A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis
A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF
ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH WITH
REFERENCE TO THEIRVIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT CHỈ SỰ TỒN
TẠI TRONG TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT)

NGUYEN THI THU HA

Field of study

: English Language

Code

: 60220201

Supervisor

: DR. ĐANG NGOC HUONG

Hanoi, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis

A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF
ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH WITH
REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT CHỈ SỰ TỒN
TẠI TRONG TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT)

NGUYEN THI THU HA

Field of study: English Language
Code: 60220201
Supervisor: DR. DANG NGOC HUONG

Hanoi, 201


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
“A study of syntactic and semantic features of English expression of existence in
English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents.” submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used
without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.
Hanoi, 2017

Nguyen Thi Thu Ha

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)
Date:……………………

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Mr. Dang
Ngoc Huong who instructed me directly, shared experiences, and removed those
obstacles and difficulties which arose during the process of writing my thesis
My special gratitude goes to Assoc.Prof. Dr. Hoang Tuyet Minh for support
and encouragement.
I sincerely thank all the lecturers of the Hanoi Open University, especially
the lecturers in the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies who have been teaching and
conveying to me the valuable knowledge and skills in the learning process.
I would also thank Mr.Nguyen Van Đao – Dean of the Faculty of Post
Graduate Studies of Hanoi Open University for his valuable assistance. I would like
to give my special thanks to the Rector Board of Hanoi Open Uniniversity.
I also send my deep gratitude to my friends, colleagues and students at Lao
Cai Teacher Training College who have assisted me in collecting the data and
provided valuable resources to help me complete my thesis.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my parent, my son for the
sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of my academic work.

ii


ABSTRACT

The notion of existence has puzzled philosophers for a very long time, and a
great range of views about that notion can be found throughout the history of
philosophy. While some philosophers think that notions of existence and
communicative commitment can and perhaps should be pursued independently of
the linguistic form of the relevant sentences, the linguistic form of statements of
existence has also often been taken to be revealing as to the communicative issues
themselves. However, the appeal to linguistic intuitions has generally been not
systematic and without serious regard of relevant issues in linguistic semantics. By
investigating into the topic based on written documents, this paper examines the
syntactic and semantic features of English expressions of existence in English with
reference to their Vietnamese equivalents. The results of the study show that
existential sentences should be assessed not only from structural perspectives but
also from communicative ones. The components that make up existential sentences
are used to construct structures and to state the existence of objects as well. Last but
not least, findings on the similarities and differences between English and
Vietnamese existential expressions based on their equivalents suggest that the
ability to understand and use the existential expressions is a complex problem for
learners both in their grammatical form and lexical meaning. The thesis is expected
to help Vietnamese learners of English learn, translate and use existential
expressions in English effectively.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY...................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ................................................ viii
CHAPTER1 ...............................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1
1.1 Rationale of the study............................................................................................1
1.2 Aims and objectives ..............................................................................................2
1.2.1 Aims of the study .............................................................................................2
1.2.2 Objectives of the study: ..................................................................................2
1.3 Research questions ................................................................................................3
1.4 Methodology and procedures ................................................................................3
1.5 Scope of the study .................................................................................................4
1.6 Signification of the study ......................................................................................5
1.7 Design of the Study ...............................................................................................5
The Referrences and Appendix put an end to the study. ......................................6
CHAPTER 2 ..............................................................................................................7
LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................7
2.1 Previous Studies ....................................................................................................7
2.2 Theory of syntax ...................................................................................................8
2.3 Theory of semantics ..............................................................................................9
2.4 Concepts of expression of existence ....................................................................11
2.4.1 Definitions of expression ............................................................................11
2.4.2 Existence .......................................................................................................12
2.5 An over view of expressions of existence in English. ........................................12
2.5.1 Syntax of English existential expressions .....................................................12
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2.5.2 Semantics of English existential expressions ...............................................16
2.6 An overview of expressions of existence in Vietnamese....................................18
2.7 Summary of the chapter ......................................................................................20
CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................21

FEATURES OF EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS ..........................................................................21
3.1 Syntactic features of expressions of existence in English with reference totheir
Vietnamese equivalents .............................................................................................21
3.2Semantic features of expressions of existence in English with reference to their
Vietnamese equivalents .............................................................................................29
3.2.1Indicating location.........................................................................................29
3.2.2 Referring to actions or occurences ............................................................30
3.2.3Stating a fact or truth ....................................................................................30
3.2.4 Referring to the existence of the initial factor of a series of events .............31
CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................................37
COMMON ERRORS MADE BY LAO CAI TEACHER TRAINING
COLLEGE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH WHEN USING EXPRESSIONS OF
EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH ...................................................................................37
4.1 Survey..................................................................................................................37
4.1.1 Subjects .........................................................................................................37
4.1.2 Survey tests ...................................................................................................38
4.1.3 Procedure .....................................................................................................39
4.1.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................39
4.2Common errors made by learners of English when using expressions of
existence in English...................................................................................................39
4.2.1 Common errors made by learners of English when using when using
expressions of existence. ........................................................................................39
4.2.2 Causes of committing errors ........................................................................42
4.3 Suggestions for teaching, learning and translating expressions of existence in
English for Lao Cai teacher training college learners. ..............................................43
v


4.3.1 Suggestionsfor teaching expressions of existence in English .......................44

4.3.2 Suggestions for learning expressions of existence in English ......................45
4.3.3 Suggestions for translating expressions of existence in English ..................46
4.4Summary of the chapter .......................................................................................47
CHAPTER 5 ............................................................................................................48
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................48
5.1. Recapitulation ....................................................................................................48
5.2Concluding remarks .............................................................................................48
5.3 Limitations of the study ......................................................................................49
5.4Suggestion for future study ..................................................................................50
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................51
APPENDIX 1 ..........................................................................................................54
QUESTIONS OF SURVEY TESTS ......................................................................54
APPENDIX2 ............................................................................................................55
POSSIBLE ANSWERS FOR SURVEY TEST QUESTIONS ....................................... 55

vi


LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1:Types of existentialsentences .................................................................... 29
Table 3.2 : The semantic features of expressions of existence in English and their
equivalents in Vietnamese ………………………………………………………………. 35
Table 4.1: Subjects in use ......................................................................................... 37
Table 4.2: Errors made by students at Lao Cai Teacher Training College when
using expressions of existence in English (Appendix 1, Ex.2). ................................. 39
Table 4.3:Common errors made by students when translating from English into
Vietnamese. (Appendix 1, Ex. 2). .............................................................................. 40
Table 4.4:Common errors made by students when translating from Vietnamese into
English. (Appendix 1, Ex. 3)...................................................................................... 41

vii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

A

Adverbial

Adj

Adjective

Adj.P

Adjective phrase

Adv

Adverb

C

Complement

CA

Contrastive analysis

S

Subject

S’

Introductory subject

V

Verb

EC

Existential Construction

e.g.

Example

Ex.

Exercise

L1

First language

L2

Second language

NP

Noun phrase

~

equivalent to

=

equal to

PP

Prepositional phrase

PaP

Participle

ppap

Past participle

TD:

rough translation

viii


CHAPTER1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study
Existential sentences or existential constructions (EC) which are terms
coined by Jespersen (1924: p. 155), refer to sentences that assert or deny the
existence of something. According to Kuno (1971) existential expressions are those
that state the existence of certain indefinite objects in some place. English ECs
contain the unstressed, non-deictic ''existential there" (Milsark, 1974). Deictic there
contrasts with deictic here, while existential there does not (Lakoff, 1987).
Vietnamese contains existential elements that are exclusively used to express
existence. Vietnamese existential expressions also contain an `optional locative
phrase. These particular constructions are unique syntactically and semantically.
Syntactically speaking, they have been given different analyses with no more than a
handful of proponents for each analysis. They pose problems for licensing
requirements on arguments, specifically for English there and the elusive syntactic
behavior of Vietnamese equivalents.
The apparent variety of existence predicates in natural language raises the
question of what makes a predicate an existence predicate in the first place. There is
a rather clear semantic criterion for existence predicates, namely their semantic
behavior under negation. Presenting tense negative existentials stand for an actual,
presently existing object, the study of English and Vietnamese existential
expressions offers a wealth of information that can be used to examine many
syntactic issues in the adult and child grammar. In this thesis, I examined the
acquisition of English and Vietnamese existential expressions by analyzing
spontaneous production data taken from the different acquisition studies on survey
tests of Vietnamese. Learners tend to avoid expressing their ideas with existential

expressions because they are not confident of using them.
In communication, existential sentences are often employed, referring to the
existence of objects in the surrounding worlds. As a result, expressions of existence
can be found in a variety of situations: describing objects, stating facts, etc. In
English learning, structures of existence are basic, especially at the beginning stage

1


when learners should grasp the meaning of existence and then select proper
structures to express the idea in different contexts.
Many existential expressions carry more than one meaning. Thus, it is
difficult for learners to determine accurately the meaning of existential expressions.
From many of my researches and experiences as a teacher of English, in this
research I found that it is difficult for Vietnamese learners to accurately use
existential expressions in speaking and writing in English. Meanwhile, not much of
research on existential expressions has been done. For that reason, I decide on the
topic of my thesis A Study of Syntactic and Semantic Features of Expressions of
Existence in English with Reference to Their Vietnamese Equivalents and I hope
that this work could be a start for further studies on the topic which would help
Vietnamese learners of English to master the understanding and using existential
constructions effectively.
1.2 Aims and objectives
1.2.1 Aims of the study
Existential sentences or existential constructions are of paramount
importance in language itself and in language learning. The aim of the study is to
investigate how expressions of existence are structured and what they are used for
in English, and to what extent they are similar or different from their equivalents in
Vietnamese . In order to do this, the thesis firstly establishes its tasks to study the
syntactic and semantic characteristics of constructions expressing existence in

English and their Vietnamese equivalents. Secondly, the thesis conducts a survey to
find out if Vietnamese learners of English encounter any problems in mastering
existential structures when they are learning and using the structures. On the basis
of survey results, the thesis expects to propose a number of strategies to help them
understand and use their structures and meanings effectively.
1.2.2 Objectives of the study:
In order to achieve the above aims of study, the thesis puts forward the
following objectives:
- To examine the syntactic features of English expressions of existence and
their translational equivalents in Vietnamese.

2


- To examine the semantic features of English expressions of existence and
their translational equivalents in Vietnamese.
- To propose some suggestions related to learning, teaching, and translating
existential sentences in English.
1.3 Research questions
In this study, the author will try to answer the following questions:
1.

What are the syntactic features of English expressions of existence and their
Vietnamese equivalents?

2.

What are the semantic features of English expressions of existence and their

3.

Vietnamese equivalents?
What are the suggestions for Vietnamese learners of English to learn and
use expressions of existence in English effectively?
1.4 Methodology and procedures

In order to achieve all the objectives of study, the thesis adopts both
qualitative and quantitative research approaches. With the qualitative approach, the
thesis employs the document analysis methods to investigate all the available
material as listed in the references to categorize the data collected in various types
of constructions in English. When all the existential constructions have been
defined, the thesis uses the desriptive method to analyze the syntactic and semantic
features the existential constructions in English have and then the contrastive
method is employed to find out the similarities and differences between existential
constructions in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese. As for quantitative
approach, the thesis firstly conducts a number of survey tests with a group of
English students at Lao Cai Training College to investigate the way they learn
English existential expressions and find out if they make mistakes in acquiring
them. With the results collected from the survey tests the author calculates the
percentage of correct and incorrect answers to analyze the causes of the errors for
the pedagical implications to avoid the mistakes Vietnemse learners of English may
make in learning and using expressions of existence in English.
Data Collection

3


About usages of English and Vietnamese existential expressions, data are
collected from English grammar books, dictionaries, journal articles, published
researches and Vietnamese translational versions.

Data Analysis
- Collecting and classifying English expression of existence into groups
based on grammar.
- Examining syntactic features of English and Vietnamese existential
expressions through data collected.
- Examining semantic features of English and Vietnamese existential
expressions through data collected and finding out translational equivalents in
Vietnamese.
Research procedures
- Identifying the research topic by reviewing previous studies.
- Choosing the approach to the research.
- Collecting data related to the research
- Analyzing data based on syntactic and semantic features of English and
Vietnamese existential expressions.
- Suggesting some implications for learning, teaching and translating
Englishexistential expressions to Vietnamese teachers and learners based on the
results of survey tests with students of English at Lao Cai Teacher Training
College.
1.5 Scope of the study
As the title indicates, the thesis is aimed at studying the expressions in
English that express existence with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents. In
other words, the thesis takes as its main task to study the syntactic and semantic
features of expressions of existence in English and then on the basis of the
translation of English expressions of existence in Vietnamese, the thesis goes on to
point out some similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese in
terms of the order of different parts of structures of existence and the meanings they
convey in communication.

4

As for the term expressions of existence, the thesisrefers to the term as
existential

sentences,

existential

structures

or

existential

constructions.

Grammatically, based on their communicative functions, sentences canbe
categorized as statements, questions, requests and exclamations. However, in this
thesis, only statements of existence will be focused on; and in terms of the types of
statement, the thesis mainly centers on affirmative statements, negative staterments
sometimes appear in the study only when they are needed.
After all, in line with structural and semantic approaches of study, the thesis
focuses mainly on how expressions of existence are constructed and what they
mean in English. In terms of meanings, the study deals withboth semantic and
pragmatic aspects of the expressions.
1.6 Signification of the study
Theoretical significance: This study contributes to verifying significance
related to semantic theory in componential analysis by working on a certain
synonymic group of structures of existence in English. It proves that lexical
semantics is an important area in linguistics and paraphrasing is an important

skill in communication. In expressing existence in English, apart from the
expression There + be other expressions could be employed, making ways of
expressing the idea diversified. This skill serves as a key to exploring the
interaction between syntax and semantics as well as understanding the nature of
commuication.
Practical significance:Through the study, the thesis hopes to help Lao Cai
Teacher training college students to firmly grasp the nature and the uses of English
and Vietnamese existential expressions. Besides, the research will also help to raise
the awareness of Vietnamese learners of English in learning, teaching and
translating existential sentences in English
1.7 Design of the Study
Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the research topic, research rationale,
research objectives and scope of the research. The overview of the research project
will be presented in detail with an outline and general information about existential
expressions

5


Chapter 2, Literature review,focuses on an overview of previous studies
which are related to the study topic and of general notions concerning the English
existential sentences. Differences with regular declarative sentence structures will
be outlined, which will serve as an introduction to the study of English existential
sentences.
The following chapter 3,be dedicated to the syntactic and semantic
features of English existential sentences. This chapter will present the findings
and analyses which are derived from the data collected concerning the
structures and meanings of expressions of existence in English and their
equivalents in Vietnamese.
In Chapter 4, the author will focus on the possible errors Vietnamese learners

of English are likely to make when learning and using the expressions of existence
in English. By conducting a small survey through 3 test excercises with students at
Lao Cai Teachers College, the author found out several mistakes of the students
related to the topic. Later, some suggestions were made,relating to improving the
quality of teaching, learning and translating English expressions of existence at Lao
CaiTeacher Training College.
The last chapter, Chapter 5, will offer conclusions based on the outcomes of
the analysesof the findings about the topic under study.
The Referrences and Appendix put an end to the study.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Previous Studies
It can be said that existential sentences are a hot topic for grammarians and
linguists to study and discuss. So far there have been a lot of grammar books in
English to refer to this issue such as: Longman English Grammar (Alexander,
1988), Collins COBUILD English Grammar (Cobuild, 2006), A Student´s
Grammar of the English Language (Greenbaum & Quirk, 2006), A University
Grammar of English (Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973). There have also been a lot of
studies such as journal articles, disertations and theses that also investigated the
topic, such as Existential there: A Synchronic and Diachronic Study (Breivik, L.
(1983), Existential There-constructions in Present Day English (Martínez
Insua,1998), The Existential There-construciton in Czech Translation (Rambousek
& Chamonikolasová, 2008), The existential expressions: A typological study
(Viberg,1984), Subjectivity and evidential existential expressions in English and
German (Whitt, 2011). The mentioned studies are just a few. In all publications the

authors have looked at existentialtherestructures from different view points,
focusing on both syntactic and semantic aspects.
Schafer & Roeper (2000) examined the files of nine children in the
CHILDES database (MacWhinneyandSnow1990) and found that deictic use of
there/here emerges before existential (expletive) there and before anaphoric (or
locative) there. They found that anaphoric (locative) there with a referent in the
discourse appeared after existential there. In other words, the deictic use of there
emerged before existential there and the existential use of there emerged before
anaphoric there. They argue that understanding of the relationship between an
expletive there and its associate will facilitate or triggers understanding the
relationship that holds between anaphoric there and its referent.
While there is a major philosophical tradition according to which existence
statements are not semantically subject-predicate statements, more recently a
number of philosophers have defended the view that exist is in fact a first-order
extensional predicate, at least with singular terms as subjects (Salmon 1987, 1998,

7


Miller 1975, 1986, McGinn 2000). I will pursue this view in its full generality by
arguing that existence predicates such as exist and occur have a particular lexical
meaning, which matches the particular nature of the entities they apply to and
explains their behavior with locative phrases. It is noted thatexist acts as a firstorder extensional predicate also in Schafer & Roeper (2000),where the bare plural
has in fact the status of a kind-referring term rather than being quantificational.
2.2 Theory of syntax
2.2.1 Definition of syntax
As far as how syntax is defined, it is common knowledge that syntax is the study of
structure of language. In other words, its main targets are said to be the study of the
set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a
givenlanguage. To this end, the goal of many syntacticians is to discover

thesyntactic rules common to all languages. They are to dictate how words
fromdifferent parts of speech are put together to convey a complete thought.
It is also said that syntax is a form of grammar and it is concerned
primarily with word order in a sentence and with the agreement of words whenthey
are used simultaneously. It is also true that every language has developeda specific
mechanism that is similar to syntax to make a boundless number ofsentences. This
is a common feature that can be witnessed in all languages.
In the past, syntactic clues have sometimes been utilized in lexicography as
an aid to establishing polysemy. In theoretically oriented linguistic literature, too,
the claim had often been made that a difference in meaning (Dixon, 1985). In the
present work, however, a stronger claim has been tried to explore that a syntactic
similarity is likely to reflect a similarity in meaning, so that shared syntactic
patterns are likely to reflect shared semantic components. To the extent to which
this claim is validated, shared syntactic properties can be seen as evidence for
postulated semantic structures.
As has been discussed above, syntax refers to the rules that govern the ways in
which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. Therefore, studying
the syntactic features means studying the properties of words and their relationships
when they combine together in specific patterns of arrangement in a sentence.
2.2.2 Concept of sentence

8


So far, there have been numerous definitions of the sentence in English since
different grammarians look at the sentence from different perspectives. However,
the thesis follows the definition in the dictionary in which the sentence is said to be
a group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb and expresses a
complete idea; in writingthe sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a
stop or question mark (Dictionary ofContemporary English, p.1587). In addition,

Quirk (1985) relates the structure of the simple sentence to that of the single
independent clause with central elements as subject (S), verb (V), object (O),
complement (C) and adverbial (A). Also, according to Quirk, the constituents which
function as elements of clause structure are either phrases or subordinate clauses.
As a result, the five formal categories of phrase are defined as verb phrases (VP),
noun phrases (NP), adjective phrases (AdjP), adverb phrases (AdvP) and
prepositional phrases(PP) (p.56). Overall, the structure of the simple sentence in
English could belong to seven types as follows:
Type 1. SV(e.g.: The dog has died)
Type 2. SVO(e.g.: The dog ate the bone.)
Type 3. SVC(e.g.: The dog is dead.)
Type 4. SVA(e.g.: The dogisover there.)
Type 5. SVOO(e.g.: She bought him a dog.)
Type 6. SVOC (e.g.: He kept the dog clean.)
Type 7. SVOA (e.g.: He kept the dog carefully.)

2.3 Theory of semantics
Semantics is a branch of linguistics, which deals with meaning or the content
of communication. According to Hurford and Heasley (1983:1), semantics is the
study of meaning in language. Language is a means of communications, and people
use language to communicate with others by making conversations, giving
information, and other things to make social relationship. Human beings have been
given the capacity to talk, to communicate with each other, to make meaningful
utterances, so that they are understood by other human beings. They communicate
about the world in which they live, about themselves, about their thought and

9


feeling, about what has happened, about what might happen or what they would like

to happen, and a lot more. Hurford and Heasley(1983:5) state that the giving of
information is itself an act of courtesy, performed to strengthen social relationships.
This is also part of communication. There are some linguists that tried to define
semantics. Morries as quoted by Lyons (1977) at first defines semantics as the study
of the relations of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable. And then he
revised his definition, saying that, semantics is that portion of semiotic which deals
with the signification of sign in all modes of signifying.
Semantics is usually connected with pragmatics. Carnap (Lyons, 1977:116)
says that descriptive semantics (i.e. the investigation of the meaning of expressions
in “historically given natural language”), may be regarded as part of pragmatics.
The reason why descriptive semantics is part of pragmatics seems to have been that
he believed that differences in the use of particular expressions were not only
inevitable in language - behavior, but must be taken account of in the description of
context. Smith, as quoted by Lyons (1977:116) states that semantics studies how
these signs are related to things. And pragmatics studied how they are related to
people. According to Leech (1983:5) in practice, the problem of distinguishing
language and language use has centred on a boundary dispute between semantics
and pragmatics. Hurford and Heasley (1983:14) further explain that the study of
semantics is largely a matter of conceptuality and exploring the nature of meaning
in a careful and thoughtful way, using a wide range of examples, many of which we
can draw from our knowledge.
But Jack Richards, John Platt, Heidi Weber (1987:172) state that “the study
of meaning is semantics. Semantics is usually concerned with the analysis of the
meaning of words, phrases, or sentences and sometimes with the meaning of
utterances in discourse or the meaning of a whole text.”
David Crystal (1992:347) defines that semantics is the study of meaning in
language. Structural semantics applied the principles of structural linguistics to the
study of meaning through the notion of semantic relations (also called sense
relation), such as synonymy and antonym. In generative grammar, the semantic
component is a major area of the grammar’s organization, assigning a semantic

representation to sentences, and analyzing lexical terms of semantic features. The

10


theory of semantic fields views vocabulary as organized into areas, within which
words (lexical items) interrelate and define each other.
It is common knowledge that language serves as a means of communication
through spoken and written forms of languages. However, meaningsexist in
humans’ minds. Consequently, thereshould be a sub-field studies how speakers
convey meaningful messages orreceive and understand these meanings. The subfield is semantics which is thestudy of meanings not only in language but also in
communication. In other words, linguists are to find an answerfor the question of
how language is organized structurally to be meaningful in communication. Since
humans can see structures but cannot see meanings, it is the most abstract level of
linguistic analysis.
Additionally, there is one idea regarded as the most important
subject in contemporary semantics, pointing out that meaningful units could
combine with each other to form larger meaningful units and thatunderstanding the
meaning of the whole sentences is an appropriate method to work out
thesecombinations. Researchers, therefore, are to look for general rules to
indicatethe relationships between forms or arrangements of words in sentences
andmeanings. It is not an easy job as these relationships are often very complex.
All in all, the concepts of syntax and semantics on which structure, semantic
and pragmatic meanings are based are a basis for the thesis to study syntactic and
semantic features of existential expressions in English.
2.4 Concepts of expression of existence
2.4.1 Definitions of expression
The word expression is commonly used in linguistics and communication. The
definition of the word could be seen in many dictionaries. For example, in Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995): expression is a word or a phrase (p.407).

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003) explainsthat expression is a
word or group of words used in a particular situation or by particular people. In
addition, according to Dictionary of Contemporary English (2010), expression is
defined as a word or group of words with a particular meaning (p.598). When the
word is understood this way, the word here in the sentence, for example,Come here
with me is an expression which indicates location. Moreover, in the sentence ‘A can
of worm’ is an expression which means ‘a difficult situation (Cambridge Advanced
11


Learner’s Dictionary, p.428), expression means a group of words. In addition, the
two following sentences mean differently where grammar is concerned even though
they contain two similar groups of words:
-

His car is in front of the house. (location)
There is a car in front of the house. (existence)

The difference lies in the fact that the first sentence could answer the question
‘Where?” whereas the second could not. The question ‘Where?’ is impossible to ask
(* Where is a car?) since car is indefinite. Instead, the question about the existence
of an object , a car, at a specific locationcould be appropriate What is there in front
of the house?
In short, the definitionsof expressionmake it clear that an expression is a word or
group of words which can be used in a particular situation to convey human
thoughts, feelings or emotions. In this thesis, all the way through the report the
expression of the phrase expression of existence is used as a sentence.It means
almost the same as structure, construction or sentence.
2.4.2 Existence
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995) existence is the

state or fact of being real or actual, or having being, occurring (p.402). Cambridge
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003) states that existence implies the meaning of
something which is present, to be or to be real or live (p.424). In Dictionary of
Contemporary English (2010) existence is defined to mean happening or being
present in a particular situation, being real or alive (p.590).
As has been seen from the above definitions of expression and existence, in
this thesis expressions of existenceor existential expressionsare referred to as
existential sentences, existential structures and existential constructions.
2.5 An over view of expressions of existence in English.
2.5.1 Syntax of English existential expressions
There is no denying that so far linguists and grammarians have put so much
study in investigating a certain number of sentences that can be used to express
existence, in particular, there-sentences.

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Structurally, the basic form of English existential sentences is as follows:
the pronoun there (referring to existence) and a form of the verb to be used as a
main verb (i.e. verb of full meaning), or copula (i.e. linking verb). In English, based
on the lettering there are two words there,one is an adverb which indicates location
(locative there) and have a flexible position in English sentences and the other is
existential there which is always found at the beginning of the sentence. We can
compare:
-There were thirty boys in the class (TD: Có ba mươi nam sinh trong lớp –
Cobuild, p.416)
-There goes the last bus (TD: Đó, chuyến xe cuối cùng đi rồi – TĐA-V,
p.1776)
In the dictionary Từ điển Anh-Việt (1993), thereis classified as an
adverb(p.1777) and can found in the usual position of subject, at the beginning of a

sentence, as in the above examples. That is also one of the bases on which Chalker
(1992) stated that there might be two ways to explain about the role of there in the
existential sentence. The first way is thatthereis the inversion for emphasis [There +
verb + subject] and the second way is that there could be a dummy subject.
However, it can be seen that in the existential constructions, there cannot be an
adverb since in the short answer to the Yes/No question there as an adverb cannot
go with the verb be: A. Are thereanybody in the room? B. Yes, there are some. A
special thing of existential there is that the word can function as object in the
sentence; there as locative adverb cannot perform this function. For example: I
don’t want there to be any problem in it (TD: Tôi không muốn có sự khác biệt nào
trong chuyện này), in thissentence there is object. In speaking, there is a difference
between there as a locative adverb and existential there. The former is nearly
always pronounced strongly /ð/ in any position of a sentence since it is a content
word, whereas the latter is pronounced as an unstressed word / ð/. In the existential
sentences, there combines with the verb befollowed by a real subjectthat dictates
the form of the verb be. In the existential sentence, there is just a dummy or
introductory subject. Constructions of the type are used to indicatepresence or
existence of something; for example, in the following sentences the bold-typed
words are real subjects with verbs: There is a good reason for this (Có lý do xác
đáng cho việc này – Cobuild, p.416), There are many options (Có nhiều sự lựa

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chọn)or indicating occurrence: There will bebloodshed tonight (Tối nay sẽ có đổ
máu– Cobuild, p.416)....
As for the verb be in the existentials, Huddleston (1984), Quirk et al. (1985)
and Alexander (1988) all assume that the verb be is the most common or central
constituent of the there-construction. Martínez Insua’s (1998) corpus-based study of
existential sentences in English texts validates the assumption by presenting facts

about the proportional rate of verbs employed in English existential sentences.
Based on the results of her study, she shows that a form of the verb be made an
appearance in 95 % of there-constructions. However, a few other verbs can follow
the existential there, while some of those can retain a similar meaning to be.
Greenbaum & Quirk (1990), Breivik (1983) and Martínez Insua (1998)
suggest that the verbs employed in there-constructions are highly restricted. In
Breivik (1983), Huddleston (1984: 469) and Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) it is stated
that English existential constructions require that the verbs be selected from
intransitive verbs and must be of general presentative meaning. Verbs with
presentative meaning are primarily verbs of motion, inception and of stance. For
illustration, verbs arrive, enter, pass, come etc. can be included among verbs of
motion; verbs such as emerge, spring up, rise etc. can be mentioned among verbs
of inception; and lastly, verbs such as live, remain, stand, lie etc. belong among
verbs of stance.
In addition, the existential-there constructions, therecan combine with some
of the adjectives, such aslikely, certain...to express different modal meanings.
Examples are:
- There are unlikely to be any problems with the timetable (TD: Không thể có
bất cứ trục trặc gì với thời khóa biểu được – Cobuild, p.417).
-There seems to have been some carelessness recently (TD: Dường như đã có
một số bất cẩn trong thời gian gần đây – Cobuild, p.417).
Alexander (1988, p.195) provided similar show of verbs and stated that the
use of such verbs tend to occur mainly in literary prose or in formal writing. For
example:
-

There seems little doubt that he was insane.
There appears to be a vast amount of confusion on this point.

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-

There comes a time when you have to make a choice.

The fact that English existential sentences can be combined with modals
corresponds with Dušková’s (2006) approach to the semantic differentiation of
English existential sentences. This definition offered key facts on syntactic
structures and possibilities of English existential sentences. The focus lay mainly
on the distinction between locative and existential there, the function of existential
there as a subject in existential sentences, on the S-V concord, and finally on verbs
that together with the verb be can be employed in English existential sentences.
In the English language, sentences are organized in clause patterns. In
English, common clause patterns consist of a number of sentence elements, namely:
subjects (S), verbs (V), objects (O), complements (C) and adverbials (A). As far as
complements and adverbials are concerned, they are more peripheral sentence
elements. For complements, this means that they frequently occur in a sentencefinal position. The position of adverbials is even more variable as they can appear
sentence-initially, -medially or -finally. Moreover, there are clause patterns in
which complements and adverbials need not occur at all. Having stated this, it
follows that the basic clause pattern in English is commonly described as the SVO
pattern. What is important to mention is that most English sentences comply with
the SVO structure, unless other sentence elements, e.g. complement and/or
adverbial, are added to the pattern. Since English is a fixed word order language,
the SVO sequence is followed in regular declarative way of communication, i.e.
when stating facts, with no special attention drawn to any part of the sentence
(Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985, pp.49-51). Nonetheless, an exception
to the declarative way of communication with the SVO pattern is represented by
English existential sentences.
- Type SVC

Ex. Something must be Wrong ~ There must be something wrong.
- Type SVA
Ex. Was anyone in the vicinity? ~ Was there anyone in the vicinity?
- Type SV
Ex. Plenty of people are getting promotion. ~ There are plenty of people
getting promotion.?
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