English negative questions in comparisons with vietnamese ones

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY - NGO THI TRANG ENGLISH NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN COMPARISONS WITH VIETNAMESE ONES (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI MEN, M.A Hanoi, May 2013 PART ONE INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE It cannot be denied that nowadays, English is one of the most widely used languages in the world It is the mother tongue of more than 350.000.000 people, and it is also used as a second language by millions of Europeans, Africans, Indians, etc In addition, English is spoken and read by many Asians as a foreign language Thus, everywhere people speak English Because of its popularity, many famous books and documents are translated into English Many advertisements as well as business contracts are also written in English Obviously, English has a great influence on the socio-economic as well as cultural life worldwide In Vietnam, the need for integrating into the world has increased since the open-door policy More and more Vietnamese people desire to learn English, some of whom study English for better opportunities The others learn English for further knowledge or for other purposes That is why English is a compulsory subject in many schools and universities, and English centre are mushrooming throughout the country English teaching and learning has become very important and significant to our country’s process of industrialization and modernization In communicative process in English as well as in other languages, questions play an important role in our daily life We are not able to keep communicating going on well without asking questions We ask in order to exchange information, ideas, feelings and knowledge On the other hand, we sometimes ask questions not for the above purposes but to confirm, refuse irony or reply avoidance It is undeniable that questions can not be missed in communication There are a lot of types of questions in English but in this paper I would like to devote all my interest to English negative questions in order to get more understanding of this type of questions and we can be able to use it flexibly and fluently Moreover, a large number of authors have investigated negative questions in English namely Alexander, L.G (1975), D R Ladd (1981) Finnegan E (2004), Lado, R(1957) and many others But they have discussed the problems of negative questions in English only or in contrastive analyses, in comparison with other languages rather than Vietnamese In addition, negative questions have been studied in Vietnamese by Diep Quang Ban (2002), Nguyen Tai Can (1999), Cao Xuan Hao (2003), etc and especially there have also been some author theses on negative questions in Vietnamese by Nguyen Phu Phong (2002) and Nguyen Thi Thin (1994) Their contributions are a great help to Vietnamese learners of English However, there are few of writers focused on this theme and this theme make many mistake for Vietnamese learners of English Therefore, I choose this theme and study about this From my experience and knowledge, I will go deep into this matter in a hope of assisting to help people who are interested in the subject matter II RESEARCH QUESTIONS Some questions are raised: How are English negative questions formed, used and classified? How are Vietnamese negative questions formed, used and classified? What are the similarities and differences of the negative questions between English and Vietnamese? What are the difficulties in study English negative questions of Vietnamese learners of English? Base on the questions above, I am eager to learn about the problems and make a comparison analysis in negative questions between English and Vietnamese so that the major similarities and differences may be found III RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The study is aimed at following goals: To find out the forms, usage and functions of the English negative questions in the grammar system To find out the forms, usage and functions of Vietnamese negative questions To find out the similarities and differences in the negative questions between English and Vietnamese IV RESEARCH SCOPE The general research area of this study is grammar The phenomenon is negative questions in comparisons between English and Vietnamese Others relating to the negative questions are also briefly mentioned V RESEARCH TASKS The study involves fulfilling the following tasks: To study the classifications, the characteristics, the uses, and the distinction of the negative questions in English To study the classifications, the characteristics, and the uses of the negative questions in Vietnamese To compare the negative questions in English with Vietnamese ones On the basic of the findings, teaching implications to this category are sought to clear the student questions VI RESEARCH METHODS To achieve the objectives of the study, the following methods have been applied: Collecting materials from books and references Consulting the supervisor, experienced teachers and friends Synthesizing theoretical documents on English grammar 4 Personal observation VII SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH The same category grammar in two languages always has similarities and differences It will get mislead for learners if they cannot distinguish the differences in classifications, functions, and even uses of that category It is, therefore, essential for teachers to have a better solution After the research, it is hoped that the result will be helpful to provide: Input for the learners of English in order to clearly describe the negative questions in the comparisons Input for teacher of English with teaching implications of the negative questions This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in the negative questions in English VIII DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK The research work has three main parts, namely: Introduction, Development, Implication for teaching and learning and Conclusion Part 1: Introduction This part mentions to rationale, research objectives, research questions, research scope, research tasks, research method, and significances of the proposed research Part 2: Development This part consists three chapters Chapter 1: chapter is entitled “theoretical background” It consists two sections The first part in chapter is reviews literature in brief The second part in chapter is named “The negative questions in English” It has been one section It has things related to the negative questions in English such as classification, characteristics and uses The third part in chapter is named “The negative questions in Vietnamese” It has been four sections They are Negative structure in Yes/No questions, Negative structures in Tag- questions, Negative structures in Whquestions, Negative structures in alternative questions Chapter is named “the negative questions in comparisons with Vietnamese” It has three sections Section one is studied to the similarities The second deals with the differences Chapter is devoted to the teaching implications The last one is part four: conclusion Part 3: Conclusion This part is a summary of all main contents PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF Negative questions stand in place of questions, important part of the English grammar Negative questions are used to indicate the speaker’s idea(what he/she believes is or is not true) and attitude (surprise, anger,…).Many grammarians have described negative questions like L.G Alexander (1990), Betty Scrapper Azar (2002), Anne Seaton( 2007), & Randolph Quirk (1973) and so on They each have their own way to describe the negative questions Fundamentally, they concentrate their attention on the definition, formation, functions of the negative questions, types of negative questions and their uses Moreover, negative questions in Vietnamese are also described by some authors such as Diep Quang Ban (2002), Nguyen Tai Can (1999), Cao Xuan Hao (2003) and Nguyen Phu Phong (2002) L.G Alexander (1990) in Longman English Grammar constantly concerns with basic different uses between some questions He focuses on Yes/ No questions, negative statements, yes/ no answers He only doesn’t deal with the formation of ways of making yes/ no questions, forms of yes/ no questions He also introduces alternative negative forms and negative questions In negative question, he describes about the full form and the short form Furthermore, he describes how to use stress and intonation in negative questions Betty Schrampfer Azar (2002) in Understanding and Using English Grammar refers to the background knowledge of negative questions He gives specific details for each negative question He introduces more about forms of yes/ no and information questions, wh- negative questions, tag- negative questions He specifies forms of avoiding double negatives In the book Basic English Grammar book 1, Anne Seaton (2007) only focuses on his attention on two kinds of questions They are yes/ no questions and wh- questions He gives some more simple uses, functions and positions of them In addition, he pays much attention to uses with some negative questions such as yes/ no negative questions and wh- negative questions Randolph Quirk (1973) in the book A University Grammar of English gives some materials about several features of negative questions or specific details of relationship between subjects, predication with negative questions In his opinion, assertion and non- assertion are some major types of sentence In the book Ngu Phap Tieng Viet, Diep Quang Ban and Hoang Van Thung (2010) deals with specific characteristics, classifications and description about negative questions He mentions four types of Vietnamese negative questions such as negative structure in Yes/No questions, negative structures in Tag- questions, negative structures in Wh- questions, negative structures in alternative questions Language group of philology faculty, Hanoi Pedagogical University (2006) in the textbook Ngu Phap Tieng Viet part gives basic features and kinds of negative questions They pay attention to classify negative questions by functions and intended uses In short, much research has been done on the negative questions but they don’t point out comparison between them in English and Vietnamese In fact, there are similarities and differences between them Consequently, it is very essential to have a comprehensive study of negative questions in English comparison with that in Vietnamese II NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH II.1 Negative questions – Definition According to John Eastwood in the book Oxford Practice grammar with answers, negative questions are interrogative sentences with the presence of negative marker They ordinarily not accomplish questioning in the sense of information seeking E g: Does not she understand? Why don’t you listen to me? II.2 Negative questions – Forms In the book Oxford Practice grammar with answers, John Eastwood wrote that We make a question negative by putting n’t after the auxiliary (e g have, does) Positive Negative Have you done it yet? Haven’t you done it yet? What does the advert tell you? What doesn’t the advert tell you? Who eats meat? Who doesn’t eat meat? What went wrong? What didn’t go wrong? According to L.G Alexander in the book Longman English Grammar, the word order of the full form is different from the short form: Full form: Did he not explain the situation to you? Short form: Didn’t he explain the situation to you? We normally use the short form in conversation and the full form only for emphasis II.3 Negative Questions – Functions In the book Longman English Grammar, the author wrote: Depending on the stress and intonation we use, we can: - Express disbelief, surprise: Can’t you really ride a bicycle? - Invite the answer “Yes”: Don’t you remember our holiday in - Persuade: Won’t you please help me? - Express annoyance: Can’t you ever shut the door behind - Make exclamations: Isn’t it hot in here! Spain? you? (L.G Alexander, 1990: 198) II.4.Negative Questions – How to Answer When replying to a negative question, you answer a negative question the same as a regular question There is no difference A: Haven't you gone to the doctor? B: No, I haven't yet I'm too busy A: Don't you brush your teeth every day? B: Yes, of course II.5 Negative questions – Classification II.5.1 Negative Yes/No Questions II.5.1.1 Definition of negative Yes/No Questions Definition of Yes/ No questions: “Those expect the answer Yes or No are Yes/ No question” Therefore, the negative yes/ no questions are so called because they expect the answer Yes or No and contain a negative form of one kind or another (Quirk & Green Baum, 1973: 192) 10 (Someone didn’t receive this airmail.) S (Người không nhận bưu phẩm này.) Presupposition plays an important role in negative Wh- questions In both English and Vietnamese Negative Wh- questions, it is impossible for us to give the relevant answer without accepting the presupposition of the questions Contexts play important roles in questions because they can limit the context of Wh- words II.3.1.2 Functions In the addition to the function of asking for missing information, English and Vietnamese negative Wh- questions also have many other functions such as negating, making suggestions, complaining depending on different contexts E g: Who don’t you know? (Negating) (Anh chưa biết ai?) (You don’t know who?) Why don’t we go out toninght? (Making suggestions) (Sao tối không chơi nhỉ?) Why don’t you go to work earlier? (Complaining) (Tại cô không làm sớm hơn?) II.3.2 Different points II.3.2.1 Form One of the most prominent differences in the structure of this type of questions in these two languages, which can also be realized, is that, in English, the interrogative words (e.g what, whom, where, etc.) are always placed at the first position of the clause Whereas, in Vietnamese, the interrogative pronouns 41 (except the case of bao giờ/ nào, sao/ sao/ sao) are often used to replace the words which carry the questioned information in the statements Therefore, they are not always put at the initial position E g: In English Why don’t you it, Sam? In Vietnamese Cậu làm việc sam? For the case of exceptional question words bao giờ/ nào; sao/ sao/sao, we can see that they may stand in various positions For instance, the interrogative pronouns sao/ sao/ often stand at the beginning of the clause But sometimes, they can be put at the final place of the clause without any change in the meaning E g: Sao em không chịu lấy tôi? (Why didn’t you marry me?) Em không chịu lấy sao? (Why didn’t you marry me?) One more typical difference in the form of this type of questions is that English negative Wh- questions have the sequence of either Wh- words plus operators (with or without negative element “not” or Wh- word plus verbal group depending on the function that the Wh- words present in the questions) E.g: Why don’t they want to go by bus? (Tại họ không muốn xe buýt?) What don’t they like to eat? (Họ không thích ăn gì?) 42 In contrast, in Vietnamese, whatever function the interrogative pronouns may play, there is no change in the word order of the questions II.3.2.2 Functions In Vietnamese interrogative pronoun questions, in order to reduce the feeling of harshness (which is often caused by too short questions) and show an expression of respect, familiarity and friendliness, the particles of modality as nhỉ, ạ,etc are introduced In English, we cannot find this kind of particles E g: Bác chưa biết ạ? (Respect) (Who don’t you know?) Tại cậu không thấy mệt nhỉ? (Familiarity) (Why don’t you feel tired?) II.3.2.3 Intonation As we have known, intonation is a prominent characteristic of English questions Especially, in English Wh- questions both glide- up and glide- down are used Normally, a falling tones not a rising one is the main feature of intonation in negative Wh- questions: E g: Who don’t study? ↓ However, a rising tone will be presented if the speaker asks the question with surprise to gain new information: E g: A: I will not go abroad next week B: Why not? 43 In contrast, in Vietnamese interrogative pronoun questions, we can hardly find the use of intonation because intonation is not a prominent characteristic of Vietnamese questions II.4 Negative alternative questions in English and Vietnamese II.4.1 Similar points II.4.1.1 Form From what have just been discussed in the previous chapter, we can easily recognize that the structure of Alternative questions in English has a number of similarities and differences with that of Questions with linking words “hay/ hay là” in Vietnamese The most noticeable feature in the structure of this question type of both languages, English and Vietnamese, is the presence of connecting words In English, the connecting word is “or” and in Vietnamese, they are “hay/ hay là” This feature is a typical similarity in the structure between the two languages differing from other kinds of questions Another similarity between the negative alternative questions in English and Vietnamese is that the options given in the questions of both these two languages must be equal and different at the same time That means the alternative offered must be related to each other in term of a certain aspect and also they have to be different from each other (the same as antonym) E g: Wouldn’t you like tea or coffee? (Notional words) (Anh không thích trà hay cà phê?) There are often two alternative choices mentioned in the question and the addressee is supposed to select the answer according to one of these two (or more) alternative choices Additionally, in both English and Vietnamese alternative questions, the list of alternative must include two or more than two options If there are only 44 two options in the questions, the coordinating conjunctions (“or” in English and “hay/ hay là” in Vietnamese) will be put between them But if there are more than two choices in the questions, the linking word will be placed between the last two ones: E.g: Didn’t you meet my mother or my brother? (Anh không gặp mẹ hay em trai tôi?) Which wouldn’t you like? Tea, coffee or milk? The alternative choices are often set in the contexts in which the addressee can select to reply The structure of both English and Vietnamese negative alternative questions resembles that of a yes/ no question or wh- question II.4.1.2 Functions Both the negative alternative questions in English and Vietnamese are used for the same purposes and intentions When asking these types of questions, either English or Vietnamese addressor expects the addressee to choose one of the options in the question E g ( Don’t you like to eat sweets or chocolate? (Bạn không thích ăn kẹo hay sô- cô- la?) Possible answers: I don’t like to eat sweets (Tớ không thích ăn kẹo.) I don’t like to eat chocolate (Tớ không thích ăn sô- cô- la.) 45 II.4.2 Different points II.4.2.1 Form The major difference between the two types of questions is that Questions with linking words “hay/ hay là” in Vietnamese have the same structure as declaratives including one of the connectives (or alternative markers) between the alternatives In contrast, the negative alternative questions in English not have the structure of declaratives but they have the order of subject and operators inversion E.g: Anh không thích hay kia? Which don’t you like this one or that one? The highest level in the difference is the contrary And if in the range of options given by the speaker there exist both positive and negative clause, the positive clause is normally placed before the negative one: E.g: Should I help her or shouldn’t I? Should I help her or not? (Tôi có nên giúp cô hay không?) II.4.2.2 Functions In English negative alternative questions, Wh- words always come first while they may be at the beginning or in the middle of the question just before the last alternative item Except for the case in which wh- words functioned as the subject of the question, all English negative alternative questions have subject- operator inversion while Vietnamese ones not There is subject- verb agreement in English negative alternative questions while it is not necessary in Vietnamese ones 46 II.4.2.3 Intonation In English, most negative alternative questions are uttered with a separate nucleus for each alternative, a rising tone occurs on each item in the list except the last one, on which there is fall E g: What wouldn’t you prefer, film or play↓? Intonation is an inevitable factor in English negative alternative questions Without it the listener cannot distinguish this type of questions from Yes/ No questions because the negative alternative questions in English are sometimes similar to Yes/ No ones The only feature that helps the listener to recognize whether the questions are alternative or Yes/ No is the intonation E g: Yes/ No question: A: Don’t you like tea of coffee? B: No, give me some milk Alternative question: A: Don’t you like tea of coffee↓? B: coffee, please The above examples illustrate that it is very easy for the listener to confuse between Alternative and Yes/ No questions if he does not pay attention to intonation Obviously, in Yes/ No question, there is always a rising tone at the end Whereas, in alternative questions, a fall tone not a rising one occurs on the last alternative Conversely, intonation is not used in Vietnamese negative alternative questions In other words, intonation plays no role in Vietnamese negative alternative questions 47 CHAPTER III IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH NEGATIVE QUESTIONS In the process of learning a foreign language, errors or mistakes are inevitable Therefore, language teachers should not be disappointed and worry about the mistakes of their students On the contrary, they should let their students know that mistakes are common and unavoidable The most important thing is that after becoming aware of the mistakes, students will know what they need to improve and try their utmost to avoid making those mistakes again In terms of negative English questions, Vietnamese learners may face some problems and difficulties because of the differences mentioned in part two For this reason, it is essential that language teachers should make learners aware of the differences between the two languages so as that they can avoid and correct their mistakes Moreover, teachers should pay particular attention to the similarities and differences in structure and usage when introducing this grammar point to the students As the saying goes “Practice makes perfect”, teachers should ask students to many kinds of exercise and then give them the feedback To help students become aware of the structures and know how to use English negative questions for different purposes, teachers should emphasize the structures and situational functions at the same time In general, language teachers are responsible for guiding students to understand and use a foreign language correctly and effectively Following various teaching methodologies can be applied for different lessons so as to help students achieve their own targets: III.1 Providing learners with very background knowledge of English culture “To know another language and not his culture is very good way to make a fluent fool of one self” (Winston Bromberg) 48 Culture has significant effect on behavior and on interactions with others and culture factor plays a very important part in learners’ process of English acquisition Thus very background knowledge of English culture should be propagated among learners by providing they course or subjects focusing on intercultural communication The cultural approach can also be taken over by successive reading materials from various sources (authentic documents, books …) Besides, discussions on the topic of intercultural communication should be broadly help in schools and universities By this way, learners can realize the differences of communicative culture’s patterns between the two countries Therefore, they can avoid “negative interference” of their mother tongue in learning process as their awareness and experiences of the target language’s culture has been improved considerably Moreover, they even feel more confident and active They know how to make questions with correct grammar, correct structure, correct vocabulary and right intonation They don’t maintain Vietnamese communication habit when using English negative questions Obviously, when providing learners with sound knowledge of cross – culture communication, we should help learners to distinguish differences in the two languages And this knowledge of intercultural communication should be taught from the very beginning lessons to help learners avoid mistakes caused by differences in cultural patterns III.2 Giving learners more chances of practicing using English negative questions Recently, there has developed a strong need for Vietnamese teachers of English to improve not only understanding of any ability in English negative questions, but also for methodologies for teaching English negative questions effectively Due to the fact that learners play a very important role in the class and our main purpose of giving lectures on English negative questions is to help them understand and use different types of English negative questions fluently and effectively, teachers should follow “learner-centered teaching approach” 49 instead of “teacher-centered” one The features of this approach can be characterized as follows: - Techniques that focus on or account for learner’ needs, styles and aim - Techniques that give some control to learners - Techniques that allow for learners’ creativity and innovation - Techniques that enhance a learner’s sense of competence and selfworth Now I would like to mention the procedure of a general technique that teachers can use when introducing a new question- pattern orally to learners: a The teacher asks questions and answers them herself/ himself as the examples first b Then the teacher asks questions and the whole class choruses the answers c Next, the class asks the same questions, the teacher gives answers d Student works in groups: Group one ask different questions of the same pattern, group two gives answers After that, group two asks different questions of the same pattern, group one give their answers e Students work in pairs: Student one ask question, student two answers, student three asks student four answers, etc… With the procedure of this general technique, teachers can give learners more chances of practicing using English negative questions Besides, since learners are allowed to work in pairs or in groups, their partners are from the same background, they will be more confident and active but not being shy or passive anymore They feel relaxed and free to practice without worrying too much about making errors In addition, teachers should give learners more chances of practicing using English negative questions by letting them listen to conversations and dialogues containing many different English negative questions Such 50 conversations and dialogues are very useful to learners with the following advantages: a To allow the learners to listen to a variety of different accents and intonations of different types of English negative questions b To allow learners to listen to authentic material c To pronunciation work by imitating a model d To motivate learners in listening practice with chances of hearing new voices different from their teachers When learners practice using English negative questions, the teacher should act as a guild within the classroom procedure and activities or as a conductor and advisor for all learners’ activities He or she should not talk too much because if this happens, learners will become more and more passive Therefore, it can cause negative effects on learners’ English learning process On the other hand, when learners are free to practice, they are likely to make such mistakes that I have mentioned above In this case, the teacher should know that making mistakes is natural and unavoidable Thus the teacher should not stop learners to correct them all the time Otherwise, it might make them unwilling to say anything at all since the more they make mistakes, the less they want to take part in any activities III.3 Encouraging learners’ activeness in the learning process It is clear that teacher has the key role in providing learners with more chances of learning and practicing using English negative questions However, only the teacher’s attempts are never enough It is the learners who decide whether they succeed in learning and using English negative questions fluently or not In order to avoid the same mistakes that learners from different language backgrounds often make ( vocabulary and expression mistakes, grammar mistakes, intonation mistakes or word- order mistakes) when learning English as a second language, they should be aware of the following task and rights: 51 Firstly, they must be aware of different types of English negative questions, esspecially the most basic ones, and understand their nature as well as their functions or uses Secondly, they should not be shy when speaking to their teachers, friends or native speakers Thirdly, they should take opportunities to practice using English negative questions both inside and outside the class For example, they should take opportunities to ask and answer about natural contexts in class as much as possible This may naturally leads to unpredictable, creative language Outside the class, learners should seek golden Both Vietnamese learners and native speakers usually ask a lot of negative questions in English to find out their missing information This way of practicing using English negative questions is surprisingly effective Last but not least, learners must try to regard mistakes as natural thing and find out the reason why they make these mistakes to correct them as soon as they can If they can not it, they can ask their teachers or friends for help By this way, learners themselves give them more chances to practice using English negative questions In other words, they actively involve in the process of teaching and learning English negative questions In conclusion, step by step, “practice makes perfect”, apart from understanding the differences of linguistic nature between English and Vietnamese and being knowledgeable about extra- linguistic features, Vietnamese learners of English can overcome most of their problems to communicate more successfully as three can use different types of English questions correctly, fluently and effectively 52 PART THREE CONCLUSION I Summary of the findings Learning a foreign language is generally not an easy task Learners need to put a lot of effort to use a foreign language effectively Thus, this paper presents a contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and Vietnamese The structures of English negative questions ( negative Yes/ No questions, negative Wh- questions, negative Tag- questions) have been analyzed and compared with Vietnamese equivalents to find out the similarities and differences so that language learners can fully understand this grammar point in both languages In negative questions, the difference in position of “not” and “không” in the two languages sometimes results in making mistakes Therefore, learners should bear in mind that the word order in English negative questions and Vietnamese equivalents is different From the result of the comparison, it has been proved that major causes are students’ limited understanding of the negative questions and the negative influence of the mother tongue Based on the findings, some suggested solutions to the problems have been made, as follows: To teachers: Provide students with a good knowledge of the negative questions Clarify and simplify the negative questions’ functions Find the differences between the English negative questions and Vietnamese negative questions Help students minimize the influence of the mother tongue Give students some materials to help them learn English negative questions better 53 Provide students with general view of negative questions in English and Vietnamese To students: Master the uses of the negative questions Know about the differences between English and Vietnamese negative questions Learn by heart grammar structures in which negative questions are used I hope that this paper can help learners use English negative questions correctly, improve the language competence in order to avoid making mistakes, and have a profound understanding of negative questions Although I have made great efforts, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable I would be much grateful to welcome all possible comments from readers to accomplish the work II Suggestions for further research To a certain extent, some matters have not been thoroughly investigated Thus some suggestions for further research: + A study on the English negative questions + A study on the Vietnamese negative questions + English negative questions in comparison with Vietnamese ones 54 REFERENCES English Alexander, L.G (1990) Longman English Grammar Practice for Intermediate Students Essex: Longman Azar, B S (2000) Understanding and Using English Grammar New York: Longman Eastwood, J (1994) Oxford Guide to English Grammar Oxford: Oxford University Press Hewings, M (1999) Advanced Grammar in Use Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Sinclair, J et al (1990) Collins Cobuild English Grammar Glasgow: HarperCollin Publishers Swan, M (2004) Practical English Usage Oxford: Oxford University Press Quirk, R (1973) A university Grammar of English England : Longman Vince, M (1994) Advance language Practice Oxford: Heinemann Vietnamese 1.Cao Xuân Hạo (2003), Tiếng Việt- Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng, NXB Giáo dục Diệp Quang Ban (2002), Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt (tập 2), NXB Giáo dục Diệp Quang Ban (2004), Ngữ Pháp Việt Nam- phần câu, NXB Đai học Sư phạm Hà Nội Nguyễn Đức Dân (1998), Logic Và Tiếng Việt, NXB Giáo dục Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1999), Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt, NXB DHQG Hà Nội 55 [...]... question resembling a negative Yes/ No question but differing only in intonation: instead of the final rising tone, it has a final falling one E g: Haven’t you finished it? ↓ Wasn’t it a horrible fire? ↓ Didn’t she come? ↓ These kinds of questions have the function of inviting the listener’s agreement to something on which the speaker has strong feelings Contrary to appearances, the meaning is vigorously... statement in which the Q- element is replaced by the negative element The intonation is that of an ordinary wh- question except that a risefall tone is likely in some cases What happened? ↓ (Nothing happened.) What make me different? ↓ (Nothing makes me different.) 22 II NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN VIETNAMESE II.1 Vietnamese negative Yes/ No questions II.1.1.The definition of Vietnamese negative Yes/ No questions. .. to ask for information Who hasn’t checked their baggage in? Oh, I haven’t Sorry What don’t you understand? This paragraph here Negative Wh -questions (or information questions) are employed to seek information from the listener A falling tones not a rising one is the main characteristic of intonation in Wh -questions and there is always a rising intonation on question-words This means the questions are... are trying to be sarcastic, or to 15 make a strong opinion When we want to find out the agreement or affirmation of answers, we use negative tag questions E.g.1: The concert was boring, wasn’t it? E.g.2: They did not finish their duty, did they? According to B.S Azar in the book Understanding and Using English Grammar, we can use either the falling or the rising tone on the tag in negative tag questions. .. (Complaint) 16 II.5.3.2 Form of negative Wh -questions They are formed with the aid of the following interrogative words: Who, Whom, Whose, What, Where, When, Why, How, etc In negative Yes/No questions, “not”can be put in a post-subject position in its full form or presubject position in its shortform Negative WH -questions with “who”, “what”, “which”, “when”, “where”, “how” are only used for requesting information... NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE ONES I Objectives From my own observation and knowledge that I have gain through the process of studying, in this chapter, I would like to make a comparison between main types of questions in English and in Vietnamese in term of three following aspects: form, function and intonation I am trying to find out to what extent the things I want to compare are equivalent... ư? (Negative orientation) (Don’t you know Mary?) The structure of English yes/no questions is quite firm in comparison with that of Vietnamese ones We can change the structure of Vietnamese yes/no questions by changing the order of words logically without changing the meaning of the question Especially, the answers to negative yes/ no question in English are also completely different from those to Vietnamese. .. Definition of negative Wh -questions WH -questions are also called information questions because the answer to the question requires more than just a short answer and more than “Yes” “No” answers (there must be some information in the answer) Most WH -questions begin with words that start with the letters “WH”, and they usually end with falling intonation E.g.1: Which color do you not like? (Requiring information)... Can’t you sing any song? Will no one help me? II.5.1.2.Forms of negative Yes/No Questions According to Alexander (1992; 255) in the book Longman English Grammar, negative Yes/No question can appear in a post subject position in its full form not, or in pre-subject position in its clinic-contracted form n’t We can say that contracted and subcontracted negative questions appear in either short negative. .. spoken with a rising intonation if the speaker is truly seeking to ascertain that his/ her information, idea, belief is correct E g: Ann lives in an apartment, doesn’t she? A tag question may be spoken with a falling intonation if the speaker is expressing an idea with which s/he is almost certain the listener will agree E g: It is a nice today, isn’t it? II.5.3 Negative Wh -questions II.5.3.1 Definition ... comprehensive study of negative questions in English comparison with that in Vietnamese II NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH II.1 Negative questions – Definition According to John Eastwood in the book Oxford... Vietnamese negative questions such as negative structure in Yes/No questions, negative structures in Tag- questions, negative structures in Wh- questions, negative structures in alternative questions. .. the negative questions in English To study the classifications, the characteristics, and the uses of the negative questions in Vietnamese To compare the negative questions in English with Vietnamese