The syntactic functions of english adjectives in comparison with those of vietnamese ones

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NO.2 FACULTY OF FOREING LANGUAGES MAI THI TRANG THE SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVES IN COMPARISON WITH THOSE OF VIETNAMESE ONES (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BARCHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI MEN, M A Hanoi, 2013 i DECLARATION I certify that this thesis is my own work and effort, it is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor The support I have received in my work and the preparation of the minor thesis itself has been acknowledged In addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the minor thesis’s references ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT For the completion of this paper, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable contributions from many people I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Nguyen Thi Men, M A who step by step guides me during my writing thesis Without her assistance, excellent suggestions, expert advice and detailed critical comments, the work could not have been completed I owe her for a debt of gratitude that cannot be measured In addition, I am greatly indebted to all my lecturers at Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2, Vinh Phuc, for their useful lectures, support, encouragement and for inspiring me the love for English foreign language teaching and doing scientific research Besides, the study couldn’t have been prepared without the support and the provision of useful materials from my friends Therefore, their kindness will never be forgotten Finally, although great efforts have been made to complete the thesis, I am aware that this study is far from perfect Hence, constructive comments are welcome for more perfection of the thesis iii ABSTRACT “Adjective” is an interesting category of English grammar It is used in many contexts to describe the characteristic, quality, shape, etc of things or people However, the use of the syntactic functions of adjectives sometimes causes learners of English to be confused and this theme has not been adequately dealt with in some studies As a matter of fact, Vietnamese learners of English are not often totally aware of the syntactic functions of adjectives in English and in Vietnamese, too Therefore, the research is carried out into the syntactic functions of adjectives in comparison with those in Vietnamese in the hope of providing a valuable input about the theme for Vietnamese learners of English and vice versus so that it can partly reduce the barriers in the learning process of English to Vietnamese learners and of Vietnamese to English-native-speaking learners Moreover, the researcher hopes to fill the gap in the research field Based on results of the comparison, the similarities and differences have been found Teaching implications for the theme of adjectives have been suggested iv ABBREVIATION Adj P Adjective phrase Adv Adverb CS Subject complement CO Object complement FC Finite clause Non-FC Non-finite clause NP Noun phrase O Object S Subject V Verb v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii ABBREVATION iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v PART ONE INTRODUCTION Rationale Research presupposition Research scope Research objectives Research tasks Research methods Significance of the proposed research Design of the research work PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORICAL BACKGROUND Literature review in brief Definitions of adjectives 10 Characteristics of adjectives 11 3.1 Adjectives in English 11 3.1.1 Classification 11 vi 3.1.1.1 Based on meaning 12 3.1.1.1.1 Demonstrative 12 3.1.1.1 Distributive 12 3.1.1.1 Quantitative 12 3.1.1.1 Interrogative 13 3.1.1.1 Possessive 13 3.1.1.1 Quality 13 3.1.1.2 Based on the ground of the complexity of the structure 14 3.1.1.2.1 Short adjectives 14 3.1.1.2.2 Long adjectives 14 3.1.1.2.3 Special adjectives 14 3.1.2 Position of adjectives 15 3.2 Adjectives in Vietnamese 16 3.2.1 Classification 16 3.2.1.1 Based on general meaning and ability of adjectives to combine with adjuncts of degree 16 3.2.1.1.1 Non-gradable adjectives 16 3.2.1.1.1 Gradable adjectives 18 3.2.1.2 Based on the semantics and ability of adjectives to control adjuncts after the adjectives 19 3.2.1.2.1 Adjectives of external features of things 19 3.2.1.2.2 Adjectives of internal characteristics and states of things 20 3.2.2 Position of adjectives 21 3.2.2.1 After noun and verbs 21 3.2.2.2 Before nouns 22 Syntactic functions of adjectives 23 4.1 Definitions of syntactic function 23 4.2 Syntactic functions of adjectives in English 24 vii 4.2.1 Attributive 24 4.2.2 Predicative with “be” and copular verbs 26 4.2.3 Postposition 29 4.2.4 Head of noun phrases (the + adjective) 31 4.2.5 Verbless adjective clause 32 4.3 Syntactic functions of adjectives in Vietnamese 32 4.3.1 Predicate (Adjective placed after right the subject) 33 4.3.2 Modifier to both the nouns and verbs 34 4.3.3 Adverbial phrase 35 4.3.4 Subject of a sentence 36 4.3.5 Preposition 37 Chapter II: SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVES IN COMPARISON WITH THOSE OF VIETNAMESE ONES Similarities 38 1.1 Adjectives function as attributive 38 1.2 Adjectives in English and in Vietnamese function as verbless adjective clause 40 1.3 Adjectives in both languages can be placed in the position of subject or object when they become a head of a noun phrase 42 Differences 43 2.1 English adjectives tend to appear more in pre-position, while Vietnamese ones mainly come in postposition 44 2.2 When functioning as predicative, English adjectives must appear after copular verbs or the verb “be”, whereas Vietnamese adjectives can be direct predicative 46 2.3 Vietnamese adjectives can modify verbs in the predicative viii which are similar to adverbs modifying the verbs in English, but English ones cannot 47 2.4 Some English adjectives only get the syntactic function of predicative, but Vietnamese ones not have it 50 2.5 Some English adjectives only function as attributive, but Vietnamese ones not 51 2.6 Most of the English adjectives become the head of a noun phrase by adding or reducing the suffixes except the case of combining with the definite article “the”, while the Vietnamese adjectives can go with adjuncts without changing their form 52 Major findings and recommendations 53 PART III CONCLUSION Conclusion 55 Implications for teaching 57 Recommendations for further researchers 58 REFERENCES ix PART ONE INTRODUCTION RATIONALE Language is very important means of communication in daily human life Human beings use language, both in written and spoken forms, to express their ideas In a wider scope, language functions as means of international communication In a smaller group whose members share the same language, for instance, there are likely to be no difficulties in using the language since the people involving in the process of communication are used to speaking their own native language On the other hand, if people taking part in the conversation speak different languages, they might face difficulties or obstacles in getting along with each other One of the problems causing the difficulties is the language used Accordingly, they need a language which is understood by sides, the speaker and his or her counterpart This will occur when speakers are different from background: nationality, race, and language, etc In this case, an international language is really in need, especially the one that is the most widely spoken in the world Such a language is English In Vietnam as well as in other countries, there is a greater and greater need to learn English, from young to old, and from male to female No one can deny the importance of English in Vietnam at present Therefore, English is taught at every educational level However, learning a language is difficult because each language has its own system which is different from that in the learner’s native language The differences in systems of language may bring about problems for foreign language learners Hence, it is inevitable that in learning English as a foreign language Vietnamese students usually have problems on account of the differences between Vietnamese and the target language It is true that English grammar is complex and often causes x  Những cánh diều bay lơ lửng bầu trời gợi nhớ tháng ngày tuổi thơ xa xôi ấy.(9)  Tên tội phạm trả lời quanh co khiến viên cảnh sát bực (10) Two poetry lines in “Thu Điếu” written by Nguyễn Khuyến get four adjectives used to depict the typical pictures such as “tầng mây”, trời, ngõ trúc, “khách” Nonetheless, I only focus on analizing the two adjectives “lơ lửng” and “quanh co” in comparison with the other to make clear this point It ccan be mentioned that the adjectives “lơ lửng” and “quanh co” Nguyễn Khuyến gave come after the nouns “tầng mây” and “ngõ trúc” and then modify them.By using them,the author paint a sad picture of fall In the example (9) and (10), these adjectives don’t function as attributive but also they in turn modifying the verbs “bay” and “trả lời”with the post position.By the same meaning, “lơ lửng” and “quanh co” will express the degree or the condition of the actions when going with the verbs Therefore, the readers can picture that “The kites are suspended in the sky” or “A criminal answered mealy-mouthed the police’s questions” It is clear that Vietnamese adjectives are able to modify the verbs as the English adverbs Other examples are provided  Trong tay sẵn đồng tiền Dẫu lòng đổi trắng thay đen khó (Truyện Kiều, Nguyễn Du)  Sự thật trắng đen rõ ràng The adjectives “trắng” and “đen” in the first illustration modify the verb “đổi” and “thay” respectively They show the bad change of people’s characteristics In the second one, the adjective “trắng đen” coming before the noun “sự thật” modify it to indicate the correction or incorrection of the truth However, English adjectives are only used to denote the quality of nouns They must become adverbs by normally adding “-ly” if they modify verbs For instance: lvii To become a good teacher of English,you must get fluent English skills.(11) Adj Hoa wishes she would speak English fluently.(12) Ad In the example (11), the the adjective “fluent” placed in front of the noun phrase “English skills” to denote the qualification of this thing which the subject “you” must have to become a good teacher of English In this case it means smooth or skilful But in the example (12), the adjective become adverb “fluently” by adding the suffix “ly” after it when going after the verb phrase “speak English” And the adverb modify the verb wuthe meaning of doing it easily and well According to M Holley and D Hall in Advanced Learners’ Grammar (2003),there are some English adverbs have the same form as adjectives Here is a list of them close long wide high dead low wrong deep fast short direct hard fine straight late free hard Some examples are given to explicit this feature The road from school to my house is dead straight (13) Adj (Con đường từ trường nhà thẳng tắp) You go straight about 100 meters, and then turn right.(14) Adv (Bạn thẳng khoảng 100 m, sau rẽ phải.) lviii In the example (13), “straight” is used as an adjective when become after verb “be” in order to describe the noun phrase “the road from school to my house” with the Vietnamese equivalence “thẳng” However, the adjective “straight” in the example (14) is used as adverbs modifying the verbs “go” in direction It has the same form as the adjectives This function is also the difference between English adjectives and Vietnamese ones although there are some English adverbs are derived from the adjectives 2.4 Some English adjectives only get the syntactic function of predicative, but Vietnamese ones not have it The system of English adjectives is so flexible so they are classified into many kinds based on the different criteria Each kind of adjectives including its characteristics will decide the function and position of these adjectives Most adjectives beginning with the prefix “a” such as asleep, awake, alive, alone, etc mainly become predicative in English For example: She tries to keep her awake to finish a mass of assignments (Cô cố gắng giữ tỉnh táo để hoàn thành tập nhà chất núi) I am afraid of going motorbike with my brother, he drives so fast (Tôi sợ xe máy với em trai tôi, hay với tốc độ cao) In the two instances, the adjectives “awake” and “afraid” are placed after copular verb “keep” and verb “be” to be complements of the subject For the feature of beginning with the prefix “a”, they cannot be used as attributive as these cases: “She tries to keep a awake feeling” “I am a afraid girl” Likewise, the health and feeling adjectives also function as only predicative For instance: lix The director pays him compliments, so he seemed pleased.(15) (Anh ta mãn nguyện sếp khen ngợi) My aunt is generosity incarnate (16) (Dì người tốt bụng) The adjectives of feeling and health appear in the examples (8) and (9) with “pleased” and “incarnate” respectively They are restricted to the predicative Almost the Vietnamese adjectives can function both attributive and predicative 2.5 Some English adjectives only function as attributive, but Vietnamese ones not For the inflective language, Vietnamese adjective is a diversified combination with other constituents so they are also not limited in the narrow function As to some kinds of adjectives, English ones become only attributive Most of classifying adjectives only appear attributively For example: It is seriously destroyed to use the chemical weapons in a war (Sử dụng vũ khí hóa học chiến tranh gây hủy diệt lớn) It cannot be : The dangerous weapon is used in the war is chemical The adjective “chemical” before the noun “weapons” make the distinguishion this with other types of weapon and it is obligatory to attribute a noun or noun phrase In Vietnamese translation, “hóa học” is a noun functioning as an adjective; therefore, it doesn’t totally get function of the adjective Besides, some emphasizing and qualitative adjectives also function only as attributive For instance: Positive thoughts make people happier and younger (Con người trở nên vui vẻ trẻ họ nghĩ điều tốt đẹp) It cannot be: The thoughts making people happier and younger is positive lx The adjective “positive” is an emphasizing adjective meaning the good things or good actions.In Vietnamese equivalence, it has the sense of “tích cực” or “tốt đẹp” And we can say that “Hãy tích cực lên” or “Em nên tích cực học tập” In these cases, the “positive” become predicative 2.6 Most of the English adjectives become the head of a noun phrase by adding or reducing the suffixes except the case of combining with the definite article “the”, while the Vietnamese adjectives can go with adjuncts without changing their form Besides using the structure “the + adjective” to form the head of a noun phrase, English adjectives are able to add the suffixes such as –ism, -ility, -tion, ness, etc or eliminate some as following: -ul, -al, -ish, etc to change into nouns For example: Telling epics is a traditional action in the life of almost ethnic minorities (17) They try to remain this tradition to transmit their younger generations (18) The noun “tradition” in the example (18) is the convertion from the adjective “traditional”in the example (17) by omitting the suffix “-nal” Both of them show the long-time characteristics of the action Otherwise, Vietnamese adjectives only need to place the adjuncts before them as following: “sự, niềm, tiếng, cái, nỗi, etc For instance: Kể sử thi hoạt động truyền thống sống hầu hết người dân tộc thiểu số.(19) Họ cố gắng giữ gìn nét truyền thống để truyền lại cho cháu họ sau.(20) The adjective “truyền thống” in the example (19) placed before the noun “hoạt động” express the good feature of this In the example (20) the adjective lxi become the head of noun phrase “nét truyền thống” by placing the word “nét” in front of it It is seen that the noun function as a object of the sentence and replace the noun phrase “ hoạt động truyền thống”.It can be seen that the head of noun phrase also function as an object not only a subject of a sentence To sum up, the differences between the syntactic functions of adjectives in English and those in Vietnamese are found more than the similarities They present the characteristics of language in the both languages Major findings The syntactic functions of adjectives in two languages are diversed They can be defined as the grammatical relationship of one element with anothers in the constructive sentence They are obvious in English whereas some of them are quite complex and controversial in Vietnamese With these characteristics, the author can found the similarities as well as the differences between the syntactic functions of English adjectives and those of Vietnamese ones First of all, three similarities are explored in the process of comparison of the syntactic functions of adjectives in English with those in Vietnamese as following:  Both adjectives in English and in Vietnamese can function as attributive  The adjectives in the two languages can get function of verbless adjective clause in which the Vietnamese adjectives function as adverbial phrase having the same structure of the verbless adjective clause  The adjectives in both languages can be in the position of the subject or object in a sentence when they become the head of a noun phrase Then, the differences between them are given with the particular features in both Vietnamese and English adjectives The syntactic function in the two languages are mainly different from the predicative which the Vietnamese adjectives can come immediately after the subject but the English ones must be after the linking verbs and verb “be” Besides, the distinguishion is expressed in the lxii position of them to the nouns or verbs Due to the Vietnamese ones belong to an inflexion language, the form of adjectives has contribution on the difference in the syntactic functions of the two languages Some recommendations are going to be provided by the author to help teachers and students understand more about the syntactic functions of the adjectives on the two languages To teachers, they should study more the contrastives analysis of adjectives in English and in Vietnamese Moreover, it is essential for teachers to give exercises on the identify the component in a sentence based on seven types of the clause because the better students know them, the better they learn the syntactic function of English adjectives In addition, teachers should ask students practice regularly the use of adjective in sentence level and the phrases of English not show completely the syntactic functions of adjectives to students, they should not forget to use of linking verbs or verb “be” when describing something which uses the English adjectives When writing any essays or paragraphs or sentences involving the adjectives, sometimes they should contrast with Vietnamese ones One important thing is that students also pay attention the use of the adjectives in both languages in communication and literature, not only focus on what they learn and know at the lectures The paper focuses on the comparison the syntactic functions of English adjectives with those of Vietnamese ones to find out the similarities and differences between them From that, the author wishes learners of English to understand more the syntactic function of adjectives in both languages and hope to contribute to make better the learning of English in general and the learning of English adjectives in particular lxiii PART THREE CONCLUSION Conclusion English is used most widely all over the world and plays a very important role in almost fields However, English is flexible so that one word has a lot senses appearing in different grammatical functions and structures Adjectives also bring this complexity leading to leanrs of English’s misunderstanding on applying the classification, position and function of adjectives in English communication and academy For this reason, I pay much attention to the syntactic functions of adjectives in English in comparison with these in Vietnamese Prior to mention the syntactic function of adjectives, it is better for me to give an understandable picture of English and Vietnamese adjectives Hence, something related to adjectives in both languages such as definition, classification, position, and comparison are clarified I hope that this theoretical background is enough to develop my topic and become a part of fundamental knowledge in my research lxiv Then the theory of the syntactic functions of adjective is given in three main points The first point is dealed with the definition of the term from foreign and Vietnamese grammarians The second one concentrates on the syntactic functions of English adjectives related to five major functions as following:  Attributive  Predicative  Postposition  A head of noun phrase  Verbless adjective clause In the third point, there are six syntactic functions of Vietnamese adjectives presented Some of them are the same as English adjectives and some are different Here is a list of them  Predicative  Modifier to nouns and verbs  Adverbial phrase  Subject of the sentence  Preposition In both languages, adjectives undertake a lot of syntactic functions so it is favourable to conduct the comparison between them In chapter II, the similiarities are considered first with the same syntactic functions of two languages on attributive, verbless adjective clause and a head of a noun phrase in the position of subject or object These feautures are not completely similar, in which English adjectives and Viettnames ones function as attributive inspite of the different position of them Moreover, to stand in the position of subject of a sentence English adjectives mainly combine with the determiner “the” to become a head of a noun phrase, whereas Vietnamese ones mostly keep their form However, they still belong to the similarity category As to the significant contrasts, the differences lxv between syntactic functions of English adjectives and Vietnamese ones are done as six points following:  English adjectives tend to appear more in prepositive position, while Vietnamese ones mainly come in postpositive  When functioning as predicative, English adjectives must appear after copular verbs or verb “be”, whereas Vietnamese adjectives can be direct predicative  Vietnamese adjectives can modify verbs in predicative which are similar to adverbs modifying the verbs in English; however, English ones cannot  Some English adjectives only function as predicative, but Vietnamese ones not have it  Some English adjectives only get the syntactic function of attributive, but Vietnamese ones not  Most of the English adjectives become the head of a noun phrase by adding or reducing the suffixes except the case of combining with the definite article “the”, while the Vietnamese adjectives can go with adjuncts without changing their form From the result of the comparison, it has been proved that major causes are students’ limited understanding of the adjective and the negative influence of the mother tongue Hopefully, this work will help students have a full look of the syntactic functions of adjectives in particular and the use of adjectives in general The author performed this research with a limited time; therefore, errors are inevitable as much great my efforts have been Implications for teaching Adjective is one of the important parts of speech that learners of English have to pay more attention In addition, I will become a teacher of English in the future and it is useful for me to apply this researching in teaching In class, teachers normally explain two main functions of adjectives which are attributive and predicative without pointing out the syntactic function of them lxvi From my paper, more three functions of English adjectives should be introduced to students at supplementary, but carefully instructed to good or excellent students In the process of teaching English adjectives, teachers should compare with Vietnamese ones to make students distinguish the similarities and differences between two languages Then they will avoid misleading when using the adjectives Besides, if students know when the adjectives function as predicative or the head of noun phrase, theycould the exercise on determining the parts of speech in a sentence such as subject, verb, object or adverbial All in all, it may be better for other teachers, me and students to apply this research in teaching as well as studying and to realize the importance of adjectives in English communication and academy Recommendations for further researcher To a certain extent, some matters have not been thoroughly investigated Thus some recommendations for further rsearch should be made:  A study on the syntactic functions of adjectives in literature, songs and daily conversation  A study on the adjective function as the subject of the sentence  Survey students’ understanding in using adjectives and their syntactic functions lxvii REFERRENCES Alexander, L G (1990) Longman English Grammar Practice England: Addison Nesley Longman Limitted Ban, D Q & Thung, H V (1998) Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt Nhà Xuất Giáo dục Ban, D Q (2005) Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt Nhà Xuất Bản Giáo Dục Biên, L (1999/ Từ Loại Tiếng Việt Hiện Đại Nhà Xuất Giáo dục Bien, L (2002) Từ Loại Tiếng Việt Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội Chiến, H C., et.al (2009) Lạc Việt mtd9 EVA Lac Việt Computing Corp Collin Cobuild (1990) English Grammar London: Happer Collin Publishers Đức, Đ V (2001) Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt: Từ loại Hà Nội: Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội lxviii Đức, Đ V (2010) Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt: Từ loại Hà Nội: Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội 10.Eastwood, J (2nd Ed) (1999) Oxford Practice Grammar Oxford University Press 11 Folley, M & Hall D (2003) Advanced Learners’ Grammar England: 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Lea, D., et.al (8th Ed) (2010) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Oxford University Press 38.Ủy ban Khoa học Xã hội Việt Nam (1993) Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt Nhà xuất Khoa học Xã hội 39 Vân, V T (2004) The Positions Of English Adjectives In Contrast With The Vietnamese Ones Hà Nội 40.Vince, M (2003) Advanced Language Practice Longman lxx 41.Walker, S & Elsworth, S (1988) Grammar Practice for Intermediate Students Longman lxxi [...]... adjectives in English and in Vietnamese However, most of them only describe adjectives in either English or Vietnamese without comparison between the syntactic functions of English adjectives and those of Vietnamese ones Due to this, Vietnamese learners of English have some difficulties in using English adjectives Therefore, it is essential to have a comprehensive study of the syntactic functions of the adjectives. .. b) Descriptive Giving the theoretical background of the adjectives and the syntactic functions of the adjectives in the two languages c) Comparison Comparing the syntactic functions of adjectives in English with those in Vietnamese ones based on the materials’ analysis and the researcher’s own knowledge 7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH xii The syntactic function category in the two languages... SCOPE The general research area of this study is grammar The phenomenon is the syntactic functions of adjectives in English in comparison with those in Vietnamese Others relating to the functions of adjectives are also briefly mentioned 4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The thesis is to be focused on: a) The syntactic functions of English adjectives and Vietnamese ones xi b) Similarities and differences in the syntactic. .. syntactic functions of English adjectives and Vietnamese ones c) Implications for teaching 5 RESEARCH TASKS The study involves fulfilling the following tasks: a) To study the classifications, the positions, and the syntactic functions of adjectives in English b) To study the classifications, the positions, and the syntactic functions of adjectives in Vietnamese c) To compare the syntactic functions of adjectives. .. are the syntactic functions of adjectives in Vietnamese? b) What are the syntactic functions of adjectives in English? c) What are the similarities and differences between the syntactic functions of adjectives in English and those in Vietnamese? Based on the questions above, I am eager to learn about the problems and make a comparison analysis between English adjectives and Vietnamese ones so that the. .. the use Besides, they find it difficult to distinguish the syntactic functions of adjectives in English from those in Vietnamese In addition, as a prospective teacher, I would like to make contribution to the English teaching in Vietnam For all these reasons, this study is conducted, which focuses on the syntactic functions of adjectives in English in comparison with those in Vietnamese 2 RESEARCH SUPPOSITION... researches on the English adjectives, some Vietnamese ones compare Vietnamese adjectives to the adjectives in European languages to emphasize them Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt Từ loại (2001) written by Dinh Van Duc explains the adjectives in this way He points out that the position of Vietnamese adjectives is different from those in English and Russian The adjectives in Vietnamese come after nouns but those in European... seem.” In this part, I only run over some general information of the English adjectives position I will present more details it in the section of the syntactic functions of English adjectives due to the relationship between the position and the syntactic functions of English adjectives are much closed 3.2 Adjectives in Vietnamese 3.2.1 Classification The Vietnamese language is an inflectional one, so the. .. different from the others when mentioning the function of adjective as a head of a noun phrase by taking the determiners In Collin Cobuild English Grammar (1990) William Collin Sons deal with the types of adjectives including qualitative, classifying, color, emphasizing, and determiners Moreover, he gives more descriptions of comparative, “ing” form, “ed” form and compound adjectives The functions of adjectives. .. of the adjectives and the way he shows the characteristics of Vitenamese adjectives in comparison with those in European languages Diep Quang Ban in Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt (2005) begins his study with definition of adjective and emphasizes the functions of main components in a phrase He classifies Vietnamese adjectives into two kinds that are quality adjectives and relative adjectives A new thing in his ... positions, and the syntactic functions of adjectives in Vietnamese c) To compare the syntactic functions of adjectives in English with those in Vietnamese On the basic of the findings teaching implications... learners of English are not often totally aware of the syntactic functions of adjectives in English and in Vietnamese, too Therefore, the research is carried out into the syntactic functions of adjectives. .. named The Syntactic Functions of Adjectives in English in Comparison with those in Vietnamese, which has three sections Section one provides the definition of syntactic functions of adjectives The