WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH SIMPLE SENTENCES IN ‘THE SCARLET SAILS’ BY ALEXANDER GRIN WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN TO NGA

WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH SIMPLE SENTENCES IN „THE
SCARLET SAILS‟ BY ALEXANDER GRIN WITH REFERENCE
TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(TRẬT TỰ TỪ CÂU ĐƠN TIẾNG ANH TRONG TÁC PHẨM ‗CÁNH
BUỒM ĐỎ THẮM‘ CỦA ALEXANDER GRIN CÓ LIÊN HỆ VỚI
TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A THESIS
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201


Hanoi, 2018

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN TO NGA

WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH SIMPLE SENTENCES IN „THE
SCARLET SAILS‟ BY ALEXANDER GRIN WITH REFERENCE
TO VIETNAMESE
(TRẬT TỰ TỪ CÂU ĐƠN TIẾNG ANH TRONG TÁC PHẨM ‗CÁNH
BUỒM ĐỎ THẮM‘ CỦA ALEXANDER GRIN CÓ LIÊN HỆ VỚI
TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A. THESIS
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201
Supervisor name: Dr. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hƣơng


Hanoi, 2018


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
WORD ORDER IN SIMPLE ENGLISH SENTENCES IN ‗THE SCARLET SAILS‘ BY
ALEXANDER GRIN WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE 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,2018
Nguyễn Tố Nga

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Dr. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hƣơng
Date:……………………

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would first like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Dr. Nguyễn Thị
Thu Hương for her useful comments, remarks and recommendation through the process
of completing this master thesis.
Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr. Nguyễn Thị Vân Đông for introducing me
to the topic as well for the support on the way. In addition, my sincere gratitude goes to
the teachers and students of Hanoi Open University, who have willingly spent their
precious time during the process of interviewing.
Finally, I would like to thank my beloved family and friends, who have supported
me throughout entire study, both by keeping me harmonious and helping me putting
pieces together. I will be grateful forever for your love.

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale for the study..................................................................................................1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study..................................................................................2
1.3. Research questions .......................................................................................................3
1.4. Scope of the study.........................................................................................................3
1.5. Significance of the study ..............................................................................................4
1.6. Methods of the study ....................................................................................................4
1.7. Design of the study .......................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 6
2.1. Previous studies ............................................................................................................6
2.2. An overview of English sentences ...............................................................................7
2.2.1. Definition ...................................................................................................................7
2.2.2. Classification of English sentences ...........................................................................9

2.3. An overview of simple sentences ...............................................................................10
2.3.1. English simple sentences .........................................................................................10
2.3.1.1. Definition ..............................................................................................................10
2.3.1.2. Classification of English simple sentences ..........................................................11
2.3.2. Vietnamese simple sentences ..................................................................................13
2.3.2.1. Definition ..............................................................................................................13
2.3.2.2. Classification of Vietnamese simple sentences ....................................................14
2.4. Summary.....................................................................................................................29
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................... 31
iii


3.1. Setting of the study .....................................................................................................31
3.2. Research approach ......................................................................................................32
3.3. Data collection techniques ..........................................................................................32
3.4. Data analysis techniques .............................................................................................33
3.5. Summary.....................................................................................................................33
CHAPTER 4:

WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH SIMPLE SENTENCES IN ―THE

SCARLET SAILS‖ BY ALEXANDER GRIN WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS .................................................................................................................................... 34
4.1. Word order in English simple sentences in ‗The Scarlet Sails‖ .................................34
4.2. A comparison between word order of simple sentences in ― The Scarlet Sails‖ and
their Vietnamese equivalents…………………………………………………………….38
4.3. Implications for translation and teaching translator English simple sentences into
Vietnamese ........................................................................................................................42
4.3.1. For translators ..........................................................................................................42
4.3.2. For teachers..............................................................................................................42

4.3.2. For learners ..............................................................................................................43
4.4. Summary.....................................................................................................................48
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. ……….50
5.1. Summary of the study .................................................................................................50
5.2. Concluding Remarks ..................................................................................................51
5.3. Recommendation for further studies ..........................................................................52
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 1
In English .............................................................................................................................1
In Vietnamese ......................................................................................................................2

iv


ABSTRACT
The reason for writing the research lies in two points. The first one is to find out
the word order in simple English sentences in ―The Scarlet Sails‖ by Alexander Grin
with reference to Vietnamese equivalents. The second point is to apply the findings of
the research to give some suggestions to teaching, learning and translating English. The
research problem is word order in English simple sentences and its Vietnamese
equivalents. The scope of the research is word order in simple sentences used in the
novel ―The Scarlet Sails‖. In this research, the author uses a descriptive approach to a
genre of discourse: a novel. Within this domain, qualitative method is chosen as the main
method to carry out the research because this study focuses on understanding word order
in simple sentences used in a novel. Besides, the author would like to also use
quantitative method and staticstical instrument in order to list all of the simple sentences,
their frequency. Alexander Grin uses all kinds of sentences in his novel. Among those
kinds of sentences, simple sentences is mainly used and has the highest rate of use.
Vietnamese sentences is similar to English in the general word order in simple sentences:
S +V(+O) +Adv. In Vietnamese, as in English, adverbs are put after the verbs they
modify. But in Vietnamese, adjectives are not prefixed with to be and adjectives are

positioned after the nouns they modify. From the findings of the research, the author
suggests to improve translating skill of Vietnamese students via three measures. The
author suggests to learn how English and Vietnamese words are arranged to form
meaning. In addition, the author suggests some translating rules.

v


LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Table 2.1: Sentence patterns (Quirk, Randolph, 1985)
Figure 3.1: The number of simple sentence types in the novel

vi

12
37


LIST OF ABBREVATIONS USED IN THE THESIS

Adj: Adjective
C: Complement
NP: Noun Phrase
O: Object
Od: direct object
Oi: indirect object
Pred: predicate
S: Subject
V: Verb

vii


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives some overall information about the topic which has been
chosen to investigate by the writer. First, it describes a general background of the topic,
the reason as well as the necessity of the study. Then, aims and objectives of the research
are also clearly presented and they are followed by three research questions, which will
be answered in Chapter 4. After that, this chapter provides a brief explanation about the
methods utilized during the research process, the scope and the significance of the
investigation of the topic. Finally, it indicates the overall plan of the thesis and the way
how this paper is structured.

1.1. Rationale for the study
Nowadays, English is considered as the language of international communication
which is widely used throughout the world in Vietnam. Teaching and using foreign
languages is no longer a new issue that has been affirmed in the language policy of the
Party and the state that 2000 linguistic special English has been used in many fields and
it has become a compulsory subject in the school.
English as well as every other language always poses problems for each of us
when studying about it. Word order is a key component to teaching English language
students to form and create a grammatically correct sentence. Once a student has
developed a basic vocabulary, word order and parts of the sentence should be taught to
help students understand the basic building blocks of the English sentence.
The word order in the majority of English sentences is Subject-Verb-Object
(SVO). For example, in the sentence ―I am eating cheese,‖ we begin with the subject, I,
followed by the verb, am eating, and finally the object, cheese. This basic sentence setup
is crucial for students to understand as they try to formulate and arrange the necessary
words in their head.
It is worth mentioning that, in order to teach word order, students must have the

mental capacity and developmental abilities to understand the logic and reasoning behind
learning the parts of the sentence. Trying to teach a 3 year old what the difference
between a subject and an object is would be a difficult, if not impossible
challenge. Students must be of an age and at a mental stage of life where they would be
able understand the idea of dissecting and putting a sentence together systematically.
1


Once a student is able to analyse a sentence and make simple SVO sentences, they
are ready to add more information and ideas to a sentence. The next step would be to
add an indirect object to a sentence after the verb but before the object, for example, ―I
gave him the cheese.‖ (SVioO).
We must further add additional information with an adverbial clause or
adjunct. This is not a necessary part of the sentence, but will tell us more information
such as where, when or how something happens. In our example, ―I gave him the cheese
this morning.‖ (Subject-Verb-iO-dO-Adv).
The five main patterns of the English sentence (see chart below) are an important
aspect not only because it will help to bring logic to their learning, but also because the
word order may vary greatly from their mother tongue (L1).
As we can see, there are many solid reasons to teach students word order as part
of a comprehensive curriculum. The students will be able to relate or differentiate from
the order of their native tongue, they will be able to think logically about sentence
structure, and it gives the teacher an added developmental and correction tool.
If you are having troubles organizing your sentences in English, if you are finding
it challenging arranging your vocabulary into coherent phrases, then keep working on
your word order.
The reason I chose the novel ―The Scarlet Sails‖ by Alexander Grin to get data
because it has an accompanying translation. This novel is also famous and widely
published. The simple sentences appear much in the novel and are clearly translated in
the translation

1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
This study aims are aimed at guiding the teacher to teach English as a foreign
language more easily and the English translator can translate English simple sentences
correctly and well.
In order to reach the aim, the study is expected to meet the following objectives:
- To identify the word order in English simple sentences in novel ‗The Scarlet
Sails‖ by Alexander Grin.

2


- To investigate the ways word order in English simple sentence are translated into
Vietnamese in novel ―The Scarlet Sails‖.
- To give some recommendations to improve the teaching and translating simple
sentences for the learners of English and translators of English into Vietnamese .
1.3. Research questions
The paper will attempt to answer three following questions:
1. What is the word order in English simple sentences in ―The Scarlet Sail‖ by
Alexander Grin?
2. What are similarities and differences of word order in simple sentences in ―The
Scarlet Sails‖ and their Vietnamese translation version?
3. What should be done to help Vietnamese teachers and translators master
teaching and translating English simple sentences into Vietnamese?
1.4. Scope of the study
In spite of the fact that there are many different techniques to improve the
teaching and translating skill but it is impossible to cover all of them in this paper.
Therefore, this study only focuses on word order in English simple sentences to improve
teaching and translating skill. The data of the research was collected in the novel ‗THE
SCARLET SAILS‘ by Alexander Grin

Word order in English simple sentences is now being coined in the English
language. It is these simple sentences which constitute one of the most distinctive and
creative features of the English language. Types of simple sentences can be defined as
word orders where the combination behaves as words.…Within the framework of a
thesis, the current study only treats simple sentences with word orders, and the types are
of our main concern.
Simple sentences in general and word order of simple sentences in particular
undoubtedly make it really problematic for Vietnamese learners to master and
Vietnamese translators to tackle. A thoroughly conducted investigation of word order in
simple sentences will be of great help to teaching / learning English as a foreign
language or in the field of translation. However, this study only pays attention to
Vietnamese translators, who are expected to be able to benefit a lot from the findings of

3


the study. The findings and conclusion drawn are aimed at helping them with appropriate
and sufficient translation, in which bilingualism is much needed.
Among various datas which can be used to collect the database for analysis, the
novel ―The Scarlet Sails‖ by Alexander Grin will be utilized by the writer. Also, the
translation equivalents of simple sentences have been collected from the novel and its
translated version. In the novel, there are 102 simple sentences with seven types,
equivalent to 102 Vietnamese version.
1.5. Significance of the study
It is generally agreed that sentence translation, including simple sentences, present
great difficulties for foreign language learners. Various reasons have been highlighted,
which include the nature of simple sentences themselves. Word order in simple sentences
is among these troublesome ones. Theoretically, the current paper can provide types of
simple structures. Practically, it is hoped that the findings of the present study will be
useful to everyone involved in doing translation of the English and Vietnamese language.

The overall aim of the study is to help Vietnamese translators have a profound insight
into word order in simple sentences. Accordingly, they yet remain very challenging for
language translators. With the findings and discussions drawn, Vietnamese translators
will definitely find their possible solutions to the problems faced concerning translating
simple sentences in English contexts into their mother tongue, using the rules of word
order to make their translation sound more natural and much image-laden.

1.6. Methods of the study
This paper uses a number of methods and techniques so as to offer a profound
investigation of word order in simple sentences in ―The Scarlet Sails‖ with respective to
their Vietnamese translation equivalents.
First of all, the descriptive method is used by the writer in this study. This method
is aimed at casting light on the types of simple sentence structures through a process of
data collection. With the use of this method, each category of structures will be described
in a clear and detailed manner.
Second, the statistical technique is also utilized. This technique helps collect,
summarize, analyze and contrast the variable numerical data from the novel. The usage
of this technique results in correct evaluation of students‘ ability to respond to the given
test, which is clearly expressed in the percentage.
4


Finally, a written translation test is used as one of the main tools of collecting
data. It is used in combination with purposive sampling method in order to give a valid
and reliable reflection to translate simple sentences from English target texts into
Vietnamese or use word order in their translation outputs from English source texts.
1.7. Design of the study
The study is organized into five chapters.
Chapter 1, Introduction covers the problem statement and justification to
the research topic, the aims and objectives, the scope and the significance of the study.

Chapter 2, Literature Review provides the synopsis of previous studies on
the similar topics, as well as presents a review of theoretical background and theoretical
framework for the case study.
Chapter 3, Methodology focuses on the research methods that were
followed in the study. It provides information on the subjects, instrumentation,
procedures and statistical analysis
Chapter 4, Word order in simple English sentences in “The Scarlet
Sails” by Alexander Grin with reference to Vietnamese equivalents synthesizes the
key findings of the research and prioritizes key recommendations to help Vietnamese
translators correctly translate English simple sentences into Vietnamese and vice versa.
Chapter 5, Conclusion gives the summary of the study and some
suggestions for further research.
References come at the end of the paper.

5


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is devoted to the presentation of the literature which has already been
done up to now. First, it provides a brief review of previous studies, which were similar
to the study on the topic under discussion. The purpose of doing so is to see how word
order in simple sentences has been investigated so far, which aspects of word order in
simple sentences has been studied and whether there is any gap for further research or
not. After that, the outline of theoretical background and framework which the writer
drew herself to in this study will be described.

2.1. Previous studies
Any type of language has its own rules of order it. That rule is considered
grammatical. From there, the relationship between words and words determines the
meaning, the relationship in the phrase and the relationship between the cluster with the

phrase also determines the meaning and eventually they become one sentence means.
Delayed study is to unravel the classes in the phrase and sentence structure.
As early as the 19th century, the study of formal grammatical structures and order
has been set. This may result from a type of language Typical variants, languages are
very different from English and Vietnamese, that is Russian. In this language, the use of
word order as a means Grammatical language has been the subject of many authors and
addresses that is the reason grammatical forms that A.A. Fortunatov has built it the
famous moscow school. A. A. Fortunatov has built a case the theory of the structure of
the nouns whose nuclei are hierarchical and hierarchical of the words. Next A.A.
Fortunatov is A.A. Peskopskij in: "Syntax Russia under the light of science "(1914)
completed the theory of structure grammatical structure according to the notion of new
Russian linguistics. The greatest success of studying grammar units that first of all The
syntactic structure belongs to structuralist linguistics, in particular linguistics American
linguistics, beginning with L. Bloomfield (1933) to z. Harris (1961). Linguistics depicts
the United States while advocating portrayal. At the same time, we also introduce a series
of concepts of units and levels. Thanks to the methods and techniques described
accurately, linguistics describes the US has built a system of syntax units with the
grammatical structure as the core. To identify these units, the language the study
described the United States as having given rise to the theory of distribution. The
establishment of mandarins It also introduces the notion of a set of words in a structure
6


whose contents mostly word order. N. Chomsky goes beyond the framework of
linguistics But the word order problem of the elements in the syntax structure is still. The
most important suggestion for Chomsky to build on theory linguistic and
transformational. In traditional European grammar, the concept remains his own problem
of order in grammatical structures, especially There is orientation to functional areas:
specifically, the analysis of order functional and psychological autobiography such as
Mathezius (Prague school, 1936, 1945) to modern functionaries such as Austin, Searle,

Haliday. The specificity of English linguistics is that English is the subject of study
rescue can be seen from two aspects. If you look like English a Western European
language, from the point of view of European linguistics, yes it can be said that English
linguistics also reflects a rather researched phenomenon similar to the linguistic
linguistics from the 17th century to the present. In the improvement of modern English
grammar, the tendency to study rescue is divided into two branches: one branch
continues to integrate with European languages, while another is linguistic depict the
United States. If viewed from a different perspective, English is the object study of North
American linguistics. It 's because of English – American American linguists from L.
Bloomfield to z. Harris w ... built the well-known theories of epistemology and
linguistics. Perhaps the first person to look at the Vietnamese word order in the whole
system is Lê Văn Lý (1948). When he applied the theory of combination of words to
describe the Vietnamese grammar, he saw the role of association the importance of the
method of grammatical order. He also said that change the order in the Vietnamese
sentence will lead to the process of creating new meaning. As the role of the word order
in Vietnamese is enormous and the position is in front of you. Speech of the subject is
highly stable. Then there were Vietnamese researchers such as F. Martini (1950);
Nguyễn Tài Chí (1960); L. Thompson (1965); Nguyễn Kim Thản (1963/1964); Hoàng
Trọng Phiến (1980); Lý Toàn Thắng (1981/1984); Cao Xuân Hạo (1992) has paid much
attention to the issue of order in the Vietnamese sentence.
2.2. An overview of English sentences
2.2.1. Definition
Sentences areindeed the basic units of language. The members
of each language conammity speak mostly in terms of these units,
linguists divide these units into smaller units, and analyse their
constituent structure in order to find out how sentences are constructed
and understood by native speakers.

7

Sentences may differ from one another with respect to their
constituent structure. On the basis of their grammatical form three type of
sentences, namely simple, complex, and compound, may be recognized in
any piece of discourse, spoken or written, though the frequency of
occurrence of each type may vary according to the mode and type of discourse.
What is more the frequency of occurrence of these sentence types may also vary from
one language to another ( Kor instance, complex sentences are found in almost all
languages of the world, while some languages lade compound sentences altogether and
use only simple and complex sentences, In Greenberg (1978) , ), it has been pointed out
that while scam languages like Japanese and Jlvaro entirely lade compound sentences,
almost all languages make use of complex sentences. In this connection, an observation
made by Talmy (1978:490) may be noted.
The sentence in modern grammar, which is the basic constituent of the syntax
of a language, is approached differently by different schools of modern linguistics
approach taken by the traditional grammar begins by- classifying words or morphemes
into eight parts of speech, namely, noun, adjective, pre-noun, verb, adverb, preposition,
conjunction, and interjection, and then proceeds todescribe more inclusive components of
the sentence such as phrases and clauses., and finally arrives at the analysis of the
sentence. The notion of the sentence in traditional grammars is often characterised in
terms of meaning and hence the definitions given by them are all meaning based. There
are in fact as many definitions of the sentence as there are grammar textbooks bat they
express more or less the same notion of the sentence. Perhaps the most familiar
definition that one comes across in traditional grammars .
―A sentence is a group of words which expresses a complete thought―
(Smart 1940: 114)
The following two definitions ,too express the same idea ‖A sentence is a word
or group of words capable of expressing a complete thought or meaning‖
(Sweet 19: 1552)
―A sentence is an expression of a thought or feeling by means of a word or words

used in such form and manner as id convey the meaning intended."
(Curme 193:170)

8


2.2.2. Classification of English sentences
After giving such very general definitions of the sentence traditional .grammars go
on to classify sentences into different types such as simple, complex, compound, etc.,
which, we will discuss a little later contrast with traditional grammars, structural
linguists!! attached a great deal of importance to formal aspects of language ruling out
meaning altogether from their linguistic analyses. As against the completely meaningoriented traditional definitions, the structural definition of the sentence is entirely formbased. Observe for instance, Bloomfield's definition of the sentences each sentence is an
independent linguistic form, not included by virtue, of any grammatical construction in
any larger linguistic form. (Bloomfield 1933: 170) The sentence is, thus, understood to
be the largest unit of grammatical description.
iAt the level of syntax, structural linguists recognized larger units made up of
words such as phrase, clause ,and sentence. Structural studies begin by examining
the basic sentence patterns and then0proceed to analyze the relation- ship between the
different parts of the patterns; they then go on to study the various possible expansions
of the basic sentences into more complex structures. The transformational generative
grammar which has been evolved to overcome the alleged shortcomings of traditional
and structural grammars attempts to tackle the problems of linguistic structure at all
,
levels, transformational generative (TG hereafter) grarauars take an altogether different
approach to the problem of defining notions like subject etc.
"a structured string of words falling into natural constituents‖ (d' cobs and Rosenbaum
1968: 115)
And all the strings generated by" the grammar of a language are considered to be
the sentences of that language.
In grammars the sentence is regarded as the largest unit of grammatical

description; since no statements about the distribution of the sentence is possible in the
structure of a unit higher than the sentence. The structure of the sentence is analyzed in
terms of grammatical categories and relationships

grammars provide a fairly rich

theoretical framework within which one can examine compound and complex sentences.
Sentences may be grouped into different clauses either by form or function. One
possible functional classification Of sentences results into four types of sentences. They
are:
9


'

(i) Declarative Sentences (statements)

(ii) Interrogative Sentences (Questions)
(iii) Imperative Sentences (Commands)
(iv) Exclamatory Sentences (Exclamations).
Sentences classified on the basis of their inner structure fall into the following
three classes:
(i)

Simple sentences

(ii)
(iii)

Complex sentences

Compound sentences

(iv)

Mixed sentences

2.3. An overview of simple sentences
2.3.1. English simple sentences
2.3.1.1. Definition
According to traditional grammars, the simple sentence must contain one and only
one finite verb, and it may contain any number of non-finite verb forms such as
participles infinitives, and gerunds. This view of the simple sentence is expressed by
,traditional definitions as follows
―A simple sentence is one which has only 6ne finite verb‖
(Wren 1962:257)
(ii) "A sentence containing one finite verb only is a simple sentence."
(Allen, and Mason 1939)
These definitions state categorically that a sentence which contains only one
finite verb is necessarily a simple sentence(and the number of non-finite verb forms it
contains is immaterial. This point has, indeed, been expressed more explicitly in
Zandvoort (1957). The following observation has been made with regard to the predicate
constituent of the simple sentence.
The predicate may consist of one or more words one of these being usually a
finite verb. Besides the finite verb the predicate may aontain one or more non-finite
forms closely connected with the finite verb.

10


(Zandvoort 1957:197)

It is clear from the above discussion that the simple sentence according to the
traditional view point, may contain more than one verbal element of which one is
always the finite verb and the rest are all non-finite verb forms. The following are some
examples of the simple sentence which are taken from traditional grammars
2

He worked hard to make up for the lost time.

3,

Being disatisfied.,he resigned his ,job.

4.

The mansitting over there is a painter*

5.

Playing chess is interesting!?

All these sentences (1-5) regarded as simple sentences in structure, contain one
finite verb and one non-finite verb, the finite Verbs being (A-E)} and the nan-finite,(ae).
According to Quirk et al (1972), a clause may be finite or nan-finite depending
upon the finiteness or non-finiteness of the verb it contains. A simple sentence always
contains a finite clause with just one finite verbal element. But if there is a string which
contains a non-finite verb form, that constitutes a non-finite clause ip its own right, and it
cannot, therefore, be a constituent of a simple sentence.

2.3.1.2. Classification of English simple sentences
Quirk et al (1972*343), distinguish seven different types of simple sentence as in

the table below. It may be noted that none of these sentence types contains more than
one verbal element.
From the examples [1-7] the following seven clause types emerge:

11


Type
SV
Type
SVO
Type

S(ubject)

V(erb)

Someone

was laughing

My
mother

enjoys

The

became

[1a]
parties

SVA
Type

[2a]
totally

country

SVC
Type

[3a]

independent

I

have been

Mary

gave

the visitor

[5a]

consider

A glass of
milk
these
rather

[6a]

must put

books
all the toys

SVOO
Type

O(bject(s)) C(omplement) A(dverbial)

Most

SVOC people
Type
You

in
garden

the [4a]

expensive
upstairs

[7a]

SVOA
Table 2.1: Sentence patterns (Quirk, Randolph, 1985)
Each clause type is associated with a set of verbs. The seven fall naturally into three main
types. There are:
1. A two-element pattern: SV
The sun is shining.
They are talking.
(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)
2. Three three-element patterns: SV + {O, C, A}
That lecture bored me. (SVO)
Your dinner seems ready (SVC)
My office is in the next building. (SVA)
(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)
3. Three four-element patterns: SVO + {O, C, A}
I must send my parents an anniversary card. (SVOO)
Most students have found her reasonably helpful. (SVOC)
You can put the dish on the table. (SVOA)
(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

12


2.3.2. Vietnamese simple sentences
2.3.2.1. Definition
As mentioned above, finding the answer to the question of the single question is,

we cannot be separated from the opposing positions, in which the concept of a simple
sentence is formed. To get an overview of the problem, first of all, we would like to point
out some explanations about the simple sentence of an arithmetic fake when studying this
problem.
1. (In a sentence that describes many things, a combination to describe a situation,
we call it a owl). The sentence describing a situation is a simple sentence (What is the
sentence that represents a simple sentence)
(Trƣơng Văn Trình, Nguyễn Hiến Lê 1963: 479, 620)
2. (The simple sentence is a sentence in your city that does not have subordinate
clauses but only one subjective structure). A simple sentence is a sentence made up of
only one word or phrase.
(Nguyễn Kim Thản 1969: 25)
3. A simple sentence is a complete sentence of two components: subject and
discourse; When these parts are in reduced form, the sentence is in the form of nuclear
structure.
(Lƣu Van Lang 1970: 50)
4. Simple sentences are the most common base type of verbal communication.
The majority of Vietnamese simple sentences correspond to the Master-Position
structure. The number of factors involved is not greater than the compound sentence (the
number of elements is not a sign of a simple sentence with a compound sentence). A type
of sentence that carries semantic information itself.
(Hoang Trong Pha 1980: 104)
5. The simple sentence is a simple sentence consisting of a predicate unit, with a
subject relationship as the core ie a core unit of two subjective and predicate components.
The predicate unit is related to the Host (C-V for short) with different relations.
(Hữu Quỳnh 1980: 137)

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6. A simple sentence is a type of sentence consisting of one sentence, one simple
core and the most normal is the single core case with the theory that the core N = a + b.
(Socialist Committee 1983: 167)
7. A simple sentence is a sentence made up of a cluster of Masters - Persons, in an
independent position and bearing an end tone.
(Diệp Quang Ban 1984: 6)
The review of the explanations presented above can be seen, basically, the
researchers agree that normal simple sentences (two components) are basically structured
sentences: c - V (master - taste) is often called another name: D-T (theory - theory).
Thus, the name of a simpe sentence is not outside of its structure (simple or complex).
However, the consensus of the researchers in calling this unit is not necessarily has
ensured consistency in their specific handling situations.
The following examples, which lead to Hoang Van Van (2002: 78, 79) are
evidence of this statement:
1. Họ vừa đi vừa cƣời vừa hát.[L V L]
2. Vấn đề [[anh ấy nêu ra]] vẫn chƣa đƣợc giải quyết. [L V L]
3. Cách mạng Tháng Tám thành công đem lại độc lập tự do cho dân tộc. [D Ọ BJ
Sentence (1) can be divided into four different ways, first it is treated as a simple
sentence with a main predicate (N. Lan 1956), considered a complex sentence
(Linguistics - 1964). The third analysis suggests that it is a proposition (owl) with three
judgments of the same function (P. Ngoc & Pham Duc Duong 1983); The fourth view is
that it is a simple sentence with a predicate complex {L. V.Lay 1970).
For verse (2) some scholars consider it as a simple sentence
(.Lekomcev 1964, D.Q. Board 1987), while some other scholars (such as Solncev
1960) consider it as a complex sentence.

2.3.2.2. Classification of Vietnamese simple sentences
According to Vietnamese linguists (Diệp Quang Ban, 1987, Hoàng Trọng Phiến,
1980), the simple sentence in Vietnamese usually has the following types of structures:
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Type 1
Type 1.1
(i) NP1 is NP2 + nomenclature.

Example: Assol rất vui mừng. (NP1- NP2 expression)
Assol was delighted ( s - V- c)
``

Tôi biết (NP1- NP2)
I see (s V)
Example: Cái ấm này bằng nhôm

(NP1 NP2

. This kettle is made of aluminum. (s V A)
(iii) NP1 at / do / by ... (S + Pred)
For example: NP1 NP2 This causes him to NP1 s Pred This is due to his fault. s V
This js what he caused. s V o [2]
(iv) NP1 of / to ... NP2 NP1 of / to ... (s + Pred)
Example: Write to write. This paper is for writing letters. NP1 NP2 s V A garment
of garlic. This shirt is mine. NP1 NP2 s V o [2] Thus, these two types of structures in
Vietnamese are completely different from English. In Vietnamese, we use "in", "to" in
English we have the verb "to be".
Type 1.2
(i) NP + v + (Adj)
Let‘s take the following example for illustration
Nó đang ngủ yên lặng. NP V Adj
Nƣớc đang sôi . _NP V Adj

Tôi nói chậm
He is sleeping quietly. s V A

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