Syntactic and semantic features of english idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

Thesis SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “NO” WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE... Thesis SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAININ

IU MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “NO” WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “NO” WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report

entitled SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “NO” WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due

acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to address my most sincere gratitute to the following people for their invaluable support and encouragement First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor – Mai Thi Loan, Ph.D for her outstanding supervision, kind treatment and remarkable devotion and for guiding, supporting, encouraging me and providing me with all the materials I would need for the research in order for me to complete this final assignment She was always there for me, without her help, things must be extremely difficult and impossible I would also like to give my thank-you to all of my students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) for helping me answer the questionnaire, from that I am able to bring out the results of the survey and have the most suitable suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms containing the word “no” at classrooms and in daily conversations

In addition, I would like to thank all of the teachers and professors at Hanoi Open University for guiding, helping and motivating me when I am studying there

ABSTRACT

This thesis attempts to investigate syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the word “no” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents The study is implemented via the adoptions of descriptive and contrastive, inductive, and deductive methods The investigation is based on 252 samples of English idioms containing the word “no” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents from

a wide variety of dictionaries and websites about idioms The findings are compared and contrasted to reveal the outstanding similarities and differences between English idioms containing the word “no” and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms

of syntax and semantics Additionally, the results collected from the questionaire for students help me to find out the common errors, causes of these errors, and give some suggestions for the lecturers and the second-year students at HUBT in teaching and learning EIN

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1 The structures of EIN noun phrase and their Vietnamese equivalents 21 Table 3.2 The structures of EIN verb phrase and their Vietnamese equivalents 24 Table 3.3 The structures of EIN adjective phrase and their Vietnamese equivalents

25 Table 3.4 The structure of EIN adverb phrase and their Vietnamese equivalents 25 Table 3.5 The structures of EIN prepositional phrase and their Vietnamese equivalents 27 Table 3.6 Sentential structures of EIN and their Vietnamese equivalents 30 Table 3.7 A summary of EIN and their Vietnamese equivalents in grammatical Patterns 31 Table 3.8 The occurence and distribution of EIN with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic features 33 Table 3.9 Frequency of Semantic Fields of EIN and Their Vietnamese Equivalents 42 Table 4.1 The results of survey questionnaire for students 48

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Previous studies 5

2.2 An overview of English idioms 6

2.2.1 Definition of idioms 6

2.2.2 The word 'no' in English idioms 8

2.2.3 Main features of idioms 9

2.2.3.1 Syntactic features 9

2.2.3.2 Semantic features 10

2.2.4 Idioms and other language units 11

2.2.4.1 Idioms and collocations 11

2.2.4.2 Idioms and proverbs 13

2.2.4.3 Idioms and fixed expressions 14

2.2.4.4 Idioms and phrases 14

2.2.5 Concepts of semantic fields 15

2.3 Summary 16

CHAPTER 3: ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD ‘NO’ WITH

REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 17

3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents 17

3.1.1 Phrase Structures 17

3.1.1.1 Noun phrase 17

3.1.1.2 Verb phrase 21

3.1.1.3 Adjective phrase 24

3.1.1.4 Adverb phrase 25

3.1.1.5 Prepositional phrase 26

3.1.2 Sentence Structures 28

3.2 Semantic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents 34

3.2.1 Ability 34

3.2.2 Activities 35

3.2.3 Age 35

3.2.4 Personality 36

3.2.5 Psychological State 36

3.2.6 Money 37

3.2.7 Power 37

3.2.8 Situation 38

3.2.9 Success and Failure 38

3.2.10 Warnings 39

3.2.11 Advice 39

3.2.12 Appearance 40

3.2.13 Time 40

3.2.14 Characteristics (Human characteristics and characteristics of objects) 41 3.2.15 Quality 41

3.3 Comparison between English idioms containing the word “no” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents 42

3.3.1 In terms of syntactic features 42

3.3.2 In terms of semantic features 44

3.4 Summary 45

CHAPTER 4: COMMON ERRORS MADE BY THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS OF HUBT WHEN USING ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD ‘NO’ 47

4.1 Survey questionnaires 47

4.1.1 Subjects 47

4.1.2 Questionnaires 48

4.1.3 Procedures 48

4.2 Common errors made by the second-year students of HUBT when using English idioms containing the word “no” 48

4.2.1 Common errors 48

4.2.2 Causes of committing errors 49

4.3 Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms containing the word “no” efficiently 50

4.3.1 For teaching 50

4.3.2 For learning 51

4.4 Summary 51

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 53

5.1 Recapitulation 53

5.2 Concluding remarks 53

5.3 Limitation of the study 54

5.4 Recommendations for further study 54

REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the study

For English learners, vocabulary and grammar are always two great concepts The importance of vocabulary as also learning a language has become more accepted Vocabulary is a basic component of language proficiency which provides the basis for learners’ performance in other skills, such as speaking, reading, listening and writing Besides, grammar plays a not less important role If we imagine language as a big highway, the words are the cars and trucks, but the grammar is the road signs and markings that tell the vehicles driving on it where to

go and how to drive Without roadsigns, a big highway would quickly descend into total confusion

Idioms appear in every language, and English has thousands of them They are often confusing because the meaning of the whole group of words taken together has little, often nothing, to do with the meanings of the words taken one by one Today, most linguists would agree that the traditional definition of idioms as

‘dead-metaphors’ fails to capture the different classes of metaphoric expressions There is a body of evidence that suggests that the meaning of many idioms is at least partly defined by the meaning of the component words Wasow, Sag and Nunberg (1983) claim that individual parts of idiomatic expressions have identifiable meanings from which the figurative meanings of the phrases as a whole are derived, and that the mapping between the two levels of meanings takes place in conventionalized rather than arbitrary ways Glucksberg (2001) also observes that

while some idiomatic phrases are non-compositional (e.g., spic and span), others

are fully compositional, with clear semantic mapping between the constituent words

and their idiomatic referents For example, in the idiom pop the question, pop can

be mapped onto ‘suddenly ask’ and ‘the question’ can be mapped onto ‘marriage

proposal’ In compositional phrases, idiom constituents constrain both idiom

interpretation and use For instance, the verb kick implies a discrete, swift action making it impossible to say he kicked the bucket all week, while one could say he

lay dying all week (Glucksberg, 2001)

Up to now, a lot of studies have been done on analyzing and categorizing idioms according to alphabetical arrangement Others concentrate on analyzing their semantic, structural and cultural features in a number of idioms denoting colour,

human body parts, numbers or symbols of animals, comparison, causes and results, etc Nevertheless, an investigation into English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic has not been dealt deeply with so far

Those are the reasons for the topic “Syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents” is chosen to do research

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study is aimed at finding out the syntatic and semantic characteristics of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ and their Vietnamese equivalents More importantly, it provides Vietnamese learners of English with a basic knowledge of the field and enables them to deeply understand, effectively and naturally, use idioms in listening, speaking, reading and writing To some extent, they can be better aware of the beauty of English

The study is planned to:

- Identify and describe the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

- Find out the similarities and differences between English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntax and semantics

- To offer some suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms containing the word ‘no’ in academic and daily life

3 What are some possible applications for teaching and learning English idioms containing the word ‘no’ in academic and daily life?

1.4 Methods of the study

This study is planned to identify and describe some syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents In this study, the descriptive, contrastive, deductive and

inductive methods are used for finding out the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’, comparing with Vietnamese equivalents when necessary The descriptive method is used in the study to describe and interpret English idioms containing the word ‘no’ and their Vietnamese equivalents with the help of a powerful source of dictionaries and lexicons to obtain their syntactic and semantic features The contrastive method is used to identify the structural differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese idioms The deductive method is applied to present the general features of English and Vietnamese idioms to more specific ones, and in contrast, the inductive method is used for presenting the specific characteristics to more general ones By applying these four methods, it is possible for me to find out the syntatic and semantic characteristics of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with respect to the Vietnamese equivalents

1.5 Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, I only carry out this research on EIN and mainly focus on the syntactic and semantic features of EIN with reference

to the Vietnamese equivalents I almost do not include the pragmatic and cultural features of EIN in this study

1.6 Significance of the study

English and Vietnamese language are rich in idioms A strong knowledge of idioms will help learners and teachers be better speakers The high number of idioms and their high frequency in discourse make them an important aspect of vocabulary Therefore, we can see the importance of idioms in conveying speakers' attitude Moreover, idioms may be culturally bound and this may cause even greater problems for users In this thesis, English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents are studied in terms of two aspects: syntax and semantics The results of this study can be applied to increase the efficiency of communication and can be of some helps to the teaching and learning of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

1.7 Design of the study

There are five chapters in this research paper

Chapter 1 – Introduction - presents a general introduction to the study

including rationale, aims and objectives, research questions, methods, the scope, significance, and design of the study

Chapter 2 – Literature Review - involves previous studies, an overview of English idioms such as definition of idioms, definition of English idioms containing the word ‘no’, main features in terms of syntactic and semantic features, idioms and other language units and concepts of semantic fields

Chapter 3 – English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents - focuses on the analysis of syntactic and semantic

features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ Furthermore, English idioms containing the word ‘no’ are thoroughly discussed in comparison with their Vietnamese equivalents As a result, the similarities and differences between EIN and their Vietnamese equivalents are brought out At the same time, the percentage

of occurrence of EIN and their Vietnamese equivalents are also indicated in this chapter

Chapter 4 –Common errors made by the second-year students of HUBT when using English idioms containing the word ‘no’– consists of subjects, survey questionnaire for students, procedures, common errors of students and some possible suggestions for more efficient teaching and learning EIN

Chapter 5 – Conclusion - consists of recapitulation, concluding remarks, limitation of the study and some recommendations for further study in the future

The study closes with References and Appendices – which involve the names

of authors of referenced books, website addresses and show a separate list of English idioms containing the word ‘no’relating to the Vietnamese equivalents, questionnaire for students

Palmer (1990), the writer of “Semantics” defines idioms as consequences of

words whose meanings cannot be predicted from the meaning of the words themselves Semantically, idioms are single units, but not single grammatical units like words He also brought about some restrictions in syntactic features and noted that the problems of idioms were involved with a much wider issue word formation,

by which what would appear to be new and more complex lexemes can be formed from single ones

Cristina Cacciari & Patrizia Tabossi (1993) in “idioms- processing, structure,

and interpretation” focus on three main points: idiom interpretation and the literal figurative distinction, acquisition and processing of idioms, and meaning and structure After reading, readers will be able to possess a wide variety of knowledge about English idioms

From “The American Heritage Dictionary of English idioms” by Christine Ammer (1997) and “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Cowie (1994), it is

vivid that idioms are not only appeared in books, but in dictionaries

There are some more collections of idioms such as "Essential Idioms in

English" by Dixon (1971), "Handbook of American Idioms and Idiomatic Usage"

by Whitford, Harold and Dixon (1953) or Boukai's "Idioms for Everyday Use", etc

Also, several Vietnamese researchers have interested in the study of idioms, Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang (1978) made the first significant contribution to the

field with "Thành ngữ tiếng Việt" Since then, a great number of collections of

Vietnamese idioms alone and those of Vietnamese idioms in comparison with

English idioms have been made by Vietnamese researchers For example, In "Tữ điển thành ngữ Anh - Việt” Lã Thành (1988) introduces about 18,000 English

idioms to readers for the purpose of helping them recognize, understand and use

idioms correctly "Từ điển thành ngữ - tục ngữ Việt Anh tường giải" by Bùi Phương Lan (2000) introduces a sufficient collection of idioms and proverbs which is quite

useful for those who want to study English thoroughly or use naturally

Finally, some M.A theses in the University of Danang which are related to the field are “A study on some characteristic of structures, meanings and culture of English idioms about animals” by Phạm Thị Tố Như (1998), “A contrastive analysis

of English and Vietnamese idioms using the terms of human body parts” by Nguyễn Thị Hiệp (2001), “A study of idioms containing color words in English and Vietnamese” by Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hảo (2005), “A study on English and Vietnamese idioms of comparison” by Ngô Đình Diệu Tâm (2005), “An investigation into syntactic and semantic features of idioms denoting causes and results” by Nguyễn Thị Thu Mai (2009) Most of them mainly focus on the semantic and some cultural aspects of idioms However, until now there has been

no research that deals with the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ and their Vietnamese equivalents

2.2 An overview of English idioms

2.2.1 Definition of idioms

Understanding the lexicon of English demands more than knowing the denotative meaning of words It requires its speakers to have connotative word comprehension and more - an understanding of figurative language In order to understand a language, we must know what the idioms in that language mean If we try to figure out the meaning of an idiom literally, word by word, we will get befuddled We have to know its hidden meaning Because of idioms, learning a language can be complicated There are various definitions of idioms According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, idiom is “a group of words whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words.”

According to "Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture", an idiom is “a fixed phrase that has its own special meanings and it is impossible to guess the meanings from separated words" This definition is the same as the one in the Oxford Dictionary: "a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular

meaning that is different from the meanings of each word understood by its own" is called an idiom Jennifer Seidl and Mordie (1988) held a similar definion about idiom According to him, an idiom is a number of words which, when taken together, have different meanings from the individual meanings of each word

In Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Johan Than Crowder (1995) defines an idiom as “a phrase whose meaning is difficult or sometimes impossible to guess by looking at the individual words it contains”.This means that an idiom can be defined

as a number of words which when taken together, have a different meaning from the individual meaning of each word While Cruse (1986) defines idiom as an expression the meaning of which cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts And Cowie (1975) defines that an idiom is "a group of words with set meanings that cannot be calculated by adding up the separate meaning not deducible from those of the separate words " As for Palmer (1990), “an idiom is an expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts."

Fernando & Flavell (1981) consider that the central problem with finding a definition of idiom is identifying the properties that can adequately capture all the idioms in a language, while at the same time excluding all the non-idioms They propose the following definition: “A pure idiom is a non-literal set expression whose meaning is not a compositional function of its syntactic constituents but which always has a homonymous literal counterpart.” Casares (1992) definies idioms as fixed combinations of two or more terms, that function as elements in a sentence and whose unitary, known meaning is not simply justified as the sym of the usual meanings of its component parts

There are also many definitions of idioms in Vietnamese

Hoàng Phê (1997) stated that an idiom is considered to be “a set of expression whose meaning is generally inexplicable simply through the meanings of individual words it contains”

Hoàng Văn Hành (2002) defines an idiom as “a stable word group with a solid formation and structure, and a complete and figurative meaning, used in everyday communication, especially in spoken language” And according to Đái Xuân Ninh (1976),"An idiom is a set of expressions whose constituents lose their independence

to some extent and combined into a rather complete and stable unit"

In this thesis, definitions given by Palmer and Cruse are adopted because they satisfy the research’s aims of syntactic and semantic analysis of idioms They stated

that an idiom is a fixed group of words or an expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts

2.2.2 The word ‘no’ in English idioms

According to the Oxford dictionary, the word “no” is used to indicate that something is quite the opposite of what is being specified For example, it was no easy task persuading her or Toby is no fool It is also used in notices or slogans forbidding or rejecting something specified For instance, no smoking signs or no nukes In exlamation, “no” is used to give a negative response (‘Is anything wrong?’ ‘No.’), to expres disagreement or contradiction (‘This is boring.’ ‘No, it’s not!’), to express agreement with or affirmation of negative statement (‘They would never cause a fuss, oh no’) and to express shock or disappointment (‘Oh no, look at this!’)

According to the Cambridge dictionary, ‘no’ is a vote against a suggestion idea, law, etc., or a person who votes no (14 ayes to 169 noes – the noes have won)

English idioms containing the word ‘no’are a special kind of idioms in which the word ‘no’ is a key word And the word “no” is used in many ways:

- as a function word to express the negative of an alternative choice or possibility For example: shall we go out to dinner or no?

- in no respect or degree — used in comparisons For instant: you're no better than the rest of us

- not so — used to express negation, dissent, denial, or refusal For example: no, I'm not going

- used with a following adjective to imply a meaning expressed by the opposite positive statement For example: in no uncertain terms

- used as a function word to emphasize a following negative or to introduce a more emphatic, explicit, or comprehensive statement For instant: it's big, no, it's gigantic

- used as an interjection to express surprise, doubt, or incredulity

- used in combination with a verb to form a compound adjective For example: no-bake pie

2.2.3 Main features of idioms

2.2.3.1 Syntactic features

An idiom is a fixed group of words Each word is regarded as a component of

an idiom An idiom can consist of at least two components The stability in idioms

in English and Vietnamese is so high According to Cruse (1987), “They typically resist interruption and reordering of parts” That is to say, we cannot modify, omit

or replace parts without breaking or distorting their real meaning

According to syntactic well-formed principles as stated by Cruse (1987), most idioms are homophonous with grammatical well-formed transparent expressions, a few contain syntactic violations Also, restriction in idioms can be found in grammar and syntax We have “die likes flies” but “die liked a fly” is not an idiom Grains and Redman (1986) claim that all idioms are grammatically restricted Idioms typically refuse interruption and re-arrangement of components Moreover, idioms are structurally and lexically restricted We cannot add, modify, omit, or replace components without breaking or distorting their real meaning In addition, under some certain circumstances, one might need to use a suitable idiom If one component of the idiom slips his mind, the message cannot be conveyed It has been recognised by Palmer (1990) that although an idiom is semantically like a single word, it does not function like one Instead, it functions to some degree as a normal sequence of grammatical words

However, there are some contrastive ideas about the unchangeableness in form

of English idioms Chomsky (1965) sought out that an easier grammar means it is always able to describe all the sentences His methods to describe all the sentences

by the help of forms have been the main direction of his investigation Idioms in Chomsky’s theories, violating the distribution of grammatical morphemes are viewed as extra-linguistic features, consisting of certain constructions Fraser (1970) has specified the idioms between those which are able to undergo all the grammatical changes and those which are unable to undergo the smallest grammar changes at all Tense changes within idioms can be possibly made in most of the idioms, for they indicate the animation of the actions in different tenses on the person’s mind Changes as to singular and plural forms are also possible within

idioms; but not all the idioms undergo these changes, i.e in the idioms smell a rat,

kick the bucket, chew the fat the plural forms of buckets, rats, fats are irrelevant But

both idioms can be subjected to tense changes Adequately, unless in some idioms

the plural form is impossible, singular form may also be impossible in the others (spill the beans, rain cats and dogs) In some idioms the words can be used both in plural and in singular, besides, countable nouns can become uncountable ones and

vice-versa For example: wear the deck - wear the decks, go into detail – go into

details , in deep water – in deep waters, kid stuff – kids’ stuff, on bended knee - on

bended knees , a red herring – red herrings, etc

Furthermore, idiom is a set expression which works as a lexeme in sentence building and its components cannot be separated therefore if this happens, the idiom will not be it any more, but become other forms of language In addition, the structure of an idiom is not indivisible, and certain modifications are possible within certain boundaries Therefore, the syntactic features of idioms also play a very important role in protecting the primitive form and meaning of the idiom

2.2.3.2 Semantic features

According to the semantic feature, the ready-made phraseological units, idioms, have nearly nothing to do with their separate components; the meaning of such a unit is entirely new, and the current meanings of the constituents far

removed Such an example is: To say black is white This idiom means “to lie” It

has absolutely nothing in common with its constituents and if we try to understand its meaning according to them, we shall misunderstand it

Academician Vinogradov (1994) described the semantic change as a meaning which results from a peculiar chemical combination of words

This seems a really nice comparison because an entirely new quality comes into existence The semantic shift affecting phraseological units does not consist in

a mere change of meanings of each separate constituent part of the unit The meanings of the constituents merge to produce an entirely new meaning Another

example is: Put in the red According to the separate components, we cannot guess

the real meaning of the idiom, but due to these constituents we have an entirely new meaning, that is, “to brust, to lose everything”

Phraseological units are characterized by unity and they have been defined as word-groups conveying a single notion whereas in free word-groups each meaningful component stands for a separate notion And it is this characteristic that makes words and phraseological units similar to each other; both of them possess semantic unity But words unlike phraseological units, are also characterized by structural unity and this feature evidently lacks in phraseological units

A phraseological unit is a stable word-group characterized by completely or partially transferred meaning According to the definition, the semantic degree in phraseological unit may vary; it may be either completely or partially transferred This means that semantic change can affect either the whole word-group or only one

of its constituents An example of th first type is that following: Mark a day with a

white stone In this phraseological unit the semantic change has affected the whole

word-group, which means “To consider the day a remarkable one” whereas in “Mark

a day with a white chalk” the meaning is changed and we comprehand it literally The second type is represented by phraseologucal units in which one of the constituents preserves its primary meaning and the other one is used in a transferred

meaning: The blackest day of my life Here the words “day” and “life” are used in their direct meanings which help the understanding of the idiom, while “black” is

used metaphorically due to its symbolic meaning in culture Their integrity of meaning is none of the idiom components which are separately associated with objectives reality and the meaning of the whole unit cannot be deduced from the meanings of its components And there is no lexical substitution possible in an idiom in comparison with free or variable word combinations with an exception of some cases when such substitutions are made by the author intentionally

2.2.4 Idioms and other language units

2.2.4.1 Idioms and collocations

From all the definitions above it can be assumed that there is one common underlying principle which is based on the idea that the overall meaning of an idiom does not correspond to the combined meanings of its components However, Gill (2007) suggests that this criterion can apply to a wide range of phraseological structures, such as collocations, formulaic greetings, clichés and other conventionalised expressions

Kavka (2003) outlines the following distinction of the institutionalised expressions:

• Free combinations – the meaning of the whole expression is derived by general semantic combinatorial rules from the meanings of respective elements

• Fixed combinations (collocations) – composed of two items at least, in

which the choice of one imposes restrictions on the choice of the other

• Proper idioms – viewed generally as non-compositional

• In the attempt to find out where a free combination ends and where an idiomatic expression begins, Benson refers to free combinations as “the least cohesive type of word combination“, whereas idioms are described as “relatively frozen expressions whose meanings do not reflect the meanings of their component parts“ Similarly, Tkachuk holds that the constituents of collocations retain their original meaning, while the constituents of idioms acquire a new meaning as a whole Kavka (2003) comes up with a distinctive feature of invariability that sets the typical idioms apart and which allows for a certain degree of variance within grammatical categories, as opposed to absolute non-variability in the syntactic sphere Kvetko (2009) offers even a more precise picture of possible variants of idioms, stating that idioms can vary on syntagmatic or paradigmatic level, as well as

in terms of spelling and geographical variants

According to Fernando (1996), only expressions that are conventionally fixed

in a specific order and lexical form, with only a restricted set of variants, are granted the status of idioms Idioms are also considered as types of “long word” the meaning of which can be accessed directly, without prior decomposition or analysis

of the particular constituents, or through the retrieval of their stimulated meanings from the lexicon

The concept of word co-occurence is considered to be of crucial importance in terms of language interpretation Sinclair (1995) states that there are two ways how the language can be understood The first one is that language is commonly seen as the result of a very large number of complex choices that are restrained only by grammaticalness, being more or less a “slot-and-filler“ model However, this way of seeing language is rather incomplete Moreover, it is obvious that words do not occur randomly Therefore Sinclair (1995) comes up with a second concept which

is called “the principle of idiom“ According to this principle language users operate with a large number of semi-preconstructed phrases constituting single linguistic choices that are influenced and limited by register

Covie (1998) in his book Phraseology puts emphasis on the significance of set phrases or phrasemes, claiming that people do not speak in separate words but rather in prefabricated phrases that have to be stored and used as a whole According to him, the main substantive property of a phraseme is above all its noncompositionality that does not enable the phraseological expressions to be constructed from single words according to general lexicological rules He even

regards set phrases as the numerically predominant lexical units that outnumber words approximately ten to one, collocations making up the major part of the phrasement of inventory

2.2.4.2 Idioms and proverbs

Often, the terms ‘idiom’ and ‘proverb’, are considered similar to each other This is based on their same short sentence nature and the usage in expressions Also, like an idiom, a proverb has a meaning that is greater than the meaning of its individual words Similarly, idioms, like proverbs are considered as common sayings, but the former are simple expressions as compared to the wise sayings of the latter

The term ‘Idiom’ is defined as a small collection of words, whose meaning is completely different than the meaning of the used words They are generally words, phrases or expressions that cannot be taken literally It is a figure of speech, which has a figurative meaning Also, this figurative meaning is quite different from the literal meaning of the words used in an idiom

For example: Break a leg

A little bird told me Now, in the first example, the literal meaning would be to actually pick up a stick and break a person’s leg, but the idiomatic meaning is wishing a person good luck before any performance, or exam or an event Similarly, in the second example, a bird is compared to a person figuratively, who is said to have told another person a secret

A ‘proverb’, on the other hand, is defined as a short, well known saying, which states the truth or a piece of advice It is a short sentence, in which the meaning of the words is literal, and they are frozen (tense cannot be changed) in the saying It usually tells us about the bearing of the worlds and imparts wisdom through its meaning For example: The pen is mightier than the sword

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

A friend in need is a friend indeed Empty vessels make much noise

As one can understand, all the above sentences have a deeper meaning and reflect a way of life in their saying

Based on the above definitions, the terms ‘idioms’ and ‘proverbs’, can be easily differentiated The basic difference is based on their usage and purpose, wherein the idiom is a figurative expression, and a proverb is a brief piece of

wisdom Another difference is in their meaning, the idioms have different meanings based on the culture, while proverb is based on practical or common knowledge The comparison between idioms and proverbs is presented clearly in some

areas Firstly, in terms of the definitions, while idiom is defined as “an expression

whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts” (Palmer 1990),

proverb is concepted as “a short popular saying, usually of unknown andancient

origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or useful thought; adage; saw” Secondly, the form and the use of each unit is different, the form of idioms is just a form of expressing things or actions while the form of proverbs is short stories with moral messages in order to give advice Futhermore, idioms are considered as colloquial metaphors which do not reflect the actual meaning of the words while proverbs are regarded as short sentences which are often literal and mean what they define Finally, idioms may be short phrases or complete sentences and proverbs are usually short sentences

2.2.4.3 Idioms and fixed expressions

The difference between idioms and fixed expressions are very clear when it comes to the definition of each one While idioms mean something other than the

literal meaning of its individual words, for example: every cloud has its silver lining (after hard time, there is a better one); there is a light at the end of the

tunnel (encourages people by giving hope), fixed idioms take on a more specific

meaning than the expression itself, for instant: All of a sudden (surprise and

sudden ); come into mind (come to think); get out of one’s head (want to forget)

The main problems between idioms and fixed expressions are the ability to recognize and interpret an idiom correctly; and the difficulties involved in rendering the various aspects of meaning that idiom or fixed expression conveys into the target language

An idiom or fixed expression may have a similar counterpart in the target

language, but its context of use may be different For example: English idiom: To

sing a different tune (to say or do something that signals a change in opinion

because it contradicts what one has said or done before) Vietnamese: lưỡi không

xương nhiều đường lắt léo

2.2.4.4 Idioms and phrases

Idioms and phrases are similarly considered as combination of words But there are two major differences between idioms and phrases.The first discrepancy is about the structures.The structure of idioms tend to be frozen in form and position

of the words as “ready-made utterances” or single “items” but phrases are free

combinations of the words and idioms cannot be added, removed any word or changed orders without breaking the meanings of the idioms while phrases’ compenents have changeable relation Another is about the meanings, while idioms are groups of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words and cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts, proverbs are groups of words acting as a single part of speech and not containing both a subject and a verb, and does not express a complete thought

It is not an easy task to recognize the differences between ordinary phrases

and idioms We can take an example as illustration: (1) "She put her foot in her

mouth" (idiom) has the same structure as (2) "She put her bracelet in her drawer" (phrase) "The drawer in which she put her bracelet was hers" and "Her bracelet

was put in her drawer" are sentences related to sentence (2) But "The mouth in

which she out her foot was hers" and "Her foot was put into her mouth" do not have

the same idiomatic sense of sentence (1)

2.2.5 Concepts of semantic fields

Words may be classified according to the concepts underlying their meaning This classification is closely connected with the theory of conceptual or semantic fields By the term “semantic fields” we understand closely knit sectors of

vocabulary each characterised by a common concept For example, the words blue, red, yellow, black, etc may be described as making up the semantic field of

colours, the words mother, father, brother, cousin, etc — as members of the

semantic field

The members of the semantic fields are not synonyms but all of them are joined together by some common semantic component — the concept of colours or the concept of kinship, etc This semantic component common to all the members

of the field is sometimes described as the common denominator of meaning All members of the field are semantically interdependent as each member helps to delimit and determine the meaning of its neighbours and is semantically delimited and determined by them It follows that the word-meaning is to a great extent determined by the place it occupies in its semantic field

The followers of this theory argue that semantic fields reveal the fact that human experience is analysed and elaborated in a unique way, differing from one language to another In abroad sense, they assert that people speaking different languages actually have different concepts, as it is through language that we ‘"see” the real world around us In short, they deny the primacy of matter forgetting that our concepts are formed not only through linguistic experience, but primarily

Lexico-semantic groups seem to play a very important role in determining individual meanings of polysemantic words in lexical contexts When analysing

lexical contexts we saw that the verb take, e.g,, in combination with any member of the lexical group denoting means of transportation is synonymous with the verb go (take the tram, the bus, etc.) When combined with members of another lexical

group the same verb is synonymous with to drink (to take tea, coffee, etc.) Such

word-groups are often used not only in scientific lexicological analysis, but also in practical class-room teaching In a number of textbooks we find words with some

common denominator of meaning listed under the headings Flowers, Fruit, Domestic Animals, and so on

2.3 Summary

In the above chapter, some previous studies have been presented that relate to English and Vietnamese idioms, the overview of English idioms which consists of definition of idioms, definition of EIN, main features of idioms in term of syntactic and semantic features, the differences between idioms and other language units, and concepts of semantic fields is also mentioned

CHAPTER 3: ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD ‘NO’ WITH

REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms containing the word ‘no’ with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

3.1.1 Phrase Structures

3.1.1.1 Noun phrase

According to Quirk (1985), “A noun phrase consists of a head, which is

typically a noun and of elements which (either obligatorily or optionally) determine the head and (optionally) modify the head, or complement another element in the phrase.” From his definition, it is clear that a noun phrase is a word group with a noun or pronoun as its head The noun head can be accompanied by determiners

(such as the, a/an, his, their ), modifiers and/or complements

In form of noun phrases, EIN in the analyzed material are found with six patterns such as Det + N/NP; Det + Adj + N; Det + N/NP + Det + N/NP; Det + N/NP + Prep + N/NP; Adj + N/NP + Det + V; Det + N + V-ed

Pattern 1: Det + N/NP

With the pattern of Det + N/NP, EIN include 35 samples which accounts for 48,6% out of 72 ones in total and when they are with relation of Vietnamese equivalents, they can be Adjective Phrase (36,5%), Verb Phrase (8,3%) and Noun Phrase (9,7%)

To illustrate the change from Noun Phrase of EIN to Adjective Phrase of Vietnamese equivalents, let us look at these examples:

(1) There’s just no comparison between canned food and fresh ones

(Có khác biệt giữa đồ ăn đóng họp và đồ ăn tươi)

(2) If they catches her listening into their conversation, there will be no chance to get away

(Nếu chúng phát hiện ra cô ấy nghe lén cuộc hội thoại, cô ấy sẽ không thể

chạy thoát được)

(3) Jack is Jane’s brother! No wonder he reminds me so much of her!

(Jack là anh trai của Jane! Không ngạc nhiên khi anh ấy cứ nhắc về cô ấy với

tôi)

To demostrate the turning of EIN’s Noun Phrase into Verb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents, here are some examples:

(4) When those two teams face each other, it is no contest

(Khi hay đội đó gặp nhau, không có gì đặc biệt cả)

(5) No offense, Rooney, but everything you believe is wrong!

(Tôi không có ý xúc phạm, Rooney ạ, nhưng mọi thứ anh tin tưởng đều sai)

(6) A: Do you mind carrying all this up to my room?

(7) Zack is no brow! He doesn’t know anything, even the simplest things

(Zack là kẻ ngốc nghếch! Anh ta không biết bất kỳ điều gì, kể cả những điều

đơn giản nhất)

(8) My niece is no count She is not willing to help anyone in family when

they need her

(Cháu gái tôi là một người lười biếng Nó không sẵn lòng giúp đỡ bất kỳ ai

trong gia đình khi họ cần)

Pattern 2: Det + Adj + N

The pattern of Det + Adj + N of EIN has 11 idioms occupies 15,3% out of 72

in total and can be Adjective Phrase (9,1%), Noun Phrase (2,1%) and Verb Phrase (1%) in Vietnamese equivalents

To demostrate the shift of EIN’s Noun Phrase into Adjective Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents, I found some examples as follows:

(9) I will have no hard feelings when seeing her going out with his new

boyfriend

(Tôi sẽ không tức giận khi nhìn thấy cô ấy hẹn hò với bạn trai mới)

(10) It was no big deal when we failed for the first time, let’s try once more

time!

(Thất bại lần đầu tiên không nghiêm trọng như thế, chúng ta hãy thử thêm

một lần nữa!)

And here are some examples of the turning into Noun Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents:

(11) He is no spring chicken but he still takes the night shift

(Ông ấy không còn trẻ nữa nhưng ông ấy vẫn nhận làm ca đêm)

(12) His daughter tried to think about such no earthly reason, how can

anyone be tricked by that!

(Cô con gái của ông ta đã cố nghĩ lý do không hợp lý như vậy, ai mà có thể

bị lừa cơ chứ!)

Noun Phrase in EIN is changed into Verb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents in only one sample no such thing, for example: There is no such thing as a free advertisement (Không có thứ như quảng cáo miễn phí)

Pattern 3: Det + N/NP + Det + N/NP

In Vietnamese equivalents, Noun Phrase of EIN which occupies 5,6% out of

72 ones in total can be Verb Phrase (1,5%), Adjective Phrase (1,2%), and Noun Phrase (3,9%) And the followings are some examples to illustrate:

(13) I hardly cannot do any more push-ups, but when I think about “no pain,

no gain”, it seems like I have more strength to continue

(Tôi gần như không thể chống đẩy thêm được nữa, nhưng khi tôi nghĩ về câu

tục ngữ “có chí làm quan, có gan làm giàu”, tôi dường như có thêm sức mạnh để

tiếp tục cố gắng)

(14) Look, everybody is happy with the result of the negotiation, this is called

“no harm, no foul”

(Xem kìa, mọi người ai nấy đều hài lòng với kết quả của cuộc đàm phán, cái

này gọi là “không có hại, không hôi”)

(15) No harm, no foul, this is baseball: you hit our guy we hit yours

(Thùng rỗng kêu to, đây là bóng chày: cậu tấn công người của chúng tôi

chúng tôi tấn công lại)

Pattern 4: Det + N/NP + Prep + N/NP

Noun Phrase in EIN consists of 15 samples account for 20,8%, can be Verb Phrase (10,4%) and Adjective Phrase (8,3%) in Vietnamese equivalents can is demonstrated as follows:

(16) There are no two ways about it You have to do it anyway

(Không còn cách nào khác Bạn phải làm nó thôi)

(17) There is no joy in Mudville when she says goodbye to me forever

(Thật buồn khi cô ấy nói tạm biệt tôi mãi mãi)

(18) You cannot be successful with that mission No doubt about it!

(Không nghi ngờ gì hết! Cậu không thể nào thành công với nhiệm vụ đó được)

Pattern 5: Adj + N/NP + Det + V

There are only 2 samples (2,8%) of Noun Phrase in EIN and only 2 ones of Adverb Phrases (3,5%) in Vietnamese equivalent, for examples:

(19) Long time no see How is it going recently?

(Lâu quá không gặp Dạo này mọi thứ thế nào rồi?)

(20) Long time no hear I wonder how he is living now

(Lâu quá không gặp Tôi phân vân không biết hiện giờ anh ta đang sống như

thế nào)

And the final pattern is:

Pattern 6: Det + N + V-ed

In this, Noun Phrase in EIN concludes 5 samples account for 6,9% and Verb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents has 5 samples occupy 4,5% For instance:

(21) Linda, I need you to finish this report by this afternoon, no question asked

(Linda, tôi cần cô hoàn thành bản báo cáo này vào chiều nay, không được hỏi

gì hết

(22) When Tom negotiates a contract, he goes in with no holds barred and

comes out with a good contract

(Khi Tôm đàm phán hợp đồng, anh ta không giữ lại gì khi đàm phàn và thắng

được một hợp đồng khá)

The above knowledge is summarized in Table 3.1 as follows:

Table 3.1 The structures of EIN noun phrase and their Vietnamese

equivalents

3.1.1.2 Verb phrase

According to Quirk (1985), “a verb phrase consists of a verb which either

stands a lone as the entire verb phrase, or is preceded by up to auxiliaries.” There are two types of verb phrase: Simple verb phrase (consists of a main verb) and complex verb phrase (may include one modal verb and one or more auxiliary verbs before the main verb)

As I have found, there are 7 EIN verb phrase structures with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents as follows:

Pattern 7: Det + V-ing

Verb Phrase in EIN consists of 3 samples (4,1%) while Verb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents includes the same number of 3 samples but accounts for 3,9% For example:

(23) William failed for the first time but there was no messing with his

(1) Det + N/NP 48,6 Adjective Phrase

Verb Phrase Noun Phrase

36,5 8,3 9,7 (2) Det + Adj + N 15,3 Adjective Phrase

Noun Phrase Verb Phrase

9,1 2,1

1 (3) Det + N/NP + Det +

N/NP

5,6 Verb Phrase

Adjective Phrase Noun Phrase

1,5 1,2 3,9 (4) Det + N/NP + Prep +

N/NP

20,8 Verb Phrase

Adjective Phrase

10,4 8,3 (5) Adj + N/NP + Det + V 2,8 Adverb Phrase 3,5

(24) No kidding, she has gone

(Không phải đùa đâu, cô ấy đi rồi)

Pattern 8: V + Det + Adv

EIN’s Verb Phrase involves 1 sample (1,4%) and Verb Phrase in Vietnamese also has 1 sample (0,9%) For instance:

(25) Everybody in the class says no more about that decision

(Mọi người trong lớp đều tán thành quyết định đó)

Pattern 9: V + Det + N/NP

In this pattern, EIN’s Verb Phrase comprises 31 samples (41,8%) while in Vietnamese equivalents, it is Verb Phrase that composes 15 samples (12,5%), 11 samples (16,7%) of Adjective Phrase and 5 samples (24,6%) of Noun Phrase

To illustrate, here are some examples:

(26) People are discussing much about that rumour but it cuts no ice with me

(Mọi người đang bàn tán nhiều về tin đồn đó nhưng nó chẳng liên quan đến tôi)

(27) The horse can start fairly fast, but it has no staying power so it may lose

(Con ngựa có thể bắt đầu tương đối nhanh, nhưng sức nó không bền vì thế nó

có thể sẽ thua cuộc)

(28) Disobeying traffic rules is no laughing matter, this behaviour needs to

be adjusted immediately

(Không tuân thủ luật lệ giao thông là một vấn đề nghiêm trọng, hành vi này

cần phải được điều chỉnh ngay lập tức)

Pattern 10: V + Det + N + Past Participle/Prep

In the pattern 9, EIN’s Verb Phrase consists of 4 samples (5,4%) while in Vietnamese equivalents, the number of Verb Phrase is 2 samples (1,7%) and that of Adjective Phrase is also 2 samples (2,7%) For example:

(29) This mission has no strings attached so you can finish it whenever you

want

(Nhiệm vụ này không giới hạn vì vậy bạn có thể hoàn thành nó bất cứ khi

nào bạn muốn)

(30) The police said that they would leave no stone unturned in their search

for the stolen jewellery

(Cảnh sát cho biết họ sẽ không bỏ sót bất kỳ điều gì trong quá trình điều tra

số trang sức bị đánh cắp)

Pattern 11: V + Det + N + Prep + N/Pro

EIN’s Verb Phrase composes 25 samples (33,7%) while in Vietnamese equivalents, Verb Phrase consists of 19 samples (18,7%) and Adjective Phrase contains 6 samples (9,4%) For instance:

(31) Emergency service spares no effort to help people whose homes were

been destroyed by the tornadoes

(Dịch vụ cấp cứu cố gắng hết mức có thể để giúp đỡ các gia đình bị cơn lốc

phá huỷ)

(32) After being refused by Jane, he has no heart for another girl

(Sau khi bị Jane từ chối, anh ấy không còn tâm trạng cho một cô gái khác)

Pattern 12: V + Det + N + V-ing/To infinitive

EIN’s Verb Phrase consists of 5 samples (6,8%) and in Vietnamese equivalents, the number of Verb Phrase is 5 samples (4,2%) For example:

(33) You have no business reading my private letter

(Anh không có quyền đọc thư cá nhân của tôi)

(34) She is no oil painting but she is a kind girl

(Cô ấy không cuốn hút nhưng là một cô gái tử tế)

Pattern 13: V + Prep + Det + N

EIN’s Verb Phrase contains 5 samples (6,8%) while in Vietnamese equivalents, Verb Phrase has 4 samples (3,3%) and Adjective Phrase composes only

1 sample (1,4%) For instance:

(35) I am sad when the nice summer weather finally comes to an end

(Tôi thấy buồn khi mà thời tiết tuyệt vời mùa hè cuối cùng cũng kết thúc)

(36) The colour of somebody’s skin should be of no account

(Không nên quan trọng hoá màu da của ai đó)

From all of the information above, we have Table 3.2 to illustrate the structures of EIN verb phrases with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents as follows:

Table 3.2 The structures of EIN verb phrase and their Vietnamese equivalents

3.1.1.3 Adjective phrase

According to Quirk (1985), “an adjective phrase consists of an adject as head,

optionally preceded and followed by modifying elements”

In my point of view, an adjective phrase is a group of words that describe a noun or pronoun in a sentence The adjective in an adjective phrase can appear at the start, end, or in the middle of the phrase The adjective phrase can be placed before, or after, the noun or pronoun in the sentence

There are 2 different patterns of EIN adjective phrase with reference to Vietnamese equivalents:

Pattern 14: Det + Adj

Adjective Phrase of EIN in this pattern contains 2 samples (66,7%) out of 4 in total while Adjective Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents consists of the same number – 2 samples (3,8%) To demostrate, here are two examples:

(37) He said to me that he would help me no more

(Anh ấy nói với tôi rằng anh ấy sẽ không giúp tôi một chút nào nữa)

(38) The competitiveness of the agricultural industry is no better than it used

(9) V + Det + N/NP 41,8 Verb Phrase

Adjective Phrase Noun Phrase

12,5 16,7 24,6 (10) V + Det + N + Past

Participle/Prep

5,4 Verb Phrase

Adjective Phrase

1,7 2,7 (11) V + Det + N + Prep +

N/Pro

33,7 Verb Phrase

Adjective Phrase

18,7 9,4 (12) V + Det + N + V-ing/To

Pattern 15: Prep + Adj + Det + N

With this pattern, Adjective Phrase in source language composes only 1 sample (33,3%) and Adjective Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents has the same number (2,1%) For example:

(39) They come to the office in less than no time

(14)Det + Adj 66,7 Adjective Phrase 3,8 (15)Prep + Adj + Det + N 33,3 Adjective Phrase 2,1

Pattern 16: Det + Adv

Only 1 sample (100%) of Adverb Phrase in EIN and one sample (0,8%) of Verb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents have been found

(40) They no longer belong to each other

(Họ không còn thuộc về nhau nữa)

And here is the table 3.4 demostrating the structure of EIN adverb phrase with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents:

Table 3.4 The structure of EIN adverb phrase and their Vietnamese

3.1.1.5 Prepositional phrase

Quirk (1985) said that “a prepositional phrase consists of a preposition

followed by a prepositional complement, which is normally a noun phrase.” In my knowledge, every prepositional phrase which functions as an adjective or adverb is

a series of words made up of a preposition and its object The object may be a noun, pronoun, gerund or clause

There are 6 patterns which can be found as:

Pattern 17: Prep + Det + N

Prepositional Phrase in EIN comprises 21 samples (81%) and can be changed into Adjective Phrase (6,4%), Verb Phrase (7,9%) and Adverb Phrase (60%) in Vietnamese equivalents

To illustrate these, I have some examples:

(41) In no way I am going to agree with any of his ideas

(Không đời nào tôi tán thành bất kỳ ý kiến nào của hắn ta)

(42) By no stretch of the imagination can she be described as an artist

(Dù suy diễn thế nào đi chăng nữa thì cô ta cũng chẳng thể được tả như một

người nghệ sỹ)

(43) Under no circumstances are you to go out

(Dù trong bất cứ hoàn cảnh nào bạn cũng không được ra ngoài)

Pattern 18: Prep + Det + N + N + Prep + N

This pattern contains 1 sample (3,8%) of Prepositional Phrase in EIN while there is also only 1 sample (10%) of Adverb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents For instance:

(44) I have been doing that job for 20 years, so I know I am the most qualified

candidate in no way, shape, or form

(Tôi đã và đang làm công việc đó 20 năm nay, vì thế tôi biết tôi là ứng cử

riêng sáng giá nhất dù trong bất kỳ khía cạnh nào)

Pattern 19: Prep + Prep + Det + N

Prepositional Phrase in EIN has 1 sample (3,8%) while there is also only 1 sample (1,3%) of Adjective Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents

(45) It is only one kilometre so we will be there in next to no time

(Chỉ còn có 1 km vì vậy chúng tôi sẽ tới đó rất nhanh thôi)

Pattern 20: Prep + Det + Adj + N

Prepositional Phrase in EIN consists of 1 sample (3,8%) and there exists 1 sample (1,3%) of Adjective Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents

(46) I was told in no uncertain terms that I will have to accept the rule

(Tôi được thông báo quả quyết rằng tôi sẽ phải chấp nhận quy định)

Pattern 21: Prep + Det + N + Prep + NP

Prepositional Phrase in EIN contains 1 sample (3,8%) while there is also 1 sample (0,8%) of Verb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents

(47) By no stretch of the imagination do I think our tema has a chance of

winning tonight

(Dù suy diễn thế nào đi chăng nữa thì tôi cũng không nghĩ đội của chúng tôi

có cơ hội chiến thắng tối nay)

And the last one:

Prepositional Phrase in EIN has only 1 sample (3,8%) and there is also only 1 sample (0,8%) of Verb Phrase in Vietnamese equivalents

(48) Jimmy is in no mood for joking

(Jimmy không có tâm trạng đùa)

Table 3.5 shows the structures of EIN prepositional phrases with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents:

Table 3.5 The structures of EIN prepositional phrase and their Vietnamese

(17)Prep + Det + N 81 Adjective Phrase

Verb Phrase Adverb Phrase

6,4 7,9

60 (18)Prep + Det + N + N +

Prep + N

(19)Prep + Prep + Det + N 3,8 Adjective Phrase 1,3

(20)Prep + Det + Adj + N 3,8 Adjective Phrase 1,3

(21)Prep + Det + N + Prep +

to the sentential structures of EIN, the first one was found

According to Quirk (1985), “a simple sentence consists of a single

independence clause” From the concept, there are some EIN formed in this way as follows:

Pattern 23: S + V + C

In this pattern, there are 14 samples (26,4%) of simple sentential structure of EIN which can be changed into Adjective Phrase (4 samples – 5,1%), Verb Phrase + Verb Phrase (2 samples – 1,6%), Subject + Verb + Complement (simple pattern:

7 samples – 41,2%), and Subject + Verb + Object, Subject + Verb + Object (simple pattern: 1 sample – 5,9%)

(49) It is no use asking me I don’t know

(Hỏi tớ vô ích Tớ không biết)

(50) You cannot take over this all by yourself, no one is an island

(Cậu không thể chiếm hết tất cả những thứ này một mình được, sống phải biết

người biết ta)

(51) Don’t hate those poor people, poverty is not a crime, they should be

loved

(Đừng ghét những người nghèo khó đó, nghèo không phải cái tội, họ nên

được yêu thương)

(52) Necessity knows no law, I am in need of money now so I will take any

chance to have a job,

(Cùng tắc biến, tôi đang cần tiền vì thế tôi sẽ tận dụng bất kỳ cơ hội việc làm nào)

Pattern 24: S + V + C + A

With the pattern of S + V + C + A, there are 21 samples (39,7%) of simple sentential structure of EIN which can be changed into Verb Phrase (10 samples – 7,9%), Noun Phrase (7 samples – 29,2%), Adjective Phrase (3 samples – 3,8%), and Adverb Phrase (1 sample – 100%) in Vietnamese equivalents

(53) It is no good crying over spilt milk, that what has gone is gone forever,

we should look ahead

(Không nên luyến tiếc điều đã qua, chuyện gì xảy ra cũng đã xảy ra rồi,

chúng ta nên nhìn về phía trước)

(54) There is no accounting for taste I love going to the beach in winters

(Mỗi người một sở thích Tôi thích ra biển vào mùa đông)

(55) It is no crime to ask for the unknown information

(Hỏi xin thông tin chưa biết là không sai)

Pattern 25: S + V + O

With this pattern, simple sentential structure of EIN has 13 samples account for 24,5% and can be shifted into Verb Phrase (5 samples – 4%), Subject + Verb + Complement (7 samples – 41,2%), and Adjective Phrase (1 samples – 1,3%) For example:

(56) A lie has no legs, the truth will finally prevail

(Giấu đầu hở đuôi, sự thật cuối cùng cũng sẽ phơi bày)

(57) Our products need no ad campaign, just as good wine needs no bush

(Sản phẩm của chúng tôi không cần chiến dịch quảng cáo, chỉ là hữu xạ tự

(58) Keeping in mind that a shut mouth catches no flies, make sure not to say

anything about the new boss

(Hãy nhớ đa ngôn đa quán, chắc chắn rằng không được nói bất kỳ điều gì về

sếp mới)

Pattern 26: S + V + O + A

In this pattern, simple sentential structure of EIN consists 4 samples which occupy 7,5%, and in Vietnamese equivalents, Verb Phrase includes 2 samples (0,3%), Subject + Verb + Object contains only 1 sample (5,9%), and Subject + Verb + Complement has also 1 sample (5,9%)

(59) We have to be ready to change the plan all the time No plan survives contact with the enemy

(Chúng ta phải sẵn sàng thay đổi kế hoạch mọi lúc Tuỳ cơ ứng biến)

(60) I don’t want him on our ball team, chain is no stronger than its weakest link

(Tôi không muốn anh ta ở đội bóng của tôi, con sâu làm rầu nồi canh)

Pattern 27: S + V + O + O

There is only one sample in EIN that is S + V + O + O (1,9%), and also only one Verb Phrase (0,8%) in Vietnamese equivalents

(61) It makes me no nevermind when she comes into the class

(Tôi chẳng quan tâm khi cô ta đi vào lớp)

Table 3.6 illustrates the sentence structures of EIN with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents as follows:

Table 3.6 Sentential structures of EIN and their Vietnamese equivalents

5,1 1,6 41,2 5,9

(24)S + V + C +

A

Noun Phrase Adjective Phrase Adverb Phrase

7,9 29,2 3,8

100 (25)S + V + O 24,5 Verb Phrase

Subject + Verb + Complemet Adjective Phrase

4 41,2 1,3 (26)S + V + O +

O

And, the following is the summarized table: