Basic differences between spoken and written language in english

GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” PART A INTRODUCTION Rationale It can be said that nowadays English has been playing a vital role in the world as it is used as an international language In Vietnam, not only foreign visitors but also the Vietnamese natives use English as a language of work and business As a result, learning English is now considered as a necessity in society with the aim of mastering an important communicative tool Its role considered within Vietnam’s border, English is getting more and more important in the period of innovation Thanks to English, people can perceive much of the world’s progress in many fields, especially, in science and technology; it is also an essential tool of communication and cooperation with the foreigners in tourism, commerce as well as foreign affairs Moreover, by means of English, people can obtain cultural knowledge of countries in which it is spoken In the language learning process, many long-timed English learners can practice four skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) well but they seem to be confused when distinguishing written and spoken language This is resulted from the fact that they not understand thoroughly some concepts and items of language in general and writing and speaking skills in particular In addition, each mode seems to possess different features In some guidance materials for English learners, to some extent, authors mentioned the differences between spoken and written languages in order to provide learners comprehensive knowledge However, hardly can people see a specific and systematic analysis of the concept As a result, many people are unfamiliar with the concept, which causes difficulties in using the English language Therefore, the mastery of basic differences between the two modes in some specific situations appears to be essential In recent years, there have been many researches about English as a second language of Vietnamese students However, the differences between spoken and written language in English language Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” are remained unnoticed The above-mentioned reality has inspired me to choose the thesis: “Basic differences between spoken and written language in English” By observation and limited personal experience, it is believed that some Vietnamese using English to communicate, for some reason, confuse between spoken and written language As a result, spoken language and written language are not comprehensively distinguished, which results in poor communicative skill of English learners It is hoped that the study will be of certain contribution to the distinction of spoken and written language as well as to better the English skill of general learners Aim of the study The aims of the thesis are: - To find out the basic differences between spoken and written language based on linguistic and communicative features of the English language - To find out the reasons of the differences - To propose some techniques to overcome the problems Methodology To fulfill the thesis’ aims, the researcher mainly relies on two methods: - Descriptive method: by observing and reading reference books and documents in order to ensure that the study is valid, systematic, scientific and applicable - Comparative method: to find out the differences In addition, some subsidiary methods will be carried out, based on: - Experiential method: by means of my personal observation during English learning process - Consulting method: through experiences and noble ideas from teachers, friends and especially my supervisor Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Scope of the study Due to the restrain of my ability and time, the study could not cover all matters It only focuses on some basic differences between the spoken and written language in general English without further study on English for Specific Purpose (ESP) or Specialized English Design of the study The study includes: Part A: “Introduction” which presents for the choices of the study Part B: Development Chapter 1: “Theoretical Background” which introduces theories related to spoken and written languages Chapter 2: “Basic differences between spoken and written language in English”, in which I analyzed the main differences as vocabulary, grammatical structure, style and situation Chapter 3: “Some common errors and the techniques to overcome the problems” Part C: Conclusion which summaries the study and wishes Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Functions of language It is believed that a language is a system of communication used within a particular social group Inevitably, the emotions created by a group of loyalty in the way of objective judgment about language When studying on a language, we usually wonder what the functions of language are The answer is often that it functions as a medium of communication Some linguists are not satisfied with this answer as they suppose that it is, in some point, right but too large to understand the nature of language Malinowski, a Polish anthropologist, classified linguistic functions of language into two broad categories namely pragmatic and magical (or ritual) The magical function is that in which language is used for the purposes of, in his famous phrase, “phatic communion,” where “ties of union are created by a mere exchange of words.” In phatic communion, words “fulfill a social function and that is their principle aim, but they are neither the result of intellectual reflection, nor they necessarily arouse reflection in the listener” [32, p.315] On another hand, Jackobson [23] divided language’s functions into six categories influenced by Karl Buhler’s Organon-Model: - The referential function corresponds to the factor of context and describes a situation, object or mental state The descriptive statements of the referential function can consist of both definite descriptions and deictic words, e.g "The autumn leaves have all fallen now." - The expressive (emotive/affective) function relates to the addresser (sender) and is best exemplified by interjections and other sound changes that not alter the denotative meaning of an utterance but add information about the Addresser's (speaker's) internal state, e.g "Wow, what a marvelous view!" Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” - The conative function engages the addressee (receiver) directly and is best illustrated by vocatives and imperatives, e.g "Linh! Come inside and have lunch!" - The poetic function focuses on "the message for its own sake" (the code itself, and how it is used) as claimed by Duranti [7] and is the operative function in poetry as well as slogans - The phatic function is language for the sake of interaction and is therefore associated with the Contact/Channel factor The phatic function can be observed in greetings and casual discussions of the weather, particularly with strangers It also provides the keys to open, maintain, verify, or close the communication channel: "Hello?", "Ok?", "Hmmm", "Bye" - The metalingual (metalinguistic/reflexive) function is the use of language (what Jakobson calls "code") to discuss or describe itself Another classification to be mentioned is that associated with the name of the Austrian psychologist, Karl Buhler [29] He was concerned with the function of language, not so much of the culture but of the individual Buhler made a distinction into expressive language that is anything other than speaker and addressee According to Richards and Rodger as they cited for their reviews that “the primary function of language is for interaction of communication” [43, p.71] In addition, Ogden and Richards [39, p.227], in their classic work The Meaning of Meaning, differentiated five functions of language: - Symbolization of reference - Expression of attitude to listener - Expression of attitude to referent - Promotion of effect intended - Support of reference Noticeably, Halliday [14] made a detailed classification He claimed that there are three functions of language The first one is called the ideational function It serves for the expression of “content” that is, of the speaker’s experience of the real world, including the inner of his consciousness This ideational function also Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” has two subtypes: experiential and logical function In serving this function, language also gives structure to experience and help to determine our way of seeing the world as well as combining things in a logical way Another function to be mentioned is the interpersonal function This one serves to establish and maintain social relation: for the expression of social roles created by language itself The last function of language as advocated by Halliday is the textual function This function is concerned with language itself and with the features of the situation in which it is used It enables not only the speakers or writers to construct texts or connected passages of a discourse that is situationally relevant, but also the listeners or readers to distinguish a text from a random set of sentences 1.2 Discourse and text On the other hand, to clarify this thesis’ aims better as well as to give a better understanding in the theories of language, I also want to mention some definitions of two others concepts along with language: discourse and text 1.2.1 Discourse On the concept of discourse, according to Schiffrin [45, p.20], there are three definitions of discourse which are influenced by different paradigms where they reflect to different assumption between formalist, functionalist, and formalistfunctionalist dichotomy Discourse is often defined in two ways: a particular unit of language (above the sentence), and a particular focus (on language use) These two definitions of discourse reflect the difference between formalist and functionalist paradigm He also suggests two prominent definitions, namely as a unit of language larger than a sentence and as language use - The first is the classic definition of discourse as derived from formalist assumptions is that discourse as a unit above the sentence The consideration of discourse as a unit above the sentence allows one to focus quite easily upon how syntactic properties of clauses or sentences contribute to higher level structures of a Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” text, e.g specific properties of sentences, such as word order to hypotactic versus paratactic coordination, can be related to the properties of texts Second, structural view of discourse places discourse in a hierarchy of language structure thus developing the view that one can describe in a unitary way that continues unimpeded from morpheme to clause in sentence to discourse - The second definition to be considered replaces what is basically a formalist trust with a functionalist trust discourse is language use Schiffrin considered a functionalist view: “The study of discourse is the study of any aspect of language use.” [45, p.31] Another statement is of Brown and Yule: “the analysis of discourse is necessarily, the analysis of language use As such, it cannot be restricted the description of linguistics forms independent of the purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human affairs.” [2, p.1] - The third definition of discourse that attempts to bridge the formalistfunctionalist dichotomy discourse is utterances This view captures the idea that discourse is above other language units; however, by saying that utterance (rather than sentence) is a unit of which discourse is comprised, it can be suggested that discourse arises not as a collection of decontextualized units of language structure but of inherently contextualized units of language use The main problem with this definition is that the notion of “utterances” is not really that clear As in many linguists’ point of view, utterances are contextualized sentences, i.e they are context bound (as well as text bound) Thus, defining discourse as utterances seems to balance both functional emphases on how language is used in context and the formal emphasis on extended pattern Basically, to many linguists, a discourse is of a larger unit compared to sentences or clause Stubbs explained that, “discourse analysis refers to the attempts to study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause and therefore to study larger linguistic unit such as conversational exchanges or written texts.” [47, p.1] The examples of discourse will be illustrated bellow: Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Example 1: One hundred year ago, the oceans were the limits of people’s knowledge of the world in which they lived They were afraid to sail out into the oceans because no one knew what might be waiting for them there; the shore were the edge of the world, many people believed The Portuguese navigators who began to break through this darkness stayed within sight of the coasts as they discovered the shape of Africa Then in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed directly across the Atlantic He thought he had reached India, but he had really discovered the American continents and islands in the unknown seas until those lands had become familiar parts of the world [50] Example 2: + Ouch! + Stop! As illustrated in the above example, a discourse can be defined as a stretch of language consisting of several sentences, which are perceived as being related in some way According to Nunan [37], sentences can be related, not only in terms of the idea they share, but also in terms of the jobs they perform within the discourse that is in term of their functions On another hand, according to Halliday and Hasan [15], discourse is a semantic unit, a unit not of form but of meaning A discourse does not consist of sentences; it is realized by, or encoded in sentences Therefore, a word like in the above example is still considered as a discourse as it served a specific purpose in communication in a specific context 1.2.2 Text “A text is a stretch of language which seems appropriately coherent in actual use That is, the text ‘coheres’ in its real-world context, semantically and pragmatically, and it is also internally or linguistically coherent For this letter facet, the term ‘cohesive’ has been applied, referring to the actual forms of linguistic Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” linkage.” [41, p.1423] Basically, a text will be considered one as it satisfies the below things: - Text is defined as language in use, i.e in terms of function and situation - Text is internally structured - A text must display a ‘cohesive harmony’ logics (make sense with respect to the outer world) - The basic unit of a text: sentence - No structural patterns as in sentences (e.g an interrogative text versus an interrogative sentence) - A text – unlike sentence – is not a grammatical unit but rather a semantic and even a pragmatic one [41, p.1423] Then, what exactly are the differences between discourse and text as they seem to be very confusing “…straddles two different, if complementary, ways of looking at language beyond the sentence We might say that one way is to focus attention on the second part of my definition: sentences in combination, and the other to focus on the first part: the use of sentences” [52, p.90] According to Widdowson, we come to a conclusion that text is made up of sentences while discourse is basically the use of such sentences 1.3 Basic theory of spoken and written language 1.3.1 Spoken language 1.3.1.1 Nature of spoken language Communication between humans is an extremely complex and everchanging phenomenon People only engage in a conversation for good reasons The possible reasons are to say something, to have communicative purposes, or to listen to something, etc However, in the language learning process, we need to distinguish the spoken and written language, which helps us use the language more naturally and correctly in particularly situations As Brown and Yule [3] suggested, the Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” supposition that learning the spoken language does indeed mean learning to speak the written language together with a few characteristics spoken phrases would be very reasonable For English learners, this is an important idea in order to find methods to improve their speaking ability in class accurately For further understanding about the nature of spoken language, Brown [4, p.4] pointed out some suggestions as follow: - Grammatically complete sentences are not always used in speaking because it has its own system patterns and structures - Speakers develop different speaking strategies on the basis of the purpose of interaction - Speaking is an active process of negotiating meaning and of using social knowledge of the situation, the topic and the other speakers - Transactional and interactional spoken texts have different features and require different skills Interactants build spoken, unrehearsed text spontaneously within social and linguistic parameters Being aware of the nature of spoken language, learners can gradually know its own rules and what they produce in speaking and activities is somewhat spontaneous and comprehensible Therefore, less formal and everyday language seems to be favorable in speaking and learner’s purpose as “to be able to express their transactional intention” (Brown and Yule) will come true 1.3.1.2 The characteristic of spoken language It is generally accepted that while different types of spoken language have much in common, they may also vary according to other contextual parameters, such as the following, the degree to which they are planned or unplanned, whether they are informational or involved and whether they are explicit or situationally dependant As a result, it is essential to understand the characteristics of spoken language: Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 10 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” are delivered through physical gestures, facial expressions and, especially, their pronunciation “The most common of all complaints to the BBC concerns the topic of pronunciation And sloppy speech is the charge most often cited… In almost every case the words called sloppy are in fact perfectly normal pronunciations in everyday speech, and everyone uses them They include such forms as Feb'ry for February, lib'ry for library, Antar'tic for Antarctic, as'matic for asthmatic, twel'ths for twelfths, patien's for patients, reco'nize for recognize, and so on It's very difficult in fact to say some of these words in their ‘full’ form - try pronouncing the second t in patients, for example… Most listeners give just one reason for their complaint: a letter is there in the spelling, and so it should be pronounced This is another example of the widespread belief… that speech is a poor relation of writing We always need to remind ourselves that speech came first… and that we all learn to speak before we learn to write… We also need to remember that pronunciation patterns have changed radically since the days when the spelling system was laid down English spelling hasn't been a good guide to pronunciation for hundreds of years.” [6, p.57 – 61] It has been noticed that English students from Vietnam make the following production errors in the use of the English language: - Generalizing all the past tense morphemes to /ed/ - Error in stress - Error in intonation This section of the study looked into the pronunciation errors as well as stated what they ought to be Some of these errors noticed were as follows: a Generalizing all the past tense morphemes to /ed/ Words advanced Erroneous Correct pronunciation pronunciation /ǝdva:nsed/ Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 /ǝdva:nst/ 43 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” involved /ɪnvɒlved/ /ɪnɒlvd/ convinced /kənvɪnsed/ /kənvɪnst/ worked /wɜːked/ /wɜːkt/ fixed /fɪksed/ /fɪkst/ changed /ʧeɪndƺed/ /ʧeɪndƺd/ concerned /kənsɜːned/ /kənsɜːnd/ advised /ədvaɪsed/ /ədvaɪzt/ depressed /dɪpresed/ /dɪprest/ designed /dɪzaɪned/ /dɪzaɪnd/ described /dɪskraɪbed/ /dɪskraɪbd/ launched /lɔːnʧed/ /lɔːnʧt/ converged /kənvɜːdƺed/ /kənvɜːdƺd/ forced /fɔːksed/ /fɔːst/ repulsed /rɪpʌlsed/ /rɪpʌlst/ arranged /əreɪndƺed/ /əreɪndƺd/ There is this insistence on pronouncing the –ed wherever it occurs Just like the plural morpheme, we have three different realizations of the regular past tense morpheme The sound /ed/ is not one of them They are realized as /d, t, ɪd/ under the following phonological conditions: Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 44 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” - /t/ or /d/ at the end of a word plus –ed is realized as /ɪd/ started /sta:tɪd/ added /ædɪd/ decided /desaɪdɪd/ landed /lændɪd/ painted /peɪntɪd/ provided /prəvaɪdɪd/ waited /weɪtɪd/ planted /plætɪd/ bolted /bǝʊltɪd/ - The voiceless sounds /p, k, f, s, ∫, ʧ/ plus –ed is realized as /t/: dreamt /dremt/ knocked /nɒkt/ clapped /klæpt/ roped /rǝʊpt/ walked /wɔːkt/ coughed /kɒft/ talked /tɔːkt/ smashed /smæ∫t/ fixed /fɪkst/ missed /mɪst/ asked /æskt/ faced /feɪst/ - All other voiced sounds except /d/ plus –ed is realized as /d/ stoned /stǝʊnd/ solved /sʌlvd/ hurried /hʌrid/ played /pleɪd/ cuddled /kʌdld/ praised /preɪzd/ sued /sju:d/ begged /begd/ bribed /braɪbd/ b Error in stress “There is a great deal of evidence that native speakers rely very much on the stress pattern of words when they are listening In fact, experiments have demonstrated that often when a native speaker mishears a word, it is because the foreigner has put the stress in the wrong place, not because he or she mispronounced the sound of the word.” [25, p.18] Compound nouns normally have stress on the first component However its meanings will possibly change if the stress placement is changed For example, English learners may easily make mistakes in the following sentences: + My brother is a well-known dancing 'teacher Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 45 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” + My family is living in a 'green house + Of these wines, which you prefer, the 'red bottle or the blue one? According to Harold T Edwards [17], one of the functions of phonetic stress is to make words understandable This kind of stress, known as word-level stress, is actually part of a word's pronunciation It may also serve to differentiate words that are similar For example, We're going to record a record, the two similar words are stressed differently so that the first record is stressed on the second syllable (vowel reduction in the first syllable also assists in helping us to assign stress to the second syllable), whereas the second record is stressed on the first syllable (with vowel reduction in the second syllable) All words of more than one syllable have a prominent or stressed syllable If we pronounce a word with appropriate stress, people will understand us; if we use the wrong stress placement, we run the risk of being misunderstood Phrase or sentence stress is tied to meaning, and this is the second function of stress As we focus a camera on some item of interest, phonetic stress helps us focus our listener's attention on what is most important in our message The error in stress happens not only in compound nouns but also in phrases and sentences, such as in the following sentences, the answers not satisfy the questions due to the fact that the answerer misplaced the stress: + A: Who ate all the cookies? B: Minh ate all the 'cookies + C: What is your little brother doing? D: He is drawing our 'family picture c Error in intonation “Intonation is important for intelligibility, because it is used to express intentions A speaker can show that he or she is asking for information, or asking for confirmation, seeking agreement, or simply making a remark that is indisputable or ‘common knowledge’, through the intonation of the voice Even though pitch Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 46 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” rarely causes problems with the identification of words, an inappropriate intonation pattern can lead to misunderstanding just as a mispronounced sound can Only those who take an extremely narrow view of intelligibility can disregard the importance of intonation Furthermore, the effect of intonation can be cumulative; the misunderstandings may be minor, but if they occur constantly then they may result in judgments about the attitudes, character, ways of behaving, etc of a particular speaker For example, if a foreign speaker always uses low pitch, without much variation in the melody of the voice, listeners may get the impression that they are ‘bored’ or ‘uninterested’ when this is really not the case.” [25, p.19] Intonation is the tone or pitch of a sentence It often refers to emotion and attitudes of speakers, thus the importance of intonation is undeniable However, not every learner can master the functions of intonation as they sometimes disturb the listeners In the following examples, due to using incorrect intonation, misunderstanding occurred Son: Tell me, father What is cancer? Father: It is a disease which kills millions of people in the world every day Son: ↓ Really? In this situation, a high rise “really” expresses great surprise, mild low rise “really” means polite conversation-oiler, even bareness or non-interestedness Occasionally, speakers want to make a statement more like a question but they cannot express what they intend to as they not use the correct tone A: Have you heard the news? B: ↓ No With falling tone, the answer does not express its implication of “what happened?” as the answerer merely showed no interest Long: I’ve got a new job offer Nam: Oh, ↓ have you? Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 47 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Suppose that Nam wants to know more about the news, with the falling tone, Long would definitely misunderstand his purpose and implication Nam’s answer would mean “I not care much” In short, in spoken language, pronunciation is absolutely difficult and complicated, especially for Vietnamese English learners Therefore, to master the English language as well as to communicate in English fluently, people should pay extra attention at the beginning so that the mistakes can be corrected easily 3.1.2 Grammar During learning English process, it is normal to make grammatical mistakes due to the fact that there are many differences in the grammar structures of the two languages - Vietnamese and English However, because of limited knowledge, in this graduation paper, only some of the differences will be discussed a Incorrect uses of tense "Some grammarians define a tense as an inflection of the verb - a change of meaning you achieve by altering the form of the verb So the past tense of win is won In this sense, English has only two tenses, present and past But for everyday use - especially for those who are studying foreign languages - this strict definition of tense is not very helpful There is a broader use of the word, which is what will be used here: a form of the verb phrase which gives information about aspect and time." [28, p.77] The errors are often caused by confusion, especially between the simple past and the present perfect or between the simple past and the past perfect The main reason would be the non-existence of the “perfect” aspect in Vietnamese For example: Incorrect: It is raining for two days Correct: It has been raining for two days Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 48 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Incorrect: The baby is sleeping for three hours now Correct: The baby has been sleeping for three hours now Here the error lies in using the present continuous instead of the present perfect continuous We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action which started in the past, has gone on till the present and is still continuing Incorrect: I have seen him yesterday Correct: I saw him yesterday Incorrect: He has returned from London last week Correct: He returned from London last week Here the error lies in using the present perfect tense instead of the simple past tense The present perfect is a present tense It can’t be used with adverbs of past time Incorrect: See that you will not any damage Correct: See that you not any damage It is wrong to use the future tense in the subordinate clause when the verb in the main clause is in the imperative mood Condition sentences are typical patterns of using tense because id learners use incorrect tense; the meanings will definitely be misunderstood For example, the first type seems rather easy for Vietnamese learners to grasp The error might be the use of the simple future in both subordinate clause and main clause because of the thought that the two clauses are expected to express the future meaning Incorrect: I will call you when the dinner will be ready Correct: I will call you when the dinner is ready Incorrect: He will help if you will ask him Correct: He will help if you ask him With conditional sentences type and 3, mistakes are often made when learners fail to recognize the unreal conditions + If I am a king, I will have a lot of power Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 49 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” + If I knew that you have had so many troubles translating that script, I would give you an easier one For persistent mistakes in terms of the unreal conditional sentences remedial work and further practice are very necessary b Errors with gerund According to Martha Kolln and Robert Funk [33], because gerunds are nounlike, we can think of them as names But rather than naming persons, places, things, events, and the like, as nouns generally do, gerunds, because they are verbs in form, name activities or behaviors or states of mind or states of being English learners tend to use infinite after common verbs Yet, some can be followed by -ing verb form and infinite For instance, learners possibly produce “stop to talk” in the following situation: “When the teacher cam in the class, pupils stop to talk.” and conversely, “stop working” in “It’s 8am now It is time for workers to stop working.” The structure: “adj + preposition + -ing form verb” sometimes confuses English learners The prepositions are usually used as indicators of place and time They are now presented with another use which seems rather strange to English learners from Vietnam That is the use of prepositions after certain words, expressions and adjectives in particular The problem they have to face now is that there is no rule for this use, so they can nothing but learn all by heart For example, many students think that infinite is used after “to” Therefore, they use infinite instead of gerund after “looking forward to” + I’m looking forward to receive your letter Some other example errors in gerunds are listed below: Incorrect: They were counting on me helping them Correct: They were counting on my helping them Incorrect: They insisted on me resigning the post Correct: They insisted on my resigning the post Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 50 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Gerunds should be used with possessive pronouns (my, your, her), and not object pronouns (me, him etc) Note that this rule is not strictly observed especially in the case of proper nouns Incorrect: I am thinking to write my autobiography Correct: I am thinking of writing my autobiography Incorrect: The clever girl was confident to win the first medal Correct: The clever girl was confident of winning the first medal Incorrect: I am hopeful to secure a loan to build my house Correct: I am hopeful of securing a loan to build my house Certain verbs and adjectives are followed by a preposition + gerund Examples are: think, desirous, despair, fond, confident, prevent, abstain, refrain, prohibit etc Incorrect: To die with honor is better than living with dishonor Correct: To die with honor is better than to live with dishonor Incorrect: Alice likes singing, dancing and to paint Correct: Alice likes singing, dancing and painting Your writing will be clearer if you use parallel structures in both clauses Incorrect: There is no hope of the fog’s lifting Correct: There is no hope of the fog lifting The possessive case should not be used with the gerund when the noun denotes a lifeless thing Errors might be made such as wrong or no preposition owing to lapses of memory or dim remembrance Gerund is also used as the subject of a sentence if learners want to express and action which is happening at the time of speaking, so, it is an error when they make the sentence: + To reach the Village Fair, you will see a lot of booths and stalls Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 51 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” c Errors with articles a/an/the There are only three articles: the (definite), a and an (indefinite) “The terms definite and indefinite designate meanings associated with the noun that an article precedes Definite implies that a noun is ‘specifically identifiable.’ The use of the definite article, the, therefore, presupposes that the speaker and the listener can identify the noun that follows it… Indefinite means ‘identifiable in general.’ The indefinite article, a/an, occurs when the listener is not expected to be able to identify the object specifically The listener may know the concept represented by the noun, but that is all.” [44, p.212] They are very small words which cause very large problems if used incorrectly If, for example, you wanted someone to hand you the book, but you accidentally said a book, the other person might take some time to go shopping for a book they thought you’d like While one can never have too many books, work doesn’t get done if we go book shopping every time we need to look up a word in the dictionary Use of an article can also change the meaning of the noun: - Ø dinner = the evening meal - a dinner = an evening meal held for some kind of event - the dinner = a specific evening meal which was held for some kind of event The indefinite articles are used when we are referring to an unspecified thing or quantity We use them when we don’t know (or don’t care) which thing we’re talking about + There once was a sheep I don’t know which sheep it was – don’t know its name or where it’s from, or anything about it – so I can’t say the sheep We use a before nouns or adjectives which begin with a consonant, or when U sounds like a Y, or O sounds like a W + A cat + A dog + A university Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 52 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” + A young puppy + A one-eyed pirate We use an before words which begin with a vowel sound or a soft H sound + An egg + An hour-glass + An antique necklace This rule also applies to acronyms + A Society of Writers member was quoted in the article + A S.O.W member was quoted in the article + An S.O.W member was quoted in the article Because S sounds like it begins with a vowel (ess), an should be used in front of it The definite article refers to a noun, either in the singular or plural As Hurford [20] said in his work, the behaves very much like the demonstratives this, that, these and those, and the possessives such as my, your, his and our; and on the other hand, a behaves quite like an unstressed version of the numeral one It can be used with uncountable nouns The refers to a specific thing or quantity It should be placed before the noun, or before the adjective which directly modifies the noun + Please give me the hammer + Please give me the red hammer; the blue one is too small + Please give me the nail + Please give me the large nail; it’s the only one strong enough to hold up this painting + Please give me the hammer and the nail Even English speakers is confused between “a” and “an” due to the thinking that a countable noun beginning with a vowel is preceded by “an” and “a” precedes a noun starting with consonant This causes a grammatical error as we only base on phonetic transcript to decide which article to be used Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 53 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Incorrect: We live in village Correct: We live in a village OR We live in the village Incorrect: She works in pub Correct: She works in a pub OR She works in the pub A singular common noun (e.g boy, girl, tree, country, teacher, village etc.) must have an article A plural common noun can be used with or without an article Incorrect: He is best player in the team Correct: He is the best player in the team Incorrect: She is fastest runner Correct: She is the fastest runner The definite article the must be used with superlative adjectives Incorrect: The Paris is big city Correct: Paris is a big city Incorrect: I live in the Mumbai Correct: I live in Mumbai In some situations, articles can be omitted, such as: - languages and nationalities (e.g Chinese, English, French, Spanish) If you put an article in front of these words, it refers to the people of that country + I like to study English This sentence refers to the English language + I like to study the English This sentence – because of the article – refers to the English people - sports (e.g diving, baseball, skiing) + I like to play the baseball Sports don’t require an article before them + I like to play baseball + I like to play with a baseball Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 54 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Because we’re talking about the actual ball (not the sport), an article is required - academic subjects (e.g chemistry, English, philosophy) General speaking, English learners usually underestimate the role of articles due to the fact that it is not as much important in spoken language as in written language However, to master English thoroughly, people should definitely pay attention in order to write accurate sentences in term of grammar Tim Skern [48] declared that emails and text messages are slowly leading the way to the elimination of the and a from the English language Until they disappear completely, it is important to use them correctly in scientific English Grammatical errors are diversified It is important to know that grammar is the backbone of English language Learners need to study both its form and meaning in certain contexts so as to produce correct structures 3.1.3 Mechanics and punctuation Mechanics (spelling, capitalization, abbreviations) surely need to be learnt whenever dealing with English vocabulary Jean W stated that punctuation marks, “just as traffic signs and signals tell the driver to slow down, stop, or go, so punctuation is intended to guild the reader through our prose.” [24, p.575] Look, for example, at the confusion in the following sentences when the necessary punctuation marks are omitted: Confusing Has the tiger been fed Bill? [Bill was the tiger’s dinner?] Clear Has the tiger been fed, Bill? Confusing After we had finished raking the dog jumped into the pile of leaves [Raking the dog?] Clear After we had finished raking, the dog jumped into the pile of leaves Confusing The coach called the swimmers names [Was the coach fired for verbally abusing the swimmers?] Clear The coach called the swimmers’ names [24, p.499] Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 55 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” Incorrect punctuation can change the meaning of a sentence For instance, compare the following two sentences: + Let’s eat Mom + Let’s eat, Mom The usage of a comma changes the entire meaning in both the sentences The disappearance of comma in the first sentence indicates that the speaker is asking to eat their Mom, which does not make sense Whereas, the comma after “let’s eat” in the second sentence helps to convey the meaning that the speaker is suggesting to their Mom to go and start eating, which sounds more sensible and also saves a life Because punctuation helps you communicate clearly with your readers, you should familiarize yourself with the following rules a The period (.) - Use a period to end a sentence Examples: Employees at that company are not allowed to go on coffee breaks It takes too long to retrain them - Use a period after initials and many abbreviations Examples: W B Yeats, 12 A.M., Dr., etc., M.A - Only one period is necessary if the sentence ends with an abbreviation Examples: The elephant was delivered C.O.D To find a good job, you should obtain a B.S or B.A b The question mark (?) - Use a question mark after every direct question Examples: + May I borrow your boots? + Is the sandstorm over now? - No question mark is necessary after an indirect question Examples: + Jean asked why no one makes a paper milk carton that opens without tearing Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 56 GRADUATION PAPER ON “BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES IN ENGLISH” + Dave wondered how the television detective always found a parking place next to the scene of the crime c The exclamation point (!) - The exclamation point follows words, phrases, or sentences to show strong feelings Examples: + Fire! Call the rescue squad! + The Broncos finally won the Super Bowl! d The comma (,) - Use a comma to separate two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction To remember the coordinating conjunctions, think of the acronym FANBOYS: “for,” “and,” “nor,” “but,” “or,” “yet,” and “so.” Always use one of the FANBOYS and a comma when you join two independent clauses Examples: + You can bury your savings in the backyard, but don’t expect Mother Nature to pay interest + I’m going home tomorrow, and I’m never coming back + After six weeks Louie’s diet was making him feel lonely and de-pressed, so he had a bumper sticker printed that said, “Honk if you love groceries.” [24, p.500] Joining two sentences with a comma only is unacceptable; such an error is called a comma splice Use a comma plus one of the coordinating conjunctions listed previously, a period, a semicolon, or subordination Comma splice Beatrice washes and grooms the chickens, Samantha feeds the spiders Correct Beatrice washes and grooms the chickens, and Samantha feeds the spiders Correct Beatrice washes and grooms the chickens Samantha feeds the spiders Nguyen Vu Linh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011 - 2015 57