SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS DENOTING HEALTH IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS DENOTING
HEALTH IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
(CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA THÀNH NGỮ VỀ SỨC KHỎE
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

KIEU THU HIEN

Field: English Language
Code: 8220201

Hanoi, 2018


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS DENOTING
HEALTH IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
(CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA THÀNH NGỮ VỀ SỨC KHỎE
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

KIEU THU HIEN
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201

Supervisor name: Dr. Mai Thi Loan

Hanoi, 2018


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled “Syntactic and semantic features of idioms denoting health in English and
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

Kieu Thu Hien

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Dr. Mai Thi Loan
Date:……………………

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am extremely grateful to all of the people for helping me to finish my
graduation paper.

First of all, I wish to express my sincere thanks and deepest gratitude to my
supervisor – Dr. Mai Thi Loan for her whole-hearted guidance and valuable
suggestion during the process of doing this research.
Additionally, I am also grateful to all of the teachers of Foreign Language
Department of Hanoi Open University for their enthusiastic assistance during the
time I studied at the university.
I wish to forward my special thanks to my family and my friends for
whatever they support and encourage me both mentally and physically at this time.
I am fully aware that shortcomings and mistakes are inevitable in my research. Any
comments and suggestions would be highly appreciated for the perfectness of my
own research.
Hanoi, October, 2018
Kieu Thu Hien

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ABSTRACT

One of the most effective and colorful ways to transfer culture is the use of
idioms which, however cause several troubles for English learners because of their
confusing meanings. To help learners have a better understanding of idioms,
particularly idioms denoting health, this thesis conducts a study of syntactic and
semantic features of idioms denoting health in English and Vietnamese. Basing on
the description and analysis of distinguishing features, the similarities and
differences of idioms in the two languages are presented. In addition, both the
descriptive and contrastive methods are used in combination with the qualitative
and quantitative approach. The investigation is based on 109 samples of English
idioms and 109 Vietnamese idioms denoting health from a wide variety of
dictionaries and books about idioms. These findings also aim at offering some

practical implications for teaching and learning English.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

A:

Adverb

C:

Complement

IH:

Idioms denoting health

MA: Master thesis
O:

Object

S:

Subject

V:

Verb

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 : Types of sentence structures ................................................................ 13
Table 4.1 : English idioms denoting health with phrase structures ......................... 36
Table 4.2 : English idioms denoting health with clause structures .......................... 37
Table 4.3 : English idioms denoting health with sentence structures ...................... 38
Table 4.4 : Syntactic features of English idioms denoting health ........................... 38
Table 4.5: Semantic features of English idioms denoting health ............................ 41
Table 4.6 : Syntactic features of Vietnamese idioms denoting health ..................... 43
Table 4.7: Semantic features of Vietnamese idioms denoting health ...................... 46
Table 4.8: Statistical analysis of syntactic features of English and
Vietnamese IH ....................................................................................................... 47
Chart 4.1: Rate of syntactic features of English and Vietnamese IH ...................... 47
Table 4.9: Statistical analysis of semantic features of English and
Vietnamese IH ....................................................................................................... 49
Chart 4.2: Rate of semantic features of English and Vietnamese IH ...................... 49

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ....................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................. iv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1

1.1 Rationale for the study ....................................................................................... 1
1.2 Aims and objectives of the study ....................................................................... 2
1.3 Research questions ............................................................................................ 2
1.4 Methods of the study ......................................................................................... 2
1.5 Scope of the study ............................................................................................. 3
1.6 Significance of the study.................................................................................... 3
1.7 Structure of the study ......................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 5
2.1 Previous studies ................................................................................................. 5
2.1.1 Previous studies oversea ......................................................................... 5
2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam ................................................................... 7
2.2 Overview of phrases, clauses and sentences ....................................................... 9
2.2.1 Phrase structures..................................................................................... 9
2.2.2 Clause structures .................................................................................. 11
2.2.3 Sentence structures ............................................................................... 12
2.3 Overview of idioms ......................................................................................... 13
2.3.1 Definition of idioms ............................................................................. 14
2.3.2 Features of idioms ................................................................................ 15
2.3.3 Classification of idioms ........................................................................ 19
2.3.4 Idioms and other language units ........................................................... 20
2.3.5 Idioms denoting health ......................................................................... 23
2.4 English and Vietnamese cultural features ......................................................... 23
2.5 Summary ......................................................................................................... 25
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................... 27
3.1 Context of the study ......................................................................................... 27
3.2 Instruments ...................................................................................................... 27
3.3 Procedures ....................................................................................................... 28

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3.4 Statistical analysis ........................................................................................... 28
3.5 Summary ......................................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER 4: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF IDIOMS
DENOTING HEALTH IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE .................................... 30
4.1 Syntactic and semantic features of idioms denoting health in English .............. 30
4.1.1 Syntactic features ................................................................................ 30
4.1.2 Semantic features ................................................................................. 39
4.2 Syntactic and semantic features of idioms denoting health in Vietnam ................... 41
4.2.1 Syntactic features ................................................................................. 41
4.2.2 Semantic features ................................................................................. 44
4.3 A comparison of idioms denoting health in English with reference to
their Vietnamese equivalents ................................................................................. 46
4.3.1 In terms of the syntactic features .......................................................... 46
4.3.2 In terms of the semantic features .......................................................... 49
4.4 Implications for teaching and learning English and Vietnamese
idioms denoting health........................................................................................... 53
4.4.1 For teaching ......................................................................................... 53
4.4.2 For learning .......................................................................................... 56
4.5 Summary ......................................................................................................... 58
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................................ 59
5.1 Recapitulation .................................................................................................. 59
5.2 Concluding remarks ......................................................................................... 59
5.3 Limitations of the study ................................................................................... 60
5.4 Recommendations for further study ................................................................. 61
REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 62
APPENDIXES ..................................................................................................... 67

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale for the study
Nowadays, together with growth of global connection, English language has
become more and more important. Especially in Vietnam, learning English seems to
be one of main tasks of students. In this process, they encounter a large number of
difficulties, among which is understanding idioms. Every country has got their own
idioms that are specific to their own culture. Learning the specific idioms related to a
certain culture helps you learn more about the history, customary beliefs, social
forms, and material traits of it.
Idioms appear in every language, and English has thousand of them. Today,
most linguists would agree that the traditional definition of idioms as “deadmetaphor” fails to capture the different classes of metaphoric expressions. There is
body of evidence that suggests that the meaning of many idioms is at least partly
defined by the meaning of the component words. Wasow, Sag and Numberg (1983)
claimed that individual parts of idiomatic expressions have identifiable meanings
from which the figurative meanings of phrases as a whole are derived, and that the
mapping between the two levels of meanings takes place in conventionalized rather
than arbitrary ways. Gluckberg (2001) also observes that while some idiomatic
phrases are non-compositional (e. g spic and span), others are fully compositional,
with clear semantic mapping between the constituent words and their idiomatic
referents. For example, in the idiom pop in the question, pop can be mapped onto
“suddenly ask” and the question can be mapped onto “marriage proposal”. In
compositional phrase, idiom constituents constrain both idiom interpretation and
use. For instance, the verb kick implies a discrete, swift action making it impossible
to say he kicked the bucket all week, while one could say he lay dying all week.
Up to now, a lot of studies have been done on analyzing and categorizing
idioms according to alphabetical arrangement. Others concentrate on analyzing their
semantic, structural and cultural features in number of idioms denoting color, anger,
human body part, outward and appearance, richness and poverty, water, number or

symbols of animals, comparison, causes and results, etc. Nevertheless, an
investigation into English and Vietnamese idioms denoting health in terms of
syntactic and semantic has not been dealt deeply with so far.

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Those are the reasons for the topic “Syntactic and semantic features of
idioms denoting health in English and Vietnamese” is chosen to do research.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the study
The study is basically aimed at finding out the semantic and syntactic features of
English idioms denoting health in comparison with their Vietnamese equivalents to help
learners of English master the features of this kind of idioms in English.
The study is intended to gain at the following objectives:
1. To identify and describe syntactic and semantic features of English and
Vietnamese idioms denoting health.
2. To find out the differences and similarities of English and Vietnamese
idioms denoting health in term of syntactic and semantic features.
3. To give some suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms
denoting health.
1.3 Research questions
The study attempts to answer the following questions:
1. What are syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms
denoting health?
2. What are similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese
idioms denoting health in terms of syntactic and semantic features?
3. What are the suggested implications for teaching and learning English
idioms denoting health?
1.4 Methods of the study
In order to complete this study, some different research methods will be

applied. In this study, the descriptive, contrastive, deductive and inductive methods
are used for finding out the syntactic and semantic features of English and
Vietnamese idioms denoting health.
Firstly, descriptive method is applied to describe in details syntactic and
semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms through examples of English
and Vietnamese idioms denoting health. The descriptive method is used in the
study to describe and interpret English and Vietnamese idioms denoting health with
the help of a powerful source of dictionaries and lexicons to obtain their syntactic
and semantic features.
Secondly, the contrastive method is used to identify the structural
similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese English idioms

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denoting health in terms of syntactic and semantic features.
Futhermore, the deductive method is applied to present the general features
of English and Vietnamese idioms to more specific ones. In contrast, the inductive
method is used for presenting the specific characteristics to more general ones.
By applying these methods, it helps to find out the syntactic and semantic
characteristics of English idioms denoting health in English and Vietnamese.
1.5 Scope of the study
In the framework of the study, this research is restricted to idioms containing
words denoting health. Idioms denoting health are the idioms that contain the words
about health such as die a natural death, show signs of an illness in English idioms;
sức khỏe là vàng, yếu như cây sậy in Vietnamese ones or express the meaning
related to health such as full of beans, black out, feel blue in English idioms; Gái 17
bẻ gãy sừng trâu; Cổ cày vai bừa; Cày sâu cuốc bẫm in Vietnamese ones. The
research focuses on studying syntactic and semantic features, not on cultural features
or pragmatic features of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting health.

To complete the research thesis, all the collection of idioms denoting health
in English and Vietnamese are selected from some reliable dictionaries and
reference books (109 English idioms denoting health and 109 Vietnamese ones). It
is hoped that the outcome of this research thesis, to some extent, would be able to
make a certain contribution to enhance the quality of teaching and learning English.
1.6 Significance of the study
Theoretically, the study will make clear a full description of syntactic and
semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting health. It contributes
to the theory of idioms and theory about phrase, clause and sentence structures.
Thus, other researchers and linguistics could take it as a reliable reference to make
further studies in this field.
Practically, idioms are used popularly in daily life, but so far, there have
been no studies about this topic. As a result, this research is conducted in an attempt
to provide Vietnamese learners with better mastering how to use syntactic and
semantic features of English idioms denoting health. From these findings,
Vietnamese learners of English will enhance knowledge about idioms as well as
apply this kind of idioms in sensible ways in communication. The study is hoped to
make a great contribution to the process of teaching and learning English.

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1.7 Structure of the study
The study consists of five following chapters:
Chapter I, Introduction, includes the rationale, the aim, the objectives, the
scope, the significance and the structural organization.
Chapter II, Literature review, introduces previous studies related to the
thesis. Also, this is an introduction to theoretical background which is designed to
serve as the basic foundation of data analysis and discussion of findings in the
following chapter.

Chapter III, Methodology, presents the research questions and research
approach with various methods and techniques to conduct the research thesis.
Chapter IV, Syntactic and semantic features of idioms denoting health in
English and Vietnamese, describes and analyzes the syntactic and semantic
features of idioms denoting health in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntactic
and semantic features, makes a comparison of idioms denoting health in English
with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents and provides some possible
implications for teaching and learning idioms denoting health in English and
Vietnamese.
Chapter V, Conclusion, gives the summary of the study. Furthermore, this
chapter also presents the limitations of the research and some suggestions for
further studies.
References and Appendixes come at the end of the thesis.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter serves two main purposes. Firstly, it gives the summaries of
previous researches associated with the theme of the investigation. Secondly, it
presents an overview of the theoretical background as well relevant knowledge.
2.1 Previous studies
The prosperity of language in form and content not only brings the beauty of
language but also deeply contributes to successful daily communications. Every
language in the world has large numbers of idioms. It can be said that idioms are
interesting and popular phenomenon of every language. So far, there have been
many investigations into idioms. With the different points of view as well as
different objectives, linguists and researchers have a variety of ways to interpret
idioms.

2.1.1 Previous studies oversea
Because of the importance and wide aspects, idioms have attracted many
language researchers all over the world. In the book “Idioms structure in English”
of Makkai (1972), the concept of idiomatical areas is introduced and the
membership of each is illustrated with a small number of typical examples. Each
type of idioms in the first idiomaticity area (lexemie system) and the second
idiomaticity area (semantic system) is described in the terms of its internal structure
and assigned a label. This discussion of the idiomacity areas and their membership
in intergrated with a general definition of the idiom in both lexicology and the
simiology. By describing these two idiomaticity areas, the author suggests a
framework by which all types of English idioms have been mentioned.
The research on “English idioms and how to use them” conducted by Seild
and McMordie (1978) presented idioms with various key words or key structures.
They gave some keywords with idiomatic uses in some parts of speech such as
adjective, adverb, nouns and miscellaneous in other chapters. They also presented
idioms with key structures in each individual part with some examples to illustrate
such as idioms with nouns and adjective, idiomatic pairs, idioms with prepositions,
phrasal verbs, vebal idioms, idioms from special subjects and idioms with key
words from special categories and idioms with comparision.
Mc Mordie (1983) published his book “English idioms and how to use
them”, providing intermediate to advance level students with information about
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over 3000 idioms. Each idiom was listed, explained and presented in context to
enable students to understand how and when to use it. However, the above
researches did not metion the syntactic and semantic features, just listed the idioms.
That is the reason why the author wants to study the syntactic and semantic features
of idioms.
When coming to idioms in terms of syntax and semantics, Cruise (1987)

mentioned the traditional definition of idioms. He stated that an idiom maybe
briefly characterized as a lexical complex which is semantically complex. He also
made the conception of idioms in his book clearer by distinguishing idioms from
collocations and dead metaphor. However, he did not categorize idioms by topics or
keywords such as family, friends, animals, color, weather, food, etc. Hence, the
author wants to analyse idioms in a specific topic.
In addition, Palmer (1990), the writer of “Semantics” defines idioms as
consequences of words whose meanings cannot be predicted from the meaning of
the words themselves. Semantically, idioms are single units, but not single
grammatical units like words. He also brought about some restrictions in syntactic
and semantic features and noted that the problems of idioms were involved with a
much wider issue word formation, by which what would appear to be new and more
complex lexemes can be formed from single ones. However, the study did not
metion the syntactic features of idioms, just focused on the semantic features.
Cristina Cacciari and Patrizia Tabosski (1993) in “Idioms: processing,
structure and interpretation” focus on three main points: idioms interpretation and
the literal figurative distinction, acquisition and processing of idioms, and meaning
and structure. After reading, readers will be able to possess a wide variety of
knowledge about English idioms.
Cowie (1994) analyzed the way their grammar and meanings complemented
each other to create idiomaticity as well as “the possibility of internal variation, or
substitution of part for part” of idioms. Besides, the author also suggested
“techniques” to distinguish idiomatic units from other multiword expressions. More
principally, the author discussed about idiom’s grammatical and lexical information
clearly. However, both Cristina Cacciari and Patrizia Tabosski and Cowie just dealt
with the syntactic features rather than the semantic features of idioms.
“Idioms and idiomaticity” by Chitra Fernando (1996) provided a
comprehensive treatment of idioms and idiomaticity from functional perspective. It
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examined the use of idioms in discourse to combine the novel and conventional, to
convey representations of the world, evaluate people and situations, signal
conviviality or conflict, and creat coherent, cohesive texts. This book goes on to
consider implications for language learning and development
In “English idioms in use” by Michael Mc Carthy and Felicity O’s Dell
(2002), there are 60 units of vocabularies references and practices including over
1000 idioms. The book is divided into two parts. Idioms with explanations,
examples and special notes about their usages are presented on the left hand pages
and exercises for practicing them are shown on the right hand page. However, the
above research did not metion the syntactic and semantic features, just listed the
idioms. That is the reason why the author wants to study the syntactic and semantic
features of a specific topic of idioms in English and Vietnamese.
2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam
In Vietnam, idioms have been also an interesting field for linguists. Lương
Văn Đang and Nguyễn Lực (1993) are the pioneers in studying idiomatic phrases in
Vietnam. They produced the useful book “Thành ngữ tiếng Việt” which has listed
many Vietnamese idioms and their symbolic meanings and based on their books,
there have been a lot of studies in idioms in Vietnam. Idioms have been recognized,
collected and explained systematically.
Nguyễn Công Đức (1995) studied Vietnamese idioms from formal semantic
perspectives. It is a research investigation idioms quite systematically from both
structural and semantic perspectives. Based on the forms, he divided Vietnamese
idioms into three categories: idioms with symmetrical structure, idioms with
comparision structure and idioms with non symmetrical structure. For idioms with
symmetrical structure, the most important characteristic is the reciprocal or contrast
of meaning of the two parts of idioms (it is the relation of symmetrical contents).
From this relation, these idioms from other relations such as the relation of
symmetrical words (the symmetry or repetition between components). Like other
linguists, he supposed that idioms with comparision structure are formed according

to general formular A như B (Chậm như rùa: very slow). Idioms with non
symmetrical structure are formed by phrasres, especially verb phrases Bắt cá hai tay
(too greedy). Additionally, this kind of idioms also has subject-predicate pattern:
Chuột sa chĩnh gạo (be very lucky to have a comfortable life); Chó ngáp phải ruồi
(be suddenly in luck); ect. The meaning formation process of idioms consists of
7


three stages: creating constituent parts including explicit and implicit components,
establishing the meanings through the internal relations among components,
generalizing and identifying the idiomatic meanings with things and concepts in
everyday life. He also commented that the meanings of idioms are generally formed
according to symmetrical, contrastive, harmonious, convergent and random
relations.
Hoàng Văn Hành (2008) also stated that the general pattern of similized
idioms (A như B) given by the previous authors is right but reducted. It does not
reflect the nature of comparision in terms of both logic and language. According to
him, in any case the logical structure of comparision is At1 như Bt2 (t1 is the
attribute of A; t2 is the attribute of B). Based on that general model, he conducted
an analysis to find out the structure of idiomatic meanings. In addition, he does not
only focus on the idioms structures but also their usage and values. From cultural
perspective, he supposed that underlying cultural factors behind the idioms need
uncovering. Although he himself realized that this approach of studying Vietnamese
idioms is still open, we can find his contribution in this aspect through his works on
idioms.
Besides, there have also been a lot of authors whose studies are generally
related to idioms. Nguyễn Hoàng Trà My (2011) is the first example. The study is
basically aimed at finding out the semantic, syntactic and cultural features of idioms
denoting life and death in English and Vietnamese to provide language learners
with the basic knowledge of this field and help them master the meaning of idioms.

With this aim, several methods are simultaneously employed such as the
descriptive, the analytic and contrastive methods, among which the dominant ones
are the descriptive and contrastive ones.
Nguyễn Thị Vinh explored the syntactic and semantic features of English
idioms denoting sadness and its Vietnamese equivalents in a contrastive analysis so
as to find out similarities and differences between them. The second aim is to
provide the fundamental understandings about idioms in general and idioms
denoting sadness in particular. Finally, the study achieved the above aims.
Another M.A thesis is “Syntactic ansd semantic features of idioms
expressing anger in English and Vietnamese” of Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền (2013). In
the research paper, the author analysis 400 idioms denoting anger in English and
Vietnamese in terms of syntactic and semantic features, and indicates the distinction

8


between idioms meanings by native speakers of English and Vietnamese.
Syntactically, the classification of the data is mainly based on the different
structural categories, namedly noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases,
prepositional phrases and adverb phrases. The study focuses on the basic of typical
semantic and syntactic features of idioms expressing anger in both languages. With
regard to the semantic results, the data reveal that the meanings of all the collected
anger idioms in English and Vietnamese could be expressed through such means as
metaphor, metonymy and symmetry. Based on the functional grammar viewpoint,
the author has investigated each semantic field based on superficial grammatical
structures. In the light of this approach, idioms are analyzed in forms of phrasal
structures and clause structures in relation to their semantic features. The phrasal
structures could be categorized into noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases,
prepositional phrases and adverbial phrased. Besides, idioms are also structured by
clauses.

Trần Ngọc Quế Châu (2011) with the M.A thesis “A study of idioms
denoting family in English and Vietnamese” compares and contrasts idioms
denoting family in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntactic and semantic
features. In the syntactic aspects, idioms in English and Vietnamese are analyzed
under phrasal structures. These structures are categorized into noun phrases, verb
phrases, adjective phrases, prepositional phrases and adverb phrases. Semantically,
English and Vietnamese idioms denoting family in the study express their meaning
through such means as metaphor, metonymy, heperhole and symmetry.
The above M.A theses analysed the syntactic and semantic features of idioms
in some specific topics such as idioms denoting family, idioms expressing anger,
idioms denoting sadness, etc. Up to now, syntactic and semantic features of idioms
denoting health in English and Vietnamese have not been carried out yet. This is the
reason why this study comes into being investigated in an attempt to focus on
semantic and syntactic features of idioms denoting health in English and
Vietnamese.
2.2 Overview of phrases, clauses and sentences
2.2.1 Phrase structures
Phrase is a short group of two or more compound words arranged in a
grammatical construction and acting as a conceptual unit. Richards (1987) defined a
phrase as “a group of words which forms grammatical unit. A phrase does not

9


contain a finite verb and does not have a subject- predicate structure”. A phrase is
a part of a sentence. It is a group of words within a sentence that does not contain
both subject and verb and does not express a complete idea.
Here is the example: He was a bag of bones.
The part of above sentence “bag of bones” is a phrase because it does not
contain a subject or verb and does not express a complete idea. A phrase does not

include both subject and verb at the same time and does not make a complete sense,
hence a phrase can not stand as a sentence on its own.
In a phrase, the main word, or the word that is what the phrase is about, is
called the head. The other words in the phrase do the work of modifying the head.
According to Quirk and Greenbaum (1987), the common structure of phrases:
(Pre – Modifier) + Head + (Post – Modifier)
A modifier is an optional element in phrase structure. A modifier is said
to modify (change the meaning of) another element in the structure, on which it is
dependent. Modifiers may come before or after the modified element (the head),
depending on the type of modifier and the rules of syntax for the language in
question. A modifier placed before the head is called a premodifier, one placed after
the head is called a postmodifier.
In English, there are five different kinds of phrase structures: noun phrases,
verb phrases, adjective phrases, prepositional phrases and adverbial phrases.
Randolph Quirk (1985) stated:
He defined that: “A noun phrase consists of head, which is typically a noun
and of elements which (either obligatorily or optionally) determine the head and
(optionally) modify the head, or complement another element in the phrase.” From
this definition, it is clear that a noun phrase is a word group with a noun or pronoun
as its head. The noun head can be accompanied by determiners such as the, a/an,
his, their…) and modifiers complements. Here are the examples: a land of the
living, couch doctor, one foot in the grave, picture of health, hair of the dog …
According to Quirk (1985), “A verb phrase consists of a verb which either
stands alone as the entire verb phrase, or is preceded by up to auxiliaries.” There
are two types of verb phrase: Simple verb phrase (consists of a main verb) and
complex verb phrase (may include one modal verb and one or more auxiliary verb
before the main verb).
Here are the examples: meet your maker, show signs of an illness, drop like

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flies, have one foot in the grave …
He also defined “An adjective phrase consists of an adjective as head,
optionally preceded and followed by modifying elements”. An adjective phrase is a
group of words that describes a noun or pronoun in a sentence. The adjective in an
adjective phrase can appear at the start, end or in the middle of the phrase. The
adjective phrase can be placed before, or after the noun or pronoun in the sentence.
Here are the examples: as pale as a ghost, black and blue, racked with pain,
full of beans, blue around the gills…
Quirk (1985) said that: “A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed
by a prepositional complement, which is normally a noun phrase”. Every prepositional
phrase which functions as an adjective or adverb is a series of words made up of a
preposition and its object. The object may be a noun, pronoun, gerund or clause.
Here are the examples: in bad shape, in the pink of health, up and about, under
the weather, out of shape, in labor …
He also stated that: “An adverb phrase consists of an adverb as head,
optionally preceded and followed by modifying elements”. It can be said that an
adverb phrase is a group of words that refines the meaning of a verb, adjective or
adverb. Here are the examples: once in blue moon, at your earliest convenience, in
the long run, to date, etc.
From the author’s point of view, a phrase may not always consist of only one
word, it may be one-word phrase in cases of basic phrase. There is no subjectpredicate structure exists in a phrase, which includes the excluding of a finite verb.
This will make a phrase become a clause or a sentence. Phrases are usually
classified according to their head or central element and the meaning of a phrase is a
sum of the individual words.
2.2.2 Clause structures
According to Cambridge dictionary: “A clause is the basic unit of grammar.
A clause must contain a verb. Typically a clause is made up of a subject, a verb
phrase and, sometimes, a complement”.

“Non-finite clauses contain a verb which does not show tense. We usually use
non-finite verbs only in subordinate clauses. We usually understand the time referred
to from the context of the main clause. We often use a non-finite clause when the
subject is the same as the subject in the main clause.” (Cambridge dictionary)
According to Peter Collins and Carmella Hollo (2010), “A non-finite clause is a
subodinate clause with a non-finite verb as the first or only verb: an infinitive, a present

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participle or a past participle and a gerund”.
Here is the example: I had something to eat before leaving.
A non-finite clause is one that includes a secondary verb (a verb not inflected
for tense, person or number.) The verb form is infinitival, gerundial or past
participial. A nonfinite clause occasionally includes a subject. It is a dependent
clause serving as the subject or as a complement to the verb, to a preposition or to a
noun but the meaning is incomplete.
“Finite clauses must contain a verb which shows tense. They can be main
clauses or subordinate clauses” (Cambridge dictionary).
According to Crystal (1980), “Finite clause is a clause with a finite verb”.
For example: We didn’t get any food because we didn’t have enough
time. (main: past; subordinate: past)
A finite clause is one that includes a primary verb, a verb that can be
inflected for tense, person and sometimes number. A finite clause includes a
subject. It is an independent clause, which can serve as a stand-alone clause
(sentence), a coordinate clause, a subordinate clause, or a supplementary clause and
has a complete meaning.
From the above definitions, the author agrees that a non-finite clause is a
subodinate clause with a non-finite verb as the first or only verb: an infinitive, a present
participle or a past participle and a gerund. The finite clauses must contain a verb

which shows tense. They can be main clauses or subordinate clauses.
2.2.3 Sentence structures
The sentence is probably the most familiar of all grammatical terms. People
are introduced to it in the early school years, and it quickly becomes part of the
linguistic awareness. It might therefore be thought that sentences are early things to
identify and define. There are different ways to define a sentence but the writer
prefers a traditional grammar-based definition. There are many authors giving
different definitions about English sentence.
According to Alice Oshima & Ann Hogue (2006), they stated that: “The
subject is a word or a group of words that name the person, thing, or place that a
sentence is about. It is usually a noun or a pronoun. The predicate makes a
statement about the subject. It consists of a verb and its modifiers or complements.
The verb is the most important point of the predicate expressing an action or a state
of being.” Normally, the subject of the sentence, in word order of a statement,
stands before its verb predicate. However, the order of the sentence can vary
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according to the types of sentences (statement, question, request, etc). Moreover,
sentence structure (subject, verb, direct object, indirect object, adverb, subject
complement, object complement) is used to form a sentence. Here are the examples:
- Most people consider these books rather expensive.( In this sentence, most people
is the subject, the main verb is consider, these books is the object and rather
expensive is the complement).
- You must put all the toys upstairs. (In this sentence, you is the subject, the main
verb is must put, allthe toys is the object and upstairs is the adverb).
In Vietnam, according to Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (2008), “Sentence is the
smallest unit of language being capable of conveying a thing, an idea, a feeling
or an emotion”. The definition shows two characteristics of the sentence. In term
of functionality, sentence is a unit being capable of declaration. Thanks to this

feature, it is possible to distinguish the sentences from its lower rank (words). In
term of structure, sentence is the smallest language unit. For example, if people
consider a paragraph, or even an article, a chapter, a book are declarative units,
these units are split into several smaller units while the sentence is not split any
more.
There are 7 different types of sentence structures. According to Randolph
Quirk (1985:721), here are the examples for each type.
Type

Subject

Verb

Object

SV

The sun

is shining.

SVO

That lecture

bored

SVC

Your dinner

seems

SVA

My office

is

SVOO

I

must send

SVOC

Most
students

have found

her

SVOA

You

can put

the dish

Complement

Adverbial

me.
ready.
in the next
buiding.
my parents
an anniversary card.

Table 2.1: Types of sentence structures
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reasonably
helpful.
on the
table.


Among the above definitions, the author has the same opinion with Randolph Quirk
(1985) that there are 7 different types of sentence structures: SV, SVA, SVC, SVO,
SVOA, SVOC, SVOO.
2.3 Overview of idioms
2.3.1 Definition of idioms
In the definition of English idioms, some scholars emphasize the quantity of
structures in idioms. Others emphasize the single meaning of English idioms which
refers that the English idioms’ meaning is arbitrary. The English idioms’ meaning

can not be synthesized or cut apart. Different people hold the different opinions and
focal points on the definition of English idioms. In English, idioms maybe treated as
a type of collocation involving two or more words in context. However, since the
meaning of an idiom can not be predicted from the meaning of its constituents,
idioms may be considered as a type of multi word lexeme. So far, there have been
several definitions of idioms.
Jon Wright (2000) and Fromkin, Collin and Blair (1990) have the same ideas
that: “an idiom is an expression with the following features: It is fixed and is
recognized by native speakers. You cannot make up your own; it uses language in a
non literal-metaphorical- way”. For example the idiom meet your maker is fixed
and cannot be replaced by other verbs or phrases because this idiom is recognized
by native speakers.
Idioms also have been defined by Jenifer Seild and Mordie (1988), Hornby
(1995) and Arthur (1986) as “a number of words which, when taken together, have
different meanings from individual meaning of each word”. Therefore, an idiom is a
multi-word construction. Its semantic meaning can not be deducted from the
meaning of constituents and it has a non productive syntactic structure. Idioms are
phrases that do not mean exactly what they say. They have "hidden" meanings, like
the idiom dogs are barking really means the feet are hurting.
In Vietnam, Nguyễn Văn Hằng (1999) defined that: “Idiom is a special
phrase which allows very little or no variation in form; it is formed with rhythm and
special phonetic elements; its meaning cannot be deduced from its individual
components; it expresses figurative and general meaning and normally comes along
with emotive values; it is used to denote real phenomena and it often functions as a
sentence element” (Thành ngữ là một cụm từ đặc biệt có cấu trúc cố định , có vần
điệu và thành phần ngữ âm đặc biệt; có thể suy ra từ tổng số nghĩa của các yếu tố

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cấu thành nó; thành ngữ có nghĩa bóng, nghĩa hình ảnh khái quát, thường kèm theo
giá trị biểu cảm; thành ngữ thường dùng để định danh những hiện tượng của hiện
thực và thường hoạt động trong câu với tư cách là một bộ phận cấu thành của nó).
Hoàng Văn Hành (2002) defined “Idioms are set expressions which are
stable in metaphor structure, complete and figurative in meaning widely used in
daily communication” (Thành ngữ là một loại tổ hợp từ cố định, bền vững về hình
thái cấu trúc, hoàn chỉnh, bóng bảy về ý nghĩa, được sử dụng rộng rãi trong giao
tiếp hàng ngày).
According to Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1985), idiom is defined as “Idioms are set
expressions that have both the complete in meaning and valuable description.
Idioms that express conceptions are usually based on specific images and symbols
(Những đơn vị định danh biểu thị khái niệm nào đó dựa trên những hình ảnh, những
biểu tượng cụ thể).
Phan Văn Quế (1996) defined idioms as “A group of words combined
together to express something whose meaning is different from its constituent” (Một
nhóm các từ kết hợp với nhau để diễn đạt một cái gì đó mà có ý nghĩa khác với
thành phần của nó).
These different definitions above show that despite the different countries,
cultures and societies, there is no argument about definition of idioms. In short, the
idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences, which are peculiar to the language
in question and steeped in the nation and religion, culture and ideas, thus being
colorful, forcible and thought – provoking. Idioms are expressions that are not
readily understandable from their literal meanings of individual constituents. An
idiom is a fixed expression with the meaning of which could be carried out by
gathering the bare meaning of its singular words.
2.3.2 Features of idioms
2.3.2.1 Syntactic features
An idiom is a fixed group of words. Each word is considered as a component
of an idiom and an idiom consists of at least two components. In the book titled “In
other words”, Baker (1992) describes “Idioms are frozen patterns of language which

allow little or no variation in form and often carry meanings which can not be
deducted from their individual components”. Idioms are structurally and lexically
restricted. Hence, the components and grammatical structures of idioms cannot be
changed, added, omitted or replaced. They cannot be varied in the way literal

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expressions are normally varied both in speech and writing. In both English and
Vietnamese, the stability in idioms is very high.
However, according to Fraser (1970), there are specified idioms between
those which are able to undergo all the grammatical changes and those which are
unable to undergo the smallest grammar changes at all. Thus, there are some idioms
which have two or more alternative forms without losing their idiomatic meaning.
These different forms sometimes refect differences between British and American
the same meanings to join in an activity without playing an important part in it. In
many caseses, several verbs can be used in an idiom such as Go/Sell like hot cakes
(to be brought or taken quickly because of being popular or cheap). In fact, idioms
are only fixed in some of their parts but not all. Idioms are expressions, not
subjected to analysis, only some syntactic changes may be carried out in them. The
idioms which can easily be subjected to syntactic changes are more flexible. Tense
changes within idioms can be possible made in most of idioms, so they indicate the
animation of the actions in different tenses on the person’s mind, for example catch
a cold changes to caught a cold. In addition, some idioms can be broken or changed
more or less in their structures, for example easy come, easy go/ light come, light
go. In the same way, prepositions can vary, for example come up/out smelling like a
horse (to succeed; to do better than anyone else in some situations).
Moreover, each idiom has a stable structure and meaning. An idiom can have
a regular structure, an irregular or even a grammatical incorrect structure. First,
idioms which have a regular structure have common forms but there is no

combination between the meaning of each component and that of the whole unit, for
example come along way (to make a lot of progress and improvement). Secondly,
the idioms can be groups of words which have unconventional forms but their
meaning can be worked out through the meaning of individual words such as make
you enemy your friend. In accordance with the rule of grammar, the structures of the
verb make are make somebody do something and make somebody/something +
Adjective. However, in this case, the idiom does not need to obey grammatical rule
to make sense, it can still be understood that make you enemy become your friend.
Finally, the idioms can be group of words which both grammartically inaccurate
and the meaning is not precisely expressed by gathering the meaning of each
member word such as: go over big (with someone) (to be very much appreciated by
someone). The structure of the above idioms is written as V + Preposition +

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