VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ==== ?&@==== NOMINAL CLAUSES IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (MỆNH ĐỀ DANH NGỮ TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ CÁC CẤU TRÚC TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) GRADUATION THESIS FIELD: LINGUISTICS Supervisor: CAO THỊ PHƯƠNG, M.A Student: NGUYỄN NHƯ HUỆ Class: 47A - English VINH, 2010 Acknowledgements For the accomplishment of this study, we have received a great deal of support and assistance from many dedicated individuals First of all, I would like to express my thanks to the Directorial Board of the Foreign Languages Department which awarded me an opportunity to this thesis Secondly, I would like to express my faithful and deepest thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Cao Thi Phuong (M.A.), for her useful references, excellent advices and readiness during my study process Thirdly, I want to show my gratitude to all teachers of Foreign Languages Department who gave me useful advices and critical comments for the study My deepest thanks are for my beloved family and my friends who always stand by my side and encourage me from my preparation until the completion of this study Thank you to all! Vinh, May 2010 Ngun Nh H List of Abbreviations A: Adverb Adj: Adjective Co: Object Complement Cs: Subject Complement Eg: Example Od: Direct Object Oi: Indirect Object S: Subject V: Verb Abstract The importance of nominal clauses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents in language teaching and learning has stimulated the author on this study When study English nominal clauses, we have to have a thorough understanding of them as well as their sub – types and functions In this thesis, the author gives the background knowledge about sentences, clauses, sub – types of clauses, especially nominal clauses and their functions in chapter I In chapter II, the author discusses about nominal clauses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents, their similarities and differences In addition, the study also gives out some measures and suggested exercises to help students master English nominal clauses and use them correctly Table of contents Acknowledgements i List of abbreviations ii Abstract .iii Table of contents iv Part a: introduction 1 Reasons for choosing the study Aims of the study .1 Research questions Scope of the study .2 Methods of the study Design of the study Part b: Investigation Chapter I: Theoretical background 1.1 Sentence 1.1.1 Definition of sentence 1.1.2 Structure of sentence 1.1.3 Types of sentence .5 1.2 Clause 1.2.1 Definition of clause 1.2.2 Elements of clause 1.2.3 Classifications of clause 1.2.3.1 Independent clauses 1.2.3.2 Dependent clauses .9 1.2.4 Functions of dependent clauses 11 1.3 Nominal clauses in English .12 1.3.1 Definition of nominal clauses 12 1.3.2 Categories of nominal clauses 14 Chapter II: Nominal clauses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents 16 2.1 That nominal clauses 16 2.1.1 That nominal clauses as subject 16 2.1.2 That nominal clauses as direct object .19 2.1.3 That nominal clauses as subject complement 21 2.1.4 That nominal clauses as adjectival complement .22 2.1.5 That nominal clauses as appositive 22 2.2 The dependent interrogative clauses 23 2.2.1 Wh – interrogative nominal clauses .24 2.2.1.1 Wh – interrogative clauses as subject 25 2.2.1.2 Wh – interrogative clauses as direct object .25 2.2.1.3 Wh – interrogative clauses as subject complement 28 2.2.1.4 Wh – interrogative clauses as adjectival complement .29 2.2.1.5 Wh – interrogative clauses as appositive 29 2.2.1.6 Wh – interrogative clauses as prepositional complement 30 2.2.2 Yes – no interrogative clauses .31 2.2.2.1 Yes – no interrogative clauses as subject 32 2.2.2.2 Yes – no interrogative clauses as direct object 32 2.2.2.3 Yes – no interrogative clauses as subject complement .33 2.2.2.4 Yes – no interrogative clauses as adjectival complement 33 2.2.2.5 Yes – no interrogative clauses as appositive .34 2.2.2.6 Yes – no interrogative clauses as prepositional complement 34 2.3 Nominal relative clauses 34 2.3.1 Nominal relative clauses as subject 35 2.3.2 Nominal relative clauses as direct object .37 2.3.3 Nominal relative clauses as indirect object 38 2.3.4 Nominal relative clauses as subject complement 39 2.3.5 Nominal relative clauses as object complement .40 2.3.6 Nominal relative clauses as prepositional complement 40 2.3.7 Nominal relative clauses as appositive 41 2.4 Nominal to – infinitive clauses 42 2.4.1 Nominal to – infinitive clauses as subject 42 2.4.2 Nominal to – infinitive clauses as direct object 43 2.4.3 Nominal to – infinitive clauses as subject complement .43 2.4.4 Nominal to – infinitive clauses as adjectival complement 43 2.4.5.Nominal to – infinitive clauses as appositive 44 2.5 Nominal –ing clauses .44 2.5.1 Nominal –ing clauses as subject 45 2.5.2 Nominal –ing clauses as direct object 45 2.5.3 Nominal –ing clauses as subject complement 45 2.5.4 Nominal –ing clauses as appositive 46 2.5.5 Nominal –ing clauses as prepositional complement 46 2.5.6 Nominal –ing clauses as adjectival complement 46 2.6 Nominal bare infinitive and verbless clauses 46 Chapter III: Some errors made by Vietnamese students suggestions for teaching English nominal clauses 48 3.1 Predictions of errors made by Vietnamese students when learning English nominal clauses 48 3.1.1 Inversion between subject and verb in nominal interrogative clauses 48 3.1.2 Subject and verb disagreement 49 3.1.3 Misuse of “whether” and “if” in yes – no interrogative clauses 49 3.1.4 Omission of “that” in that – clauses functioning as subject 49 3.1.5 Unsuitable change from quoted speech to reported speech 50 3.2 Some actual errors that Vietnamese learners commit when learning English nominal clauses 51 3.2.1 Inversion between subject and verb in nominal interrogative clauses 51 3.2.2 Subject and verb disagreement 52 3.2.3 Misuse of “whether” and “if” in yes – no interrogative clauses 52 3.2.4 Omission of “that” in that – clauses functioning as subject .53 3.2.5 Unsuitable change from quoted speech to reported speech 54 3.3 Some suggestions for teaching English nominal clauses 55 Part c: conclusion .58 References Appendix part a: Introduction I Reasons for Choosing the Study Nowadays English has become an international language It plays an important role at enhancing the solidarity among the countries all over the world and it is also used in every field of society Realizing its importance, most of Vietnamese schools choose it to be one of the obligatory subjects However, learning English as a foreign language brings learners certain problems, especially with English construction In this study, we choose the topic: “Nominal clauses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents” for the following reasons: Firstly, nominal clauses play an important role in both spoken and written English However, they are not easy to use and are one of the most difficult English grammatical phenomenons, especially, with their sub - types and their functions Secondly, because of their difficulties, students often make mistakes or commit errors when using English nominal clauses Sometimes they cannot realize what nominal clauses are and what functions they are acting For example, they may think “that – clauses” in these two following sentences: “1 The news that you told me is not true The news, that he has left home, is not true.” are of the same type, that is, relative clause (or adjectival clause) In fact, these two that – clauses are of absolutely different types: “that – clause” in the first sentence is relative clause but “that – clause” in the second sentence is nominal clause functioning as appositive Thirdly, being a student of English and a teacher of English in the future, we should something to help our students overcome these confusions so that they can use English nominal clause in an excellent way with as few error as possible Finally, there has been no research on English nominal clauses and their Vietnamese equivalents and the ways to help learners overcome the confusion until recent years II Aims of the Study Nominal clauses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents are a complicated problem, causing confusion for Vietnamese students who learn English as a foreign language Thus, we would like to give an over view about this type of clause in the two languages so that we can understand it and find it easy in learning process Our study is aimed at: - Giving the description of English nominal clauses and their Vietnamese equivalents - Illustrating the differences and similarities of nominal clauses in these two languages - Offering suggestions for teaching English nominal clauses to Vietnamese students III Research Questions This study tries to find out the answers for the following questions: What is a nominal clause? What is the classification of English nominal clauses and the features of each sub – type? What are the differences and similarities between English nominal clauses and their Vietnamese equivalents? What are predicted errors Vietnamese students may commit when learning English nominal clauses? What are suggestions to the teaching of English nominal clauses? IV Scope of the Study This thesis is about English nominal clauses, their sub – types and functions of each type Moreover, we concentrate on giving examples of nominal clauses in English and their Vietnamese equivalents Finally, we will offer Vietnamese learners some suggestions to overcome errors in using English nominal clauses V Methods of the Study Descriptive method Comparative and contrastive method Analytic and statistical method VI Design of the Study 10 - Snape had told me where to come (Rowling, 2002: 690) LÃo Snape đà nói cho biết chỗ để tới (Lan, 2007: 797) WHICHEVER - Take whichever you please (Böu, 1994: 40) LÊy bÊt anh thích (Bửu, 1994: 40) Nominal relative clauses acting as direct object and beginning with “what; whatever; whoever; however; where; wherever; when; whenever; whichever” have following equivalents in Vietnamese: ã What: Whatever: ã Whoever: ã However: cách ã Where: chỗ ã Whichever: 2.3.3 Nominal Relative Clauses as Indirect Object Nominal relative clauses functioning as indirect object usually follow these verbs: award grant order send bring hand owe show buy keep pass teach feed leave pay tell find make pick throw get lend reserve write give offer sell etc Eg: - He told whoever he knew this piece of information Anh ta ®· nãi cho bÊt cø mµ anh biÕt mÈu tin nµy - Give whoever answers the phone Dad’s message (Böu, 1994: 38) Chuyển lời dặn ba cho trả lời điện thoại (Bửu, 1994: 38) - Jerry gave what Joe suggested a try Jerry đà thử làm theo điều mà Joe đà gợi ý 47 (Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nominal_clause) Nominal relative clauses functioning as indirect object and beginning with “what” and “whoever” have the same equivalents in Vietnamese as they acting in other functions 2.3.4 Nominal Relative Clauses as Subject Complement  WHAT - That wasn’t what was bothering Harry (Rowling, 2002: 440) Đó điều Harry bận tâm (Lan, 2007: 508)  WHOM - He wasn’t whom she was looking for Anh ngời cô t×m kiÕm  WHERE – WHEREVER - This is exactly where we wanted to end up (Rowling, 2002: 43) Đây xác nơi muốn đến mà (Lan, 2007: 51) - Heaven is wherever you can find out your happiness Thiên đờng nơi bạn cã thĨ t×m thÊy niỊm vui cho m×nh  WHY - This must have been why Crouch had overreacted to Winky (Rowling, 2002: 530) Đây lí khiến ông Crouch phản ứng dội với Winky (Lan, 2007: 612)  HOW - That is how she’s been getting all these nice little interviews with the Slytherins (Rowling, 2002: 728) Đó cách mà mụ ta đà thực đợc tất vấn với tụi häc sinh nhµ Slytherin (Lan, 2007: 835)  WHEN - The second task was when I was most afraid we would fail (Rowling, 2002: 676) Cái thi thứ hai lúc ta sợ thất b¹i (Lan, 2007: 781) Nominal clauses acting as subject complement and beginning with “what; whom; where; wherever; why; and how” have following equivalents in Vietnamese: ã What: điều ã Why: “lÝ do” 48 • Whom: “ngêi” • When: “lóc” • Where: nơi ã How: cách ã Wherever: nơi nµo” 2.3.5 Nominal Relative Clauses as Object Complement Nominal relative clauses acting as object complement often occur in sentences which have these verbs: “appoint; believe; call; consider; declare; elect; name; put; rearrange; vote; etc.” - You can call me whatever you like (Qiurk et al, 1972: 737) B¹n cã thĨ gọi tên bạn thích Nominal relative clauses functioning as object complement and beginning with “whatever” have equivalent meaning with “bÊt cø…g×” in Vietnamese And when they begin with other “wh – words”, they have the same equivalents in Vietnamese as other functions above 2.3.6 Nominal Relative Clauses as Prepositional Complement  WHAT – WHATEVER - He was terrified of what he was about to see (Rowling, 2002: 638) Nó hÃi hùng điều mà nh×n thÊy (Lan, 2007: 740) - He want to learn about whatever is interesting Nã muèn häc vÒ bÊt cø ®iỊu g× hay (Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nominal_clause) - They will be very thankful for whatever you can give them (Bưu, 1994: 38) Chóng cám ơn anh nhiều anh ®· cho chóng nã (Bưu, 1994: 38)  WHY - Students in every direction lying about why they haven’t done their homework (Rowling, 2002: 343) Học trò khắp xung quanh nói dối lí chúng không làm bµi tËp (Lan, 2007: 394)  HOW - I found out how she was listening in on private conversation (Rowling, 2002: 727) 49 Mình đà phát cách mà mụ ta nghe nói chuyện riêng t (Lan, 2007: 837) - He was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in his mouth (Rowling, 2002: 502) Nó bắt đầu nhận thấy nớc ẩm lạnh nh miệng (Lan, 2007: 580)  WHICHEVER - He was interested in whichever shirt she bought for him Anh Êy thÝch bÊt cø c¸i ¸o cô mua cho anh WHOEVER - He will talk to whoever will listen to him (Azar, 2001: 266) Anh Êy sÏ nãi chun víi bÊt k× sÏ nghe anh nãi  WHERE – WHEREVER - There were descriptions of where each family member might be (Rowling, 151) Có ghi địa điểm mà thành viên gia đình có mặt (L Lan, 160) - We are thinking of wherever she can arrive Chóng t«i nghĩ nơi cô ta có thĨ ®Õn Nominal relative clauses acting as prepositional complement and beginning with these “wh – elements” have equivalents in Vietnamese as follows: ã What: điều ã Whichever: ã Whatever:bất điều gì, ã Whoever: ã Why: lí ã Where: địa điểm ã How: nh 2.3.7 Nominal Relative Clauses as Appositive ã Wherever: nơi - Let us know your college adress (that is, where you live in term time) (Quirk et al, 1972: 737) H·y cho biết địa trờng bạn (nghĩa là, nơi bạn thời gian học) - The boy, Harry Potter, whoever he was, was in danger (Rowling, 2002: 12) Cái thằng nhỏ Harry Potter đó, chẳng biết thằng nhỏ nữa, bị nguy hiểm (Lan, 2007: 17) 50 In general, nominal relative clauses functioning as appositive have the same Vietnamese equivalents as the functions above 2.4 Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses Nominal to – infinitive clause is a nominal clause which begins with to – infinitive The meaning of the infinitive clause is putative rather than factual because we can paraphrase it (where complementation restrictions permit) by a that – clause with putative “should” Eg: To rob one’s parents is unforgivable (Quirk et al, 1972: 740) That one should rob one’s parents is unforgivable (Quirk et al, 1972: 740) The nominal to – infinitive clauses can function as: Subject; Direct object; Subject complement; appositive; and adjectival complement The presence of the subject of a to – infinitive clause normally requires the presence of the preceding “for” (which is perhaps acting here more as a conjunction, or clause introducer, than as a preposition) Eg: For a brigde to collapse like that is unbelievable (Quirk & Greenbaum, 1976: 320) In addition, the subject, when is a pronoun, is in the objective case For example: “The idea is for us to meet on Thursday.” When the clause is a direct object, however, the “for” is omitted We have seen that the infinitive resembles the that – clause in being able to function as complement of a preposition, yet its ability to follow directly an item which normally requires a prepositional phrase as complementation, suggests that there is an “understood” preposition Eg: “I’m sorry to have left soon.” Not: “I’m sorry for to have left soon.”* (incorrect sentence) 2.4.1 Nominal to – infinitive Clauses as Subject - For Osbert to appear in public at such a time was rather courageous (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 1976: 99) §èi víi Osbert, xuất nơi công cộng vào thời điểm nh can đảm - For him to fail now would be a great dissapointment §èi víi thất bại lúc thÊt väng rÊt lín - To accuse them of negligence was a serious mistake 51 ViƯc ®ỉ téi cho hä tính cẩu thả nhầm lẫn nghiêm trọng - To err is human Phạm lỗi ngêi (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nominal_clause) 2.4.2 Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Direct Object Nominal to – infinitive clauses functioning as direct object often occur after these verbs: allow expect prove arrange fail permit ask help teach beg hope tell choose learn threaten claim plan warn decide prepare want demand promise wish, etc - I expect everyone to be punctual this evening (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 1976: 99) T«i mong tÊt ngời đến tối hôm 2.4.3 Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Subject Complement - The Triwizard Tournament’s aim was to further and promote magical understanding (Rowling, 2002: 723) Mơc ®Ých cđa cc thi ®Êu tam pháp thuật để củng cố mở rộng sù hiĨu biÕt ph¸p tht (Lan, 2007: 833) - The plan is for us all to meet outside at eight (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 1976: 99) Kế hoạch tất gặp lúc tám 2.4.4 Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Adjectival Complement - He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin (Rowling, 2002: 481) Cụ sáng suốt mà tin cậy bác Hagrid thầy Lupin (Lan, 2007: 556) - We would of course be glad to have Harry stay for the remainder of the summer holiday (Rowling, 2002: 30) 52 Chóng dĩ nhiên vui mừng đợc lu Harry lại nhà chơi đến hết mùa hè (Lan, 2007: 36) 2.4.5 Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Appositive - The plan for us all to meet outside was absurb (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 1976: 99) Cái kế hoạch tất gặp v« lý 2.5 Nominal – ing Clauses The nominal –ing clauses may be called a participle clause and functions as: Subject; Direct object; Subject complement; Appositive; Adjectival complement and Prepositional complement Eg: Buying and selling drug are illegal Nominal – ing clause as S When the –ing clause has a subject, there is sometimes a choice between genitive case in formal style For instance: “I’m bored with her/ Mary’s telling that story.” and in informal style, objective case (for personal pronouns) or common case (for nouns) For example: “I’m bored with her/ Mary telling that story.” It is commonly claimed that the genitive is the only correct form, but in fact it frequently has a stilted effect, and is particularly unsuitable when the subject is an inaminate or abstract noun phrase or a “group” genitive phrase For example: “The crisis has arisen as a result of recent uncontrolled inflation’s having outweighed the benefit of devaluation.” (Quirk et al, 1972: 741) A nominal –ing clause may refer to a fact or an action For instance: Fact: Your driving car to New York in your condition disturbs me greatly Action: Your driving car to New York in your condition took longer than I expected On the other hand, a pronoun in the objective case is disliked in subject position, where it seldom occurs For example, the sentence: “Him being a Jesuit alters everything.” (Quirk et al, 1972: 741) would only occur in very informal 53 speech In this instance, one could say: “(The fact) that he is a Jesuit alters everything.” (Quirk et al, 1972: 741) Although, there is a semantic equivalents between a “that – clause” and a nominal – ing clause, the most obvious structural parallel to draw with this construction is that of the –ing “nominalization”, or noun phrase with a verbal noun in “-ing” as head 2.5.1 Nominal – ing Clauses as Subject - Looking after the garden takes me several hours a week in the summer Vµo mùa hè việc chăm sóc khu vờn chiếm vài tuần (www encyclopedia.com/doc/1209_clause.html) - His being an astronaut accounted for the size of the audience ViÖc anh nhà du hành vũ trụ đà đợc giải thích cho số đông khán giả (www encyclopedia.com/doc/1209_clause.html) 2.5.2 Nominal – ing Clauses as Direct Object Nominal –ing clause functioning as direct object often occur after these verbs: admit excuse permit anticipate fancy postpone can’t help give up practice can’t stand imagine quit delay keep (on) resume deny leave off suggest dislike mention tolerate enjoy mind - I dislike people asking me personal questions etc T«i kh«ng thÝch ngêi ta hỏi câu hỏi riêng t - The thief admitted having stolen two motorbikes and five million VND Tên trộm đà thú nhận ăn trộm hai xe máy năm triệu đồng 2.5.3 Nominal ing Clauses as Subject Complement - What I suffer from is not being able to sleep (Eastwood, 1994: 161) Điều mà phải chịu đựng ngủ đợc 54 2.5.4 Nominal – ing Clauses as Appositive - His greatest pleasure, climbing mountains, had to be abandoned (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 1976: 99) NiỊm vui thÝch lín nhÊt cđa nã lµ leo núi phải bị ngăn cấm - His current research, investigating attitudes to racial stereotypes, takes up most of his time Bi nghiên cứu gần ông điều tra quan điểm mẫu chủng tộc chiếm hầu hết thời gian ông (Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nominal_clause) 2.5.5 Nominal ing Clauses as Prepositional Complement - Jane is thinking of selling her house Jane nghĩ đến việc bán nhà cđa m×nh - The Government was successful in reducing the effect of global economic crisis on our country ChÝnh phủ đà thành công việc làm giảm tác động khủng hoảng kinh tế toàn cầu đến nớc ta 2.5.6 Nominal – ing Clauses as Adjectival Complement The nominal –ing clause acting as adjectival complement often occurs after some adjectives such as: “busy; happy;worth; etc.” - He was always happy scaling almost perpendicular cliffs (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 1976: 99) Ông luôn thấy vui đà trèo lên hầu hết vách đá thẳng đứng 2.6 Nominal Bare Infinitive and Verbless Clauses In English, the to of the infinitive is optionally omitted in a clause which supplies a predication corresponding to a use of the pro – verb For example: “All I did was (to) turn of the gas.” When the infinitive clause is in initial position, to has to be omitted: “Turn off the tap was all I did.” In Vietnamese, there is no difference between the –ing, to - infinitive nominal clause, and nominal bare infinitive clause 55 For example: “All I could was sit and look at her in class.” (NguyÖt & Tiên, 2009: 166) In Vietnamese we say: Tất làm ngồi ngắm nàng líp.” Or: Now all he could was sit and listen to the others (Ngut & Tiªn, 2009: 216) This sentence has correspondent meaning with: Giờ ông làm ngồi lắng nghe ngời khác. in Vietnamese (Nguyệt & Tiên, 2009: 217) Verbless clauses are clauses in which the verb (usually a form of to be) and sometimes other elements have been deleted For instance: - John believe the prisoner innocent John tin ngêi tï v« téi (http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/verblessclauseterm.html) In this sentence the italicized sequence is a verbless clause, which we assume is a reduced version of the to – infinitive clause: - John believe the prisoner to be innocent Other examples are: - He considered the girl a good student Anh ta coi cô sinh viên tốt - Who in Most Iranians are Indo – Europeans who speak Persian Ngời hầu hết vùng Iran ngêi Ên - ¢u nãi tiÕng Ba T (www encyclopedia.com/doc/1209_clause.html) In conclusion, each category of nominal clauses in English has equivalent meanings and constructions in Vietnamese such as that – nominal clauses, dependent interrogative clauses, nominal relative clauses Although nominal to – infinitive clauses, nominal –ing clauses and verless clauses are three different types of English nominal clauses, there is no distinguish feature among them in Vietnamese This is the difference between nominal clauses in English and in Vietnamese 56 Chapter III: Some errors made by Vietnamese students and suggestions for teaching English nominal clauses 3.1 Predictions of Errors Made by Vietnamese Students When Learning English Nominal Clauses The results of the contrastive analysis between nominal clauses in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese done in chapter II states that English nominal clauses are far different from Vietnamese ones Thus, from these differences, some errors, which Vietnamese students may commit when studying nominal clauses, are predicted as follows: 3.1.1 Inversion Between Subject and Verb in Nominal Interrogative Clauses A large number of Vietnamese students think that a sentence beginning with a wh – element has form of a question Students may commit this error because of “the effect of a given specificable prior activity upon the learning of a given test activity” They are accustomed to the form of a wh - question This is a reason why the verb is usually put in front of the subject in wh – interrogative clauses For example, students may say: “Please tell me what is your name.” (1) Instead of: “Please tell me what your name is.” Or: “ I don’t know what does that word mean.” (2) Instead of: “I don’t know what that word means.” The two sentences (1) and (2) are incorrect as the dependent clauses: “what your name is” and “what that word means” are statements, not questions Therefore, the verb “is” and “mean” cannot be placed in front of the subject 3.1.2 Subject and Verb Disagreement Nominal clauses often refer to abstract things Therefore, when they function as a subject of a sentence, they always take singular verb But sometimes, Vietnamese students may use the verb at plural form, especially with to – infinitive clauses as subject complement This is because Vietnamese learners are interfered 57 by their mother tongue when studying the second language, or in other words, it is the effect of the negative transfer that makes them commit this error For example: “All I could was to sit and look at her in class.”(C McCullers, 168) Students may put the verb to be after “all I could do” is “were” They may transfer this clause to their mother tongue as: tất làm and think that tất is plural in Vietnamese This is the reason why they may use the verb “were” instead of “was” Or: “What he needs now are sleep, and peace and quiet.” (incorrect sentence) Instead of: “What he needs now is sleep, and peace and quiet.” (correct sentence) 3.1.3 Misuse of “ Whether” and “ If” in Yes – no Interrogative Clauses Being transferred into Vietnamese, “whether” and “if” have similar meaning A number of Vietnamese students does not know exactly the usage of these two conjunctions because there is no equivalent construction of “whether” and “if” between these two languages Vietnamese language does not have the distinguished forms between “whether” and “if” Thus, they may use the negative verb form in whether – interrogative clauses For example: “I don’t know whether it doesn’t rain.” (incorrect sentence) In fact, whether – interrogative cannot be made negative except in the second part of an alternative question We have change “whether” into “if”, so that the correct sentence must be: “I don’t know if it doesn’t rain.” Moreover, yes – no interrogative clauses functioning as subject can only take “if”, not “whether” “If – interrogative” clauses cannot occur in subject position For example, students may say: “If he will come or not is not your concern.” (incorrect sentence) Instead of: “Whether he will come or not is not your concern.” (correct sentence) 3.1.4 Omission of “ That” in That – clauses Functioning as Subject When that – clauses functioning as subject of the sentence, Vietnamese students may omit the conjunction “that” when transferring from their first language (Vietnamese) to their second language (English) In Vietnamese, learners not pay much attention to the meaning of “that” because its meaning is unimportant, and 58 when they omit “that”, there is no effect on the meaning of the whole sentence Therefore, they can say: Anh thi đậu làm ngạc nhiên. Because of their habit in using Vietnamese construction, they may transfer this sentence to their foreign language as: “He passed the exam makes me very surprised.” The construction of this sentence is acceptable in Vietnamese but in English, it is absolutely incorrect The correct sentence in English must be: “That he passed the exam makes me surprised.” 3.1.5 Unsuitable Change from Quoted Speech to Reported Speech Reported speech is one of the most common forms of nominal clauses It refers to using a nominal clause to report what someone has said When changing a sentence from quoted speech into reported speech, students often not change all the necessary elements appropriately It is also the effect of earlier learning that negatively affects to Vietnamese learners’ process of learning reported speech For example, We have a sentence in quoted speech as: (1) “I’m going to move to Ohio,” said Bruce Learners may change this sentence into reported speech as: “Bruce informed me that he is going to move to Ohio.” Or: “Bruce informed me that I’ m going to move to Ohio.” Another example is: (2) Maria asked, “Have you seen my grammar book?” They may change this sentence to indirect speech as: “Maria wanted to know if I have seen her grammar book.” Or: “Maria wanted to know if I had seen my grammar book.” According to the rules to change from direct speech to indirect speech, we must take the tense of the verb backwards to the past tense; except for the reporting verb is simple present, present perfect or future Moreover, we have to change all the other elements appropriately such as: the pronoun, possessive adjective, adverb of time and place, etc Thus, the correct sentence of (1) must be: “Bruce informed me that he was going to move to Ohio.” 59 And (2) must be: “Maria wanted to know if I had seen her grammar book.” In conclusion, students’ errors are caused by two main reasons First, it is the negative influence of the native language in the process of learning second lannguge, this phenomenon is called the interference phenonmenon In other words, it is the habbits of the native impose on the foreign language when speaking and writing foreign language (pshychology) And second, it is the application of the forms of the earlier learning upon the forms of the later learning 3.2 Some Actual Errors that Vietnamese Learners Commit When Learning English Nominal Clause To find out actual errors that Vietnamese learners commit when learning English nominal clauses, a survey was carried out We investigated the ability to learn English nominal clauses of 50 students at Gia Vien A high school in Ninh Binh province The students were asked to five exercises dealing with some major types of nominal clauses (The exercises are added in the appendix) The detail results are illustrated as follows: 3.2.1 Inversion between Subject and Verb in Nominal Interrogative Clauses Frequency of Type of error occurrence Percent (%) Inversion between subject and verb in 24 48 nominal interrogative clauses Table 1: Error of inversion between subject and verb in nominal interrogative clauses The result from the table above shows that there are a number of students committing this error when using nominal interrogative clauses (24 students out of total 50 ones, making up 48%) It is clear that the effect of prior learning upon later learning is far from imagination Nearly a half of the students place the verb preceding the subject in nominal interrogative clauses 3.2.2 Subject and Verb Disagreement 60 Frequency of Type of error Percent (%) occurrence Subject and verb disagreement 28 56 Table 2: Error of Subject and verb disagreement This table illustrates that there have been a large number of students not use the form of the verb after nominal clauses appropriately (28 students, making up 56%) The detailed errors that student committed in the survey are: What causes the fire remain a mystery What we all needed were a spell of warm sunshine Now all he could are sit and listen to the others What he needs now are sleep, and peace and quiet Or: All I could are sit and look at her in class As we have mentioned in 3.1.2, the errors are made by the negative transfer from students’ mother tongue to foreign language The students transferred the word “all” to their mother tongue with the meaning “tÊt c¶” which is plural in Vietnamese but in English nominal clauses, it is always at singular form On the other hand, in the sentence: “What he needs now are sleep, and peace and quiet.”**, students saw that the predicate of this sentence contains three facts: “sleep, peace and quiet” Therefore, they used the verb “to be” at plural form In fact, we have to put the verb in concord with the subject of the sentence, not with the predicate For this reason, the verb “to be” in this sentence has to be put at singular form: “is”, not “are” Students caused this error partly because they misunderstood the substance of this phenomenon 3.2.3 Misuse of “ Whether” and “ If” in Yes – no Interrogative Clauses Frequency of Types of error - Using “if” in subject position - Using negative verb form in occurrence 35 Percent (%) 70 21 42 “whether – interrogative” clauses - Using “if + or not” 26 52 Table 3: Error of Misuse of “ whether” and “ if” in yes – no interrogative clauses The result of this table shows that there are still a number of students not understand the different use of “whether” and “if” in yes – no interrogative clauses The evidence is that there are 35 students out of total 50 ones (making up 70%) still 61 ... dependent clauses 11 1.3 Nominal clauses in English .12 1.3.1 Definition of nominal clauses 12 1.3.2 Categories of nominal clauses 14 Chapter II: Nominal clauses in English. .. same Vietnamese equivalents as the functions above 2.4 Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses Nominal to – infinitive clause is a nominal clause which begins with to – infinitive The meaning of the infinitive... mention about the nominal clauses in order to understand more about their functions and to use them appropriately 1.3 Nominal clauses in English 1.3.1 Definition of Nominal Clauses Nominal clause or