English negative questions in comparisons with vietnamese ones

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY
---------------------------------------------

NGO THI TRANG

ENGLISH NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN COMPARISONS
WITH VIETNAMESE ONES

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI MEN, M.A.

Hanoi, May 2013
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PART ONE
INTRODUCTION
I. RATIONALE
It cannot be denied that nowadays, English is one of the most widely used
languages in the world. It is the mother tongue of more than 350.000.000
people, and it is also used as a second language by millions of Europeans,
Africans, Indians, etc. In addition, English is spoken and read by many Asians
as a foreign language. Thus, everywhere people speak English. Because of its
popularity, many famous books and documents are translated into English.
Many advertisements as well as business contracts are also written in English.
Obviously, English has a great influence on the socio-economic as well as
cultural life worldwide.
In Vietnam, the need for integrating into the world has increased since the

open-door policy. More and more Vietnamese people desire to learn English,
some of whom study English for better opportunities. The others learn English
for further knowledge or for other purposes. That is why English is a
compulsory subject in many schools and universities, and English centre are
mushrooming throughout the country. English teaching and learning has become
very important and significant to our country’s process of industrialization and
modernization.
In communicative process in English as well as in other languages,
questions play an important role in our daily life. We are not able to keep
communicating going on well without asking questions. We ask in order to
exchange information, ideas, feelings and knowledge .On the other hand, we
sometimes ask questions not for the above purposes but to confirm, refuse irony
or reply avoidance. It is undeniable that questions can not be missed in
communication. There are a lot of types of questions in English but in this paper
I would like to devote all my interest to English negative questions in order to
get more understanding of this type of questions and we can be able to use it
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flexibly and fluently. Moreover, a large number of authors have investigated
negative questions in English namely Alexander, L.G (1975), D. R. Ladd (1981)
Finnegan. E (2004), Lado, R(1957) and many others. But they have discussed
the problems of negative questions in English only or in contrastive analyses, in
comparison with other languages rather than Vietnamese.
In addition, negative questions have been studied in Vietnamese by Diep
Quang Ban (2002), Nguyen Tai Can (1999), Cao Xuan Hao (2003), etc and
especially there have also been some author theses on negative questions in
Vietnamese by Nguyen Phu Phong (2002) and Nguyen Thi Thin (1994). Their
contributions are a great help to Vietnamese learners of English .However, there
are few of writers focused on this theme and this theme make many mistake for

Vietnamese learners of English. Therefore, I choose this theme and study about
this. From my experience and knowledge, I will go deep into this matter in a
hope of assisting to help people who are interested in the subject matter.
II. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Some questions are raised:
1. How are English negative questions formed, used and classified?
2. How are Vietnamese negative questions formed, used and classified?
3. What are the similarities and differences of the negative questions
between English and Vietnamese?
4. What are the difficulties in study English negative questions of
Vietnamese learners of English?
Base on the questions above, I am eager to learn about the problems and
make a comparison analysis in negative questions between English and
Vietnamese so that the major similarities and differences may be found.
III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The study is aimed at following goals:

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1. To find out the forms, usage and functions of the English negative
questions in the grammar system
2. To find out the forms, usage and functions of Vietnamese negative
questions
3. To find out the similarities and differences in the negative questions
between English and Vietnamese
IV. RESEARCH SCOPE
The general research area of this study is grammar
The phenomenon is negative questions in comparisons between English
and Vietnamese. Others relating to the negative questions are also briefly

mentioned.
V. RESEARCH TASKS
The study involves fulfilling the following tasks:
1. To study the classifications, the characteristics, the uses, and the
distinction of the negative questions in English.
2. To study the classifications, the characteristics, and the uses of the
negative questions in Vietnamese.
3. To compare the negative questions in English with Vietnamese ones.
On the basic of the findings, teaching implications to this category are sought to
clear the student questions.
VI. RESEARCH METHODS
To achieve the objectives of the study, the following methods have been
applied:
1. Collecting materials from books and references
2. Consulting the supervisor, experienced teachers and friends
3. Synthesizing theoretical documents on English grammar

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4. Personal observation
VII. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH
The same category grammar in two languages always has similarities and
differences. It will get mislead for learners if they cannot distinguish the
differences in classifications, functions, and even uses of that category. It is,
therefore, essential for teachers to have a better solution. After the research, it is
hoped that the result will be helpful to provide:
1. Input for the learners of English in order to clearly describe the
negative questions in the comparisons.
2. Input for teacher of English with teaching implications of the negative

questions.
This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in the negative
questions in English.
VIII. DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK
The research work has three main parts, namely: Introduction,
Development, Implication for teaching and learning and Conclusion.
Part 1: Introduction
This part mentions to rationale, research objectives, research questions,
research scope, research tasks, research method, and significances of the
proposed research.
Part 2: Development
This part consists three chapters.
Chapter 1: chapter 1 is entitled “theoretical background”. It consists two
sections.
The first part in chapter 1 is reviews literature in brief.

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The second part in chapter 1 is named “The negative questions in
English”. It has been one section. It has things related to the negative questions
in English such as classification, characteristics and uses.
The third part in chapter 1 is named “The negative questions in
Vietnamese”. It has been four sections .They are Negative structure in Yes/No
questions, Negative structures in Tag- questions, Negative structures in Whquestions, Negative structures in alternative questions.
Chapter 2 is named “the negative questions in comparisons with
Vietnamese”. It has three sections. Section one is studied to the similarities. The
second deals with the differences.
Chapter 3 is devoted to the teaching implications. The last one is part
four: conclusion.

Part 3: Conclusion
This part is a summary of all main contents.

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PART TWO
DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I. LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF
Negative questions stand in place of questions, important part of the
English grammar. Negative questions are used to indicate the speaker’s
idea(what he/she believes is or is not true) and attitude (surprise,
anger,…).Many grammarians have described negative questions like L.G
.Alexander (1990), Betty Scrapper Azar (2002), Anne Seaton( 2007), &
Randolph Quirk (1973) and so on. They each have their own way to describe the
negative questions. Fundamentally, they concentrate their attention on the
definition, formation, functions of the negative questions, types of negative
questions and their uses. Moreover, negative questions in Vietnamese are also
described by some authors such as Diep Quang Ban (2002), Nguyen Tai Can
(1999), Cao Xuan Hao (2003) and Nguyen Phu Phong (2002).
L.G. Alexander (1990) in Longman English Grammar constantly concerns
with basic different uses between some questions. He focuses on Yes/ No
questions, negative statements, yes/ no answers. He only doesn’t deal with the
formation of ways of making yes/ no questions, forms of yes/ no questions. He
also introduces alternative negative forms and negative questions. In negative
question, he describes about the full form and the short form. Furthermore, he

describes how to use stress and intonation in negative questions.
Betty Schrampfer Azar (2002) in Understanding and Using English
Grammar refers to the background knowledge of negative questions. He gives
specific details for each negative question. He introduces more about forms of
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yes/ no and information questions, wh- negative questions, tag- negative
questions. He specifies forms of avoiding double negatives.
In the book Basic English Grammar book 1, Anne Seaton (2007) only
focuses on his attention on two kinds of questions. They are yes/ no questions
and wh- questions. He gives some more simple uses, functions and positions of
them. In addition, he pays much attention to uses with some negative questions
such as yes/ no negative questions and wh- negative questions.
Randolph Quirk (1973) in the book A University Grammar of English
gives some materials about several features of negative questions or specific
details of relationship between subjects, predication with negative questions. In
his opinion, assertion and non- assertion are some major types of sentence.
In the book Ngu Phap Tieng Viet, Diep Quang Ban and Hoang Van
Thung (2010) deals with specific characteristics, classifications and description
about negative questions. He mentions four types of Vietnamese negative
questions such as negative structure in Yes/No questions, negative structures in
Tag- questions, negative structures in Wh- questions, negative structures in
alternative questions.
Language group of philology faculty, Hanoi Pedagogical University
(2006) in the textbook Ngu Phap Tieng Viet part 1 gives basic features and
kinds of negative questions. They pay attention to classify negative questions by
functions and intended uses.
In short, much research has been done on the negative questions but they
don’t point out comparison between them in English and Vietnamese. In fact,

there are similarities and differences between them. Consequently, it is very
essential to have a comprehensive study of negative questions in English
comparison with that in Vietnamese.

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II. NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH
II.1. Negative questions – Definition
According to John Eastwood in the book Oxford Practice grammar with
answers, negative questions are interrogative sentences with the presence of
negative marker. They ordinarily do not accomplish questioning in the sense of
information seeking.
E .g: Does not she understand?
Why don’t you listen to me?
II.2. Negative questions – Forms
In the book Oxford Practice grammar with answers, John Eastwood
wrote that
We make a question negative by putting n’t after the auxiliary (e. g have,
does).
Positive

Negative

Have you done it yet?

Haven’t you done it yet?

What does the advert tell you?

What doesn’t the advert tell you?

Who eats meat?

Who doesn’t eat meat?

What went wrong?

What didn’t go wrong?

According to L.G. Alexander in the book Longman English Grammar,
the word order of the full form is different from the short form:
Full form: Did he not explain the situation to you?
Short form: Didn’t he explain the situation to you?
We normally use the short form in conversation and the full form only for
emphasis.

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II.3. Negative Questions – Functions
In the book Longman English Grammar, the author wrote:
Depending on the stress and intonation we use, we can:
-

Express disbelief, surprise:

Can’t you really ride a bicycle?

-

Invite the answer “Yes”:

Don’t you remember our holiday in

-

Persuade:

Won’t you please help me?

-

Express annoyance:

Can’t you ever shut the door behind

-

Make exclamations:

Isn’t it hot in here!

Spain?

you?

(L.G. Alexander, 1990: 198)
II.4.Negative Questions – How to Answer
When replying to a negative question, you answer a negative question the

same as a regular question. There is no difference.
A: Haven't you gone to the doctor?
B: No, I haven't yet. I'm too busy.
A: Don't you brush your teeth every day?
B: Yes, of course do.
II.5. Negative questions – Classification
II.5.1. Negative Yes/No Questions
II.5.1.1. Definition of negative Yes/No Questions
Definition of Yes/ No questions:
“Those expect the answer Yes or No are Yes/ No question”.
Therefore, the negative yes/ no questions are so called because they
expect the answer Yes or No and contain a negative form of one kind or another.
(Quirk & Green Baum, 1973: 192)
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E .g:
Don’t you meet her?
Can’t you sing any song?
Will no one help me?
II.5.1.2.Forms of negative Yes/No Questions
According to Alexander (1992; 255) in the book Longman English
Grammar, negative Yes/No question can appear in a post subject position in its
full form not, or in pre-subject position in its clinic-contracted form n’t. We can
say that contracted and subcontracted negative questions appear in either short
negative form or long negative form, or in other words, it can appear in different
word order.
Subcontracted form

Contracted form

Did she not come to the party?

Didn’t she come to the party?

II.5.1.3. Functions and intonation of negative Yes/No Questions
When the speaker wants to express surprise, disappointment, annoyance
or he wants to persuade someone, negative Yes/ No questions employed.
The first function is that negative Yes/No Questions can be used to
convey something that make us surprised when it has not happened, or is not
happening.
E. g:
Don’t you remember my name?
Haven’t you put those shelves up yet? (= I am surprised that you haven’t
yet.)
Don’t the children want the ice- cream? (= I am surprised that they don’t
want it.)

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The next function is that when we want to persuade someone we can use
negative Yes/ No questions. For example:
Don’t you believe me?
In this example, the speakers want to persuade the listeners to believe
them.
Moreover, when the speaker wants to express annoyance negative Yes/
No questions can be used. For example:
Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
Besides, we can use negative yes/ no questions to express disappointment.

For example:
Haven’t you got any money?
A question with can’t can be a complaint or an impolite request.
Can’t you sit down?
I am blocking my view.
We can also use a negative yes/ no question instead of a statement and a
tag.
Aren’t you a friend of Harriet’s? (=You‘re a friend of Harriet’s, aren’t
you?)
Also, when negative oriented questions are raised, the speaker is said to
be expecting or hoping the answer “Yes”.
E. g:
Haven’t you read it already?
“Yes, I have.”
It is an expected answer.
Thorough study on negative yes/no questions shows that most of the
questions are produced with a rising tone at the end:
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E. g:
Haven’t you seen that film already?
Don’t you need some money?
II.5.2. Negative Tag questions
II.5.2.1. Definition of negative Tag questions
According to B.S. Azar in the book Understanding and Using English
Grammar,
“A tag- question is a negative question added at the end of a sentence.”
E .g:
She is a teacher, isn’t she?

According to Michael Swan(2004; 487-488) in the book Practical
English usage,
“Negative tag questions consist of negative question tags which are used
after affirmative sentence, but not after questions”.
E.g:
You’re the new secretary, aren’t you?
“To check information or ask for agreement, we most often put negative
tags after affirmative sentences”.
E.g:
It’s cold, isn’t it?
II.5.2.2. Form of negative Tag questions
As can be seen from the above examples, a tag question includes two
parts: a statement and a tag. In addition, a comma “,” is always required before
the tag.
We can put a tag at the end of a statement to make a question .The tag
consists of operator plus a subject pronoun, with or without a negative particle.

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The choice and tense of the operator are determined by the verb phrase in the
subordinate clause and the subject pronoun refers to the subject of the statement.
Affirmative sentence + Negative tag —>Affirmative answer expected
E .g:
Mary is here, isn’t she?

Yes, she is.

You like tea, don’t you?

Yes, I do.

They have left, haven’t they?

Yes, they have.

There have more examples about negative tag questions:
This/ That is your book, isn’t it?

The tag pronoun for this/ that = it

These/ Those are yours, aren’t they? The tag pronoun for these/ those =
they
There is a meeting tonight, isn’t there? In sentence with There + be,
There is used in the tag.
Everything is okay, isn’t it?
Everyone took the rest, didn’t they?
—> Personal pronoun are used to refer to indefinite pronouns. They are
usually used in a tag to refer to everyone, everybody, someone, somebody and
no one, no body.
(B.S. Azar, 2002: A15)
It is also necessary and useful to know other forms of negative tagquestions with some special items:
+ With universal, indefinites and negative pronouns such as everyone,
every body, someone, anyone, everything, nobody, nothing, etc, tags are
formed with the use of “it” or “they”. “It” is used to refer to everything, nothing,
etc and “they” is used to refer to everyone, everybody, nobody, etc.

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E .g:
Everything is all right, isn’t it?
Everybody has left, haven’t they?
+ In some other cases, the tag subject is determined by the context.
E .g:
This one is a good person, isn’t he/ she?
“This one” here may refer to a male or a female. It depends on different
context in which the question appears.
+ Additionally, the tag “aren’t I” (or sometimes “ain’t I”) for “I am” is
also used.
E .g:
I am beautiful, aren’t I?
+ Sometimes, leaving out pronoun subjects and auxiliaries in sentences
with question tag is acceptable. Also, a question – tag may be used after an
elliptical question.
E.g:
(It is) a nice day, isn’t it?
(They are) intelligent pupils, aren’t they?
II.5.2.3. Functions and intonation of negative Tag questions
According to Longman Dictionary, tag questions are used to assert or to
check information that we are not sure it is true or false. Therefore, negative tag
questions also have functions like this. The statement and the tag are divided by
a comma and the tense of the statement and the tag is the same. It means that if
the verb of the statement is an auxiliary verb, the verb of the tag will match it.
Sometimes we just use them for effect when we are trying to be sarcastic, or to

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make a strong opinion. When we want to find out the agreement or affirmation

of answers, we use negative tag questions.
E.g.1: The concert was boring, wasn’t it?
E.g.2: They did not finish their duty, did they?
According to B.S. Azar in the book Understanding and Using English
Grammar, we can use either the falling or the rising tone on the tag in negative
tag questions. A tag question may be spoken with a rising intonation if the
speaker is truly seeking to ascertain that his/ her information, idea, belief is
correct.
E .g:
Ann lives in an apartment, doesn’t she?
A tag question may be spoken with a falling intonation if the speaker is
expressing an idea with which s/he is almost certain the listener will agree.
E .g:
It is a nice today, isn’t it?
II.5.3. Negative Wh-questions
II.5.3.1. Definition of negative Wh-questions
WH-questions are also called information questions because the answer to
the question requires more than just a short answer and more than “Yes” “No”
answers (there must be some information in the answer). Most WH-questions
begin with words that start with the letters “WH”, and they usually end with
falling intonation.
E.g.1: Which color do you not like? (Requiring information)
E.g.2: Which color don’t you like?
E.g.3: Why doesn’t Tim give her a gift? (Surprise)
E.g.4: Why didn’t you tell me sooner? (Complaint)

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II.5.3.2. Form of negative Wh-questions

They are formed with the aid of the following interrogative words: Who,
Whom, Whose, What, Where, When, Why, How, etc. In negative Yes/No
questions, “not”can be put in a post-subject position in its full form or presubject position in its shortform.
Negative WH-questions with “who”, “what”, “which”, “when”, “where”,
“how” are only used for requesting information. Meanwhile, negative WHquestions with “why” contain much more sense to express speaker’s attitudes.
II.5.3.3. Functions and intonation of negative Wh-questions
We can use “why don’t …?” As a suggestion
E .g:
Why don’t you put the shelves up now? Well, all right.
Why don’t we sit on the balcony? Good idea.
We can use Why didn’t…? To criticize
We will have to stand now. Why didn’t you book seats for us? (= You
should have booked seats for us.)
We can also use a wh-question to ask for information.
Who hasn’t checked their baggage in? Oh, I haven’t. Sorry.
What don’t you understand? This paragraph here
Negative Wh-questions (or information questions) are employed to seek
information from the listener. A falling tones not a rising one is the main
characteristic of intonation in Wh-questions and there is always a rising
intonation on question-words. This means the questions are uttered to emphasize
on the explicit information.

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E .g:
What haven’t you done?
Who didn’t pass the exam?
However, a rising intonation will be presented if the speaker asks the
question with eagerness to gain more information.

E.g. A: Don’t go to that wedding!
B: Why not?
II.5.4. Negative alternative questions
II.5.4.1. Definition of Negative alternative questions
Negative alternative questions (questions with “or”) are “those that expect
as the reply one of two or more options presented in the question and add
negative element after auxiliary verb.”
(Quirk and Green Baum, 1975: 192)
E .g:
What wouldn’t you like to go, by bus or by train?
II.5.4.2.Formation of Negative alternative questions
An alternative question is a question that expresses more than two
answers but only one is true. In form, alternative questions are similar to yes/no
interrogatives, in beginning with the bounded operator and not containing a
question word.
When we transform to negative questions, we often add “not” after
subject.
E.g: Which dress wouldn’t you like, the pink one or the white one?
→ you wouldn’t like the pink dress.
→ you wouldn’t like the white dress.

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Actually, there are two types of Alternative questions: one resembling a
Yes/No question and the other is similar to a Wh-question:

II.5.4.2.1. Negative alternative questions resembling yes/ No questions
According to Quirk and Green Baum (1973: 199) “ The structure of
alternative Yes/ No questions follows the pattern of clausal coordination; that is,

two or more separate questions are collapsed together, whenever convenient, by
ellipsis” ( illustrated hereafter by parentheses):
E.g: Should I come or (should I) not (come)?
We can form negative alternative question from any positive Yes/ No
question by adding “or not” or a matching negative clause:
E.g: Yes/ No question:

Do you like her?

Alternative question:

Do you like her or not?
Do you like her or don’t you (like her)?

This type of Alternative questions differs from Yes/ No questions only in
intonation.
II.5.4.2.2. Alternative questions resembling Wh-questions
This alternative question type is really a compound of two separate
questions: a Wh-question followed by an elliptical alternative question of the
first type.
E .g:
What wouldn’t you like to go, by bus or by train?
Which wouldn’t you prefer, tea or coffee?
II.5.4.3.Functions and intonation of Negative alternative questions

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A negative alternative question contains a separate nucleus for each
alternative: a rise occurs on an item in the list, except the last, on which there is

a fall.
Negative alternative:
Wouldn’t you like h coffee, h beer or ↓ wine?
What wouldn’t you prefer, film h or play ↓?
Both types of negative alternative questions above have the same
function. The speaker, when asking the question, offer different alternatives or
choices and require the addressee to choose one of two or more choices that he
doesn’t know.
II.5.5. Minor types of negative questions
II.5.5.1. Negative exclamatory questions
II.5.5.1.1.The definition of negative exclamatory questions
The negative exclamatory questions are the same as the exclamatory
questions and add negative composition.
“The exclamatory question is a question in form, but is functionally like
an exclamation.” (Quirk and Green Baum 1973:199)
E .g:
Isn’t it nice today!
Didn’t she come!
In above examples, forms of them are questions (auxiliary verb + subject
+ verb) and the function of them like an exclamation (express attitude and
feeling).

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II.5.5.1.2.The Form of negative exclamatory questions
Negative exclamatory questions have the form as negative Yes/ No
questions and in this type instead of using the question mark like in other types
of questions, the exclamatory mark is used.
E .g:

Isn’t it nice today ↓!
Can’t they help ↓ us!
II.5.5.1.3.The Functions and intonation of negative exclamatory questions
The most characteristic negative exclamatory question is an negative
exclamatory question resembling a negative Yes/ No question but differing only
in intonation: instead of the final rising tone, it has a final falling one.
E .g:
Haven’t you finished it? ↓
Wasn’t it a horrible fire? ↓
Didn’t she come? ↓
These kinds of questions have the function of inviting the listener’s
agreement to something on which the speaker has strong feelings. Contrary to
appearances, the meaning is vigorously positive.
E .g:
Won’t you help me? ↓
(Please help me!)
Wasn’t it a horrible fire? ↓
(What a horrible fire it was!)
Clearly, such questions can only be used when the speaker (or the writer)
and the addressee share the same experience and the same context.

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II.5.5.2. Rhetorical questions
In “A grammar of contemporary English”, Randolph Quirk, Sidney
Green Baum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik define rhetorical question as
“The rhetorical question is one which functions as a forceful statement.
Moreover, a positive rhetorical question is like a strong negative assertion, while
a negative question is like a strong positive one.”

A rhetorical question can resemble a yes/no question and has the normal
rising intonation of a yes/no question. People use the rhetorical question
resembling the yes/ no question form to express a strong feeling, opinion or
impression.
Negative: Isn’t that an ugly husband?
(That is an ugly husband.)
Hasn’t anyone round here got any sense?
(Surely someone here got some sense.)
A rhetorical question may also resemble a wh- question, which is
equivalent to a statement in which the Q- element is replaced by the negative
element. The intonation is that of an ordinary wh- question except that a risefall tone is likely in some cases.
What happened? ↓
(Nothing happened.)
What make me different? ↓
(Nothing makes me different.)

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II. NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN VIETNAMESE
II.1. Vietnamese negative Yes/ No questions
II.1.1.The definition of Vietnamese negative Yes/ No questions
Vietnamese negative Yes/ No questions were discussed in many grammar
books written by such authors as Diep Quang Ban, Cao Xuan Hao, Nguyen Tai
Can, etc. However, there are still many different points of view of this question
type.
According to Diep Quang Ban Vietnamese negative Yes/ No questions
are questions with usual interrogative particles, and in his opinion, this type is
used to get information which calls for Yes or No response. The answers to
these questions maybe: “ừ/ phải/ vâng/ đúng rồi/ phải rồi, etc.” (Positive

answers) or “Không/ không phải/ không đúng, etc.” (Negative answers)
Cao Xuan Hao considers negative Yes/ No questions in Vietnamese as
generalized questions that are used to check the degree of reality of the whole
clause in the questions.
Generally speaking, in most cases, Vietnamese negative Yes/ No
questions require Yes or No answer like English negative Yes/ No question.
E .g:
Cậu không nhận ra tớ ư?
(Don’t you recognize me?)
Có chứ.
(Yes, I do.)
II.1.2.The Form of Vietnamese negative Yes/No questions
According to “A descriptive English grammar” written by Ha Van Buu,
Vietnamese tend to express negative questions by adding some negative word
such as:“không”, ,“chưa”, “chẳng” or “chả” which are normally placed after
the subject and before the predicate in combination with “ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/
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chứ/ …” which occur in final position. Sometimes “chẳng phải/ không phải/
chả phải…” in presubject position is used in combination with “à/ sao/ hay sao/
là gì/ đó sao” in final position
Form:
S + “không”/ “chưa”/ “chẳng”/ “chả” + …..+ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/
gì/ hay sao/chớ/ chứ gì/ được sao/ được ư/ phải không/ đấy chứ / nhỉ?
E.g.: Em chưa làm bài tập à?
(Haven’t you done your homework?)
Em không yêu anh à?
(Don’t you love me?)
Chẳng phải/ không phải/ chả phải/phải chăng/ chẳng phải là / không

phải là / chả phải là + S +…+ à/ sao/ hay sao/ là gì/ đó sao?
E.g:

Chẳng phải con đã mở cửa sao?
(Wasn’t it you who opened the door?)
Chẳng phải cậu thích cô ấy là gì?
(Isn’t it true that you like her?)

Chẳng

lẽ

(nào)/(có)

lẽ nào/

có

đúng

là

+

S+

“không”/

“chưa”/ “chẳng”/ “chả” +…..+ à/ ư/ sao/ hả/ hử/ chứ/ gì/ hay sao/chớ/ được
sao/ được ư/ đấy chứ ?

E.g:
Chẵng lẽ nào tôi yêu anh ấy rồi ư?
(Is it possible that I love him?)
Có đúng là 2012 sẽ là năm tận thế không?
(Isn’t it true that 2012 year is the end of the world?)

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Another difference is also the way of answering which causes learners to
make mistakes when they encounter negative questions. In English, answering
yes or no rely on the fact but in Vietnamese negative particles require yes.
E.g:
Cậu không muốn giúp tớ thật à? Ừ, tớ không thể.
(Don’t you want to help me? No, I don’t.)
II.1.3.The Function of Vietnamese negative Yes/No questions
According to “A descriptive English grammar” written by Ha Van Buu,
this type of questions is uttered with the same meaning as that of positive
oriented questions. However, the thing that makes this type different from each
other is the speaker’s attitude. The addressor when asking negative Yes/ No
questions usually suggests something that makes him doubtful. The addressee
unhesitatingly agrees with the knowledge on the point and the addressor does
not show in which way his doubts are to be solved.
II.2.Vietnamese negative Tag-questions
II.2.1. Form of Vietnamese negative Tag - questions
In Vietnamese, tag questions are used to confirm speaker’s belief,
sometimes, the fixed expression can be substituted by “(có) đúng không”, “(có)
phải không”, “không phải”, “không đúng” combining with particles like à/ cơ
à/ hả/ nhỉ/ đấy hả/ đấy nhỉ/ chứ/ ư/ vậy sao.These questions are formed by
putting “( có) phải không?” “(có) đúng không?” at the end of statements without

any change in the structures:
(Diệp Quang Ban, 1998: 231)
Positive statement, +“(có) đúng không”/ “(có) phải không” + à/ cơ à/
hả/ nhỉ/ đấy hả/ đấy nhỉ/ chứ/ ư.?
E.g:

Cô ấy làm việc rất tốt ( có) phải không?
(She works very well, doesn’t she?)
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