Inversion in english in comparison with that in vietnamese and some suggested pratice exercises for learners of english submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of bachelor pedagogy

Suggested solutions in teaching and learning English inversion based on similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversion .... However, learning English especially gr

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N 0 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY

NGUYEN THI HA GIANG

INVERSION IN ENGLISH IN COMPARISON WITH THAT IN VIETNAMESE AND SOME SUGGESTED PRACTICE EXERCISES

FOR LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF

PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN VAN DEN, M.A

Hanoi, May 2016

Especially, I would like to show my sincere thanks to Mr Silverman for his considerate and careful support He helped me to check the spelling, English grammar and the English word usage

Also, I really want to send my particular thanks to all the lectures of Foreign Language Faculty and my friends for their great help and comments on my study Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for helping and encouraging me during my research

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ABSTRACT

Inversion is one of the most difficult parts of English grammar as well as Vietnamese one There are many types of English and Vietnamese inversions However, the characteristics and the structures of inversion have been not fully described to learners Students are sometimes confused with the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese ones and often make errors Therefore, the study aims at pointing out some various types of English and Vietnamese inversions The most significant objective of the study is to find out the similarities and differences between the two languages From that, the study will suggest some solutions for teaching and learning English inversion Moreover, some good exercises are suggested to help EFL learners practice more at home and have deep understanding about inversion The study has three main parts The first part consists of the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods, the tasks and the design of the research work The second part includes two chapters: the theoretical background relating to the overview of English and Vietnamese inversions; the methodology of the research; explain the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversions According to the material analysis, the predictions on some students’ errors are indicated and the appropriate solutions will

be proposed The third part summarizes what has been done in the study and gives

suggestions for further research

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title:

INVERSION IN ENGLISH IN COMPARISON WITH THAT IN VIETNAMESE AND SOME SUGGESTED PRACTICE EXERCISES FOR LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

I certify that all the materials in this study which are not my own work have been

identified and acknowledged and the study is originally written by me under the

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii

ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE 1

II RESEARCH PRESUPPOSTION 2

III RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 3

IV RESEARCH SCOPE 3

V RESEARCH METHOD 3

VI RESEARCH TASKS 4

VII SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 4

VIII DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK 4

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF 6

II AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE INVERSION 9

II.1 Word order 9

II.2 Definition of inversion 10

II.3 Function of inversion 11

II.3.1 In written text 11

II.3.2 In speaking context 11

vi

III INVERSION IN ENGLISH 12

III.1 Subject- Verb inversion 12

III.1.1 Inversion after adverbial expressions of place/time 12

III.1.2 Inversion in reporting sentences 13

III.1.3 Inversion after a predicate noun 13

III.1.4 Inversion after a predicate adjective 13

III.1.5 Inversion in formulae 14

III.1.6 Journalistic style inversion 14

III.2 Subject- Auxiliary verb inversion 14

III.2.1 Inversion in questions 14

III.2.1.1 Inversion in yes-no questions 14

III.2.1.2 Inversion in tag questions 14

III.2.1.3 Inversion in WH-questions 15

III.2.2 Inversion in exclamations 16

III.2.3 Inversion in conditional sentences 16

III.2.4 Inversion after negative and restrictive adverbials 17

III.2.5 Inversion in comparative than, as clauses 18

III.2.6 Inversion after so, such, neither, nor 18

IV INVERSION IN VIETNAMESE 19

IV.1 Inversion of predicate and subject 19

IV.1.1 Inversion of verb-predicate and subject 19

IV.1.2 Inversion of adjective-predicate and subject 19

IV.2 Other inverted elements of sentences in Vietnamese 20

IV.2.1 Object-complement 20

IV.2.2 The predicating word- complement denoting manner 20

IV.2.3 The word’s complement denoting manner 20

IV.2.4 The sentential complement denoting reason 21

IV.2.5 The sentential complement denoting purpose 21

IV.3.Inversion of predicating words 22

IV.3.1 Inversion with the existential meaning and onomatopoetic or pictographic words 22

IV.3.2 Inversion with the manifestation meaning and movement 22

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY AND SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE INVERSION I RATIONALE TO CHOOSE CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 24

II SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES 26

II.1 Similarities between English and Vietnamese inversion 26

II.1.1 Similarities in definition 26

II.1.2 Similarities in the structure 26

II.1.3 Similarities in the emphasized verb 27

I.1.4 Similarities in the meaning of expression 28

II.2 Differences between English and Vietnamese inversion 28

II.2.1 Difference in the structure 28

II.2.1 Differences in the inverted elements of sentence 29

III IMPLICATIONS FOR INVERSION TEACHING AND LEARNING IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 32

III.1 Some students’ errors in learning English inversion 32

III.2 Suggested solutions in teaching and learning English inversion based on similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversion 33

III.3.Some suggested exercises involving inversion for EFL students 34

PART THREE: CONCLUSION I CONCLUSION 36

II LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTHER STUDY 37

II.1 Limitations 37

viii

II.2 Suggestions for further study 37

REFERENCES 38 APPENDIX 40

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALE

In a cutting-edge science and technology era, along with the globalization at present, English plays a particularly important role in international trade, business, education, entertainment activities and in almost all aspects of daily life It becomes

a bridge among countries and is considered useful means of communication to further relationships and create more mutual understanding among all the peoples around the world Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech& Svartvik (1985) found “English is generally acknowledged to be the world’s most important language” Furthermore, English is used as an official language of many international companies or organizations to exchange information with members from other countries And many countries in the world also speak English as a second language such as Singapore, France In Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in high schools, colleges, universities and for every major for many years Besides, Vietnamese students gradually have the awareness of the importance of English and the necessities of learning English to meet the needs of the society However, learning English especially grammar is very difficult for Vietnamese students and for students in English majors particularly

There is mounting evidence that English grammar is so complicated that students are not able to master it easily In learning English, grammar is regarded as

an important and necessary part Thanks to grammar, students learn about the structures of sentences, the verb tenses and many special theories From that, students accomplish exercises more easily and become accurate than in the past It can be seen that English grammar consists of so many items that we have been learning for a long time One of these items that students feel the most difficult is English inversion English becomes more interesting and impressive with inversion although it is very complicated Inversion in English means the rearrangement of

the constituents in the sentence in order to emphasize the action or people which are mentioned in the context In Vietnamese, inversion is more popular in literature than other fields such as in poems, short stories, novels and so on In the process of learning English, some Vietnamese students misunderstand about inversion and make mistakes For example, they write “Why you go to school late?” instead of

“Why do you go to school late?” The reason why Vietnamese learners construct the above sentence is that they don’t know how word order in English is different from

in Vietnamese However, mastering inversion is not easy for an L2 learner, especially Vietnamese learners

The comparison of inversion between English and Vietnamese plays a significant role in learning and teaching English It helps students to identify the similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese inversion From that, it will support the EFL students in doing many kinds of exercises such as translating, rewriting sentences and so on There have been many authors who are interested in comparing English and Vietnamese inversions However, they only pay attention to listing the type of inversions in the two languages or distinguish them in brief

Therefore, with these purposes, the study “Inversion in English in comparison with

that in Vietnamese and some suggested practice exercises for learners of English.”

is conducted

II RESEARCH PRESUPPOSTION

The study is conducted to answer the following questions:

- What are different kinds of English inversion?

- What kinds of Vietnamese inversion are there?

- What are the similarities and differences between English inversion and Vietnamese one?

- What are some predictions on common errors that students often get?

- What are the suggested solutions in teaching and learning inversion?

- What are some forms of exercises for EFL students?

III RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The study’s purposes are:

- Getting a fuller understanding of English inversion

- Understanding more about the Vietnamese one

- Comparing English and Vietnamese inversions

- Introducing exercises for EFL students

IV RESEARCH SCOPE

The research concentrates on the kinds of English and Vietnamese inversions This research also gives some examples related to some typical inversion in both English and Vietnamese literature Along with that, the comparison between English inversion and Vietnamese inversion as conducted in this research is designed to help the readers recognize the importance of inversion

in both languages

V RESEARCH METHOD

This study’s main method is contrastive analysis to analyze the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversions on the aspects of forms and uses in theory by giving examples This method is also applied by many researchers like: Nguyen (1996) and other authors

Firstly, the overview of word order in English and Vietnamese was introduced Secondly, the research describes the definition, some types of English and Vietnamese inversion and when to employ the inversion Then I make comparisons of similarities and differences of inversion in two languages Finally,

I predict some typical students’ errors and suggest some solutions to teach and

learn inversion, along with introducing various types of exercises related to inversion for EFL students

VI RESEARCH TASKS

The research will focus on some main tasks below:

 Giving an overview of word order in English

 Studying the definition and types of English inversion

 Studying the inversion in Vietnamese

 Comparing English and Vietnamese inversion

 Predicting the common errors of students

 Suggesting some solutions in teaching and learning inversion

 Suggesting some forms of exercises involving inversion for EFL students

VII SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH

Inversion is the beauty of English and is one of the most important and difficult part of English grammar But to master it is not easy for EFL learners especially students that don’t have an English knowledge background By making

it clearer for students, it helps them to learn English much more correctly With these purposes, the study is aimed to explain the types of English and Vietnamese inversion in detail for students so as to support them in not misunderstanding the word orders in Vietnamese and English From that, they will recognize the differences and then they will be able to reduce more errors in their understanding

of inversion theory Furthermore, the thesis will be useful for promoting other studies in the future And it will become an effective reference for teachers and students particularly EFL learners

The research consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part one gives the reason for choosing the topic, objectives, tasks and the method of the study It also contains the scope of the study and briefly gives

an overall outline of the research Part two includes two chapters Chapter one is a Theoretical background presenting literature review and the overview of word order and inversion in English and Vietnamese: definition, classification and some special cases of inversion Chapter two is Methodology describing in detail the research methodology and another is Similarities and Differences between English and Vietnamese inversion comparing and contrasting the English inversion and Vietnamese one It also predicts some errors which students often make in learning English inversion; gives some suggestions of learning and teaching inversion and suggests good types of exercises for EFL learners It is a prominent part of the study Part three is about the conclusion of the research It summarizes the content of the research

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF

Generally, English inversion is a grammatical category that is difficult for learners to understand and master It has been studied by many grammarians for years including some English authors like: Foley and Hall (2012), Vince and Sunderland (2003), Hewings (2005), etc All the studies contribute to the research

of inversion to help learners to know more about inversion such as: definition, types and usage

Schmidt (1980), with the book A History of Inversion in English, illustrates

an overview of Old English (OE) word order as well as the classification of English inversion in the 15th and 16th centuries Besides he also presents the types and the function of inversion in modern English He claims:

The functions of OE inversion proposed in the literature are the same function in the discussion of inversion in modern English: rhythmic reasons for inversion, intersentential connection, emphasis and thematicity Most certainly these are factors that enter into the use of inversion in OE (p.70)

Thomson and Martinet (1986), in A practical English Grammar (4thed.), pay

attention to the inversion of the verb after certain adverbs such as: hardly…when, in

no circumstances, no sooner…than and so on Along with these, they also give

some notes in doing exercises which involve inversion In some cases, this book is very useful and necessary Last but not least, it doesn’t give the reader a full range

of inversion in English and makes it really difficult for them to understand inversion clearly

Dorgeloh (1997) studies the word order in English, types of English inversion, the semantics of inversion and the inversion in discourse in the book

named Inversion in modern English - Form and Function He divides English

inversion into two main different categories: full inversion (FI) and subject

auxiliary inversion (SAI) The book is extremely helpful so that students can learn

more about inversion in modern English especially in function

Vince and Sunderland (2003), in the book Advanced language Practice,

focus on the definition of English inversion They state that inversion in English contains two important grammatical operations: the usage of a question form of the main verb and the change of normal positions of verb and subjects In addition, he introduces the classification of English inversion such as: inversion after negative

adverbials, so/such that and inversion with conditional sentences This author

has contributed an effective document in learning English inversion It is wonderfully done but the contents need to be more detailed Moreover, he doesn’t pay much attention to the subject-verb inversion

In the book Advanced Grammar in Use (2nded.), Hewings (2005) gives an overall look and provides exercises in English inversion He emphasizes the function of inversion and gives more details about the kinds of inversion we find in English This is a particularly useful book for English learners because it provides more information about the kinds of inversion in brief It helps students to easily remember and learn the structures of English inversion

In Inversion in written and spoken contemporary English, Alonso (2007) states that in this study, he concentrates on full-verb inversion in present-day English, especially inversion in interrogative and exclamatory clauses He also mentions the quotation or journalistic style of inversion In addition, he also compares some researches by Dorgeloh (1997) with other authors He particularly highlights his study with full verb inversions seen in written and spoken English at present

Vince (2008) with the book English Grammar in Context describes English

inversion in several aspects He also mentions that inversion is used in formal speech and writing According to him, inversion in English involves the usage of

word order in interrogative form after an adverb with a negative or restrictive meaning at the beginning of the sentence The author pays more attention to subject-auxiliary verb inversion and the content of this book is just not sufficient It doesn’t mention the inversions found in exclamatory sentences and in tag questions

In Advanced Learners’ Grammar (12th ed.) of Foley and Hall (2012) distinguishes the kinds of inversion: subject-verb inversion and subject-auxiliary inversion Besides, the authors also show several special cases that do not use

inversion like: no doubt and only

In addition, Vietnamese authors also have their different points of view about inversion Inversion in Vietnamese concentrates on literature in any format Although there are fewer authors in Vietnam who do this type of research on inversion, they do give reasonably full information about inversion

In the book entitled Phong cách học và đặc điểm tu từ Tiếng Việt (Stylistics

and Vietnamese rhetorical Features), Cu Dinh Tu (1983) gives his points of view

about Vietnamese inversion He points out the two types of Vietnamese inversion and gives examples to substantiate his views This book supplies necessary and exact information about Vietnamese inversion However, it lacks in some of the special kinds of inversion found in Vietnamese literature

Dinh Trong Lac (1997) in the book Phong cách học Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese

Stylistics), concentrates on the definition, the function of inversion and the

classification of Vietnamese inversion With these ideas, he presents some poems

in Vietnamese literature to explain to readers about inversion in Vietnamese clearly The author gives a complete definition of inversion in Vietnamese as well

as its function in writing From that, readers, especially students can have a profound look into how this rhetorical device is best employed

In summary, each author above has made an overview of inversion in English and Vietnamese Their contributions are very useful and necessary for

learners to study and then do the exercises that contain inversion However, most of them only focus on the definition, the classification and the usage of inversion in either Vietnamese inversion or English inversion Thus, it will be prominent to have a comparison between English and Vietnamese inversion It is the reason why this research is conducted

INVERSION

II.1 Word order

Word order is a prominent part of English grammar As Dorgeloh (1997) claims that: “Word order most often refers to the order of the sentence constituents,

in fact, more precisely, to the order of sentence elements or grammatical relations.” ( p.13)

For example:

Anh ấy tặng tôi một món quà

Through the position of a word in a sentence, the reader can see its grammatical function in relation to the other elements of the sentence

In English, there are many functions of word order It helps to express grammatical relations and determine the status of a word Moreover, it not only makes prominent or emphatic that part of the sentence which is more informative in the speaker’s opinion but also expresses continuity of thought in sentences or in clauses that follow one another Because Vietnamese is an isolating and analytic language, word order plays an important role in showing the grammatical relations and meanings In both English and Vietnamese, word order is also a grammatical device to reflect the relationship and meanings of words

II.2 Definition of inversion

According to Schmidt (1980), inversion is defined as “the sentential surface structure word order in which the verb of the sentence precedes the subject of the sentence.” (p.4)

Besides, Hewings (2005) also gives his own view that in statements, the subject stands in front of the verb, which is very common But in some cases, the verb appears in the first place of the sentence and the order is reversed It is called inversion

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (8 th ed.), inversion is defined as:

“Inversion is the act of changing the position or order of something to its opposite

or of turning something upside down.”

As Dinh Trong Lac (1997) claims: “Đảo ngữ là hiện tượng vi phạm có chủ định trật tự các đơn vị lời nói nhằm mục đích tách ra một thành tố nghĩa- cảm xúc nào đó.” (p.257)(Inversion is the phenomenon of violating the standard order of speech elements with the aim of separating a certain meaning or emotional element)

Swan (2005) divides English inversion into two main kinds:

 Inversion (1): auxiliary verb before subject: it means putting an auxiliary verb (and non-auxiliary have & be) before the subject of clause

 Inversion (2): whole verb before subject: we put an adverbial expression of place or direct at the beginning of a clause This case is popular in literary and descriptive writing

For example:

Have you got a new computer?

Here comes the bus

What is your name?

II.3 Function of inversion

II.3.1 In written text

Hewings (2005) presents: “Inversion brings about fronting, the re-ordering of

information in a sentence to give emphasis in a particular place Often this causes

an element to be postponed until later in the sentence, focusing attention on it.”(p.198)

Whereas, Dinh (1997) gives his own point of view: “Chức năng của tu từ đảo ngữ là làm thay đổi tiết tấu của câu, làm giàu âm hưởng, gợi màu sắc biểu cảm-cảm xúc, gây ấn tượng mạnh.” (p.257) (The function of inversion is to change the intonation of the sentences, to enrich the syllabus harmony, to excite the expressive and emotional color and create an intensive emphasis)

In conclusion, inversion also makes the sentences or texts more impressive and focuses the readers’ attention on the emphasized parts or words of the sentences Thanks to this, the sentences will be able to increase the nuances of meaning and be more colorful

II.3.2 In speaking context

In speaking context, inversion helps listeners pay more attention to the emphasized part which the speakers want to talk about and emphasize Inversion

makes the intonation of the sentence change so that the listeners know what is important in an utterance

III INVERSION IN ENGLISH

III.1 Subject- Verb inversion

III.1.1 Inversion after adverbial expressions of place/time

As Foley and Hall (2012) state that a verb or verb phrase is put before the subject and after adverbs of places (on, opposite, outside, here, there…) and adverbs of time (next, then, first, now…) The form of verbs can be “to be” or verbs of movement and place It is used in the descriptive and literary writing

Place adverbs+ be or verbs of

place/movement

On the grass sat an enormous fog

Time adverbs+ be or verbs of

place/movement

Next is the music program

Table 1: Types and example of inversion after adverb expression

This case is not applied when the subject of the sentence is a pronoun

According to Hewings (2005), inversion of verb and subject in the case:

Here comes + noun and There goes + noun is to remind about things and people

that “moving towards or away from the speaker.” (p.198)

For example:

Here comes the bus

There goes Thanh Hang, a famous model in Vietnam

There is an exception which doesn’t follow this rule of inversion

For example:

There he comes

(Not there comes he.)

III.1.2 Inversion in reporting sentences

Reporting verbs often come before the subject in the direct speech These

verbs can be: said, asked…

For example:

“How much is this mobile phone?” asked John

It doesn’t happen when the subject is a pronoun

For example:

“I would like a cup of tea,” he says

III.1.3 Inversion after a predicate noun

A noun phrase, in this case, is often inverted into the beginning of the sentence

For example:

An important part of English grammar is conditional sentence

According to Schmidt (1980): “ Preposing with no inversion is also odd, but especially with long subjects.” (p.8)

For example:

Conditional sentence is an important part of English grammar

Inverting a predicate noun into the initial position of the sentence will create the reader’s attention to the noun itself The sentence will therefore be more attractive and impressive

III.1.4 Inversion after a predicate adjective

Inversion after a predicate adjective means the rearrangement in which the adjective is at the beginning of the sentence

For example:

Very intelligent is the student in your class

Plainly detectible were the scars from his old football injury

(Schmidt, 1980, p.9)

It helps to bring the semantic and prosodic meaning for the sentences

III.1.5 Inversion in formulae

According to Foley& Hall (2012), we also see inversion in certain fixed

expressions, often with subjunctives

For example:

Long live the King!

This kind of inversion is also common with the readers It is used with the goal of expressing the wishes of the speakers In addition, the structure “May+ S+ V” is also used in this kind of inversion to hope that a better thing will happen

III.1.6 Journalistic style inversion

This kind of inversion is often seen in the media with the personal pronoun subject

For example:

Says lovely actress Mary Malone, “ I always have a wonderful time

in Columbus.” (Schmidt, 1980, p.11)

III.2 Subject- Auxiliary verb inversion

III.2.1 Inversion in questions

III.2.1.1 Inversion in yes-no questions

“English yes-no questions are formed by placing the operator before the subject.” (Nguyen, 1996, p.46)

For example:

You are a farmer => Are you a farmer?

It will rain => Will it rain?

Two statements above are turned into yes-no questions by the inversion of the subject and the auxiliary verb

III.2.1.2 Inversion in tag questions

A tag question is a short question which follows a statement It contains an auxiliary verb (like the auxiliary verb of the previous statement) and a subject (a pronoun)

Types Example

Hardly/ seldom/rarely/ never…+

Positive?

You never go to the cinema, do you?

I?

Table 2: Types of tag questions

This kind of inversion is also appeared in spoken literature It emphasizes the information which the speaker wants to mention

III.2.1.3 Inversion in Wh-questions

This kind of inversion is very common in English grammar We can easily make a full question by using an interrogative word like the following example

For example:

What time is it?

What do you mean?

This word order is not used in indirect questions

For example:

Lan asked me what the weather was like

He wondered where she was

Swan (2005) states: “However, in formal writing inversion is sometimes

used with be in indirect questions after how, especially when the subject is

long.”(p.280)

For example:

I wondered how reliable was the information I had been given

III.2.2 Inversion in exclamations

Inversion is also used in exclamations, as shown below:

In a normal sentence, we say:

Oh! The girl is beautiful

Oh my god! The weather is awful

 Exclamations :

How beautiful the girl is!

How awful the weather is!

Exclamation is very common in English It often starts with the starting of

what or how It helps the speakers express their feelings and emotion about

something Inversion in exclamations can be seen in English literature Using this kind of inversion will help English sentences or compositions create a more profound effect

As Swan (2005) notes: “Inversion sometimes appears in the exclamations

after how and what especially in the old-fashioned literary style” (p.280)

III.2.3 Inversion in conditional sentences

In the book Advanced Language Practice, Vince & Sunderland (2003) claim

that we can use inversion instead of using “If” in conditional clauses with “Were”,

“Had” or “Should It contributes the formality into the sentences and makes the event less likely (p.79) It may be used in the formal and literary conditional clauses

For example:

With the normal conditional sentence:

If she had finished her homework, she wouldn’t have been received bad marks

The conditional sentence with inversion will be:

Had she finished her homework, she wouldn’t have received bad marks