Verb phrases in English and Vietnamese
Presenters: Trần Huyền Minh & Lò Thị Ngọc Anh
The definition and the structure of English verb phrase
1.
2.
What is a verb phrase in Vietnamese and English?
Details about verb phrase in English.
Presenter: Trần Huyền Minh
The definition English and Vietnamese verb phrase
Delahunty, Garvey (2010) and Rowe, Levine (2018) have shared the same definition
of verb phrase that is a group of words forming a unit and consisting of a lexical verb
and other optional elements as auxiliary systems, object(s), complements, and/or
modifier(s).
English verb phrase have the formation:
(Auxiliary) + main/lexical verb + (Object) + (Complement) + (Modifier)
For example: She helped us bake a cake after school.
According to Diệp Quang Ban (1998), a verb phrase is a word phrase that has a mainsubordinate relationship between a verb serving as the central element and many
additive elements which complete the meanings.
Verb phrases in Vietnamese generally have 3 elements: central element, pre-additive
element and post-additive element.
Details about verb phrase in English
Simple Verb Phrase
Ronald Carte & Michael McCarthy (2006) and Gerald P. Delahunty, James J. Garvey
(2010) agree that a simple verb phase has the main verb without auxiliaries.
The main verb presents:
• Tense to indicate the time reference of the expression that can be present or past.
• Clause type:
- Declarative: She lives opposite me.
- Imperative: Listen!
- Subjunctive: God save the queen!
- Negatives and interrogatives are formed when “be” and “have” are used as lexical
verbs. Eg: Are you ready?
Details about verb phrase in English
Main verb + (Object) + (Complement)
When discussing about the combination of the main verb and the objects or
complement, Delahunty, Garvey (2010) and Trần Hữu Mạnh (2007) has mentioned the
transitivity of main verb with the subcategory as followings:
- Intransitive verb He came.
- Intensive verb + complement
He felt so tired after a long meeting.
- Monotransitive verb + object:
He knocked them down.
- Ditransitive verb + indirect object + direct object
He gave her flowers on her birthday.
- Complex transitive verb + direct object + complement
They declared this approach unfit for our project.
Details about verb phrase in English
Main verb + (Modifier)
Delahunty and Garvey (2010) consider modifiers of verbs adverbial with four types.
(The English language: From sound to sense)
Details about verb phrase in English
Complex VPs: Auxiliary + Main verb
Ronald Carte & Michael McCarthy (2006) has presented the elements of complex verb
phrase as the following table:
Linguists shared that the complex
verb phrase is not limited with just
an auxiliary and a lexical verb, but
it can contain more than one
auxiliary.
(Cambridge grammar of English: a comprehensive guide;
spoken and written English grammar and usage)
Randolph Quirk and Sidney
Greenbaum (1976) also stated in A
university Grammar of English
that these auxiliaries follow the
order in the complex phrase.
Details about verb phrase in English
Complex VPs: Auxiliary + Main verb
Modal + main verb
She can come tomorrow.
Perfect auxiliary + main verb
He has fixed my computer.
Progressive auxiliary + main verb
She is listening to music
Passive auxiliary + main verb
This book was published in 2008.
Modal + progressive + main verb
She might be seeing Bob.
Modal + perfect + main verb
They should have finished this project.
Modal + passive + main verb
This work cannot be done by tomorrow.
Perfect + progressive + main verb
Two men had been plotting to rob the train.
Progressive + passive + main verb
We are being fooled.
Perfect + passive + main verb
I have been asked to write this report.
Modal + perfect + progressive + main verb
She must have been working on something else.
Modal + perfect + passive + main verb
I could have been killed.
Modal + progressive + passive + main verb
The vaccine may be being reproduced.
Perfect + progressive + passive + main verb
It has been being repaired for the last two years.
Modal + perfect + progressive + passive + main verb
We might have been being followed.
Details about verb phrase in English
Ronald Carte and Michael McCarthy (2006) have presented some features that the complex verb
phrase carries. These features have made English verb phrase different from Vietnamese verb
phrase.
The first element except for the modal auxiliaries carries information about:
- person (first, second or third) ( I am going. – She is going. – They are going.)
- number (singular or plural). ( He has gone. – They have gone.)
- tense (present or past). ( She is having dinner. – She was having dinner when I called.)
Modal auxiliaries do not show person, number or tense. The modality system expresses the speakers’ sense of
obligation (must/ should), volition (will), probability (may/might), permission (can/may), and ability
(can/could).
All subsequent verbs have non-tensed forms (-ing participle, -ed participle) but they indicate aspect (perfect,
progressive) which expresses either the completion or the continuation of the process indicated by the verb.
The voice systems (active or passive) are also presented in the verb phrase to describe the relationship
between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the subject.
Like simple verb phrase, the complex verb phrases also indicate moods that are indicative, imperative,
subjunctive, and moreover, it is used to form interrogative or negative.
E.g.: Do you know Shirley’s number? (interrogative) – I don’t know her. (negative)
REFERENCE
1. Trần, H. M. (2007). Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu Cú pháp tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt. Vietnam: University of
Languages and International Studies.
2. Delahunty, G. P., & Garvey, J. J. (Eds.). (2010). The English language: From sound to sense. Parlor
Press LLC..
3. Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (2006). Cambridge grammar of English: a comprehensive guide; spoken
and written English grammar and usage. Ernst Klett Sprachen.
4. Diệp, Q. B. (1998). Giáo Trình Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt. Vietnam Education Publishing House Limited
Company.
5. Quirk, R., & Greenbaum, S. (2002). A University Grammar of English. Transport Publishing House
Company Limited.
6. Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P. (2018). A concise introduction to linguistics. Routledge.