Ellipsis in complex sentences in the novel “gone with the wind” in english and their vietnamese equivalents in translated version

ABSTRACT This thesis deals with the ellipsis in complex sentences collected from the novel “Gone with the wind” in English by Margaret Mitchel and their Vietnamese equivalents in transla

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

ĐONG THI KIM OANH

Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

ELLIPSIS IN COMPLEX SENTENCES IN THE NOVEL “GONE WITH THE WIND” IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN TRANSLATED VERSION (TỈNH LƯỢC CỦA CÂU PHỨC TRONG TIỂU THUYẾT TIẾNG ANH “CUỐN THEO CHIỀU GIÓ” VÀ NHỮNG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG VIỆT)

ĐỒNG THỊ KIM OANH Field: English Language

Code: 8.22.02.01

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Đăng Sửu

HANOI-2020

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled ELLIPSIS IN COMPLEX SENTNCES IN THE NOVEL “GONE WITH THE WIND” IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN TRANSLATED VERSION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except for the indicated reference, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2020

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Dang Suu

Date:………

A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at Hanoi Open University and many others Through their constructive criticisms, excellent methodological reviews, and insistence on the rubric, these distinguished university members influenced the quality of this graduation thesis positively Furthermore, without their supports and encouragements, it would not have been possible for me to accomplish this thesis

Last but not least, I am grateful to my family for their support, understanding, and love Without their sacrifices throughout these arduous years at Hanoi Open University, I would not have had the courage to accomplish this study Thank you so much

ABSTRACT

This thesis deals with the ellipsis in complex sentences collected from the novel “Gone with the wind” in English by Margaret Mitchel and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version by Vu Kim Thu to help the teachers and learners of English master the elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences and use them more accurately and effectively In the thesis the theoretical background is based on the viewpoints of Randolph Quirk Et.al (1985) The combination of the descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and comparative methods is used in the thesis The descriptive method is frequently used to build a good theoretical background for further research Quantitative method is applied to identify and collect types of elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind”

by Margaret Mitchell and their Vietnamese equivalents The qualitative and comparative methods are also utilized to investigate types of elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind”

by Margaret Mitchell and their Vietnamese equivalents in order to draw out some remarks on the translation of ellipsis in complex sentences in English literary works into Vietnamese In this thesis some challenges in teaching, learning ellipsis and translating elliptical elements into Vietnamese are also referred to Some recommendations on teaching and learning English ellipsis are suggested so that the learners of English can overcome these drawbacks

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: A summary of ellipsis found in the novel “Gone with the

Wind” and their Vietnamese equivalents

31

TABLE OF CONTENST

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives 2

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Structure of the study 4

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Review of previous studies 6

2.1.1 Previous studies overseas 6

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam 6

2.2 Overview of sentences 7

2.2.1 The concept of sentence 7

2.2.2 Classification of sentences in terms of structures 9

2.2.3 Overview of complex sentence 10

2.3 Overview of ellipsis 17

2.3.1 The concept of ellipsis 17

2.3.2 Types of ellipsis in complex sentences 18

2.3.3 Ellipsis of subordinating conjunction “that” 25

2.4 Summary 26

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 27

3.1 Research approaches 27

3.1.1 Research questions 27

3.1.2 Research setting 27

3.2 Research method(s) 28

3.3 Data collection and data analysis 29

3.3.1 Data collection and data analysis 29

3.3.2 Data collection techniques 29

3.3.3 Data analysis techniques 29

3.4 Summary 30

CHAPTER 4 ELLIPSIS IN COMPLEX SENTENCES IN THE NOVEL “GONE WITH THE WIND” IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED VERSION BY VU KIM THU 31

4.1 A summary of ellipsis in complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version by Vu Kim Thu 31 4.2 English elliptical noun phrase in the novel “Gone witht the Wind” and its Vietnamese equivalents 32

4.2.1 Ellipsis of pre-modifier + head noun 33

4.2.2 Ellipsis of head noun alone 33

4.2.3 Summary of noun phrase ellipsis 37

4.3 English elliptical clauses and its Vietnamese equivalents 38

4.3.1 Ellipsis of the predication in finite clause 38

4.3.2 The ellipsis of predicate 43

4.3.3 Ellipsis in Wh- clause 44

4.3.4 Ellipsis in to- infinitive clause 45

4.3.5 Summary of English elliptical clause and its Vietnamese equivalents 45

4.4 English special ellipsis and its Vietnamese equivalents 45

4.4.1 English ellipsis in non-finite clause and their Vietnamese equivalents 46

4.4.2 English ellipsis in verbless clause and their Vietnamese equivalents 47

4.4.3 Summary of special ellipsis 49

4.5 The ellipsis of subordinating conjunctions “that” and their Vietnamese equivalents 50

4.5.1 The ellipsis of subordinating conjunctions “that” and their Vietnamese equivalents 50

4.5.2 Summary of ellipsis of subordinating conjunctions “that” and their Vietnamese equivalents 51

4.6 Some remarks drawn from the translation of ellipsis in complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the Wind” in translated version by Vu Kim Thu 52

4.7 Pedagogical implications of the thesis 53

4.7.1 Challenges in teaching-leaning English ellipsis 53

4.7.2 Implications for learning and teaching ellipsis effectively 53

4.8 Summary 55

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 56

5.1 Recapitulation 56

5.2 Concluding remarks 57

5.3 Limitation of the research 58

5.4 Recommendations 58

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

It cannot be denied that language plays an important role in human life, it enables people to express their ideas, knowledge, information, and feelings clearly Chomsky (1957: 13) defines language as “a set of sentences (finite or infinite sentences), and each sentence is constructed with a variety of elements” Sentence is

a language unit with a notification function There are a number of different research points relating to this one More and more new concepts about the nature

of the content of sentences as well as their activities in speech arise Linguists, basing on their real surveys in many different dimensions, have been given useful and interesting explanations for theoretical issues about sentences and they have been trying to give applied research results into the teaching practice of languages

in general and English in particular

English is generally acknowledged to be the world’s most important language In English, sentences could be divided into two types of sentence The first type is based on the function (purpose) of the sentence, such as declarative sentence, interrogative sentence, imperative sentence, and exclamatory sentence The second type is based on the structure of the sentence, such as simple sentence, compound sentence and complex sentence

Complex sentence has become the central interest of a large number of linguists as well as learners of English and it is widely used in every aspect of our lives Complex sentence is a sentence which consists of one main clause as the superordinate clause and two or more subordinate clauses as the elements of the complex sentence (Quirk, et.al 1985) Moreover, there is more than one unequal clause used to construct a complex sentence People might have difficulty in learning, understanding, constructing or using complex sentence either in communication or in enjoying literary works In almost literary works, especially novels, people might find all types of English sentences but complex sentence might

be often used In addition, there are a lot of problems relating to complex sentences, one of which is ellipsis that is frequently used in the literary works Ellipsis is amongst the most popular language phenomena in many languages, including English and Vietnamese; therefore, it is critical to look into ellipsis to improve English proficiency and translation effectiveness between these two languages

Understanding ellipsis used in complex sentences is likely to be easier for reader to enjoy the literary works

The term ellipsis has been applied to a wide range of phenomena across the centuries, from any situation in which words appear to be missing (in St Isidore’s definition), to a much narrower range of particular constructions Ellipsis is a grammatical phenomenon whereby the structure of the sentence is omitted, avoiding redundancy: the sentence, thus, contains a grammatical omission (Quirk et al, 1985) Although ellipsis is regarded in semantic or pragmatic terms as a means of avoiding redundancy of expression, the kinds of reduction which are allowed are largely a matter of syntax The fundamental problem posed by an elliptical construction is, therefore, to recover the elided constituent; the actual word(s) whose meaning is understood or implied must be recoverable, and sometimes the function word such as conjunctions in complex sentences

There seems to be two main approaches to ellipsis resolution (Lappin, 1995) Whereas the first tries to associate an elliptical construction directly with a semantic representation, the latter mediates semantic interpretation through the reconstruction

of the syntactic structure of the antecedent

As mentioned above, in this study the author would like to focus on ellipsis in English complex sentences used in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell in terms of their syntactic features and their equivalents in Vietnamese translation version by Vu Kim Thu in the hope of helping the readers overcome difficulties when enjoying literary works and helping English teachers as well as learners understand ellipsis in complex sentences and draw out some suggestions for learning , teaching and translating ellipsis better

1.2 Aims and objectives

This study aims at helping the teachers and learners of English master the elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences and use them more accurately and effectively

In order to achieve the set goal, the study has to fulfill following objectives:

- To identify different types of ellipsis in English complex sentences used in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell in terms of syntactic features;

- To find out the Vietnamese equivalents in translated version by Vũ Kim Thư to the types to ellipsis in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell in terms of syntactic features;

- To offer some suggestions for effective teaching and learning ellipsis in English complex sentences to teacher and learners of English

1.3 Research questions

This study is to give the answers to the following questions:

- What are the types of ellipsis in English complex sentences used in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell in terms of syntactic features?

- What are the Vietnamese equivalents in translated version by Vũ Kim Thư

to the ellipsis in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell?

- What are some suggested implications for effective teaching and learning ellipses in English complex sentences to teachers and learners of English?

1.4 Methods of the study

Qualitative and quantitative are the main methods in combination with descriptive and analytical approaches supported by data collection and data analysis techniques English is the instrumental language employed in the thesis to identify the elliptical phenomena in complex sentences between these two languages in the novel “Gone with the wind” and their Vietnamese equivalents in Vietnamese-translated version

1.5 Scope of the study

The main focus of the study is an investigation on some typical elliptical phenomena within complex sentences used in the novel “Gone with the wind” in English by Margaret Mitchell with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents in

Vietnamese-translated version by Vũ Kim Thư Margaret Mitchell began to write

the novel “Gone with the wind” in 1926 to pass the time while recovering from a

slow-healing auto-crash injury In April 1935, Harold Latham of Macmillan, an editor looking for new fiction, read her manuscript and saw that it could be a best-seller After Latham agreed to publish the book, Mitchell worked for another six months checking the historical references and rewriting the opening chapter several times Mitchell and her husband John Marsh, a copy editor by trade, edited the final version of the novel Mitchell wrote the book's final moments first and then wrote

the events that led up to them “Gone with the Wind” was published in June 1936

“Gone with the Wind” won the Pulitzer Prize, was translated into eighteen

languages and was later made into a highly successful film starting Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Leslie Howard

Elliptical cases investigated are mainly based on Randolph Quirk’s viewpoint With the aims at investigating some ellipsis in English complex sentences and their

Vietnamese equivalents in the literary, the novel “Gone with the Wind” and its Vietnamese-translated version ‘Cuốn theo chiều gió” by Vũ Kim Thư published by

Literature Publisher in 2019 which has been the most popular version in Vietnam are chosen for this study

1.6 Significance of the study

The finding of this study is expected to give valuable contributions theoretically and practically Theoretically, this study provides elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences This helps learners of English deepen their understanding and knowledge about ellipsis in English complex sentences Practically, this study will classify the types of ellipsis in complex sentences used in the novel “Gone with the Wind” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version As a result, it enables readers to enjoy the novel without being ambiguous on the details

1.7 Structure of the study

This study is designed in 5 chapters:

Chapter 1 Introduction gives the rationale of the research, the aims and objectives

as well as the scope and research questions

Chapter 2 Literature review presents the review of previous studies at home and

abroad which relates to the research matter It also consists of theoretical background such as sentences, complex sentences and ellipsis in complex sentences

Chapter 3 Methodology describes research setting, the methods and materials used

in doing the research, including instruments, data collection and data analysis

Chapter 4 Finding and discussion presents and analyzes major types of elliptical

phenomena in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell and their Vietnamese equivalents in translation version by Vu Kim Thu in terms of syntactic features in two categories of ellipsis: functional and structural ellipses based on Randolph Quirk’s viewpoint At the same time some suggestions for learning and teaching ellipsis phenomena in complex sentences are also proposed

Chapter 5 Conclusion gives conclusion to all main ideas discussed in previous

chapters as well as some recommendations for further researches

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies

2.1.1 Previous studies overseas

Throughout the history of linguistics, there have been a number of renowned linguists studying on English ellipsis Some of the names seem to be kept in mind when learners and teachers of English refer to this phenomenon, namely Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik, M.A.K Halliday, … These scholars provide learners an overview of English ellipsis in general

Besides, some scholars have studied elliptical phenomena in different aspects In his research project, Ahmed Ali Mohammed deals with the use of Ellipsis as a cohesive device in written texts It shed light on the use of ellipsis in literary texts as comparative analysis between drama and novel In his respect, Arthur Miller’s play

(Death of a Salesman) and Hemingway's novel (The Old Man and the Sea) more

specifically, have been taken under investigation to be analyzed

In a journal, Amitabh (2015) attempted to analyze ellipsis in two short stories

in English (Hills like elephants by Hemingway) and in Hindi (Jaadu by Munshi Premchand) The author illustrated the diversity and complexity of ellipsis

in two works in order to help learners to compare the structures of both the languages and then get to know how and where the structures of noun phrases, verb phrases, and appositional phrases might occur and become elliptical in two languages This will be an enormous contribution to my study

In another journal, Elliptical phenomena in sentences were found in novel

“SHERLOCK HOLMES,” Putu Devi Maharani investigated types of elliptical phenomena occurred in the novel completed by showing the structure of constituent that constructed the sentences in tree diagram The discussion is not only in syntax viewpoint but this research also tries to describe the function of the ellipsis This journal is great of help for my study

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam

Along with overseas studies, ellipsis also attracts many Vietnamese scholars such as Diep Quang Ban, Cao Xuan Hao, Hoang Trong Phien, Nguyen Kim Than, Pham Van Tinh, Nguyen Chi Hoa, Tran Ngoc Them They have introduced their researches on this phenomenon

Tran Ngoc Them divides ellipsis into 2 levels: weak ellipsis (complement, adverb ellipsis) and strong ellipsis (one or two main elements of the sentence are elliptical)

Phạm Văn Tình (2006) conducted in-depth analysis on ellipsis in Vietnamese which has given me a good chance to have better understanding of this phenomenon in Vietnamese style In another point of view Huynh Huu Hien did

a contrastive analysis on ellipsis in English and Vietnamese and then put it in the pragmatic environment of discourse to study In the study “Ellipsis in abstract of business journal articles in English and Vietnamese” Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga (2011) analyzed ellipsis in AEBAs and AVBAs in terms of classification, syntactic and pragmatic features Her research also helps the author with knowledge of ellipsis in terms of syntactic

Moreover, in other researches as well as in different books and dictionaries although the central theme does not focus on ellipsis, ellipsis in clauses, in compound and complex sentences are greatly referred to in various aspects

In general, a majority of these researchers analyzed ellipsis as a means of cohesive devices Only few of them discussed ellipsis in terms of syntax specifically, yet they did not focus on ellipsis in complex sentences separately In this study, the author would like to analyze elliptical phenomena only in complex sentences in the novel

“Gone with the Wind” and their Vietnamese equivalent in translated version by Vu Kim Thu

2.2 Overview of sentences

2.2.1 The concept of sentence

It cannot be denied that sentences are used in our life to communicate our ideas in writing or in speech Though there have been different ways to define what a sentence is, a traditional grammar-based definition is what this study pays attention

to

According to English-Vietnamese dictionary published in 1999 of Da Nang publisher, a sentence is defined as “a series of words making a single complete statement.” For instance: She is a teacher This example is considered a sentence because of two reasons Firstly, it is a complete statement “she” (a person that both the speaker and the hearer already know) has a job of a teacher, which is expressed

by using to be “is” By this way, the new information “being a teacher” - a complete statement - is transferred Secondly, “she is a teacher” is the combination of a series

of words “she, is, a, teacher” However, the definition is not totally true because it does not give the ways to combine words to make a sentence If we put sentence elements in different positions, they can make complete sentences with different

meanings or it cannot be a sentence For example, “a she is teacher” cannot be a sentence This means that “single complete statement” is only phrase used for simple sentence, not for other kinds of sentences It should be “a complete thought” Normally, the subject of the sentence, in word order of a statement, stands before its verb predicate However, the order of elements in the sentence can vary according

to the types of sentence (statement, question, request, etc.) Moreover, sentence structure, in concentrating on the elements (subject, verb, direct object, indirect object, adverb, subject complement, object complement) which are used to form a sentence Then a more practical definition of sentence is given: “A sentence is a word or group of words standing between an initial capital letter and a mark of end punctuation or between two marks of end punctuation” However students still find

it difficult to put right punctuation in the writing because they marked with capital letters at the beginning and full stops at the end are “sentences in that they do not contain a thought

Quirk (1971) defines the sentences: “A sentence is a group of words containing a subject and a finite verb (other parts if necessary) expressing a statement, a question, an explanation or a command.” McDougal Littell (2004) simply defines a sentence is a group of words that conveys a complete thought (p 36) Brown, Nilson, Shaw & Weldon (1984) share the same and add some more information: “a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought The purpose of a sentence is to describe an action or state a condition of a person, a place, a thing or

an idea.” (p 57) Halliday (1994) argues that “describing a sentence as a construction of words is rather like describing a house as a construction of bricks, without recognizing the walls and the rooms as intermediate structural units.” (p 180) He states that a sentence should be defined as a clause complex with the simple sentence (one clause) as the limiting case Morley (2000, p.25) looks at a sentence in many aspects In meaning terms, he says “the role of the sentence is to express one or more ideas or ‘proposition’ from the ideational component, each proposition being realized by a clause.” Nguyễn Hòa (2001) says “…the sentence refers to the system or language side: it can be thought of as the ideal structure behind various realizations in utterances.”

In short, all these definitions may have not given some people satisfactorily acceptable criteria to make a complete definition Nevertheless, they can help each

of us have a general idea of what a sentence is

2.2.2 Classification of sentences in terms of structures

According to Quirk (1985 P 719) in terms of structures, sentences are classified into simple or multiple sentences Multiple sentences are either compound or complex sentences

For instance:

You can borrow the car that belongs to my sister (Quirk (1985.p719)

The complexity “that belongs to my sister” is the post-modifier within the complex noun phrase constituting the object element “the car that belongs to my sister” Therefore, the sentence “You can borrow the car that belongs to my sister” is still a

simple sentence

2.2.2.2 Compound sentences

Compound sentences, furthermore, are sentences consisting of more than one independent clause (Bram, 1995), joined by coordinators or conjunctions, semicolons, or a semicolon followed by a transition (Verde, 2008)

According to Quirk (p.987.1985), a compound sentence is a sentence which consists

of two or more coordinated main clauses The clauses of a compound sentence provides classic instances of a paratactic relationship, that is they have equivalent functions, and are constituents at the same level of constituent structure

For example, “I admire her reasoning, but I reject her conclusions.” (Quirk

two independent clauses in this compound sentence, and they are connected by

coordinator “but” to show the contrast in meaning

The order of clauses in a compound sentence can be reserved in certain cases of ordinations if two coordinated units are not places in sequence, and depend on many other factors such as syntactic, or a matter of semantics or pragmatic symmetry For example:

Mary studies at a university, and John works at a factory

= John works at a factory, and Mary studies at a university (Quirk (1985.p920)

However in the following case, independent clauses cannot be reserved:

He died and he was buried in the cemetery (Quirk (1985.p920) If we change the

position of the two clauses, the meaning of the sentence is changed, and it is not logical

2.2.2.3 Complex sentences

Complex sentence is other types of multiple sentences It is a sentence which contains more than one clause, one of which is the main clause; the others are subordinate clauses being part of the main clause The subordinate clauses and main clause are jointed together by subordinating conjunctions The main clause is a clause which has a meaningful unit by an independent clause but it also needs one

or more subordinate clause complementing for it For example, in the sentence

“Although I admire her reasoning, I reject her conclusion” (Quirk (1985: 987) the main clause “I reject her conclusion” and the subordinate clause “I admire her

reasoning” are joined by subordinator “Although” to show the concession In other

words a complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more

dependent clauses A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because,

since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which

Complex sentence will be more analyzed in the following part

2.2.3 Overview of complex sentence

2.2.3.1 The syntax of complex sentences

As referred above, complex sentences consists of one dependent clause and one or more than one subordinate clauses functioning as an element of the sentence Subordination is asymmetrical relation: the sentence and its subordinate clauses are

in a hypotactic relationship that is they form a hierarchy in which the subordinate

clause is a constituent of the sentence as a whole

According to Comma Rule in a complex sentence, when the subordinate clause comes first, separate the clauses with a comma When the independent clause comes first, do not separate them Meanwhile, Quirk and friends stated that “complex sentence as, a simple sentence in that it consists of only one main clause, but unlike simple sentence it has one or more subordinate clauses functioning as an element of

the sentence.”

It means complex sentence is a developed simple sentence, in which consist of one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses (subordinate clause), and the relation between them is very tight The dependent clause usually is introduced by a subordinate conjunction like who, which, that, whom, because, and so on

2.2.3.2 Types of subordinate clauses in complex sentences

Quirk, et.al (1985:991) pointed that subordinate clause is a part of superordinate clause or independent clause, and functioning as one of its element, or subordinate clause is a non-symmetrical relation holding between two clauses in such a way that one is a constituent or part of the other A subordinate clause is normally introduced

by subordinator Subordinator or also known as subordinating conjunctions are perhaps the most important formal indicators of subordinate clause

According to Quirk, et.al (1985) in terms of functions, subordinate clause is normally categorized into four types: nominal clause, adverbial clause, relative clause, and comparative clause

a Nominal Clause

According to Quirk, et.al (1985: 1047) nominal clause has functions to those of noun phrase, such as: subject, object, complement, appositive, and prepositional

complement Nominal clauses fall into six categories, namely, that clause,

subordinate interrogative clauses, subordinate exclamatory clauses, nominal relative clause, - ing clause and to-infinitive clause

a1 Nominal that- clauses may function as:

 Subject: That the invading troops have been withdrawn has not affected our government’s trade sanctions (Quirk, 1985: 1049)

 Direct object: I noticed that he spoke English with an Australian accent

Wh-interrogative clauses occur in the whole range of functions available to the

nominal that-clause in complex sentences:

 Subject: How the book will sell depends on the reviewers (Quirk, 1985:

Subordinate Yes-no and alternative interrogative clauses occur in the whole range

of functions available to subordinate wh-interrogative clauses, and may include

infinitive clauses The yes- no clause introduced by the subordinators whether or if :

 Do you know whether the banks are open? (Quirk, 1985: 1053)

a3 Subordinate exclamatory clauses

Subordinate exclamatory clauses generally function as direct object in complex

sentences For example: I remember what a good time I had at your party (Quirk, 1985: 1055) “what a good time I had at your party” functions as a direct object in

this complex sentence

a4 Nominal relative clauses

Nominal relative clauses resemble wh-interrogative clauses in that they are also

introduced by a wh-element and in some respects nominal relative clauses are more like noun phrases, since they can be concrete as well as abstract and can refer even

to persons However, we can paraphrase them by noun phrases containing a noun head with general reference that is modified by a relative clause:

Whoever did that should admit it frankly (Quirk, 1985: 1056)

[‘The person who did that……]

Nominal relative clauses have the same range of functions as noun phrases

a5 Nominal to-infinitive clauses may function as the following in a complex

sentence

Subject: To be neutral in this conflict is out of the question (Quirk, 1985: 1061) Direct object: He likes to relax (Quirk, 1 985:1061)

Subject complement: The best excuse is to say that you have an examination

tomorrow morning (Quirk, 1985: 1061)

Direct object: He likes everyone to relax (Quirk, 1985: 1061)

a6 Nominal - ing clauses

Nominal -ing clauses (or more fully, nominal -ing participle clauses) may function

as:

- Subject: Watching television keeps them out of mischief (Quirk, 1985: 1063)

- Direct object: He enjoys playing practical jokes (Quirk, 1985: 1063)

- Subject complement: Her first job had been selling computers (Quirk, 1985:

Adverbial Clause functions mainly as adjuncts or disjuncts In those functions, they

are like adverb phrase, but in their potentially for greater explicitness, they are more often like prepositional phrase Quirk, et.al (1985: 1047) stated that adverbial clause

is like adverbial in general, are capable occurring in a final, initial, or medial position within the main clause, but in their potentially for greater explicitness, it is more often like prepositional phrase There are seven types of adverbial clauses; they are clauses of time, clauses of place, clauses of condition, clauses of concession, clauses of purpose, clauses of comparison, clauses of manner and result

b1 Adverbial clauses of time

Adverbial clauses of time are introduced by one of the following subordinators:

after, as, before, once, since, till, until, when, whenever, while, whilst, now (that),

as long as, so long as, as soon as For instance: (Quirk, 1985: 1078)

Buy your ticket as soon as you reach the station

When 1 last saw you, you lived in Washington

My family, once they saw the mood I was in, left me completely alone Drop by

whenever you get the chance

b2 Adverbial clauses of place

Adverbial clauses of place are introduced mainly by where or wherever Where is specific and wherever nonspecific

Where the fire had been, we saw nothing but blackened ruins

They went wherever they could find work [‘to any place’]

(Quirk, 1985: 1087) Several temporal subordinators may have primarily a place meaning in descriptions

of scenes, when the scenes are described dynamically in terms of movement from

one place to another:

Take the right fork when the road splits into two

The river continues winding until it reaches a large lake

Once the mountains rise above the snow line, vegetation is sparse

(Quirk, 1985: 1087) b3 Adverbial clauses of condition

Clauses of condition are primarily introduced by the two simple subordinators if and unless “Unless” is a negative subordinator Other conditional subordinators are as long as, so long as, assuming (that), given (that) (formal), in case, in the

event that, just so (that) (informal), on condition (that), provided (that), providing (that), supposing (that)

If you want some more, you should ask me

Unless the strike has been called off, there will be no trains tomorrow

(Quirk, 1985: 1089) b4 Adverbial clauses of concession

Clauses of concession are introduced chiefly by “although” or its more informal variant “though” Other subordinators used with concessive clauses are: if, even if,

even though, even when, whereas (formal), while, and whilst “Even though” and

“even when” are more emphatic forms of “though” and “when”, the modifying

even also expressing unexpectedness

Although he had just joined the company, he was treated exactly like all

the other employees

Whereas the amendment is enthusiastically supported by a large majority

in the Senate, its fate is doubtful in the House (Quirk, 1985: 1099)

b5 Adverbial clauses of reason

Adverbial clauses of reason are most commonly introduced by the subordinators

because (also 'cause) and since Other subordinators are “as” and (in somewhat

formal style) “for”:

I lent him the money because he needed it

As Jane was the eldest, she looked after the others

Since we live near the sea, we often go sailing

Much has been written about psychic phenomena, for they pose fascinating

b6 Adverbial clauses of purpose

Finite clauses of purpose are introduced by so that or in order that:

The school closes earlier so that the children can get home before dark The jury and the witnesses were removed from the court in order that they

might not hear the arguments of the lawyers on the prosecution's motion for

an adjournment

(Quirk, 1985: 1108) These finite clauses, which are putative, require one of these modal auxiliaries: can,

could, may, might, should, would

b7 Adverbial clauses of result

Adverbial clauses of result are introduced by the subordinators so that (formal) and

so These clauses overlap with those of purpose both in meaning and in

subordinators The chief semantic difference is that result clauses are factual rather than putative: both express result, but in the result clause the result is achieved, whereas in the purpose clause it is yet to be achieved - it is a desired or aimed-at result Hence finite clauses of result do not require a modal auxiliary:

We paid him immediately, so (that) he left contented [result]

We paid him immediately, so (that) he would leave contented [purpose]

(Quirk, 1985: 1109)

Result clauses differ syntactically from purpose clauses, in that result clauses are disjuncts whereas purpose clauses are adjuncts Furthermore, result clauses can only

appear finally Unlike the purpose clause, the result clause introduced by so (that) is

separated by comma punctuation

I took no notice of him, so he flew into a rage (Quirk, 1985: 1108)

Its meaning can be expressed by reversing the matrix and subordinate clauses and

using a conjunction such as “because”

He flew into a rage because I took no notice of him

b8 Adverbial clause of similarity and comparison

Adjunct clauses of similarity are predication adjuncts They are introduced by as and like As and like are commonly pre-modified by just and exactly:

She cooks a turkey (just)as her mother did (= in a way that is similar to the

way that her mother cooked the turkey) (Quirk, 1985: 1110)

Adjunct clauses of comparison are also predication adjuncts They are introduced

by as if, as though, and like (informal, esp AmE) As with similarity clauses, when

the verb is dynamic they also convey a manner meaning If the comparison is factual, the verb in the comparison follows the normal rules for temporal reference:

He looks as if he's getting better (Quirk, 1985: 1110)

c Relative Clause

Relative clauses are also referred to as adjective clauses because the function of these clauses is to describe or modify a preceding noun phrase In other words, relative clauses describe or provide information about someone or something in the main clause, very similar to the modifying function of adjectives Like adverbial clauses, relative clauses are a type of dependent clause and cannot stand alone Relative clauses must be accompanied by a main clause A relative clause is usually found immediately after the noun phrase it is modifying At times a relative clause can modify the entire main clause, in which case it will immediately follow that clause (Andrea De Capua, 2008)

d Comparative clauses

When a comparison of one thing to another is drawn, the thing being compared to is the standard of comparison The equality between something and the standard and comparison or an inequality is noted The standard of comparison is typically expressed in a clause after the subordinating conjunction as when the thing

compared is equalled to the standard of comparison (equal), as in “Charley is as

wide as he is tall”, or after the subordinating conjunction that when the something

is greater or less than the standard of comparison (comparative), as in “Mary likes

ravioli more than Charley hates spaghetti” The main clause in both equal and

comparative sentences contains a marker that indicates the kind of comparison is

being drawn, “as” is used in equal sentences and “more” or a comparative adjective

or adverb (a form with the suffix -er) in comparative sentences

- Mary sings more often than she dances

- Charley sings as well as he dances

When the things being compared are on different dimensions, the subordinate clause must be a complete clause When the predicates of the two clauses would be the same, the predicate in the standard of comparison clause can be reduced or omitted altogether, as in:

- Charley is as tall as Mary is

- Mary likes ravioli more than Charley does

- Mary is as tall as Charley

In conclusion, the full comprehension of subordinate clauses in complex sentences

is likely to assist the author much in identifying the complex sentences in the novel

“Gone with the Wind” and analyzing the elliptical elements occurring in the subordinate clauses

2.3 OVERVIEW OF ELLIPSIS

2.3.1 The concept of ellipsis

The term ‘ellipsis’ (from Greek élleipsis, ‘omission’), is virtually agreed on by all the grammarians, terms such as omission of elements and context appear in all the definitions that one may come across Many researchers have defined ellipsis in many ways

Quirk et al.’s (1985: 862) and Biber et al.’s (1999: 156) define ellipsis: The normal understanding of the term ELLIPSIS is that words are omitted where understanding

can be achieved without word repetition, as in: She might sing tonight, but I don’t

think that she will (sing tonight) This is the case of textual recoverability,

specifically of ANAPHORIC ELLIPSIS, since the antecedent occurs in an earlier

text The other possibility, that of CATAPHORIC ELLIPSIS, is illustrated in: If you

want (me to (buy the tickets)), I’ll buy the tickets [Quirk et al (1985: 862);

emphasis in the original Ellipsis is the omission of elements which are precisely recoverable from the linguistic or situational context In particular, Quirk et al (1985: 883) specify that “ellipsis may be strictly described as ‘grammatical omission’, in contrast to other kinds of omission in language” (like phonological loss, i.e aphaeresis, and the clipping of words)

Mc Carthy (1996: 43) states: “Ellipsis is the omission of elements normally required

by the grammar which the speaker/writer assumes are obvious from the context and therefore need not be raised” Another definition is by Biber “Ellipsis is the omission of elements which are precisely recoverable from the linguistic or

situational context.” Mc Carthy (1991) defined: Ellipsis is distinguished by the

structure having some “missing” elements Ellipsis is the omission of elements normally required by the grammar which the speaker/ writer assumes are obvious from the context and therefore need not to be raised Ho Ngo Trung (2013) shares

the same concept of ellipsis as Mc Carthy (1991) (Biber 1999: 156) As concerns McCarthy’s definition, this could be perceived as more precisely because it indicates that ellipsis does not concern only written utterances but also spoken language

Kennedy (2003) indicates that “ellipsis is the process by which noun phrase, verb

phrase, or clauses are deleted “understood” when they are absent.”

In short, it can be understood that ellipsis occurs when some essential structural elements are omitted from a sentence or a clause and can be only recovered by referring to an element in the preceding part

2.3.2 Types of ellipsis in complex sentences

This part will discuss some common types of ellipsis used in complex sentences as inconhesive ellipsis especially the elements can be omitted Incohesive ellipsis focuses on the occurrence of an elliptical construction within the sentence, between individual clauses; in which it is perceived from or presupposed based on the intra-sentence perspective Although intra-sentence ellipsis does not contribute to the cohesion, it will still be relevant to this study because according to Quirk et al (1989), there are several criteria in which ellipsis may be utilized

The very first criterion is precise recoverability of all the elliptical items, which means that in a context where no ambiguity arises, there should be no confusion as

to what words that are needed to recover and fill the omitted items

The second criterion is the grammatical defectiveness of the elliptical structure, which means that it should be obvious to notice that there are several words that have been omitted

The third criterion explains that after the missing words are being re-inserted, the meaning of the grammatical sentence remains unchanged to the original sentence before the ellipsis is applied

The last two criteria are interdependent One of them needs the omitted item to be textually recoverable while the other one says that the missing item is present in the text in exactly the same form The latter criterion is dependent on the former

In examining instances of ellipsis, it is necessary to distinguish three major factors: recoverability type, functional type and formal type Unless all these factors are taken into account, it is impossible to say exactly how and where ellipsis can take place

In terms of recoverability type there are three types of ellipsis: textual ellipsis, structural ellipsis, and situational ellipsis (Quirk & Green Baum, 1990) textual ellipsis is strongly connected to the missing elements within the sentences that have

at least two clauses The textual ellipsis will be divided even further into different parts in accordance to which elements are being elliptical It may be differentiated

based on ellipsis of subject, auxiliary, predicate, etc Situational ellipses are not dependent on the linguistic context for their interpretation The interpretation may depend on knowledge of a specific extra-linguistic context Structural ellipsis is the ellipsis where the elliptical word(s) can be identified purely on the basic of grammatical knowledge We can illustrate structural ellipsis by citing the zero

conjunction “that”, and the elliptical prepositions

In terms of functional type we distinguish between general ellipsis where the functional relation between the elliptical and antecedent construction is not important, and special ellipsis, where the possibilities of omission are closely determined by the relation between these two constructions in a sentence

As for the form of ellipsis, Quirk refers to three types, which is initial, medial and final ellipses Initial ellipsis is the ellipsis where initial elements are omitted, and it applies to the subject and operator Final ellipsis is the ellipsis where final elements are omitted, and it applies to the predication Medial ellipsis is the ellipsis where only medial elements of a unit are omitted Quirk says that it is better to argue that medial ellipsis is a structural illusion which results from looking at too large a constituent in the sentence When conditions of ellipsis are examined more carefully, medial ellipsis can often be treated as a special case of either initial or final ellipsis

Basing on Quirk’s viewpoints and the analysis on complex sentences and subordinate clause in complex sentences, the author would like to categorize the ellipsis of the elements which can be omitted in subordinate or main clauses in terms of the elliptical elements according to functional types and structural types

2.3.2.1 Ellipsis in noun phrase

Ellipsis of noun phrases can be found within the complex sentence Quirk et al (1985:900) state that elliptical noun phrases result from final ellipsis, i.e post modifiers (if any) and head tends to be elliptical, for example:

He had to admit that Sarah’s drawings were as good as his own (Quirk,

elliptical construction can be said to REPUDIATE, or semantically cancel out, some item(s) in the antecedent For example:

Although Helen is the oldest girl in the class, Julie is the tallest ∆

The tallest may be said to repudiate the oldest (p 901)

Quirk et al (1985) states that ellipsis in the noun phrase, takes place according to the following order ellipsis of post modifiers (s) alone, ellipsis of head noun plus post-modifier, ellipsis of pre-modifier + head noun + post-modifier, ellipsis of head alone

a Ellipsis of post-modifiers (s) alone

When post-modifier in the first clause is the same as in the second, to make the sentence more effective, post-modifier located in the second clause is omitted as in the example:

If you need any of that firewood, I’ll give you plenty (of that firewood)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 902)

In this example, noun phrase located in the second clause are “you, I” and “plenty of

that firewood” In the phrase “plenty of that firewood”, “plenty” is the head of that

noun phrase while “of that firewood” is a post modifier In this case post modifier in

the first clause is the same as in the second one Thus, to make the sentence more effective, post modifier located in the second clause is omitted

b Ellipsis of head noun plus post-modifier

Ellipsis of head noun plus post-modifier phenomenon occurs in the final position of the sentence as in the following example:

The second novel she wrote was very different from the first (novel she wrote)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 901)

The first novel and the second novel are both noun phrases and their head nouns are

the same, which is novel At the same time, the post modifiers which are “she

wrote” are also same Therefore, the second head noun and post modifier need to be omitted This is also similar to the following example:

Although Helen is the oldest girl in the class, Julie is the tallest (girl in the class)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 901)

c Ellipsis of pre-modifier + head noun + post-modifier

Ellipsis of pre-modifier+ head noun + post-modifier occurs in the following example:

The second historical novel she wrote was very different from the first (historical novel she wrote)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 903)

Here it is understood that the whole expression historical novel she wrote is elliptical, including the pre-modifying adjective “historical” head noun “novel” and the post modifier “she wrote”

d Ellipsis of head noun alone

He had to admit that Sarah’s drawings were as good as his own (∆)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 900)

Sarah’s drawings and his own (drawings) are both noun phrases and their head

nouns are the same, which is drawings This comparative sentence, a kind of complex sentences, can be converted fully as: He had to admit that Sarah’s

drawings were as good as his own drawings When being converted like that, its

meaning and grammar are acceptable From this analysis, it is known that the head

noun “drawing” in the second clause can be omitted This is the case of the ellipsis

of head noun alone

Quirk et al (1985) states that not all modifiers elements can readily act as heads of elliptical noun phrases They restrict comparative and absolute adjectives According to Quirk et al.(1985) ellipsis of the head of a noun phrase, when preceded by the indefinite article and another modifier, is less acceptable There is a considerable variety in the structural relation between the elliptical noun phrase and its antecedent noun phrase The shift of function from a modifier to head is to be explained by the obvious fact that an 'understood' noun has been emitted This is very much in common with what Halliday and Hasan (1976) say; they refer to ellipsis as SOMETHING UNDERSTOOD ( pp.142 , 144 )

2.3.2.2 Elliptical clauses

a Ellipsis of predication in finite clauses

General ellipsis in the finite clause is similar to general ellipsis in the noun phrase,

in that the dominant type of ellipsis is final Typically, the clause is divided into two parts: subject and operator (which remain), and predication (which is elliptical) In terms of V, O, C, and A, the constituency of the elliptical predication can be varied

a1 Ellipsis of subject complement alone

Ellipsis of subject complement alone happens in the second clause of a sentence:

I am happy if you are (happy) (Quirk et al, 1985: 905)

“Happy” in the independent clause and conditional clause in this complex sentence

functions as a subject complement The omission applies to “happy” happens in the second clause not in the first one

a2 Ellipsis of adverbial

- The ellipsis of “SUBJECT COMPLEMENT + ADVERBIAL” can occur in the

dependent clause or in independent clause as in the following example:

If they’re not ready by lunchtime, they ought to be (ready by lunchtime) There are more hungry people in the world today than there were (hungry

In the first example, the ellipsis appears in the main clause while in the second example it occur in the dependent clause

- The ellipsis of ADVERBIAL ONLY: It happens as in the example:

His father was at Oxford when Harold Wilson was (at Oxford)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 905)

“at Oxford” in the above sentence functions as an adverb of place, and it can be

omitted in the dependent clause

a3 The ellipsis of NONFINITE PART OF VERB

Non-finite parts of a verb are those that do not indicate number, person or tense The common non-finite forms are: the base form, the present participle or ing form, the past participle, the to-infinitive

There are also other non-finite forms, such as: the continuous to infinitive, the perfect to infinitive, the passive to infinitive

As Quirk refers the ellipsis of nonfinite part of verb has following cases:

- The ellipsis of NONFINITE PART OF VERB alone

The ellipsis of verb alone can occur in declarative and comparative sentences

Moreover, it appears in the subordinate clauses in complex sentences For example:

I’ll gladly pay for the hotel if you will (pay) for the food (ellipsis of verb

“pay” alone) (Quirk et al, 1985: 907)

- The ellipsis of NONFINITE PART OF VERB + ADVERBIAL:

When Shirley resigns from the committee, I’m sure that a number of other people will (resigns from the committee)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 905)

- The ellipsis of NONFINITE PART OF VERB plus object

The ellipsis of nonfinite verb plus object also occur in the subordinate clauses in declarative and comparative sentences

Although my father can’t (sing that song), I can sing that song well (ellipsis

of verb and object) (Quirk et al, 1985: 905)

b Ellipsis of the predicate

Ellipsis of the predicate means in general that the only part of the clause to remain

is the subject This type of ellipsis is not widespread: it comes under the heading of special ellipsis, and in complex sentence it occurs only in comparative constructions:

Nigel finished the exam at the same time as George (finished the exam)

(Quirk et al, 1985: 906) Ellipsis of the predication is one of the constructions of English which requires DO

to support

There are constructions (eg clause negation, subject-operator inversion, emphatic

operator constructions) in which the operator would occur for independent reasons, and in these cases DO fulfills the conditions of standard ellipsis of the predication:

Rupert wanted to attend the bullfight, although his wife didn't (want to attend

the bullfight) (Quirk et al, 1985: 906)

c Ellipsis in Wh-clause

In Quirk’s viewpoint, a more thorough-going reduction of a clause by ellipsis involves ellipsis of the whole clause, or the whole clause except for an introductory

word This type of ellipsis is restricted to wh-interrogative clause

Have you ever want to start a successful business? This book tells you how ∆

(Quirk et al, 1985: 908) Ellipsis in Wh-clause does not apply to the relative type of monomial wh-clause,

nor to clauses introduced by if or whether

d Ellipsis in to- infinitive clause

Like the elliptical wh-clause, the elliptical to-infinitive clause normally consists of

just one word: in this case, the introductory unstressed participle to Since to is

unstressed, the nucleus of the tone unit normally falls on the preceding verb or noun For example:

You can borrow my pen if you want to ∆ (Quirk et al, 1985: 908)

Quirks states that an stranded “to” also occurs as a result of ellipsis following the marginal modals ought to and used to and following semi-auxiliary constructions

such as be able, be going to, have to, and be supposed to (cf3 47):

We don’t save as much money these days as we used to ∆

I won’t disturb you again unless I have to ∆

(Quirk et al, 1985: 909)

e Special types of ellipsis

As Quirk concerns, there are some special types of ellipsis which are defined by a particular structural relation between the elliptical construction and the antecedent construction Unlike general ellipsis, all cases of special ellipsis allow initial ellipsis

NONFINITE CLAUSES:

Nonfinite clause is a special case of ellipsis in which the subject and operator of subordinate clause are both omitted

Although (he was) exhausted by the climb, he continued his journey

Dogs will learn fast if (they are) working in reasonable conditions

(Quirk et al, 1985: 910)

VERBLESS CLAUSES:

According to Quirk et al (1985:996) verbless clauses take syntactic compression and they are commonly subjectless In verbless clauses, it is often possible to postulate a missing form of the verb BE and to recover the subject, when omitted, from the context:

Whether right or wrong, he always comes off worst in arguments

[whether he is right or wrong]

Although (he was) at Oxford, he was active in the dramatic society

If (he is) rather unwell, the speaker will not take part in the seminar

When (you are) ready, you can begin your speech

While (he was) still at school, he wrote his first novel

(Quirk et al, 1985: 910) Verbless clauses are usually discussed in association with nonfinite clauses because they have similar syntactic structures They can be recognized as clauses because their internal structure can be analyzed into the same functional elements that are distinguished in finite clauses

A non-finite clause is a clause whose verb element is non-finite such as to work, having worked, taken, etc e.g

Knowing my temper, I didn’t reply (Quirk et al, 1985: 992)

A verbless clause is a clause that does not have a verb element, but is nevertheless capable of being analyzed into clause elements, e.g

Although always helpful, he was not much liked (Quirk et al, 1985: 992)

Typically non-finite and verbless clauses lack both subject and operator, and their relation to their main clause can be explained if one postulates an ellipsis of these elements, the identity of the subject being recoverable from the main clause, because this implied subject is normally identical with the subject of the superordinate main clause

Susan telephoned before coming over [… before she came over] (non-finite

clause, present participle)

Although (he was) exhausted by the climb, he continued his journey

(non-finite clause, past participle)

While (she was) at Oxford, she was active in the dramatic society (verbless

clause)

Although non-finite and verbless clauses can be preceded by some subordinate

conjunctions like as, because, as long as, whether, while, since… etc

While travelling home last night, I suddenly had a bright idea

This is not a must, because in such clauses the mere absence of a finite verb is often quite a sufficient signal of subordination

Travelling home last night, I suddenly had a bright idea

Running down the road, I tripped and fell (Chalker, 1984, 239)

2.3.2.3 Ellipsis of subordinating conjunction “that”

Conjunctions not only bind sentence components in a grammatical sense; they also indicate the semantic relationship between them

According to Quirk et al, (1985: 900) ellipsis of subordinating conjunction is one of the case of structural ellipsis, which is a special type of ellipsis where the knowledge of grammar is required so that the full form of the sentence can be found For instance,

I believe (that) you are mistaken (Quirk et al, 1985: 910)

The absence of the conjunction “that” in above example quite “surface” phenomena that should be handled by syntactic rules However, there are languages in which conjunctions can be elided outside of predictable grammatical constructions, which mean that the semantics of the missing conjunction must be recovered from the semantics of the text entities being conjoined Furthermore, the fact that a

conjunction is missing must be detected in the first place

2.4 Summary

Complex sentence, which is one apart from such three other types of sentences as

simple sentence, compound sentence and complex sentence, is a sentence which contains at least two clauses, of which one is the main clause, the other is subordinate clause being part of the main clause Subordinate clause in complex sentences is normally categorized into four types: nominal clause, adverbial clause, relative clause, and comparative clause Independent and dependent clauses in complex sentences are usually combined by subordinators or subordinate conjunction These signals help the author much in identifying complex sentences correctly to study the ellipses in this type of sentence

In famous grammarians’ opinion on ellipsis, it can be understood that ellipsis occurs when some elements are omitted from a sentence or a clause and can be only recovered by referring to an element in the preceding part Basing on the analysis of complex sentences and subordinate clause in complex sentences and on Quirk’s opinion about ellipsis, the author has categorized some elliptical phenomena in terms of the elements which can be omitted in subordinate or main clause according

to functional types of ellipsis and structural ellipsis They are noun phrase ellipses, clausal ellipses and subordinating conjunction “that” ellipses Ellipsis in the noun phrase, takes place according to the following ellipsis order of post modifiers (s) alone, ellipsis of head noun plus post-modifier, ellipsis of pre-modifier + head noun + post-modifier, ellipsis of head alone

Clause ellipsis includes the ellipsis of the predication in finite clauses and special types of ellipsis The ellipsis of the predication in finite clauses refers to ellipsis of

subject complement alone, ellipsis of adverbial, ellipsis of non-finite part of verb, ellipsis of the predicate

Special types of ellipsis mainly occur in finite and verb-less clauses, they share the

same features as the ellipsis of subject and verbs when the verb is “be”

Structural ellipsis refers to the ellipsis of conjunction “that” in nominal that- clause which functions as an object

All the above-mentioned is the basis for further analysis of ellipses in the complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell and their Vietnamese equivalents in translation version by Vu Kim Thu in terms of elliptical according to functional ellipsis and structural one

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research approaches

In order to reach the aims which are set in this study, qualitative and quantitative approaches are mainly utilized

Qualitative approach used in this study aims at identifying elliptical phenomena in

“Gone with the Wind” and their Vietnamese equivalents

Quantitative approach is used to calculate and categorize elliptical cases into different kinds of ellipsis and then examine the similarities and differences of ellipsis in complex sentences in “Gone with the Wind” and their Vietnamese equivalents

The frame work approach was based on the perspectives of Randolph Quirk, Sidney

Greenbaum, Geofferry Leech and Jan Svartvik (1985) with the book “A

comprehensive Grammar of the English language” Both general aspects and

detailed related problems have drawn from this one

- What are the Vietnamese equivalents in translated version by Vũ Kim Thư

to the ellipsis in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell?

- What are some suggested implications for effective teaching and learning ellipsis in English complex sentences to teachers and learners of English?

3.1.2 Research setting

Literary works, especially those which were written by famous authors have been translated into many languages in order to meet certain purposes There have been a variety of difficulties arisen in mastering things were expressed in literary works One of these is the elliptical phenomena which the authors used in their works In terms of grammatical points, teachers and students do not pay as much attention to ellipsis as other grammatical ones This sometimes causes some misunderstanding about the content of the speech or even in the complex sentences because the readers may be confused at elements omitted in the sentences In order

to have better understanding of literary works, this thesis is hoped to help teachers and students of English in mastering ellipsis in complex sentence as use it effectively

As the source of analysis, the novel “Gone with the wind” in English by Margaret Mitchell was published by arrangement with the Macmillan Publishing Company The study concentrates on the elliptical phenomena in complex sentences appearing in all 63 chapters, and all the Vietnamese equivalents are collected from the translation version by Vu Kim Thu, which is published by Literature Publishing House in 2019 The story is set in the background in Georgia and Atlanta, southern United States during the civil war and reconstruction It revolves around Scarlett O’Hara, a powerful Southern girl who must find a way to survive in the war, overcome a difficult post-war life and do everything with the hope to be in love with Ashley The novel was filmed in 1937

3.2 Research method(s)

3.2.1 Major methods

In order to get the research results, a combination of research methods was used in this thesis, such as descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and comparative methods Each step of the study requires a relevant method

- Descriptive method is frequently used to build a good theoretical background for further research It is used to describe in details types of elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell and their Vietnamese equivalents

- Quantitative method is applied to collect and calculate the frequency of appearance of types of elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell and their Vietnamese equivalents

- The comparative and qualitative method are also utilized to identify, categorize and investigate types of elliptical phenomena in English complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” by Margaret Mitchell and their Vietnamese equivalents

in order to draw out the use of ellipsis in complex sentences in English literary works and their Vietnamese equivalents

3.2.2 Supporting methods:

Statistics method can be used to identify and collect the elliptical cases occurring in the English novel and their Vietnamese equivalents in the translation version In other words, it is used as data collection for data analysis technique

3.3 Data collection and data analysis

3.3.1 Data collection and data analysis

Data types are elliptical cases in complex sentences in “Gone with the Wind” and their Vietnamese equivalents The data used in the study was collected from the novel “Gone with the Wind” and their Vietnamese translation version The materials, the data are collected from reliable resources, which are the literary works “Gone with the Wind” in English by Margaret Mitchell and the Vietnamese- translated version by Vũ Kim Thư, the most popular version which can be found in Vietnam

The data collection is a great of reliability and it will help the writer present valuable findings in the study

3.3.2 Data collection techniques

The data collection is the most important step in any research This procedure consists of two main stages

Firstly types of English ellipses in complex sentences based on Randolph Quirk (1985)’s point of view were collected to make the corpus of the thesis In order to have the essential knowledge supporting the study, the author has read many linguistic books as well as searching internet

Secondly reading the novel “Gone with the wind” in English, the author has picked out types of ellipses used in complex sentences Then all their Vietnamese equivalents in the translation version are also found out for description, comparison and analysis

3.3.3 Data analysis techniques

After having collected the data, elliptical phenomena in complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents are analyzed and categorized into different types in order to meet what are set in the objectives The data will be sorted and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain expected results Because there are many types of ellipsis in complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind”, the writer only took some typical examples which are considered the representatives for each types Consequently,

some applications for teaching, learning translating and using ellipsis will be recommended

3.4 Summary

To sum up, this chapter gives an overview of steps that will be used to conduct the study and how to carry out it It has two main parts The first one is research-governing orientations which present research questions need to be dealt with in the study It also introduces the research setting, the setting of the study focuses on the novel “Gone with the wind” with the overview of its main content and main character Two main research approaches are qualitative and quantitative methods also mentioned in this part The second part is research methods which present major methods and supporting methods used in the study In addition, techniques in collecting and analyzing data will be illustrated in this part In order to complete the study, there methods: the descriptive method, qualitative method and comparative method are used Examples containing elliptical phenomena in complex sentences will be picked out from the novel “Gone with the wind” and their Vietnamese translation inversion and classified into different categories so that the similarities and differences can be drawn

CHAPTER 4 ELLIPSIS IN COMPLEX SENTENCES IN THE NOVEL “GONE WITH THE WIND” IN ENGLISH AND THEIR

VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED

VERSION BY VU KIM THU

This chapter presents results concerning ellipsis in complex sentences picked out from the novel “Gone with the wind” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents

in the Vietnamese translated version Results are obtained from the analysis of two corpus of ellipsis in English and Vietnamese In addition to a summary of elliptical phenomena concerning the number of ellipsis and classification, there are such four major sections in this chapter as English noun phrase ellipsis, clausal ellipsis, some special cases of English ellipsis, conjunction ellipsis and their Vietnamese equivalents

4.1 A summary of ellipsis in complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version by Vu Kim Thu

Ellipsis is amongst the most popular language phenomena in many languages, including English and Vietnamese; therefore, it is critical to look into ellipses to improve English proficiency and translation effectiveness between these two languages Although ellipsis is more widely used in communicative sentences and compound sentences in the literature, the author would like to focus on complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” in the hope of investigating the elements which are omitted in such kind of sentences

Theoretically, ellipsis in general and ellipsis in complex sentences in particular, involves different types The ellipsis of noun phrase, of clause, of conjunctions and subordinators are studied based on what the author concluded from Quirk’s

viewpoints in the book “A comprehensive Grammar of the English language”

The following table presents a summary of ellipsis in complex sentences in the novel “Gone with the wind” in Englsish and their Vietnamese equivalents in

translated version by Vu Kim Thu

Table 1 A summary of ellipsis found in the novel “Gone with the Wind” and their

Vietnamese equivalents in terms of functional and structural categories

(F: Frequency; %: Percentage)