UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HCMC

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ENGLISH
MORPHOLOGY AND
SYNTAX

COMPILED AND ADAPTED BY NGUYEN QUANG NHAT

nhatnq@buh.edu.vn, 0917 566 265

1
 HO CHI MINH CITY, 01/2022

CHAPTER 1: MORPHEMES
I. Definition
1. Morphology is the study of the rules governing word formation.
In Greek, morph- means 'shape, form', and so morphology is the study of word forms.
2. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a language. It is a short segment of language
that meets three criteria:
- It is a word or part of a word that has meaning.
- It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation of its meaning.
- We can recognize a morpheme by either its lexical or its grammatical meaning.

E.g.: “unkind” consists of 2 morphemes: the base “kind” means ‘friendly and thoughtful to others’
and the prefix “un”– means‘not’
“talks” consists of 2 morphemes: the base “talk” means ‘say something’ and the suffix “–s”
has no meaning, showing that the verb talks is in the third person singular present-tense form.
Task 1.1. Work in groups and make a cross (X) if the underlined groups of letters are
morphemes.

1 “de-” (in “derail, 9 “trans-” (in “transfer,

deactivate”) transport”)
2 “de-” (in “declare, detail”) 10 “-bloody-” (in “kanga-bloody-
roo, abso-bloody-lutely”)
3 “-age” (in “drainage, 11 “-ic” ( in “clinic, attic, traffic)
orphanage”)
4 “-ly” (in “wily, silly”) 12 “temp-” (in “tempo,
temptation)
5 “-ing” (in “betting, 13 “-eng-” (in “England, engine”)
wishing”)
6 “-ing” (in “bingo, king”) 14 “re-” (in “read, red”)
7 “s” (in “news, virus”) 15 “-ful” (in “powerful,

2
 respectful”)
8 “s” (in “chairs, desks”) 16 “-er” (in “larger, hotter”)
Task 1.2: Identify the number of morphemes in each word and complete the table below.

1 play 1 7 undesired

2 replay 2 (re– and play) 8 gentlemanliness

3 dating 9 befriended

4 cooperates 10 caretaker

5 wrongdoings 11 hydroelectricity

6 weaklings 12 environmentalists

II. Classification

1. LEXICAL MORPHEMES VS. GRAMMATICAL MORPHEMES

a. A lexical morpheme is one that carries the content or the meaning of the message.
E.g. follow, type, look, yellow, act, pick, strange.
b. A grammatical morpheme (or functional morpheme) is one that helps the grammar of the
clause or the sentence, but does not carry the content of a message.

3
E.g.: the, that, them, if, this, by.

2. BOUND MORPHEMES vs. FREE MORPHEMES

a. Free morphemes can stand alone as separate words or combine with another morpheme.
E.g. Drink is a free morpheme which occurs as a word on its own and as a free base in
drinkable, undrinkable, drinking-water, etc.

b. A bound morpheme is never used alone and must be used with another morpheme.
E.g. the suffix –ing must be used after a verb form: writing, living, driving, etc.

Task 1.3. Identify the bound morpheme(s) in each word.

1 speaker –er 6 underdeveloped

2 kingdoms 7 intervene inter–, –vene

3 truthfulness 8 revise

4 idolized 9 daydreaming

5 selective 10 systematically

3. BASES (STEM), ROOTS, vs. AFFIXES

a. A BASE (also called A STEM) is morpheme in a word that has the principal meaning. It is the
central morpheme, the basic part of a word. There are two kinds of bases:
A FREE BASE is a base which may be a word on its own right once the other morphemes
have been stripped away.
E.g. break in unbreakable, act in deactivated, friend in friendship, etc.

4
 A BOUND BASE is the basic part of a word, has the principal meaning, but it can never
occur on its own.
E.g. The bound base of audience, audible, audition, auditory, auditorium, etc. is audi–; that
of suicide, patricide, matricide, infanticide, etc. is –cide;
Task 1.4. Underline the base in each word.
1 manly 2 marginalized 3 extraterrestrial

4 endangered 5 enlightening 6 Facebook

7 failures 8 scholarship 9 pityful

10 maternity 11 inflammables 12 falsified

13 infamously 14 Saigonese 15 outsourcing

16 faithfulness 17 unendurable 18 upbringing

19 hyperactive 20 non-alcoholic 21 undercarriage

22 dissatisfaction 23 unethical 24 non-specific

Task 1.5. Identify the meaning of the bound base in each word.
1 audience, audible, audition, auditorium The bound base audi– means ‘hear’.

2 suicide, patricide, matricide, infanticide The bound base –cide means ‘killing’.

3 oral, orate, oration, oracle and oratory

4 aquarium, aquatic, aquaduct

5 mortuary, mortal, immortal

6
vision, (tele)vision, (audio)visual,
supervise,
7 manuscript, manacle, manual, manicure

8 dictate, dictation, diction, contradict

b. A ROOT is the main morpheme of a word that cannot be analyzed any further into constituent
morphemes. In linguistics, a root word can also understood as a base coming from another
language.
E.g. “create” is the root of the word “creativity”.
“frīgerāre” is the root of the word “refrigerator”
5
 c. AN AFFIX is a morpheme (usually a bound morpheme) that occurs before or behind a base.
Affixes have four main subclasses:
• PREFIXES ‘occur before a base’ as in import, reconsider, unkind, understate.
• SUFFIXES ‘occur after a base’ as in shrinkage, noisy, quickly, nails, dreamed, mouse-like.
• INFIXES are inserted within words, such as kanga-bloody-roo, abso-bloomin-lutely.
• CIRCUMFIXES are inserted both before and after a base.
Task 1.6. Identify the meaning of the affix in each word.
1 antedate The prefix ante– means ‘before’.
2 polytechnique
3 controller
4 ex-boyfriend
5 Marxism
6 subway
7 import
8 tricycle

Task 1.7. Add a correct negative prefix to the following words.

1. dependent 6. polite
2. approve 7. logical
3. zip 8. sensitive
4. responsible 9. behave .
5. respect 10. considerate
III. Further practice
Task 1.8. Analyze the following words into morphemes.
Prefix(es) Base Suffix(es)
inequality in- equal -ity
1. revaluation
2. disorganised
3. invisible
4. non-transferring
5. unlikelihood

6
 6. interdependence
7. interchangeable
8. inaudibility

Task 1.9. Work in groups, read the statements and decide if they are TRUE or FALSE.
1. There is no difference between syllables and morphemes.
2. Morphemes are the minimal units of English language.
3. Free morphemes must be attached to other words to convey their meaning.
4. If we try to break up a morpheme, the morpheme will lose its identity.
5. There are two morphemes in the word “unhappiness”.
6. Some English words can have more than one prefix.
7. A word can't be a morpheme.
8. Bound morphemes are also called affixes.
9. Roots are always functional morphemes.
10. A phoneme can be a morpheme that has specific mean.
Task 1.10. Choose the correct option A, B, C, or D.
1 Which word contains a bound stem?
A. careless B. deceive
C. goodness D. upstream
2. Which word contains two bound morphemes?
A. bodybuilder B. carefree
C. motorists D. seriously
3. The morpheme “-vise” in the word “television” is a ______.
A. bound base  B. functional morpheme 
C. suffix D. free morpheme
4_______ are those that have to be combined with other morphemes to form a word.
A. Bound morphemes B.  Free morphemes
C. Infixes D. Allomorphs
5. _______ help to modify the meaning of a stem, but they usually do not change the 
part of speech of the original word. 
A. Roots B.  Affixes  
C. Prefixes  D.  Suffixes
7
6. What type of morpheme do the word “dog” and “his” belong to?
A. Functional morphemes   B. Infixes 
C. Bound bases D. Free morphemes

8
 CHAPTER 2: DERIVATION AND INFLECTION

I. Derivation
1. Defintition
Derivation could be defined as the formation of new words by adding some affixes to a
morpheme so that it can change the lexical meaning of the source words (Richards, Platt & Weber,
2010).
E.g.: immaturity: im + mature + ity
2. Types of derivation
- Class-changing derivational affixes: change the word class of the words to which they are
attached.
E.g.: noun to adjective verb to noun adjective to adverb noun to verb
boy + ish acquit(t) + al exact + ly mortal + ise
virtu(e) + ous clear + ance quiet + ly vaccin(e)+
ate
- Class-maintaining derivational affixes: do not change the word class of the words to which
they are attached.
E.g.: Many prefixes fall into this category:
ab- + normal = abnormal multi- + national = multinational
auto- + biography = autobiography re- + print = reprint

9
 There are also suffixes of this type:
vicar + -age = vicarage New Jersey + -ite = New Jerserite
Americ(a) + -an = American pun + -ster = punster
Task 2.1. Identify the meaning of the underlined derivational morphemes.
1. postdate 2. uberwealthy 3. ultraviolet
4. microorganism 5. bisexual 6. submarine
7. kilowatt 8. decade 9. megalosaur

Task 2.2. Work in groups and find 3 examples for each suffix.
1. –en (v) ......................................................................................
2. –ate (v).......................................................................................
3. –ous (adj)...................................................................................
4. –ment (n)...................................................................................
5. –ship (n) ....................................................................................
Task 2.3. Work in groups and identify all the affixes in each of the given words.
1 flirtatiously -ation, -ous, -ly
2 personality
3 microorganism
4 modernizer
5 responsibility
6 honourably
7 practicability
8 purification
9 endangerment
10 contradictorily
Task 2.4. Change the class of the given words with appropriate derivational morphemes.
Noun Verb Adjective
1. add
2. specific
3. poor
4. high
5. explain
6. destroy
10
 II. Inflection
1. Defintition
Inflection is “the process of adding an affix to a word or changing it in some other way
according to the rules of the grammar of a language.” [Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 77].
E.g.: I work → he works, flower – flowers, man – men
2. Types of derivation
There are 8 inflectional morphemes in English:
English inflectional morphemes Examples
1. The noun plural morpheme trees, tomatoes, oxen, etc.
2. The noun possessive morpheme man’s, girl’s, students’, Alice’s, etc.
3. The verb third person singular walks, studies, mixes, etc.
present tense morpheme
4. The verb present participle playing, typ(e)ing, digging, etc.
morpheme
5. The verb past simple morpheme flowed, worked, created, drank, etc.
6. The verb past participle morpheme worked, drunk, broken, shown, etc.
7. The comparative morpheme smaller, thinner, longer, harder, etc.
8. The superlative morpheme smallest, thinnest, longest, fastest, etc.

Task 2.5. Work in groups and list all the inflectional morphemes in the following sentences.
1. In England and Wales, a school year is divided into three terms.
………………………………………………………………………….
2. You are wasting your time looking for a job with higher salary in this town.
………………………………………………………………………….
3. He wanted to have a small party because he got the highest mark in the final exam.
………………………………………………………………………….
4. She ignored her mother’s warnings and ran across the road carelessly.
………………………………………………………………………….
5. Ben’s flat was broken into while he was away and his computer, television, and videos were
stolen.
………………………………………………………………………….

11
 Task 2.6. Work in groups and decide if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.
1. Inflectional morphemes are related to the lexical meaning of the words or the sentences.
2. “Pre-, de-, and sub-” are derivational morphemes.
3. Changes in spelling is inevitable when an inflectional morpheme is added to a word.
4. Derivational morphemes add lexical meaning to the root words.
5. “Spec-, cred-, and aud-” are examples of inflectional morphemes.
6. “–ment, -tion, and –ence” are derivational suffixes that show the word class of English
words.
7. An English root can have only one derivational suffix added to them.
8. Attaching a derivational morpheme to a root always changes its part of speech.
9. Derivational morphemes can apply freely to nearly every appropriate base.
10. An inflectional morpheme can be added to a derivational morpheme, but not vice
versa.
Task 2.7. Choose the correct option.
1. What kind of morpheme is the affix in suddenly?
A. derivational B. free C. inflectional D. stem
2. How many inflectional morphemes are there in English?
A. 6 B. 7 C. 8 D. 9
3. In derivation, new word forms are produced by ______.
A. the addition of an affix to a stem
B. the addition of an inflection to a stem
C. the combination of two stems
D. the combination of two stems
4. Inflectional morphemes are always ______.
A. suffixes and infixes B. prefixes and infixes
C. suffixes and prefixes D. affixes and circumfixes
5. Inflectional morphemes don’t change the words meaning or class, they just add more
______.
A. grammatical information to the word
B. information to the root word
C. strategical information to the bound base
D. lexical meaning to the stem
6. Derivational morphemes can be either prefixes and suffixes and can ______.
12
 A. change the meaning of the word, the spelling of the word and the words class
B. change the meaning of the word and the spelling of the word
C. change the meaning of the word, the word class, and can add information to the wor
D. alter the tense that the word is in, i.e past, present and future.
7. What is NOT true about derivational morphemes?
A. They change the meaning of a root.
B. They change part of speech of a root.
C. They carry semantic meaning.
D. They carry grammatical meaning.
8. What is an example of an inflectional morpheme?
A. “-er” to form a comparative adjective
B. “-ly” to form an adverb from an adjective.
C. “-ize” to form a verb from a noun
D. “-ic” to form an adjective.
9. What is NOT true about inflectional morphemes?
A. They only have grammatical function.
B. They never change the part of speech of the root.
C. They are always suffixes in English.
D. They always come before any derivational morphemes.
10. What is an example of a derivational morpheme?
A. un- B. do C. –s D. –ed

III. Immediate constituents in morphology

1. Definition
Let’s consider Bloomfield’s analysis of the word ungentlemanly. At the first cut, we
obtain two following immediate constituents: un– and gentlemanly:

un–gentlemanly

At the second cut, we obtain 2 following immediate constituents: gentleman and –ly:

gentleman–ly

The third cut separates the two free bases of the compound noun gentleman, resulting in
the two immediate constituents: gentle and man:
13
 gentle man
We have now shown the layers of structure by which the word has been composed,
down to its ultimate constituents: un–, gentle, man, and –ly.
un– gentle man –ly

Doing word diagrams, like the one above, to show layers of structure, we make successive
divisions into two parts, each of which is called AN IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT,
abbreviated IC. The process is continued until all the component morphemes of a word, the
morphemes of which the word is composed, have been isolated.
2. Recommendations on IC division
- If a word ends with an inflectional suffix, fist cut this suffix and the rest of the word.
pre– + conceiv(e)⎪ –ed mal– + formation⎪–s
- One of the IC‘s should be, if possible, a free form. Here are examples of wrong and right
first cuts:
Wrong: en– ⎪ large + –ment Right: en– + large ⎪ –ment in– +
depend ⎪ –ent in– ⎪ depend + –ent
un– + law ⎪ –ful un– ⎪ law + –ful

- The meanings of the IC’s should be related to the meaning of the word. It would be wrong to cut
restrain like this: rest ⎪ rain because neither rest nor rain has a semantic connection with
restrain.
Task 2.8. Give the IC cuts of each of the following words.

wall paper –s

1. reactions
2. disappearance
3. economically
4. financially
5. unsalaried
6. supermarkets
7. creativity
8. well-prepared

14
15
 CHAPTER 3: WORDS AND WORD FORMATION
I. Defintion
A word is the smallest linguistic unit which can occur on its own in speech or writing.
II. Word structure
1. Simple word: consist of a single free base (= a free morpheme): stay, flea, long, spirit,
eucalyptus, Connecticut, etc.
2. Complex word: contain at least one bound morpheme as an immediate constituent. They fall
into two subclasses:
- Complex words–FB (free-base) have one free morpheme as an IC.
E.g.: lion ⏐ –ess ‘female’ = lioness un– ‘not’ ⏐certain = uncertain

re– ‘again’⏐birth = rebirth deep ⏐ –en ‘make’ = deepen

- Complex words–BB (bound base) have a bound morpheme for each IC.
E.g.: tele– ‘far’⏐ –vise ‘see’ = televise

pre– ‘beforehand, in advance’⏐ –clude ‘shut, close’ = preclude

ex– ‘out of, out from’⏐ –tract ‘take, get’ = extract

termin– ‘end’⏐ –ate ‘giving (to sth) a specified quality’ = terminate

3. Compound word: have at least two free bases (free morphemes) with or without bound
morphemes. E.g.: northeast, blackbird, illtreat, …

III. Types of compounds

1. Derivational compounds: are the compounds in which the derivational suffix is attached to
‘the combination as a whole, not to one of its elements. E.g.: kind-hearted, old-timer,
schoolboyishness, teen-ager.
2. Repetitive compounds
- Duplicative compounds are the compounds in which the second unit is the repetition of
the first element. They are usually, but not always, onomatopoeic words.
E.g. blah-blah: nonsense or idle talk
Should we give them some minutes of blah-blah or tell them what is happening now?
- Ablaut compounds are the compounds in which one main morpheme (usually the second
one) is repeated with a different vowein the other constituent.
E.g. chit-chat n (infml) chat or gossip

16
 shilly-shally v hesitate, unable to make up one’s mind
- Rhyme compounds are the compounds of two institudents (most often two pseudo-
morphemes) which are connected to make a rhyming effect.
E.g.: pitapat: lộp độp, thình thịch hoity-toity: kiêu kì
humdrum:buồn héo hắt hurry-scurry: vội vội vàng vàng
easy-peasy: dễ ẹc namby-pamby: ủy mị sến súa
okey-dokey: OK (con dê) jeepers creepers: mèng đéc ơi
- Tautonym Compounds: are binomial scientific names in which the name of a genus
and that of the species are identical.
E.g. Mammals Birds
1) Gorilla gorilla (Western Gorilla) 1) Bubo bubo (Eurasian Eagle Owl)
2) Hyaena hyaena (Striped Hyena) 2) Grus grus (Common Crane)
Task 3.1. Analyze the compounds by identifying the roots, the affixes, and their parts of speech.
E.g. housekeeper: house (root - N) + keep (root - V) + -er
1. trustworthiness
2.brainwashing
3. mass-produced
4. time-consuming
5. broken-hearted
6. roller coaster
7. higher-ups
8. decision making
9. able-bodied
10. conscious-raising
11. spoon-feeding
12. ever-changing
Task 3.2: Identify what each duplicative compound refers to.
1. aye-aye …………………… 8. goody goody ……………………
2. bang-bang …………………… 9. ha-ha ……………………
3. beriberi …………………… 10. hush hush ……………………
4. bonbon …………………… 11. no-no ……………………
5. bye-bye …………………… 12. papa ……………………
6. cha-cha-cha …………………… 13. pawpaw ……………………
7. froufrou …………………… 14. fifty-fifty ……………………
17
- Ablaut compounds are ‘twin forms consisting of one basic morpheme (usually the second),
sometimes a pseudo-morpheme which is repeated in the other constituent with a different vowel.
E . g . : chit-chat n [U] (infml) chat, gossip, easy familiar talk
shilly-shally v [I] hesitate, unable to make up one’s mind
Task 3.3: Match the words with the correct meaning.
A B
1. clip clop A. foolishness
2. ding-dong B. sound of a horse’s hooves
3. flim-flam C. the sound of a bell
4. flip-flop D. a sandal with a piece between the toes
5. mish-mash E. a confused mixture
6. ping pong F. table tennis
7. riff-raff G. rabble; people who are worthless
8. riprap H. broken stones on water used to protect riverbanks
9. tittle-tattle I. chat, gossip
10. zigzag J. sharp turns in alternating directions

- Rhyme compounds are ‘twin forms consisting of two elements (most often two pseudo-
morphemes), which are conjoined to rhyme.
E.g.: boogie-woogie: piano-jazz-style music pitapat: (lộp độp, thình thịch)
hoity-toity: snobbish, kiêu kì humdrum: bored,
hurry-scurry: great hurry easy-peasy: very easy
lovey-dovey: darling namby-pamby: weakly sentimental
okey-dokey: OK jeepers creepers: chu choa mèng đéc ơi
holus-bolus: một hơi, một mạch willy-nilly: chẳng chóng thì chày
- Tautonym Compounds: are binomial scientific names in which the name of a genus and that of
the species are identical.
E.g.: Mammals: Birds
1) Gorilla gorilla (Western Gorilla) 1) Bubo bubo (Eurasian Eagle Owl)
2) Hyaena hyaena (Striped Hyena) 2) Grus grus (Common Crane)
3) Jiges Jiges (Black Rabbit) 3) Guira guira (Guira Cuckoo)

18
 IV. Word-formation processes
1. COINAGE: is the creation of totally new words by
- inventing names for new products: nylon, aspirin, etc.
- using specific brand names such as Vaseline, Apple, Nike, …
- changing proper names of individuals or places to common nouns: sandwich was named for the
fourth Earl of Sandwich, who put his food between two slices of bread so that he could eat
while he gambled; robot was named after the mechanical creature in the Czech writer
Karel Capek’s play R.U.R., the initials standing for ‘Rossum’s Universal Robot’; gargantuan
was named for the creature with a huge appetite created by Rabelais; denim was originally
borrowed form de Nimes (meaning ‘from Nimes’) in France.
Task 3.4: Put the words into correct column.
Google, muggle, zipper, Heroin, Band-aid, Valentines’, Velcro, nicotine, volt, dollar, coke,
tarantula, jumbo, atlas, volcano.
Product Brand Person/Place

2. BORROWING: is the process by which words in a language are borrowed from another.
E.g.: “tango, mango, taco” are borrowing words from Spain
“fiancé, very, garage” are borrowing words from French
The pronunciation and morphology of the borrowings are adapted generally from the
phonology and morphology of the host language.
E.g.: guerrilla /ga'rila/ (English), /ge'rija/ (Spanish)
banana /ba'næna/ (English), /ba'nana/ (Spanish)

Task 3.5: Which language does each word come from?

Malay, Arabic. Japanese, Korean, German, Russian, French, Chinese, Italian, Spanish.
1. takoyaki, kimono, haiku, sushi, sashimi:
2. pizza, latte, bravo, diva, solo, ghetto:
3. beef, cinema, television, helicopter:
4. Alzheimer, diesel, rucksack, hamster, waltz:
5. alcohol, algebra, average, cotton, tariff, tuna, zero:
6. dim sum, taichi, kungfu, tofu:

19
 7. Taekwondo, soju, Hanbok, kimchi:
8. mammoth, vodka, luna, taiga, sputnik:
9. bamboo, durian, ketchup, rambutan, sarong:
10. alligator, tornado, cockroach, plaza:

3. BLENDING: is the fusion of two words into one, usually the first part of one word with the last
part of another. E.g.: ‘sm- ’ (ismoke) + ‘-og’ (fog) → smog.
Task 3.6: Give the original of each of the following blends.
1 telecast television+broadcast
2. brunch
3. Amerindian
4. Singlish
5. nomophobia
6. medicare
7. stagflation
8. slimnastics
9. bloodalyzer
1. forex
0
1 emoticon
1 advertainment
2
1 teenploitation
3
1 bromance
4
1 edutainment
5
1 beautility
6
1 multiplex
7
1 framily
9
1 netizen
9
2 sitcom
0

Task 3.7: Give the blends that result from fusing these words.
1. gasoline +alcohol gasohol
2. transfer + resistor
3. escalade+ elevator
4. stay+ vacation

20
 5. motor + hotel
6. urine + analysis
7. camera + recorder
8. finance + technology
9. phone + subbing
10. malicious + software
11. stalker + fan
12. green + whitewash
13. smartphone + zombie
14. fear+of+missing+out
15. affluence + influenza
3. CLIPPING: is the process of cutting off the beginning or the end of a word, or both, leaving a
part (the abbreviation or the clipped word) to stand for the whole (the full form).
E.g.: exam (examination), telly (television set), vac (vacuum cleaner), plane (airplane), phone
(telephone), flu (influenza), fridge (refrigerator), …
Clipped words are usually used in casual speech rather than in writing or formal speech.
Task 3.8: Give the original words from which these clipped words were formed.
1. ad 21. memo
2. gas 22. prof
3. cafe 23. bus
4. mike 24. dorm
5. demo 25. vet
6. photo 26. lab
7. disco 27. Tom
8. Liz 28. typo
9. burger 29. gym
10. bra 30. bike
11. chemist 31. movie
12. clerk 32. rep
13. fan 33. zoo
14. limo 34. coed
15. Bob 35. mart

21
4. ACRONYMY: is the process whereby a word is formed from the initials segments of a
succession of words. Acronyms can occur in capital or small letters. Sometimes the initials are
pronounced; in other cases, the initials and/or beginning segments are pronounced as a
commonly spelled word would be. In the case of proper nouns, the resulting word is usually
written in capital letter.
NATO ‘North Atlantic Treaty Organization’
UNESCO ‘United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
NASA‘ National Aeronautics and Space Administration’
UNO ‘United Nations Organization’
WHO ‘World Health Organization’
M.P. ‘Member of Parliament’
P.M. ‘Prime Minister’
S.O.S ‘Save Our Souls’

Task 3.9: Provide the original words of each following acronyms in the business context.
1. NAV Net asset value
2. GDP
3. FDI
4. IMF
5. CPU
6. MLM
7. EU
8. EBIT
9 EPS
10 FIFO

22
5. CONVERSION
a. Complete conversion: is the process of shifting a word from one word class to another without
adding an affix.
Major categories of complete conversion:
- Lexical Verb  noun: doubt, love, laugh, walk, answer, cheat, cover, retreat, turn, …
E.g.: Best buys of the week are carrots and cabbages, which are plentiful and cheap.
- Adjective  noun: daily (‘daily newspaper’), comic (‘comic actor’), (young) marrieds
(‘young married people’; informal), the poor, …
- Noun lexical verb: cushion, knife (stab with a knife), nurse, cash, mail, ship, …
E.g.: His voice silenced everyone in the auditorium.
Newcastle is campaigning against rent increase.
- Adjective  lexical verb: wet, calm, empty, …
E.g.: He emptied everything in my bag.

Minor categories of complete conversion

- Auxiliary Verb  noun: This novel is a must for all lovers of crime fiction..
- Phrase  noun: When I gamble, my horse is one of the also-rans (i.e. one of the
horses which ‘also ran’ but was not among the winners)
- Phrase adjective: I feel very under-the-weather (indisposed).
- Affix  noun: Patriotism and any other isms you’d like to name.
- Non-count noun  count noun: a coffee, a misunderstanding, a difficulty, …
- Count noun  non-count noun: Noun viewed in terms of a measurable extent (normally
only after expressions of amount): a few square feet of floor
- Proper noun  common noun (initial capital usually retained):
 ‘A member of the class typified by N’: a Jeremiah (‘a gloomy prophet)
 ‘A person or place called N’: There are several White Houses (‘places called White House’)
in the world.
 ‘A product of N or a sample or collection of N’s work’: a Rolls Royce (‘a car manufactured
by Rolls Royce’), a Sony, a complete Shakespeare
 ‘Something associate with N’: Wellingtons, Hanois, …
- Intransitive Verb  transitive verb: London Transport run extra trains during the rush-hour.
- Transitive Verb intransitive verb: Your book reads well.
23
b. APPROXIMATE CONVERSION: is the process by which ‘a word, in the course of
changing its grammatical function, may undergo a slight change of pronunciation or spelling.
- Voicing of final consonants (noun  verb): advice  advise, thief  thieve,...
- Shift of stress: when verbs of two syllables are converted into nouns, the stress is sometimes
shifted from the second to the first syllable: conduct, conflict, contrast, convert, convict, export,
extract, import, insult, permit, present, produce, rebel, record….

6. AFFIXATION: is the process by which an affix is added to a base to form a new word.
- Prefixation: is the addition of a prefix in front of a base like pro-life, recycle, deselect, …
- Suffixation: is the addition of a suffix at the end of a base like in ageism, marginalize, additive,
etc.
Affixation resembles conversion in that they may change the grammatical potential of a
word, but unlike conversion, affixation involves a change of form.

7. BACK-FORMATION: is the process of deriving words by removing what is thought to be a

suffix from an existing word. This is just the reverse of the customary process of suffixation.
E.g.1: diagnose (from diagnosis), enthuse (from enthusiasm), laze (from lazy), liaise (from
liaison), emote (from emotion), enthuse (from enthusiasm) and televise (from television)
E.g.2: The verbs peddle, stoke, swindle, edit, team-teach all came into the language as back-
formations — of peddler, stoker, swindler, editor,), team-teacher (or team- teaching).

Task 3.10: These verbs are back-formations. Write the words from which they are formed.

1 air-condition  air-conditioner
2 brainstorm
3 brainwash
4 resurrect  resurrection

5 baby-sit
6 laze
7 escalate
8 dry-clean
9 housekeep
10 tape-record

24
8. COMPOUNDING: is the process of combining two or more words to form a new one.

Based on the meanings, compounds can be classified into 4 groups:

Types Description Examples
A+B expresses a special kind of - darkroom = phòng tối (để
 Endocentric B. tráng rửa phim ảnh)
compounds
+ B is the basic meaning of the - blackbird = chim hét, chim
whole word, and A restricts the sáo
meaning of the compound. - notebook = sổ ghi chép
A+B denotes a special kind of - highbrow = giới tinh hoa
 Endocentric meaning that does not originate - blue-collar = giới công nhân
compounds from any constituents.
A+B expresses the combination - sleepwalk = mộng du
 Copulative of what A and B refer to. - bittersweet = vị ngọt đắng,
compounds
buồn vui lẫn lộn, cay đắng
ngọt bùi
A and B provide different - actor-director = đạo diễn
 Appositional descriptions (contrasted kiêm diễn viên
compounds attributes/ characteristics/ - apeman = vượn người (cổ
functions) for the same referent đại)

Based on the word class, compounds can be classified into 3 groups:

Types Description Examples
- Two nouns or more are - Noun + Noun: lemon juice,
combined to form a single noun. housemaid.
- Compound nouns can be written - Noun + Verb: haircut
separately, can be linked by a rainfall.
hyphen, or can be written as one - Verbing + Noun: washing
1. Noun word. machine, driving license.
compounds
- Verb + Particle: run-away,
drawback.
- Adjective + Noun: software,
sweetheart, greenhouse.
- Adverb + Noun: overcoat,
overhead, afterlife.
- Adverb + Verb: outlook,

25
 Types Description Examples
outlet.
- Adjective + Verbing: dry-
cleaning, public speaking.
- Two or more words are put - Noun + Verb: babysit,
together to make one verb. housesit.
2. Verb - Verb compounds can be written - Verb + Verb: stirfry, dry-
compounds as one word or hyphenated clean
words. - Adjective + Verb: double-
check, fine-tune
- Particle + Verb: overtake,
upgrade.
- Two or more words are put - Number + Noun: ten-storey,
together to make one adjective. four-page.
- The adjective compounds are - Adjective + Noun: full-
hyphenated when they stand length, short-term, high-
before a noun (a well-known quality.
3. Adjective scientist but not hyphenated when - Noun+Ving: record-
compounds they stand after the noun (That breaking, English-speaking,
scientist is very well known). time-consuming.
- The adjective compounds - Noun+ Adjective: duty-free,
formed with an adverb ending in environment-friendly.
“-ly” are not hyphenated (e.g.,
- Adverb+V3: well-behaved,
rapidly changing)
highly-respected.
- Adjective compounds formed
- Adjective + V3: short-lived,
with an adverb ending without “-
ready-made
ly” are hyphenated.

Task 3.11: Complete the blanks to make compound words.

1. sun…………… 11. head……………
2. day…………… 12. side……………
3. hand…………… 13. back……………
4. match…………… 14. down……………
5. sleep…………… 15. finger……………
6. work…………… 16. fire……………
7. butter…………… 17. pen……………

26
 8. green…………… 18. note……………
9. by…………… 19. land……………
10. cat…………… 20. house……………
V. Homework

Task 3.12. Fill in each gap with a compound word formed from the word given in bracket.
1. Someone around forty or fifty is considered to be ________________. (middle)
2. Excuse me, I ordered my steak to be ___________________, not rare like this. (well)
3. If you have __________________, you don't lose your temper easily. (control)
4. The normal train takes seven hours, but the ___________________ train can do it in four.
(high)
5. I can't write with my left hand – I'm ___________________. (right)
6. They have the best view because they live in a ___________________ flat. (top)
7. A ___________________ ticket is more expensive than one for economy class. (first)
8. She spends her time with ___________________ people, rather than with those who have
different tastes or opinions. (like)
9. The president stood behind ___________________ glass when he made his speech. (bullet)
10. Answering so many emails every day is so ___________________. (time)
11. I made a ___________________ call to England and it cost me a fortune. (long)
12. They seem to be very ___________________, at least they have a great big house and two
expensive cars. (well)
13. You can see this vase is __________________ and wasn't produced in a factory. (hand)
14. Peter is a really relaxed guy- so ___________________! (easy)
15. I want to get my eyes tested - I've become really ___________________ lately. (short)
Task 3.13. Indentify the word-formation process for the creation of each word in column 2.
Column 1 Column 2 Word formation process
0. automation automate back - formation
1. door, knob doorknob
2. channel, tunnel chunnel
3. run, way runway
4. surprise (v) surprise (n)
5. alter alteration
6. perambulator pram
7. Master of Ceremony MC
8. áo dài “ao dai”
9. house (n) to house

27
 10. Information Technology IT

Task 3.14. Work in groups, discuss and decide if the following statements are TRUE or
FALSE. Provide explanations for the responses.
1. A complex word can contain at least two free morphemes.
2. The combination of two bound bases can create a compound.
3. Coinage involves the use of a proper name to make a new word.
4. Compounding is made of two independent roots or bases.
5. Conversion occurs when there is a change in the word class with modification.
6. Blending is a special type of compounds.
7. A borrowing word is a word adopted from another language.
8. The English language has never been a lexical borrower.
9. Back formation means reversing the derivational process to create simpler words.
10. Blending means reducing a word of more than one syllable to a shorter form.
Task 3.15. Choose the correct option A, B, C, or D.
1. Which word-formation process is illustrated by the underlined word in “The cost of the
project has snowballed”?
A. Back formation B. Clipping
C. Coinage D. Affixation
2. Which one is an example of blending?
A. handbook B. superman
C. velcro D. telethon
3. What type of word-formation process is use for the word “blog”?
A. Back formation B. Blending
C. Conversion D. Compounding
4. What type of word-formation process is use for the word “CD”?
A. Acronymy B. Blending
C. Conversion D. Compounding
5. What type of word-formation process is use for the word “tattoo”?
A. Borrowing B. Clipping
C. Coinage D. Blending
6 What type of word-formation process is use for the word “infotainment”?
A. Back formation B. Blending
C. Conversion D. Compounding

28
 7. What type of word-formation process is use for the word “printout”?
A. Borrowing B. Compounding
C. Coinage D. Blending
8. What type of word-formation process is use for the word “Watt”?
A. Borrowing B. Acronymy
C. Coinage D. Clipping
9. What word-formation process combines the beginning of one word and the end of another
word to form a new word?
A. Borrowing B. Blending
C. Clipping D. Conversion
10. What word-formation process involves reducing a word such as a noun to a shorter version
and using it as a new word such as a verb?
A. Clipping B. Blending
C. Compounding D. Backformation

29
 CHAPTER 4: WORD CLASSES
I. Major classes according to form
1. Nouns: are identified by:
Nouns are used to refer to a person, a place, a, action, a thing, an event, or any kind of identity.
English nouns are identified by:
- Two inflectional suffixes:
 The noun plural morpheme: e.g., quotas, oxen, boxes, etc.
 The noun possessive morpheme: e.g., examiner’s, customers’, Alice’s, etc.
- Noun-forming derivational suffixes: e.g., perform → performance, amend → amendment,
modify- → modification, etc.
- The occurrence of preceding determiners or quantifiers: e.g., the currency, three coins, an
index, some advice.
The use of compound nouns (Noun + Noun): e.g., telephone
Task 4.1. Underline all the nouns in each sentence.
1. Many citizens invest money into business because they want to make a huge profit.
2. Two key principles of the economy are supply and demand.
3. The Vietcombank charged us 1,100 VND for online banking transactions last year.
4. The value of the US dollars has fallen recently due to the trade war,
5. Linda loves doing charity such as helping the poor and the disadvantaged.
6. Many companies hire consultants to give advice on special projects.
7. His answer was so confusing that we couldn’t make any sense of it.
8. The new boss requested his employees to work overtime to finish the project without any extra
incentives.
Classification of Nouns:
a.Common nouns: include nouns of normal people, things, or events. Common nouns are written
in small letters (not capitalized) if they do not stand at the beginning of a sentence or stand in a
title.
E.g. girl, sun, capital, disease, future.

b. Proper nouns: include nouns of specific people, things, or events. Proper nouns are written in
big letters (capitalized).
E.g. Covid-19, Donald Trump, HSBC.
30
c. Concrete nouns: include nouns that can be physically perceived, seen, tasted, or touched.
E.g. juice, lightning, tornado, cash.

d. Abstract nouns: include nouns that cannot be physically perceived, seen, tasted, or touched.
E.g. belief, time, hardship, karma.

e. Collective nouns: include nouns that express a group of people or things.

E.g. school, team, staff.

f. Countable nouns: include nouns expressing an entity that can be counted. These countable
nouns have the singular and plural forms, and can be identified by a number or the use of plural
noun morpheme “-s/-es”.
E.g. (an) idea, house(s), (a) misunderstanding.

g. Uncountable nouns: include nouns expressing an entity that cannot be counted. These
uncountable nouns cannot go with a number or cannot be added with the plural noun morpheme
“-s/-es”.
E.g. furniture, news, advice.
Notes: An English noun can belong to more than one type. For example, “money” is a common
noun, concrete noun, and uncountable noun.
Task 4.2. Work in groups and identify all types of nouns of the underlined words.
E.g., My hobby is collecting coins from all over the world. => common, countable, concrete
1. The CFO would like to celebrate his wedding party at a 5-star hotel.
.......................................................................................................
2. On the Tet holiday, he often goes back to his hometown for family reunion.
.......................................................................................................
3. There’s been a great deal of protest lately against building a nuclear station in this area.
.......................................................................................................
4. Statistics could be the subject I like best.
.......................................................................................................
5. Be careful! The boss is not in a good mood today.
.......................................................................................................
6. We have a new MBA in our office today.
31
.......................................................................................................
2. Verbs are identified by:
Verbs are used to express an action, the state of something, or the occurrence of an event.
Some verbs can stand alone in a sentence.
English verbs are identified by:
- 4 verb inflectional suffixes:
 The verb third person singular present tense morpheme: e.g., buys, reduces, etc.
 The verb present participle morpheme: e.g., quoting, listing, negotiating, etc.
 The verb past simple morpheme: e.g., flowed, overtook, broke, showed, etc.
 The verb past participle morpheme: e.g., flowed, overtaken, broken, shown, etc.
- Verb-forming derivational affixes: height → heighten, national → nationalize, beauty →
beautify, etc.
- The occurrence of preceding auxiliaries or its presence at the beginning of a request: e.g.,
will follow, Please follow (the rules).

Classification of verbs:
h.Action verbs: include verbs referring to the action that is done either physically or mentally.
E.g. kick, think, memorize

i. Stative verbs: include verbs expressing the state or the condition of someone/something. These
verbs are normally not used in the progressive tenses.
E.g. know, love, understand.

j. Linking verbs: include verbs that connect the subject of a sentence with the quality or
information after the verbs.
E.g. remain, seem, become.

k. Transitive verbs: include verbs that require an object to be the recipient of the action.
E.g. bring, love, lend.
l. Intransitive verbs: include verbs that can stand alone without an object.
E.g. sleep, work, walk.
Notes: Some verbs can be transitive or intransitive based on the context of the sentences.
E.g. My colleague could sing well.
That secretary is singing a song.

32
 Task 4.3. Underline the verbs in the following sentences.
1. That lady and her boyfriend became tired of their relationship, so they decided to break up.
2. Those newly-weds had been wandering along the street, looking for some local nightlife in
Madrid.
3. When Jim walked into the room and sat down, nobody bothered to take any notice.
4. With the help of a ladder, the neighbors managed to escape the fire.
5. Peter has not had good night’s sleeps recently because he always has a repeated nightmare of
failing in the next English exam.

Task 4.4. Work in groups and identify if the underlined word is a Noun or a Verb in each case.
1. Our company needs to have an idea to leverage its resources.
.......................................................................................................
2. Such a move might not have any impact on the company’s employees.
.......................................................................................................
3. We all think that you should stop toying with that poor girl.
.......................................................................................................
4. We are all disappointed when our team has failed to medal, with China gaining gold, Korea
silver, and France bronze.
.......................................................................................................
5. Just inbox me if you visit our city!
.......................................................................................................

3. Adjectives: are identified by :

Adjectives are used to express the quality or the special feature of something
English adjectives are identified by:
- 2 adjective inflectional suffixes:
 The adjective comparative morpheme: e.g., smaller, safer, etc.
 The adjective superlative morpheme: e.g., smallest, safest, etc.
- Adjective-forming derivational suffixes: critic → critical, collect → collective, knowledge →
knowledgeable, etc.

An adjective also has the following attributes:

 It can stand in front of a noun to modify the meaning of that noun: e.g., a handsome reward.
33
  It can stand after a linking verb: e.g., remain stable, stay strong.
 It can stand after “more” and “most” in comparison structures: e.g., more rewarding, the most
challenging.
 It cannot be used in a plural form.
 It cannot be used with a possessive without a noun.
 It cannot stand between a noun and a verb

4. Adverbs
Adverbs are used to modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a clause, or a sentence.
English adverbs are identified by:
- The adverb comparative morpheme: e.g., faster, harder, etc.
- The adverb superlative morpheme: e.g., fastest, hardest, etc.
- Adverb-forming derivational suffix “–ly” added to adjectives: e.g., critical → critically,
serious→ seriously, etc.
- The presence of a verb or an adjective nearby: e.g., fully aware, actively involved, etc.

Task 4.5. Work in groups, discuss and make a cross (X) after each sentence with the underlined
“ly” that qualifies as an adjective.
1. Finally, the witness testified falsely.
2. John committed a deadly mistake.
3. Prudence always behaves with a maidenly demeanor.
4. The secretary tiptoed softly into the office.
5. Jimmy received a weekly allowance of 200 ringgits.
6. The dear old gentleman has a heavenly disposition.
7. My uncle spoke quietly to his young grandson.
8. What a timely suggestion!
9. What an unmannerly behavior!
10. What he did was a cowardly act.
11. We use less costly materials in our products.
12. I want to make my hair a little bit curly.
13. He was arrested for his disorderly conduct.
14. The seemingly normal couple actually had many hidden secrets.

15. I would like to have a leisurely dinner tonight without any financial worries.

34
II. Minor classes / Uninflected words
Tallerman (2011) stated that minor classes or uninflected words (UW) in the English language
include:
Type of UW Syntactic distribution
1. Pronouns (Pron): - Pronouns can have the
- Pronouns are used as a substitution for a noun. following functions:
- Some types of pronouns are: + Subject  Subject
pronouns (I, We, You, He, She, It, They)  Object
+ Object pronouns (me, us, you, him, her, it,  Complement
 Object of the preposition
them)
 Apposition
+ Possessive pronouns (mine, ours, yours, his,
E.g. a. It is great to work here.
hers, its, theirs)
b. The security spotted us.
+ Reflexive pronouns (myself, ourselves,
c. The guys, those who cooked
yourself, etc.)
the books, have gone.
+ Relative pronouns (which, whose, whomever,
d. Please tell whoever you meet
etc.)
in the office.
+ Demonstrative pronouns (such, neither, none,
etc.)
+ Interrogative pronouns (what, which, who,
whom, and whose)
2. Prepositions (Prep): relates a noun phrase to - Prepositions stand in front of a
another unit to describe their relationship of time, noun or a noun phrase.
place or logic. E.g. in front of the house, from
my viewpoint
- Prepositions can be modified
by “right”.
E.g. The shop closes right before
the New Year Eve.
3. Auxiliaries (Aux): includes - Auxiliaries stand between a
- Modals: will, can, may, must, should, could, noun and a verb.
might, etc. E.g. They may accept our
- Non-modals: be, have, do. proposal after the meeting.
- occur at the beginning of a
35
 question
E.g. Have you been to Beijing?
- can be followed by “not”
E.g. There may not be many
boutiques in this area.
4. Determiners (Det): - Determiners can stand in front
- Determiners are used to modify a noun. of a noun or a noun phrase.
- Determiners indicate reference to something E.g.
specific or something of a particular type. a. A potential customer
- Determiners consist of: b. Those clerks are trying to
+ articles (a, an, the) walk across the street.
+ Demonstratives (this, that, those, these) c. My car did not start this
+ Possessives morning.
(my, his, your, etc.) d. Some candidates are late for
+ Quantifiers (some, any, many, a few, etc.) our interview because of the
accident on that highway.
5. Conjunctions (Con): - Conjunctions can stand
- Conjunctions are used to join two words, between two categories of the
phrases, or sentences together. same types.
- There are three types of conjunctions: E.g. a. I love my job, and the
+ Coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, so, salary is good.
but, or, yet) b. Although he has taken the
+ Correlative conjunctions (either... or, both...and, test several times, he cannot be
etc.) successful
+ Subordinating conjunctions
(after, although, because, if, etc.)

36
Task 4.6. Work in groups, discuss and classify the uninflected words in the following sentences.
E.g. My sister likes Jim a lot.
Det, N, V, N, Det
1. Some wealthy investors like collecting antiques.
………………………………………………………………………….
2. The bank might allow a customer a limit of €250 per month.
…………………………………………………………………………
3. Our international bank offers an excellent range of services.
…………………………………………………………………………
4. Companies finance their activities by internally generated cash flows.
…………………………………………………………………………
5. Bondholders receive interest payments at regular intervals.
…………………………………………………………………………
6. The team leader gave me an encouraging smile.
…………………………………………………………………………
7. The new employee was too frightened to react.
…………………………………………………………………………
8. Good qualifications are important to apply for this job.
…………………………………………………………………………
9. There is a big crowd in front of our headquarters.
…………………………………………………………………………
10. Health insurance is one of the benefits for working in a company.
…………………………………………………………………………
11. After two years playing as an amateur, he decided to become a professional pianist.
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
12. Yesterday morning, two people were injured in a traffic accident.
…………………………………………………………………………
13. Paul, our new Financial Manager, is very good at dealing with financial aspects.
…………………………………………………………………………
14. Amazon.com is the largest online retailer in the world.
…………………………………………………………………………

37
 Task 4.7. Work in groups, discuss and decide if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.
1. Verbs can stand alone in a sentence.
2. A preposition is always followed by a noun or a noun phrase.
3. The word "and" is a coordinating conjunction.
4. A noun can only function as a subject or an object.
5. There are four major word classes based on the form.
6. An adjective cannot occur with a possessive alone.
7. Adverbs always end with the morpheme “-ly”.
8. An adverb can work as a modifier to the whole sentence.
Task 4.8. Choose the correct option A, B, C, or D
1. What is the function of “the” in syntax?
A. Conjunction B. Determiner
C. Auxiliary D. Degree words
2. Which one is an example of determiner?
A. half B. yellow
C. a D. only
3. Which is NOT a sentence element based on the grammatical form?
A. Pronoun B. Article
C. Adverb D. Clause
4. In “They voted him the chairman every year”, what is the word class of the underlined string
based on the form?
A. An adverb B. An article
C. A noun D. A preposition
5. What word class do “dynamic, finite, full, and transitive” belong to?
A. Adjective B. Verb
C. Adverb D. Determiner

III. Fundamental constituents of a sentence

Davies and Elder (2004) stated that constituents in English sentences include Subject, Verb,
Object, Adverbial, Adjunct, and Compliment.
1. Subject
The subject is one of the two main important parts in a sentence. It normally stands at the
beginning of the sentence and its function is commonly fulfilled by noun phrases. In some cases,
38
 the subject can be a verb phrase or a prepositional phrase. In term of agreement, the head noun in a
noun phrase needs to be in agreement with the verb in number.
Consider the following sentences.
E.g. a. The child is running around her mother. (NP)
b. To write a good essay is not easy at all. (VP)
c. For Jones to steal my money is a shame. (PP)
Task 4.9. Work in groups and underline the subjects in the following sentences.
1. 17 advanced research centers have been established around the world this year.
2. Candidates for the position of office manager must be prepared with the task of supervising
twenty assistants.
3. Whomever she chose and whichever method she selected were rejected.
4. To balance physical and mental health is so challenging for young people like me.
5. Alternative methods for these issues have not been found yet.
6. In the middle of the room is a black wooden table.
7. So terrible was his comment that everybody became furious.
8. All the files deleted from the PC have just been recovered.

2. Predicate
A predicate is one of the two main parts of English sentences, including the main verb/
main verb phrases and other constituents such as objects, complements, or adverbials (including
adjuncts).
IV. Verb
The verb in a predicate is always exclusively filled by a verb phrase. It means that no other
category of phrases can operate in this function.
E.g.: Dinner over, they watched TV.
V. Object
The object in a predicate can be performed by either a noun phrase or a prepositional phrase.
E.g. John is expecting his interviewing results. (NP)
John is waiting for his interviewing results. (PP)
Ben blamed the poor experimental result on the adverse weather conditions. (PP)
In some sentences, the verb requires two objects, namely direct and indirect objects. The
indirect object refers to the person who is the recipient or who benefits from the action.
E.g. George gave his wife a surprise present on her birthday. => “his wife” is an indirect object
39
 and recipient, and “a surprise present” is a direct object.
VI. Adverbials
Adverbials in the predicate are adverb phrases or adverbial clauses that provide more
information to the whole meaning of the sentence.
E.g.: I have nearly forgotten who you are.
Adverbials and adjuncts can be functioned by adverb phrases, prepositional phrases, or noun
phrases.
VII. Complements
A complement is a word or a phrase that is essentially required to complete the meaning of a
sentence or a clause.
According to Richards, Platt and Weber (1985), the English complements include:
a. Subject complement: is connected to the subject by a linking verb to modify that subject.
E.g. He remains silent.
b. Object complement: is connected to an object to modify or offer more information about
that.
E.g. What she said made me extremely sad. (AP)
That beautiful dress can make you look slimmer. (VP)
We elected Barry our new class monitor. (NP)
c. Prepositional complement: is connected to a preposition to complete the meaning of the
prepositional phrase.
E.g.: The microeconomics books are on the table. (NP)
We will conduct the research on how the Covid-19 pandemic impacts the socio-economic
situation in Vietnam.(noun clause)
They have been discussing investing in the stock exchange. (VP)
Task 4.10. Identify the constiutents in the following sentences.
1. Long grew up in Hanoi and became a famous Vlogger last year.
………………………………………………………………………….
2. When we were young, I once considered Phuc my best friend.
………………………………………………………………………….
3. I feel really difficult to make ends meet during the crisis.
………………………………………………………………………….
4. A gold ring on the Valentine’s Day made my girlfriend very happy.
………………………………………………………………………….
40
5. Though she tried to hire a famous lawyer, she couldn’t succeed and the judge ruled her out of
order.
………………………………………………………………………….

41
 CHAPTER 5: PHRASES
I. Definition
A phrase is a series of words coming together with a particular meaning and can function as a
component of larger linguistic units such as clauses and sentences (Brinton, 2000).
E.g. already-taxed profits
a pack of wolf
a promotion program for regular customers.

II. Adjective phrases

1. Structure of adjective phrase
A typical Adjective phrase (AP) has as its head an adjective.
a. The Head adjective (head A) may be pre-modified: rather dubious, somewhat noisy, quite
acceptable, too modest, …
An adjective is the minimal form of an AP.
The head adjective may be pre-modified by:
b. Degree adverbs/intensifying adverbs (DEG, trạng từ chỉ mức độ): very, highly, extremely,
terribly, awfully, completely, much, quite, so, too, rather, somewhat, hardly, fairly,
moderately, partially, slightly, increasingly, incredibly, etc.
c. General adverbs/ non-intensifying adverbs (trạng từ thường): frankly, potentially,
immediately, oddly, disgustingly, amazingly, suspiciously, awkwardly, beautifully, etc.
AP AP

DEG head A Adv headA

very enthusiastic beautifully cool

d. Post-modification in adjective phrases

Many adjectives do not allow any kind of post-modification: big, blue, sudden, tall, astute,
etc. For most English adjectives, post-modification is optional; for a few, however, it is obligatory.
E.g.: He was aware of a creaking noise.
There are three kinds of post-modifier or complement:
- a prepositional phrase: He is very anxious about Jim’s health.
- an infinitive phrase: He is very anxious to please everybody.
42
 - a that-clause: He is very anxious that no one should excuse him of laziness.
Not all adjectives allow all the three above-mentioned kinds of complement. Some allow
only one or two of them. Interesting, for example, may take only an infinitive phrase: This book is
very interesting to read; safe allows either a prepositional phrase or an infinitive clause (but not a
“that-“clause): This toy is safe for children, this tree is not safe to climb up.
Task 5.1. Identify the adjective phrase in each sentence.
1. Another employee smarter than me needs to figure this out.
………………………………………………………………………….
2. Students are upset about the rising cost of tuition.
………………………………………………………………………….
3. The big chip trapped under the blanket belongs to me.
………………………………………………………………………….
4. It was difficult to guess what she wants for her birthday.
………………………………………………………………………….
5. People with a strong immune system are likely to recover quickly.
………………………………………………………………………….
6. It’s important that we look at the problem in more detail.
………………………………………………………………………….
7. Some people weren’t willing to pay extra to book a seat on the plane.
………………………………………………………………………….
8. She was wearing a dress similar to the one that she wore when she first met her husband.
………………………………………………………………………….
9. Have you ever seen a man shorter than 120 centimeters?
………………………………………………………………………….
10. Bob was wearing a very long shirt made of nylon.
………………………………………………………………………….
11. It was very interesting to meet such a beautiful girl like you.
………………………………………………………………………….
12. Last year they visited many Tibetan villages without any inhabitants.
………………………………………………………………………….
13. It’s dangerous to go near that building site.
………………………………………………………………………….
15. The children are excited about the next trip to Kuala Lumpur.

43
 ………………………………………………………………………….
2. Functions of adjective phrases
Adjective phrases have two functions: attributive function and predicative function.
a. Attributive function
The attributive function is when adjectives or adjective phrases are found in the pre-
modification of a noun phrase. E.g.: an interesting story, a somewhat anxious mother
b. Predicative function
The predicative function of an adjective phrase is its occurrence after a ‘copula’ such as be,
seem, sound, feel, appear, turn, become, get, remain, stay, maintain, …
E.g.: Naomi is anxious about Jim’s health.
Jim seems concerned that Naomi will worry too much.
III. Noun phrases
A noun phrase is a word or group of words in a sentence that acts like a noun. A noun
phrase (NP) consists of a nominal Head (a noun or a pronoun) with or without the modifiers.
NP1
NP2 AP

DET N’1 Relative Clause

AP1 N’2

ART A AP2 N’3

ModN headN

the blue cotton shirt that I borrowed from my brother

2. Functions
Noun phrases can function in several different ways in a sentence.
1. A subject: The yellow house is for sale.
2. A direct object: Should we buy the yellow house?
3. An object of a preposition: Beth is working on that business project.
4. An indirect object: Lisa gave the little boy a candy.
5. A complement: Peter is the new leader of our department.
44
6. An adverb: This year, we have opened three more branches.
Task 5.2. Underline the noun phrase(s) in each sentence.
1. One of the requirements of being a marketing employee is to handle difficult customers.
2. Many U.S. companies created a large number of project plans in China and South Africa.
3. The company is planning to recruit more employees because of the increasing workload.
4. We aim to be the leading marketing company of computing technologies through excellent
services.
5. The company is having difficulty in hiring enough qualified staff that are able to handle high-
tech machines.
6. It has always been the policy of our firm to encourage workers to take part in social activities.
7. Despite the poor salary, many people prefer a job with the government for job security.
8. The chairman told the new clerk about the project to test his loyalty.
Task 4.3. Work in groups, identify the type of the pre-modifiers and underline the post-
modifiers of the following noun phrases.
1. an old customer with a luxurious handbag
………………………………………………………………………….
2. the east gate of the main office
………………………………………………………………………….
3. those original paintings by Picasso
………………………………………………………………………….
4. both of my recent successes
………………………………………………………………………….
5. the percentage of people in full time work
………………………………………………………………………….
6. a long business trip on the Caribbean island of Trinidad or Jamaica
………………………………………………………………………….
7. your very much deserved success in your career
………………………………………………………………………….
8. the weather in Saigon on any given day in winter
………………………………………………………………………….

45
IV. Adverb phrases
1. Structure
A typical Adverb phrase (AdvP) has as its head an adverb.
An Adverb (Adv) is the minimal form of an AdvP.
An adverb maybe pre-modified by another adverb of degree very quickly, quite
wonderfully, somewhat fleetingly, extremely faithfully) or general adverb (amazingly well,
understandably badly, incredibly gracefully). This kind of modifying adverbs are either directly
(amazingly) or indirectly (horribly) an expression of personal evaluation.

AdvP AP

DEG head A Adv headA

very enthusiastically understandably badly

2. Post-modifiers in Adverb phrases
Some words can be used as the post-modifiers in adverbial phrases although they are limited.
E.g. a. The day passed quickly enough. (Adverb)
b. This works really well for its size. (PP)
c. Luckily for us, the cost was not so high. (PP)

3. Basic types of adverb phrases

1. Adverb phrases of frequency
E.g. We pay by cheque quite occasionally.
2. Adverb phrases of manner:
E.g. Mr. Smith solves the problem rather easily.
Mr. Johnson walks quite slowly enough for us to follow.
3. Adverb phrases of result or consequence
E.g. Jim worked so hard to the successful completion of the task.
Task 5.4. Underline the adverb phrases and identify their types.

1. It spreads so fast that all the employees know about the pay rise before midday.
2. Some strategies can be achieved more easily than others.
3. The manager handled the situation quite easily.
4. The project progressed too slowly too slowly to be useful.

46
 5. Fiona is working really hard to get some cash.
6. Everyone is expected to participate actively in these discussions.
7. Quite frankly, I don’t agree with what you are saying.
8. She smiled more beautifully than any people I know.

V. Verb phrases
1. Structure
The verb phrase in English consists of a Vgrp and all the words and word groups which
belong with the Vgrp and cluster around it (Vị ngữ). The Vgrp itself is called the head, and the
other words and word groups are the modifiers and/or the complements of the head.
S

NP VP1

Proper N VP2 Adverb phrase

[optional Adjunct of Location]
Vgrp NP
[transitive] [direct object] PP

Phil had lost his leather wallet beside a stream.

2. Types of verb phrases
a. Participial Phrases
Participial Phrases are present participles or past participles and any modifiers, objects, or
complements. Participial phrases contain verbs which act as adjectives in a sentence.
Examples: Singing very softly, the boy lulled his baby brother to sleep. (the participial phrase
works as an adjective, modifying "boy")
The girls, frightened by the police car's headlights, quickly came down from the
school's roof. (the participial phrase works as an adjective, modifying "girls")
b. Gerund Phrases
Gerund Phrases contain verbs ending in -ing and any modifiers, objects, or complements.
Gerund phrases act as nouns in a sentence. They can act as the subject or object of a verb, as a
predicate nominative, and as the object of a preposition.
Examples: Waiting for his grades drove him crazy. (the gerund phrase works as the subject of the
verb "drove")
47
 The woman denied knowing her own husband. (the gerund phrase works as the object of
the verb "denied")
Making many acquaintances is cultivating future friendships. (the gerund phrases work
as the subject and as the predicate nominative)
c. Infinitive Phrases
Infinitive Phrases contain verbals consisting of "to" followed by a verb and any modifiers,
objects, or complements. Infinitive phrases usually act as nouns, but they can also act as adjectives
and adverbs.
Examples: To live in Boston eventually is his main goal in life. (the infinitive phrase works as the
subject of the sentence)
Quentin Tarentino loves to babble during interviews. (the infinitive phrase works as
the object of the verb "loves")

Task 5.5. Work in groups and underline the verb phrase(s) in each sentence.
1. With internet banking, customers can transfer money among their bank accounts.
2. To set up a new company requires a lot of money.
3. Before starting a business, you have to raise enough capital.
4. Obsessed by that horror film, the young girl could not go to sleep.
5. Thinking too much might not be a good idea.

VI. Prepositional phrases

Definition
A prepositional phrase in English consists of a main preposition which occurs at the beginning
of the phrase and all the words following it (post-modifiers).
Structure of prepositional phrases
The structure of a prepositional phrase is:
Preposition + Post-modifiers

Post-modifiers in prepositional phrases

The post-modifiers in prepositional phrases can be:
- Noun phrases: He put the hat on the bed.
They are dissussing what to do.
They delivered the parcel to me.

48
 - Verb phrases (present participle): We are thinking about going out for a drink.

In a clause or a sentence, prepositional phrases can have the following functions:

- Subject (S): For Jones to steal my money is unbelievable.
- Direct object (DO): They consider under the bed an unsafe place for the savings.
- Indirect object: You should give under the floor a thorough check.
- Subject complement (SC): My favourite time of a day is after midnight.
- Object complement (OC): They chose the best place of Vietnam along the Nha Trang coast.
- The complement of preposition (CP): My mother is always nosing around in my bedroom
while I go out.
When prepositional phrases are used as adverbials, they can be grouped into some subsets:
- Adverbials of frequency
E.g. We pay by cheque from time to time.
- Adverbials of place
E.g. The manager parked the car under the bridge.
- Adverbials of time
E.g. We close the shop at 6 p.m.
- Adverbials of manner:
E.g. Mr. Smith solves the problem with a relaxed manner.
Mr. Johnson walks at an easy pace.
- Adverbials of reason
E.g. I failed in the examination due to my carelessness.
- Adverbials of purpose
E.g. We agree to exchange it for a huge profit.
- Adverbials of condition
E.g. Unless proved otherwise, his guilt is conclusively established.
- Adverbials of result or consequence
E.g. Jim worked hard to the successful completion of the task.
- Adverbials of concession
E.g. In spite of his efforts, Ben could not submit his project on time.

Task 5.6. Work in groups, label the category of each underlined phrase and identify its
function.

49
E.g.: He gave the dog a hesitant. => NP, IO
1. Your report gave all of us a glimpse of the truth.
……………………………………………………………………
2. John tried to please the teacher for good marks.
……………………………………………………………………
3. Kids’ footwares might be a quickly expanding market.
……………………………………………………………………
4. I have been teaching English to undergraduates since 2018.
……………………………………………………………………
5. To be honest, it was similar to e-mail today.
……………………………………………………………………
6. His colleagues all thought him quite stubborn.
……………………………………………………………………
7. Working in different jobs taught me how to be multitasking.
……………………………………………………………………
8. I chose him as a subject of my test.
……………………………………………………………………
9. All of the rest of the good-paying jobs are gone.
……………………………………………………………………
10. The legacy built by the baby boomers is in danger.
……………………………………………………………………
11. Looking at his eyes makes me know that he is reluctant to hear what I am saying.
…………………………………………………………………….
12. We were forced to close our accounts because of financial pressures.
…………………………………………………………………….
13. Equipped with the latest technology can increase productivity.
…………………………………………………………………….
14. Under the bed is so dirty that I cannot stand.
…………………………………………………………………….
Task 5.7. decide if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.
1. An adjective phrase can function as a direct object in the sentence.
2. Noun phrases can only take the role of a subject or an object.
3. A phrase can be embedded within another phrase.
50
4. No noun phrases can be used as an adverb in a sentence.
5. Some adverb phrases can function as the subject in a sentence.
6. An adverb phrase can interrupt the verb phrase.
7. No verb phrase can act as an adverb in a sentence.
8. The subject of a sentence can be a verb phrase.
9. A prepositional phrase can be the subject of a sentence.
Task 5.8. Choose the correct option.
1. In which phrase is “enough” a post-modifier?
A. enough time B. kind enough C. not enough D. quite enough
2. What is the function of the underlined adjective phrase in the sentence “Finally, we could reach
a satisfactory conclusion”?
A. DEG B. GA C. attributive D. predicative
3. What kind of pre-modifier does the adverb “somewhat” play in an adjective phrase?
A. DEG B. GA C. attributive D. predicative
4. How many kinds of post-modifiers are there in adjective phrases?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4
5. Which one is an example of restrictor in a noun phrase?
A. merely B. extremely C. almost D. annoying
6. Which one is NOT a function of a noun phrase?
A. A subject B. An object C. An adverb D. A verb
7. What type of adverb phrase of the underlined parts in “He finished his homework at ease”?
A. adverbial of time B. adverbial of manner
C. adverbial of place D. adverbial of result
8. What type of adverb phrase of the underlined parts in “Linda admitted that she came here for
fun”?
A. adverbial of concession B. adverbial of reason
C. adverbial of manner D. adverbial of condition
9. Which one CAN’T an infinitive verb phrase function in a sentence?
A. subject B. object C. adverb D. adjective
10. Which one CAN’T a prepositional phrase function?
A. nominal B. adverbial C. verbal D. adjectival

51