I/ SOME WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT GRAMMAR

1.          What is prescriptive grammar?

Prescriptive grammar is the grammar providing the language user with normative rules by such people as dictionary publisher, editor, critics, writer and teacher…

Eg: -Never end a sentence with a preposition. So, such sentences as “Who are you speaking to?” or “Who did you talk with?” are considered wrong.

-Never split a to-infinitive with an adverb. So, such sentence as “They are working hard to successfully pass the exam” is considered ungrammatical.

2.What is the typical feature of prescriptive grammar?

Prescriptive grammar is concerned with prescribing rules of language units. It consists of a number of rules or regulations prohibiting language use: it provides language users with normative rules.

For example, it advises language users not to split the infinitive with “to” or not to end a sentence with a preposition, of not use double negative to express negative idea.

Such sentences as follow would be considered ungrammatical: She don’t care; Long time no see.

3.What is descriptive grammar?

Descriptive grammar is the grammar studying constitutive rules of language. It describes the grammar system of language exactly as it is. According to this grammar, there is nothing imposed, which is why it accepts such sentences: “They don’t know nothing” or “She aren’t a student”.

4.What is the typical feature of descriptive grammar?

Descriptive grammar is concerned with describing language objectively as it is actually used. It describes all language elements and grants name for them without making any judgment. It tells what the language users know unconsciously and it also enables them to use and understand the language. According to this grammar, nothing is imposed, which is why this grammar accepts such sentences: She don’t care; I won’t do it no more.

5. What is the basic difference between prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar?

-Prescriptive grammar lays down normative rules about how the language is supposed to be used.

Eg: Never end a sentence with a preposition.

It is wrong to split the infinitive with “to” with an adverb.

-In contrast, descriptive grammar aims to describe the grammar of the language exactly as it is. It tries to provide language users with constitutive rules.

Eg: The noun can act as subject and object in the sentence.

The adverb often stands after the verb and before the adjective it modifies.

6.What is the difference between global sense and narrow sense of the term “grammar”?

-The global sense (general sense) of the term “grammar”, popularized by American linguist Noam Chomsky, subsumes all aspects of sentence patterning, including phonology and semantic, and introduces the term syntax as the more specific notion.

-In specific sense (narrow sense), which is more traditional, grammar is presented just as one branch of language structure, distinct from phonology and semantic.

II/ GRAMMAR DEVELOPMENT

1.What is traditional grammar?

Traditional grammar is a grammar which is usually based on earlier grammar of Latin and Greek. It studies language elements or part of speech separately.

2.What is typical feature of traditional grammar?

-The biggest problem in this grammar lies in the fact that it is not consistent internally.

For example, it defines the adverb as a part of speech modifying the verb (I only like him). But in fact, the adverb can modify other parts of speech as well (The only girl that I like is you).

-Another problem of this grammar is that most of the explanation of grammatical meaning given by this grammar is based on intuition, which is why it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between different grammatical concepts in traditional grammar.

Eg: The difference between gerund and present participle.

-This grammar, however, provides modern linguistics with a lot of terms.

3. As far as linguistic is concerned, what is understood by the term “constituent” in English?

Constituent is a linguistic unit (usually in sentence analysis) which is part of a larger construction.

Eg: care +ful= careful

class+room= classroom

He is a good boy. (5 constituents)

4.What is immediate constituent grammar?

Immediate grammar is a grammar studying a language layers to identify the meaning. According to this grammar, language elements do not belong to the same layer, they belong to different layers, creating different meaning.

More beautiful women are coming. → More women who are beautiful are coming.

More beautiful women are coming. → Women who are more beautiful are coming.

5.What is immediate constituent analysis in English? State the basic step in such an analysis and give example for illustration.

Immediate constituent analysis is one of the most widely used techniques for displaying sentence structure. It is based on the argument that different elements of language do not belong to the same layer. They belong to different layers and create different meanings.

This approach works through the different levels of structure within a sentence in a number of steps

At each level, a construction is divided into its major constituents, and the process continues until no further division can be made.

For example, to analyze the sentence “The police arrested the thief”, the following basic steps are taken:

-Identifying two major constituents: “The police” and “arrested the thief”.

-Dividing the next biggest constituent into 2: “arrested” and “the thief”.

Continuing to divide constituents into 2 until we can go no further: the police → the + police; the thief → the + thief

6.What is transformational (generative) grammar?

Transformational grammar is a theory of grammar which was proposed by the American linguist Chomsky in 1957. Chomsky attempted to provide a model for the description of all languages.

Transformational grammar tries to show, with a system of rules, the knowledge which a native speaker of a language uses in forming grammatical sentences.

For example, it studies basic language pattern:

-To create sentences: S = NP + VP

-To transform sentences: NP1 + V + NP2= NP2 + Aux + V-en + by + NP1

7.     What is functional grammar?

Functional grammar proposed by British linguist, Halliday, is a grammar studying 3 basic functions of language:

-Ideational function is to organize the speaker’s or writer’s experience of the real or imaginary world. That is language refer to real or imagine persons, things, actions, events, states…

-Interpersonal function is to indicate, establish or maintain social relationship between people. It includes forms of address, speech function, modality…

-Textual function is to create written or spoken texts which cohere within themselves and which fit the particular situation in which they are used.

8.What is interpersonal meaning of the functional grammar in English language?

Interpersonal meaning is meaning as a form action: the speaker or writer doing something to listener or reader by means of language. It is the meaning regulated by the language users concerned.

Eg: “man”, “gentlemen”, “guy”, “bloke” can all be used to refer to a man depending on the relationship or the degree of respect the speaker has for/ with a person.

III/ GRAMMATICAL UNITS

1.Describe the 5 ranks hierarchy for identifying the units being studied in English grammar.

The 5 ranks hierarchy to identify units in study of grammar is:

morpheme ↔ word ↔ phrase ↔ clause ↔ sentence

Eg: The girl whom you have seen is one of the best Vietnamese pianists.

+ist, ese: morpheme

+pianist, girl…: word

+one of the best Vietnamese best pianists: phrase

+whom you have seen: clause

2.What is morpheme? Stem? Root? Affix?

-Morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language. A morpheme cannot be divided without altering or destroying its meaning.

Eg: In morpheme “kind”, if the “d” is removed, it changes to “kin” which has a different meaning.

Regarding their appearance in the language, morpheme can be devided into: free morphemes (Ex:) & bound morphemes. On their meaning, morphemes can be devided into: lexical morphemes & grammatical morphemes. On their function, morephems are also devided into: derivational morphemes & inflextional morphemes.

-Stem is the part of the word to which an inflectional morpheme is or can be added.

Eg: Inflectional “s” can be added to the stem “work” or “book” to form plural in “the works of Shakespeare” or “many books”.

The stem of a word may be:

+A single stem: consisting of only one morpheme: work, book…

+A root plus a derivational morpheme: work + er = worker

+Two or more roots: house + hold = household

-Affix is a letter or a group of letters which is added to word and which changes the meaning of function of the word.

Affixes are bound forms that can be added:

+To the beginning of the word (prefix): unhappy, dishonest

+To the end of the word (suffix): happiness, development…

-Root is a morpheme which is the basic part of a word and which may occurs on its own or may be joined with other roots.

Eg: house, hold, workshop…

3.   What is allomorph?

Allomorph is any variance of a morpheme which is different in pronunciation or spelling.

Eg: /z/, /s/, iz/ are allomorph of “s”

“es” is also allomorph of “s”

/id/, /t/, /d/ are allomorph of “ed”

4.What is the difference between free and bound morpheme?

-Free morphemes are those that can stand alone carrying full semantic weights.

-Bound morphemes are those that cannot stand alone in language. They are always added to one or more morpheme to form new words or to modify the meaning or grammatical function of the free morphemes.

Eg: teach + er = teacher; care + ful = careful

5.          What is the difference between lexical and grammatical morpheme?

-Lexical morphemes express lexical meaning referring to things, actions, events, states, properties…

-Grammatical morphemes express common meaning referring to grammatical relationship within and between sentences.

Eg: works, worked, working; hot, hotter, hottest

6.   What is the difference between inflectional and derivational morpheme?

-The derivational morpheme is a kind of bound morpheme which is added to the root to make a new word, a new meaning or a new part of speech. It can be a prefix of a suffix.

Eg: teacher,disagreement

-Inflectional morpheme is a kind of bound morpheme which is added to the root or the base to change the grammatical function of a word. They are limited in number and exist only in suffix form.

Eg: watches, bigger…

7.What is the difference between inflectional and derivational morphology?

-Inflectional morphology studies the way in which words vary or inflect in order to express grammatical contrast in sentences.

Eg: “ed” can be added to a verb to form past tense

-Derivational morphology studies principle governing the construction of new words without reference to specific grammatical role that a word might play in the sentence.

Eg: “ize” can be added to an adjective to form a verb.

8.What is the use of “ed” in English language?

-  To form past tense and past participle of regular verbs

Eg: I will have graduated from Hanoi University by this June.

-To form compound adjective (adj + Ned)

Eg: short-sighted, kind-hearted

9. State the different kinds of phrase in the English language on the grounds of part of speech and syntactical function.

-On the ground of part of speech, phrase can be divided into:

+Noun phrase: high-quality product

+Verb phrase: have finished

+Adjective phrase: very beautiful

+Adverb phrase: out there, in here

+Prepositional phrase: on the table

-On the ground of syntactical function, phrase can be divided into:

+Attribute: That cute 5 year old girl is my niece.

+Adverbial phrase: He came to that place yesterday for no reason.

+Subject: Seeing your relative after a long absence is always great pleasure.

+Object I don’t like talking with those people.

+Complement: His words sound very hollow and nonsensical.

10.What are the main ways to identify phrase structure?

There are 4 ways to identify the phrase structure:

-According to the substitution test, any word combination of the English sentence that can be replaced by a single word without changing the sentence’s grammaticality is called a phrase.

That young student is very clever.

Nam is very clever.

“Nam” in sentence (2) has the same grammaticality as “That young student” in sentence (1), so, we can conclude “That young student” is a phrase.

- According to the movement test, any word combination of the English sentence that can be moved to another position in the sentence without changing its meaning is called a phrase.

I met him for the first time on a wet cold winter morning.

On a wet cold winter morning, I met him for the first time.

The meaning of sentence (1) and sentence (2) are the same in spite of the fact that the position of “on a wet cold winter morning” has been changed, so, “on a wet cold winter morning” is a phrase.

-  According to conjoining test, any word combination of the English sentence that can be conjoined with a similar one without changing the grammaticality of the sentence is called a phrase.

We can see many multi-story buildings in big cities.

We can see many multi-story buildings in big cities and small towns.

“In big cities” in sentence (1) can be conjoined with “in small towns” in sentence (2) without changing grammaticality of the sentence, so, “in big cities” is called a phrase.

-According to anaphora test, any preceding word combination (antecedent) that can be replaced by a pro-word is called a phrase.

That smartly-dressed lady lives near my house.She is very nice to me.    

“That smartly-dressed lady” said above can be replaced by the pro-word “she”, so, we can determine that “that smartly-dressed lady” is a phrase.

11.What is the difference between endocentric and exocentric phrase?

-  Endocentric phrase are those expanded from a central element or head, having the same grammatical function as the head. They have 3-part structure: pre-modifier – head – post-modifier.

Eg: All the illustrated magazines on the self

-In contrast, exocentric phrase are those which cannot be seen as an expansion of a central element and the functions are varied.

Eg: in the world, under the sea

12.What is an antecedent?

The antecedent is a preceding word or phrase that is referred back to by a single word (anaphora) in the next part of the sentence of the next sentence.

Eg: That pretty girl is very clever. She can speak English and French.

She: anaphora

That pretty little girl: antecedent

13.     What is the difference between phrase and clause?

-  Phrase is a combination of word which doesn’t consist of its own subject and predicate and is used as a single word. Eg: Eating at restaurant is not to my liking

- Clause is a part of the sentence. It has its own subject and predicate but its meaning is incomplete and cannot be used independently.

Eg: What he is talking about is not what I am interested in.

14.List the syntactical functions the clause can play in the sentence.

-Subject:Why he didn’t tell me the truth is always a haunting question to me.

-  Object: I don’t know how much they invested in this project.

- Attribute: The lady who is wearing red dress is my friend.

- Adverbial/ adjunct: When I heard that bad news, my head seemed to standstill.

-Complement: Our concern is how we can get good mark at English grammar.

15.       What is the difference between clause and sentence?

-  Clause is a part of the sentence. It has its own subject and predicate but its meaning is incomplete and cannot be used independently.

-Sentence is a complete grammatical unit. It has its own subject and predicate and its meaning is complete and it is independent in use.

- The sentence and clause are similar in that both have a finite verb and one or more subjects.

-  The difference between them is:

+The sentence is the largest unit and can be very complex, consisting of more than 1 clause.

+The clause can be considered as simple sentence embedded in a larger sentence, being the focus of the sentence (main clause) or modifying the meaning of the sentence (subordinate clause). I don’t know why she left without saying any thing.

Whenever I am at home with my parents,I feel very happy.

16.       Classify sentences on the ground of their structure.

On the ground of their structure, English sentences can be divided into:

-  Simple sentences: are those that have a subject and predicate.

A miss is as good as a mile.

-  Compound sentences: are those that have two or more independent sentences connected by means of coordination.

Money is a good servant but it is a bad master.

-Complex sentences: are those consisting of main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

I don’t know why you made me cry.

17.Classify sentences on the ground of their meaning.

-Declarative sentence: to give information and state the fact.

I am learning English at Hanoi University.

-Interrogative sentence: to ask question.

Can you explain this word to me?

Why don’t you use softer words to your child?

-  Imperative sentence: to induce someone to fulfill a certain action.

Please turn off the light before you leave.

-Exclamatory sentence: to express emotion, attitude.

How beautiful the landscape here is!

18.Describe 2 main ways of making sentence more complex.

-Co-ordination: Two clauses of equal standing or equal importance are joined by a coordinating conjunction (also known as coordinator).

Eg: I was 30 minutes late but he still waited patiently.

-Subordination: One main clause and one or more dependent clauses are joined by subordinating conjunction (also known as subordinator).

Eg: When you lose money, you lose something but when you lose your family, you lose everything.

19.   What is the difference between coordinator and subordinator?

-  Coordinator connects words, group of words and independent clauses. They can be used to express the meaning of addition (and, both), the opposite meaning (but, still, yet), the meaning of choices (or, otherwise), result or consequences (so, thus, therefore).

To be or not to be is a big question.

-Subordinator connects subordinate clauses with the dependent clause. They can be used to introduce adverbial clauses of time, place, reason, concession…

Whenever you are not near me, my heart feels empty.

20.What is the difference between compound sentence and complex sentence?

- A compound sentence consists of 2 or more clauses coordinated with each other (by the coordinator).

Eg: We came at 7 o’clock and we had dinner together.

-A complex sentence consists of 2 or more clauses joined by subordinator. In most cases, one of the clauses is treated as the principle and the others as subordinates.

Eg: Where there is life, there is hope.

IV/ SYNTACTICAL FUNCTION

1.What is subject and predicate?

-  Subject is a part of the sentences, controlling the predicate.

-  Predicate is a part of the sentence, controlled by the subject.

Eg: Shedrives carefully.

2.          What is the difference between an empty subject and preparatory subject?

-Empty (or vague) subject is the subject represented by the impersonal pronoun “it” to express phenomena such as weather, time, temperature, environment and distance.

Eg: It’s very dusty and noisy here.

-  Preparatory (or introductory) subject is the subject represented by the impersonal of pronoun “it” to substitute a word, word group or clauses to follow.

Eg: It’s very important to remember this rule.

3.  What is the compliment and attribute in E?

-Compliment is a part of sentence which gives further additional meaning to complete the subject or object of the sentence. Compliment is usually introduced by the link verb or the be-like verb.

All the plans have gone bankrupt.

I saw her crying in her room

-Attribute is a part of sentence which gives further information and adds meaning to a noun or noun phrase.

The girl with a long black hair is my friend.

4.    What is adverbial modifier?

Adverbial is a part of sentence which modifies the verb more clearly and precisely. Adverbial refers to the function of the adverb in the sentence. Adverbial can be a word, a phrase or a clause.

Eg: Don’t drive too fast.

VERBS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1.       What is a verb? What kinds can verb be divided into?

The verb is part of speech usually denoting actions, process, experiences or state of being.

There are 6 types of verb:

-  Main verb > < auxiliary verb

-  Finite > < non-finite

-Notional verb

-Transitive > < intransitive verb

-Link verb

-  Phrasal verb

2.     What are notional verbs?

Notional verbs are those verbs that have full lexical meaning of their own and can be used in the sentence as simple predicate.

Eg: to come, to live…

3.     What are auxiliary verbs?

Auxiliary verbs are those verbs that have no lexical meaning of their own and are used as form-words, thus, having only a purely structural function. They are always accompanied by a notional verb.

Eg: to be (in continuous tenses and passive voice); have (in perfect tenses)

4.       What are link verbs?

Link verbs are those verbs which have partly lost their lexical meaning. They can be followed directly by an adjective.

Eg: When I asked her that question, her face turnedred.

You look tired.

5.What are modal verbs?

Modal verbs are those verbs which cannot be used independently unaccompanied by a notional verb, though they have lexical meaning of their own. The meaning of action or process which is common to all verbs is very scare in modal verbs and is dominated by the meaning of modality, i.e. of ability, necessity, delegation… to perform an action denoted by a notional verb.

Eg: can may, must, shall, need…

6.What are modal auxiliaries? Give example of different use.

Modal auxiliaries are verbs that can be used as both auxiliaries (to form negative and interrogative sentences) and modals (to denote some modalities of action).

Eg: can, may, must….

Can you give me a lift?

I can’t live without him.

7. What are phrasal verbs?

Phrasal verbs are verbs made of two or more words with function semantically and grammatically as single verbs.

Semantically, phrasal verbs can be classified into 3 types:

-Literal phrasal verbs are verbs where the particle retains literal adverbial meaning.

Eg: put up , hangup, hand out…

It’s raining. Why don’t you put upyour umbrella?

- Completive phrasal verbs are verbs where the particle indicates competed action.

-Figurative phrasal verbs are verbs where no systematic way of semantic association between the verb and particle can be found.

Eg: Why did you give upthe job?

8.          What is the difference between transitive and intransitive verb?

-Transitive verbs are verbs that are connected with their object directly. In other words, transitive verbs are verbs which take direct object.

Eg: She is reading a book.

-  Intransitive verbs are verbs that do not take a direct object and cannot be used in passive voice.

Eg: to live, to die, to sleep…

9.          What does the term “subject-verb agreement” refer to? Write 3 examples and analyze the subject-verb agreement between them.

Subject-verb agreement is the grammatical concord between the subject and the verb The predicate must agree with the subject in person and number.

Eg:

- Radio and television have changed social habit.

→ Normally, when the subject consists of two or more nouns, it has the force of a plural and takes plural verb.

-Bread and butter is a wholesome food.

→ When two or more nouns represent a compound name of one thing, then the compound is thought of as singular and takes a singular verb.

-20 kilometers is not a great distance in these days of rapid travel.

→ When a plural number applied to distances, weights, heights or amounts of money and represents a single figure or quantity, it is treated as singular and takes a singular verb.

-There is a teacher and 25 students in that room now.

There are 25 students and one teacher in that room now.

→ When the subject is the former “there”, the predicate agrees with the real subject. In case of homogeneous subject, it agrees with the one standing first.

- Professor Brown, together with her assistants has written an article on this problem.

→ Words joined to the subject by “with, together, as well as, in addition to…” do not affect the predicate.

10.In what way can verb be formed?

A new verb in English can be formed in 3 ways:

-Conversion: Words of other classes are converted into verbs.

Eg: hand – to hand; book – to book

-Affixation: Affixes (either prefixes or suffixes) are added to a root to form a verb.

Eg: en →enrich; widen

-Composition: Two or more roots or stems are combined to form verb.

Eg: to babysit, to download…

11.      What does the term “verb form” refer to? Make the list of verb forms.

Verb form refers to different forms of verb used in the sentence.

They include finite and non-finite forms:

-Finites are verb forms with a tense (tensed verb).They usually have the subject and a tense.

-Non-finites are those verb forms without a tense (non-tensed verb). They include infinitive, gerund, present participle, past participle.

Eg: The non-finites of the verb “do” are: to do, doing, done, having done, to have done.

12.What is the use of bare infinitive?

Bare infinitives are the base form of the verb (used without “to”).

Bare infinitives are used with different syntactic functions:

-As a part of predicate after the modal or auxiliary verb in negative and interrogative sentences.

Eg: Can’t you hear people crying?

-As complement, especially object complement in several structures.

Eg: Don’t make me do what I don’t want to.

-As the main verb in present subjunctive mood sentences.

Eg: I wish you be happy all your life.

-As the main verb in the imperative sentences.

Eg: Go off immediately.

13.What is the use of present participle in English language?

Basically, present participle is used:

-To form continuous tenses: The professor is briefing the seminar on his new finding.

-As attribute: I like to sit by the sea watching the rising sun.

-As adverbial modifier of:

*Time: Hearing that news, her face turned white.

*Cause: Being a foreigner, he can’t eat dog meat.

*Manner: I have a habit of lying in bed thinking of all what happened to me on previous day.

*Concession: Although saying he loves her, he never wants to marry her.

14.What is the use of past participle in English language?

Basically, past participle is used:

-To form passive voice: He was promoted president of that company.

- To form perfect tenses: I’ll have graduated by this June.

- As attribute: Stolen kisses are sweet.

-As adverbial modifier of:

Time: Seen from distance, Long Bien Bridge looks like a dragon.

Condition: She never opens her mouth unless spokento.

Manner: Please do as requested.

Concession: Though exhausted, I tried to watch the film.

-As predicative (complement): The shop is closed.

15.  What is the use of gerund?

Basically, gerund is used:

-  As subject: Learning English is not easy.

-   As object: I like listening to music.

-As adverbial modifier: Because of losing a lot of money, she cried terribly.

-As attribute: This is mywritingpen.

-  As complement: My hobby is readingbook.

16.In what ways is gerund a noun? And in what ways is gerund a verb?

-  Like the noun, gerund can function as:

+Subject: Smoking can kill.

+ Object: I like  listening to music.

+Attribute: I’ve bought a new pair of running shoes.

+Complement: Giving him money is gambling.

-Like a verb, gerund can:

+be followed by an indirect object:. Bying my sister flowers is my happiness.

+ be followed by a predicate adjective: Being mad maks here blind. / Growing fat worries her.

+ be followed by an deverbial: Learning hard is the shortest way to success.

+ take perfect form: I regretted having been there. / I remmber having read that book.

+ take passive: I feel ashames for being cheated by him.

17.Why are “dare”, “need”, “used to” called semi-modals?

“Dare”, “need”, “used to” are called semi-modals because they can be used as both modal and notional verbs.

Eg:

-Dare: Dare you tell me the truth? (modal)

I never dare to reach to the moon. (notional)

-Need: I need your clearer explanation. (notional)

Need I tell you about that again? (modal)

-Used to: I used to walk around that lake when I have free time. (notional)

Used you to believe that love is true? (modal)

18. What is the difference between “used to st” and “would do st” when both of them are used to denote something usually happening in the past?

-The difference between them is that “would do st” need an indicator of time in the past while “used to do st” doesn’t need such an indicator.

Eg: When I was student, I would come to that library.

She used to believe that there were ghosts.

-And besides, only “used to do st” not “would do st” is used to indicate past existence.

Eg: There used to be a small fishing village here.

19. What makes “must” different from “have to” when they are used to express obligation?

-In statement about obligation with “must”, the obligation normally comes from the speaker.

Eg: You must tell me the truth, not lie.

-  To talk about an obligation that comes from “outside” or imposed by circumstance, “have to” is usually preferred. Eg: As the manage was out, I have to wait.

20. Name the four traditional moods in English language. Give example.

- Indicative mood: I love you so much.

-  Imperative mood: Open the door!

-Interrogative mood: Are you a student?

-  Exclamatory mood: What a beautiful girl!

21.       Describe the subjunctive mood in English language.

Subjunctive mood in English language is the form of the verb often used to express uncertainty, wishes, desire, supposition… In contrast to the indicative mood, the subjunctive mood usually refers to nonfactual or hypothetical situation.

Three categories of subjunctive may be distinguished:

-  Mandative subjunctive: The world people demand that the US withdraw it troops from Iraq immediately.

-Formulaic subjunctive: Long-lived Vietnam.

-Subjunctive “were”: I wish she were with me now.

22.

What is the use of past-subjunctive mood in English language?

The past subjunctive mood is used to express unreal past, wish that never become true. It also indicates unreality, improbability, regret… Its structure is similar to that of past unreal condition.

Eg: I suppose the story were true.

He looks as if he were ill.

23.      What is tense and aspect?

-  Tense is the linguistic expression of time relation. Tense of the verb is a grammatical category of the verb indicating the time of an action. Tense form may indicate whether an action or state is past, present of future. There are 3 tenses: past tense, present tense and future tense.

-  Aspect is a grammatical category of the verb showing the way in which an action is performed or the different characteristics of an action. There are 3 aspects:

+The indefinite aspect indicates:

·A habitual or repeated action.

· A permanent property of an action.

+Continuous aspect indicates:

An action in progress at the moment of speech.

·The continuity of an action.

· Near future action (with previous arrangement).

+Perfect aspect indicates:

· An action completed before a certain moment.

· The duration of an action counting from the starting point up to a certain moment.

24.      What is the use of continuous aspect in English language?

The continuous (progressive) aspect has 3 functions:

-It denotes an action happening at a certain moment.

Eg: She’s playing piano in her sitting room.

This time yesterday I was drinking coffee with my friends.

-  It denotes the continuity of an action.

Eg: That boy is playing computer games all the time.

She’s always thinking highly of herself.

-It denotes a future action.

Eg: They are building a new hotel at the end of this year.

The prime minister is leaving Vietnam for the USA today week

25.      State the use of present progressive.

The present progressive is used to indicate:

-Event or action in progress.

Eg: She’s cleaning her room now.

- Temporary activity (action will end and therefore lacks the permanent of the simple present tense)

Eg: My parents are living in Ho Chi Minh city.

-Repetition or iteration in a series of similar ongoing actions.

Eg: The demonstrators are walking on the street, shouting slogan.

-Future action (when the event is planned, arranged in advance; usually with future time adverbial)

Eg: They are holding their wedding party next week.

26.     Set the rules to change the direct imperative sentences into the reported one.

When we turn direct imperative sentences (command) into indirect one, the following changes are necessary:

-The introductory verb “say” changes to a verb of command or request, such as: “tell”, “order”, “ask”… Eg: He said, “Close the door, John”→ He told John to close the door.

-  The introductory verb of the indirect imperative sentence must be follow immediately by the person addressed and the infinitive. Eg: He said, “Get your coat, Mary.” → He told Mary to get her coat.

- Negative imperative are expressed by placing “not” before the infinitve.

Eg: The said, “Don’t move, boys.”

→ He told the boys  not to move.

- Pronouns and adverbs of place and time change as in statements:

Eg: He said, “Don’t come tomorrow as I won’t be here”→ He told us not to come the next day as he wouldn’t be there.

27.What situation are conditional sentences used to talk about?

Basically, conditional sentences are used to talk about:

-A situation which sometimes exists or existed.

Eg: If they lose weight during an illness, they soon regain it afterward.

-A situation which you know does not exist.

Eg: If there were no water, there would not be life on Earth.

- A situation when you don’t know whether it exists or not.

Eg: If he is right it would be possible once more to manage the economy in the old way.

-A situation which may exist in the future.

Eg: If I have enough money I will by a TV.

28.Identify different types of factual conditional sentences and explain the use.

Factual conditionals include 4 types:

-Generic conditionals: expresses relationship that are true and unchanging (not bounded in time)

Eg: If you boil shrimps, they turn red.

-Habitual conditionals: resembles generic, expressing relationships that are not bounded in time, but the relationships are based on habit in stead of physical law. They express either past or present relationships that are typically or habitually true.

Eg: If he goes to work, his wife will stay at home to look after their baby.

- Implicit inference conditionals: expresses inferences about specific time-bound relationships. They make use of a much wider range of tenses and aspect markers and also occur with certain modal auxiliaries, tending to maintain the same tense and aspect or the same modal auxiliaries in both clauses.

Eg: If the Manchester United can beat Liverpool, it can beat Chelsea.

-Explicit inference conditionals: is the only case when there is not strict parallelism: the two clauses have different tenses, aspects or modals.

Eg: If someone is at the door, it must be Peter.

29.When is the passive voice used in English language?

-When the agent is redundant.

Eg: Only dragon fruit can be grown on this soil.

- To emphasize the receiver or result of action.

Eg: Immediate action was taken to curb inflation.

-  To make a sentence sound more objective without revealing the source of information.

Eg: It is reported that he embezzled VND 10 billion.

-  To be tactful or evasive by not mentioning the agent or when the agent cannot be identified.

Eg: It appears that some errors were made in this report.

-  To retain the same grammatical subject in the successive clauses.

Eg: When I arrived at the company, I was interviewed by the director.

-  When the passive is more appropriate than the active (usually in complex sentences)

Eg: The initiative which had been proposed by labour leaders was warmly welcome.

-  When the theme is given information and the agent is new information.

Eg: How beautiful the poem is! It was composed by a very young poet.

V. NOUNS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1.         List the ways how are nouns formed in English language.

3 main ways:

-Conversion: words of other classes are converted into nouns: ups and downs; the have

-Composition: words are formed by adding 2 or more roots or free morpheme together: note-book

-  Derivation: words are formed by adding affixes (either suffixes or prefixes or both) to some roots: unhappiness, uncarelessness

2.What is zero derivation?

Conversion (zero derivation) is the formation of a new word class without adding any affixes: hand---to hand; poor – the poor…

3.         How is the gender expressed in English language?

The grammatical category of gender is not found in English nouns. Most nouns have the same form for masculine and feminine (parents, child. Teacher, singer…). However, in some cases, the indications of gender are expressed by means of:

-Two different words: boy – girl, man – woman, husband – wife…

-the word building suffix "_ess": actor- actress, waiter - waitress...

- the 1st stem of the compound noun: boyfriend- girlfriend, manservant- womanservant...

4.    How are borrowed nouns in English language used in their plural form?

In English, there are 3 main ways to make plural form of the borrowed nouns:

-Retaining their original plural form.

Eg: datum – data; phenomenon – phenomena

- Applying the rule of forming plural nouns in English.

Eg: formula – fomulas; index – indexes

-Using both the foreign and the English plural forms.

Eg: memorandum – morandums – memoranda; index – indexes - indice

5.How are the English compound nouns inflected for plural?

Compound nouns, general speaking, the final element is changing to plural

-By taking “s/es”.

Eg: teacher – teachers, housewife – housewives…

-By adding “s” to the noun stem.

Eg: mother-in-law → mothers-in-law

-In compounds having “man” and “woman” as the first stem, the plural form appears in both.

Eg: woman-teacher → women-teachers, man-servant → men-servants…

6. Can the plural form change the lexical meaning of singular noun in English language? Give 5 examples.

The plural form can change the lexical meaning of singular noun in English.

Eg:

-Damage: loss or harm resulting from injury. →Damages: some of money to be paid as compensation.

-Pain: physical disorder, sensation caused by injury.→ Pains: labour pain, great effort.

- Custom: established socially accepted practice →      Customs: the agency for collecting tax, duty.

-Good: something is good.→      Goods: merchandise.

-Drawer: a sliding box opened by pulling.→Drawers: undergarment for the lower body.

7.          State the function of noun phrase.

  The noun phrase can be used with such function as:

-  Subject: Those senior students study hard for their final exams.

-  Complement: They are students of English department.

-  Object: She wrote a long letter to her mother on the Mother’s Day.

-  Attribute: That five year old girl is my daughter.

-  Part of adverbial modifier: They are working in the rice field

VI. ADJECTIVE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1.  What are main ways to form adjective?

2 ways to form adjective:

-Derivation: The derived adjectives are the adjectives formed by adding affixes to the root morphemes.

-Composition: The composition adjectives are the adjectives formed by combining two or more free morphemes together and are often written with hyphens.

N + P­2­: state-owned

Adj + Adj: dark-purple, light purple

N + Adj: chocolate-brown

Adj + N: round-table

Adj + Ned: handmade

Adj + P1: good-looking, easy-going

Adj + P2: new-born

Adv + P2: well-known

2.     What is the use of repletion of the comparative in the English language?

The repetition of the comparative can convey the idea of general increase or decrease.

Eg: Consumption prices are getting higher and higher.

The construction of “the” + comparative, “the” + comparative can show cause and effect relation.

Eg: the more she said, the less I believe her.

3. What is substantivized adjective and how it’s used in English language?

The substantivization of adjective is a kind of conversion. Adjective when substantivized, lose all or half of the characteristic of the adjective and acquire all or half of the characteristic of the noun. In modern English, there are 2 types of substantivized adjective:

-Wholly/ fully substantivized adjective: are all the adjective that acquire all the characteristic of nouns. They have plural and possessive case inflections and may be associated with the definite and indefinite article.

Eg: a native, a relative, a Russian, a German, etc

Note: Adjectives denoting the nationalities ending with “sh”, “ch” are not fully substantivized.

Eg: A Dutch---a Dutch man/woman

A French---a French man.

-Partially substantivized are adjectives that take only the definite article but they do not have any other characteristics of the noun (they are neither inflected in the plural nor they can be used in the possessive case).

Eg: the rich, the poor, the old, the young, the best, the living, the dead.

VII. ADVERBS IN ENGLISH LAGUAGE

1.Give the description of adverb in English language.

The adverb is a part of speech specifying action or quality. The function of adverb in the sentence is that of an adverbial modifier. Adverbs can modify verbs (quickly), adjective (very happy) and other adverbs ( fairly well).

Most adverbs do not change morphologically, but some adverbs have degree of comparison.

2.    What are the functions of Adverb?

On the ground of function, adverb can be classified as follow:

-  Adverb of manner: are used to denote the manner of an action or how an action is performed

Eg: Two children escape death miraculously

-Adverb of place: are used to denote the location or position of an action

Eg: He who goes here and there knows strange stories.

-  Adverb of time: are used to denote the time of actions

Eg: They love each other for almost 20yrs before they got married

-  Adverb of frequency: are used to denote the frequency of an action

Eg: I have never met such a nice girl before

-  Adverb of degree: are used to denote the degree to which an action is performed

Eg: Your answer is quite good but it sounds likely what I said in a book.

-  Adverb of intensifier: are used with gradable adjective or adverb to strengthen the meaning

Eg: He’s awfully

3.   What is intensifier in English?

The intensifier is a class of word which is used to modify gradable adjectives, adverbs, verbs or “ed” participle.

Eg: Their house was completely destroyed by a terrible storm

4.     Explain the ways of forming adverbs.

5 ways:

-Adding “-ly” to and adjective: quickly, carefully…

-Adding “-ly” to a noun: daily, monthly…

-Adding “-ways/ -ward/ ‘wise” to a noun: sideways, homeward, clockwise…

-  Adding “a-“ to a noun: ahead, asleep…

-  Adding “in-/ out-“ to a noun: indoor, outdoor…

5.      What is the difference between adverb & adverbial modifier?

-Adverb refers to parts of speech (word class).It’s used to modify and qualify verbs, adjectives and another adverbs or even clauses and sentences. Ex: She is too moved to say anything now.

Don’t speak so fast or they can’t follow you.

Obviously, she doesn’t want to talk about that in public.

-Adverbial (modifier) refers to the function of the adverb in the sentence. Adverbial can be a word, a phrase, or a clause. Ex: Don’t drive too fast.

He lies flat on bed

He is welcomed wherever he comes.

6.          Explain the ways of forming adverbial modifier.

Adverbial modifier can be formed by means of:

-  An adverb: She can speak  fluently

-  Prepositional phrase: Don’t stand in my way

-  A clause: Where there is life, there is hope

7.     What is difference between preposition and adverb particle?

-The preposition usually stands before the noun to form prepositional phrase.

They are sitting in the classroom now.

-  Adverbial particle usually stands after the verb and change the lexical meaning of the verb.

We can understand whom she’s driving at.

VII. PRONOUNS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1.What are determiners?

Determiners are function words which are used to identify the reference of a noun. Broadly, three groups may be identified:

-  Pre-determiners: “all”, “both”, “half”, and multipliers like “ double, once, twice”

-  Central determiners: articles, denominative determiners (this, that, these, those), possessive determiners (his, her…)

-Post determiners with 2 sub-groups:

+Ordinal numeral and semi-determiners (“same”, “other”, “latter”, “last”, “next”)

+Cardinal numeral and quantifying determiners (“some”, “a lot of”, “enough”).

2.    Give the description of pronoun in English?

The pronoun is a part of speech including words with a very general or relative meaning. It is used as substitution of a noun or an adjective.

Pronoun indicates living beings, things, and their quality without naming them. It is always clear from the context or the situation what person is denoted by pronoun “I, he, she”, for example, or what thing, quality is denoted by the pronoun “it” or “this”.

There are several features that pronouns have in common which distinguish them from nouns

-  They do not admit determiners.

-  They often have objective case, personal distinction and overt gender contrast.

-  Their singular and plural form are not morphologically related.

3.          What is the difference between the possessive adjective and possessive pronoun?

-  Possessive adjectives must go with a noun or noun phrase.

Eg: Their house is bigger than mine

-Possessive pronouns never go with a noun and are often stressed in speech. They refer to equally to things, people, singular and plural.

Eg: That bicycle is mine.

4.         What is the difference between determiner and pronoun?

A determiner is a word which is always followed by a noun and limits the meaning of the noun in some ways whereas a pronoun is a word which can be used in place of the noun phrase.

Eg: She needs some (deter)drink and I want some (pro) too.

Many people support his(deter) plan but I hate his (pro).

5.    State the use of reciprocal pronoun?

Reciprocal pronoun “each other”, “one another” are used to indicate the relationship of neutrality: people do the same thing, feel the same way or have the same relationship.

Traditionally, “each other” refers to 2 people or things, “one another” refers to more than two.

Eg: After their quarrel, we tried to avoid seeing each other.

All parties agree to support one another in case of emergency.

6.  State the use of reflexive pronoun?

Reflexive pronouns (also call shelf pronouns) are used to express an action that returns to its doer or express emphasis. They have grammatical category of person, gender, number.

Reflexive pronouns are used as noun, pronoun in one of the following functions:

- As predicative showing feelings, emotions and states.

  Eg: I’m not quite myself today.

-As object (direct, indirect) indicating that the action returns to the doer, that is when the subject and object are the same person.

  Eg: I hate myself for making such stupid mistake.

-  As adverbial modifier of manner emphasizing that a person does st by himself without anybody’s help.

  Eg: I did it by myself.

-In apposition to a noun or pronoun having an emphatic meaning.

Eg: The director himself presented her a diploma.

VIII. ARTICLES IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1.  What is the use of article with names of seasons in the year?

Generally speaking, the names of seasons in the year are used with zero articles in general sense. When the names of seasons are definite by the context, they are used with definite article. Indefinite article is used before the name of season to denote a particular time when something happened.

Eg: It’s often hot in summer and cold in winter.

The victory of the spring 1975 went down into our national history.

As long as I can remember, she was born in an autumn.

2.What is the use of definite article “the”?

-“The” is used when the noun is definite by the situation or context.

Eg: The book you gave me is very interesting.

-  “The” is used for classifying a certain class from other classes.

Eg: The tiger is dangerous.

-“The” used with plural name can refer to the group as a whole like: families, races, politics…

Eg: The Smiths, the Beatles

-  “The” is used with collective nouns or plural countable denoting specific groups, particular groups or community.

Eg: The police, the army

-  “The” is used with a certain part of body, object, place.

Eg: The head, the heart

-“The” is used to express time and time expressions.

Eg: The beginning, at the moment

-  “The” is used with superlatives and ordinal numerals.

Eg: The most, the first

-“The” is used with unique objects, positions, items…

Eg: The Sun, the Titanic

-  “The” is used with musical instruments, with fixed phrases “The + Adj + ER … The + Adj + ER” and with certain idiomatic expressions.

Eg: The sooner the better

Carlos plays the guitar

-“The” is used with adjectives to form substantivized nouns or abstract nouns.

Eg: The poor, the blind

-  “The” is used with plural name of countries, and full name of countries.

Eg: The Philippines, The Socialist Republic of Vietnam

IX. NUMERALS IN ENGLISH

1.Give the rules to read the decimal part.

The decimal is separated from the integral number by a point and read separately.

Eg: 0.35 → nought point three five

2.          Give the rules to read number “0”

-“Nought”: is often used in British E to talk the figure “0” as part of a number.

A million is followed by six noughts.

-“Oh”: when saying or reading a telephone or bank account number, etc. In British and America E, we saying figure “0” as letter “0”.

The code is 47005 (four seven double oh five)

-“Zero”: is used especially in scientific, medical and economic context.

The temperature here rarely falls below “zero”.

-  “Nil”: ia used when talking about score in a team game.

The final score was 3-0 (three-nil)

-“Love”: is often used in tennis.

The score in the game in court one is 30-0 (thirty-love)

3.Give the rules to read fraction.

In the fraction numbers, the numerator is read with cardinal number, and the denominator is read with ordinal number.

If the numerator is greater than on, the denominator takes plural form.

Eg: 1/3 → one third, 2/3 → two thirds

4.  What is the use of ordinal numeral?

Ordinal numerals are used when we want to identify or describe St by indicating where they come in a series or sequence.

Ordinal numerals are usually used with:

-  Definite article “the”: The seventh lesion is more difficult than the second.

-  Dates of the months: 23rd June is her birthday (the twenty third of June).

-  They can also used as pronouns and as adverbs:

Eg: The third child tries to out the first and second.

First, boil the water.

X. CONJUNCTIONS IN ENGLISH

1.          What is the conjunction?

-A conjunction is a word which joined words, phrases or clauses together

Eg: but, and, or… She can sing so beautifully but her sister can’t.

-  Units larger than single word which function as conjunction are sometimes known as conjunctive

Eg: “so that”, “as long as”, “as if”…

He ran fast so that he would not miss the first lesson period.

-  Adverbs which are used to introduce or connect clauses are sometimes known as conjunctive adverb.

Eg: “However”, “otherwise”

They tried hard, however, everything seems stagnant.

XI. INVERSION AND EMPHASIS

1.   Explain the use of inversion?

Inversion is the grammatical phenomenon of E language in which the predicate is placed before the subject. The two main cases of the use of the inversion are:

-Grammatical inversion: to construct certain type of sentences:

+Interrogative sentences: Is he working?

+Sentences are introduced by “here” or “there”: Here is your ticket.

+Exclamatory sentences expressing wishes: Come what may I never forgot you.

-Stylistical inversion: to make a certain word in the sentence more prominent.

Eg: up go prices; such is life; never shall I talk to him again.