A contrastive analysis of premodification in english noun phrase and vietnamese equivalent

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mrs Ha Thi Van Tien, my supervisor for her great help as well as her precious suggestions on my study I would also like to express our gratitude to my teachers and friends, who have directly or indirectly helped me with their encouragement and comments Finally, my thanks go to my families for their support during the time I carried out this study i ABSTRACT Pre- modifier in English noun phrase has an important function in sentences; however, they cause a great problem for Vietnamese learners Both beginners and advanced learners may make mistakes when using them in English noun phrase such as arranging adjectives in order or using articles, etc In order to help learners to avoid these mistakes and acquire better knowledge of English, particularly the matters of English noun phrase, it is necessary to give an overview of English noun phrase, its pre- modifiers and to find out similarities and differences between pre- modifiers in English noun phrase and those in Vietnamese That is the reason why I chose the topic “A contrastive analysis of premodification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent” for my study ii A LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS - H: Head noun S: Subject O:Object Adj: Adjective Adv: Adverb Od: Direct object Oi: Indirect object Cs: Subject Complement Co: Object complement Pre: Pre- position Det: Determiner n: noun Eg: Example Cl: Clause Pg: Page P: Phrase iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Nowadays, English has become an international language which is widely used in almost every field of our life: trade, economy, science, technology, etc English is a bridge to connect cultures in the world In order to master this language, it is essential for the learners to master English grammar Grammar plays an important role in both writing and speaking as well If we know the meaning of words, without knowing about the rules of combining words into sentences how can we understand the meaning of the whole sentence (especially a sentence with a complex structure) and how can we make sentences correctly? But with the good grammar knowledge about noun phrase, it is very easy for you to use and understand them perfectly Noun phrase has a very important function in forming sentences; it is a great problem for most of learners In order to understand about structure and word order in English noun phrase, I wish to mention the noun phrase in this study However, because of limited knowledge, whereas noun phrase is a great problem, I cannot cover all aspects of noun phrase but the focus is only on “A contrastive analysis of pre modification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent” Purposes of the study - To find out the similarities and differences in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent - To enable the learners understand the structures of premodification and make the correct sentences with noun phrase Research questions The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answer to the following research questions: - What are pre- modifiers in English and Vietnamese noun phrases? - What are the similarities and differences between pre- modifiers in English noun- phrase and Vietnamese equivalent? Scope of the study The study focuses on pre- modifiers of noun phrase in English and Vietnamese and the similarities and differences between English noun phrase and Vietnamese counterpart Methods of the study In the course of writing paper, I have followed the procedure below - Describing theoretical premises of pre-modification of noun phrases - Collecting and classifying materials, analyzing and synthesizing all information about pre-modification of noun phrases in English and Vietnamese - Contrasting English premodification of noun phrases with those in Vietnamese to find out the differences and similarities between them The structures of the study The study is organized into five chapters: introduction, general introduction about English noun phrase, general features of Vietnamese noun phrase, comparison between pre- modification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent, and conclusion The introduction includes the rationale, purposes of the study, research questions, scope of the study, methods of the study as well as structures of the study Chapter gives general features of English noun phrase Chapter is general features of Vietnamese noun phrase Chapter presents the similarities and differences of pre- modification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent And the conclusion gives a summary of what has been done and provides recommendations for further study CHAPTER II: GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH NOUN PHRASE 2.1 Definition of the noun phrase As far as we know the study of the noun phrase in English has been carried out by many grammarians for many years English noun phrase has been defined in different ways According to Randolph Quirk (in University Grammar of English, 1973) and Geoffrey Leech Jansvartvich (A Communicative Grammar of English, 1975) It is defined as follow: “Noun is a phrase which can act as Subject, Object or Complement of a clause or as prepositional Compement” Eg: The girl H The pretty girl H 2.2 Classification of noun phrase English noun phrases are classified into two types: - The basic noun phrase - The complex noun phrase Besides the common features, there are differences between the modification of these two kinds This can be seen clearly in their following diagrams The basic noun phrase premodification head noun closed- system item pre- determiner determiner post- determiner pre- determiner: - Quantifiers - Multipliers - Fractions determiner: Article Demonstrative Possessive Interrogative Indefinite postdeterminer: “Much” Numerals + Cardinal + Ordinal Quantifiers + Class system quantifiers + Close system quantifiers Ad-jec-tive Verb clos esyst em item pre-modifiers prem odifi catio n head nou n Ope nclass item The com plex nou n phr ase Ge- nat-tiv- e post Ing- par-tici-ple Cl Adj.P phra se mod ifica Ed -par-tic-iple Cl Pre P tion Non- finite Cl clau se To -inf-init-ive Cl Re-str-ect-ive Cl Finite Cl Relative Non Re-ste-cti-ve Cl From the diagrams of the basic noun phrase and the complex noun phrase, we can draw out some similarities and differences as follows: Both the basic noun phrase and the complex noun phrase have noun as the head, pre-modification, and have the same syntactic functions However, the head noun in a basis noun phrase is not modified by postmodification whereas in a complex noun phrase, there are both premodification and post-modification Besides, premodification of the basic noun phrase consists of only closed- system items, whereas it comprises both open- class items and closed- system items in complex noun phrase Therefore, in order to have a complete contrastive analysis of premodification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent, I will focus on the premodification of complex noun phrase in English 2.3 Functions of the noun phrase From the above definition, we can easily find out that the noun phrase in English has several functions such as Subject, Object, Complement, besides according to John Eastwood (in “ Oxford Guide to English Grammar”, 1994) noun phrase can function as Adverbials and Appositive 2.3.1 Noun phrase as subject Eg: Security guards set a trap S 2.3.2 Noun phrase as Object a) Direct object Eg: The stewardess alerted the pilot Od b) Indirect object Eg: She lent her friend some money Oi 2.3.3 Noun phrase as complement a) Subject complement Eg: He is a handsome boy Cs b) Object complement Eg: I consider him my best friend Co c) Prepositional complement Eg: The pretty girl in the corner is Mary prepositional complement 2.3.4 Noun phrase as adverbials Eg: I met him this morning adverbial 2.3.5 Noun phrase as appositive Eg: My friend Jame is the monitor appositive 2.4 Components of premodification in English noun phrase Looking at the diagrams of premodification structure in English noun phrase, we can see that components of premodification are different parts of speech and they are of two kinds: - Closed- system items - Open- class items 2.4.1 Closed- system items First of all we should understand what items are called closed- system items and what is closed- system items? As far as closed- system items are concerned, they are defined in A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk as follows: “Closed- system items are items that can not normally be extended by the creation of additional members” They consist of article (a, an, the), demonstrative (this, that, these, those), pronoun (he, she, it…), preposition (of, at, without, in), conjunction (and, that, when…), interjection: (oh, ah, uh…) Eg: Một đoàn học sinh Một hàng Một thứ đồ ăn The user use classifier- unit pre-modifier in a rule When a noun phrase contains a quantifier, a classifier- unit pre-modifier is obligatory put between the head and quantifier-pre-modifiers Eg: Hai tường Pre2 pre1 H Năm cân thịt Pre2 pre1 H In the common case as well as special cases, the classifier- unit pre-modifiers must be suitable to the head to express the emotions, feelings or attitude of speakers to the referent in the head Eg: Một anh niên, gã niên,một thằng niên Một tim, tim, trái tim Một bé, đứa bé, em bé The word “cái” can be used as a “helping” word It is placed between a quantifier and classifier unit modifier Eg: Mấy cậu sinh viên H Hôm qua, ruộng màu xóm bị cày lên H (Dang Tran) or before classifier- unit modifier (when quantifier- modifier does not occur) Eg: Cái người tệ bạc thật đáng trách pre H From the above- mentioned examples, we can see that the position and role of the “helping” word “cái” are clear It is used to emphasize the thing we mention with a certain attitude Its position is before the classifiers- unit modifier (such as abstract nouns, nouns denoting material…) Eg: Tôi không tán thành thái độ ngông nghênh H Cái thịt không dùng nữa! The role of “helping” word “cái” sometimes can be made clearer by using intonation A, thằng Mới láo thật! Cái ngựa chạy nhanh thật! 3.3.1.2 Premodification by quantifiers Quantifiers consist of: 27 + Accurate quantifiers: một, hai,…, mười, … + Inaccurate quantifiers: những, các, …, vài, mấy, … + Inclusive quantifiers: đôi, cặp, chục, mươi tá, trăm, vạn triệu When the head is an individuality, a quantifier pre-modifier is placed before classifier- unit pre-modifier Eg: Hai trăm xe máy pre2 pre H Hai mươi gà pre2 pre1 H Những thép pre2 pre1 H Các cô sinh viên pre2 pre1 H When the head is an abstract noun, a unit of time, a noun of organization, a quantifier- pre-modifier occurs right before the head Eg: Vài ý kiến, tư tưởng tiến pre2 H pre2 H Một lúc, hai buổi pre2 H pre H Các làng, ba khu pre H pre H The word “it”, “nhiều”, by nature are adjectives, can be used as indefinite quantifiers in the noun phrase Eg: Bài có nhiều ý kiến hay pre2 H Ít người đồng tình với pre H If units of time are accurate such as năm, tháng, giờ, phút… they can be used with accurate quantifier- pre-modifiers only Eg: Hai năm pre2 H Ba phút pre H And vice versa, when units of time are inaccurate such as khi, lúc… they can be used with inaccurate quantifier- modifiers only Eg: Mấy khi, đôi lúc… pre2 H pre2 H We cannot say “hai khi”, “hai lúc” If we say “một khi”, “một lúc”, “một lát” “một” here is indefinite 28 There are some cases when the heads are individualities, classifier- unit premodifiers can be ellipted Quantifier pre-modifiers are placed before the heads Eg: Tiêu diệt bốn nghìn máy bay địch pre2 H Nhập hai trăm xe tải pre2 H The word “những” can be used as “helping” word before the accurate quantifierpre-modifier Eg: Năm cam pre2 pre1 H Những cam pre2 pre1 H =>Những năm cam pre2 pre1 H 3.3.1.3 Premodification by totalities (pre3) They are: Tất cả, tất thảy, hết, toàn bộ, toàn thể, đại đa số, đại phận, phần lớn… When the head is an individuality, a totally pre-modifier can be used with a quantifier pre-modifier and a classifier unit pre-modifier Eg: Tất hai mươi em học sinh lớp pre3 pre2 pre1 H Toàn mười trâu xóm pre3 pre2 pre1 H When the head is a totality, abstract noun, only a totality pre-modifier can occur Eg: Toàn tư tưởng nhà văn pre3 H Toàn thể nhân dân nước pre3 H CHAPTER IV: COMPARISON BETWEEN PREMODIFICATION IN ENGLISH NOUN PHRASE AND VIETNAMESE EQUAVILENT Obviously, mistakes or difficulties when studying a foreign language always arise from the differences between the foreign language we are learning and our mother tongue Therefore, making a comparison to find out the similarities and differences is the best way for us to avoid mistakes In this study I will make a comparison between pre-modification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent The following are two diagrams of general structures of English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase 29 English noun phrase Pre-modifiers Closed- system items Pre- Deter Post- deter- - deter- miner miner miner Open- class items _Adjectives/Adverbs _Participles (ing, ed) _Noun _Sentence/ Clause _Adjective/ Adverb _Quantifier _Prepositional phrase _Non- finite clause _Finite relative clause (in A University Grammar of English by Raldolph Quirk Sidney Greenbaum, 1973) Vietnamese noun phrase Pre-modifiers Head noun Post-modifiers Totality- Quantifier ClassifierDefining Demonstrative modifier modifier modifier unit modifier modifier (in “Ngu phap tieng Viet, Uy ban khoa hoc xa hoi Viet Nam, NXB khoa hoc xa hoi, Ha Noi, 1983) Looking at two diagrams above, we can see the similarities and differences in word structure of English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent 4.1 The similarities 4.1.1 The similarities of structure Both English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase consist of the head, premodification and postmodification The head is the most important and is modified by pre-modifiers and post-modifiers Both the head in English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase can be modified at the same time by many modifiers and the modifiers themselves have their own modifiers (i.e., modified modifiers.) Eg: A really beautiful and intelligent girl i.e adj adj Những cậu học sinh chăm 30 Pre2 pre1 H 4.1.2 The similarities of position Cardinal numerals can precede or follow the head in both English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase Eg: 20 lessons_ 20 Lesson 20_ 20 Quantifier modifier and totality modifiers occur in pre- modification in both English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase Eg: All those five books H Tất năm sách H 31 4.1.3 The possibility of changing modifiers to new positions From the diagrams of structures of English noun phrase, it is easy to see that the head and pre-modifiers and post-modifiers have their own positions However, in some cases for some reasons, some modifiers which are fixed in pre-modification can follow the head Eg: Student lazy not learn well Cá H pre-> post In Vietnamese noun phrase, quantifier- modifiers and classifier- unit modifiers are rather closely related in Vietnamese Therefore, when changing their position, both should be changed together Eg: Một cành củi khô pre H  Củi cành khô H pre-> post  or Củi khô cành H pre -> post 4.1.4 The changes of meaning In both English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase, the meaning of noun phrase can be changed when modifiers have new positions The change of meaning is mostly caused by nouns, adjectives, demonstrative adjectives Eg 2: A new teacher of that school H ≠ A new teacher of that new school H Một giáo viên trường học H ≠ Một giáo viên trường học H Eg 3: That manager of the factory ≠ The manager of that factory H Những người niên dũng cảm làng H ≠ Những người niên dũng cảm làng 32 Beside the similarities, there are differences between English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase in general and pre-modification in particular 4.2 The differences 4.2.1 The difference in position of pre-modifiers in English and Vietnamese noun phrases 4.2.1.1 Adjectives As far as adjectives are concerned, it is worth mentioning that their function as pre-modifiers in English noun phrase but as post-modifiers in Vietnamese nounphrase If premodification of English noun phrase contains just one adjective, it mostly stands right before the head The thing is different in Vietnamese since such modifiers directly follow the head And there is a parallelism in the two languages Eg: An intelligent pupil H Một học sinh thông minh H A new house H Ngôi nhà H When premodification in English noun phrase involves more than one adjective But, in some cases, it can be seen as postmodification in Vietnamese Eg: A serious social evil H Một tệ nạn xã hội nghiêm trọng H A world political problem H Một vấn đề trị giới H However, in many cases, we can see some differences In English, evaluative adjectives frequently stand before adjectives of size, while these in turn frequently precede adjectives of shape, adjectives of shape occur before adjectives of age and then come adjectives of colour… Eg: A beautiful new hat H In Vietnamese: 33 Một mũ đẹp H Một mũ đẹp H or with a phrase: A big old brown desk H There are various orders in Vietnamese: Một bàn màu nâu to cũ H Một bàn to cũ màu nâu H Một bàn cũ to màu nâu H In short, whereas adjectives are mostly used in premodification in English noun phrase, they are used in post-modification in Vietnamese noun phrase In noun phrase involving just one adjective, there is a parallel order in the two languages, whereas with noun phrases containing more than one adjective, various orders are possible in Vietnamese 4.2.1.2 Participles In English, participles are placed before the head of noun phrases as adjectives When premodification formed by participles, they also correspond to structure of post-modification in Vietnamese noun phrase The parallel order can be seen in the two languages Eg: A broken car H Một xe gãy H A learning pupil H Một học sinh học H With –ing participles, in Vietnamese, there is a word “đang”-“ing-form” which is often added between the head the modification Eg: Boiling water H Nước sôi H 34 The developing countries H Những nước phát triển H In many cases, the word “đang” is not obligatory and in fact tends not to be used Eg: I was annoyed by a crying baby Tôi bực đứa trẻ (đang) khóc The English Speaking countries Những nước nói tiếng Anh We not say “Những nước nói tiếng Anh” the word”đang” is not used in this case With ed- participles, there are two situations Firstly, if modification contains only one word, we can see a parallel order in the two languages An ed-participle that precedes a head in English noun phrase, follows a head in Vietnamese noun phrase Eg: The developed countries H Những nước phát triển H A retired teacher H Một giáo viên hưu H When ed- participles are used as pre-modifiers in English noun phrase, the word “đã” are sometimes added between the head and the modification in Vietnamese Generally, the word “bị” is used when the action is carried out by the outsider and it has a negative effect Eg: The arrested men Những người bị bắt giữ The word “đã” used when the speaker is the doer of the action and it has a positive effect Eg: The completed exercises Những tập hoàn thành Secondly, if modification consists of the two words in English noun phrase, the corresponding modification is placed after the head of the noun phrase in Vietnamese, but the order may vary 35 Eg: The successfully- done task Nhiệm vụ thực thành công A newly- opened shop Một cửa hàng khai trương In most cases, the parallel order of compound adjectives can be seen in the two languages, but in some cases, it is different Eg: Soviet trade delegation H Đoàn thương mại Liên Xô H 4.2.1.3 Genitives In English, modifiers showing possession or the genitives (possessive adjectives and ‘S- genitives) precede the heads of noun phrases Eg: My new car H or The girl’s leather bag H Whereas in Vietnamese, the word “của” – “of” used to express possession follows the head of the noun phrase Chiếc xe ô tô H Chiếc cặp da cô gái H In some cases, English genitives are used in pre- modification with the ellipsis of the heads, especially when they denote commercial premises or establishments Eg: I go to the grocer’s The “grocer’s” here refers to a commercial premise or I had luch at Ann’s In this case Ann’s normally means “Where Ann lives” But in Vietnamese, such cases not exist To express the ideas we have to use the word “cửa hàng”- “shop” for the “grocer’s” and “chỗ” or “nơi”- “place” or “house” for Ann’s” Therefore, in Vietnamese we say: 36 Chúng đến cửa hàng tạp phẩm Chúng ăn trưa nhà Ann, chỗ Ann 4.2.1.4 Some other modifiers In English noun phrase, demonstrative adjectives, ordinal numbers and general ordinals precede the head, but they follow the head in Vietnamese noun phrase Eg: This book- Quyển sách H H The third week- Tuần thứ ba H H The last penny- Đồng xu cuối H H Beside the difference in position of modifiers in relation to the head as I have mentioned above, there are some other differences between pre-modification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent 4.2.2 Other differences between premodification in English and Vietnamese noun phrases 4.2.2.1 Articles The occurrence of articles” “a(n), the” in English noun phrase is the peculiarity of English “A(n)” indicates singularity and plurality In Vietnamese, some Vietnamese grammarians regard “những, một, các” as articles, they also have grammatical meaning in common with English articles (i.e “những, các” indicate plurality and “một” indicates singularity) But the difference is that “a(n), the” are used to indicate nouns that are definite or indefinite but “những, các, một” are not Eg: Do you want to see a video? (an unidentified video is introduced for the first time) Do you want to see the video? (the hearer knows which particular video the speaker is talking about) Besides, in English, there is an obligatory occurrence of article before some nouns (i.e “the” is used before nouns that are considered as one or before musical instruments) but there is no occurrence of “những, một, các” as an equivalent in Vietnamese Eg: The earth The weather He plays the piano But in Vietnamese we say: 37 Trái Đất Thời tiết Anh ta chơi piano In short, if “những, một, các” are considered as articles in Vietnamese They have the same position of modifiers in relation to the head and grammatical meaning in common but their uses are not the same These differences cause a lot of difficulties for Vietnamese learners 4.2.2.2 The concord of number between the head and demonstrative adjectives in English noun phrase In English noun phrase, there is concord between the head and demonstrative adjectives If the head is plural, too and vice versa, the head dictates the concord Eg: That car H(singular) Those cars H (singular) Whereas in Vietnamese, the meaning of singular or plural is not shown by grammatical form as in English (to add or not to use totality or quantifier nouns before the head) Eg: Tất năm sinh viên totality quantifier H (plural) or Các em sinh viên H (plural) ≠ Em sinh viên H (singular) 4.2.2.3 The occurrence of classifier- modifiers in Vietnamese noun phrase The occurrence of classifier- modifiers in pre-modification is the peculiarity of Vietnamese noun- phrase, whereas there is no equivalent in English noun- phrase These classifier- modifiers have function of categorizing the referent in the head into different groups basing on their characteristics inanimate: cái, quyển, bức, ngôi, animate: non personal: con, personal: ông, bà, cô, dì, chú, bác… These classifier- modifiers also express the speaker’s attitudes or feelings to that referent This can be seen clearly when a certain noun has many classifier- modifiers 38 Eg: In the phrase “Một cậu học sinh” The word “cậu” = “classifier” is used to refer male human being Many other classifier- modifiers can replace “cậu” depending on the speaker’s attitude towards the addressee Eg: Một đứa học sinh Một thằng học sinh Một cháu học sinh Một em học sinh Another examples: Một trái tim, tim, tim Con thuyền, thuyền, thuyền, thuyền It is obvious that they not only have different shapes of meaning but also show attitudes 4.2.2.4 The occurrence of “helping” word “cái” and “những” in pre-modification of Vietnamese noun- phrase The “helping” word “cái” occurs before classifier- unit pre-modifier or even before the head to express a certain attitude Eg: Cái người cần làm chi! H Rất nhiều người chết vào năm H The “helping” word “những” which is placed before the accurate quantifiermodifier expresses an emphasis on the quantity of the thing being mentioned Eg: Chị có năm nhà H In English noun- phrase, there is no modifier that is equivalent to the “cái” or “những” Besides, all above the differences, it is necessary to know that in English nounphrase, quantifier “all” cannot occur with “every, each” But it happens in Vietnamese noun- phrase “tất thảy, tất cả” can go with quantifier “mọi, những, cái” Eg: Tất công việc Tất tài liệu But we could not say: All every work All every documents 39 In this comparison, I have shown some similarities and differences between premodification in English noun- phrase and the equivalent in Vietnamese noun- phrase, which may be not enough because of limited time and knowledge However, this comparison also helps us understand about some similarities and differences of pre- modification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent From this point, we can easily avoid some mistakes in using them Thus the English teaching and learning will be made more effective CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION English and Vietnamese noun phrase are important in sentences They sometimes make learners or users troubled in using them, particularly in premodification That is the reason why I pay attention to premodification of noun phrases in English and Vietnamese To facilitate the process of this study, I tried to draw overview picture of premodifictaion in the two languages I start firsly with the theoretical background of noun phrase in English and Vietnamese Before making a contrastive analysis, I list main types of pre- modification of noun phrases in English and Vietnamese Last but not least, I conduct a contrastive analysis of premodification of noun phrase in English and Vietnamese And through this study, I have found some similarities and differences in using pre- modification between two languages to help learners to overcome difficulties and perfect their English in using noun phrase in English as well as in Vietnamese Normally, pre- modification in English used opposite in Vietnamese Because of the limitation of knowledge and experiences, I would not come up to all aspects of the matter I hope that the finding in this study will be some sort of supplementary information for those who are interested in pre- modification of English noun phrase And, though this paper is given a great care to build up, some mistakes may be found inevitably, for which I beg your tolerance and correction 40 REFERENCES English books Alice Maclin, A reference guide to English Geoffrey Leech- Jansvartvich, A Communicative Grammar of English, 1975 John Eastwood, Oxford Guide to English Grammar, 1994 Michael Swanu, Practical English usage, Oxford University Press, 1980 Randolph Quirk Sidney Greenbaum, A university grammar of English, Longman, 1973 Vietnamese books Can Nguyen Tai, Ngu phap tieng Viet- Tieng- Tu ghep- Doan ngu, NXB Dai hoc Chuyen Ngiep, 1975 Can Nguyen Tai, Tu loai danh tu tieng Viet, NXB khoa hoc xa hoi, Ha Noi, 1975 Ngu phap tieng Viet, Uy ban khoa hoc xa hoi Viet Nam, NXB khoa hoc xa hoi, Ha Noi, 1983 Tu dien tieng Viet, NXB Da Nang ,1990 41 [...]... class items CHAPTER III: GENERAL FEATURES OF VIETNAMESE NOUN PHRASE 3.1 Definition of Vietnamese noun phrase As far as the noun phrase is concerned, it is defined in different ways: Noun phrase is a group of word in which there is a noun acting as a head and the relation between the head and other components is subordination.” (in Tu Dien Tieng Viet” by “Nha xuat ban Da Nang”, 1996,Pg 223) Noun phrase. .. premodification The complexities in pre-modification as well as in understanding the phrase can be seen from the following examples: Eg1: A husband and wife relation (= a relation between a husband and a wife) Eg2: The appointments and promotions committee (= a committee dealing with appointments and promotions) Eg3: The allocation of finance committee (= a committee whose business is the allocation of finance)... ending in “ible, able”… implying what they are denoting has only a temporary application, whereas pre-modifying adjectives denote permanence Eg: A star visible (refer to a star that can be seen at certain time) A visible star (refer to a star that seen at any time) 2.4.2.1.2 Premodification by adverbs Some adverbs (mostly adverbs of place and time) can be used in pre-modification of noun phrase, among... not say “who is the wandering man”? ( in A University Grammar of English by R Quirk and Greenbaum, Pg 397) b) Ed- participles Much of what has been said of ing-participles applies to ed- participles also In other words, it may also indicate permanent state Eg: The damaged building or temporary state, for instance: A confused man But there are additional complications In the first place, the ed- participle... and Vietnamese equivalent 4.1 The similarities 4.1.1 The similarities of structure Both English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase consist of the head, premodification and postmodification The head is the most important and is modified by pre-modifiers and post-modifiers Both the head in English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase can be modified at the same time by many modifiers and the modifiers... “above” and “then” are most commonly used Eg: The above examples adv H 15 2.4.2.1.3 Premodification by participles In premodification position of noun phrase, ing- participles and ed- participles are usually used as adjectives attributed the head nouns a) “Ing” participles “Ing- participles” is one of the forms of verb ending in “ing” The participles stand before the noun to take the action of the agent... (in University Grammar of English) and by Alice (in A referent guide English) In R Quirk’s order, adjectives of size and shape are put into “general” adjectives, whereas in Alice’s order, they are in the same group with adjective of age However, 22 both of them put adjectives of size before adjectives of shape and in turns ones expressing shape precede adjectives of age Another difference is that in. .. studying a foreign language always arise from the differences between the foreign language we are learning and our mother tongue Therefore, making a comparison to find out the similarities and differences is the best way for us to avoid mistakes In this study I will make a comparison between pre-modification in English noun phrase and Vietnamese equivalent The following are two diagrams of general structures... gender characteristics Besides it is also used with certain kinds of inanimate nouns such as: geographical and institutional names, temporal nouns, nouns of special interest to human activity ‘S- genitives is used in a number of fixed expressions (arm’s length) The genitives easily cause ambiguity Therefore we should understand the right meaning of noun phrase basing on both its structure and the context... meaning In both English noun phrase and Vietnamese noun phrase, the meaning of noun phrase can be changed when modifiers have new positions The change of meaning is mostly caused by nouns, adjectives, demonstrative adjectives Eg 2: A new teacher of that school H ≠ A new teacher of that new school H Một giáo viên mới c a trường học đó H ≠ Một giáo viên c a trường học mới đó H Eg 3: That manager of the factory