This paper focuses on English and Vietnamese negative questions in term of structures and word using.

Our group wishes only to concentrate on four types of negative questions: negative Yes/ No question, negative Tag- question, negative Wh- question, negative alternative question. The thesis is divided into three parts. Definition about the negation in English. Make a comparison with respect to Vietnamese. What are your difficulties in learning these points and what can be the solutions?

I. Negation in English 1.Definition of negation:According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, published in 1994, negation is the act of stating that something does not exist or is untrue. 2. What is negative questions ? Negative questions differ in meaning from normal questions only in that the speaker expresses an implied assumption or hope for which he is requesting affirmation or denial. E.g.: You (do) swim, don't you? 3.Negative forms and non-assertive forms in English 3.1 Negative forms: In English, besides inserting not, there are other words which have a negative meaning such as no+phrase; pronoun: no one, nobody, nothing E.g.: Theres no money in my pocket (There is not any money in my pocket) We also use none and neither (of) to replace for pronouns and determiners: 3.2 Words with negative meaning: In English, some verbs have negative meaning and make up negative sentences without using negative words, which is used to distinguish other verbs having negative meaning by adding negative prefixes, e.g.: dis, in, un, etc Eg1: I have failed to sign a long-term contract. (We havent signed a long term contract) 3.3 Non assertive forms Non-assertive forms are items having no negative meaning but mostly used in negative, not in affirmative. E.g.: We have some lunch a. We have not any lunch b. We have no lunch 4.Negative orientation Negative orientation is found in questions which contain a negative form of one kind or another: E.g.: Cant you give us any hope of success? (It is really true that you cant?) 5. English negative questions Negative questions are used in many different situations. One of the most common is when you think the other person will answer in agreement with you. 5.1 Negative Yes/No questions According to Alexander (1992; 255), negative Yes/No question can appear in a post subject position in its full form not , or in pre-subject position in its clinic-contracted form nt. Uncontracted form Contracted form Did John not eat? Didnt John not eat? 1

5.2 Negative Tag- questions The tag question consists of operator plus pronoun, with or without a negative particle, the choice and tense of the operator are determined by the verb phrase in the subordinate clause: E.g1: The football was exciting, wasnt it? Type I Positive +Negative (Rising tone) E.g.: You can dance, `Cant you? Type II Negative + Positive (Rising tone) E.g.: You cant dance, `Can you? Type III Positive +Negative (Falling tone) E.g.: You can `Dance, cant you? Type IV Negative + Positive (Falling tone) E.g.: You cant `Dance, can you? 5.3 Negative Wh- questions Negative Wh-questions can be formed by putting Wh-element before a negative operator not followed by a subject. Or like negative Yes/No questions negator not can be put in a post-subject position in its full form or pre-subject position in its short form. E.g1: What do you not like to eat? E.g2: What dont you like to eat? 5.4 Negative alternative questions An alternative question is a question that presents two or more possible answers and presupposes that only one is true. E.g.1: Are you coming or arent you coming? II. A contrastive analysis of negative questions in English and Vietnamese equivalents 2.1 Introduction What distinguishes a negative clause from a positive clause is the presence or absence of a negative marker. Negative can be defined as a state in which a negative marker is present, whereas positive can be said to be a state of having no negative marker. 2.2 Structures 2.2.1 Negative structure in Yes/No questions Questions in Vietnamese are usually formed by adding the negators: khng, cha, chng or ch which are normally place after the subject and before the predicate in combination with / / sao/ h/ h/ ch/ g/ hay sao/ch/ ch g/ c sao/ c / phi khng/ y ch which occur in final position. Sometimes chng phi/ khng phi/ ch phi/phi chng/ chng phi l / khng phi l / ch phi l in presubject position is used in combination with / sao/ hay sao/ l g/ sao in final position. Chng l (no)/(c) l no/ c ng l in presubject position can be used in combination with negator khng/ chng/ cha/ ch before the predicate. Bn chng n l g E.g.1: Didnt you come there? Table 1: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative Yes/ No question English structure Vietnamese equivalents S + khng/ cha/ chng/ ch + Auxiliary + S + not + . ? (uncontracted form) ..+ / / sao/ h/ h/ ch/ g/ hay 2

Auxiliary + nt + S + C ...? (contractd form)

sao/ch/ ch g/ c sao/ c / phi khng/ y ch ?

2.2.2 Negative structures in Tag- questions Negative tag questions are formed by an affirmative statement which is often followed by a negative tag question, in order to ask for confirmation of the affirmative statement.. Contractions are usually used in negative tag questions. In Vietnamese, tag questions are used to confirm speakers belief, sometimes, the fixed expression can be substituted by (c) ng khng, (c) phi khng, khng phi, khng ng combining with particles like / c / h/ nh/ y h/ y nh/ ch/ / vy sao. E.g.1: She is very beautiful, isn't she? C y p, phi khng? Table 2: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative Tag- question. English structure Vietnamese equivalents Positive statement, negative tag? Positive statement, +(c) ng khng/ (c) phi khng + / c / h/ nh/ y h/ y nh/ ch/ .? Doubt or Positive statement, negative tag? Positive statement, + chng / sao? emotive value 2.2.3 Negative structures in Wh- questions In Vietnamese, this type of questions is formed with interrogative pronouns such as: ai (who/ whom), ca ai (whose), g (what), ci no (which), khi no (when), u, u (where), nh th no, bng cch no (how), v sao, ti sao, th no (why), bao nhiu (how much, how many), bao lu (how long) E.g.1: What cant you forget? iu g m cu khng th qun? E.g.1: Why didnt you go to work? V sao cu khng i lm? Ti sao cu khng i lm? Bi v sao cu khng i lm? E.g.2: Why havent you finished the Sao m cu vn cha hon thnh bn bo co? report yet?

Table 3: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative Wh- question (who/ whom): ai, (whose): ca ai, (what): g, (which): ci no (when): khi no, (where): u, u, (how): nh th no, bng cch no, (why): v sao, ti sao, th no, (how much, how many): bao nhiu, (how long): bao lu ... Vietnamese modal particles : / c / h/ nh/ y h/ y nh/ ch/ English structure and example Vietnamese equivalents Q-word + auxiliary+not+ S +V + O? Q-word + S + khng /chng/ ch +V+ O+ (particle)? Q-word + auxiliary+ S + not+V + O? S + khng /chng/ ch +V+ O+ Q-word +(particle)? 2.2.4 Negative structures in alternative quest 3

And there are also these kinds of questions in Vietnamese. Instead of using or, the Vietnamese use conjunctions like: hay, hay l, hoc. John khng ung tr hay c ph? E.g: Did John not drink coffee or tea? (Didnt John drink coffee or tea?) The second type of alternative question is wh- alternative questions, in this type of questions the part of the whole clause is focused too. E.g: Which car wouldnt you like, the black Cu khng thch chic xe no, chic mu one or the white one? trng hay chic mu en? Chic xe no cu khng thch, chic mu trng hay chic mu en? Table 4: Structures of English and Vietnamese negative alternative question English structure Vietnamese equivalents Negative Yes/ No question, a OR b? Negative wh- question, a OR b? S + khng /chng/ ch + +a hay/ hay l/ hoc b? Q-word + S + khng /chng/ ch +V+ a+ hay/ hay l/ hoc b? S + khng /chng/ ch +.+ Q-word, a+ hay/ hay l/ hoc b?

III. Difficulty in learning these points and some the solutions Learning a foreign language is very difficult because of its complication. Each country has their own cultures so the way they speak is different from people in foreign countries. To use a foreign language well while communicating with foreigners is not an easy work because learners tend to make questions as in their native language that leads to a lot of mistakes.More importantly, teachers can apply the most suitable method to help them achieve their own targets. 3.1 Difficulty in learning these points The smaller number of students often use negative question, because in Vietnamese the negative questions are not popular as other types of questions, and as discussed above Vietnamese people tend to transfer their forms and meanings of their native language to English. Especially, students can not do the fourth type of negative question. Forming negative questions by using subject operator inversion may probably be hard work since the word-order for questions in Vietnamese is almost the same as that for statements. For example: What he doesnt like? instead of What doesnt he like? or Why you didnt come to work last week? instead of Why didnt you come to work last week? The biggest mistake for learners of English is subject- verb concord: For example: She like coffee, dont she? instead of She likes coffee, doesnt she?

However, there exist some mistakes for students who have not understood about English and Vietnamese negative questions thoroughly. Some solutions Generally, during the process of learning English, Vietnamese learners may face with some problems and difficulties when dealing with English negative questions.. By realizing the mistakes, we will know what we still need to improve. Language teacher should not be disappointed when their students make mistakes. On the other hand, we should try to find reasons for these problems. Teachers should pay particular attention to structural, usage similarities and differences. We should make learners aware of the contrastive analysis between the two languages so that they can avoid and correct their mistakes. In the hope of assisting Vietnamese students to overcome the above mentioned mistakes and avoid making mistakes, some types of exercises are suggested below. Exercise 1: Following the model of the examples, rewrite the following affirmative statements as questions, negative statements, negative questions without contractions, negative questions with contractions, and affirmative statements followed by negative tag questions. For example: I have read this book. Have I read this book? 1. They have eaten the cookies. 2. She has told the truth. 3. He has run fast. 4. We have watered the plants. 5. You have hurried. Reference Dip Quang Ban (2002), Ng php Ting Vit (tp 2), NXB Gio dc. Dip Quang Ban (2004), Ng php Vit Nam- phn cu, NXB i hc S phm H ni. Nguyn Ti Cn (1999), Ng php Ting Vit, NXB HQG H ni Quirk, R.; Greenbaum, S et al.. (1972), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language Longman Quirk, R (1972), A Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman Quirk, R.; Greenbaum, S (1973), A University grammar of English, Longman