A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A Thesis A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO THEIRVIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT CHỈ SỰ TỒN TẠI TRONG TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT) NGUYEN THI THU HA Field of study : English Language Code : 60220201 Supervisor : DR ĐANG NGOC HUONG Hanoi, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A Thesis A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CÁC BIỂU ĐẠT CHỈ SỰ TỒN TẠI TRONG TIẾNG ANH LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT) NGUYEN THI THU HA Field of study: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: DR DANG NGOC HUONG Hanoi, 201 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study of syntactic and semantic features of English expression of existence in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents.” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2017 Nguyen Thi Thu Ha Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Mr Dang Ngoc Huong who instructed me directly, shared experiences, and removed those obstacles and difficulties which arose during the process of writing my thesis My special gratitude goes to Assoc.Prof Dr Hoang Tuyet Minh for support and encouragement I sincerely thank all the lecturers of the Hanoi Open University, especially the lecturers in the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies who have been teaching and conveying to me the valuable knowledge and skills in the learning process I would also thank Mr.Nguyen Van Đao – Dean of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies of Hanoi Open University for his valuable assistance I would like to give my special thanks to the Rector Board of Hanoi Open Uniniversity I also send my deep gratitude to my friends, colleagues and students at Lao Cai Teacher Training College who have assisted me in collecting the data and provided valuable resources to help me complete my thesis Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my parent, my son for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of my academic work ii ABSTRACT The notion of existence has puzzled philosophers for a very long time, and a great range of views about that notion can be found throughout the history of philosophy While some philosophers think that notions of existence and communicative commitment can and perhaps should be pursued independently of the linguistic form of the relevant sentences, the linguistic form of statements of existence has also often been taken to be revealing as to the communicative issues themselves However, the appeal to linguistic intuitions has generally been not systematic and without serious regard of relevant issues in linguistic semantics By investigating into the topic based on written documents, this paper examines the syntactic and semantic features of English expressions of existence in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents The results of the study show that existential sentences should be assessed not only from structural perspectives but also from communicative ones The components that make up existential sentences are used to construct structures and to state the existence of objects as well Last but not least, findings on the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese existential expressions based on their equivalents suggest that the ability to understand and use the existential expressions is a complex problem for learners both in their grammatical form and lexical meaning The thesis is expected to help Vietnamese learners of English learn, translate and use existential expressions in English effectively iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS viii CHAPTER1 .1 INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives 1.2.1 Aims of the study .2 1.2.2 Objectives of the study: 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methodology and procedures 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Signification of the study 1.7 Design of the Study .5 The Referrences and Appendix put an end to the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous Studies 2.2 Theory of syntax 2.3 Theory of semantics 2.4 Concepts of expression of existence 11 2.4.1 Definitions of expression 11 2.4.2 Existence .12 2.5 An over view of expressions of existence in English 12 2.5.1 Syntax of English existential expressions .12 iv 2.5.2 Semantics of English existential expressions .16 2.6 An overview of expressions of existence in Vietnamese 18 2.7 Summary of the chapter 20 CHAPTER 21 FEATURES OF EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 21 3.1 Syntactic features of expressions of existence in English with reference totheir Vietnamese equivalents .21 3.2Semantic features of expressions of existence in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents .29 3.2.1Indicating location .29 3.2.2 Referring to actions or occurences 30 3.2.3Stating a fact or truth 30 3.2.4 Referring to the existence of the initial factor of a series of events .31 CHAPTER 37 COMMON ERRORS MADE BY LAO CAI TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH WHEN USING EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH 37 4.1 Survey 37 4.1.1 Subjects 37 4.1.2 Survey tests 38 4.1.3 Procedure .39 4.1.4 Data Collection 39 4.2Common errors made by learners of English when using expressions of existence in English 39 4.2.1 Common errors made by learners of English when using when using expressions of existence 39 4.2.2 Causes of committing errors 42 4.3 Suggestions for teaching, learning and translating expressions of existence in English for Lao Cai teacher training college learners 43 v 4.3.1 Suggestionsfor teaching expressions of existence in English .44 4.3.2 Suggestions for learning expressions of existence in English 45 4.3.3 Suggestions for translating expressions of existence in English 46 4.4Summary of the chapter .47 CHAPTER 48 CONCLUSION 48 5.1 Recapitulation 48 5.2Concluding remarks .48 5.3 Limitations of the study 49 5.4Suggestion for future study 50 REFERENCES 51 APPENDIX 54 QUESTIONS OF SURVEY TESTS 54 APPENDIX2 55 POSSIBLE ANSWERS FOR SURVEY TEST QUESTIONS 55 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1:Types of existentialsentences 29 Table 3.2 : The semantic features of expressions of existence in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese ……………………………………………………………… 35 Table 4.1: Subjects in use 37 Table 4.2: Errors made by students at Lao Cai Teacher Training College when using expressions of existence in English (Appendix 1, Ex.2) 39 Table 4.3:Common errors made by students when translating from English into Vietnamese (Appendix 1, Ex 2) 40 Table 4.4:Common errors made by students when translating from Vietnamese into English (Appendix 1, Ex 3) 41 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS A Adverbial Adj Adjective Adj.P Adjective phrase Adv Adverb C Complement CA Contrastive analysis S Subject S’ Introductory subject V Verb EC Existential Construction e.g Example Ex Exercise L1 First language L2 Second language NP Noun phrase ~ equivalent to = equal to PP Prepositional phrase PaP Participle ppap Past participle TD: rough translation viii 4.2.2 Causes of committing errors As the results have shown, after surveying the threetest excercises,the author found out that the ways of using expressions of existence in English are an urgent matter for learners of English at Lao Cai Teacher Training College The errors made seem to be popular for almost all students nowadays Also, according to the results, some errors occurred in both realizing expressions of existence in English in termsof structure and meaning and influencing of the mother tongue on target language learning The errors in using the verb have and there + be structuresrank the highest of all Due to the habit of using the mother tongue with the verb có, some students appeared to be confused in using the structures with have or there is/ arestructures in English The causes for mistakes made in using existential sentences in the survey could be summarized as follows: Inability to use the correct word forms The reasons for the Vietnamese learners of English to make mistakes of this kind are many, one of which is that the learners forget the fact that the main verb in English sentences always agrees with the subject That is why the verb be in sentence and (Ex.3) should be used in plural form Therefore, Tơi khơng tin có ma could be rendered I don’t believe there are ghosts (Incorrect: *I believe there is no ghosts)or use the wrong word(Incorrect: I don’t believe have ghosts.) Word for word translation Firstly, Lao Cai teacher training college learners in general and those under the survey seem to have based themselves on word order in the sentences in translation They may forget the fact that prepositional phrases indicating time and location can stand both at the beginning or the end of sentences in Vietnamese However, in English sentences prepositional phrases or adverbs of place and time usually follow the main verbs in the sentence For this reason, sentence 3, 5, (Ex.3) should be translated with phases indicating location at the end of the sentence To illustrate this, the correct translation of sentence (Ex.3) could be: 1) At the door are two policemen, 2) Two policemen are (standing) at the door or 3) There are two policemen (standing) at the door Secondly, the learners seem to have depended too much on direct word meaning They are not aware of the fact that different words or different structures 42 can express the same meaning in English, the meaning of existence could be expressed by different words or phases That is why in sentence 2, 4, 5, (Ex.2) and sentence 1, 3, (Ex.3) such words as contain, exist, available, has and nằm, treo, có respectively could be replaced by different words expressing existence For example, sentence (Ex.3) Trên tường treo tranh could be translated: 1) On the wall is /hangs a picture, 2) There is a picture on the wall Being unable to paraphrase Lao Cai teacher training college learners in general and those under the survey seem to have relied too much on the order of words in translating They seem to heavily base themselves on the surface structure of sentences in translation and probably even in listening too without knowing that ideas or meanings are more important than words This habit appears to prevent learners of English from using different structures and expressions to indicate the same meaning The mistake makers in such sentences as number (Ex.2), (Ex.3), and especially sentence (Ex.3) should have paraphrased the sentences to be translated before translating them For example, sentence (Ex.3) Cuộc sống thành phố sống nơng thơn có nhiều điểm khác nhaucould be paraphrased: Có nhiều điểm khác sống thành phố sống nông thôn (TD: There are many differences between city life and country life) Cuộc sống thành phố sống nông thôn khác nhiều điểm (TD: City life and country life differ in many ways) 4.3Suggestions for teaching, learning and translating expressions of existence in English for Lao Cai teacher training college learners Practicing a lot of expressions of existence in English by various forms of exercise could be one of the methods that could be done not only with the guidance of the teacher but also with students’ self-study at home This study may imply the need of encouraging students to understand thesyntactic and semantic features of English expressions of existence in English to use them flexibly and properly Therefore, teachers’ duty is to point out the similarities and differences between the two languages in respect of the related issues In other words, contrastive analysis teaching is indispensable in such situations In translation, with the understanding of language structures, it would be easier to translate languages for the learners Therefore, translation exercises from Vietnamese into English and vice versa should be given to learners to help them use expressions of existence in Englishand their 43 Vietnamese equivalents properly Last but not least, the thesis is carried out to provide learners with understanding how to use expressions of existence in English so that they will be able to express their ideas in particular contexts properly That is why some suggestions are proposed below with the hope that they could help teachers and students deal with the problems concerned 4.3.1 Suggestionsfor teaching expressions of existence in English In order to help students to use expressions of existence in English correctly, the teacher’s role is crucial in the process of improving students’abilities For teachers, the following suggestions could be helpful: First of all, teachers should be trained to master existential sentence structures and know how to improve their techniques in teaching expressions of existence in English, not only knowing how English expressions of existence are used, but also having good knowledge about Vietnamese equivalents in terms of: structures and meanings as well Teachers should distinguish the expressions of existence with there + befrom other kinds of expressions of existence in English Secondly, when teaching expressions of existence in English, in oder to use the right word forms (error-making causenumber of section 4.2.2), teachers should know how to make a contrastive analysis with Vietnamese, especially in the aspects of word order and word form The expressions of existence in English and their Vietnamese equivalents pointed out in the study will, to some extent, help the teacher to predict those areas of expressions of existence in English which will cause a lot of difficulties for Vietnamese learners The contrastive analysis may provide the teacher with understanding of the nature of the mother tongue and the English language and it will enable him to find ways to deal with any problems raised by the nature of the differences and similarities and to take account into them when teaching Thirdly, teachers should teach what the students need, not what teachers know When teaching expressions of existence in English, together with teaching the types of structure, teachers should point out the meanings of existence in English and their Vietnamese equivalents This will help learners avoid committing intralingual errors For example, as for the second cause for mistake making (errormaking cause number of section 4.2.2),in teaching we need to point out the context of situation in which the expressions of existence in English are to be used 44 After the teacher has helped his or her students to understand the expressions of existence structurally and semantically, they are expected to use what they have known about these constructions in writing and speaking by using different types of existential sentences to create variety in communication For example, they might be instructed to re-write the following paragraph in their own way: (Original version) This is Hoa’s bedroom There is a desk on the left of the room On the desk there are many folders, and above the desk there is a bookshelf There is a bed near the desk On the right side of the room, there is a window There is a wardrobe beside the window The wardrobe is opposite the desk (Revised version) This is Hoa’s bedroom On the left of the room is a small desk On the desk there are many folders, and above the desk hangs a bookshelf There is a bed near the desk On the right side of the room, there is a window A wardrobe is placed beside the window The wardrobe is opposite the desk Finally, the teacher should be a guide to help students practice by practice more and more type of expressions of existence in English She should help students to participate in learning process, and the teacher should cooperate with learners in teaching and learning process to get a good result 4.3.2 Suggestions for learning expressions of existence in English In order to help students to learn and use expressions of existence in English the following suggestions should be helpful for students tolearn what the teacher taught about expressions of existence in English and their Vietnamese equivalents.Firstly, learners should read English grammar books to first understand the structures and meanings of expressions of existence in English They should know that there are three main parts in the structures What is special of the structure is that only indefinite nouns are used as subject Another characteristic of the structure is that when the word there stands before the verb be, the real subject is after the verb be and when prepositional phrases stand at the beginning of the existential sentence, the noun in the locative phrase cannot be the subject of the sentence This explains why it is not correct to write *In the essay has got several spelling mistakes (Correct: In the essay there are several spelling mistakes orThe 45 essay has got several spelling mistakes in it) Not only should learners know what existential structures contain but they should also know how to use themproperly They should practice a lot of expressions of existence in English by various forms of exercise, since ‘practice makes perfect’.In addition, they should know how to realize the similarities and differences between existential sentences in English and Vietnamese by sharing knowledge, experiences, feelingswith teachers and friends, or by accepting mistakes and correction from both teachers and friends, which is always a good way of learning 4.3.3 Suggestions for translating expressions of existence in English In tranlating, learners need to define the situations in which the expressions of existence in English make sense For example, they need to know when and why the verb exist, have or be is possibly used A further pedagogical implication resulting from the findings included in this study could be beneficial for translators who would like to gain a deeper understanding of the syntactic and semantic features of the expressions of existence in English Achieving this knowledge can be especially important if one wishes to avoid failure in translating sentences containing expressions of existence in English Successful translation is measured by three criteria: accurate, natural and communicative A form in one language may have different interpretations, so the translator needs to master the knowledge of the expressions of existence to translate accurately, and fast On the other hand, sentence structures differ in different languages Therefore, translators should depend on different communicative contexts, as well as on the culture of each country to select proper ways of translating To this end, the translator’s task is to analyze carefully the discourse context in which the message is communicated in order to choose appropriate forms for his translation.For example, in oder to avoid word for word translating as has been describeb in causes for mistake making (error-making cause 3, 4.2.2), teachers should know how to help learners not only understand lexical meaning but also implied meaning or contextual meaning so that learners not heavily depend on individual words, they can paraphrase sentences in different ways to find out the most suitable structures to communicate the same meaning 46 4.4Summary of the chapter In this chapter we have dealt with the actual errors made by students at Lao Cai Teacher Training College when learning and using the expressions of existence in English The data analysis may show that not only students at Lao Cai Teacher Training College in particular but also Vietnamese studentsin general may make errors in using expressions of existence in English Some suggestions for overcoming these problems were given, and the teacher roleis very important It is very necessary for English teachers to have a good knowledge of English Some helpful suggestions for students learning English have been given also to help them find the best ways of learning Some suggestions for translation refer to the fact that the mother tongue is one of the most important factor that affects the process of learning second language These suggestions are intended to improve the quality of teaching, learning and translating expressions of existence in English at Lao Cai Teacher Training College which are infact, problematic to some extent 47 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation To achieve the goals of study, in the first place the thesis looked at the overview of syntactic and semantic of expressions of existence in English as well as their Vietnamese equivalents Then the author introduced the concept of expression At the same time a brief contrastive analysis of syntactic and semantic features of expressions of existence in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents was carried out by the author The equivalence between the two languages appears to cause many problems for the learners of English The greatest significance of this study is the finding of the equivalence between the two languages Importantly, a significant task taken by Vietnamese learners and translators of existential structures in English requires that they should be flexible and context-suitable This study may also imply the need of encouraging students to exploit the expressions of existence in English to use them flexibly and properly.In sum, the study has provided learners of English with detailed description of expressions of existence in English in terms of syntactic, semantic features and Vietnamese translational equivalents 5.2Concluding remarks With three research objectives: finding syntactic and semantics features of English expressions of existence in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents, andproposing some suggestions for teaching, learning and translating expressions of existence in English for Vietnamese learners, the thesis has identified the following issues: For the first goal, the thesis examined and found five types of sentences indicating existencein English In these types of sentences there are usually three main components: subject, verb, and subject complement Firstly, in most cases, the subject must be indefinite noun phrases, except when the structure is used with transitive verbs as the main verb As usual, the subject usually stands at the beginning of the sentence, however, in the case of there as introductory subject, the 48 real subjectstands after the verb predicatebe Besides the verb beused as the main verb in existential sentences in English, other verbs could be used in the structure, they could be intransitive or transitive verbs The phrases that indicate the location of existence are often found in English existential structures and when the contexts of communicaton are clear, the locative phrases could be omitted Structurally speaking, English existential structures have the three parts as their Vietnamese equivalents In terms of semantic characteristics, although structures of existence in English are of five types, semantically they all indicate the existence or presence of things in specific situations; in addition, these structures could have pragmatic meanings They can also refer to a reality or truth, to an action without mentioning who does the action, or to an initial agent which entails a consequence or a series of events, which could be seen in describing particular situations or in telling stories Overall, English existential expressions have almost the same semantic features as those of their equivalents in Vietnamese As for the third research question, relating to suggestions for overcoming the possible problems Vietnamese learners may encounter when learning or translating existential structures in English, the thesis has pointed out that it is very important for both learners and English teachers to have a good knowledge of English They have to improve their techniques in learning and teaching and they should know how to deal with each type of errors to select appropriate exercises and activities to practise in their learning and teaching process and so on One of the most important things is the students’ attempt in overcoming problems The tachers should cooperate with students to get good achievements together effectively 5.3 Limitations of the study As mentioned in the scope of the study, the thesis undoubtedly has some limitations though we have tried our best to complete it Due to limit of time and data collected, there are unavoidable weaknesses in the study; for example, the thesis has investigatedfive types of expression that indicate existence in English That cannot be said to be all Therefore, there must be still other existential expressions in English which need studying further 49 5.4Suggestion for future study The study has focused on the syntactic and semantic of expressions of existence in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents Although the study is rather limitted, it still has certain important implications for teachers and students at Lao Cai Teacher Training College However, the problems of expressions of existence in Englishcannot be completely covered in such a limited thesis as this one On the basis of what this thesis achieved, futher researches may be possible: the semantic-grammatical problems of expressions of existence in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents; comparison of the syntactic characteristics of existential expressions in English with those in Vietnamese, etc… Finally, it is hoped that the ideas and suggestions of the study will prove worthwhile to those who wish to carry on research in this area and to those who are interested in this issue 50 REFERENCES English Sources Adam, M (2009) A Handbook of Functional Sentence Perspective: (FSP in Theory and Practice) with Key (2nd ed.).Brno: Masarykova univerzita Alexander, L (1988) Longman English Grammar New York: Longman Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E (1999) Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (xxviii, 1204 s.) 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(1995) Comparative A ustronesian Dictionary: A n Introduction to Austronesian Studies, vols Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter 31 Viberg, Å (1984) The existential expressions: A typological study In Butterworth, B., Comrie, B., & Dahl, O (Eds.), Explanations for Language Universals, (pp 123– 162) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter 32 Viberg, Å (2008) Swedish existential expressions from a typological and contrastive perspective.In Gómez-González, M A., Mackenzie, J L., & Álvarez, E M (Eds.), Languages and cultures in contrast and comparison(pp 123-172).Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company 33 Whitt, R J (2011) (Inter) Subjectivity and evidential existential expressions in English and German.Journal of Pragmatics, 43(1), 347–360 52 English-Vietnamese Sources 34 Osscar Wilde (2016), Hoàng tử hạnh phúc, The devoted Fiend, tr 74-75, Nxb Văn hóa thơng tin 35 Thu Hương (2006), Truyện cười song ngữ Anh – Việt, Nxb Văn hóa thơng tin 36 Viện Ngơn ngữ học (1993) Từ điển Anh-Việt, Nxb TP Hồ Chí Minh 37 Streamline English Departures (1997), Nxb Trẻ Vietnamese Sources 38 Các công trình nghiên cứu ngữ pháp chức tiếng Việt Cao Xuân Hạo(1991), Nxb Khoa học xã hội 39 Diệp Quang Ban(1980), ngữ pháp tiếng Việt, tr 144, Nxb Giáo dục 40 Lê Đông(2010), ghi chép vấn đề ngữ nghĩa – cú pháp, tr 30, tạp chí Ngơn ngữ 41 Nguyễn Đổng Chi(2012), Sự tích dưa hấu, KTCTVN, tập 1, Nxb Tuổi trẻ 42 Trần Ngọc Thêm, Hệ thống liên kết văn tiếng việt, tr 56, Nxb Giáo dục Internet Sources: 43 http://www.studyphim.vn/54-cau-cham-ngon-va-danh-ngon-tieng-anh-hayve-cuoc-song 44 http://tienganh1.viettelstudy.vn/viettel/public/thu-vien/19-cau-danh-ngontieng-anh-hay-ve-cuoc-song-3982.html 45 http://cep.com.vn/Cau-be-chan-cuu-508.html 46 http://newsky.edu.vn/truyen-song-ngu-anh-viet-hay-va-de-doc/ 47 http://langmaster.edu.vn/113-idiom-thong-dung-b10i83.html 53 APPENDIX QUESTIONS OF SURVEY TESTS Exercise 1: Chosose the best answers to complete the sentences below: It seems … a problem here A: to have B: there is … not a student who passed the exam A: have B: there was …… no one for us to talk to A: There was B: Have That room …….nothing inside A: There is B: Has … something causing my friend to feel upset A: Have B: There is … will follow an interval of five minutes A: Have B: There Exercise 2:Translate the following sentences into Vietnamese There have been two weddings at the local church this month Water contains hydrogen and oxygen Two girls are talking in the waiting room Conflicts always exist in life There is nothing available in this shop This essay has got several mistakes Exercise 3:Translate the following sentences into English Gần cầu có ngơi nhà nhỏ Tơi khơng tin có ma Có tranh treo tường Khơng có sách bàn Ở cửa vào có hai viên cảnh sát Cuộc sống thành thị nơng thơn có nhiều khác biệt 54 APPENDIX2 POSSIBLE ANSWERS FOR SURVEY TEST QUESTIONS Exercise 1: Chosose the best answers to complete the sentences below: It seems …B a problem here A: to have B: there is …B not a student who passed the exam A: have B: there was …A… no one for us to talk to A: There was B: Have That room …B….nothing inside A: There is B: Has …B something causing my friend to feel upset A: Have B: There is 6…B will follow an interval of five minutes A: Have B: There Exercise 2:Translate the following sentences into Vietnamese Tháng có hai đám cưới (tổ chức) nhà thờ địa phương (tháng này) Nước gồm/chứa hydro ơxy Trong nước có hydro ơxy (Trong phòng đợi) Có hai gái phòng đợi Xung đột có sống / Trong sống ln ln có xung đột Trong cửa hàng chẳng có mua / Chẳng mua hàng Bài luận có số lỗi / Có số lỗi luận Exercise 3:Translate the following sentences into English There is a small house near the bridge / Near the bridge is a small house / Near the bridge is a house which is small I don’t believe there are ghosts / I believe there are no ghosts On the wall hangs (is) a picture / There is a picture on the wall 55 There are not any books on the table At the door are (stand) two policemen / There are two policemen (standing) at the door There are many differences between city (life) and country life / City and country life has got many differences in it The End 56 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M .A Thesis A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS OF EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE. .. forward the following objectives: - To examine the syntactic features of English expressions of existence and their translational equivalents in Vietnamese - To examine the semantic features of English. .. in all, the concepts of syntax and semantics on which structure, semantic and pragmatic meanings are based are a basis for the thesis to study syntactic and semantic features of existential expressions