INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Advertising is a device to arouse consumers' attention to a commodity and induce them to
use it. In the increasingly keen competition of the market economy, advertising is an
important means of scrambling for markets. According to the American Marketing
Association, Chicago, "Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation of ideas,
goods and services by an identified sponsor."
Advertising is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. Advertising has become the part and
parcel of present-day life. From everywhere around us, advertisements of diverse types
come naturally to our life. In spite of it, there is an attractive power, which is able to
manipulate the consumer; an invisible voice of advertisement advocates, encourages, asks,
announces and deeply embeds into peoples’ minds. Advertising unifies language, pictures,
music; it contains information, invokes emotions and imaginations, it can capture all five
human senses.
In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertising writers pay much attention
not only to such expressive devices as plates, color and the layout of a printed page, but
also to the choice of words or phrases or sentences, to make an advertisement beautiful and
attractive. In the practice of the advertising, people pay more and more attention to the use
of figures of speech with every effort to make the advertising succinct, accurate and vivid
and to provide rich imagination and plentiful associations for readers so as to stimulate
their desire.
In terms of advertising language, advertising texts are of great value for the analyses from
marketing experts, sociologist, etc. and last but not least linguists. Sociologists may be
interested in the fact, how advertising influences the values, attitudes and behavior of the
society. And marketing experts and advertising agencies are interested in the language of
advertising to find the tricks how to make advertising more effective. On the other hand,
linguists are interested in language of advertising because they want to know how
particular language works in this type of discourse, which linguistic means are used here
and how advertising language is changing in the course time.
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I have no ambition to make an analysis of language of adverting from all aspects such as

First I collect data for study from the internet, including advertisements written in English
and those written in Vietnamese. The two sources then are to be investigated from a cross
– linguistic perspective to study the similarities and differences between the sentence
patterns of the two languages.
On the ground of the findings in this stage of investigation, the texts in advertisements are
randomly chosen and closely analyzed to serve the goals and aims of the study.

4. Scope of the study
The study deals with sentence patterns used in travel advertisements on English and
Vietnamese websites. The data for the study consists of texts from advertisements on
English and Vietnamese websites. My areas of interest are the passages advertising
specific tourist attractions in cities. The travel advertisements selected here are, therefore,
about different places in some foreign countries and Vietnam.
Due to a shortage of time and within the limitation of an M.A thesis, the study only focuses
on the analysis and comparison of 10 travel advertisements in each language.
5. Design of the study
The introduction of the study is aimed to give the background of the study. It mentions the
rationale, aims of the study, the research methods, scope of the study and the process of
research.
The development part of the thesis consists of three chapters:
Chapter 1 deals with theoretical background, giving sentence definitions, functions of
sentences and discourse of advertising.
Chapter 2 presents the sentence patterns used in English and Vietnamese advertisements
including sentence types and sentence structure.
Chapter 3 discusses the similar and different features in sentence patterns of the two
languages in travel advertisements and implications for teaching and learning about travel
advertisements.
The conclusion works out with some findings and suggestions from the research.

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English a sentence normally contains one independent clause (…) with a finite verb.” (p.
330).
From that we can conclude that a sentence must make complete sense by itself.
Thus, “The mobile phone on the table” is not a sentence as it does not express a complete
thought. The correct one can be “The mobile phone on the table belongs to my father.”
1.1.2. Functions of the sentence
In language usage, Diệp Quang Ban (2004) lists three major functions of the sentence:
expressive function, interpersonal function and text-making function.
(1) Expressive function: in daily communication, one by some means or other
expresses one or some events in his experience. This can be done thanks to the fact
that language has a mean compatible with it which is called “the sentence in
expressive function” (p.27). Those events in experience are not in fixed forms;
they are expressed through one’s viewpoint and coded in grammar of a certain
language. Therefore, the same event can be viewed and expressed in different ways
in different languages and even different in one language due to different
expressions.
(2) Interpersonal function: in conversations, people use sentences to communicate
with one another. In that process, the speaker always intends to do some action to
influence the hearer. For example, the speaker speaks to inform about something, to
ask the hearer to do something, to express his thought to the hearer or to set up a
communication relation. Those actions are called speech actions. In each language
system, there are means that mark those speech actions, such as declarative,
interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences. (p 29 – 30)
(3) Text-making function: in a certain situation, the sentences must be organized to be
in harmony with the preceding and following ones (in other words, co-text) or with
the outside situation (context of situation). In this case, sentences are regarded as a
message. The organization of the sentences to make a message requires two
elements: Theme and Rheme. The relation of these two elements is called Theme
– Rheme structure. (p. 30 – 31)

cáo là hoạt động của các cá nhân hoặc các tổ chức sản xuất và dịch vụ, sử dụng các
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phương tiện và phương thức truyền thông để thông báo cho công chúng về nhu cầu, khả
năng của mình hoặc về lợi ích của những hàng hóa và dịch vụ nhất định nhằm gia tăng số
lượng người tiêu dùng, sử dụng các dịch vụ và hàng hóa đó.” (p. 26)
(It can be temporarily translated as Advertising is the activity of individuals or
organizations of manufacturing and services, using modes and means of communications
to inform the publics about their demands and ability or the benefits of given goods and
services in order to increase the number of consumers using those goods and services)
All these definitions have in common the fact that advertising is a means of promotion of a
product, an idea, or an organization on the market with the aim to give information and/ or
to persuade people of the advantage of the product and induce them to take and action (e.g.
buy to use it).
Goddard (1998, p. 10) suggests that “advertising is not just about the commercial
promotion of branded products, but can also encompass the idea of texts whose intention is
to enhance the image of an individual, group or organization.” This suggestion gives out a
full description of advertising, helping give out types of advertising as in the following.
1.2.1.2. Types of advertising
According to Leech (1972), most frequent and important type of the advertising is
“commercial consumer advertising: advertising directed towards a mass audience with
the aim of promoting sales of a commercial product or service…”
E.g: “Plump it up. New volume boost liquid lip colour. Paints lips with a high shine
lacquer finish. Feel the tingling sensation as formula begins to work.”
Another type of commercial advertising is ‘prestige advertising’. Here the name and the
positive image of the company are advertised rather than a product or a service.
E.g: “The America’s Cup: the oldest and most coveted trophy in the world of sailing. Its
organizers have entrusted once again the vital timing of the races to Omega, a company
whose experience in watchmaking and sports timekeeping dates back over 150 years…to
the very origins of the America’s Cup itself.”
As an example of non-commercial advertising, we may mention appeals from

meaning (information) is transmitted through the communication channel. Each
communication is proceeding in given context or situation.
Wilson & Wilson (1998) give out a very simple communication model as the following:
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Message
Source ============> Receiver
Channel
Diagram 1.1: communication model (source: Wilson & Wilson 1998, p. 7)
They argue the source can be called the sender, communicator or encoder; the message is
whatever the source attempts to share with someone else; the channel is the way in which
we send our message: it may be our sense or technological devices, etc. and the receiver
can be called the destination, audience or decoder. In mass communication, the receiver is
usually a large audience.
Mai Xuân Huy (2005) cites the communication process of Jakobson (1960) in the book
“Linguistics and Poetics” as follows:
Ngữ cảnh
Người phát Thông điệp Người nhận
Tiếp xúc
Mã
It can be translated as:
Context
Encoder Message Decoder
Channel
Code
Diagram 1.2: communication factors (source: Mai Xuân Huy 2005, p.16)
It follows that advertising is a kind of communication between the creator of advertisement
(in fact, the copywriter who substitutes the producer/seller and transfers his ideas into
advertisements), and the consumer.
From this representation we can clearly see that, in case of advertising, the encoder is the
copywriter, and the decoder is the reader, the meaning transmitted is about the product or

E.g.: “I won a certificate good for a free meal!” (Phan Tường Vân 2004, p. 20)
• The first person plural narrator ‘We’ – This may evoke the effect the whole
company or association talks to the narratee. It makes a corporate impression.
E.g.: “We bring Olympic energy to your home.”
• The third person omniscient narrator ‘He’, ‘She’, ‘It’, ‘They’ or ‘0’– it is ‘an
observer’ of events, telling us about actions or product.
E.g.: “In their eyes, they can tug forever.”
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“Stop seeing broken hair everywhere.”
“One just right for you.”
The communication through advertising text is interesting: like the communication through
text on magazines or newspapers, the writers “are in difficulty in addressing a mass
audience. They cannot possibly claim to know the identity of each individual reader, yet
they often speak as though they already know the reader, their thoughts, attitudes, likes and
dislikes.” (McLoughlin 2000, p. 67).
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CHAPTER 2
THE SENTENCE PATTERNS USED IN
TRAVEL ADVERTISEMENTS ON ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE WEBSITES
In this chapter, we focus on analyzing sentence patterns used in travel advertisements on
English and Vietnamese websites. It should be noted that advertising on websites is
remarkably different from advertising on television as the latter “generally lies on striking
visual imagery, colour and music to get the audience’s attention and to take advantage of
the connotations of words, images and sounds in a very shot space of time.” (Marshall &
Werndly 2002, p. 36) while the former focuses mainly on words and images to attract mass
audience regardless of how much time it takes.
As for sentences types used both in English and Vietnamese advertisements, we investigate
sentence types from the number and kinds of clauses in a sentence as well as sentence
classification by purpose. Finally, sentences both in English and Vietnamese

E.g.: Here comes the bus.
In went the sun and down came the rain.
A subject also has number and person concord with the verb phrase where applicable.
E.g.: The party is open to all people in the village.
How they got there is still a mystery.
What were once human dwellings is now nothing but piles of rubble.
b. Object
The object is a noun, noun phrase or clause, or pronoun in sentences with transitive verbs,
which is affected by the action of the verb. There are direct objects (O
d
) and indirect
objects (O
i
).
E.g : They gave him a cake.
O
i
O
d
The object often follows the subject and the verb phrase and by the passive transformation,
it assumes the status of the subject.
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E.g.: The window was broken by that little boy.
c. Complement
A complement is a noun, an adjective phrase or a clause with nominal function, having a
co-referential relation with the subject or object.
“The expression that describes the subject in clauses (…) is often called the ‘complement’
of the clause or a ‘subject complement’… In some structures, the object of a verb can have
a complement.” (Swan 1997, p. 127)
E.g.: You must keep calm.

without affecting its acceptability and without affecting the relations of structure and
meaning in the rest of the clause.
E.g.: She kindly sent them a warm greeting.
A_optional
In Vietnam, students are now on summer holiday.
A_optional A_optional
However, in some clause types, adverbials are obligatory.
E.g.: Your children are outside. [SVA]
The plane is off the ground. [SVA]
We keep Tom off cigarettes. [SVO
d
A]
She wants the payment in cash. [SVO
d
A]
2.1.1.2. Clause elements semantically defined
a. Agentive, affected, recipient, attribute
The most typical semantic role of a subject is agentive; that is, the animate being
instigating or causing the happening denoted by the verb.
E.g.: Tom greeted the delegation warmly.
She lay in his arms.
Direct object (Od) mostly functions as the affected participants. That means the participant
(animate or inanimate) does not cause the happening denoted by the verb, but is directly
involved in some other way.
E.g.: We laid him on the sofa.
O_affected
The frost has killed my roses.
O_affected
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Indirect object (Oi) often functions as the recipient; that is an animate participant being

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d. Locative, temporal and eventive subjects
The subject may have the function of designating place or time:
E.g.: The road is swarming with ants. (= Ants are swarming all over the road)
The bus holds thirty people. (Thirty people can sit in the bus)
Temporal subjects can usually be replace by “it”, the temporal expression becomes
adjunct.
E.g.: Tomorrow is my birthday. (= It is my birthday tomorrow)
Eventive subjects (with abstract noun heads designating arrangements and activities) differ
from others in permitting intensive complementation with a time adverbial.
E.g.: The concert is on Tuesday.
e. Empty “it” subject
A subject may lack semantic content altogether, and consist only of the meaningless word
“it”, used especially with climatic predications:
E.g.: It is raining now.
It is getting dark.
g. Locative and effected object
- Direct object: Apart from the affected object, semantic types of direct object are the
locative object and the effected object.
E.g.: I climbed the high as light fell short. (Locative object)
We are just passing the Eiffel Tower. (Locative object)
Similar verbs used in this case include turn, leave, reach, surround, penetrate, mount,
cross, climb.
An effected object is one that refers to something which exists only by virtue of the
activity indicated by the verb:
E.g.: Who is making all that noise?
After that, I paid her a visit every evening.
h. Affected indirect object
There is only one exception to the rule that the indirect object has the role of “recipient”:
this is when give (or related verbs like pay, owe) has an “effected” object as direct object

more about the subjects which are often the names of the tourist attractions. Selected
advertisements about such places as Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Seoul and
Taipei are typical for using these patterns. The following are some examples for
illustration:
[2:2] On the edge of the Orient, TOKYO – the last great conurbation before the yawning
(A) S
chasm of the Pacific Ocean – is one of the world's most perplexing cities. (Tokyo)
V Cs
[2:3] In many ways Tokyo is also something of a modern-day utopia. (Tokyo)
(A) S V (A) Cs
[2:4] Hong Kong works as a useful gateway into Southeast Asia and into China. (Hong
S V Cs
Kong)
[2:5] The view of sky-scrapered Hong Kong Island, across the harbour from Kowloon, is
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S (A) V
one of the most stunning urban panoramas on earth… (Hong Kong)
Cs
[2:6] The capital of the Philippines, a grouping of twelve cities and five municipalities, is
S V
technically known as Metro Manila (Manila)
Cs
[2:7] Boat Quay, an excellent reincarnation of Peranakan shophouses and godowns, is a
S V
pleasant place to dine alfresco, with its long slew of chic cafes, restaurants and pubs.
Cs (A) (A)
(Singapore)
[2:8] At first glance, Seoul appears to be a sprawling concrete mass of high-rise
(A) S V Cs
apartment buildings and modern buildings interspersed with historical treasures. (Seoul)

S V O
felt in the hundreds of small tremors that rumble the capital each year. (Tokyo)
[2:17] But under the shadow of the skyscrapers you'll find a heady mix of frenetic markets
(A) S V O
and hushed golden temples, of glossy cutting-edge clubs and early-morning almsgiving
ceremonies. (Bangkok)
[2:18] Some visitors dislike the speed, the obsessive materialism and the addiction to
S V O
shopping, money and brand names in Hong Kong. (Hong Kong)
(A)
[2:19] From a cultural standpoint, it [Kuala Lumpur] certainly has enough interesting
(A) S (A) V O
monuments, galleries, markets and museums to keep visitors busy for at least a week.
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A
(Kuala Lumpur)
[2:20] Since the handover to China in 1997 the people of Hong Kong have found
(A) S V
themselves in a unique position… (Hong Kong)
O A
[2:21] In its favour, Manila has friendly people, some excellent nightlife, a few historical
(A) S V O
sights that are worth the effort, plus some of the most cavernous shopping malls in Asia.
A
(Manila)
[2:22] A tour planned around the major districts allows one to appreciate its history, people
S V O A
and rich cultural diversity in an optimal period of time. (Singapore)
(A)
The last three types (SV, SVOC and SVOO) only count for 6% of all. Despite their small

In spite of having no qualifications, he got the job. (Thomson & Martinet 1986, p.
290)

In 10 selected advertisements written in English, there are total of 249 sentences with the
classification of each type as in the following chart:
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Figure 2.2: Sentences realized by structure in advertisements on English websites
We may assume that in advertising, complex expressions are often avoided to create
simplicity, preciseness, and convenience to draw attention from the target audience so that
they can access to English advertisements easily without hesitation. Perhaps, this is true for
advertising on television, magazines or newspapers as to save space and expenses. In
English advertisements on websites, while the quantity of simple sentences only takes
approximately one fourth of all sentences, that of complex sentences occupies up to 74%
of the total. This can be explained that in order to attract the readers (tourists) to the target
tourist sites, the more thoroughly writers describes the places, the more fascination they
create for those places. Complex sentences/ expressions serve this purpose best as they
build up the flow of the text, making readers hardly stop reading what is going on and what
will be described next.
In the following advertisement about Kuala Lumpur, for instance, all of the nine
sentences are complex sentences:
Founded in the mid-nineteenth century, KUALA LUMPUR, or KL as it's popularly
known, is the youngest Southeast Asian capital and the most economically
successful after Singapore – and it's still growing: building sites abound and the
city is awash with stunning examples of modern architecture, not least the famous
Petronas Towers and the recently opened Museum of Islamic Arts. It's not one of
Malaysia's most charming cities, perhaps: it doesn't have, for example, the narrow
alleys, bicycles and mahjong games of Melaka or Kota Bharu or the atmospheric
waterfront of Kuching. But it's safe and sociable, and with a population of nearly
two million, it's usually exciting in the day and always buzzing with energy at
night. From a cultural standpoint, it certainly has enough interesting monuments,

the future?” (Nguyễn Cao Hy 2004, p. 130)
In an imperative sentence, an order or request, etc. is made. E.g.: “Keep out of my way!!”
(Phan Tường Vân 2004, p. 107)
In an exclamatory sentence, we show strong feeling, etc. E.g.: “My, what a nice place you
have here!” (Phan Tường Vân 2004, p. 116)
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