Verb phrase 1 Running head: VERB PHRASES ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE.

A COMPARISION OF VERB PHRASE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

V Th Minh Ph Class 5CQBT.05 Ho Chi Minh city University of Education

Verb phrase 2

Introduction
For a long time ago, there was the conviction that language was created in order that the communication of human beings meets a demand. Each language, nevertheless, has its own spellings, history, values, and characteristics such as English and Vietnamese, which are two different languages. For instance, they are different with pronunciation, the system of vocabulary, and the system of grammar. Besides, the concept of tense and time stand for English grammar while the meanings of Vietnamese words are more diverse, Vietnamese grammar has no concept of tense, and Vietnamese is a language with a number of marks and six tones: , , , , No matter when we mention in any language, we ought to pay attention to syntax of the language like phrase structures such as prepositional phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase, noun phrase, and verb phrase. According to Tomasz P. Krzeszowski (Contrasting Languages, 1990: 66), noun phrases and verb phrases are the two major sentence constituents in a large number of languages. Up to now, although a number of research topics about comparisons between English and Vietnamese have been done, I am still interested in doing research on contrasting verb phrase between them. It is not only useful for us to get a general view about the differences and the similarities of verb phrase in two languages, but also effective for us to teach English verb phrase to Vietnamese learners learning English as a second language as well.

Verb phrase 3 In the first part of this paper, we will have a look at the definition of verb phrase. Then, we discuss English verb phrases and stand comparison with Vietnamese ones to figure out if they have something in common and different. The second part concentrates on how to apply the comparisons to the teaching English verb phrase to Vietnamese students.

Verb phrase
Definition According to Nguyn Hoa Lc, lecturer in English, In transformational generative grammar, the verb phrase is the part of a sentence which contains the main verb and also any object(s), complement(s) and adverbial(s). (An outline of syntax, 2004: 53). Besides, a Vietnamese linguist Dip Quang Ban gives us another definition in Vietnamese, Cm ng t l t hp t t do khng c kt t ng u, c quan h chnh ph gia thnh t chnh vi thnh t ph, v thnh t chnh l ng t. (Ng Php Ting Vit, 2006: 62). Or Phm Th H, a M.A in Quang Binh University, paraphrased it into English in her paper, Verb phrase is a free word phrase having main subordinate relation and containing a verb serve as the central element and many additive elements which modify the meanings for the central element. In fact, although they are in English or in Vietnamese, they share something in common. English verb phrase

Verb phrase 4 In general, verb phrases come in a variety of shapes (An Outline of Syntax: 53 54). For example: 1. Verb alone 2. Verb + noun phrase 3. Verb + prepositional phrase 4. Verb + Noun phrase + prepositional phrase 5. Verb + adverbial phrase 6. Verb + adverbial phrase + prepositional phrase 7. Verb + noun phrase + noun phrase 8. Verb + quantity The functional formula of verb phrase is: (Auxiliary) + Head + (Object) / Compliment + (Modifier) From the example above, here we have the possibilities: Head Auxiliary (ies) + Head Head + Object(s) / Complement Head + Modifier(s) Combinations of the above However, in this paper, we are going to discuss deeply two common kinds of verb phrase: Verb phrase 5

1. Simple verb phrases 2. Auxiliaries + Verb Head We will step by step analyze them with examples and compare with verb phrase in Vietnamese. Simple verb phrases: Head alone Simple verb phrase or single-word verb phrases include a headword which is a verb. Eg: (1) Tom walks. (2) All of the members agree. The headword of the verb phrase, in traditional grammar, is sometimes named Main Verb, Lexical Verb and Simple Predicate which refers to an action, and process or event in the real world. It may be more than one word. Prepositional verbs (V + prepositions): inseparable

Eg: to look after: She is looking after her aged mother. The preposition is the only one possible in the context and has to come immediately after the verb. Some similar verbs: to look for, sail through, come across, pay attention to, take care of Phrasal verbs (V + Adverbs): separable

Eg: to look up: (1) He must have looked up the word (2) He must have looked the word up Verb phrase 6

Up can come before or after an object if it is a noun. Up must come after if the object is a pronoun. Some similar verbs: put down, put on / take off, bring in, break down Eg: She put down the cup. Ralph locked up his room. The mob broke down the doors. Phrasal-prepositional verbs (three-word verbs): transitive verbs

Eg: to come up against, look forward to, put up with, look down on Furthermore, there are some exceptions: Two-Words; Three-Word Verbs or Phrasal Verbs. Two kinds of Two-Word Verbs: Eg: Intransitive verbs: dont take any objects. The students dropped out (to drop out) I caught on (to catch on) I kept up (to keep up) I broke in (to break in) I had to run to catch up (to catch up) Transitive verbs: take direct objects. They consist of two sub-categories: Separable and inseparable. Separable verbs are transitive verbs when the pronoun object must be inserted between the verbs and the functional words. Verb phrase 7

Eg: (1) (2) (3)

to run sb off They ran off the dogs. They ran the dogs off. They ran them off. Inseparable verbs are transitive verbs when the pronoun object must

follow the functional words. Eg: (1) (2) to get through I got through the test. I got through it. to take after (1) (2) He takes after his father. He takes after him.

Three-Word Verbs or Phrasal Verbs: They consist of Two-Word Verbs and Prepositions. When intransitive TwoWord Verbs take preposition, they become transitive Three-Word Verbs and they can take direct objects. In short, Three-Word Verbs are transitive and inseparable verbs. Eg: to drop out, to catch on, to keep up, to break in, and to catch up.

Auxiliaries + Verb Head Two kinds of Auxiliary Verbs: Primary Auxiliaries: be, have, do

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Modal Auxiliaries: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, had to. (Semi-Modals: to need, to dare, used to) Use of Auxiliary Verbs: (1) They help to form a tense or an expression. (2)They combine with present or past participle or with infinitives to form the tenses of ordinary verbs. Eg: I am coming. / He has finished. / We must hurry. (3) They combine with infinitives to indicate permission, possibility, obligation, etc. Eg: He can speak Vietnamese. / You may go. / We must hurry. (4) Auxiliaries serve to realize the grammatical categories of the verb phrase: Tense, Aspect, and Mood. (5) Modal Auxiliary: is only one in Verb phrase. comes first. followed by the bare infinitive.

(6) Negative Word: comes second. (7) Primary Auxiliary: be: it has two uses: Be + present participle (- ing) indicates progressive aspect. Be + past part (-ed) indicates passive voice (It was eaten)

(8) Primary Auxiliary: have: It has one use: Have + past participle (-ed) indicates perfective aspect. (They has eaten) Combination of Auxiliaries + Verbs:

Verb phrase 9 In this situation, the verb immediately following the auxiliary take the verb form which that auxiliary should take. Following is the relative order among auxiliary verbs: MODAL + HAVE + BE (prog.) + BE (pass)

INFINITIVE

PAST PART.

PRES.PART.

PAST PART.

In the box, the forms they require are: modal requires infinitive, have requires past participle, be (progressive) requires present participle and be (passive) requires past participle. Eg: He may have sat (modal + have-perfective) He had been being examined (have-perfective + be-progressive + bepassive) He will not have been being interviewed (modal + negative + haveperfective + be-progressive + be-passive.) As we mentioned earlier: Modal + bare infinitive. Have + past participle (perfective) Be + present or past participle. (progressive) (passive)

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Operator is the first auxiliary in a verb phrase. The following special functions of the operator: (1) It is marked for tense and indicates the present, past, and future. Eg: He is coming. (2) In most questions (except Wh-questions for the subject) the operator changes places with the subject. Eg: Is she coming? (3) not follows immediately after the operator, before any other auxiliary. Eg: He has not come. (4) The operator is repeated in tag questions. Eg: He is coming, isnt he? She hasnt come, has she? (5) The operator can take Contrastive Stress. Eg: He is coming. She has been seen. They cant have been interviewed. If there is no auxiliary in the verb phrase and the clause is a question, the clause is negated, the clause has a question tag or in which the verb phrase carries contrastive stress, auxiliary do must be used. Eg: He doesnt like cream cakes. Primary auxiliary (be, have, do) may function ass lexical verbs: Eg: Bert is an engineer. Verb phrase 11

She is having a lot of visitors. He did it. Be, have, do: are the last items in verb phrase. They are lexical verbs. If it is followed by another verb in the same verb phrase, it is an auxiliary verb. These above things show that, auxiliary components can be optional but main verbs are obligated. Vietnamese verb phrase Similarly, in Vietnamese, we also have main verb or lexical verb which includes the headword of the verb phrase such as: c, thc hin, ly, and i. Eg: ang mun vit th. (mun: head verb) ang mc bnh (mc: head verb) ang c mt bi bo hay (c: head verb) However, in Vietnamese, verb phrase consists of three compositions: preadditive element, central element, and post-additive element. First, we discuss the first component of verb phrase in Vietnamese, it is central element. It is divided into five groups. Group 1: Verbs which are belongs to this group never stand alone. They often go with other verbs and they have a number of different types: (1) Model verbs: phi, nn, cn, dm, c th, s, nh Eg: N nh ngh hc. (nh: central element) (2) Passive: b, c, mc, phi Eg: Anh ta b thy pht. (b: central element) Verb phrase 12

(3) Verb phrase with two parallel existential actions: ng khc, nm ng, i hc, i chi, ngi nghe Eg: Anh ta i chi ph. (i chi: central element) Group 2: Verbs go with additive elements. (1) Verb phrase with two actions but the second verb is an additive element in sense: n ng, ng ngi, t nm, cht ng Eg: t nm ln gi sch. (t: central element; nm: additive alement) (2) Verbs with sense of moving: m, dy, ko, n, xung, i, bng Eg: Anh ta i ra. (i: central element; ra: additive) (3) Verbs with sense of achieving results: hiu ra, c xong, bay mt, nht ly, thu c, tm thy Eg: N bay mt con g. (bay: central element; mt: additive element) (4) Verbs with sense of affecting two objects: cho, tng, biu, ly, mn, vay, cm, xin, gi Eg: Lan tng Nam hai cun truyn. (tng: central element; Nam: object 1; hai

cun truyn: object 2) (5) Verbs with sense of governing two objects and objects activities are actions of order: bo, sai, bt, cho php, buc, khin Eg: Thy gio bo Nam ln bng. (bo: central element) (6) Verbs with sense of governing an object and connecting with other objects: trn, pha, ni, chp, ha Eg: Trn bt vi ng. (trn: central element; bt and ng: objects) Verb phrase 13

(7) Verbs with sense of governing additive element and having the structure A is B and meanings of evaluating: coi, bu, ly, xem, c Eg: Ti coi anh l bn. (A is B) Bu bn Nam l lp trng. (A is B) Group 3: Combination verbs: chy ra chy vo, bn qua bn li, i ngc v xui, tro ln tt xung Group 4: Verbs with sense of the state or a period of an action: bt u hc, tip tc i, thi ni, ht chy, ngng hc Group 5: Verbs with sense of mood: lo lng, bn chn, thoi thp, thp thm Eg: Ngi m ang lo lng v a con ca mnh. Secondly, we move on to the next component of Vietnamese verb phrase: pre-additive element. It contains six groups. (1) Words with sense of continuing of activity or state: u, vn, c, li, mi, tip tc Eg: H vn ngi im. (vn: pre-additive element of the verb: ngi) (2) Words indicate the time of action or state: tng, , va, mi, ang, s Eg: Em s k anh nghe Chuyn con thuyn v bin. (s: pre-additive element of the verb: k) (3) Words indicate the frequency: thng, hay, t, i khi, thnh thong

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Eg:

Anh ta thnh thong gh qua ch ti. (thnh thong: pre-additive element of

the verb: gh) (4) Words indicate the negation or affirmation: khng, cha, chng, ch Eg: Em y, i chng cn ng ngi. Em y, bn tay tin cy. (chng: pre-additive element) (5) Words indicate the order: hy, ng, ch Eg: Ch ni ci, hy lng nghe xem . C ri chng trong y ca tm hn. (ch and hy: pre-additive elements) (6) Words indicate the level: rt, hi, kh, qu Eg: Rt p hnh anh lc nng chiu. (rt: pre-additive element) Finally, we discuss the last part of Vietnamese verb phrase: post-additive element. This element is so complex in terms of words, formation and meanings. Words such as noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb, and number, can stand after verb. For example: n cm (cm is a noun), i hc (hc is a verb), i nhanh (nhanh is an adjective) and ght n (n is a pronoun). Besides, about the formation, additive element after verb can be a single word, a word phrase or a sentence. For example: ni chm (chm is a verb), ni cho vui nh (cho vui nh is a word phrase), and ni chng ta c nhiu tin b (chng ta c nhiu tin b is a sentence). Moreover, the meaning of additive element after verb is different. Verb phrase 15

(1) Words with sense of line of action: i ra, tr li, nhn sang, bay qua, i ti (2) Words with sense of state and process of action: i ngay, ni lin, tr li lp tc, n na, ni hoi (3) Words with sense of order: v no, ni i, ngh thi, ch vi, ng , tin ln, ht ln (4) Words with sense of finishing or beginning an action: lm xong, n xong, c ri, hiu ri, nghe ri (5) Words with sense of passive, beneficial or damaged results: gp phi, bay mt, hao i, phi, nhn c, thu v (6) Words with sense of mutual interaction or itself: lm ly, vit ly, gii quyt ly (7) Words with sense of including two elements connecting A and B: trn bt vi ng. (8) Words with sense of addition: ni vo, bn vo (9) Words with sense of decreasing: co ra, bt i (10)Words with sense of increasing: xng ti, tng ln (11) Words with sense of repetition: ni li, vn li, nhc li, xin li We have just discussed how similar and different English verb phrase is when comparing with Vietnamese one. Both English and Vietnamese verb phrase consist of three main components. Nevertheless, English verb phrase is different from Vietnamese one in each element. As we have mentioned earlier, Verb phrase 16

three elements of English verb phrase are: auxiliaries, main verb, and complements, while in Vietnamese, they are pre-additive element, central element, and post-additive element. Teaching implication To some teachers, it is not hard for them to teach English structures and phrasal verb to Vietnamese students. However, it is not easy for students to learn how to distinguish between intransitive and transitive verbs, and phrasal verbs. In this part, we are going to see some advices in teaching English verb phrase to Vietnamese students. To transitive and intransitive verbs, each teacher has her or his methods to explain how to have a thorough grasp of these verbs to his or her students. The easy way for students to study these verbs is that they have to learn by heart. However, it is hard for them to study these verbs without using and practicing in their real life. Teachers should use examples and phrases to make these verbs clear to learn and easy to remember for the students. An experienced foreigner teacher, Ken Symicek, he said that even English people themselves, they can not learn if they just study separate word lists. Students have to study phrases. He also shows students how to collect phrases, review phrases and remember phrases. Besides, phrasal verbs are among the hardest elements of the English language for non-native English speakers. The only way to teach them is by giving clear examples. Here is a method of teaching phrasal verb by storytelling. Verb phrase 17

First, teachers write a story that uses one instance of each applicable phrasal verb that contains one particular verb. Write a short story for as plenty of phrasal verb as they can. Second, teachers give the story to students and let them read aloud to them. Then, teachers take questions about phrasal verbs that they heard in the story. Next, prompt students as necessary to explain some of the harder phrasal verbs to make sure they have the right idea of the way phrasal verbs are used. Finally, teachers ask students to create their own stories that used the phrasal verb they have covered. By using their own words make them learn phrasal verb effectively. After practicing these stories, students will be able to use phrasal verbs with confidence.

Conclusion
In short, language is the mean to communicate of human beings. It is a bridge to connect people from country to country. However, each country has its own language, so it makes people confused to understand the characteristics, the structures, and the origin of each language because it is so complicated. For example, it contains a number of components which consist of smaller elements. For helping Vietnamese teachers who teach English as a second language convey the knowledge better, this paper focuses on the comparison between English verb phrase and Vietnamese one. It will be useful for them to improve their skills and make students study well because the purpose of the teachers is to help students understand and use English efficiently.

Verb phrase 18

References Nguyen, H.L. (2004). An outline of syntax. Ho Chi Minh city: University of Education Press. Diep, Q.B. (2006). Ng php ting Vit. Ho Chi Minh city: Education Publishing House. Phm, T.H. Some English verb phrases versus Vietnamese verb phrases. Retrieved December, 10, 2009, from http://docjax.cloudapp.net/document/view.shtml? id=796998&title=Some%20English%20verb%20phrases%20versus%20Vietnamese %20verb%20phrases%20Any%20... Ken Symicek, English Teaching Methods for Vietnam. Retrieved December, 15, 2008, from http://5starenglish.hotels.officelive.com/Documents/5_Star_Teaching_in_Vietnam .pdf How to teach a phrasal verb with storytelling. Retrieved December, 20, 2009 from http://www.ehow.com/how_2080894_teach-phrasal-verbstorytelling.html Tomasz P. Krzeszowski (1990). Contrasting Languages. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin New York.