VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY Ò LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ THU QUỲNH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LINEARITY TO
SIMPLE SENTENCE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ TRẬT TỰ TUYẾN TÍNH CỦA CÂU ĐƠN TRONG
TIẾNG ANH ĐỐI CHIỀU VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT M. A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ TRẬT TỰ TUYẾN TÍNH CỦA CÂU ĐƠN TRONG
TIẾNG ANH ĐỐI CHIỀU VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT

M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15
Supervisor: Nguyễn Hương Giang, MA
Hanoi, 2011

iii

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Aims of the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
3. Scope of the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4. Method of the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
PART 2: DEVLOPMENT
Chapter 1: Theoretical background 3
1.1. What is linearity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … . . . . . 3
1. 2. What is a simple sentence? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3. 2. 3 Position of Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3. 2. 4 Position of Complement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3. 2. 5 Position of Adverbial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3. 3. Inversion in Vietnamese affirmative statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3.1. Verb before subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3.2. Complement at the beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3.3. Object before Subject and Verb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3.4. Adverbial at the beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 4:
Contrastive analysis of linearity in English and Vietnamese affirmative statement 28
4.1. Similarities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.1 Elements and structure of affirmative statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.2 Inversion in the emphasized sentence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.2. Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2.1 Verb Phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2.2 Transformational relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.3 Inversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 5: Implication for teaching and learning English 37
5.1 Typical mistakes made by Vietnamese learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2 Suggested types of exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
PART 3: CONCLUSION 41
Reference
Appendix
v

v SYMBOL AND ABBREVIATIONS
A Adverbial

int
Intensive Verb
V
intran
Intransitive Verb
V
monotrans
Monotransitive Verb
VP Verb Phrase
1

1

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
With integration of Vietnam in globalization, the need of learning foreign languages,
learning English in our society is in great demand. One of the effective approaches that
learners do not really seem to notice is the comparative analysis between foreign languages and
native language. This will help learners acquire foreign languages easily.
In the English language, the position of elements is essential to the meaning of a
sentence in general and the meaning of a simple sentence in particular. A change in element
position may bring about a fundamental change in meaning.
Like in Vietnamese and some other languages, in English, linearity in a simple sentence
plays an important role. We can depend on it to find out whether it is a statement (affirmative
or negative one), a question, a command or an exclamation. Thus an all – round understanding
of element position in the simple sentence also contributes a great deal to the study of language
both theoretically and practically.

sentence and Vietnamese one. Next, I discuss Linearity in both languages and then make
comparison between linearity in affirmative statement of English simple sentence and
Vietnamese one.
My study is divided into five chapters: Chapter 1 is the theoretical background of my
subject. Chapter 2 and chapter 3 present the possible linearity in the English and Vietnamese
affirmative statement. In chapter 4, there is a contractive analysis of linearity in English and
Vietnamese affirmative statement. Last but not least, in chapter 5, the implication in teaching
and learning English of the study will be mentioned.
4. Method of the study
Contrastive analysis is the main linguistic method applied in my study in which the
linearity in affirmative statement in English and Vietnamese is considered its objective.
Reading English Grammar books and Vietnamese books is carried out to get as much
knowledge of the subject as possible. Most of examples are taken from books widely used in
English and Vietnam. Moreover in my study I make contractive analysis to find out similarities
and differences in the linearity in the affirmative statement between two languages.

3

3

PART 2: DEVLOPMENT
Chapter 1: Theoretical background
1. 1. What is linearity?
According to R. A. Jacobs (1995, p 80), English Syntax, Linearity is that sentences are
produced and received in a linear sequence.
It is undeniable that no one can utter simultaneously all the words of a sentence. Nor
could such an utterance be understood. Hence, sentences are produced and received in a linear

sentence constituents and the syntactic relationship between those constituents. Changing the
position of sentence constituents will result in changing in meaning.
1. 2. What is a simple sentence?
Definition of simple sentence.
Warriner J.E (1997: 26) presented: “Simple sentence is a sentence that has one subject
and one verb”. However, this definition is insufficient because in a sentence there may be one
or more subject and a verb or, in turn, one subject with one or more verbs.
E.g. Mary and her boyfriend are doctors.
S V C
She came and sat down next to me.
S V A
Quirk, R and S, Greenbaum (1990: 166): “A simple sentence is the sentence that
consists of only one clause”
Alexander (1988: 4) writes: “The smallest sentence unit is the simple sentence. A
simple sentence normally has one finite verb. It has a subject and a predicate”. It is possible to
make sure that the last definition by L.G. Alexander is considered the most sufficient and
satisfying one.
Type of the simple sentence: Structurally, there are usually two main types of the
simple sentence:
- (i) complete simple sentence is the sentence that has one subject and one predicate.
(Also called two – member sentences)
- (ii) Special simple sentence is the sentence that has only subject or a verb, sometimes,
it is called an incomplete simple sentence. (Or one – member sentences)
E.g. Look!
Rain!
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5

In term of communicative purposes, there are four kinds of simple sentence: statement,


6

+ Rising intonation:
E.g. You will speak to the boss?
According to Quirk. R. (1990) the interrogative sentences can be divided into three
classes according to the type of answer they expect:
+ Yes/ No Questions: are those that expect only affirmation or rejection of what
has been asked:
E.g.: Have you finished the book?
+ Wh – Questions: are those that expect a reply supplying an item of
information applied by wh – word.
E.g.: What is your name?
How old are you?
+ Alternative Questions: are those that expect the reply as one of two or more
options presented in question.
E.g.: Would you like to go for a walk or stay at home?
Do you like tea or coffee?
1.3.3. A Command/ an Imperative sentence:
A command/ an imperative sentence is a sentence that gives a command or makes a
request. Commands have no overt grammatical subject, and whose verb is in the imperative
E.g.: Speak to the boss today
An imperative sentence may be followed by a full stop or an exclamation mark.
- Ordinary requests take a full stop (.). Command and strong requests take an
exclamation mark (!)
- The subject of a sentence that is a command or a request is the word “you”,
understood but not expressed.
1.3.4. An Exclamation/ An exclamatory sentence:
An exclamatory sentence is a sentence that expresses strong feeling. It exclaims
speakers/ writers’ emotion

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8

Chapter 2: Linearity in the English affirmative statement
2. 1. Elements and patterns of the English affirmative statement
According to traditional grammarians, the simple sentence has two major parts: Subject
and Predicated.
E.g. She is listening to music
S Pre.
As for modern grammarians, Quirk R.et al, (1990: 35 – 40, 53), a sentence may have
five units called elements of sentence structure: Subject, Verb Phrase, Complement, Object and
Adverbial, here abbreviated as: S, V, C, O, A
Predicate may consist of Verb Phrase, Complement, Objects or Adverbial.
All the elements of sentence are realized by phrases. Subject and Object are both
realized by noun phrase (NP)
E.g.: That picture is beautiful
S (NP)
He gave his wife a book
O
i
(NP) O
d
(NP)

intens
A
place
(PP)
+ Pattern 2: SVC Mary is a nurse
S (NP) V
intens
C
s
(NP)
+ Pattern 3: SVO Somebody caught the ball
S (NP) V
monotrans
O (NP)
+ Pattern 4: SVOA I put the plate on the table
S (NP) V
complex trans
O
d
(NP) A
place
(Pre + NP)

+ Pattern 5: SVOC We have proved him wrong
S(NP) V
complex trans
O
d
(NP) C
o

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2. 2. Traditional positions of these five elements in English
2.2.1 Position of Subject
A subject is normally a noun, pronoun or noun phrase. The subject is the performer of
the action. That is the person causing the happening denoted by the verb.
Subject usually goes before the verb. The verb must agree with the subject, so the
subject dictates the form of the verb (e.g.: I think, she thinks, etc.). This “agrement” between
subject and verb is often called concord.
Subject is usually at the beginning in ordinary affirmative sentence.
E.g. Mary often goes to school by bus.
S V
Generally, in all seven simple sentence patterns, subject always stand the beginning of
the sentence before the verb. It is the person, place, thing, quality or idea that you want to
mention when you form a sentence.
2.2.2 Position of Verb Phrase
Verb phrase is the basic part of the sentence predicate. It affects directly in meaning of
the sentence.
E.g.: She lives in Hanoi
S V
There are various ways to classify verbs. Verb is divided into two kind based on the
meaning and function of it: Lexical verbs and Auxiliary verbs
Lexical verbs: make, speak, eat
Auxiliary verbs: Primary: do, have, be
Modal verb: can, may, could, etc.
According to R. Quirk (1990), many English verbs have five forms: the BASE, the – S
form, the PAST, the – ING participle, and the – ED participle. But irregular lexical verb forms
vary form three (eg: put, puts, putting) to eight (eg: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been).
The modal auxiliaries are defective in not having infinitive (to may), - ing participle (maying), -
ed participle (mayed).

O
d
- The direct object is usually the concrete or abstract noun, but personal noun.
E.g.: She loves pop music
S V O
d

- The indirect object of verb is a noun or pronoun that is placed directly before the direct
object.
E.g. Nam asks me some questions
S V O
i
O
d
- Sometimes, O
i
stands after O
d
and separated by preposition to or for
E.g.: She gave a book to me.
S V O
d
O
i
I bought this book for you.
S V O
d
O
i
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There are two kinds of complement in the sentence:
Subject Complement (C
S
)
E.g.: Arthur is very happy
Complement (AdjP)
Object Complement (C
O
)
E.g.: She made me angry
(AdjP)
- The subject complement usually follows the subject and verb in the pattern SVC. It
renames the subject
E.g.: The ambassador seems angry
S V C
S
(AdjP)
13

13

- The object complement follows the direct object in the pattern SVOC. It renames the
direct object.
E.g.: We appointed Jerry our secretary
S V O
d
C
O
(NP)
Especially, complement does not become the subject through the passive transformation.


E.g.: She (kindly) sent us some photographs (Quirk, p167)
S (A) V O
i
O
dIf the main verbs have auxiliary verbs, adverbials often appear after the first auxiliary verb.
E.g.: I have just finished my assignment
A
- The final position in all seven sentence patterns as optional elements, but they are obligatory
elements in two patterns SVA and SVOA.
After an intransitive verb: He speaks quickly
After any object: The girl is a student at a large university
After complement: He makes me angry many times
Therefore, adverbial, both optional and obligatory element can appear at difference
positions in the simple sentence.
In conclusion, it is certain that five elements have fixed positions in the simple
sentence, subject stands at the beginning of sentence, just before verb. Object has positions
right after verb and subject in SVO, SVOA (there are two types of object: O
i
and O
d
, O
i

precedes O
d
in the pattern SV O

- According to Swam (1980: 277), there are two kinds of inversion. In more common
kind, an auxiliary verb comes before the subject, and the rest of the verb comes after. If there is
no auxiliary, do, does, or did is added.
In other sort of inversion, the whole verb comes before the subject; do and did are not
used.
E.g.: Round the corner came a milk – van.
- According to Eastwood (1994: 57) distinguishes between subject – verb inversion and
subject – auxiliary inversion:
Subject – verb inversion:
E.g.: On the door – step stood an old man
Here is the news
Subject – auxiliary inversion:
E.g.: I saw the man and so did Paul.
The above – mentioned linguists together with others, have classified inversion in
English into different kinds. However, in my study, I divide inversion into Subject – Verb
inversion, Subject – Object inversion, Subject – Complement inversion, and Subject –
Adverbial inversion. Moreover, I especially focus on inversion in affirmative simple sentence.
2.3.1. Subject – verb inversion
2. 3.1.1 Auxiliary verbs before Subject
Normally, verbs always stand after subjects in affirmative simple sentence; but there
are some exceptions. We put an auxiliary verb before the subject of a simple sentence in
several situations:
16

16

- Only + other words: Only by, only then, etc.
E.g.: Only then did I understand the problem
Aux. V S V O
Only after a year did I begin to see the result of my work

- First came the ambulance. Then came the police.
A V S A V S
- Here is the news
A V S
This inversion does not take place in sentence with a personal pronoun
E.g.: - Away they go (not away go they)
Occasionally, this inversion occurs with a complement as the first element when the
complement expresses a comparison.
E.g.: - For a long time, he refused to talk to his wife, and kept her in ignorance
of his troubles. Equally strange was his behavior to his son
V S

- More important is love
V S
2. 3. 2 Subject - Object Inversion
To emphasize Object of sentence, we can put this object before the subject.
E.g.: This Harry did
O S V
In this sentence, Object This precedes Subject Harry. It is used to emphasize the work
which Harry did rather than Harry who did the work.
E.g.: To you he told his story
O
i
S V O
d
2. 3. 3 Subject - Complement Inversion
Complement before Verb and Subject: To attract reader’s attention to meaning of
complement, we put complement at the beginning of the sentence. The pattern of affirmative
simple sentence is C S V or C V S
E.g.: Poor as he was

A S V
- Here you are (not here are you)
A S V
- Here he comes
A S V
- Away he goes
A S V
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19

In conclusion, besides seven English traditional simple sentence patterns with order:
SV, SVA, SVC, SVO, SVOO, SVOC, SVOA, in the English language, it is very frequent to
appear some special changing positions of five elements called “inversion”. Which element
does speakers want to place emphasis on to attract listener’s attention, it will be on the first
position. This kind of changing is an important for people learning English.
S (NP
1
) là C (NP
2
)
(ii) NP
1
+ bằng + NP
2
: It indicates the material.
E.g.: - Nhà này bằng gỗ
S (NP
1
) bằng C (NP
2
)
- Cái áo này bằng lụa (Diệp Quang Ban, 2004)
S (NP
1
) bằng C (NP
2
)
(iii) NP
1
+ tại/ bởi/ do + NP
2
: It indicates causing relation.
E.g.: - Việc này tại nó (Diệp Quang Ban, 2004)
NP
1

NP
1
của NP
2