The comparison of Vietnamese and English syntax Essay

In the first position is totality, e.g. ton b, tt c, tt thy, ht thy, c
Ton b nhng quyn sch m th vin cho hc sinh mn
Tt c s giy v dp kia
The totality and numeral/quantifier are both used to express the quantity of the head noun, but they are in different positions in the pre-modification because they cannot exchange their positions, e.g. ton b 40 hc sinh lp em (u t hnh kim tt). We cannot say "40 ton b hc sinh lp em (u t hnh kim tt).
The emphasis word ci occurs to emphasize the head noun, e.g. ci con ch (m ti em v nui).
In the post-modification, we use category modifier, attributive modifier and demonstrative respectively.
The function of category modifier is narrowing down the category of the head noun. We can understand that "head noun + category modifier" is more detailed than the "head", e.g.
Nhn tiu nhn tiu da b nhn tiu da b Vnh Long
This function is performed by a noun or noun phrase, verb, adjective e.g.vi la, c chin, vit , but it is hard to identify which word class the category modifier belongs to in some cases, e.g c heo, c thu
Attributive modifier occurs after the category modifier to add qualities to the head noun, e.g. con c thu n, cc quyn sch ton mi tinh y This kind of modifier only modifies countable nouns in Vietnamese noun phrases, e.g. con g mp , cm bn tay xinh xn. In these examples, "con g" and " bn tay" are countable nouns, but it is grammatically incorrect to say "g mp " and "cm tay xinh xn". A prepositional phrase and relative clause can also serve as an attributive modifier, e.g. ngi nh cui con ng, cun truyn m ti mua hm qua
The last component of the Vietnamese noun phrase is demonstrative which is ny, n, kia, y to identify the noun that is being referred to.
Similarities between Vietnamese and English noun phrase.
Most of Vietnamese and English language learners can easily find out that the head of both 2 kinds of noun phrases is a noun and is accompanied by modifiers. The head noun is obligatory for the existence of an noun phrase, e.g. that new house, first three hours, my con ch kia, ba gi u
Besides the similarity in the head noun, Vietnamese and English noun phrase also consist of the same functional structure pre-modification + head noun + post-modification. Pre-modification precedes the head noun while post-modification follows the head noun, e.g. a Greek clay flower vase, books on the shelf, c r ng, giy trng ng, tri chanh hm qua ti mua
Numerals and quantifiers occur as pre-modifiers in Vietnamese and English noun phrases, e.g. all my friends, several thousand people, bn cy vit, ton b s tin