HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N0.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY ====== NGUYEN THI HA GIANG INVERSION IN ENGLISH IN COMPARISON WITH THAT IN VIETNAMESE AND SOME SUGGESTED PRACTICE EXERCISES FOR LEARNERS OF ENGLISH (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN VAN DEN, M.A Hanoi, May 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a fact that this thesis cannot be accomplished without the assistance from many people First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Nguyen Van Den, M.A for his enthusiastic guidance and encouragement Without his experienced assistance and valuable comments on the content as well as the organization of the study, it would still be far from finished Especially, I would like to show my sincere thanks to Mr Silverman for his considerate and careful support He helped me to check the spelling, English grammar and the English word usage Also, I really want to send my particular thanks to all the lectures of Foreign Language Faculty and my friends for their great help and comments on my study Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for helping and encouraging me during my research i ABSTRACT Inversion is one of the most difficult parts of English grammar as well as Vietnamese one There are many types of English and Vietnamese inversions However, the characteristics and the structures of inversion have been not fully described to learners Students are sometimes confused with the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese ones and often make errors Therefore, the study aims at pointing out some various types of English and Vietnamese inversions The most significant objective of the study is to find out the similarities and differences between the two languages From that, the study will suggest some solutions for teaching and learning English inversion Moreover, some good exercises are suggested to help EFL learners practice more at home and have deep understanding about inversion The study has three main parts The first part consists of the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods, the tasks and the design of the research work The second part includes two chapters: the theoretical background relating to the overview of English and Vietnamese inversions; the methodology of the research; explain the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversions According to the material analysis, the predictions on some students’ errors are indicated and the appropriate solutions will be proposed The third part summarizes what has been done in the study and gives suggestions for further research ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: INVERSION IN ENGLISH IN COMPARISON WITH THAT IN VIETNAMESE AND SOME SUGGESTED PRACTICE EXERCISES FOR LEARNERS OF ENGLISH I certify that all the materials in this study which are not my own work have been identified and acknowledged and the study is originally written by me under the guidance of my supervisor Date submitted: May 2016 Student Supervisor Nguyen Thi Ha Giang Nguyen Van Den, M A iii ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language ed.: Edition CA: Contrastive analysis p.: Page number S: Subject O: Object C: Complement V: Verb OE: Old English L2: Second language iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .iii ABBREVIATIONS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE II RESEARCH PRESUPPOSTION III RESEARCH OBJECTIVES IV RESEARCH SCOPE V RESEARCH METHOD VI RESEARCH TASKS VII SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH VIII DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF II AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE INVERSION II.1 Word order II.2 Definition of inversion 10 II.3 Function of inversion 11 II.3.1 In written text 11 II.3.2 In speaking context 11 v III INVERSION IN ENGLISH 12 III.1 Subject- Verb inversion 12 III.1.1 Inversion after adverbial expressions of place/time 12 III.1.2 Inversion in reporting sentences 13 III.1.3 Inversion after a predicate noun 13 III.1.4 Inversion after a predicate adjective 13 III.1.5 Inversion in formulae 14 III.1.6 Journalistic style inversion 14 III.2 Subject- Auxiliary verb inversion 14 III.2.1 Inversion in questions 14 III.2.1.1 Inversion in yes-no questions 14 III.2.1.2 Inversion in tag questions 14 III.2.1.3 Inversion in WH-questions 15 III.2.2 Inversion in exclamations 16 III.2.3 Inversion in conditional sentences 16 III.2.4 Inversion after negative and restrictive adverbials 17 III.2.5 Inversion in comparative than, as clauses 18 III.2.6 Inversion after so, such, neither, nor 18 IV INVERSION IN VIETNAMESE 19 IV.1 Inversion of predicate and subject 19 IV.1.1 Inversion of verb-predicate and subject 19 IV.1.2 Inversion of adjective-predicate and subject 19 IV.2 Other inverted elements of sentences in Vietnamese 20 IV.2.1 Object-complement 20 IV.2.2 The predicating word- complement denoting manner 20 IV.2.3 The word’s complement denoting manner 20 IV.2.4 The sentential complement denoting reason 21 IV.2.5 The sentential complement denoting purpose 21 vi IV.3.Inversion of predicating words 22 IV.3.1 Inversion with the existential meaning and onomatopoetic or pictographic words 22 IV.3.2 Inversion with the manifestation meaning and movement 22 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY AND SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE INVERSION I RATIONALE TO CHOOSE CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 24 II SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES 26 II.1 Similarities between English and Vietnamese inversion 26 II.1.1 Similarities in definition 26 II.1.2 Similarities in the structure 26 II.1.3 Similarities in the emphasized verb 27 I.1.4 Similarities in the meaning of expression 28 II.2 Differences between English and Vietnamese inversion 28 II.2.1 Difference in the structure 28 II.2.1 Differences in the inverted elements of sentence 29 III IMPLICATIONS FOR INVERSION TEACHING AND LEARNING IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 32 III.1 Some students’ errors in learning English inversion 32 III.2 Suggested solutions in teaching and learning English inversion based on similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversion 33 III.3.Some suggested exercises involving inversion for EFL students 34 PART THREE: CONCLUSION I CONCLUSION 36 II LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTHER STUDY 37 II.1 Limitations 37 vii II.2 Suggestions for further study 37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDIX 40 viii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE In a cutting-edge science and technology era, along with the globalization at present, English plays a particularly important role in international trade, business, education, entertainment activities and in almost all aspects of daily life It becomes a bridge among countries and is considered useful means of communication to further relationships and create more mutual understanding among all the peoples around the world Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech& Svartvik (1985) found “English is generally acknowledged to be the world’s most important language” Furthermore, English is used as an official language of many international companies or organizations to exchange information with members from other countries And many countries in the world also speak English as a second language such as Singapore, France In Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in high schools, colleges, universities and for every major for many years Besides, Vietnamese students gradually have the awareness of the importance of English and the necessities of learning English to meet the needs of the society However, learning English especially grammar is very difficult for Vietnamese students and for students in English majors particularly There is mounting evidence that English grammar is so complicated that students are not able to master it easily In learning English, grammar is regarded as an important and necessary part Thanks to grammar, students learn about the structures of sentences, the verb tenses and many special theories From that, students accomplish exercises more easily and become accurate than in the past It can be seen that English grammar consists of so many items that we have been learning for a long time One of these items that students feel the most difficult is English inversion English becomes more interesting and impressive with inversion although it is very complicated Inversion in English means the rearrangement of I.1.4 Similarities in the meaning of expression In both English and Vietnamese, inversion also helps to increase the nuances of meaning and the expressiveness of the literary sentences Inversion is used to give an emphasis to the action and the information which are mentioned in the sentences From that, the readers can have a thorough understanding about the emphasized contents, the nature and characteristics of matter in the sentence Both Vietnamese inversion and English inversion are used in the formal writing to make the sentences more impressive and attractive For example: English: On the mountain is a small church Vietnamese: Êm đềm dòng sông trôi Through the two above examples, the readers can see that the adjective: “êm đềm” in Vietnamese and adverb of place: “on the mountain” in English are inverted in to the beginning of the sentences It emphasized the position of the small church in the example in English In Vietnamese, inverting the adjective and adverbials as shown in the example focus the readers’ attention on how the river flows II.2 Differences between English and Vietnamese inversion II.2.1 Difference in the structure The most obvious difference is that English has subject- auxiliary verb inversion whereas Vietnamese doesn’t have this format For example: What you do? Auxiliary verb 28 Not until the office phoned me did I find out about the meeting Auxiliary verb On the contrary, there is no auxiliary verb in Vietnamese Thus subjectauxiliary verb inversion is not available in Vietnamese sentences Furthermore, English also has the inversion in conditional sentences, reporting sentences, tag questions and in formulae But Vietnamese doesn’t have these structures of inversion These are special things in English only For example:  Tag question: You are drinking a cup of coffee, aren’t you!  Reporting sentence: “What is your job?” asked Linh  Conditional sentence: Should he study hard, he would get some good marks in Math  Formulae: May your dreams come true In Vietnamese, the order of elements doesn’t change when making conditional sentences or reporting sentences The presence of inversion in some cases helps English become more special and attractive than other languages For example: In Vietnamese: Nếu có thật nhiều tiền, làm từ thiện “Mấy rồi?”, Lan hỏi II.2.1 Differences in the inverted elements of sentence In English, the elements which take part in the questions may consist of interrogative words, verbs, auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, to be and subjects and even adverbs However, in Vietnamese, the order of elements in the sentences is retained and a number of interrogative particles are inserted when creating questions 29 For example: In English: How long have you stayed in Ha Long Bay? Auxiliary verb In Vietnamese: Họ đến muộn => Có phải họ đến muộn? Interrogative particles It is necessary to put the auxiliary verb: have before the subject in Whquestions in English like the above example In English grammar, auxiliary verbs need to be used in the questions In contrast, in Vietnamese, there is a need to add some interrogative words into the sentence such as “có phải…không”, “chưa”, and so on Besides, the order of Vietnamese elements in the sentences does not change in questions In addition, both English and Vietnamese have a type of inversion called inversion of adjective- predicate and subject But in English, it is quite important to have a verb inverted before the subject of sentence For example: Very expensive Adj is your brother’s car V S In Vietnamese, the author doesn not need to put the verb into the sentence For example: Bạc phơ mái tóc người cha Adj S Ba mươi năm Đảng nở hoa tặng Người (Tố Hữu) 30 Moreover, it is clearly realized that with the case subject-verb inversion, Vietnamese verbs can stand before subjects without adverbials, but this just does not happen in English For example: In English: Next is Adv V the important part of the lesson today S In Vietnamese: Thấp thoáng non tiên lác đác V S V mưa S (Ho Xuan Huong) Especially, in English, the readers often see adverbs, some words like so, such, neither and some negative adverbials inverted into the beginning of the sentences or in front of the subjects In Vietnamese writings, only the emphasized parts are put in the initial place of sentences This creates the differences between the two languages For example: In English: Hardly had we settled down in our seats when the lights went out Adv In Vietnamese: Những học đó, nhớ quay trở lại trường Emphasized part (noun phrase) gắn bó với suốt năm tháng chiến tranh 31 Moreover, it is clearly seen that in some cases of Vietnamese inversion we only see similarities to fronting in English rather than inversion in English If Vietnamese poets or writers want to emphasize any parts of sentence, they will invert these parts into the first position of the sentence For example, in the case of the sentential complement denoting the reason, writers will invert the reason of the problem into the starting of sentence And the remainder of the sentence will preserve their position This case doesnot exist in English inversion Hence, it is another difference between English and Vietnamese inversion For example: Vietnamese: Để học tốt môn Tiếng Anh, em học sinh cần phải nắm vững Emphasized part (The sentential complement denoting the purpose) ngữ pháp vốn từ vựng sâu rộng However, this sentence in English is certainly not an example of inversion It is just an example of using words denoting purpose before the main clause III IMPLICATIONS FOR INVERSION TEACHING AND LEARNING IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE III.1 Some students’ errors in learning English inversion From the similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese inversion, it is not denied that inversion in both English and Vietnamese is complicated and difficult for EFL learners During the process of learning, there are two types of transfer: positive transfer and negative one Positive transfer often makes it easier for learners because it occurs when both languages have similarities On the other hand, negative transfer happens if there are some differences between the two languages Consequently, it often makes students get confused between English 32 and Vietnamese inversion which lead to their errors in doing exercises Some common errors can be seen below: a Students can have difficulties in creating English questions because the word order in English is quite different from Vietnamese Moreover, in Vietnamese, there is no auxiliary verb in the sentence So it is easy to see: “Where you live?” instead of “Where you live?” b In addition, some English structures of inversion make Vietnamese students confused such as inversion after so, such, inversion after some negative adverbials: not until…that, hardly…when, little, and so on This error occurs because students not remember to invert the auxiliary verb to stand before the subject c Vietnamese learners may also misunderstand the tag questions in English They can sometimes make some mistakes in creating different forms of tag questions, especially in commands for example in the structure of “I’ll , shall I?” d Vietnamese can find it difficult in translating English inversion into Vietnamese and vice versa The reason is that the order of Vietnamese sentences is different from that of English ones Also, Vietnamese sentences not contain auxiliary verbs, therefore they often have troubles when translating them into English III.2 Suggested solutions in teaching and learning English inversion based on similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversion It is believed that inversion is one of the most difficult parts of English grammar, especially for Vietnamese learners In fact, many students make errors when doing the exercises which are related to inversion Inversion requires that English teachers with an extensive understanding about inversion and provide students to have solid knowledge about inversion In addition, Vietnamese teachers need to find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese 33 inversions and explain them carefully for students Teachers should inform students to pay more attention to distinguishing them to their exercises exactly Furthermore, teachers should introduce students to definitions, structures and uses of inversion Teachers can also give learners hand-outs for some special kinds of inversion like inversion after negative adverbials, tag questions and inversion in conditional sentences After the lesson finishes, teachers can give students some primary exercises and ask them to in class to help them remember the knowledge which they have learned Besides, teachers should remind students to learn English inversion and exercises at home Correcting the students’ mistakes in class will be able to help them recognize their errors and then exercises correctly after that In learning process, students must be aware of using English grammar, especially English inversion Also, they must have a profound understanding about inversion in English and Vietnamese, specially the types and the usage Moreover, students need to remember the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversions At home, students should the exercises involving inversions like rewriting sentences, providing the correct forms of verbs, and so on This will help them improve their knowledge in English inversion When receiving hand-outs from their teachers, students should have the awareness of learning the structures of English inversion by heart to remember them and use them in doing exercises In translating, students often use Vietnamese structures to express English inversion and vice versa This will lead to the situation of translating the content incorrectly As a result, students need to notice the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversion This also helps students translate English into Vietnamese correctly, correspondently and vice versa III.3.Some suggested exercises involving inversion for EFL students There are a variety of exercises related to inversion in many textbooks, grammar books Teachers and students have many choices to select the documents 34 for them to practice and have deep understanding about inversion Here are some suggested exercises: - Exercise 1: Create questions to ask about the underlined words - Exercise 2: Supply the suitable question tags - Exercise 3: Fill in the blanks with so or neither - Exercise 4: Chose the most suitable options - Exercise 5: Rewrite the sentences below - Exercise 6: Translate from English into Vietnamese The first type of exercise is very common with students when they start learning English This exercise helps students get used to making questions in English with the attendance of auxiliary verbs The second type helps students practice more with tag questions especially the case of commands, and so on This supports students understand the structures of tag questions and minimize the errors in tag questions The third exercise can make students clearer about so and neither From that, they the exercises related to so and neither correctly The forth type is designed to check the students’ ability in understanding some types of English inversion and recognizing the structures of inversion The fifth requires students to rewrite the sentences This helps students master various types of inversion The sixth aims at supporting students to recognize the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversion 35 PART THREE: CONCLUSION I CONCLUSION English has been a compulsory subject for Vietnamese students for many years Learning English is very important for the students in our modern society English grammar in general and English inversion in particular is complex, difficult and usually makes students embarrassed with both major and non-major English So that learning English inversion and comparing English inversion with Vietnamese one are very necessary for EFL learners For the reasons above, this study is conducted to find out some similarities and differences between both languages This study is an overall review about English and Vietnamese inversion: definitions, classifications, similarities and differences between the two languages Hopefully, it can be a useful document for EFL learners The research indicates the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese inversions Similarly, there is subject-verb inversion in the two languages to emphasize the action of the verb In addition, they have many similar points in definitions; the inverted verbs and the meaning of expression On the contrary, the most obvious difference is that Vietnamese doesn’t have auxiliary verbs Therefore, there is no subject- auxiliary verb inversion in Vietnamese Furthermore, the inverted elements of sentences in English are also different from Vietnamese in some cases In general, inversion is very complicated and many students may get confused and make errors The study also predicts some errors which are often made by students From that, it points out some suggested solutions for both teachers and students to help them to have more details about inversions Especially, the research also provides some types of exercises to support EFL learners to remember the structures of English inversion as well as distinguish English and 36 Vietnamese inversion It is hopeful that the research will be useful and necessary for both teaching and learning English II LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTHER STUDY II.1 Limitations Although the research is carried out with many efforts, there are still some limitations Because of limited time and the size of the graduation paper, the research only concentrates on English inversion in comparison with Vietnamese one Also, this research needs to receive more comments from the readers to be complete and become a good document for teachers and students II.2 Suggestions for further studies The study will be better if other researchers can remove some limitations of my thesis I hope I will have a chance to more researches about the equivalents in further studies to translate some Vietnamese poems which contain some kinds of inversion into English 37 REFERENCES Alonso, J.C.P (2007) Inversion in Written and Spoken Contemporary English Retrieved from: https://dspace.usc.es/bitstream/10347/2418/1/9788498870404_content.pdf Azar, B.S (2002) Understanding and Using English Grammar (3rd ed.) New York: Longman Dorgeloh, H (1997) Inversion in Modern English- Form and Function Philadelphia: University of Dusseldorf Eastwood, J (1994) Oxford Guide to English Grammar Oxford: Oxford University Press Foley, M & Hall, D (2012) Advanced Learners’ Grammar (12th ed.) Longman Fisiak, J (1981) Contrastive Analysis and Language Teacher Oxford: Oxford University Press Hewings, M (2005) Advanced Grammar in Use (2nd ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University press James, C (1980) Contrastive Analysis Longman Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S (1976) A University Grammar of English (5th ed.) Australia Government Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G & Svartvik, J (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language Longman Schmidt, D.A (1980) A History of Inversion in English Dissertation The Ohio State University Swan, M (2005) Practical English Usage (3rd ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press Thomson, A J & Martinet, A V (1986) A Practical English Grammar (4th ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press 38 Vince, M & Sunderland, P (2003) Advanced Language Practice (3rd ed.) Macmillan Vince, M (2008) English Grammar in Context Thailand: Macmillan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrastive_analysis Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary (8thed.) Cu Dinh Tu (1983) Phong cách học Tiếng Việt Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Đại Học Trung Học chuyên nghiệp Dinh Trong Lac (1994) 99 Phương tiện Biện pháp tu từ Tiếng Việt Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Giáo Dục Dinh Trong Lac (1997) Phong cách học Tiếng Việt Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Đại Học Quốc Gia Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa (1996) English inversion versus Vietnamese equivalents Unpublished MA thesis Hanoi National University Thai Hoang Nguyen & Do Van Thao (2002) Bài tập ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh nâng cao (Trung học phổ thông) Nhà xuất giáo dục 39 APPENDIX Suggested exercises for students: Exercise 1: Create questions to ask about the underlined words: She is a teacher I often wash my car twice a week Nam lives in Quang Ninh He is writing a letter for his girlfriend They arrived in American at 7p.m Exercise 2: Supply the suitable question tags: Lan enjoys watching TV after dinner, ………….? You hardly did your homework at home, ……….? I’ll go fishing with my parents next week, …….? Close the door,……………………………………? She doesn’t work in this company, … ? Minh is a doctor,………………………………… ? You aren’t tired,………………………………… ? Cherry studied English three years ago,………… ? She can drink lots of tomato juice, … ? 10 They’ll buy a new computer,……………………….? Exercise 3: Fill in the blanks with so or neither: You are an engineer  ……………… Lan I like an apple juice  ……………….he She didn’t work very hard  ……………… Jenny They the chore very fast  …………………….I Minh doesn’t join the English club with his younger brother  ……………………Linh Exercise 4: Chose the most suitable options: At no time …on the plane in any danger A Were the passengers B The passengers were …great was the destruction that the South took decades to recover A Very C Such B Two D So …, everyone would probably have escaped from the building A Had it not been locked the fire door B Had not been locked the fire door C Had the fire door not been locked Not until the first land plants developed……… A Land animals appeared B Would land animals appear C Did land animals appear D The land animals appeared Hardly had we settled down in our seats…… the lights went out A Than B When C Were they the passengers C Then D After Exercise 5: Rewrite the sentences below I have never seen such a mess in my life She has rarely travelled more than fifty miles from her village They had seldom participated in such a fascinating ceremony They little suspected that the musical was going to be a runaway success We can’t exchange tickets in any circumstances It wasn’t until last week that the Agriculture Minister admitted defeat If the government were forced into another election, it would be the favorite to win If you had given it on time, you would have got a high mark I had no sooner gone to bed than someone rang my doorbell 10 The child was so afraid that he hid behind the sofa Exercise 6: Translate from English into Vietnamese So vast were the natural resources that it seemed they could never be used up On the stairs was sitting a small girl I don’t like him Neither I Under no circumstances can we go to the market in this morning Hardly had I arrived home when I had a new problem to cope with Had I known what was going to happen, I would never have left him alone Only by working harder will you pass your final exams Here comes the bus “Why you come home late?” asked Henry 10 Long live the Queen [...]... types of exercises related to inversion for EFL students VI RESEARCH TASKS The research will focus on some main tasks below:  Giving an overview of word order in English  Studying the definition and types of English inversion  Studying the inversion in Vietnamese  Comparing English and Vietnamese inversion  Predicting the common errors of students  Suggesting some solutions in teaching and learning... correctly With these purposes, the study is aimed to explain the types of English and Vietnamese inversion in detail for students so as to support them in not misunderstanding the word orders in Vietnamese and English From that, they will recognize the differences and then they will be able to reduce more errors in their understanding of inversion theory Furthermore, the thesis will be useful for promoting... necessary for 8 learners to study and then do the exercises that contain inversion However, most of them only focus on the definition, the classification and the usage of inversion in either Vietnamese inversion or English inversion Thus, it will be prominent to have a comparison between English and Vietnamese inversion It is the reason why this research is conducted II AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE. .. Vietnamese inversion comparing and contrasting the English inversion and Vietnamese one It also predicts some errors which students often make in learning English inversion; gives some suggestions of learning and teaching inversion and suggests good types of exercises for EFL learners It is a prominent part of the study Part three is about the conclusion of the research It summarizes the content of the research... brief Therefore, with these purposes, the study Inversion in English in comparison with that in Vietnamese and some suggested practice exercises for learners of English. ” is conducted II RESEARCH PRESUPPOSTION The study is conducted to answer the following questions: - What are different kinds of English inversion? - What kinds of Vietnamese inversion are there? - What are the similarities and differences... Practice, focus on the definition of English inversion They state that inversion in English contains two important grammatical operations: the usage of a question form of the main verb and the change of normal positions of verb and subjects In addition, he introduces the classification of English inversion such as: inversion after negative adverbials, so/such that and inversion with conditional sentences... the similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese inversion From that, it will support the EFL students in doing many kinds of exercises such as translating, rewriting sentences and so on There have been many authors who are interested in comparing English and Vietnamese inversions However, they only pay attention to listing the type of inversions in the two languages or distinguish them in. .. semantics of inversion and the inversion in discourse in the book named Inversion in modern English - Form and Function He divides English 6 inversion into two main different categories: full inversion (FI) and subject auxiliary inversion (SAI) The book is extremely helpful so that students can learn more about inversion in modern English especially in function Vince and Sunderland (2003), in the book... word order in English and Vietnamese was introduced Secondly, the research describes the definition, some types of English and Vietnamese inversion and when to employ the inversion Then I make comparisons of similarities and differences of inversion in two languages Finally, I predict some typical students’ errors and suggest some solutions to teach and 3 learn inversion, along with introducing various... supplies necessary and exact information about Vietnamese inversion However, it lacks in some of the special kinds of inversion found in Vietnamese literature Dinh Trong Lac (1997) in the book Phong cách học Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese Stylistics), concentrates on the definition, the function of inversion and the classification of Vietnamese inversion With these ideas, he presents some poems in Vietnamese literature