A study on prepositions of direction and some common mistakes made by first year students of english at hanoi open university

Title: A Study on preposition of direction and some common mistakes made by first-year students of English at Hanoi Open University I certify that no part of the above report has been co

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

…o0o……

GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES

A STUDY ON PREPOSITIONS OF DIRECTION AND SOME COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

OF ENGLISH AT HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Supervisor: Dr Ho Ngoc Trung Student: Le Vo Thanh Thai Date of birth: 08/08/1993 Class: 1271A04 (2012-2016)

Hanoi - 2016

Title: A Study on preposition of direction and some common mistakes made by first-year students of English at Hanoi Open University

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Hanoi, 15th April, 2016

This graduation thesis is the result of my continuous working time, I have received a lot of help, assistance, ideas from my supervisor, friends and family

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Ho Ngoc Trung for his enormously helpful and effective instructions, constant and tireless support throughout the study

My sincere thanks also send to all of my teachers at Faculty of English

- Hanoi Open University who give me the opportunity and the best conditions

to complete the study

I am also grateful to all the authors and researchers for their beneficial magnificent materials and studies used in this graduation thesis

Last but not least, I wish to give my heartfelt to my beloved family and friends for their spiritual and material support

Table 1.1: Simple prepositions Page 8

Table 1.3: Semantic Types of Prepositions Page 21

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

1 Overview on English prepositions 4

1.1 Definition of preposition 4

1.2 Position of English prepositions 6

1.3 Classification of Prepositions 7

1.3.1 According to compositional types 7

1.3.1.1 Simple Prepositions 7

1.3.1.2 Complex Prepositions 10

1.3.2 According to semantic relation: 12

1.3.2.1 Prepositions of Place: 12

1.3.2.2 Prepositions of Time 13

1.3.2.4 Prepositions of Manner, means, instrument 14

1.3.2.5 Prepositions of Accompaniment 15

1.3.2.6 Prepositions of Support and Opposition 16

1.3.2.7 Prepositions of Cause or Reason 16

1.3.2.8 Prepositions of Purpose or Intended Destination 17

1.3.2.9 Prepositions of Concession 17

1.3.2.10 Prepositions of source and origin 18

1.3.2.11 Preposition of recipient, goal, target 18

1.3.2.12 Prepositions of Price (for, at) 19

1.3.2.13 Prepositions of subject matter 20

1.4 Semantic properties of prepositions 21

1.5 Preposition in parallel form 22

1.6 Functions of Prepositions 22

1.6.1 Prepositions functioning as adjectives 23

1.6.2 Prepositions functioning as adverbs 23

1.6.3 Prepositions functioning as nominal 23

2 Prepositional Phrase 24

2.1 Definition of prepositional phrase 24

2.2 Rules for Prepositional Phrase 25

2.3 Complementation and modification in Prepositional phrase structure 26

CHAPTER 2 PREPOSITION OF DIRECTION 29

1 Prepositions of direction 29

1.2 Characteristics of prepositions of direction 30

2 Typical Prepositions of Direction 30

2.1 Preposition To 30

2.1.1 Introduction of preposition To 30

2.1.2 Uses of To 31

2.2 Preposition Onto/Into 33

2.2.1 Introduction of prepositions Onto/Into 33

2.2.2 Uses of Onto 35

2.2.3 Uses of Into 35

2.2.4 Into, in to, onto and on to 37

CHAPTER 3: SOME COMMON MISTAKES OF USING PREPOSITIONS OF DIRECRION MADE BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY 38

1 Some common mistakes made by first-year students of English at Hanoi Open University 38

1.1 Using To and Toward for Places 39

1.2 Using In and Into, On and Onto 40

1.3 Some other common mistakes 42

2 Findings and implication 44

PART III - CONCLUSION 47 REFERENCE

APPENDIX

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

My passion for English has been along with me since I was a secondary student At first, studying English seemed to be not very interesting to me due

to the fact that English grammar and pronunciation are too difficult At that time, I started to listen to English songs but I couldn’t sing along the whole lyrics However, studying English helped me understand the meaning of the songs and those lyrics that I was singing After that, I was passionate about English After graduating from high school, I passed the entrance examination

of Faculty of English – Hanoi Open University During four years studying English at university, I have studied many subjects which make me realize that English is much more complicated than I ever thought before However, English grammar is the part that I always focus on and spend most of my time

on

Preposition is one of the most essential parts in English grammar Because prepositions can be seen in every phrase and every sentence in English Additionally, there are many kinds of preposition which is a problem for students of English to master them Among them, prepositions of direction

is seemed to be a very important kind There are a lot of reference books and materials related to preposition but not many of them is about prepositions of direction Moreover, many students of English often make mistakes when using them too Therefore, I decided to conduct a study related to them named

“A study on English prepositions of direction and common mistakes made by first-year students of English at Hanoi Open University” in order to give an overview of preposition and prepositions of direction, point out some common mistakes and suggest solutions

2 Aims of the study

• Giving an overview of English prepositions and their subclasses In particular, prepositions of direction

• Pointing out the usages of typical prepositions of direction

• Investigating common mistakes made by first-year students at Faculty

of English, Hanoi Open University in using English prepositions of direction and suggesting solutions

3 Scope of the study

There are many kinds of prepositions so that mastering it is not easy I

am fully aware that my graduation thesis cannot cover all aspects of prepositions in English Therefore, I focus on preposition of direction with some typical aspects relating to them such as overview on English prepositions especially prepositions of direction as well as common mistakes

made by first-year students of English at Hanoi Open University

4 Research questions

• What is preposition?

• What are the characteristics and usages of English prepositions of direction?

• What are some common mistakes made by first-year students of English

at Hanoi Open University?

5 Methods of the study

In order to gain the mentioned aims of the study, I try my best to collect related materials in reference books, dictionaries as well as the ones on the internet What is more, I conducted surveys at Hanoi Open University in order

to have the exact information for my studying This study is based on analyzing, contrasting, researching on linguistics and my knowledge,

experiences during four-year studying at Hanoi Open University Furthermore, discussions with my classmates and consultation with the supervisor are really helpful for my paper

6 Design of the study

My graduation thesis is divided into three parts:

Part I is the introduction, including rationale, aims, scope, methods,

research questions as well as design of the study

Part II is the development, including three chapters: Chapter I is the

theoretical background which consists of preliminary theory of preposition, classification of preposition, other features of them, and prepositional phrase

Chapter II is about prepositions of direction, which consist of overview of

prepositions of direction, analysis some examples, some typical cases

Chapter III is about some common mistakes made by first-year students of

English at Hanoi Open University, findings and implications

Part III is the conclusion which summaries what have been discussed

in the previous parts and put an end to the study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1 Overview on English prepositions

1.1 Definition of preposition

A preposition is traditionally defined in the following ways:

“A preposition is a word that indicates a relation between the noun or pronoun it governs and another word which may be a verb, an adjective or another noun or pronoun”

( Curme, 1935: 87)

E.g She voted against us

She was dependent on us

Her opinion of us improved

In three examples above, the words against, on, of are treated as prepositions The preposition against is said to relate us to the verb voted, the preposition on shows the relation between adjective dependent and the pronoun us, and preposition of indicates the relation between the noun opinion and the pronoun us

The concept of “indicating a relationship” however, is very vague and such a definition is clearly in need of considerable refinement (whether construed at the general or language-particular level) to distinguish

prepositions from, for example, verbs and “coordinating conjunctions”, which

can also relate one noun phrase to another

In spite of significance of prepositions, standard grammars often assign them a rather vague definition, such as “a word that shows the relation of a noun and pronoun to some other word in a sentence” (Warriner and Griffith, 1965:16) The key word in this definition is “relation” “Relations” signaled prepositions as just noted, are both grammatical (e.g, modifier of noun or verb) and semantic (e.g, recipient, benefactive) This double role of prepositions will often provide important clues to the structure sentences

According to Merriam Webster - The most trustworthy dictionary and thesaurus of American English (http://www.merriam-webster.com/), the simple definition of preposition is that: Preposition is a word or group of words that is used with a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object; Full definition of preposition: a function word that typically combines with a noun phrase to form a phrase which usually expresses a modification or predication

A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a

sentence In itself, a word like in or after is rather meaningless and hard to

define in mere words For instance, when you do try to define a preposition

like in or between or on you invariably use your hands to show how

something is situated in relationship to something else Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition) This whole phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as

an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened

1.2 Position of English prepositions

A preposition is followed by a "noun" It is never followed by a verb

By "noun" we include:

Noun (house, dog, cat, tree, )

Proper noun (name) (John, White House, USA,…)

Pronoun (you, her, them,…)

Noun group (the best way, her first examination,…)

Gerund (speaking, playing, teaching,…)

• A preposition cannot be followed by a verb If we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use the "-ing" form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form

E.g She saved money by giving up cigarettes

• However, prepositions may also come after nouns

E.g in questions like ‘What are they looking for?

• Different prepositions can have very similar uses

E.g in the morning, on Monday morning

• Many nouns, verbs and adjectives are normally used with particular prepositions

E.g the reason for, arrive at, angry with, on a bus

• In English prepositions can come at the end of clauses, especially in an informal style

E.g: What are you talking about?

You are just the person I was looking for

She’s not very to talk to

I hate being shouted at

1.3 Classification of Prepositions

1.3.1 According to compositional types

According to compositional types, there are 2 main kinds of preposition, they are: simple and complex preposition

1.3.1.1 Simple Prepositions

Most of the common English prepositions, such as: at, in and for, are simple,… consisting of one word There are over 100 prepositions in English However, the most common single prepositions are:

Table 1.1: Single Prepositions

About Beside Near To

Above Between Of Towards

Across Beyond Off Under

Against Despite Onto Unlike

Along Down Opposite Until

Among During Out Up

Around Except Outside Upon

Before In Round Within

Behind Inside Since Without

Below Into Than Notwithstanding Beneath Like Through Apropos(of)

Concerning

E.g He fell into the lake

She sat between her dogs

He stood beside her

There is nothing inside the jar

The teacher stood behind the desk

The boy ran across the road

Note: In addition to this table, there are a few words which behave in

many ways like prepositions although they have affinities with verbs or

adjectives: Except, excepting, bar, barring, concerning, considering, following, including, granted, pending, less, like, near, save, unlike, worth.

E.g He gave us all bar (= except) three of sketches

(Quirk R, 1972: 301)

E.g Concerning all these disadvantages, his performance was quite

good.

( Huddleston, R,1984:346)

The words at, in, of, on and to are typical examples of prepositions A

word such as a noun, pronoun or gerund following a preposition is said to be the object of the preposition As pointed out previously, a personal pronoun following a preposition must be in the objective case A phrase beginning with a preposition can be referred to as a prepositional phrase The prepositional phrases in the following examples are underlined

E.g He owns the house on the corner

We are waiting for her

She has read many books about flying

In the first example, the noun corner is the object of the preposition on

In the second example, the personal pronoun her is the object of the preposition for It can be seen that the personal pronoun her is in the objective case In the third example, the gerund flying is the object of the preposition about A preposition serves to connect its object with the rest of a sentence In doing so, a preposition indicates the relationship of the idea expressed in the prepositional phrase to the ideas expressed in the rest of the sentence

For instance in the sentence “He owns the house on the corner”, the preposition on indicates that the words the corner express the location of the

house referred to in the rest of the sentence Similarly, in the sentence “We are waiting for her”, the preposition for indicates that the word her expresses

the reason for the action of waiting referred to in the rest of the sentence

Although there are fewer than one hundred English prepositions, although prepositions do not take endings, and although the structure of most prepositional phrases is simple, the use of English prepositions is very complex The reasons for this are that most prepositions have more than one meaning, many prepositions can also be used as adverbs, prepositions are used in hundreds of idioms, many adjectives, nouns, and verbs must usually

be followed by certain prepositions, and there are hundreds of phrasal verbs formed from combinations of verbs with adverbs and prepositions

1.3.1.2 Complex Prepositions

Most complex prepositions are placeable , according to their form, into one of three categories:

• Adverb + prep or Double Preposition: along with, apart from, aside

from, as for, as to, away from, from behind, into, off of, on to, (or onto), out of, together with, up to, etc

E.g Suddenly he emerged from behind the curtain

He walked out of the compound

• Verb/Adjective/conjunction/etc + Prep: except for, owing to, due to,

but for, because of, etc

• Prep 1 + noun + Prep 2: by mean of, in comparison with, on account

of, with regard to, in consequence of, etc.

This category may be further subdivided according to which prepositions function as Prep1 and Prep 2

• In + Noun of: in case of, in charge of, in view of, in need of, in spite of,

in front of, in lieu of, in favor of, in place of, in face of, in aid of, in quest of, in respect of, in search of, in consequence of, etc

• In + Noun + with: in connection with, in contact with, in common with,

in line with, etc.

• By + Noun + of: by means of, by way of, by virtue of, by dint of, etc

• On + Noun + of: on account of, on behalf of, on top of, on pain of, etc

• Other types: at variance with, in exchange for, in return for, in

addition to, in relation to, etc

E.g I am standing here on behalf of company

The match was cancelled because of the rain

They were unable to attend because of the bad weather in

Ireland

Jack will be playing in the team in place of me

In addition to getting a large fine, both brothers were put in

prison for three months

I always get nervous when I have to speak in front of an

audience

We estimate that there’ll be up to 10,000 people at the concert

succeeded by means of perseverance

There are many complex prepositions but the most common ones are:

Table 1.2: Complex prepositions

Along with Apart from Aside from As for

As to Away from According to By means of

By way of By dint of By reason of By virtue of

In case of In front of In relation to In charge of

In view of In need of In spite of In quest of

In favor of In place of In common with In consequence of

In respect of In search of In connection with In contact with

In aid of In line with In exchange for In addition to

In lieu of In to At variance Off of

On to Out of Owning to On account of

On behalf of On top of On paint of Except for

But for Because of With regard to

1.3.2 According to semantic relation

1.3.2.1 Prepositions of Place

A preposition of place is a preposition which is used to refer to a place where something or someone is located There are only three prepositions of place, however they can be used to discuss an almost endless number of places

At: A preposition of place which is used to discuss a certain point

In: A preposition of place which is used to discuss an enclosed space On: A preposition of time which is used to discuss a surface

Prepositions of place allow you to be very specific when talking about where action takes place in stories or when discussing important details for communication purposes Prepositions of place give you the ability to tell others where something is located In the following examples, the prepositions of place have been italicized for ease of identification

E.g They spend dinner at home

Marie was born in France

Please place the bouquet on the table

1.3.2.2 Prepositions of Time

A preposition of time is a preposition that allows you to discuss a specific time period such as a date on the calendar, one of the days of the week, or the actual time something takes place Prepositions of time are the same words as prepositions of place, however they are used in a different way You can easily distinguish these prepositions, as they always discuss times rather than places

At: This preposition of time is used to discuss clock times, holidays and

festivals, and other very specific time frames including exceptions, such as “at night.”

In: This preposition of time is used to discuss months, seasons, years,

centuries, general times of day, and longer periods of time such as “in the past.”

On: This preposition of time is used to discuss certain days of the week

or portions of days of the week, specific dates, and special days such as “on New Year’s Day.”

Prepositions of time allow you to tell your readers when things are taking place They are vital parts of speech to use in stories, as well as when

writing simple communications, reports, and other items

There may only be three prepositions of time, but the ways in which you can use them are almost endless In the following examples, the prepositions of time have been italicized for ease of identification

E.g My parents grew up in the 1960s

My vacation ends on Monday

Meet me at 7:30

1.3.2.3 Prepositions of Direction

Prepositions of Direction illustrate paths of travel or motion

E.g We flew from Vietnam to USA just to see The Statue Of Liberty

The other two common prepositions of direction are “Into” and “Onto” which respectively signifies movement toward a surface and movement toward the interior of a volume

E.g The dog is jumping into the lake

Marry just put the plate onto the table

1.3.2.4 Prepositions of Manner, means, instrument

The prepositions of manner comprise “with, in, like” as in the

following sentences:

E.g We were received with the utmost courtesy

The task was done in a workmanlike manner

The army swept through the city like a pestilence

(Quirk, R, 1973: 158)

It is noted that like with intensive verbs, as in: Life is liked a dream,

refer not to manner but to resemblance

The prepositions of means and instrument include of by, with, without

By can express the meaning “by means of”:

E.g I usually go to work by bus/train/car

The thief must have entered and left the house by the back door

By working the pumps, we kept the ship afloat for another 40

hours

(Quirk, R, 1973:158)

With, on the other hand, expresses instrumental meaning as in:

E.g He caught the ball with his left hand

Someone had broken the window with a stone

(Quirk, R, 1973:158)

1.3.2.5 Prepositions of Accompaniment

There is only one preposition with the meaning of accompaniment which is preposition “with” Especially when followed by an animate complement, with has the meaning “in company with” or “together with”

E.g I’m so glad you’re coming with us

Jock, with several of his friends, was drinking till 2 am

(Quirk, R, 1973:159)

In the sentence above, the With phrase serves a function very close to coordination with and: “Jock and several of his friends were…… ”

Prepositional phrase of accompaniment functions as post-modifier thus in:

E.g Curry with rice is my favorite dish

(Quirk, R, 1973:160)

1.3.2.6 Prepositions of Support and Opposition

There are three prepositions: for, against, with expressing the meaning

of support or opposition Thus in:

E.g Are you for or against the plan?

(= Do you support or oppose the plan?)

Remember that every of us with you

(= on your side)

(Quirk, R, 1973:326)

For conveys the idea of support, with that of solidarity or movement in

sympathy, against conveys the contrary idea of opposition

1.3.2.7 Prepositions of Cause or Reason

There are prepositions expressing either the material cause or the psychological cause for a happening:

E.g Because of the drought, the price of bread was high that year

(Quirk, R, 1973: 56)

Other prepositions of cause or reason include: for, from, due to, owing

to, etc Phrase of cause and reason answer the question “Why”

1.3.2.8 Prepositions of Purpose or Intended Destination

Let us consider the following examples:

E.g Everyone ran for shelter

He’ll do anything for money

(Quirk, R, 1973:156)

The use of for illustrated above have in common a notion of purpose The notion of purpose can be seen from the possibility of paraphrase by a clause in order to: for money = in order to gain money Phrases of purpose or destination answer the questions “Why….?”, “What…for?”, “Where…for?”,

“Who….for?” They frequently occur as post-modifiers as well as adverbials: The scenery for the play, etc

1.3.2.9 Prepositions of Concession

There is variety of prepositions expressing the concessional meaning,

such prepositions or prepositional phrase as: despite, in spite of, for + all, with + all , notwithstanding Convey the same meaning, concession, though

there is still a little difference in meaning between them and they are often separated from the main clause by a comma

E.g I admire him, in spite of his fault

He lost the fight, for all his boasting

(Quirk, R, 1973:161)

With all his boasting and ostentatious training, he was knocked

out in the first round by a man lighter than himself

Thomas, notwithstanding his tedious rhetoric, is a master of the

sublime in prose style

(Quirk, R, 1972: 328)

In spite of is a general-purpose preposition of concession; despite is rather more formal and notwithstanding is formal and rather legalistic in style The combinations for all and with all (all being an obligatory pre-determiner

with this meaning) are chiefly colloquial

1.3.2.10 Prepositions of source and origin

The converse of “to” (= ‘goal’) is “from” (= ‘source’):

E.g Bill lent the book to me ↔ I borrowed the book from Bill

(Quirk, R, 1973:157)

“From” is also used with reference to “place of origin”:

E.g He comes from Australia (= He is Australian)

(Quirk, R, 1973:157)

E.g I have a little hat made of wool

(Collin, C, 1997: 104) This type of prepositional phrase occurs not only as an adjunct, but as a post-modifier:

E.g the man from Mars, a friend of mine from London

1.3.2.11 Preposition of recipient, goal, target

The number of propositions expressing recipient, goal, target is limited,

they include of for, to, at Although they are organized in the same group of

meaning, in certain case it is easy to realize the differences between them

When preposition for is followed by noun-phrases denoting persons or

animals, the meaning is rather one of “intended recipient”

E.g He made a beautiful doll for his daughter

(Quirk, R, 1973:157)

The “for phrase” can often be equated with an indirect object In contrast, while the preposition for expresses “intended recipient”, the preposition to expresses “actual recipient”

E.g I gave the book to my friend

(Quirk, R, 1973: 157)

At , in combinations such as aim, at (where the prepositional phrase is

complementary to the verb), expresses intended goal or target:

E.g After aiming carefully at the bird, he missed it completely

A vicious mongrel was snapping at his ankles

(Quirk, R, 1973: 157)

1.3.2.12 Prepositions of Price

For: It is used when the actual sum of money is mentioned

E.g Salma bought a nice dress for twenty dinars

I bought an old television for fifty dinars

At: It is used when the actual sum of money is not mentioned

E.g Hassan bought a suit at a high price

If the weight or measure follows the price at may be used with actual

sum of money

E.g He bought the apples at two dinars a kilo

The cloth was sold at ten dinars a meter

1.3.2.13 Prepositions of subject matter

With the meaning “on the subject of, concerning”, about and on can

combine with a considerable range of verbs and adjectives including:

Speak out/on : teach (someone) about

Argue about/ on : read about

Hold forth about/ on : hear about

Lecture about/ on : quarrel about

Preach about/ on : keep quite about

Confer about/ on : tell (someone) about

Write about/ on : inform (someone) about

On tends to refer to deliberate, formal linguistic communication (speaking lecturing, writing, etc.) and is therefore inappropriate for verbs like chat or quarrel, teach, which do not necessarily involve the subject of the sentence in using language

E.g He spoke on butterflies

(Quirk, R 1973:162) Would suggest he was making a formal speech, however the sentence:

E.g He spoke about butterflies

(Quirk, R, 1973:162)

Would probably refer to an informal conversation or casual allusion

Table 1.3: Semantic Types of Prepositions

Place Above, around, at, behind, beneath, Time At, on, in, during, about, for, since, Direction To, into, onto, toward,…

Manner With, in, by, without,

Accompaniment With

Support and Opposition For, against, with,…

Cause and Reason Because of, on account of,…

Purpose Or Intended Destination For

Concession Despite, in spite of, for + all, with +

all Source and Origin To, from, of,

Recipient goal target For, to, at,…

Subject Matter About, On

1.4 Semantic properties of prepositions

In semantic terms, the preposition functions to illustrate a logical, temporal, or spatial relationship between the object of the prepositional phrase and the other components of the sentence Consider the following examples:

E.g The dog is asleep on his bed

In this example, the prepositional phrase on his bed indicates a spatial relationship between the subject dog and the object bed If the preposition on was replaced with under or beneath the spatial relationship would be altered