The document discusses various linguistic concepts related to grammar. It begins by defining grammar in both the broad and narrow sense. In the broad sense, grammar includes all aspects of language like morphology, syntax, semantics etc. In the narrow sense, grammar refers specifically to word formation and sentence structure. It then contrasts prescriptive grammar, which provides normative rules, with descriptive grammar, which objectively describes language as used. There is disagreement between these approaches on sentences like "I don't know nothing". The document also discusses key grammatical units like phrases, clauses, and morphemes. It explains differences between concepts like stems, roots, affixes and allomorphs. Finally, it outlines different types

1. Unit 2:
1) What is grammar?
Rules/ principles that native speakers use in producing and understanding their language
2) What is the different between global sense (broad sense) and narrow sense for the
term grammar?
(Course book, p.18):
In the broad sense, “grammar” includes everything a native speaker knows about his
or her language which enables him or her to speak and understand it. “Grammar” in this wide
sense includes things concerning different subjects: morphology, syntax, phonology and
phonetics, semantics, discourse analysis, and pragmatics.
- Morphology: word formation
- Syntax: sentence building
- Semantics: study of meaning
- Phonology: the study of sounds in a particular language or in languages generally
Phonetics: the study of the sounds made by the human voice in speech
- Pragmatics: how to use language effectively to achieve our communicative goals
- Discourse analysis: deal with paragraph, conversion, etc…
In the narrow sense, “grammar” often refers to a particularly body of information
about a language: that having to do only with the structure of words and sentences.
“Grammar” in this sense includes morphology and syntax. Morphology is concerned with the
form of words while syntax is concerned with the way words combine to form sentences.
3) What is the different between prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar?
P.G: Prescriptive grammar provides normative rules about how the language is supposed to
be used. Mostly, these rules are phrased as prohibition. Prescriptive grammar is imposed by
language authorities. It is very fixed and does not reflect fully the kind of language used in
reality. It is against the language change (hoặc: P.G is a grammar providing the language
users with normative rules given by such people as dictionary publishers, editors, writers
and teachers. PG concerned with prescribing rules of language unit. It consists of a number
of rules or regulations prohibiting language use: it provides language users with normative
rules)
E.g., do not end a sentence with a preposition, as in “who do you go with?”, do not split an
infinitive with an adverb

2. While descriptive grammar provides language users with constitutive rules. These
rules just describe the language exactly as it is used in real life without anything imposed by
grammarians. In the practice of descriptive grammar no judgment is made about what right or
wrong, speaker of the language are held to be the highest authorities. (hoặc: DG studies
constitutive rule of language. It concerned with describing language objectively as it is
actually used. It describes all language elements and grants names for them without making
any judgment. It tells what the language users know unconsciously and enable them to use
and understand the language)
e.g., we can end the sentence with preposition, as in ‘Who did you go with?, and accept these
sentence: I haven’t got nothing to give you, she don’t understand
4) “I don’t know nothing” considered correct and natural by some grammarians, why
ungrammatical by others? What is the theoretical basis of this disagreement? Give
example.
Cách 1: Whether the above sentence is correct or incorrect, grammatical or ungrammatical,
natural or unnatural, it depends upon the grammatical point of view of speaker.
This sentence is correct if the speaker bases himself/herself on descriptive grammar, the
grammar that describes the grammar system of language exactly as it is. In contrast, if the
speaker bases himself/herself on prescriptive grammar which provides language user with
normative rules. For example, not to use double negative to express negative idea, not to end
a sentence with a preposition, etc. if you do not follow these rules, the sentence will be wrong
or ungrammatical.
E.g. in D.G, these below sentences and words are acceptable
I ain’t student ; She don’t care ; long time no see; it’s me; more fare, …
While they are considered wrong and ungrammatical in P.G
Cách 2: According to prescriptive grammar, this sentence is ungrammatical because it does
not satisfy normative rules of grammar. But according to D.G this sentence is acceptable
because D.G try to describe the grammar system of language exactly without anything
imposed by grammarians.
Unit 3.grammar deveploment
I. what is traditional grammar and what is the typical feature of it
- Traditional grammar: Study different language elements separately
II. Immediate constituent grammar
1. Immediate constituent grammar: studies the level of structure/layers to identify
meaning. According to this grammar, language elements do not belong to the same layers,
creating different meaning

3. 2. What is constituent?
A constituent is language element used for building bigger language unit.
A constituent is a linguistic unit (usually sentence analysis) which is part of a larger
construction.
E.g. in the sentence” there are sixty students”, there are 4 constituents: “there”, “are”,”
sixty”, “students”
The word “carelessness” has 3 constituents “care”,”-less”,”-ness”
III) Transformational grammar
1) What are the main ways to identify the phrase structure?
4 main ways:
- Substitution test: any word combination of the English sentence that can be replaced
by a single word without changing the grammaticality of the sentence is called a
phrase
E.g., that woman is brilliant. Anna is brilliant
“That woman” can be replaced by “Anna” to make a new sentence sharing grammaticality.
That is the reason why we can conclude that “that woman” is a phrase.
- Movement criterion: any word combination of the English sentence that can be moved
to another position in the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence is
called phrased
E.g., the girl is walking on the sidewalk
On the sidewalk the girl is walking
Although the position of “on the sidewalk” changes, the sentence’s meaning remains the
same
so we can conclude that “on the sidewalk” is a phrase.
- Conjoining criterion: any word combination of the English sentence that can be
conjoined with the similar one without changing the grammaticality of the sentence is
called phrase
E.g., - the girl walked across the street
The girl and the boy walked across the street
“The girl” can be combined with similar sequence to make a new sentence without changing
the grammaticality of the sentence so it can be determined as phrase.

4. - Anaphora criterion: any preceding word combination (antecedent) that can be
replaced by pro-word is called a phrase.
That poorly dressed boy lives in my neighborhood’s house. He is very good boy.
“That poorly dressed boy” can be replaced by “he” which is why we can come to conclusion
that it is phrase.
2) What is antecedent?
The antecedent is a preceding word or phrase that is referred back to by a single word
(anaphora) in the next part of speech or in the next sentence.
That pretty girl is very nice. She is always willing to help people.
3) What is different between competence and performance?
Competence: language proficiency/ a person’s knowledge of the rules of language
Performance: the actual use of language in real situation
4) What is transformational/ generative grammar?
Transformational grammar tried to show with a system of rules, the knowledge which a
native speaker of a language uses in forming grammatical sentences. For example, this
grammar studies the basis language patterns to create and transform sentences.
S=NP+VP; NP=Det + N
5) Draw tree diagrams:
A: adj
Det: determiner (the, a, an)
Deg: degree words (very, …)
Compl.: complementiser (if, that, for)
Aux: auxiliary verb
P: preposition
Pro: pronoun
a. the middle-aged lady in black is a successful woman in business
b. my brother got a job to earn extra money for his long holiday
c. I think that she is good student
e. I hope to go

5. f. I want to go
g. I want him to go
h. the elderly man has killed the middle-aged lady with an umbrella
i. the middle-aged woman in black has told the eager listeners a very dreadful story
IV. Functional grammar:
1) What is interpersonal meaning of the functional grammar in the English language?
Interpersonal meaning is meaning as a form of action: the speaker or the writers doing sth to
the reader or listener by means of language. The interpersonal meaning is regulated by
language users concerned.
E.g. that rose is late again
Rose often symbolizes beauty but for student in the class, “that rose means a problematic
girl”
Man, gentlemen, chap, bird, bloke, fellow, guy can all be used to refer to a man depending on
relationship the speaker has with the man or the degree of respect that the speaker wants to
show him.
2) What is functional grammar?
Functional grammar proposed by British linguist Halliday studies 3 basic functions of
grammar:
- The idea function: is to organize the speaker’s or the writer’s experiences of the real
or imaginary world that is language refer to real or imagined person, things, actions,
event, state…
- The 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.
3) What is the theme and rheme of clause? (p.37)
Theme: the element which served as the point of departure of the message.
The rest of the message referred to as “rheme’
Unit 4: grammatical units
Q1. Describe the five rank hierarchy which is widely used as model to identify
grammatical unit in the study of grammar. Give example of each unit

6. The five-rank hierarchy used to identify grammatical units in the study of grammar can be
described as follow:
Sentences are analyzed into clauses – phrases – words – morphemes
Morphemes are used to build words – phrases – clauses – sentences.
Eg: sentence : the man whom we are talking about is one of the most famous artist
Clause: whom we are talking about
Phrase: one of the most famous artists
Morphemes: art + ist+ s
Morphemes
Q2. What is morpheme, stem, root, base, affix
Morpheme : is the smallest meaningful unit in a language. A morpheme cannot be divided
without altering or destroying its meaning
Eg:
Stem : (also the based form) is the part of the word which an inflectional affix can be added
Root : root is a morpheme which is a basic part of the word and which may occur on its own
or may be joined to other roots
Affix: is a letter or groups of letters which is added to a word and which changes the meaning
or function of the word
Affixes are bound forms that can be added:
- To the beginning of the word ( prefix) eg: illegal, unhappy
- To the end of the word (suffix) eg: lovely, careful,
Q3. The differences between stems and roots
Stems differ from roots in that they may be made up of more than one morpheme. All roots
are stems, but many stems are not roots
Eg: both baby and sit are roots (and stems), but babysit is a stem (but not a root) because –er
can be attached to it
Q4. What is the difference between free and bound morpheme
Free morphemes are those that can stand alone carrying full semantic weight eg: book,
home

7. Bound morphemes are those that cannot stand alone in the language. They are always added
to one or more morphemes to form a new word or to modify the meaning or grammatical
function eg: irreparable, unhappy, disagree
Q5. What is the difference between lexical and grammatical morpheme
Lexical morphemes express meanings that can be relatively easily specified by using
dictionary terms or by pointing out examples of things, events, or properties which the
morphemes can be used to refer to eg: book, blue, work
Grammatical morpheme expresses common meaning referring to grammatical relationship
within and between sentences
Eg: he loves her, last night she worked very late
Q6. What is the difference between inflectional and derivational morpheme
- Derivational morpheme (phai sinh) is a kind of bound morpheme which is added
to a word to make new meaning of new word or new part of speech (hoặc:
Derivational morpheme is a kind of bound morpheme which is used to form a new
word –mr.Trung). A traditional term for derivational morpheme is affix ( prefix
and suffix)
Eg: like – dislike; happy – unhappy ; work – worker
- Inflectional morpheme (bien hinh) is a kind of bound morpheme which is added to
a word in order to express grammatical contrast in the sentence such as singular/
plural, or past tense/ present tense (hoặc: Inflectional morpheme is a kind of
bound morpheme used to form a new form of the same word)
Eg: like-likes, work-worked
Q7. 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 used to form past tense
“es”, “s” can be used to form present tense
“er”, “est” can be used to form comparative and superlative degree of one or two syllable
adjectives.
- Derivational morphology (hình vị học phái sinh) studies principles governing
without reference to specific grammatical role, a word might play in the sentence
Eg: “er” + V = N: teacher, reader, writer
“ ful”, “less” + N= Adj: homeless, careful

8. Q8. What is an allomorph (biến thể hình vị)
An allomorph is any variants of a morpheme which is different in pronunciation or spelling
Eg: “an” is an allomorph of “a”
“ed” : /t/, /d/, /id/
Q.9. what is the different between “ful” and “full”?
“ful” is a bound morpheme and it cannot stand alone. It is used as a derivational morpheme
with the meaning “characterized by, having the quality of or the amount that fills something”:
careful, handful
Whereas “full” is an adj meaning “containing as much/many/ as possible or having had
enough to eat and drink. It can be used in the function of both adj and complement
Q10. What is the use of “-ed”?
- “-ed” can be used as inflectional morpheme to form past tense and past participle
tense of regular verbs
- “-ed” can be used as derivational morpheme to form a compound adj: quick-
minded, hot-tempered, black-eyed
Q.11. the use of “-er”:
- used as derivational morpheme to form new word and it can change the part of speech of
root morpheme
- used as inflectional morpheme to indicate the grammaticality, specifically degree of
comparison
Q.12. what is the difference between “half” and “semi”?
Both of them mean “half”. However, “semi” is a prefix, a bound morpheme that used to form
a new word and cannot stand alone in the sentence. Whereas “half” is a pronoun, a free
morpheme that can stand alone in the sentence
Semi-colon, semi-vowel, half of the match
Phrase
Q. State different types of phrase in the English language on the ground of part of
speech and syntactical function
On the ground of part of speech, phrases include:
- Noun phrase (NP) eg: water pollution, foreign investment,
- Adjective phrase (AP) eg: very beautiful, really surprised

9. - Adverb phrase (AdvP) eg: very well, amazingly fast, surprisingly well, quite
slowly
- Verb phrase (VP) eg: she is walking, this work must be done
- Prepositional phrase (PP) eg: on the table, in the sky
On the ground of syntactic function, phrases include:
- Subject phrase eg: many new schools have been built in this region, some
handsome boys are playing football
- Object phrase eg: I shall never forget these memories at Hanoi University, she
ate a very big cake
- Complement phrase: eg: I see him passing my house every morning, we all get
sick hearing his lengthy report
- Attributive phrase: the girl in checked shirt is Lan, the boy riding me to school is
my brother
- Adverbial phrase eg: don’t speak ill of him behind his back, our lesson begin at
7.30
Q. what is difference between adjectival phrase and adjective phrase (Mr.Trung)
Adjective phrase: the head of the phrase is an adjective
The handsome boys, the fastest-growing economy
Adjectival phrase: the head of the phase can be an adjective or not. However, this phrase
functions as an adjective to modify a noun.
e.g, the boys in the stadium, the girl in pink dress
Q. what is difference between adverbial phrase and adverb phrase?
- Adverb phrase: very sincerely
- Adverbial phrase: the boys are playing football in the stadium/ we meet to discuss our
project
Mở rộng về adverbial clause: you can eat what you like
Q. classification of adverbial clause? (sgk p. 65)=> các bài tập đặt câu hoặc hoàn thành
câu
Q. in what way adverbial modifier can be formed
It can be formed by the means of:

10. - Adverb phrase (Head is an adverb)
She speaking English very fluently
- Prepositional phrase
That flower died for the lack of water, He made her happy with a bunch of roses
- Clause:
Anywhere you go, I am near; although I’m ill, I still don’t want to refute her invitation
Q what is the difference between endocentric and exocentric phrase
Endocentric phrases are those expanded from a central element or head, having the same
grammatical function as a head
They have 3-part structures: pre-modifier, head, post-modifier
Eg: many good students of Hanoi University
Pre-modifier head post-modifier
Exocentric phrases are those which cannot be seen as an expansion of a central element and
their functions are varied
Eg: on the world, in the sky (they do not take the function of noun phrase but function of
adjectival or adverbial phrase)
Clause + sentence
Q what is the difference between the phrase and the clause in English language
Phrase is a combination of words which does not consist of its own subject and predicate, and
is used as a single word
Clause is a part of a sentence which consists of its own subject and predicate. However, its
lexical meaning is incomplete
Eg: the girl whom I am talking about is a famous singer
Phrase: a famous singer
Clause: whom I am talking about
Q. Compare the sentence and the clause in English language
The sentences and the clauses are similar in that they both have a finite verb and one or more
subjects.

11. However, the clause is a part of a sentence which has its own subject and predicate but its
meaning is incomplete and cannot be used independently. Meanwhile, a sentence is a
complete grammar unit which has its own subject and predicate and its meaning is complete
Eg: Sentence: the girl whom I am talking about is a famous singer
Clause: whom I am talking about
Sentence
Q. Classify English sentences on the ground of their structure
On the ground of their structure, English sentence can be divided into 3 types: simple
sentence, compound sentence, and complex sentence
- Simple sentences are those having a subject and a predicate
Eg: I like football/ I decided to study Spanish
- Compound sentences are those having two or more independent sentences
connected by means of co-ordination (The coordinators are as follows: for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, so)
Eg: she is busy but she still go to her son’s football match, tell me the truth or I will no longer
be your friend
- Complex sentences are those consisting of one main clause and one or more sub-
ordinate clauses
Eg: ; I went out after I finished my homework; although she is busy, she still go to her son’s
football match; what he said surprises us all, the boy playing football over there is my
boyfriend
Q. classify sentences on the ground of their meaning
On the ground of their meaning, sentences can be divided into 4 types: declarative (tường
thuật), interrogative (nghi vấn), imperative (mệnh lệnh), exclamatory (cảm thán)
- Declarative sentences: to give information or to state facts
- Interrogative sentences: to ask question
- Imperative sentences: to induce someone to fulfill the certain action
- Exclamatory sentences: express the motion
Q. describe two main ways of making sentences more complex
Sentences can be made more complex by two ways

12. - Coordination is making a sentence more complex by joining two or more clauses
of equal standing (importance), resulting in a compound sentence
Eg: the exam was quite difficult but we managed to finish it
- Subordination is making a sentence more complex by adding one or more
subordinate clauses to a main clause, resulting in a complex sentence by means of
a subordinating conjunction
Eg: she asked if I liked chocolate
Q. Elliptical sentences
Elliptical sentences are sentences allowed to omit part of their structure and thus are
dependent on a previous sentence
Unit 5: syntactic functions
Subject
Q. what is subject, empty subject, preparatory subject
- The subject is the topic, or what is being spoken about
- Empty subject: the subject “it” often used in sentences referring to time, weather,
temperature or distance, etc. and carrying no real information, so “it” is called an empty
subject
Eg: it’s ten o’clock; it is so cold
-Preparatory subject: the subject “it” used to prepare for the real subject which is going to
come later in the same sentence
Eg: it’s interesting to read book;
Q. what is agent
Agent is the subject that expresses the person or thing performing the action indicated by the
verb. In the passive the agent stands after “by” eg: the girl ate a big cake
Object: S + V (transitive) + O
Q. what is object, direct object, indirect object, prepositional object
- The object is the person or thing toward which the subject directs the process spoken of in
the verb
- A direct object refers to the person or thing affected by the action of the verb. It comes
immediately after a transitive verb

13. Eg: she ate an apple,
- An indirect object usually refers to the person who “benefits” from the action expressed in
the verb
Eg: my mother bought me a new book
-Prepositional objects are objects which always take/need prepositions to form a complex
unit, such as: to wait for…/ to look at…/ to approve of…
Complement + attributive
Q. what is the difference between complement and attributive
A complement is a part of a sentence which gives additional meaning to complete the subject
or the object of the sentence (often introduced by a link verb)
Whereas an attribute is a part of sentence which gives further information to a noun or noun
phrase
Eg: She is beautiful : complement
The girl with black hair is my girlfriend: Attribute
Q. types of complement
2 types of complement: subject complement and object complement
Subject complement
Eg: she is beautiful I feel hot she seems tired
Object complement
Eg: I consider him my best friend, Don’t make me confused
Q. attributive and predicative (adjective)
Attributive adjective refers to an adjective coming before a noun in a phrase or sentence
Eg: a beautiful girl
Predicative adjective refers to an adjective coming directly after “be” and be-like verbs
Eg: the girl is beautiful
Q. can all adjectives be used in one both position: attributively or predicatively? not all
- Predicatively only: eg: the girl is alone/ asleep/ awake/ afraid of
- Attributively only: the main/chief reason
- Both positions, but the meaning is different in different position: old, late

14. Eg: the president is late: not punctual
The late president: dead
Unit 6. verbs in the English language
Verb forms
Q. in what way can verb be formed
New verbs in English can be formed in 3 main ways
- Conversion: words of other classes are converted into verb eg: love- to love, hand-to hand
- Affixation: an affix (either prefix or suffix) is added to the root t form verb eg: large-
enlarge, short-shorten
- Composition: 2 or more roots or stems are combined to form verbs eg: to download, to
babysitter
Q. what is a verb? What type of verb can be divided into?
The verb is a part of speech usually denoting actions, processes, experiences, or states of
being
The main types of verbs include:
A. Main verb and auxiliary verb
Eg: I can’t understand what you said
B. Finite and non-finite (tensed/ non-tensed)
Eg: she wants (finite verb) to buy (non-finite verb) a new mobile
C. Notional verb (động từ thực nghĩa)
Eg: I live in Hanoi city.
D. Transitive and intransitive verb
Eg:
E. The link verb
Eg: her face turns red when seeing him
F. Phrase verb
Eg: She got up at 8o’clock this morning
Q. what are auxiliary verbs?

15. Auxiliary verbs are verbs that have no lexical meaning of their own and often used as form
word, thus having only a purely structural function of forming negative and interrogative
sentences, passive voice and perfect tenses
Hoac: An auxiliary verb is a verb used to add functional or grammatical meaning to
the clause in which it appears – for example, to express tense, aspect, modality, voice,
emphasis, etc (wiki)
e.g. “do” in negative and interrogative form of indefinite tenses.
Eg: “have” in perfect tense, “be” in passive voice
Q. What is different between finite/tensed and non –finite/non-tensed verb?
-finite form is the form of the verb which is marked to show that it is related to the subject in
person, number and which shows tense.
- Non-finite form is the form of verb which is not marked according to differences in person,
number of the subject and which has no tense.
I wanted to go (wanted: finite, to go: non-finite)
Q. Notional (thực nghĩa) verbs
Notional verbs are verbs having full lexical meaning of their own and can be used in the
sentence as a simple predicate. Most of the verbs in English are notional verbs
Eg: I go to work, she loves coffee
Q. the difference between transitive and intransitive verb
Transitive verbs are verbs that are connected with their objective words directly. In other
words, transitive verbs are verbs which take a direct object and they can be used in the
passive
eg:
While intransitive verbs are verbs that do not take a direct object and cannot be used in the
passive
eg:
Q. what are link verbs
Link verbs are verbs that have partly lost their lexical meanings and used as part of a
compound nominal predicate. They can be followed directly by an adjective eg: turn, look,
feel, get, go
Q. phrasal verbs

16. Phrasal verb can be defined as a verb followed by a particle (variously describes as a
preposition, an adverb, or some combination of the two). In other words, phrasal verb is verb
making up of two or more words which function semantically and grammatically as single
verb eg: get up, cut off, sit down
Semantically, phrase verb can be classified into 3 types:
- Literal PV are those items where the particle retains its literal adverbial meaning
eg: the book is so interesting that I can’t put it down, the picture has come off the
wall
- Completive phrasal verbs are those where the particle indicates completed action
(the particle up, out, off, and down all seem to be used in this way) eg: mix up,
burn down, cut off
- Figurative are those verbs where no semantic way of semantic association
between the verb and the particle can be found eg: do you go along with his idea,
why did you give in
Q. What does the term “subject verb agreement” refer to? Write 3 sentences and
analyze the S-V agreement in them.
Subject verb agreement is the grammatical concord between the subject and the verb, that is,
the predicate must agree with the subject in person and number
- The telecommunication and computer have changed our social habit
 When the subject consists of 2 or more nouns represent different things, it has the
force of plural and takes plural verb
- Coffee and milk is my favorite drink (cà phê sữa) / Bread and butter is my favorite
food (bánh mỳ bơ)
 However, when 2 or more nouns represent a compound name of thing, the compound
is consider singular and take singular verb
- 100 km is not a great distance / 5 kg of mango costs VND 100.000/ 10km is nothing
in this time of modern transportation.
 When a plural number applies to distances, weight, height or amount of money and
represents singular figure or quantity, it is treated as singular and takes a singular
verb.
Q. Explain the difference in the following sentence in term of subject-verb agreement
and meaning?
A. the number of questions in these exams was twice as large as what I expected
B. a number of used books were on sale as the car park

17. In the sentence A, the word “number” is definite in the context and it is subject of the
sentence. As it is singular in form, the verb is also in the singular form. In sentence B, the
word “number” is indefinite. It is a part of a compound which is used in the function of
attribute (pr-modifier) then the group “used book” is the subject of the sentence, there for the
verb is used in its plural form.
Q. Distinguish gerund and present participle
Gerund and present participle are identical in form. Both are formed from verbs and always
end in –ing.
+) Gerunds behave like nouns. They can be used as single words or in phrases. Gerunds and
gerund phrases can be subjects and objects. They can also be attributives and complements
- Cooking is one of my hobbies / Telling the truth to my mother makes me relieved
(subject)
- She likes shopping (object)
- The last topic, teaching advanced grammar, caused anxiety for more than one
trainee (attributive)
- What she likes is shopping (subject complement)
- I had some difficulty teaching mixed levels (object complement)
Whereas present participles either function as verbs or adjectives. We see the present
participle in progressive tenses and reduced adverb clauses. We also see present participles as
modifiers.
What she tells is interesting/ The results of the survey were/ seemed worrying
(complement)
The survey revealed some worrying results (attributive)
I am trying my best to explain my view on this grammar topic
Go camping
+) in compound nouns, a gerund usually shows the function / shows the purpose to which the
head noun is put while present participle refers to an action. E.g., “sleeping” in “sleeping
bag” shows the function of the bag (a bag for sleeping) so it is gerund. “Sleeping” in
“sleeping girl” is present participle
Gerund: drinking water, speaking contest, Running shoe
p.p: running stream, losing team, winning team
Q. what is the use of gerund

18. The gerund can be used as
- Subject eg: talking with her is very interesting
- Object eg: iam interested in learning English
- Complement eg: your task now is learning
- Adverbial modifier (always precede by the preposition)
+ time: before crossing the road, stop and look both sides
+ manner eg: she answer my questions without thinking twice
+ reason eg: he was imprisoned for killing a man
+ purpose eg: their large room can be used for holding their wedding party
+ concession eg: in spite of being busy, she tries to find time to help me
Q. in what way is gerund a noun, in what way it is a verb
- Like the noun, the gerund can be modified by the noun in the possessive or by possessive
adjective. The nominal characteristics of gerund are also expressed in its functions as subject,
object predicative, attribute and adverbial modifier
Eg: complaining won’t help you
Like a verb, the gerund can
+ be followed by an indirect object eg: giving you my love is my happiness
+ take perfect form eg: I regretted having told all my secret for him
+ be followed by a predicate adjective eg: going mad makes him blind
+ take a passive eg: I feel ashamed for being cheated by him
+ followed by an adverbial eg: learning hard is the shortest way to success
Q. Write sentence in which the gerund: (tham khao them sgk p. 75+76)
a. is followed by indirect object
b. takes perfect form
c. is followed by a predicative adj
d. takes a passive
e. is followed by adverbial
f. plays the function of the subject in sentence

19. g. plays the function of direct object in the sentence
->
a. Sending your friend a message may relief your sadness now
b. I am sorry for having been late/ I’m blame myself for having loved such a man/ I regretted
having given him nothing
c. growing bigger doesn’t mean growing wiser
d. I cannot forgive myself for being fooled
e. driving fast means committing suicide
f. learning English makes me happy
g. I regretted giving him everything of my life
Q. what are the uses of bare infinitive
“Bare infinitives” are the base form of the verb (use without “to”). Bare infinitives are used
with different syntactic function
- As a part of predicate after the modal verb or auxiliary verb in the negative and
interrogative structure
Eg:
- As complement especially object complement in several structures
Eg:
- As the main verb in present subjunctive mood
Eg:
- As the main verb in the imperative
Tense
Q. What is the different between tense and aspect? (sgk p. 102)
Tense is used to express the relation between the happening of an action and the time at
which the action happens. There are 3 tenses in El language: past, present, future.
Aspect is used to denote different characteristics of an action. In El, there are 3 aspects:
indefinite, progressive, perfect aspect.
Q. what is the use of present participle
Basically, it is used:

20. - To form continuous tense (aspect) eg:
- As attribute (it can either precede or follow the noun it modifies) eg:
- As adverbial modifier (in literary or formal style)
+ time eg: seeing models in the catwalk, I wish to become a fashion designer
+ cause eg: knowing what she did, I couldn’t trust het anymore
+ manner: eg I ‘d rather die standing than live kneeing
+ concession eg: while saying he love her deeply, he doesn’t want to marry her
+ in a number of set phrases: considering, providing, generally speaking, judging
eg: judging his age, the boy’s painting is excellent
Q. what is the use of past participle
Basically it is used:
- To form passive voice eg:
- To form the perfect tenses (aspect) eg:
- As attribute eg: all the picture painted by Picasso cost $ 1,000,000
- As adverbial modifier (in literary of formal style)
+ asked suddenly, I couldn’t remember anything to say
+ condition eg: your product, if promoted and sold on large scale, will earn you a
fortune
+manner eg: she didn’t see him as if blinded by resentment
+ concession eg: those picture, those scratched, still look wonderful
- Set phrase eg: given the financial crisis, many companies are in big troubles
Q. What is the different between:
- a. she lived in London for 5 years
- b. she has been living in London for 5 years
They are different in terms of tense, aspect and meaning:
In sentence a, the past simple is used to express an action which happened during a certain
period in the past and already completed, having nothing to do with the present time. The
action is indefinite in the time of occurrence. The speaker names the action only

21. However in sentence b, the present perfect is used to express an action which started in the
past and continued up to the present time and it hasn’t finished yet. The speaker wants to
mention the in completeness of the action counting to the present.
Modal verbs
Q. what are modal verbs/ modal auxiliaries/ modals
Modal verbs are special group of verbs that cannot be used independently without notional
verb though they have lexical meaning of their own. The meanings expressed by modal verb
are those of modalities such as ability, determination, obligation, possibility to perform an
action denoted by a notional verb
Q. why are “dare”, “need”, “used to” called semi-modals
They called semi-modals because they can be used as both modal and full verb
Eg: dare you bit me now? Modal verb; I don’t dare to see him now: full verb
You don’t need to shout, it’s your fault : full verb
Need I tell your mother about that?: modal verb
I used to live there : full verb
Used you to believe that there was a ghost? Modal verb
Q. What is different between “used to do sth” and “would do sth” when both of them
are used to denote sth usually happening in the past.
Semantically, the 2 structures express the same meaning that is something often done in the
past. However, they are different in some aspects:
- “Used to” can go with state verb (indicate past existence) while “would” cannot
(never used to indicate past existence). E.g. we can say “there used to be a hut here”
but not allowed to say “there would be a hut here”
- “used to” can be used in almost all context, with or without the indicatory time/ time
expressions while “would” often requires an indicatory time in the past
I used to think money is above all
When I was a child, I would listen to my grandmother’s fairy tales
- “Would do” are more commonly used when talk about happy memories with emotion
than “used to”
I would go swimming every afternoon when I was a child

22. Q. What makes “must”, “have to”, “to be to do” different when they are used to express
obligation?
“Must” expresses subjective obligation. That means the obligation normally comes from the
speaker. “I must go to see her now”
“Have to” expresses objective obligation, i.e. the obligation comes from outside. For
instance a regulation or an order from someone else or imposed by circumstances. “We have
to wear school uniform”
“To be to do sth” expresses obligation already planned. “You are to meet director after class”,
“hurry up! We are to finish our lesion at before 11a.m”
Mood
Q. what is mood
Mood can be defined as the grammatical expression of the speaker’s purported attitude
toward what he or she is saying
Q. what are the four traditional moods in English
- Indicative (trinh bay) eg: this morning I went to school
- Imperative (menh lenh) eg: look into my eyes when talking to me.
- interrogative (nghi van) eg: do you really love him?
- Exclamative (cam than) eg: how beautiful you are!
Q. describe the subjunctive mood in English language (p.94)
Subjunctive mood in English is the form of the verb often used to expressed uncertainty,
wishes, and desires/ Subjunctive mood in English is the special form of sentence structure
often used to express unreality, wishes, and commands.. In contrast to indicative mood, the
subjunctive mood usually refers to nonfactual or hypothetical situation
The category of subjunctive mood may be distinguished:
- The mandative subjunctive (co tinh menh lenh) eg: it is requited that he return all
the loan books to the library/ US demands that North Korea stop its nuclear
program)
- The formulaic subjunctive (co tinh cong thuc) eg: God be with you! , Long live
the king!
- Subjunctive “were” eg: Were I you, I wouldn’t say anything; he spoke to me as if
he were my boss
Q. what is the use of the past subjunctive mood in English

23. The past subjunctive mood is used to indicate an unreal past, a wish that never come true. It
also indicates unreality, request. Its structure is similar to that of past unreal condition. The
past of the subjunctive mood is also found after such expression as: would rather, as if, it’s
(high) time
Eg: he said as if he knew all about my private life
Q. Which sentence is more formal?
a. it’s was essential for every member country to sign the agreement by Dec 15th
b. it’s was essential that every member country sign the agreement by Dec 15th
b is more formal because the present subjunctive mood is often used in formal context or
literary style. While “it is + adj + for sbd to do sth” belongs to the informal style.
Direct and indirect speech.
Q. State the rules to change the direct imperative sentence in to reported one
To change the direct imperative sentence in to reported one, the followings changes are
necessary:
- The direct imperative sentence is often reported by using an infinitive.
- The introductory verb “say” changes to a verbs of command “tell, order, command,
request, …). He said “go with me” -> he told me to go with him
- The introductory verb of the direct command must be followed by the person address
and the infinitive.
He said “go with me, Lan”-> he told Lan to go with him.
- Negative command is expressed by placing “not” before the infinitive:
He said “don’t follow me”-> he told me not to follow him
- Pronoun and adverbs of place and time in the direct imperative sentence must be
changed:
She said:”don’t come here tomorrow because I won’t be here” -> She told me not to come
there the next day because she wouldn’t be there
Passive voice
1. when would you use the agentless sentence rather than the active or the passive
sentence with an explicit and implied agent.? (answer sgk p. 123)
2. what is stative passive? Give example? (sgk p.122)
3. what is agentless passive? (p.119)

24. 4. what are “change-of-state verbs” (p.122)?
The sequence of tense:
1. What is the sequence of tense? What are rules for the sequence of tense?
Sequence of tense is the adjustment of the tense of the subordinate clause to the tense of the
principle clause. There are 2 rules for the sequence of tense:
- If the main clause is in present or future , then the subordinate clause is in any tense
that is required by the sense:
Scientists believe that atmospheric warming has already begun
We hope that all nations will be responsible for solving this serious problem
Future research will improve that carbon dioxide is largely responsible
- If the main clause is in the past tense, the verb in clause subordinate clause must be in
the past form.
If the action of the principle clause and that of the subordinate clause take place at the same
time or almost the same time, then the same tense is to be used in both clauses:
They asked me whether I could come to the party
If the action of the subordinate clause precedes that of the principle clause, the past perfect is
used in the subordinate clause.
He told me that he had lost his key
She had gone out when I came to her house
If the action of the subordinate clause refers to a moment, future with regard to the past
moment indicated in the principle clause, the verb in the subordinate clause is in the future in
the past
He told me that he would come to see me.
2. If the main clause is in the past tense, the verb in clause subordinate clause must
always be in the past form. Is that true?
There are some exceptions:
- There are no sequence of tenses if the subordinate clause states something as
universally or logically true:
The teacher told us that the pure water boils at 100’C
- The dependent clause contain comparison, the verb may be in any tense that is
required by the sense

25. You studied harder than you do/study now
- If the dependent clause is an attributive, the verb is in any tense that suites the sense:
Last week I watched the film which you are talking about now.