MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS DENOTING TIME
WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT TIẾNG ANH CHỈ THỜI GIAN
TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT)
TRẦN THỊ KIM HIẾU

Hanoi, 2016


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

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M.A. THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS DENOTING TIME WITH
REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT TIẾNG ANH CHỈ THỜI GIAN
TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)

TRẦN THỊ KIM HIẾU
Field: English Language

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 Dang
Ngoc Huong , 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 my lectures and officers of Falcuty of
Graduate Studies, Hanoi Open University and many others, 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 husband and
my daughter and son for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this
academic work.

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ABSTRACT
As the tittle of the thesis indicates: A Study on English Expressions Denoting
Time with Reference to their Vietnamese Equivalents, the purpose of the study is
to point out the semantic and syntactic features of English expressions denoting
time and their Vietnamese equivalents .To carry out this research, the writer used
such methods as descriptive, statistical and analytical. In addition, a survey
questionnaire was carried out for the first year students of mechanical courses at
Hanoi University of Industry. In the end, the research worked out the reasons for
those mistakes which the students had made in using time denoting expressions in
English and proposed the implications on teaching and learning English
expressions of time.


Object

V

Verb

A

Adverbial

C

Complement

N

Noun

NP

Noun phrase

Prep.

Preposition

Qs

Questions


2.2.1. Theoretical framework ................................................................................ 7
2.2.1.1. Definition of time ..................................................................................... 7
2.2.1.2. Tenses in English...................................................................................... 8
2.2.1.3. Aspects in English .................................................................................. 12
2.2.2. Theoretical background ............................................................................. 15
2.2.2.1. Phrases in English .................................................................................. 15
2.2.2.1.1. Definition of phrases ........................................................................... 15
2.2.2.1. 2 . Characteristics of phrases.................................................................. 15
2.2.2.1.3. Functions of phrases ............................................................................ 16
2.2.2.2. Clauses in English .................................................................................. 23
2.2.2.2.1.Definition of clauses............................................................................. 23
2.2.2.2. 2 . Characteristics of clauses .................................................................. 24
2.2.2.2. 3. Functions of clauses ......................................................................... 25
2.2.2.3. Adverbials of time .................................................................................. 28
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2.2.2.3.1. Definition of adverbials of time .......................................................... 28
2.2.2.3.2 . Characteristics of adverbials of time ................................................. 28
2.2.2.3. 3. Functions of adverbials of time ........................................................ 30
2.2.3. Chapter summary ...................................................................................... 31
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................... 32
3.1. Research orientations ................................................................................... 32
3.1.1. Research questions .................................................................................... 32
3.1.2. Research setting ......................................................................................... 32
3.1.3. Research approach ..................................................................................... 32
3.1.4. Data-related issues/criteria for intended data collection .......................... 33
3.2. Research methods ......................................................................................... 34
3.2.1. Major methods ........................................................................................... 34
3.2.2. Supporting methods................................................................................... 34

APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
APPENDIX 3.

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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the research
In the globalization era, foreign languages play an important role in
communication and social, economic development as well. Foreign languages
bring endless values and opportunities for learners; provide them with
confidence and activeness in all interactive, interpersonal relationship. More
than that, foreign languages also open a new life for learners to discover and
challenge their new horizons. Being able to work and communicate with people
from different backgrounds and cultures is not only a strong movivation but also
a qualified requirement for all the modern labor force. However, learning a
foreign language requires learners a lot of efforts and obviously learners
encounter many difficulties when they often meet differences between the target
language and their mother tongue. One of them is understanding set expressions.
As the special form of language, set expressions play a great role of
retaining, passing traditional culture down to the next generation. They not only
help to enrich the language and culture, but it also reflects the social life. Set
expressions are the combination of culture, language usage and creative
competence, personality and mark of time. Moreover, they benefit people in
communication thanks to the provision with the way of expressing concepts
linguistically that is the ability to convey meanings without verboseness. As a
result, exploring, comparing and contrasting set expressions in native as well as
in target language will surely bring about a treasure of valuable knowledge and a

equivalents. In addition to that, it is expected to helpVietnamese learners of
English better and supplies Vietnamese learners with a deeper understanding of
English expressions denoting time.
1.3. Objectives of the research
To achieve the aims, the study is mandated to persue the following objectives:
(i) To analyze the syntactic features of English expressions denoting time.
(ii) To analyze the semantic features of English expressions denoting time.
(iii) To supply some suggested implications on teaching and learning how to
use expressions denoting time for Vietnamese learners of English.
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1.4. Scope of the research
*Academic scope
The study will focus on expressions denoting time in English the
Vietnamese equivalents which are taken from outstanding sources in English:
English grammar books, previous researches, dictionaries, stories, novels. We
pay much attention on English and Vietnamese novels and short stories when
analyzing syntactic and semantic features of English expressions denoting time
and the Vietnamese equivalents will be later discussed through analyzing
English - Vietnamese examples in different contexts. As has been said above,
verb suffixes and main verb forms as well can be used to express time in the
sentence. However, within limited scope, the study excludes this phenomenon
and just focuses on the analysis of English time expressions as single words,
phrases and clauses.
* Social scope:
This study is expected to help Vietnamese learners of English understand
the meaning and the usage of the English expressions denoting time and
translate them better.
1.5. Significance of the research

The literature review serves two main purposes. Firstly, it gives a review of
previous studies related to English expressions denoting time. Secondly, it
presents and discusses the theoretical background which guides and informs this
research.
2.1. Review of previous studies
English expressions in general and English expressions containing time
which are an important factor in English grammar have attracted great attention
of linguists all over the world so far. Hence, it is not surprising that a large
number of studies on English expressions denoting time in terms of various
fields of language have been undertaken.
2.1.1. Previous studies overseas
A number of English researchers are interested in making researches of
time expressions and they bring different viewpoints. Some of them could be
cited as below:
Time, in the linguistic sense of the word, is a complex category, so some
elementary distinctions are necessary to be made. Kiefer (1980: 1-2) says in his
paper that “ sentences may exhibit two different types of temporal categories.
Resaerch The first type situates the sentence with respect to utterance time ”
while “ the second type of temporal categories does not situate the event at hand
with respect to the time of utterance, it rather describes the time during which
this event takes place.” Kiefer calls the first category external time specification
and the second one internal time specification.
As far as the first category is concerned, it seems to be useful to adopt
Reichenbach’s (1947) notions of temporal specification. He distinguishes
between Speech time, Reference Time, and Event Time. Speech Time is the
time at which a given a sentence is uttered, that is, the moment of utterance ( or:
moment of speaking). Reference time is the time indicated by the sentence.
Event Time refers to the moment at which the relevant even or state occurs.
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Ta sẽ tới ru mình trong vịnh bạc. [ Tố Hữu]
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Similarly, according to many linguists such as Thuyet M.N. (1990). Thành
phần câu tiếng Việt. Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội and Ban D.Q, (1989). Ngữ pháp tiếng
Việt phổ thông, tập 2, Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội.Vietnamese adjuncts are defined to
be functioning and tell about the time at which an action occurs. As in English,
they do not affect the sentence structurally; however, their grammatical meaning
of expressing the time is necessarily required to the profoundness and
copiousness of the sentence.
Like in English, adjuncts in Vietnamese also answer the question words
‘bao giờ?’ (When?) or ‘ bao lâu?’ ( How long?).
Examples:
1. Ngày mai tôi sẽ trở lại. ( Tomorrow, I’ll come back)
2. Bao lâu anh sẽ trở lại? ( When will you come back ?)
In short, it can be seen that many researchers study syntactic, semantic
features of English expressions; however, nobody focuses on syntactic and
semantic features of Englisht expressions containing time and their Vietnamese
equivalents. For these reasons, in my thesis I will focus on this subject.
2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. Theoretical framework
2.2.1.1. Definition of time
Accoding to Elisabeth Eaves ( 29 - 02 -2008 , What is time? Retriveved:
25 - 04 - 2009) defines time as something obvious. She says: “ We all know
what time is. It is the ticking of the clock, the whine of alarm, the calendar on
the wall. And since we all agree about how those things work, time can seen as
solid as a rock.”
In accordance with Wikipedia (Wikipedia.org/wiki/Time), time is a
dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into

was based on practices of Latin and Greek grammarians thought in important
respects English is quite different.
Traditional Latin and Greek grammarians listed in tables below now
known as paradigms. The form for each verb is used in a large numbers of
tenses. The table gives forms for the first, second and third person, singular and
plural. Here are the present tense forms of the Latin verb portare (to carry)
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Person

Singular

Plural

1st

porto ( I carry)

portamus (we carry)

2nd

portas ( you carry

portatis (you carry)

3rd

portat ( he, she, it) carries

present subjunctive paradigms, for example, consist of six identical verb forms
preceded by if ( if was working now…)
Later writers and languge teachers developed more versions of this Latin
based on the classification, which reflected more accurately the English verb
data. Though still relying more on semantic or logical criteria than on the actual
combinations and verb forms of English, the newer version turned out to be a
useful frame – work for familiarizing learners with the range of verb forms
available to express time relationship. The version listed twelve forms. Here is a
listing of the different form of the verbs “work” with the first singular person.
The tenses are categorized according to past, present and future, in
combination with aspects, which will be discussed later.
1. Simple present:

I work.

2. Simple past:

I worked.

3. Simple future:

I will work.

4. Present progressive:

I am working.

5. Past progressive:

I was working.

was put into use. This description of the English tense system assumes that tense
and time are really the same devices to form additional tenses. But this
assumption is still in question. First, considering “ past tense” and its relation to
past time it very often refers to past time, but not always.
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Example:
- If Ann came home tomorrow, she would find everything new exactly the same.
Clearly in this example, the time reference is to the future. The word
“tomorrow” makes this explicit, but even without “ tomorrow” the word “ if”
and “ would” indicate that the speaker is referring to a hypothetical situation
rather than to one that has already happened.
The following example also has a past tense form but refers to a hypothetical
situation.
Example:
- If John examined recent Supreme Court decisions, he would feel depressed.
Again the time reference is not past though here it is present rather than
future. It is the hypothetical character of the situation ( marked with if ) that
allows the past tense to be used this way. In this use, something parallels the use
of past tense in the following situation. When a professor asks a person standing
outside her office a question like:
Example:
- Did you see my secretary?
“ Did you ” is not used to ask about the past time showing the time
reference for past tense forms, which is not as straight forwardly determined.
The present tense form are less obvious. The only overt maker is the – s, - es,
which show the agreement between the verb and the personal singular subject,
as in these sentences:
Examples:

past time. In the same way, the present tense does not often refer to the time at
which the utterance is produced . From this viewpoint, Vietnamese has no tenses
at all. Different languages have evolved in different ways so that a grammatical
distinction existing in a language is quite different from the others.
2.2.1.3. Aspects in English
Halliday and Hasan (1976) points out the verb forms, which are regarded
as tenses; there are many other verb forms in English. These other verb forms
are used with auxiliaries:
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Be and Have
Examples:
1. I am teaching English
2. He has been there before.
3. You would have asked me first.
4. She must next have been trying to ring you.
5. Lan will have finished her work by next month.
These forms include what is called aspect. It is the general name given to
verb forms used to signify certain ways in which an event is viewed or
experienced. This event can be seen as in progress or as a completed whole.
-Progressive aspect is indicated by using [be + V-ing] to say the action is in
progress or temporary or in completed (Example:1).
- Perfect aspect is indicated by using [have + V- ed 2] or [have + the past
participle], in general, to say the action referred by the verb is in some way
completed or achieved, though still relevant (Example: 2).
Both present tense and past tense are unmarked for aspect, but aspect can not
exist without tense. In the construction with aspect, tense is shown by the
primary auxiliary:
Examples: 1 and 2 by the modal auxiliary.

In short, a set of students used to denote aspect can be summarized as follows:
1. (To) be + V – ing
2. (To) have + V ed2
3. (To) have been + V-ing
All of these verb forms can be preceded by a modal auxiliary and to is not used.
Examples:
1. She will be having lunch at 11 p.m
2. I will have finished this course by the edn of this year.
In terms of the role of Aspect, these two sentences suggest a difference in
meanings between the two forms used for the sane action.
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Examples:
1. I last met him 3 months ago.
2. I haven’t seen him for 3 months.
They are of the same action. There are, however, various reasons why the
speaker chooses one form rather than the other. In (1) he is interested in the past
action, he means 3 months is a short time, so it does not matter whether they
meet again or not. In (2) the speaker is interested in the period of time up to
now, he suggests that they should meet each other again as three months for him
is a long time. Aspect gives the speaker the opportunity to interpret the temporal
nature orientation of an action, or the fact that concerns a definite period of time.
2.2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.2.1. Phrases in English
2.2.2.1.1. Definition of phrases
According to ( Alexander 1998, 243 ), a phrase is a group of words acting
as a single part of speech and not containing both a subject and a verb. It is a
part of a sentence, and does not express a complete thought.
For example, the phrases in the first two sentences of this page are