A study on english expressions denoting time with reference to their vietnamese equivalents

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS DENOTING TIME
WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT TIẾNG ANH CHỈ THỜI GIAN
TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT)
TRẦN THỊ KIM HIẾU

Hanoi, 2016


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

---

---

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS DENOTING TIME WITH
REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT TIẾNG ANH CHỈ THỜI GIAN
TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)

TRẦN THỊ KIM HIẾU
Field: English Language

Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Đang Ngoc Huong, Ph.D

Hanoi, 2016


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled.
A STUDY ON ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS DENOTING TIME WITH
REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(Nghiên cứu các biểu đạt tiếng Anh chỉ thời gian trong sự liên
hệ tương đương với tiếng Việt)
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master
in English linguistics. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s
work has been used without acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.
Ha Noi, 2016
Trần Thị Kim Hiếu
Approved by

Đang Ngoc Huong, Ph.D

Date …………………………………….

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support
from a number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dang
Ngoc Huong , my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me
through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and
suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic
researcher.
A special word of thanks goes to all my lectures and officers of Falcuty of
Graduate Studies, Hanoi Open University and many others, without whose
support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have
this thesis accomplished.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my husband and
my daughter and son for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this
academic work.

ii


ABSTRACT
As the tittle of the thesis indicates: A Study on English Expressions Denoting
Time with Reference to their Vietnamese Equivalents, the purpose of the study is
to point out the semantic and syntactic features of English expressions denoting
time and their Vietnamese equivalents .To carry out this research, the writer used
such methods as descriptive, statistical and analytical. In addition, a survey
questionnaire was carried out for the first year students of mechanical courses at
Hanoi University of Industry. In the end, the research worked out the reasons for
those mistakes which the students had made in using time denoting expressions in
English and proposed the implications on teaching and learning English
expressions of time.

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LIST OF TABLES
Figure 4.1: The percentage syntantic of English expressions denoting time .... 43
Figure 4.2 :The percentage of semantic features of English

expressions

denoting time. ...................................................................................................... 51
Figure 4.3: Result of Results of survey ............................................................... 52

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
E.g.

For example

i.e.

That is

S

Subject

O

Object

V

Verb

A

Adverbial

C

Complement

N

Noun

NP

Noun phrase

Prep.

Preposition

Qs

Questions

p.

Page

EFL

English as a foreign language

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ iii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................. iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale for the research ............................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims of the research ....................................................................................... 2
1.3. Objectives of the research .............................................................................. 2
1.4. Scope of the research ...................................................................................... 3
1.5. Significance of the research ........................................................................... 3
1.6. Structure organization of the thesis................................................................ 3
CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 5
2.1. Review of previous studies ............................................................................ 5
2.1.1. Previous studies overseas ........................................................................... 5
2.1.2. Previous studies in Vietnam ....................................................................... 6
2.2. Review of theoretical background ................................................................. 7

2.2.1. Theoretical framework ................................................................................ 7
2.2.1.1. Definition of time ..................................................................................... 7
2.2.1.2. Tenses in English...................................................................................... 8
2.2.1.3. Aspects in English .................................................................................. 12
2.2.2. Theoretical background ............................................................................. 15
2.2.2.1. Phrases in English .................................................................................. 15
2.2.2.1.1. Definition of phrases ........................................................................... 15
2.2.2.1. 2 . Characteristics of phrases.................................................................. 15
2.2.2.1.3. Functions of phrases ............................................................................ 16
2.2.2.2. Clauses in English .................................................................................. 23
2.2.2.2.1.Definition of clauses............................................................................. 23
2.2.2.2. 2 . Characteristics of clauses .................................................................. 24
2.2.2.2. 3. Functions of clauses ......................................................................... 25
2.2.2.3. Adverbials of time .................................................................................. 28
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2.2.2.3.1. Definition of adverbials of time .......................................................... 28
2.2.2.3.2 . Characteristics of adverbials of time ................................................. 28
2.2.2.3. 3. Functions of adverbials of time ........................................................ 30
2.2.3. Chapter summary ...................................................................................... 31
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................... 32
3.1. Research orientations ................................................................................... 32
3.1.1. Research questions .................................................................................... 32
3.1.2. Research setting ......................................................................................... 32
3.1.3. Research approach ..................................................................................... 32
3.1.4. Data-related issues/criteria for intended data collection .......................... 33
3.2. Research methods ......................................................................................... 34
3.2.1. Major methods ........................................................................................... 34
3.2.2. Supporting methods................................................................................... 34

3.2.3. Data collection techniques ........................................................................ 34
3.2.4. Data analysis techniques ........................................................................... 35
3.3. Chapter summary.......................................................................................... 36
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION........................................... 37
4.1. Syntactic features of expressions denoting time in English and their
equivalents in Vietnamese. .................................................................................. 37
4.1.1. English time expressions as single words................................................. 37
4.1.2. English time expressions as phrases. ........................................................ 39
4.1.3. English time expressions as clauses.......................................................... 41
4. 2. Semantic features of expressions denoting time in English and their
equivalents in Vietnamese. .................................................................................. 43
4.2.1. English expressions denoting a point of time. .......................................... 44
4.2.2. English expressions denoting a boundary of time. ................................... 46
4.3. Suggestions on teaching and learning expressions denoting time for
Vietnamese learners of English........................................................................... 51
4.3.1. Common mistakes in time expressions by Vietnamese learners of
English. ................................................................................................................ 52
4.3.2.Some suggested solutions to improve teaching and learning expressions
denoting time. ...................................................................................................... 54
4.4. Chapter summary.......................................................................................... 56

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CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION ........................................................................ 58
5.1. Recapitulation ............................................................................................... 58
5.2 Concluding remarks ...................................................................................... 58
5.3 Limitations of the research ............................................................................ 59
5.4. Suggestions for a future research ................................................................. 60
REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 61

APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
APPENDIX 3.

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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the research
In the globalization era, foreign languages play an important role in
communication and social, economic development as well. Foreign languages
bring endless values and opportunities for learners; provide them with
confidence and activeness in all interactive, interpersonal relationship. More
than that, foreign languages also open a new life for learners to discover and
challenge their new horizons. Being able to work and communicate with people
from different backgrounds and cultures is not only a strong movivation but also
a qualified requirement for all the modern labor force. However, learning a
foreign language requires learners a lot of efforts and obviously learners
encounter many difficulties when they often meet differences between the target
language and their mother tongue. One of them is understanding set expressions.
As the special form of language, set expressions play a great role of
retaining, passing traditional culture down to the next generation. They not only
help to enrich the language and culture, but it also reflects the social life. Set
expressions are the combination of culture, language usage and creative
competence, personality and mark of time. Moreover, they benefit people in
communication thanks to the provision with the way of expressing concepts
linguistically that is the ability to convey meanings without verboseness. As a
result, exploring, comparing and contrasting set expressions in native as well as
in target language will surely bring about a treasure of valuable knowledge and a

more convenient condition for foreign language learning process.
Understanding the meaning of set expressions in general and expressions
denoting time in particular is the first difficulty of learners and the second one is
the way of using set expressions denoting time in each specific context.
Moreover, studying set expressions which contain word denoting time is a part
of language learning and it can help learners use language more naturally and
effectively.
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This thesis is intended as a tutorial for the study of how time is expressed
in natural languages. Temporality, for example, is reflected in the lexical
meaning of verbs, in grammatical marking of tense and aspect, in time
adverbials, in special particles. Much attention has been paid to expressions used
to encode temporal information, which range from prepositional phrases ( e.g,
before the dawn), verb suffixes ( e.g, “ ed” in the English regular simple past) to
noun phrases ( e.g, this late afternoon)
I am interested in the way English and Vietnamese people use set
expressions to satisfy their own need in daily communication. Here and there,
there are several studies on set expressions with certain linguistic units.
However, in range of Ha Noi Open University, there is no study of set
expressions containing words indicating time. Thus, the topic “ A study on
English expressions denoting time with reference to their Vietnamese
equivalents” Hopefully, doing a research of English expression denoting time
will be the combination of all the facts mentioned above and is the reason for the
thesis. In the thesis, I have made an attempt to study English set expressions
containing time from different aspects.
1.2. Aims of the research
This study is conducted to aim at demonstrating syntactic, semantic
features of English expressions denoting time in English and the Vietnamese

equivalents. In addition to that, it is expected to helpVietnamese learners of
English better and supplies Vietnamese learners with a deeper understanding of
English expressions denoting time.
1.3. Objectives of the research
To achieve the aims, the study is mandated to persue the following objectives:
(i) To analyze the syntactic features of English expressions denoting time.
(ii) To analyze the semantic features of English expressions denoting time.
(iii) To supply some suggested implications on teaching and learning how to
use expressions denoting time for Vietnamese learners of English.
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1.4. Scope of the research
*Academic scope
The study will focus on expressions denoting time in English the
Vietnamese equivalents which are taken from outstanding sources in English:
English grammar books, previous researches, dictionaries, stories, novels. We
pay much attention on English and Vietnamese novels and short stories when
analyzing syntactic and semantic features of English expressions denoting time
and the Vietnamese equivalents will be later discussed through analyzing
English - Vietnamese examples in different contexts. As has been said above,
verb suffixes and main verb forms as well can be used to express time in the
sentence. However, within limited scope, the study excludes this phenomenon
and just focuses on the analysis of English time expressions as single words,
phrases and clauses.
* Social scope:
This study is expected to help Vietnamese learners of English understand
the meaning and the usage of the English expressions denoting time and
translate them better.
1.5. Significance of the research

The study helps Vietnamese learners of English have ability of varied
conversation and interesting communication, create the combination of culture,
language usage and creative competence personality and mark of time and give
contribution to language teaching and learning. It may help Vietnamese learners
of English find their mistakes which they often make in learning, as well as have
some effective methods to learn better.
1.6. Structure organization of the thesis
For a clear organization, my thesis is divided into five main chapters:
Chapter 1, Introduction , presents a brief account of relevant information for
carrying out the study, including the rationale, the aims, the objectives, the
scope, the significance as well as the structural organization of the thesis.
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Chapter 2, Literature review, presents the overview of the previous researchers
related to the thesis topic and covers a review of theoretical background related
set expressions denoting time in English and Vietnamese.
Chapter 3, Proposed research methodology, provides the methodology
underlying the research and focuses on the methods of data collection.
Chapter 4, Finding and Discussion, this part gives a detailed presentation of
semantic and syntactic features of set expressions in English and the Vietnamese
equivalents, and presents some explanations and interpretations of the finding
of the study.
Chapter 5, Conclusion, emphasizes the implication of the study and points out
the limitations of the study and provides some suggestions for further studies.

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CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review serves two main purposes. Firstly, it gives a review of
previous studies related to English expressions denoting time. Secondly, it
presents and discusses the theoretical background which guides and informs this
research.
2.1. Review of previous studies
English expressions in general and English expressions containing time
which are an important factor in English grammar have attracted great attention
of linguists all over the world so far. Hence, it is not surprising that a large
number of studies on English expressions denoting time in terms of various
fields of language have been undertaken.
2.1.1. Previous studies overseas
A number of English researchers are interested in making researches of
time expressions and they bring different viewpoints. Some of them could be
cited as below:
Time, in the linguistic sense of the word, is a complex category, so some
elementary distinctions are necessary to be made. Kiefer (1980: 1-2) says in his
paper that “ sentences may exhibit two different types of temporal categories.
Resaerch The first type situates the sentence with respect to utterance time ”
while “ the second type of temporal categories does not situate the event at hand
with respect to the time of utterance, it rather describes the time during which
this event takes place.” Kiefer calls the first category external time specification
and the second one internal time specification.
As far as the first category is concerned, it seems to be useful to adopt
Reichenbach’s (1947) notions of temporal specification. He distinguishes
between Speech time, Reference Time, and Event Time. Speech Time is the
time at which a given a sentence is uttered, that is, the moment of utterance ( or:
moment of speaking). Reference time is the time indicated by the sentence.
Event Time refers to the moment at which the relevant even or state occurs.
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So far, we have been concerned with external time specification, ie. We
have been examining how events are situated with respect to the time of
speaking. However, events do not only take place in time but they also take time
to take place. According to Bull (1960:17) internal time specification, as it has
already been mentioned, describes the time during which and event take place.
From this point view, of events are not all alike.( It has to be emphasized that ‘
event’ is used throughout this paper as a cover – term for the lexical meaning
that a full – verb expresses in an utterance.) It seems to be neccessaryto have a
look at the various kinds of events, too, in order to be able to investigate the time
expressed by the verb ( henceforth verbal time).
Linguists such as Lyons (1974), Leech (1987) and Downing and Lock (
1992) belived that all tenses of the English verb map time of points of
orientation ( or point of reference ) which roughly indicate the relation of one
time to another. The primary point of orientation is either the present moment “
now” When the speaker is actually speaking, or sometimes the moment at which
he imagines himself to be speaking.
2.1.2. Previous studies in Vietnam
Temporal adverb, adverbial phrases are also the words to “ mark” time. In
Vietnamese these are the words, for example, : tuần trước, tháng sau, ngày mai,
dạo nọ, lúc này, hồi đó, etc…… The adverbs of time are the words to help for
the reader, the listener easily determine the time of events.Trần Trọng Kim, Bùi
Kỷ, Phạm Duy Khiêm stated that Vietnamese verbs as well as other parts of
speech, do not change the form. Therefore, “ When people want to perform a
job doing in the present, past or future, they use adverbs…”. However, the
determination of current, past or future of the event must also base on the
position of speaker of time ( the observer). Here are a few examples:
1. Present event: - Dạo này, đêm Cà mau, gió mưa cứ tầm tã. [ Anh Đức]
2. Past event:- Hồi ấy hắn hai mươi. [ Nam Cao]
3. Future event: - Rồi mai đây, giữa một buổi xuân đào

Ta sẽ tới ru mình trong vịnh bạc. [ Tố Hữu]
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Similarly, according to many linguists such as Thuyet M.N. (1990). Thành
phần câu tiếng Việt. Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội and Ban D.Q, (1989). Ngữ pháp tiếng
Việt phổ thông, tập 2, Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội.Vietnamese adjuncts are defined to
be functioning and tell about the time at which an action occurs. As in English,
they do not affect the sentence structurally; however, their grammatical meaning
of expressing the time is necessarily required to the profoundness and
copiousness of the sentence.
Like in English, adjuncts in Vietnamese also answer the question words
‘bao giờ?’ (When?) or ‘ bao lâu?’ ( How long?).
Examples:
1. Ngày mai tôi sẽ trở lại. ( Tomorrow, I’ll come back)
2. Bao lâu anh sẽ trở lại? ( When will you come back ?)
In short, it can be seen that many researchers study syntactic, semantic
features of English expressions; however, nobody focuses on syntactic and
semantic features of Englisht expressions containing time and their Vietnamese
equivalents. For these reasons, in my thesis I will focus on this subject.
2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. Theoretical framework
2.2.1.1. Definition of time
Accoding to Elisabeth Eaves ( 29 - 02 -2008 , What is time? Retriveved:
25 - 04 - 2009) defines time as something obvious. She says: “ We all know
what time is. It is the ticking of the clock, the whine of alarm, the calendar on
the wall. And since we all agree about how those things work, time can seen as
solid as a rock.”
In accordance with Wikipedia (Wikipedia.org/wiki/Time), time is a
dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into

the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between
them. Time has long been a major subject of study in religion, philosophy, and
science, but sefining it in a manner applicable to all fields without circularity has
7


consistently eluded scholars. Nevertheless, diverse fields such as business,
industry, sports some notion of time into their respective measuring systems.
Some simple, relatively uncontroversial definitions of time include “ time is what
clocks measure ” and “ time is what keeps everything from happening at once .”
It can be pointed out that time is an observed phenomenon, by means of
which human beings sense and record changes in the environment and in the
universe. A literal definition is elusive. Time has been called an illusion, a
dimension, a smooth – flowing continuum, and an expression of separation
among events that occur in the same physical location.
2.2.1.2. Tenses in English
Accoding to Hornby,A.S (1987), guides to patterns and usage tense are a
grammatical category of verb indicating the time of an action. The main
divisions of time: present, past and future are presented in English by English by
the primary tenses (indefinite and continuous). They are also called absolute
tenses.Besides the primary tenses, there are the so – called secondary tenses in
English ( perfect and perfect continuous). As English has adverbs like yesterday,
last Thursday etc….none of which falls under the category of tense. These are
different views on the category of tenses.
The traditional concept: Aristotle is said to have been the first to
recognize the category of tenses. He observed that there were systematic
variations in the forms of Greek verbs, variations that could be correlated with
time notions such as past and present. Although English has many fewer such
form than classical Greek there are still syntactic connections.
Grammarians treated these notions as simple and obvious. This tradition

was based on practices of Latin and Greek grammarians thought in important
respects English is quite different.
Traditional Latin and Greek grammarians listed in tables below now
known as paradigms. The form for each verb is used in a large numbers of
tenses. The table gives forms for the first, second and third person, singular and
plural. Here are the present tense forms of the Latin verb portare (to carry)
8


Person

Singular

Plural

1st

porto ( I carry)

portamus (we carry)

2nd

portas ( you carry

portatis (you carry)

3rd

portat ( he, she, it) carries

portant ( they carry)

In addition to the present tense , tenses distinguished in Latin include the
future, the perfect tense ( meaning “ have + V – ed or just “ V – ed” ) the future
perfect tense ( will + have + V-ed), the pluperfect or past perfect ( had + V – ed)
and the imperfect tense ( was, were + V – ing).
These tenses were all in the indicative mood ( corresponding fairly closely
to finite verb forms in English ). There was another set of four tenses in what is
called the subjunctive mood ( meaning something like ( “ might + verb” and “
might have + V – ed”)
In the seventeenth and eighteenth language should be described in the
same way as Latin and Greek. However, there are a number of problems facing
such an approach. First, in no language do the verb forms directly correspond to
the semantic properties of time reference. An accurate and insightful grammar
must be based on more than logical criteria.
Second, English differs from Latin and Greek in having only two
infections on verbs to show tenses. The past tense is usually but not always
agreement suffix for third person singular forms. Corresponding to other Latin
and Greek verbs, inflections are auxiliary verbs such as will and should. To
some early grammarians, English seemed an impoverished language, one
lacking the range and precision of tense forms in the classical languages.
A typical attempt to remedy the defects of English was made by S.W. Clark, the
principal of the Cortland Academy in New York in the mid 1800s. In his
textbook, A Practical Grammar went into many printings combination of
auxiliaries, verbs and other forms to fill in gaps in the tense system. His
9


paradigms for the verbs “work” alone take up four pages of small print .The

present subjunctive paradigms, for example, consist of six identical verb forms
preceded by if ( if was working now…)
Later writers and languge teachers developed more versions of this Latin
based on the classification, which reflected more accurately the English verb
data. Though still relying more on semantic or logical criteria than on the actual
combinations and verb forms of English, the newer version turned out to be a
useful frame – work for familiarizing learners with the range of verb forms
available to express time relationship. The version listed twelve forms. Here is a
listing of the different form of the verbs “work” with the first singular person.
The tenses are categorized according to past, present and future, in
combination with aspects, which will be discussed later.
1. Simple present:

I work.

2. Simple past:

I worked.

3. Simple future:

I will work.

4. Present progressive:

I am working.

5. Past progressive:

I was working.

6. Future progressive:

I will be working.

7. Present perfect

I have worked.

8. Past perfect

I had worked.

9. Future perfect

I will have worked.

10. Present perfect progreesive:

I have been working.

11. Past perfect progressive:

I had been working.

12. Future perfect progressive:

I will have been working.

Towards an account based on language forms, the twelve – form approach

was put into use. This description of the English tense system assumes that tense
and time are really the same devices to form additional tenses. But this
assumption is still in question. First, considering “ past tense” and its relation to
past time it very often refers to past time, but not always.
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Example:
- If Ann came home tomorrow, she would find everything new exactly the same.
Clearly in this example, the time reference is to the future. The word
“tomorrow” makes this explicit, but even without “ tomorrow” the word “ if”
and “ would” indicate that the speaker is referring to a hypothetical situation
rather than to one that has already happened.
The following example also has a past tense form but refers to a hypothetical
situation.
Example:
- If John examined recent Supreme Court decisions, he would feel depressed.
Again the time reference is not past though here it is present rather than
future. It is the hypothetical character of the situation ( marked with if ) that
allows the past tense to be used this way. In this use, something parallels the use
of past tense in the following situation. When a professor asks a person standing
outside her office a question like:
Example:
- Did you see my secretary?
“ Did you ” is not used to ask about the past time showing the time
reference for past tense forms, which is not as straight forwardly determined.
The present tense form are less obvious. The only overt maker is the – s, - es,
which show the agreement between the verb and the personal singular subject,
as in these sentences:
Examples:

1. Tom drives a Toyota.
2. Lan often watches TV in the evening.
The other present tense is marked by a zero (0) ending:
- ( I, we, you, they) drive a Toyota.
But this is not to claim that the present tense always corresponds to
present time. The present tense of verb usually refers to a habitual action, only
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the present tense of verbs like “know” representing states, normally refers to
present time. The same sentence can refer to future time, especially if an
appropriate time adverbs is used for events that are scheduled in advance and it
suggests nothing would change. It can be called prearranged present usage.
To refer to future time, many kinds of verb forms and combinations are
used, and most of which are also used to express notions not connected with
future time reference. On this account, English has no special future tense forms.
Traditional grammar searching for a future tense corresponding to those in Latin
and Greek, noted that the modal will (and sometimes shall) could be used with a
verb to refer to future time. So they decided that the will + verb combination. (
and sometimes the shall + Verb combination ) was the English future tense.
In short, once grammatical tense is distinguished, the shall + verb
combination was sometimes seen as the English future tense. And it is necessary
to mention that once grammatical tense is distinguished from semantic
reference, Michael Lewis’s ideas about tense can be considered to be a precise
definition.
As for linguists, tense is a grammatical term. It means that there is
morphological change in the base form of the verb. A verb form, which is used
with an auxiliary, is not, in this grammatical meaning, a “ tense”
In view of this grammatical term, English verbs have only two tenses: The
present tense (see) and the past tense (saw). Past tense does not always refer to

past time. In the same way, the present tense does not often refer to the time at
which the utterance is produced . From this viewpoint, Vietnamese has no tenses
at all. Different languages have evolved in different ways so that a grammatical
distinction existing in a language is quite different from the others.
2.2.1.3. Aspects in English
Halliday and Hasan (1976) points out the verb forms, which are regarded
as tenses; there are many other verb forms in English. These other verb forms
are used with auxiliaries:
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Be and Have
Examples:
1. I am teaching English
2. He has been there before.
3. You would have asked me first.
4. She must next have been trying to ring you.
5. Lan will have finished her work by next month.
These forms include what is called aspect. It is the general name given to
verb forms used to signify certain ways in which an event is viewed or
experienced. This event can be seen as in progress or as a completed whole.
-Progressive aspect is indicated by using [be + V-ing] to say the action is in
progress or temporary or in completed (Example:1).
- Perfect aspect is indicated by using [have + V- ed 2] or [have + the past
participle], in general, to say the action referred by the verb is in some way
completed or achieved, though still relevant (Example: 2).
Both present tense and past tense are unmarked for aspect, but aspect can not
exist without tense. In the construction with aspect, tense is shown by the
primary auxiliary:
Examples: 1 and 2 by the modal auxiliary.

Examples: 3.4.5. Tense and aspect can be combined in various ways,
giving different types:
+Type one: Present progressive
The verb be is in the present tense
Examples:
1.Minh is sleeping now.
2.They are playing tennis now.
+Type two: Past progressive:
The verb be is in the past tense
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Examples:
1. This time last month I was living in Ho Chi Mi
2. What were you doing at 5 p.m yesterday?
+ Type three: Present perfect
The verb Have is in the present tense.
Examples:
1. I have learnt English for 25 years.
2. He has already done all exercises.
+Type four: Past perfect
The verb Have is in the present tense.
Examples:
1. How long have you been waiting for ?
2. Has she been sleeping all day?
+ Type five: Past perfect progressive
The verb Have is in the past tense.
Examples:
1. He had been walking in the street all evening.
2. Had he been there when you came?

In short, a set of students used to denote aspect can be summarized as follows:
1. (To) be + V – ing
2. (To) have + V ed2
3. (To) have been + V-ing
All of these verb forms can be preceded by a modal auxiliary and to is not used.
Examples:
1. She will be having lunch at 11 p.m
2. I will have finished this course by the edn of this year.
In terms of the role of Aspect, these two sentences suggest a difference in
meanings between the two forms used for the sane action.
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Examples:
1. I last met him 3 months ago.
2. I haven’t seen him for 3 months.
They are of the same action. There are, however, various reasons why the
speaker chooses one form rather than the other. In (1) he is interested in the past
action, he means 3 months is a short time, so it does not matter whether they
meet again or not. In (2) the speaker is interested in the period of time up to
now, he suggests that they should meet each other again as three months for him
is a long time. Aspect gives the speaker the opportunity to interpret the temporal
nature orientation of an action, or the fact that concerns a definite period of time.
2.2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.2.1. Phrases in English
2.2.2.1.1. Definition of phrases
According to ( Alexander 1998, 243 ), a phrase is a group of words acting
as a single part of speech and not containing both a subject and a verb. It is a
part of a sentence, and does not express a complete thought.
For example, the phrases in the first two sentences of this page are

italicized. In which the first sentence contains five phrases: “ of words”, “ acting
as a single part of speech,” “ as a single part of speech, ” and “ not containing
both a subject and a verb. “ Except for the phrase beginning with as, allthe
phrases are acting as adjectives. The phrase beginning with as is adverbial.
According to ., a group of words, which
makes sense, but not complete sense, is called a Phrase. It is a group of related
words without a Subject and a Verb.
2.2.2.1. 2 . Characteristics of phrases
Accoriding to Sidney Greenbaum (1963:234), the five types of phrases
are named after the class of word that is the head of the phrase. The phrase types
are exemplified below :
1. Noun phrase

recent deluges of reports (head: deluges)

2. Verb phrase

might have been accepted (head: accepted)
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