The english complex noun phrases and their vietnamese equivalents in translated version of the novel love story by erich segal

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS
THE ENGLISH COMPLEX NOUN PHRASES AND THEIR
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN TRANSLATED VERSION
OF THE NOVEL “LOVE STORY” BY ERICH SEGAL

(Cụm danh từ phức Tiếng Anh và những tương đương trong
Tiếng Việt trong bản dịch cuốn tiểu thuyết “Câu chuyện tình yêu”
của Erich Segal)

HOANG THI THOM
Field: English Language
Code: 8.22.02.01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dang Suu

Hanoi, 2020


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
“The English complex noun phrases and their Vietnamese equivalents in
translated version of the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal” 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, 2020
Hoang Thi Thom

Approved by

SUPERVISOR

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dang Suu
Date:……………………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a
number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Nguyen Dang Suu , my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me
through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and
suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher.
A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at the Faculty of Graduate Studies
at Hanoi Open University for their useful lectures, without whose support and
encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis
accomplished.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my friends for the sacrifice
they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
List of tables

List of abbreviations
Abstract
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale

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ii
iii
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vi
vii
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1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
1.3. Research questions
1.4. Methods of the study
1.5. Scope of the study
1.6. Significance of the study

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2
2
3
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1.7. Structure of the study

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5

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Review of previous studies
2.1.1. Previous studies overseas
2.1.2. Previous studies in Vietnam
2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.1. Phrase in English
2.2.2. Phrase in Vietnamese
2.3.3. The similarities and differences between English and
Vietnamese complex noun phrases
2.2.4. Translation theory
CHAPTER 3: THE COMPLEX NOUN PHRASES IN THE
NOVEL “LOVE STORY” AND THEIR VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS IN TRANSLATED VERSION
3.1. About the work
3.2. The translated version
3.3. Complex noun phrases in the novel “Love Story” by Erich
Segal and their translated version
3.4. Results of survey
3.5. Mistakes of Vietnamese students when learning English

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43

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43
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53
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complex noun phrases
3.6. Implications for teaching and translating complex noun
phrases

56

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION
4.1. Recapitulation
4.2. Concluding remarks

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4.3. Limitation of the research

58

4.4. Suggestions for further studying

59

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………...
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: The Structure of complex noun phrase in English
Table 2.2: The Structure of complex noun phrase in Vietnamese
Table 3.1: Post-modification of English complex noun phrases in the novel
“Love Story”
Table 3.2: The learners’ acquisition levels on the identify of postmodification in English complex noun phrases
Table 3.3: The learners’ acquisition levels on syntactic function of English
complexnoun phrases
Table 3.4: The learners’ acquisition levels on the use of word order in
English complex noun phrases
Table 3.5: The learners’ acquisition levels on the ability of translating
English noun phrases into Vietnamese

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33
48
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NPs:
CNPs:
S:
O:
C:
A:
App:
N:
V:
Adj:
Art:
CL:
Num:
RC:
AP:
PP:
PossP:

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Noun phrases
Complex noun phrases
Subject
Object
Complement
Adverbial
Appositive
Noun
Verb

Adjective
Article
Classifier
Numerals
Relative clause
Adjective phrase
Prepositional phrase
Possessive phrase

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ABSTRACT
The study aims at helping Vietnamese teachers and learners of English identify
functional and structural features of complex noun phrases in English and
Vietnamese and pointing out the expressions of complex noun phrases in the novel
"Love Story" by Erich Segal and their equivalents in Vietnamese translated version
as well as providing them some suggestions for improving the teaching-learning
process of English complex noun phrases. To achieve this end, descriptive method
is used to give the deep and detail description of functional and structural features
of English complex noun phrases reference with Vietnamese equivalents. Basing on
the qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study has pointing out the various
features of English complex noun phrases with reference to Vietnamese from
examples extracted from the novel "Love Story”.Furthermore, basing the result of
survey, the author has pointed out the difficulties in learning English complex noun
phrases at high school, so the study will provide a comprehensive and overall
knowledge about functional and structural features of complex noun phrases in
English. Besides, the Vietnamese learners will get new knowledge about the
structure of complex noun phrases which appear in the novel "Love Story". This
thesis has focused only on studying the English complex noun phrases in the novel

“Love Story” by Erich Segal with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents.
Therefore, there are still some aspects related to this problem left for further
researchers.

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
In today’s world of globalization, the English language has become part and parcel
of every existing field. It has been an international language of communication,
business, science, information technology, entertainment and so on. It is now the
main language of books, newspapers, airports, international business and academic
conferences, science technology, medicine, diplomacy, sports, international
competition, pop music and advertising. A lot of career opportunities are opened to
English speaking people anywhere and everywhere. Therefore, increasingly people
are getting in the learning of English, since it is really important to both the personal
and professional level. However, teaching is not always easy. There are many
differences in phonology, vocabulary and grammar. Vocabulary is central to
English language teaching because without sufficient vocabulary students cannot
understand others or express their own ideas, while grammar is the study of words
and the ways words work together, an invisible force that guides us as we put words
together into sentences. Any person who communicates using a particular language,
consciously or unconsciously becomes aware of the grammar of that language.
Learning and teaching English, reading with comprehension or translating material
from English into Vietnamese or vice versa, always create difficulties for learners
particularly because of the differences between English and Vietnamese.
In order to help learners have a better knowledge of English, it is of great
importance to predict difficulties from the differences between the two languages

and solve them. In English grammar, word combination in phrase is considered to
be one of the most difficult phenomena. Noun phrases, especially complex noun
phrases seem to cause great deal of trouble when translating them in general from
the source language text into the target language text and vice versa. This is also the
case when the author reads the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal. While the
translation process is quite complex as it requires translators to put a lot of thoughts
on a variety of aspects beyond the materials to be translated. The materials are not
only written in different languages, but they also represent different cultures, differ
greatly in terms of linguistic, literary and cultural-social conventions. For this
reason, the author concerns a good deal with the translation of literary works and

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assigned the paper the title “The English complex noun phrases in the novel “Love
Story” by Erich Segal and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version”
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
The aims of the study are to help Vietnamese learners and translators have deeper
knowledge of noun phrases, especially complex noun phrases and then analyzing
the complex noun phrases from the novel “Love Story ” by Erich Segal and the
equivalents in the translated version in Vietnamese. The study helps them avoid
making mistakes in translation.
There are three main objectives in this study. The first object is describing the
syntactic features of English complex noun phrases with the references to their
Vietnamese equivalents. The second one is finding out the similarities and
differences between the structure of complex noun phrases in English and in
Vietnamese. And lastly, it is giving some suggestion for teaching and translating
complex noun phrases to Vietnamese learners in effective ways.
1.3. Research questions
To fulfill the objectives mentioned above, the study tries to seek the answer to the

following questions:
1. What are the syntactic features of English and Vietnamese complex noun
phrases?
2. What are the similarities and differences of the complex noun phrases between
English and Vietnamese in the novel “Love Story”?
3. What are the implications for learning and teaching English complex noun
phrases to students of English?
1.4. Methods of the study
Firstly, the descriptive method is used in the first stage to give the deep and detail
description of syntactic features of English complex noun phrases with reference to
Vietnamese equivalents. Moreover, questionnaires are used to collect reliable
data,error analysis is used to find out the particular mistakes made by students at
Vinh Bao high school when using English complex noun phrases.
Secondly, qualitative research is used. It can involve collecting quantitative
information, involves gathering mass of raw data from different powerful sources.
In addition, quantitative research is used to count and classify features and
construct statistical modelsand figures to explain what is observed on structural and
functional features of English complex noun phrases with Vietnamese equivalents.

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Furthermore, the comparative method is used to find out the expressions of complex
noun phrases in the novel "Love Story" and their equivalents in Vietnamese
translated version
1.5. Scope of the study
The study is focused on syntactic features of the structure of English and
Vietnamese complex noun phrases from perspective of traditional grammar and in
the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal and then find out the similarities and
differences between complex noun phrases in English and Vietnamese from the

novel “Love Story”. All the data are typical written examples from the collected
materials or extracts from the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal in the source
language text and its translated version. Apart from the novel, the examples for
illusion are also taken from some grammar books and source books.
1.6. Significance of the study
The finding of this study is expected to give valuable contributions theoretically and
practically.
Theoretically, this study will give deeper our understanding and knowledge about
the syntactic functions of English complex noun phrases
in reference with the
Vietnamese equivalents.
Practically, the study will bring the benefits to language teachers, translators,
learners and people who are in favor of it.
1.7. Structure of the thesis
The study consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1: “Introduction” that states clearly the reasons for doing the research and
the aims, the objectives, the scope of the research, the significance of the research as
well as the structure of the study.
Chapter 2: “Literature review” that gives a critical review of the previous studies
relating to the research problem under investigation and presents the theoretical
background employed as tools for conducting the whole srudy.
Chapter 3: “The complex noun phrases in the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal
and their Vietnamese equivalents in translated version” that describes and analyzes
the functional and structural features of complex noun phrases in the novel with
reference to Vietnamese equivalents in order to provide some possible suggestions
for improving teaching-learning process of English complex noun phrases for
Vietnamese teachers and students of English.

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Chapter 4: “Conclusion” that makes conclusion on each of the research objectives,
implications, limitations and suggestions for further research.
References come at the end of the study

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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this section, previously conducted research in the detail fields of noun phrases,
especially complex noun phrases will be presented and discussed. This must be
done in order to place the thesis in the context relevant to the research which will be
conducted. Furthermore, it will provide the readers with some basic knowledge of
the background and present state of this field of research.
2.1. Previous studies
2.1.1. Previous studies oversea
According to Paul Robert (1964), "all sentences contain two main parts, a noun
phrase and a verb phrase". In English, the two functions tend to be separated – the
verb tends to carry the grammatical meaning, while the lexical meaning is more
connected with the noun.
Fromkin et al (1990) considers "a noun phrase could be an article followed by a
noun (the car,...). A noun phrase could also be made of a head and a prepositional
phrase as its modifier such as (a man in a uniform). A noun phrase could also
contain an adjective phrase as the modifier in the head.”
There were many works overseas related to noun phrase such as Keizer, E. (2007).
The English Noun Phrase: The Nature of Linguistic Categorization, Studies in
English Language (series). Cambridge:CUP
Quirk, Greenbaum et al (1972) in the book “A comprehensive grammar of the
English language” studied the structure and syntactic functions of English noun

phrases.
There were also some studies related to noun phrases and complex noun phrases
such as Sharelle Sanglof, (2014). Pre- and Postmodfication in Noun phrases ; Xiao
Li, (2010). Understanding the Semantic Structure of Noun Phrase Queries.
Microsoft Research. Association for Computational Linguistics; Michael Elhadad,
(1996). Lexical choice for complex noun phrases. Ben Gurion University in the
Negev; Nulty, Paul (2007) Semantic classification of noun phrases. Optimization
Techniques; Programming Models.

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2.1.2. Previous studies in Vietnam
There were also many studies related to noun phrases in Viet Nam. Doctor Ðặng
Ngọc Hướng had the dissertation.“Danh ngữ Tiếng Anh trong sự đối chiếu với
Tiếng việt” which was done in 2009.
The scientific report of Nguyen Thi Van Lam (2007). The structure of English
noun phrase. Scientific magazine. This article aimed at discussing the structure of
English noun phrases both basic and complex.
In his book "An outline of syntax", Mr. Nguyen Hoa Lac - lecturer in English states
that a noun phrase is a group of words with a noun or pronoun as the main part (the
head). The noun phrase may consist of only one word as in this case "Tom arrived
yesterday" or it may be long and complex.
There were also many thesis of noun phrase in Vietnam, for example, the thesis of
Trinh Thi Vinh (2009). A contrastive .analysis of premodification of noun phrases
in English and Vietnamese. This study aims to discuss the premodification of noun
phrases in English and in Vietnamese and their impact upon teaching and learning
English in the Vietnamese situation. Attempts have been to state the similarities and
differences in premodification of noun phrases – in the two languages and raise and
solve some difficulties and problems arising particularly from differences between

English and Vietnamese.
Besides, the master thesis of Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong (2013). Word order in
English noun phrases in comparison with Vietnamese was also a contribution to the
noun phrases. The study aims at analyzing word order in English and Vietnamese
noun phrases to show the basic word orders and the changes of word order in
English and Vietnamese noun phrases and find out some similarities and differences
between word order in English and Vietnamese.
Moreover, the thesis of Nguyen Anh Thi (2007), Reflections on the application of
noun phrases in English – Vietnamese translation aimed at finding out whether
there is a correlation between the comprehension of English noun phrases and the
translation performance.
Great efforts of the researcher were made to find a better way of teaching and
learning complex noun phrases. However, they are all minor thesis, many other
related issues cannot be discussed thoroughly. Compared to those previous studies,
this study will will focus on structural and functional features and expressions of

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complex noun phrases in the novel “Love Story” by Erich Segal and their
equivalents in Vietnamese.
2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.1. Phrase in English
2.2.1.1. Definition and types of phrases in English
In English grammar, a phrase is a group of two or more words functioning as a
meaningful unit within a sentence or clause. A phrase is commonly characterized as
a grammatical unit at a level between a word and a clause.
A phrase is made up of a head (or headword)—which determines the
grammatical nature of the unit—and one or more optional modifiers. Phrases may
contain other phrases inside them.

Common types of phrases include noun phrases (such as a good friend), verb
phrases (drives carefully), adjective phrases (very cold and dark), adverb phrases
(quite slowly), and prepositional phrases (in first place).
2.2.1.2. Noun phrases in English
2.2.1.2.1. Definition of English noun phrases
Traditionally, “The noun phrase typically functions as subject, object, complement
of the sentence and complement of the preposition phrases from A comprehensive
grammar of the English language (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1972). It can be inferred
from the definition that the functions of noun phrases bring about the recognition of
noun phrase. For example:
My organization has opened thirty evening classes for the street children.
S
O
C of prepositional
phrase
According to systemic functional grammar of M.A.K Halliday, a nominal group
(noun phrase) contains the head noun and followed by various other items all of
them in some way characterizing the noun. These occur in a certain sequence and
the sequence is largely fixed although some variation is possible. It can be described
as follow:
Pre-modifier +

Head noun

that big-sized

Bag

+

Post-modifier
on the table

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According to Jacobs (1995), noun phrases are word phrases which are used to refer
to things people want to talk about. Referring is important, speakers need to refer to
people, objects, concepts, processes, and all kinds of entities, and noun phrases
serve this function.
Noun phrases are groups of words that function like a noun. Typically, they act as
subjects, objects, or prepositional objects in a sentence. Noun phrases are
simply nouns with modifiers. Just as nouns can act as subjects, objects, and
prepositional objects, so can noun phrases. Similarly, noun phrases can also work in
a sentence as adjectives, participles, infinitives, and prepositional or absolute
phrases. The modifier can come before or after the noun. If it comes before the noun
it's likely to be an article, possessive noun, possessive pronoun, adjective, or
participle. Modifiers that come after the noun include prepositional phrases,
adjective clauses, participle phrases, and infinitives. For examples:
The spotted puppy is up for adoption.
(Noun phrase as a subject)
At the zoo, I saw a striped zebra.
(Noun phrase as an object to the verb "saw")
Mary lives in an eclectic household.
(Noun phrase as a prepositional object; preposition = "in")
The car wash was out of order.
(Noun phrase with "car" acting as an adjective for the noun "wash")
The Delta Airlines flight to New York is ready to board.
(Noun phrase with "Delta Airlines" acting as an adjective for the noun "flight")
She kindly offered water to the gardener working in the hot sun.

(Noun phrase as a participle)
The ability to give to others is an important character trait.
(Noun phrase as a "to-infinitive")
He had to sit beside the horribly angry girl.
(Noun phrase as a prepositional phrase; preposition = "beside")
Her face red with embarrassment, she took her seat beside the man she had
tripped.
(Noun phrase as an absolute phrase to the subject "she")
They walked into the sunset, their laughter carrying on the breeze.
(Noun phrase as an absolute phrase to the subject "they")

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In addition to, In Quirk and Greenbaum’ viewpoint (1973), the complex noun
phrases consist of three components: the head, the premodification, and the
postmodification.
We see that there are many different attitudes about noun phrases because this is
studied from different aspects like: the function of noun phrases, role of noun
phrases, or components of noun phrases. However, all definitions include some
common features such as components and their relationships of noun phrases.
2.2.1.2.2. Classification of English noun phrases
English noun phrases can be classified English noun phrases can be classified into
the basic noun phrases and complex noun phrases.
Basic noun phrases
The basic noun phrases consist of pre-modifier and head noun.
Basic noun phrases consists of pronouns, numerals or nouns with articles
(indefinite, definite or zero) or nouns with other closed – system items that occur
before the noun head including pre – determiners, determiners and post –
determiners. For examples:

I love old houses
The six young children play in a team.
Not only can basic noun phrases consists of pronouns or numerals, but they can
also comprise a head noun with determiners or determiners modified by predeterminers and / or post – determiners. The head noun of a noun phrase is the
central element and decisive factor in performing the syntactic functions of the
whole noun phrase. It can be singular count noun such as “book”, plural noun
“books” or mass noun like “ink”.
Complex noun phrases
Complex noun phrases contain three components: pre – modification, head noun
and post – modification.
Pre – modification
The second component of a complex noun phrase is pre-modification, also called
pre – modifiers, including modifiers that stand before the head noun. Pre –
modifiers can be closed – system and / or open – class items. Closed – system pre –
modifiers are optional in the complex noun phrases. Meanwhile, open – class pre –
modifiers come after the closed – system ones and precede the head noun

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Head noun
As in the basic noun phrase, the head noun, first of all is the central element and
core component of the complex noun phrase. It may be count or mass noun which
dictates concord and (for the most part) other kinds of congruence with the rest of
the sentence outside the noun phrase.
Post – modification
The third important component of a complex noun phrase is post – modification,
called post – modifiers, comprising all the items placed after the head. These post –
modifiers are mainly realized by prepositional phrases, finite clause (or relative
clauses), non finite clauses, adjective phrases, noun phrases or adverbial phrases.

For examples:
My little brother always feared monsters in the closet
The prepositional phrase ‘in the closet’ modifies (describes) the noun ‘monster’.
The noun and prepositional phrase combine to make the noun phrase ‘monsters in
the closet’.
Both of the people who I share a flat with are nurses.
The relative clause ‘who I share a flat with’ post modifies (describes) the
noun ‘people’
Noun phrases are often modified by more than one structure. For example:
Antique cars, which are bought in SE Asia, are resold in Australia
The noun ‘cars’ is pre modified with the adjective ‘antique’.
It is post modified with a relative clause (which…bought) and a prepositional clause
(in…Asia).
2.2.1.3. English complex noun phrases
In describing complex noun phrases we need to distinguish the following
constituent parts: The head, the pre-modification and the post- modification.
Structure of English complex noun phrase
Pre-modification
+ Head +

Post-modification

The head
According to Randolphin Quirk in A comprehensive grammar of the English
language, 1972, 1238 “The head, around which (for the most part) of the other
constituents cluster and which dictates concord with other parts of the sentences”:

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The tall girl standing in the corner is my sister.
The tall girls standing in the corner are my sisters.
The tall girl in the corner who has a blue sweater is my sister.
Pre – modification
The pre – modification comprises all the items placed before the head. It can be
formed by:
a.
Pre-determiners
Central determiners may be preceded by pre determiners. They specify quantity in
the noun which follows them, and they are of three major types: quantifiers,
multipliers, fractions.
Quantifiers: All, both, half
These pre-determiners can occur only before articles or demonstratives but, since
they are themselves quantifiers, they do not occur with the following ‘quantitatives’
determiners: every, (n)either, some, any, no, enough.
All, both, and half have of-constructions, which are optional with nouns and
obligatory with personal pronouns:
all (of) the water

all of it

both (of) the children

both of (them) half (of) the time

-

Multipliers: Double, twice, three/ four…times

-

Fractions: One-third, two-fifths, etc

half of it

b.
Determiners
Central determiners include a number of different kinds of word: articles (a, an,
the), possessives or genitives (his, her, your), demonstratives (this, that, these,
those), interrogatives (which, what).They are initial positions in a noun phrase (if
there is no pre determiner) and occupy the same position in a noun phrase. Those
determiners always precede both the noun and any adjective. Moreover, they
indicate the kind of reference which the nouns have.
For example:
Several new dresses

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A profound book
The words in the determiner category are mutual exclusive so nouns can be
modified by only one term from this class. In case there is co-occurrence of an
article or a demonstrative and a possessive in a noun phrase, we normally “need to
construct an of-phrase with the possessive pronoun”
The friends of mine
Possessive determiner and “the” can precede either plural or singular noun whereas
“a, this, that” and stressed some modify singular noun, and unstressed some, these,
those modify only plural noun.
- Article: a , an, the
Articles tend to attach themselves to nouns that refer to physical entities. When

words are used to refer to an abstract institution, the articles are often omitted
whereas the use of an appropriate article is necessary when words refer to concrete
entities.
“a” and “an” are singular indefinite article, used to introduce a NP into the
discourse.
“The” occur in a noun phrase if the items have been mentioned before. It is used
before definite plural or singular noun
- Possessives (genitives): my, own, his, her, etc
These words are called determiners if only they precede a head noun
They can occur with any kinds of noun thus are not restricted with the regard to the
countability and number of the head noun.
- Demonstrative: this, that, these, those, etc
Function of demonstratives is to point items out as in “this book”
Demonstratives reflect a quality called deixis. We have three kinds of deixis:
person, temporal, and spatial (typical). For example, if we want to point out
something that is close to us, we use “this” and something far, we use “that” as
illustrated below.
This new dress
That fierce dog
- Interrogatives: which, who, that, etc
Typical begin with the letter Wh. For example:
Which child teased the dog?

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c.
Post-determiners
Cardinal numerals: Apart from one, which can co-occur only with singular
count nouns, all cardinal numerals (two, three, etc) co-occur only with plural count

nouns:
E.g. I have one dog and two cats.
Ordinal numerals: except first, co-occur only with count nouns. All ordinals
usually precede any cardinal numbers in the noun phrase:
E.g. The hall is on the first floor.
Quantifiers
There are two small groups of closed-system quantifiers:
- many, (a) few, and several co-occur only with plural count nouns:
Ex: John has many friends.
- much and (a) little co-occur only with non-count nouns:
Ex: He has much money.
- Several is rarely (and much virtually never) preceded by a determiner, and in the
case of few and little there is a possitive/negative contrast according as the
indefinite article is or is not used:
a few oranges (=several)
few oranges (=not many)
a little bread(=some) little bread (=not much)
d.
Premodification by adjectives
Ex: Her family is really delightful  Her really delightful family. [1: 1323]
His behavior was not very courteous.  His not very courteous behavior
[5:1323]
e.
Premodification by – ing participles
Ex: The approaching train is from Liverpool. [1: 1326]
(The train which is approaching)
She has a very interesting mind. [1: 1325]
(Her mind interests me very much)
f.
Premodification by – ed participles

Most –ed participles have passive meaning, and only a few will easily admit the
permanent reference that will permit premodifying use. We may contrast the
participle of the stative verb in [1] with that of the dynamic verb in [2]
e.g. The wanted man was last seen in Cambridge [1] ( Tai lieu so 1: 1328)

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( The man goes on being wanted by the police)
The found purse was returned to its owner. [2]
(The purse was found at a particular moment)
Modifier in –ed may be directly denominal and not participles at all
Eg: a bearded man (a man with a beard or a man who has a beard)
a wooded hillside (a hillside covered with woods)
g.
Premodification by nouns
In most cases, premodifying nouns correspond to postmodification with
prepositional phrases:
e.g. his life story (the story of his life)
an iron rod (a rod of iron)
life imprisonment (imprisonment for life) (Tai lieu so 1: 1330)
The premodifying structure has reduced explicitness in relation to the
postmodifying structure, and if the relationships between the nouns become unclear
or unpredictable, premodification is unacceptable. This becomes apparent with the
range of prepositions involved in prepositional phrase postmodification are tested
for noun premodification:
Eg: This book on grammar (this grammar book)
The meaning of this sentence (this sentence meaning)
h.
Premodification by genitive

The illustration of the genitive as premodifier with restrictive function was the
following example:
I visited his fisherman’s cottage. [1:1335]
The meaning is “The cottage belongs/belonged to a fisherman” or “resembles/
resembled the cottage of a fisherman”. It should be noticed that if we had used
another noun in the genitive, eg: his friend’s cottage, we would have moved from
restrictive to restrictive function and, above all, changed the relationship of the
constituents from premodification and determinative. The difference in structure is
clearly brought out if further premodifying items are added:
I visited his old fisherman’s cottage.
I visited his old friend’s cottage. [ 1: 1335]
i.
Premodification by adverb and other phrases
Another minor type of premodification is the adverb phrase, as in:

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e.g: She travelled to many far – away places. [The places are far away.]
I have this strange under – the – weather feeling. [I feel under the
weather]
(Tài liệu số 1: 1336)
j.
Premodification by sentence
What was said of
adverb phrases
applies
at
least equally to
premodification by a sentence:

Eg: I visited his what-do-you-call-it cottage. [What do you call it when a cottage
has walls made from overlapping pieces of timber?]
[1: 1337]
Post – modification
a.
Post – modification by finite clauses
We distinguish two major types of finite clauses as noun – phrase postmodifiers,
relative clauses [1] and appositive clauses[2]
e.g. The news that appeared in the papers this morning was well received. [1]
The news that the team had won calls for a celebration.[2]
Although similar, the difference between these two types of finite clause becomes
apparent, for example if we try to replace “that” by “which” in the two example.
The news which appeared in the papers this morning was well received. [1a]
The news which the team had won calls for a celebration.[2a]
Thus “that” is not replaced by a wh-pronoun in appositive clauses, as it is in relative
clauses. More significantly from a general point of view, “that” in
[2] has no function as clause element within the that-clause, as it has in relative
clause structure. Thus in [1] the relative pronoun is subject, in [1b] it is object:
The news which we saw in the papers this morning was well received. [1b]
Relative clauses include restrictive and non – restrictive clauses.
(i)
In restrictive relative clause, the pronouns given in the survey below are
used, the information is essential and the head noun is specific reference. When we
indicate a parenthesized relative pronoun, it means that there is the option between
that-relative and “zero”:
This is the book (that) I bought at the sale.
When we use parentheses only “( )”, this is to indicate “zero”:

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This is the book ( ) I bought at the sale.
S, O, C, A in the survey below means that the relative pronoun functions
respectively as subject, object, complement, and adverbial (or complement in a
prepositional phrase functioning as adverbial) in the relative clause:
S: They are delighted with the book which / that / ( ) has just appeared.
O: They are delighted with the book which / that / ( ) she has written.
C: She is the perfect accountant which / who / that her predecessor was not.
A: She arrived the day in which / that / ( ) I was in (on).
[ 1: 1248]
(ii)
In non- restrictive relative clause, the most explicit forms of relative
pronouns, the wh-series, are typically used. The information is additional and the
head noun is unique reference. The relative pronoun can be subject, object,
complement, or adverbial. Here is a survey of the different forms for personal and
non- personal antecedents:
S: I spoke to Dr Spolsky, who was unwilling to give further details.
S: This excellent book, which has only just been received, was published a year ago.
O: I spoke to Dr Spolsky, whom I met after the inquest.
O: This excellent book, which Freda has only just received for review, was
published a year ago.
C: Anna is a vegetarian, which no one else is in our family.
A: This is a new type of word processor, about which there has been so much
publicity.
With non – restrictive relative clauses, we usually have a tone unit boundary, often
accompanied by a pause, before the relative clause and often a repetition at the end
of the relative clause of the nuclear tone of the tone unit preceding the relative
clause. In writing, non – restrictive relationship is usually marked off by commas.
By contrast, with restrictive relative clauses, there is usually no tone unit boundary
or pause before the relative clause; nor in writing is the relative clause separated by

a comma from what precedes.
b.
Post – modification by non finite clauses
(i)
Post – modification by present participle clauses:
Postmodification of the noun phrase is possible with all three of the non-finite
clause types: -ing participle, -ed participle and infinitive clauses. The

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correspondence between –ing clauses and relative clauses is limited to those relative
clauses in which the relative pronoun is subject:
The person who will write/ writes/ is writing/ wrote reports is my colleague.
The person writing reports is my colleague.[1]
The non – finite clause writing reports in [1] may be interpreted, according to the
context, as equivalent to one of the more explicit versions . Other examples or post
– modifying –ing clause:
The dog barking next door sounded like a terrier. (“which was barking next door”)
You should look for a man carrying a large umbrella. (“who will be carrying a
large umbrella”)
It must be emphasized that – ing forms in postmodifying clauses should not be seen
as abbreviated progressive forms in relative clauses. Stative verbs, for instance,
which can not have the progressive in the finite verb phrase, can appear in participle
form.
(ii)
Post modification by infinitive clauses:
Eg: The student to answer this question…..
(iii) Post modification by past participle clauses:
Eg: The doctor (who is) expected to arrive at any moment...

c.
Post – modification by prepositional phrases
In addition to reduction of sentences into noun phrases by means of post
modification by finite and nonfinite clauses, we have the further possibility of
reduction of postmodification by prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrases is
by far the commonest type of postmodification in English. It is three or four times
more frequent than either finite or nonfinite clausal postmodification. The full range
of prepositions is involved, including complex prepositions.
e.g: the road to Lincoln
this book on grammar
a man from the electrictity company
the meaning of this sentence
the house beyond
the church two years before the war
a tree by a stream
(Tài lieu so 1: 1274)
d.

Post-modification by adjective and adverbial clause

17