CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON ENGLISH VERB PHRASES IN COMPARISON WITH VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON ENGLISH VERB PHRASES IN
COMPARISON WITH VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỐI CHIẾU CỤM ĐỘNG TỪ TRONG TIẾNG ANH
TRONG SỰ SO SÁNH VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)
Introduction
As far as we know, verb phrases have important role in linguistics. Verb
phrases are important word groups carrying much semantic weight, but verb
phrases in Vietnamese seems not similar. This research seeks to perform a
contrastive analysis of the verb phrase in English and Vietnamese. It intends to
compare and contrast verb phrases in both languages, and to attempt to establish
the areas which might pose problems to learners of English as a foreign
language with Vietnamese as a first language. The study aims at giving the
theory of the of verb phrases, analyzing the verb phrase in English then
comparing with Vietnamese equivalents in order to find out the similar and
dissimilar characteristics of verb phrases in English and Vietnamese. Besides,
the study suggests some possible solutions for teachers and learners when
teaching and learning English verb phrases. The study uses the framework
developed by Quirk, et al. (1985). To gain the above aims, some main methods
as descriptive, contrastive, analytical and synthetic methods are used. The
findings of the study are hoped to be able to help both Vietnamese teachers and
learners seek the suitable ways to use English verb phrases accurately.


1. Theoretical background
1.1 Overview of the contrastive analysis
Contrastive analysis, a term coined by Lado (1957), seeks to establish the
similarities and differences between languages with the assumption that the
areas of similarities will be easier to study in a target language while differences
will pose learning difficulties (Bouton, 1970; Gradman, 1971; James, 1976,
1980).
Contrastive analysis (CA) is a method to distinguish between what are

needed and not needed to learn by the target language (TL) learner by
evaluating languages (M.Gass & Selinker, 2008). In addition, CA is a technique
to identify whether two languages have something in common, which assess
both similarities and differences in languages, conforming to the belief in
language universals. (Johnson, 1999). Both statements indicate that CA holds a
principle which is important in order to identify what are required by the TL
learner to learn in TL and what are not. If there is no familiar characteristic in
the languages, it indicates that the learner might have difficulty in learning the
TL. While much could be said about comparing languages, a more important
aspect is about the influence from TL in first language (L1).
“Contrastive analysis stresses the influence of the mother tongue in
learning a second language in phonological, morphological, lexical and
syntactic levels. It holds that second language would be affected by first
language” (Jie, 2008, p. 36).
1.2 Definition of verb phrase
There are many definitions of the verb phrases in every aspect. Involving
English grammar, there are a large number of scholars defining verb phrases


based on its structure, components, rules or functions from different
perspectives.
In functional grammar, Halliday looks Verbal group as the expansion of a
verb, consists of a sequence of words of the primary class of verb. A verbal
group is typically a group with a verb as its Head. That verb is likely to be
modified either before the verb (pre-modification) with auxiliary verbs or after
the verb (post- modification or qualification) or both. Here are some examples:



He goes.

He should not have gone.

Verbal group serves different functions in the clause in term of
experiential & logical structure.
From traditional perspective, phrases are functioned as elements of clause
and Verb phrase operates as the verb element in a clause, the most central and
indispensable part of the clause.
A verb phrase can be the predicate of a sentence or a clause. In this case,
there will usually be a helping verb in addition to the verb. Here are some
examples of a verb phrase:





My sister is doing her homework.
He might eat the cake.
John was walking to school today.
They played games yesterday.

A verb phrase can also be a phrase that functions as an adverb or adjective
that has a verb and its complements, objects, or modifiers. These following
examples will explain for this:




Running on the staircase, the child fell to the ground.
To make a cake, you need eggs, flour and sugar.
I have saved enough to buy a house.



She practices regular to become a famous dancer.

1.2 The modification
According to Quirk, et al. (1985), modification can be restrictive or nonrestrictive. The modification is restrictive when the reference of the head is a
class which can be identified only through the modification that has been
supplied. The reference of a noun phrase may be viewed as unique or as a
member of a class that has been independently identified. Any modification
given to such a head is additional information which is not essential for
identification, it is called non-restrictive. Example:
Linda, who is standing up, is John’s girlfriend.
Who is standing up is non-restrictive because Linda’s identity is
independent of whether or not she is standing up.
The value of the distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive
modification has been pointed out that modification at its most restrictive tends
to come after the head and tends to be given more prosodic emphasis than the
head. In contrast, non-restrictive tends to be unstressed in pre-head position
while in post-head position; its parenthetic relation is endorsed by being given a
separate tone unit.
1.3 Parts of noun phrase
1.3.1 The premodification
The premodification comprises all the items placed before the headnotably adjectives, nouns and determiners.
Example: Some expensive computers
Some very expensive computers


1.3.2 The head

The head is around which (for the most part) the other constituents cluster
and which dictates concord with other parts of the sentence. See the sentences:
The slim girl near the sofa is my daughter.
But: The slim girls near the sofa are my daughters.
1.3.3 The postmodification
The postmodification consists of all the items placed after the headnotably prepositional phrase, non-finite clauses and relative clauses.
For example:
The boy in the street (prepositional phrase)
The boy walking in the street (non-finite clause)
The boy who walked in the street (relative clause)
1.4 Premodification of noun phrase in English and Vietnamese
2. Premodification of noun phrases in English and Vietnamese
2.1 Premodification in English
Lexical and syntactic items of a wide range of complexity can precede a
noun head to form a noun phrase. The premodification can be formed by:
2.1.1 Predeterminers
The predeterminers can occur before certain determiners include all,
both, half, the multipliers as double, twice, three times…, the fractions such as
one-third, one-fifth…, and such, what.


All, both, half can occur only before articles or demonstratives but when
they are themselves quantifiers, they do not occur with the following
“quantitative” determiners as every, either, neither, some, any, no, and enough.
The multipliers occur with nouns denoting quantity. See the following:
double the amount
three times the sum
The fractions can be followed by determiners. Unlike the multipliers, the
fractions have the alternative of-construction, example: one-third of the time
2.1.2 Determiners

The kind of reference a particular noun phrase has depends on its
determinative element. This function is realized by a set of closed-class items or
determiners which occur before the noun or before its premodifiers.
Determiner production involves the selection of a set of grammatical
features that jointly specify a determiner type, followed by the selection of a
specific phonological form. For example, the production of the determiner “a”
(as in “a car”) requires the selection of the features indicating non-definite,
singular and count noun. Some of the features are context specific and others
are specified lexically (mass or count, gender). These features jointly specify the
type of determiner that will be selected for production.
Determiners consist of articles (a, an, the), possessive adjectives (my, our,
your, his, her…), interrogative pronouns (who, whom, which, that…),
demonstrative pronouns (this, that…). Determiners come first in noun phrases,
before adjectives and noun modifiers.


2.1.3 Postdeterminers
Cardinal numerals tell how many of something there are such as one, two,
three…. “One” can co-occur only with singular count noun while all cardinal
numerals co-occur with plural count nouns.
Ordinal numerals notify the position of something on a list. All ordinals
precede any cardinal numbers in the noun phrase. For example:
The first two students in the queue are Mrs Nhung’s daughters.
Quantifier is a type of determiner that expresses a relative or indefinite
indication of quantity. Quantifiers usually appear before nouns as in many
people.
2.1.4 Adjective
Adjectives describe the qualities or features of a noun. Such as: a big
dog, a spotted dog…
There are four criteria for adjectives. First, they can freely occur in

attributive function. Second, , they can freely occur in predicative function.
Third, they can premodified by the intensifier very. Last, they can take
comparative and superlative forms.
2.1.5 Participle
There are two types of participles in English including present participles
(known as -ing form) and past participles (known as -ed form).
Example:
A built supermarket
A building supermarket


2.1.6 S-Genitive
Let’s see the following phrase:
The woman’s house
This sentence can be interpreted as:
The house of the woman
In English, there is a genitive premodification with the deletion of the
head especially when this denotes premises or establishment.
Go to the dentist’s.
This refers to the dentist’s professional establishment.
2.1.7 Adverbial phrase
Another minor type of premodification is the adverb phrase as in:
John travels to many far-away places.
There is a merely of other premodifying phrases, some of which are
common expressions.
2.1.8 Multiple premodification
With single head, there is more than one modification which may be
related to adjective single head.
With multiple heads, there is one modification which applies to more than
one head. For example:

The new hat
The new dress


 The new hat and dress
With modified modifier, see the example:
The small office furniture
2.2 Premodification in Vietnamese
There are following types of premodification of noun phrases in
Vietnamese:
2.2.1 The classifier “cái”
It is used to express the individual and it is in the position of head one.
This classifier is often placed before words denoting things which belong to the
same class. It cannot be, in this case, replaced by any other word. Examples:

Head 1

Head 2

Một cái

bàn này

Một chiếc

bàn này

Cái chiếc

bàn này

Cái dãy

bàn này

The word “cái” can be replaced before head 2 which denotes things only.
E.g: cái bàn, cái ghế, cái xe... But the classifier cái can be replaced before any
head 2. For example: cái cậu học sinh này, cái ghế này, cái ngôi nhà này…
When the word “cái” is used as premodification, it has some connection
with the word order of the whole noun phrase. Whenever the classifier “cái”is
used as premodification, head 1 must be added as in “cái cậu học sinh này”.


When the word “cái” is used as head 1, the classifier “cái” cannot be used as
premodification
2.2.2 Quantity words
Quantity word can be used as premodification of noun phrases.
Words denoting cardinal numbers such as, một (one), hai (two),
Words denoting indefinite numbers, for example: vài, mấy, dăm (some)…
Words denoting distribution such as mỗi một, mỗi (each), mọi (every)…
Quantity words used as premodification can influence the order of the
noun phrase. They can be placed before classifier “cái”. If there is no quantity
word before it, the head will be interpreted as singular. See the below examples:
Cái tủ chén này (This cupboard)
Những cái tủ chén này (These cupboards)
When quantity words are used, classifier or words denoting units are also
obligatory. Thus, we cannot say:
năm đường (five sugar)
vài vịt (some ducks)
mấy tre (some bamboos)

Quantity denoting totality can be use as premodification of noun
phrase.For example: Tất cả các thầy cô giáo (all teachers)
2.2.3 Fixed order words


Classifier cái always stand after the quantity words. Quantity words stand
after words denoting totality.

Number

Position

Examples

1

2

3

1

+

+

+

Cả

hai

2

+

+

-

Cả

hai

3

-

+

+

4

+

-

+

5

-

-

+

6

+

-

-

7

-

+

-

8

-

-

-

hai
Cả

Cả
hai

cái

ngôi nhà

ấy

ngôi nhà

ấy

cái

ngôi nhà

ấy

cái

ngôi nhà

ấy

cái

ngôi nhà

ấy

ngôi nhà

ấy

ngôi nhà

ấy

ngôi nhà

ấy

Note: 1-classifier cái
2-number/quantity
3-totality
3. Contrast the premodification in English noun phrases with Vietnamese
equivalents
Although, English premodification is formed by many mentioned items,
only some following typical items are discussed when comparing with
Vietnamese equivalents.
3.1 In terms of adjectives
If noun phrase contains one adjective, there is parallelism between
English and Vietnamese. For example:

A large house
Một ngôi nhà rộng
Nevertheless, they are mostly different when noun phrase contains more
than one adjective. With noun phrases holding more than one adjective, they
have constant structure, but there are assorted orders in Vietnamese. Therefore,
the noun phrase “a slim beautiful girl” can be translated into Vietnamese by
“một cô gái mảnh dẻ xinh đẹp” or “một cô gái xinh đẹp mảnh dẻ”.
In addition, adjectives are typically used as premodification in English,
they are used as post-modification in Vietnamese.
A slim girl (1)
Một cô gái mảnh dẻ (2)
In example (1), “slim” is an adjective used as premodification. The role of
adjective differently changes into post-modification in Vietnamese, see (2).
“Mảnh dẻ” stands after the head “cô gái”.
3.2 In terms of quantity
Number and quantity words are used as premodification in both English
and Vietnamese. The word order in the noun phrases in English is the same as
order in Vietnamese. See these examples:
Năm quốc gia vs. five countries
Or:
Three hundred students took part in the parade.
Ba trăm học sinh tham gia diễu hành.


However, “every” and “all” in English do not co-occur. In Vietnamese,
“tất cả”, “mỗi một” are used together.
Tất cả mọi người đều mặc đồng phục.
We cannot say: All every people also wear uniform.
In short, Vietnamese premodification is much more widely used than

English ones. It is much varied than English premodification in its meanings
and its positions.
3.3 In terms of genitives
In English, genitives are typically used as premodification, but there is no
site comparable to this in Vietnamese. To express possession, the word “của” “of” is added. See this noun phrase: “a girl’s dress” = “a dress of a girl” vs.
“váy của cô gái”. The head in English noun phrase is put at the end, but in
Vietnamese, it is located at the beginning of the noun phrase. See the underline
words in the above example.
Besides, an outstanding characteristic of English genitive premodification
is the deletion of the head especially when this indicates premises of
establishment. Look at this sentence: “He is going to the dentist’s”. These cases
do not exist in Vietnamese. To express this, the word “nơi”/“chỗ” is added.
Thus, the word “dentist’s” in the sentence is a premise that can be translated into
Vietnamese as: “chỗ nha sỹ”.
3.4 In terms of participles
With noun phrases containing participles in English, they correspond to
structure of post-modification in Vietnamese. With present participles, the word
“đang” - “ing” form is added between the head and the modification.


developing countries
những nước đang phát triển
With past participles, there are two circumstances. If modification
involves only one word, one-to-one parallelism can be seen both in English and
Vietnamese.
For example: a injured man vs. người đàn ông bị thương.
The word “bị”- passive is used between the head and the modification. In
English such structures commonly appear in spoken as well as in written.
However, this word is more regularly used in the written than the spoken form
in Vietnamese. When noun phrases containing two words used as modification,

the corresponding modification is sat behind the head of the noun phrase in
Vietnamese, but the order is able to diverge.
Example: “a recently opened road” vs. “một con đường mới mở dạo gần
đây ” or “ một con đường dạo gần đây mới mở”.
3.5 In terms of nouns
Structurally, modifier of English noun phrases is placed before the head
whereas after the head in Vietnamese. See these examples:
Petrol tank vs. thùng xăng
The word “tank” is the head and petrol is called premodification placed in
front of the head. In Vietnamese, “thùng” is the head and “xăng” is the modifier
put after the head.
Semantically, both English and Vietnamese modifiers are parallelism.
Therefore, it is not difficult for learners to learn the order.


4. Errors made by English learners when using English noun phrases and
premodification
4.1 Common errors made by learners when using English noun phrases
and premodification
The learners do not understand English sentences containing noun
phrases. They even translate these sentences from English to Vietnamese
inaccurately. Many learners translate the sentence “một cô gái đẹp” into “a girl
beautiful”.
The learners in Vietnam get trouble with a long sentence concluding all
the parts of noun phrase. Such as: “Hai chiếc xe hơi màu đen đầu tiên của bọn
tớ rất đắt tiền.”
Most of the learners translate this sentence into:
Two cars black first of us are very expensive.
Or:

Our two black cars first are very expensive.
Here is the correct sentence: “Our first two black cars are very

expensive.”
4.2 Causes of committing errors when learners use English noun phrases
and premodification
Firstly, the learners use English vocabulary and grammar incorrectly.
Secondly, they do not master or confuse the orders of words to form
English noun phrases. Thus, they have difficulties in using noun phrases as well
as premodification.


Thirdly, because of the negative transfer of their mother tongue in the use
of noun phrases, the learners translate English into Vietnamese word-by-word.
4.3 Suggestions for teaching and learning English when using English noun
phrases and premodification
Firstly, the teacher gives learners the order of words formed noun
phrases. See the following table and examples:
Article,
Genitive
…

Adjective
to cardinal

Adjective to describe
Quality/

color

degree

Adjective
to
nationality

Other
noun

Main
noun

My

three

nice

pink

French

cotton

Dresses

These

two

beautiful

brown

Egyptian

straw

houses

After that, the noun phrases with premodification that consists of only
one adjective should be taught first. Next, teacher does the same with more than
one adjective.
Lastly, a various types of exercises are suitably given to the levels of
learners in order that they understand and practice progressively.
Conclusion
After all, the objectives of the study have been achieved concluding
analyzing the elements of premodification of noun phrases both in English and
Vietnamese, finding out similarities and differences of premodification of
English noun phrases in comparison with Vietnamese equivalents and giving
some suggestions to English learners and teachers when learning and teaching
modification as well as noun phrases.


In the graduation, the study briefly looked at the overview of
premodification of English noun phrases from different grammatical approaches
in the world and Vietnamese. In addition, the typical elements of
premodification of noun phrases were discussed and analyzed. A numerous
number of examples were given in order to support evidences for each point of
view. The research also made a comparison of English premodification of noun

phrases with Vietnamese equivalents from their typical components such as
adjectives, genitives, participles, nouns and quantity. The findings not only
enlighten a specific issue but also suggest the improvement in language learning
and teaching. Hopefully, the study can help both learners and teachers aware of
premodification accurately, identify the similarities and differences between
English and Vietnamese premodification of noun phrases, then overcome some
commonly mistakes when learning and teaching English premodification of
noun phrases.