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vinh university foreign languages department === === nguyÔn phan quúnh trang A ST UDY ON DI F F E RE N CE S OF USI N G PASSI V E V OI C E I N E N GL I SH A N D V I ET N AM E SE (nghiên cứu khác cách dùng câu bị động tiếng anh tiÕng viÖt) GRADUATION THESIS Field: Linguistics Vinh - 2011 vinh university foreign Languages department === === A ST UDY ON DI F F E RE N CE S OF USI N G PASSI V E V OI C E I N E N GL I SH AN D V I ET N AM E SE (nghiªn cøu khác cách dùng câu bị động cđa tiÕng anh vµ tiÕng viƯt) graduation thesis Field: Linguistics Supervisor: Ngun thÞ kim anh, m.a Student: Ngun phan qnh trang, 48B - English Vinh - 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completion of this thesis, first of all I would like to express my sincere thanks and deep gratitude to my supervisor, Nguyen Thi Kim Anh for all her experienced guidance, valuable suggestions and advice throughout this thesis My gratitude is also sent to all the staff at the Department of Foreign Languages of Vinh University, who always create favorable conditions for me to complete my study I am grateful to my friends, who provided me with inspiration for the research topic and who helped me with the research data Finally, I am thankful to my family who constantly gave me support and encouragement during the time my study was carried out Vinh, May 20th, 2011 Nguyen Phan Quynh Trang i ABSTRACT Unnaturalness is one of the most common mistakes that the majority of English learners, and even some advanced ones, make as translating passivemeaning sentences from English into Vietnamese In order to help learners overcome those problematic translations, the author has done a research on the passive voice in the two languages, English and Vietnamese The research has three main parts In the first part, some general descriptions of passive voice in each of the language will be made to give readers certain background information about this interesting language phenomenon In the second part, several contrastive points will be performed to explore the causes of mistakes often made In the last one, some implications for teaching as well as suggestions for translating passive-meaning sentences from English to Vietnamese will be done so as for learners to achieve good language transference ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABBREVIATIONS v PART A INTRODUCTION I Justification of the Study II Aims of the Study III Methods of the Study IV Scope of the Study V Format of the Study PART B INVESTIGATION Chapter I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Definition of passive voice 1.2 Characteristics of passive voice 1.3 Views about classification of passive voice 1.4 The usage of passive voice in English and Vietnamese 1.4.1 The usage of passive voice in English 1.4.2 The usage of passive voice in Vietnamese 11 Chapter II SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF USING PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 13 2.1 Passive voice in English and Vietnamese 13 2.1.1 In English 13 2.1.2 In Vietnamese 17 2.2 Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese passive voice 20 2.2.1 Similarities 20 iii 2.2.2 Differences 20 Chapter III SUGGESTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 25 3.1 Some suggestions for better translation 25 3.2 Implications for English teaching and learning of passive voice 26 PART C CONCLUSION 31 Recapitulation of the study 31 Recommendations for further study 31 REFERENCE APPENDIX APPENDIX iv ABBREVIATIONS Eg: for example Etc.: et cetera v PART A INTRODUCTION I Justification of the Study In the modern time of internationalization and globalization, English has become the most commonly used language that has been learnt by more and more people in the world In Vietnamese, more than in anywhere else, learning English to catch up with the time has become an ultimate issue However, the learning of English in our country is not always satisfactory, Vietnamese learners, competent in grammar and vocabulary as they are, still make mistakes In English language, passive voice is acknowledged and used as a grammar point to teachers of English The difference in language origins marks a big gap between English and Vietnamese as well as their passive voice form Moreover, Vietnamese people not often use the passive voice, but usually change it into the active voice Or even when the passive voice is used, the word order in Vietnamese is different from that in English That, as a result, has caused some misunderstanding in translation from English to Vietnamese and vice versa The study on differences of using passive voice in English and Vietnamese, by contrast with others, has been a rather neglected pursuit over recent years and few textbooks in the area on the Vietnamese backgrounds That is the reason why the passive voice in English and in Vietnamese has been chosen for investigation in this study II Aims of the Study My study aims at: Presenting, describing and analyzing the passive voice in English and in Vietnamese Identifying the similarities and differences between these two languages Making some suggestions for teaching and learning the passive voice to teachers of English III Methods of the Study The linguistic contrast in our thesis is intended to be description-induced and comparison-induced rather than data-induced A number of materials on grammar, notably on passive voice are studied to build up a theoretical background for our thesis IV Scope of the Study Due to constraints in time and knowledge, the central focus of the study is on the use of passive voice in English in comparison with Vietnamese Thoroughout the study, the similarities and differences of using passive voice in the two languages are drawn out The research is confined to the description, analysis and comparison of the function, forms and meanings of the passive voice in English and Vietnamese, which makes a ontribution to the improvement of teaching and learning of English to Vietnamese learners V Format of the Study This study consists of three parts: Part A: Introduction presents the justification of the study, aims of the study Methods, scope as well as format of the study are also mentioned in this first part The most important part in the study is Part B: Investigation In this part, the following three chapters are dealt with Chapter I: Theoretical background Chapter II: Similarities and differences of using passive voice in English and Vietnamese Chapter III: Suggestions and implications Part C: Conclusion gives a recapitulation of the study and some suggestions for further studies Chapter III SUGGESTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 3.1 Some suggestions for better translation With an aim to help improve the translation of English passive or passive meaning sentences into Vietnamese, we suggest some following steps (for some typical cases): Read the sentence and decide whether it has positive or negative meaning If the idea is positive, then the word “ c” should be used On the other hand, if the meaning is negative, use the word “bị” If the English sentence does not fit the usages of Vietnamese passive voice mentioned above, change it into the active voice Translate the other parts of the sentence The following are five suggested translations for different expressions of passive voice Suggested 1: “S + be + past participle” will be changed into : active voice or subject + “được/ bị” + verb Eg: When were you born? n sinh ng y n o? Suggested 2: “S + be + past participle + by O” will be changed into active voice or S + “được / bị” + O + verb Eg: Mary is taken to the zoo by her mother” Mary c m d n i sở th (often in writing) 25 Or M d n Mary i sở th (often in speaking) Suggested 3: Double passives will be changed into active voice or just keep one main passive-meaning part Eg: This paper is expected to be finished by Monday h hai l ph i l m xong b i n y Or B i n y c n c ho n t t tr c th hai Suggested 4: It is said/ told that translated: Eg: i ta/ in in i He is said/ told that will be he n i It is said that he is a good student Nhi u ng i n i n l h c sinh gi i Or Nghe n i n l h c sinh gi i Suggested 5: Passive causatives: Have/ et/ +thin s + past participle will be translated: h n i + verb Eg: He has his hair cut N m i c t t c an exceptive translation of passive causatives) 3.2 Implications for English teaching and learning of passive voice So far, we have come to conclusion that Vietnamese passive formation is mainly based on the lexical meaning or grammatical status of such words as “bị/ c” However, in some cases, the passive meaning is understood mainly on the semantic meaning of the whole sentence For example: a huy n b C u y xa xây xong 26 These sentences are grammatically correct In term of semantics, these sound illogical because “thuyền/ cầu” is an object and itself cannot carry out the action To understand these sentences, the reader/hearer needs to be aware that they carry passive meanings In both English and Vietnamese, passive voice is used to focus on the fact, the action or result of an action Therefore, in passive sentence, the doer is often omitted Passive voice has an important role in English, especially in academic works where the actions take place without mentioning the doer Vietnamese, vice versa, prefer active forms Hence, sometimes when translating from English into Vietnamese, if the translator keeps the original structure, the Vietnamese version will not be very idiomatic We can take here several examples from the passage: Eg 1: “A recommendation for approval or rejection is made to the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Council (consisting of the Health Ministers of Australia and New Zealand)” should not be translated word for word : “ M t khuy n ngh but : “ Ng bác b c c c l m….” i ta cho r ng AN F C ki n c a c kho a khuy n ngh ch p nh n c v New ealand Eg 2: “An initial safety assessment is made by ANZFA experts, with public comment invited” should be translated: “Chuy n gia AN FA ánh giá u ti n v an to n, c tham kh o ki n c a c ng ch ng” Eg 3: “ A review of all the finding is undertaken” should be changed into: “Tổng k t t t c nh ng phát hi n” 27 Eg 4: “A full safety assessment is conducted by ANZFA experts” is translated into: “Chuy n gia AN FA ti n h nh ánh giá m t cách y v an to n” There may be some special significance to the object noun phrase As it is used with a particular verb and a certain subject Consider ( Active) : “ saw a table in the bar” ( Passive): “ A table was seen by me in the bar.” The passive one sounds artificial and unlikely to be said But if the active sentence was “My mother saw me in the bar” then the passive “I was seen (by my mother) in the bar” is definitely feasible if the passive was used, one might guess the speaker should not be there and may now get into trouble In reality, there is still another quite interesting thing of using “bị/ c” especially in spoken language in Northern Vietnam For example: hân h nh c a ch y b Em c a t i b xinh i n u n b ngon nh y y nha y It can be seen that in these examples bị/ mean nothing relating to passive or suffering May be, the speaker wants to express his “suspicion” about the girl‟s body form, the girl‟s beauty.etc Also, sometimes “ c” can be used and followed by a verb to express the meaning of a “good result” of an action, such as in this sentence: T i c cử l m giám c was nominated to be the manager) In short, at elementary level, bị/ is overemphasized in English – Vietnamese translation As a consequence, there is the tendency to treat any sentences containing bị/ as passive The most typical examples are: eb h he car was broken down 28 i b m t ti n was lost my money The author argues that the scope for “bị/ được” is much larger than their usage in passive sentences Therefore, careful notes should be given to beginners of English to avoid misleading way of thinking in the long run The writer also suggests that in sentences like these, teachers may ask students to drop “bị/ được” and see whether they are still grammatical If the answer is “yes” the sentence under consideration is not passive and vice versa At the same time, learners should be noticed that the number of verbs that can be used in the structure: NP object + VP transitive is quite limited compared with Vietnamese For example: a ng chở t i b ng xe t i b Nh xây xong r i A learner should be aware that the subject cannot carry out the actions and in this case, it is better to stay safe by translating them as passive although English does allow a subject of its verb to be used similarly to those of Vietnamese These practical applications are very helpful for language learners and such a research is the goal the author aimed at Some analysis and contrastive points between English and Vietnamese passive voice made above have set the stage for the next idea: some implications for English teaching and learning of the grammatical aspect mentioned Firstly, Vietnamese students tend to translate nearly word by word from English into Vietnamese and vice versa, which usually causes them to make a lot of mistakes Therefore, this paper is written with the hope of helping them be aware of the differences between passive voice in English and Vietnamese so that they can use it correctly For example, when they need to translate an 29 English passive-meaning sentence into Vietnamese for their parents or friends, they need to make a natural and correct translation so that it does not sound strange and difficult to understand Secondly, teachers should also help students know that passive voice plays an important role in English, and sometimes in Vietnamese, and it is expressed in various forms This will help students recognize the passive voice more easily and have correct transference For instance, in the sentence “ get my car fixed”, though there is no normal structure of passive voice “ be + past participle”, the sentence still has a passive meaning ( passive causatives) Thirdly, the author hopes that this paper will help students develop their linguistic skills in both languages Learning theories is just a way for students to exercises well, but understanding about the contrastive points between English and Vietnamese passive voice will give them deeper and better knowledge Finally, this paper will be helpful for teachers and students who like to become translators Natural and correct translations will bring them a successful job Moreover, people whose native language is English, or those who not speak English as mother tongue but are good at it can also get some good information about the passive voice in English and Vietnamese from this paper, and therefore can communicate with Vietnamese people better 30 PART C CONCLUSION Recapitulation of the study Passive voice is an important grammatical point English and Vietnamese, but it is expressed differently in the two languages An important way in which Vietnamese passive differs from English one is that Vietnamese verbs themselves not imply a clear notion of “ voice” in the grammatical sense Whereas, in English, a transitive verb must be either active or passive No such distinction is necessary in Vietnamese Hence, the object of Vietnamese verbs is not formally marked So far we have revised the structure and meaning of passive voice in English and similar ways to express it in Vietnamese We have also discussed the differences between passive voice in English and Vietnamese, which cause the common mistakes that students get when they learn English as a foreign language In general, the ways to express passive meaning of the two languages are quite different, despite the minor similarity However, with some descriptions, contrast and implications for teaching and learning languages made above, I hope that this paper can help students and teachers have better knowledge and correct translations of the passive-meaning sentences Moreover, learning a foreign language is not easy at all, especially knowing and mastering all the differences Thus, learners should try their best to practice the languages and overcome the confusion and difficulty of the gaps between English and Vietnamese Recommendations for further study This research is an attempt at describing and analyzing the similarities and differences of passive voice in English and in Vietnamese The study does not claim to cover all issues in both languages, or all their possible meanings when used in 31 different contexts Of course, there are still many other points that remain untouched because of the limited scope of the study and require further investigation The further research may be conducted on classification of passive voice, which is a rather promising topic Other research works can be carried out with characteristics of passive voice For what stated above, author hopes it is beneficial for those who concern in this area of English language and wish to go further on this matter 32 REFERENCE Alxander, L.G.(1988) Longman English Grammar Longman Group Ltd Arar, B.S (1999) Understanding and using English Grammar Mary Jane Poluso B loor T and Bloor M (1995) The functional analysis of English, Arnold, London Cao Xuân H o (1991), i ng Vi t: th o ng pháp ch c n ng, Quy n 1, NXB Khoa h c Xã h i, H i Cook, S.J and Richard, W.S (1980) The Scope of Grammar New York Di p Quang Ban (2003), Ng pháp i ng Vi t, Tập 2, XB Gi o dục, H Di p Quang Ban (2004), Ng pháp Vi t Nam - Ph n câu, S ph m H i h xu t Đ i h c i Eastwood, J (1985) Oxford Guide to English Grammar Oxford University Press Granger S (1983) The be + Past Participle Construction in Spoken English New York: Oxford 10 Hewings, M (2006) Advanced Grammar in Use NXB Tre 11 Ho ng Văn Vân (2001) (Dịch), D n lu n ng pháp ch c n ng, Quốc Gia, H XB Đ i h c i 12 Huddleston, R (1987), Introduction to the grammar of English London: Cambridge University Press 13 Leech, G & Svartvik, J (1989) A Communicative Grammar of English, Longman 14 Murphy, R (1994) English grammar in Use Cambridge University Press 15 guyễn Khuê (1999) English Grammar Đ ng Publisher 16 Norish, J (1983) Language Learners and Their Errors Macmilan Press London 17 Palmer, F R Grammar (2nd eds) London: Penguin 18 Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G and Svartvik, J (1972) A Grammar of Contemporary English London: Longman 19 Quirk R and Greenbaum S (1973), A university grammar of English, Longman 20 Quirk R et al (1985), A comprehensive grammar of the English language, Longman 21 Roderick, A Jacobs (1995) English Syntax, A Grammar for English Language Professionals, Oxford University Press 22 Thomson, A.J & Martinet, A.V.(1986) A Practical English Grammar, Oxford University Press APPENDIX OTHER WAY TO EXPRESS PASSIVE MEANING IN VIETNAMESE Passive sentence Means of Order expressing Subject Central verb Object n Ăn n ăn n hối l ch m Ch t n Ch t âm r p trận Chịu n chịu kh phi n anh gi p anh c u C n c anh bênh anh anh bảo v anh d u d t th ơng dễ n dễ gh t s m n l m th c hi n v d ng C in y d ng vi t lau l m th ơng gh t yêu khen ng H n ta ng Ông ta k nh phục s khinh ch m ph t n n n n n ma g p n g p xui không may m t vận n 10 h ng n h ng n l i gia t i 11 h ng n h ng l ơng hoa h ng lãi 12 khả n khả miễn bảo chịu 13 kh n kh ng i tha l ơng ti n 14 l nh Anh ta l nh phụ c p th ng gi o nh c l i 15 nghe n nghe i giảng ch i ti n qu 16 nhận n nhận l ơng th ng hối l anh 17 nh n nh nịnh uy t n gia 18 no n n no b c ph t 19 phải n t i phải v n 20 ốm n ốm n ngh n r 21 say n u m i say thuốc ma tu nh APPENDIX 13 KINDS OF PASSIVE VOICE CORRESPONDING WITH 13 TENSES Tense Structure Example Simple Present Am/ is/ are + Past Participle (P.P) He is taken to the zoo Present Continuous Am/ is/ are + being + P.P He is being taken to the zoo Simple Past Was/ were + P.P He was taken to the zoo Past Continuous Was/ were + being + P.P He was being taken to the zoo Present Perfect Has/ have + been + P.P He has been taken to the zoo Past Perfect Continuous Has/ have + been + being + P.P He has been being taken to the zoo Past Prefect Had + been + P.P He had been taken to the zoo Past Perfect Continuous Had + been + being + P.P He had been being taken to the zoo Simple Future Will + be + P.P He will be taken to the zoo Future Continuous Will + be + being + P.P He will be being taken to the zoo Future Perfect Will + have + been + P.P He will have been taken to the zoo Future Perfect Continuous Will + have + been + being + P.P He will have been being taken to the zoo Future with Be going to Am/ is/ are + going to + be + P.P The bread is going to be baked ... Implications for English teaching and learning of passive voice So far, we have come to conclusion that Vietnamese passive formation is mainly based on the lexical meaning or grammatical status of. .. for investigation in this study II Aims of the Study My study aims at: Presenting, describing and analyzing the passive voice in English and in Vietnamese Identifying the similarities and differences. .. has caused some misunderstanding in translation from English to Vietnamese and vice versa The study on differences of using passive voice in English and Vietnamese, by contrast with others, has
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