AN EVALUATION OF THE INSTRUCTION INSIMPLE SENTENCES IN OXFORDPRACTICE GRAMMAR ADVANCED BYGEORGE YULE

VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CULTURRESAN EVALUATION OF THE INSTRUCTION IN SIMPLE SENTENCES IN OXFORD PRACTICE GRAMMAR ADVANCED BY GEORGE YULE HO CHI MINH CITY, 20

VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CULTURRES

FINAL ASSIGNMENT

Course title: SYNTAX

Student’s name:

NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG YẾN – 131A140012

LÊ VŨ MỘNG TRINH – 131A140094 HOÀNG THỊ KIM HÒA – 131A140096 Deadline: APRIL 20th, 2017

Submission date: APRIL 20th, 2017

Lecturer: Bui Phu Hung

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2017

VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CULTURRES

AN EVALUATION OF THE INSTRUCTION

IN SIMPLE SENTENCES IN OXFORD PRACTICE GRAMMAR ADVANCED BY

GEORGE YULE

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2017

We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to our teacher Mr Bui PhuHung who gave us the golden opportunity to do this assignment on the topic “simplesentences”, which also helped us to do a lot research and we came to know about somany new things

We would also like to thank our friends who helped us a lot in finalizing thisassignment within the limited time frame We are making this assignment not only formarks but also our knowledge

We thank you Mr Bui Phu Hung once again

My group consists of three members who are Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, Le Vu Mong Trinh, Hoang Thi Kim Hoa and we have tried to together done this paper

TEACHER’S COMMENTS

Table of Contents

Abstract 5

Chapter 1 Introduction 5

Chapter 2 Main Contents 5

2.1 Previous studies 6

2.2 An analysis of sentences 7

2.2.1 The definition of the grammatical meaning in a sentence 7

2.2.2 The function of phrases and clauses in a sentence 9

2.2.3 The basic structures of sentences 11

2.3 An evaluation of the English Practice Grammar textbook 12

2.3.1 The contents of an evaluation 13

2.3.2 Summarizations 15

Chapter 3 Conclusions 16

3.1 General discussions 16

3.2 Limitations 16

3.3 Recommendations 16

Appendices 17

References 18

This paper is done for the purpose of our research work on the topic “simplesentences” and it’s very necessary for everyone to understand the sentence struturesand sentence constituents when speaking and writing in English A clause iscommonly formed by combining words and phrases and they can play the role inshowing their functions in that clauses Our paper examines in sentence analysis andpresents some terms of “functional elements” along with detailed examples for each.Furthermore, we still perform an another work that is related to evaluating the topic

“sentences” in the Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced book by the author George

Yule The reason we choose this book is to introduce to learners who should use this

book as reference materials for more progressing knowledge of advanced Englishgrammar

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

Chapter 1 Introduction

In human’s society, language plays a very important role in human lives It’s themethod which we share our ideas and thoughts with others In fact, we use language inmany different ways, some of these are, the informational, the expressive, thedirective, the phatic, the aesthetic We use language and that language is a part ofsociety We communicate effectively with our words, gestures and tone of voice in amultitude of situation The importance of language is essential to every aspect andinteraction in our everyday lives

Learning another language is English which is extremely necessary English is reallyimportant, it is the best motivation we can reach out to any languages other thanmother tone Moreover, learning English is also an important condition to be able toaccess and update the information source of knowledge Also, English is a beautifullanguage, associated with many cultural characteristics

English grammar is the way which meanings encoded into wordings in Englishlanguage This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences, right up

to the structure of whole texts To put it simply, grammar is a way in which weorganize words, clauses and phrases into meaningful conversation and communication.The organization of grammar all depends on the logic Thus, understanding grammarwill mean we can think more logically

What is a sentence? A sentence can be very short but it needs only two parts: a subjectand a verb A sentence is a complete thought It can stand alone and make sense –complete sense Sentence structure, a mechanical aspect of grammar includesnumerous elements such as subjects, verbs, objects… Sentence structure is importantfor accuracy The basic parts of a sentence are the subject, the verb, and the object

1

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

The subject is usually a noun-a word that names a person, place, or thing The verbusually follows the subject and identifies an action or a state of being An objectreceives the action and usually follows the verb

Simple sentences play an important role in learning English grammar Thus,understanding functions, components of the sentence will help learners express theiridea completely We carried out a short evaluation on the topic “simple sentences” inOxford practice grammar book by George Yule This book gives clear explanations ofEnglish grammar with exercise on the facing page which provide practice in form anduse Example sentences, texts and illustrated dialogues show how structure are used

To expand our knowledge and to deepen into using simple sentences in English, we chose the topic “simple sentences” Admittedly, simple sentences play an important role for those who are studying English grammar

2

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

Chapter 2 Main Contents

2.1 Previous studies

Some studies have attempt to define the concept “ sentences” (or a simple type) inmany ways; however, there are not any perfectly precise and adequate definitions.Here are the most typical utterances that we have searched out

 “Sentence, according to Ballard (2001:137), is the largest unit of syntacticstructure which consists of at least a main clause but which may consist ofseveral.”

 “To Radford ( 2009:479) as sentence is simply a term synonymously used to refer

to a root clause which is basically a free standing clause that is not a component ofanother expression.”

 “Swan ( 2005:24) also defines a sentence as a group of words expressing astatement, command, question or an exclamation, consisting of one or moreclauses, having at least a subject and a predicate and starting with a capital letterand ending with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark especially inwriting.”

 “Finch ( 2005:109) points out that the traditional definitions of sentences describethem as grammatically complete units of language capable of standing on theirown and semantically independent This to him is true of so many sentences butnot all sentences.”

(Oluga, 2011, Global Journal of HUMAN SOCIAL SCIENCE)

3

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

“According to traditional grammarians, a sentence is “a combination of wordscontaining a subject plus a predicate and expressing a complete thought.”(LaPalombara,1976:p.76).” (S Alduais,2012, International Journal of AcademicResearch in Business and Social Sciences, p.215) This statement causes peopleconfusing that what “ a thought ” means and other linguists may not seem toaccept it and claim that the last part of definition “ expressing a complete thought”

is unreasonable

 All of the above arguments are too difficult for us to use a exact study,but it haskind of indicated us to know how the sentence is As a whole, we can comprehend that a sentence may a complete unit with full subjects and predicates

2.2 An analysis of sentences

When we discuss the term “ sentences”, this is totally similar that we could beconsidering the same thing in terms of “ simple sentences” The reason for thisexpression is that we would not like to mention the conjunction in sentences and thestructure of “ simple sentences” are the main purpose we would like to focus on Now,

we will examine the nature of “ simple sentences”

A simple sentence has just one independent clause ( known as a main clause)including at least a subject and a verb and it expresses only one main idea Toprofoundly perceive the structure of a clause, we need to identify all of the elements ingiven sentences These components consist of subject, verb, object, complement,adjunct ( these is named as a grammatical functions) and they are combined in variousway to form a complete sentence Each of the sentence constituents are represented bythe variety of categories of phrases such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adjectivephrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases and some clauses like noun-clauses (infinitive clauses and participle clauses )

2.2.1 The definition of the grammatical meaning in a sentence

4

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

 Subjects is described as a pronoun or a noun who or what performs an action of the

verb

Eg My sister kisses her husband

As we see, my sister is a person doing the action kiss, so my sister is a subject of the

- Eg My sister kisses her husband

Her husband is a person who is given a kiss; therefore, It’s clear that her husband is

known as a indirect object

- Eg I give my best friend a watch

According to the meaning of the sentence shows that my best friend refers to a person who receives a thing watch from the action give, so my best friend is determined a indirect object and the rest of word a watch is obviously called a direct object

 Complements are used to describe or identify a subject or a object and it is classified

as subjective complements and objective complements

- Eg He remains a good citizen

The word phrase a good citizen is in relationship with the subject “He” or in other

words, both the subject “ He” and the word phrase “a good citizen” are described

the same person; therefore, the word phrase a good citizen is a subjective

complement

- Eg I feel him honest

The word “ honest” is used to describe the object “ him”, so the word “ honest” isdetermined a objective complement

 “ Verb” is known as an action or a state and are subdivided into three types composing

of:

5

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

o Transitive Verbs

o Intransitive Verbs

o Linking Verbs

- Transitive verbs are always followed by objects.

Eg My father likes ice-cream

The word “ likes” is considered to be a transitive verb because it is followed bythe object “ ice-cream”

Some typic verbs are listed in transitive verbs like miss, hear, prepare, sell, love,rob, believe, hate, admire and so on

- Intransitive verbs are used without objects.

Eg He smiles

It is very simple to notice that the word “ smiles” is a intransitive verb

Some other verbs include: arrive, fall, disappear, occur, sleep, …

- Linking verbs are called “copula” verbs such as be, turn, look, feel etc and are

immediately followed by complements

E.g I became a rich man

The word phrase “a rich man” is a complement because it refers to the subject “ I

”, so the word “ became” is called a linking verb

 When we want to identify the verb categories, we should depend on elementsafter that verb and some verbs can be a transitive or a intransitive or a linking verb

For instance, I feel joyful, I feel her lovely In the first sentence; the word “ joyful”

which is related to the subject “I” is a complement, so the verb “feel” isdetermined a linking verb However, the verb “feel” in the second sentencebecames a transitive verb since it is followed by the object “her” For one another

example, I open the book to page 14 The book is opened to page 14 The verb

“open” can be regarded as both a transitive verb and intransitive verb and we can

see that the verb “opened” in the second sentence turns a intransitive verb when it

is transferred into a passive voice

6

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

 Adjuncts are an optional constituent for the purpose of providing any information

about time or a place in clauses and it can be added or removed from a sentence

without influenting to the meaning of sentence For example, I will meet him at the beach This sentence contains subject ( I ), verb ( will meet ) , object ( him), adjunct ( at the beach) If we separate at the beach from the sentence, it ensure that the

sentence still maintains entirely meaningful and in addition, we can change or use any

information to replace it, eg I will meet him soon or I will meet him tomorrow morning As we can see that the phrase at the beach has been replaced by the word

soon and tomorrow morning Furthermore, adjunct could be known to describe the

manner of verbs, eg I have finished the exam excellently The word excellently may be considered to be an adjunct expressing the action finish

2.2.2 The function of phrases and clauses in a sentence

When we want to identify any words in a sentence, we always think of thegrammatical functions that words take on in the sentence This chapter will indicatehow categories of phrases and clauses occupy grammatical function in a sentence

 The subject and object function can be described by noun phrases, pronouns, noun clauses.

- Noun phrases.

1 All our new paintings are preserved carefully

2 Many students like this interesting story

- Pronouns.

3 We love the nature

4 My best friend thanks me sincerely

- Noun clauses.

5 Contributing to the society is an admirable action

7

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

6 I should know whether everyone agree with that request

 The verb function is always a verb phrase.

1 He should have done this affairs earlier

2 The party has been being prepared for all morning

 The complement function is represented by noun phrases, adjective phrases, noun clauses.

3 Her talent is that she can manage everything well

 The adjunct may be noun phrases, prepositional phrases, adverb phrases, non-suffixing words

An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule

Almost all linguists; Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum and Howard Jackson; havepointed out that there are seven basic simple-sentence patterns

3 Subject + Verb + Adjunct

 This accident happened at the cinema

4 Subject + Verb + Direct object ( SVO )

The player kicks the blue ball

S V D.O

5 Subject + Verb + Indirect object + Direct object (SVOO)

 My mother sends me lots of love