AN EVALUATION OF THE INSTRUCTION INSIMPLE SENTENCES IN OXFORDPRACTICE GRAMMAR ADVANCED BYGEORGE YULE

VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CULTURRES FINAL ASSIGNMENT Course title: SYNTAX Student’s name: NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG YẾN – 131A140012 LÊ VŨ MỘNG TRINH – 131A140094 HOÀNG THỊ KIM HÒA – 131A140096 Deadline: APRIL 20th, 2017 Submission date: APRIL 20th, 2017 Lecturer: Bui Phu Hung HO CHI MINH CITY, 2017 VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CULTURRES AN EVALUATION OF THE INSTRUCTION IN SIMPLE SENTENCES IN OXFORD PRACTICE GRAMMAR ADVANCED BY GEORGE YULE HO CHI MINH CITY, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to our teacher Mr Bui Phu Hung who gave us the golden opportunity to this assignment on the topic “simple sentences”, which also helped us to a lot research and we came to know about so many new things We would also like to thank our friends who helped us a lot in finalizing this assignment within the limited time frame We are making this assignment not only for marks but also our knowledge We thank you Mr Bui Phu Hung once again DECLARATION My group consists of three members who are Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, Le Vu Mong Trinh, Hoang Thi Kim Hoa and we have tried to together done this paper TEACHER’S COMMENTS Table of Contents Abstract This paper is done for the purpose of our research work on the topic “simple sentences” and it’s very necessary for everyone to understand the sentence strutures and sentence constituents when speaking and writing in English A clause is commonly formed by combining words and phrases and they can play the role in showing their functions in that clauses Our paper examines in sentence analysis and presents some terms of “functional elements” along with detailed examples for each Furthermore, we still perform an another work that is related to evaluating the topic “sentences” in the Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced book by the author George Yule The reason we choose this book is to introduce to learners who should use this book as reference materials for more progressing knowledge of advanced English grammar An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule Chapter Introduction In human’s society, language plays a very important role in human lives It’s the method which we share our ideas and thoughts with others In fact, we use language in many different ways, some of these are, the informational, the expressive, the directive, the phatic, the aesthetic We use language and that language is a part of society We communicate effectively with our words, gestures and tone of voice in a multitude of situation The importance of language is essential to every aspect and interaction in our everyday lives Learning another language is English which is extremely necessary English is really important, it is the best motivation we can reach out to any languages other than mother tone Moreover, learning English is also an important condition to be able to access and update the information source of knowledge Also, English is a beautiful language, associated with many cultural characteristics English grammar is the way which meanings encoded into wordings in English language This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences, right up to the structure of whole texts To put it simply, grammar is a way in which we organize words, clauses and phrases into meaningful conversation and communication The organization of grammar all depends on the logic Thus, understanding grammar will mean we can think more logically What is a sentence? A sentence can be very short but it needs only two parts: a subject and a verb A sentence is a complete thought It can stand alone and make sense – complete sense Sentence structure, a mechanical aspect of grammar includes numerous elements such as subjects, verbs, objects… Sentence structure is important for accuracy The basic parts of a sentence are the subject, the verb, and the object An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule The subject is usually a noun-a word that names a person, place, or thing The verb usually follows the subject and identifies an action or a state of being An object receives the action and usually follows the verb Simple sentences play an important role in learning English grammar Thus, understanding functions, components of the sentence will help learners express their idea completely We carried out a short evaluation on the topic “simple sentences” in Oxford practice grammar book by George Yule This book gives clear explanations of English grammar with exercise on the facing page which provide practice in form and use Example sentences, texts and illustrated dialogues show how structure are used To expand our knowledge and to deepen into using simple sentences in English, we chose the topic “simple sentences” Admittedly, simple sentences play an important role for those who are studying English grammar An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule Chapter Main Contents 2.1 Previous studies Some studies have attempt to define the concept “ sentences” (or a simple type) in many ways; however, there are not any perfectly precise and adequate definitions Here are the most typical utterances that we have searched out • “Sentence, according to Ballard (2001:137), is the largest unit of syntactic structure which consists of at least a main clause but which may consist of several.” • “To Radford ( 2009:479) as sentence is simply a term synonymously used to refer to a root clause which is basically a free standing clause that is not a component of another expression.” • “Swan ( 2005:24) also defines a sentence as a group of words expressing a statement, command, question or an exclamation, consisting of one or more clauses, having at least a subject and a predicate and starting with a capital letter and ending with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark especially in writing.” • “Finch ( 2005:109) points out that the traditional definitions of sentences describe them as grammatically complete units of language capable of standing on their own and semantically independent This to him is true of so many sentences but not all sentences.” (Oluga, 2011, Global Journal of HUMAN SOCIAL SCIENCE) An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule “According to traditional grammarians, a sentence is “a combination of words containing a subject plus a predicate and expressing a complete thought.” (LaPalombara,1976:p.76).” (S Alduais,2012, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, p.215) This statement causes people confusing that what “ a thought ” means and other linguists may not seem to accept it and claim that the last part of definition “ expressing a complete thought” is unreasonable  All of the above arguments are too difficult for us to use a exact study,but it has kind of indicated us to know how the sentence is As a whole, we can comprehend that a sentence may a complete unit with full subjects and predicates 2.2 An analysis of sentences When we discuss the term “ sentences”, this is totally similar that we could be considering the same thing in terms of “ simple sentences” The reason for this expression is that we would not like to mention the conjunction in sentences and the structure of “ simple sentences” are the main purpose we would like to focus on Now, we will examine the nature of “ simple sentences” A simple sentence has just one independent clause ( known as a main clause) including at least a subject and a verb and it expresses only one main idea To profoundly perceive the structure of a clause, we need to identify all of the elements in given sentences These components consist of subject, verb, object, complement, adjunct ( these is named as a grammatical functions) and they are combined in various way to form a complete sentence Each of the sentence constituents are represented by the variety of categories of phrases such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases and some clauses like noun-clauses ( infinitive clauses and participle clauses ) 10 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule 2.2.1 • The definition of the grammatical meaning in a sentence Subjects is described as a pronoun or a noun who or what performs an action of the verb Eg My sister kisses her husband As we see, my sister is a person doing the action kiss, so my sister is a subject of the sentence • Objects have two types consisting of direct objects and indirect objects The direct object are affected by the verb and the indirect object refers to a person or a thing receiving something from the direct object or taking a benefit from the action of the verb - Eg My sister kisses her husband Her husband is a person who is given a kiss; therefore, It’s clear that her husband is known as a indirect object - Eg I give my best friend a watch According to the meaning of the sentence shows that my best friend refers to a person who receives a thing watch from the action give, so my best friend is determined a indirect object and the rest of word a watch is obviously called a direct object • Complements are used to describe or identify a subject or a object and it is classified as subjective complements and objective complements - Eg He remains a good citizen The word phrase a good citizen is in relationship with the subject “He” or in other words, both the subject “ He” and the word phrase “a good citizen” are described 11 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule the same person; therefore, the word phrase a good citizen is a subjective complement - Eg I feel him honest The word “ honest” is used to describe the object “ him”, so the word “ honest” is determined a objective complement • “ Verb” is known as an action or a state and are subdivided into three types composing of: o Transitive Verbs o Intransitive Verbs o Linking Verbs - Transitive verbs are always followed by objects Eg My father likes ice-cream The word “ likes” is considered to be a transitive verb because it is followed by the object “ ice-cream” Some typic verbs are listed in transitive verbs like miss, hear, prepare, sell, love, rob, believe, hate, admire and so on - Intransitive verbs are used without objects Eg He smiles It is very simple to notice that the word “ smiles” is a intransitive verb Some other verbs include: arrive, fall, disappear, occur, sleep, … - Linking verbs are called “copula” verbs such as be, turn, look, feel etc and are immediately followed by complements 12 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule E.g I became a rich man The word phrase “a rich man” is a complement because it refers to the subject “ I ”, so the word “ became” is called a linking verb  When we want to identify the verb categories, we should depend on elements after that verb and some verbs can be a transitive or a intransitive or a linking verb For instance, I feel joyful, I feel her lovely In the first sentence; the word “ joyful” which is related to the subject “I” is a complement, so the verb “feel” is determined a linking verb However, the verb “feel” in the second sentence becames a transitive verb since it is followed by the object “her” For one another example, I open the book to page 14 The book is opened to page 14 The verb “open” can be regarded as both a transitive verb and intransitive verb and we can see that the verb “opened” in the second sentence turns a intransitive verb when it is transferred into a passive voice • Adjuncts are an optional constituent for the purpose of providing any information about time or a place in clauses and it can be added or removed from a sentence without influenting to the meaning of sentence For example, I will meet him at the beach This sentence contains subject ( I ), verb ( will meet ) , object ( him), adjunct ( at the beach) If we separate at the beach from the sentence, it ensure that the sentence still maintains entirely meaningful and in addition, we can change or use any information to replace it, eg I will meet him soon or I will meet him tomorrow morning As we can see that the phrase at the beach has been replaced by the word soon and tomorrow morning Furthermore, adjunct could be known to describe the manner of verbs, eg I have finished the exam excellently The word excellently may be considered to be an adjunct expressing the action finish 13 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule 2.2.2 The function of phrases and clauses in a sentence When we want to identify any words in a sentence, we always think of the grammatical functions that words take on in the sentence This chapter will indicate how categories of phrases and clauses occupy grammatical function in a sentence • The subject and object function can be described by noun phrases, pronouns, noun clauses - Noun phrases All our new paintings are preserved carefully Many students like this interesting story - Pronouns We love the nature My best friend thanks me sincerely - Noun clauses Contributing to the society is an admirable action I should know whether everyone agree with that request • The verb function is always a verb phrase He should have done this affairs earlier The party has been being prepared for all morning 14 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule • The complement function is represented by noun phrases, adjective phrases, noun clauses - Noun phrases My mother always calls me an obedient girl - Adjective phrases I’m not afraid of challenges - Noun clauses Her talent is that she can manage everything well • The adjunct may be noun phrases, prepositional phrases, adverb phrases, non-suffixing words - Noun phrases I study Japanese this evening - Prepositional phrases I must perform the project before the holiday - Adverb phrases I preserve this book extremely carefully - Non-suffixing words Can I go inside? 15 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule 2.2.3 The basic structures of sentences Almost all linguists; Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum and Howard Jackson; have pointed out that there are seven basic simple-sentence patterns Subject + Verb ( SV ) He is sleeping S V Subject + Verb + Complement ( SVC ) • I feel lonely S V • C She remains a best friend S V C Subject + Verb + Adjunct • This accident happened at the cinema S • V A The food tastes badly S • A I have studied this morning S • V V A A car is outside 16 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule S V A Subject + Verb + Direct object ( SVO ) The player kicks the blue ball S V D.O Subject + Verb + Indirect object + Direct object (SVOO) • My mother sends me lots of love S V I.O D.O We can put the indirect object after the direct object and compulsorily add the preposition before the indirect object • My mother sends lots of love to me S V D.O I.O Subject + Verb + Object + Objective Complement ( SVOC ) • I feel soul mate very generous S V • O O.C My director appoints me secretary S V O C Subject + Verb + Object + Adjunct ( SVOA) My friend dates with him at the river S V O A 17 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule 2.3 An evaluation of the Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced textbook In this chapter, we focus on evaluating one lesson in the Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced book by George Yule Among them, the topic “sentences” which we have studied are in the first unit including all the ten sides of sheet of paper starting at pages to pages 11 2.3.1 The contents of an evaluation After making reference to the unit “ sentences”, we would like to offer some remarks as follows: Method - This unit “sentences” guides learners with specialized knowledge Especially, - the author helps learners to understand the functional elements in a sentence The contents of topic “sentences” in this book are suitable for those who are - advanced learners or who want to increase knowledge of English grammar In general, the author has the process building the lesson quite detailed and the information in each section is clear and coherent Furthermore, the book also mentions lots of knowledge related to the topic “sentences” we are researching Appearance - The book is printed with the white background and the black letters and the quality of paper is a medium type The cover of this book is designed with the green colour and this highlights the book’s name, author’s name.This book is written by the famous author and show a reliable publishing concern However, illustrating an image below the cover is not clear and does not show its - meaning The layout of each section in this lesson is used by different fonts; for examples, section topics are used with large fonts and each section in section topics is used with bolded fonts and the contents in each section are sometimes 18 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule used with italicized fonts Besides, the contents in each section is numbered and - accompanied with the symbol Therefore, it is easy for learners to follow However, the whole contents and backgrounds of the book are printed in black and white, so it makes the reader feel quite boring From a personal point of view, it will create enjoyment and more attention to readers if the book is printed by the colour Level This lesson is for the students at the advanced level, which means that they have learned English grammar at the elementary or middle or intermediate level and this lesson is also appropriate for the research work of the teachers in their teaching process In addition, it can be used for different purposes like students can study by oneself and lots of colleges or universities can apply this lesson in the courses or curricula Languages The author uses the close and understandable language to the readers around the countries The author uses simple grammatical structure and expresses the contents briefly and tightly Contents of the lesson -Before going into the detailed contents of the unit “sentences”, the author has used a passage in order to help the reader visualize the topics that the author wants to discuss -Besides, the author has given a definition of the “simple sentence” very simply and actually understandably All the elements such as subjects, verbs, objects and complements in the sentences could be explained specifically and logically and each of that components in sentences are illustrated by relevant examples This can support the learners to easily perceive knowledge in every section of the lesson Besides instructing lots of theory, the author has given more exercises in each 19 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule section topic for helping audiences review the knowledge that they have just studied -The author has pointed out the relationship between subject –verb and object-verb Furthermore, our group has a great appreciation of the instruction in how to use verb categories in a sentence and we see that the author also lists many common verbs with or without object following -In general, the lesson has the instruction in the constituents (subjects, verbs,objects and complements ) in sentences with detailed and clear contents However, the adjunct function is also a noticeable constituent that the author does not mention Because of the lack of the “adjunct” element, this topic has not been considered to fully convey the information about “sentences” to learners, which can make readers to feel difficult in how to use the “adjunct” function to expand the sentence -There is a difference from several other authors, the author George Yule does not indicate the basic sentence patterns (SVO, SV,etc) for the unit “ sentences” and he only show the explanation of the terms “subject”, “verb”, “objective”, “complement” -Finally, there is a point of an important grammar that we recognize that in section “verbs with indirect object” on pages discussing the verbs which take two objects as pronouns The author George Yule of this book has said, “ When we use pronouns for both objects after the verb, we put the indirect object pronoun first (6).” And he gives examples that “ Show me it ( not show it me) and I’ll make you one ( not I’ll make one you).” However; according to the author Howard Jackson of the Analyzing English book, in pattern ( SVOO) on pages 237, in an item 7, has given example that “ The mother bought it for her ( not The mother bought her it ).” The first author instructs that we can put any indirect object pronoun before any direct object pronoun while the second author does not agree with this, he just seems to accept one rule that when the verbs are used with two object pronouns, we 20 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule should put direct object pronouns after the verbs and add prepositions before the indirect object pronouns ( subject + verb + direct object pronoun + preposition + indirect object pronoun) Both authors show the different instructions, so we feel confused that which opinion we should follow 2.3.2 Summarizations As a whole, the topic “sentences” is instructed fairly particularly and reasonably and the author has provided the advanced knowledge which can become the reference materials for teachers and students specialized in English Furthermore, the definition of “simple sentences” is briefly expressed and we see that this definition follows opinions of modern grammarians, which makes the audiences to easily comprehend the meaning of clauses However, we have a few suggestions • The “adjunct” function should be added to the lesson to provide the useful knowledge for the reader, which contributes to improving the contents of the unit “sentences” more perfectly • The book should be printed the color to make the contents more lively 21 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule Chapter Conclusions 3.1 General discussions We have give almost all the definition of “ grammartical function” in clauses and have discussed some categories of phrases and clauses performing the functional constituents in clauses In addition, we have indicated some basic sentence patterns by virtue of the books of famous grammarians Through the research process, the assignment also help us to understand more knowledge about sentences Furthermore, we realized that the Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced book by George Yule is very suitable for the teachers or for the students at advanced level 3.2 Limitations Because the length of time is limited, we just refere to a few books and some sources; so, our research could not show completely That is all the contents we try to study for this paper and we wish to receive the sympathy of the teachers or the readers 3.3 Recommendations We hope our assignment may contributes to providing useful information about the topic “simple sentences” for people and we also hope this paper will be use as your reference while studying at your school 22 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule Appendices Location of the subject According to the basic sentence patterns, we recognize that almost all the subjects are in the first position and normally precede the verbs However; in some cases of sentences; determining the subject of the sentence does not depend on its position ,we should perform the typical following ways: • - Using the question to identify the subject Eg It is very difficult for me to accept that refusal We make a question that what is very difficult for me? And the answer to accept that refusal is a subject of the sentence - Eg It makes me curious what people are doing The question for this sentence is what make me curious? The answer what people are doing is a subject of the sentence • - Examining the relationship between the subject and the verb ( subject – verb concord ) Eg Most books on the table are extremely useful The head noun “ books” in the noun phrase is a plural form that agree with the plural verb “ are”, so the noun phrase Most books on the table is considered to be a subject of the verb are in the sentence - Eg My brother has two glasses of apple juice Similarly, the noun phrase has the head singular noun “ brother” agreeing with the singular verb “ has” ; therefore, the noun phrase My brother is a subject of the verb has Adjuncts As we have discussed the above, adjuncts are optional components; however, it might sometimes be obligatory one For instance, in the sentence We set our feet in the river, the adjunct in the river cannot be removed from the clause and the object our feet in 23 An evaluation of the instruction in simple sentences in Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced by George Yule this case needs to be provided the information about the place to complete the clause.Moreover, it doesn’t mean when we just say We set our feet References Oluga,O.S (2011) Basic and Non-Basic Simple Sentence Constituent Patterns of Contemporary Nigerian Advertisement Messages Global Journal of HUMAN SOCIAL SCIENCE, Vol 11 S.Alduais,M.A (2012) Sentence Analysis from the Point of View of Traditional, Structural and Transformational Grammars International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol.2 Jackson, H Analyzing English.VN:Thanh Nien 24