and exclamation, Rach kind of simple sentsnce has two forms affixmative and negative However in my study, I only focus on the linearity in aflirmative

‘Vietnamese affirmative statement Last but not least, in chapter 5, the implication in teaching

and learning English of the study will bs montioned,

4 Method of the study

Contrastive analysis is the main linguistic method applied in my study in which the linearity in affirmative statement in English and Vietnamese is considered its objective Reading English Grammar books and Victnamese books is camicd out to get as mmch knowledge of the subject as possible Most of examples are taken from books widely used in English and Vietnam Morcaver in my study fnake contra

c analysis io find oul similaritics

and differences in the lineanty in the afiirmative statement between two languages

w

Tn form of communicative purposes, there are four kinds af simple sertence: slalernent, question, command and exclamation Each kind has two forms affirmative and negative However, in my study, ! only focus on the affirmative statement

1.3 Classifications af simple sentences according ta their communicative purpose

According to Quirk R (1990: 190), the sentence may be divided into four major syntactic classes whose use correlates with different communication functions ‘They are

1.3.1 A Statement/ A Declarative sentence

A Statement or a declarative sentence is a scntonec that makes a statement in which the

subject is always present and generally precedes the verb

Ig John will speak to the boss today The declarative sentence is used more frequently than all of the types TL always

followed by a stop ()

There are two forms of statement, affirmative and negative Affirmative statement is a

statement that affirms a proposition, without nogative wards

E.g.: She is talking to her mother

Negative slaleront is a slalernent which contains 1

tive words such as nef, rare, seldom, never, hardly, etc

Eg She is not talking to her mother

1.3.2 A Question/ An interrogative sentence:

An interrogative sentence is the sentence that asks a question

Eg How many students are there in your class?

An inlerrogalive sentence is always followed by a question mark (2), In interrogative,

part of the verbs always come before the subject, Questions are marked by one or more of

these three criteria:

+ the place of operator immediately in front of the subject

E.g Wil John speak to the boss today?

~ the initial position of an intesrogative or “Wh” element

Big Who will you speak to?

4