THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

CHAPTER ONE:

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I.                  Literature review in brief

As regards past participle, they have been researched by a lot of grammarians like A. J Thomson and A. V Martinet (1989), Ha Van Buu (1995) and so on. Overall, there are two perspectives: use, character and some other categories. A. J Thomson and A. V Martinet (1989) represent the use; the character is represented by Ha Van Buu (1995). Each author has been chosen a topic that they have offered the most detailed of past participle.

Thomson and A. V Martinet (1989) describe uses of past participle. According to them, past participle has three uses such as an adjective, in the perfect tenses and instead of an adjective clause. In addition to, they also show something about perfect participle’s structure: having + past participle.

Ha Van Buu (1995) first deals with position of past participle. Then he gives characters of past participle such as the differences between past participle and present participle, to have active meaning, to be used in comparison forms, as an adjective, to have in adverb + past participle = compound adjective, to have characters of an adjective is an important grammatical categories and is very necessary in a sentence with present perfect, sentence with past perfect, sentence with passive voice and so on.

Some other authors talk about theoretical party and give practical so that learners of English can understand the past participle well and know to add up knowledge about past participle.

In fact, many writers study past participle, but none of their studies dealt with the errors that learners of English often make. The errors may result from negative effect of past participle, so it necessary for learners of English to use past participle correctly.

II.               Past participle

II.1 Definition of past participle

       A past participle indicates past or completed action or time. It is often called the “ed” form as it is formed by adding “d” or “ed” to the base form of regular verbs. However it is also formed in various other ways for irregular verbs.

II.2 Forms of past participle

       The past participle of regular verbs is formed by adding –d or –ed to the base form of the verbs.

Base form	Past form	Past participle
Close	d	Closed
Ionize	d	Ionized
Fill	ed	Filled
Stay	ed	Stayed
Earn	ed	Earned

The past participle of irregular verbs must be memorized. Here are a few common irregular verbs in the three forms:

Base form	Past form	Past participle
Know	Knew	Known
Eat	Ate	Eaten
Become	Became	Become
Fly	Flew	Flown
Leave	Left	Left
Fall	Fell	Fallen
Feel	Felt	Felt
Make	Made	Made
Drive	Drove	Driven

II.3 Positions of past participle

       II.3.1 Before a noun

Past participle is posed before a noun to modify it (as an adjective), for example “spoken language”, “written promise” and so on.

       II.3.2 After a noun

Past participle is posed after a noun when past participle and the words after is to create a participial phrase.

Ex:  A letter written by Charles I

       A sword broken in the fight

II.4 Characters of past participle

       II.4.1  Having the differences with present participle

a/  past participle shows anything that have passive meaning but present participle shows anything that have active meaning

Ex: After we read an exciting story, we felt excited.

                          The film is interesting and we are interested to see it.

b/  present participle express an action to happen with main verb, but past participle express an action to happen before main verb.

Ex: He went out of the room whistling noisily.(Present participle)

       He read the book put in front of him.(Past participle)

II.4.2  Having active meaning   

Past participle sometimes has active meaning.

     Ex:  A retired teacher

            The fallen angles

                A faded rose (he gave me a faded rose on my birthday)

II.4.3 Using in comparison forms as an adjective

          Ex:          He is less tired than I am.

                I was more delighted than I wanted to show.

II.4.4  Being modified by an adverb

          An adverb can modify a past participle

          Ex: A completely clean shaven man

II.4.5  Appearing in “adverb + past participle = compound adjective” structure

          To put an adverb before a past participle to create a compound adjective.

          Ex:          A well lit room

                A newly wedded couple

II.4.6  Having characters of an adjective

          a/ to add “ ly” to from adverb:

                         Ex: Excited    >excitedly

          b/ To use in comparison form:

                         Ex: I am more tired than he is.

                                   He was the most astonished man at the party.

          c/ To add “the before past participle to from coolective noun:

                         Ex: The injured

            (Ambulances arrived et the scene of the accident and took  the injured to hospital)

                         

II.5 Uses of past participle

II 5.1 As an adjective

          Ex: stolen money

             A written report

II 5.2 In passive voice and after “to be” verb

          Ex: That boy was punished by the teacher

II 5.3  In the perfect tenses and perfect construction and after “to have” verb

          a/ Present perfect : have/has + past participle

                Ex: I have already eaten dinner.

          b/ Past perfect: Had + past participle

                Ex: she had got home before it rained yesterday.

          c/ Future perfect: shall have/ will have + past participle

                Ex: I shall have done my exercise before tomorrow.

          d/ Perfect infinitive: To have + past participle

                Ex: I am sorry to have bothered you.

          e/ Perfect participle: Having + past participle

                Ex: having finished his work, he went home.

             This sentence is begun by participle phrase. It can be written again with two clauses:

                 After he had finished his work, he went home.

          f/ Should have + past participle: ®¸ng lÏ ®·

                Ex: he didn’t work hard, so he got bad marks

                         He should have worked harder.

          g/ Might have/may have + past participle: cã lÏ ®·

                Ex: she usually wakes up at 6 a.m. Now it is 6:30 a.m, she might have waken up.

          h/ Must have + past participle: ắt hẳn đ·, chắc là đ·

                   Ex: Last year, it was very cold in the winter. He did not have a fireplace at home . He must have lived a miserable life.

          k/ Could have + past participle: cã lÏ ®·

                   Ex: Michael was the most talented artist of the town. He could have won the art competition last year.

    l/ Would + past participle (unreal condition in the past)

                         Ex: If I had had enough money, I would have bought that Honda

II.5.4 Before a noun

          Ex: The broken bottle

                   A tired worker

                   Stolen money

II.5.5 After “to be” verb and linking verbs

          Ex: Seem = appear = look

                   Become = turn = grow = get

          (It is a predicative or it is used predicatively)

          Ex: The worker looks tired.

II.5.6 In a participle phrase

          Ex: Seen from the hill, the town looks magnificent.

II.5.7 In some structures

          a/ Subject + verb + direct object + participle.

          Ex: I heard my name call.

                   I want my fish fried.

          b/ Subject + have (got) + direct object + participle

          Ex: I shall have the door painted green.

II.5.8 Instead of an adjective clause

          A past participle used in participle phrase to replace an adjective clause.

          Ex: “Romeo and Juliet” which was written by Shakespeare is the best strategy I have ever seen.

                   → “Romeo and Juliet” written by Shakespeare is the best strategy I have ever seen.

II.5.9 Playing the role in passive absolute phrase

          A past participle can use with a noun that is before it in order to from a passive absolute phrase.

          “Passive absolute phrase” meaning do not affect to sentence’s remaining part.

          Ex: All things considered, I think we ought to award the job to Mai.

          Moving adverb clause:

          After we have considered everything, I think we ought to award the job to Mai

          Or: After all things have been considered, I think we ought to award the job to Mai.

II.6 Other problems

Some verbs have two past participle forms and are used with different meanings:

They are used before nouns and modify nouns (= attributive)

CHAPTER TWO:

ERRORS AND SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS

I Errors

I.1 Past participle and adjective

          Sometimes, many Vietnamese learner of English especially Vietnamese pupils and students often misunderstand the uses of past participle and adjective. Because they think that past participle has almost an adjective’s character, so a past participle is used as an adjective. This thinking is wrong.

          Ex: This film is very boring.

                We feel bored when we listen to his reporter.

          Or: This book is so interesting that many people want to buy it.

                We are interested in her troubles that she has.

          We can see “boring” and “interesting” are adjectives in these examples. “Bored” and “interested” are not only past participle but also adjective. However, they are used in different situations and functions. “Boring” and “interesting” are sometimes used to point thing, matter; “bored” and “interested” are often used to show anyone.

Past participle has passive meaning and adjective has active meaning. So, this past participle’s and adjective’s difference that Vietnamese students often have.

I.2 Past participle and past tense.

          a/ Substitute the past tense for the past participle in a verb phrase is such a serious grammatical error that making it is considered a sign of particular ignorance. This error is only evident when the past and the past participle of the verb have the different forms.

Use the form of irregular verbs

          Ex: School begun. He has wrote to me.(wrong)

                School began. He has written to me. (right)

          Some verb show the irregular forms that most often cause errors.

         

          Ex:

                                                                      Bear       Born  Born

                                                                      Lend     Lent   Lent

                                                                      Hang     Hung Hung

                                                                      Tear       Tore   Torn

                                                                      Choose  Chose Chosen

          All verbs have three principal past:

                                               

Infinitive: Ex: Cook

Past tense: Ex: Cooked

Past participle: Ex: Cooked

       Many verbs are irregular; they do not merely add “-ed” to form the form the past tense and past participle.

Ex:

Regular: invite- invited- invited

Irregular: know- knew- known

       This is the basic mistake students often make. Due to lack of knowledge, they often choose the wrong verbs. They use past tense instead of past participle and vice versa.

       b/ Another error that is related to the misuse of the past tense for the past participle in a verb phrase is the misuse of the past participle for the past tense as the predicate of the clause. Here are few examples of the past tense incorrectly used for the past participle in a verb phrase:

Wrong	Right
He could have went home earlier	He could have gone home earlier
I wish I could have sang in the talent show	I wish I could have sung in the talent show

       Here are few examples of the other errors, in which the past participle is improperly used for the past tense:

Wrong	Right
I seen my duty and I done it	I saw my duty and I did it
I drunk two cups of strong coffee to stay awake	I drank two cups of strong coffee to stay awake

I.3 In adjective clause

       In participle phrase, a past participle is used to replace an adjective clause.

       Ex: The ideas, which are presented in that book, are interesting.

              The ideas presented in that book are interesting.

       Sometimes students condense this sentence by omitting “be” and relative pronoun, setting past participle to infinitive and adding “-ing”. This writing is wrong.

       Ex1:         The ideas, which are presented in that book, are interesting.

              The ideas presenting in that book are interesting. (wrong)

       Ex2:         She is talking with the student who was praised by the teaching staff yesterday.

              She is talking with the student praising by the teaching staff yesterday. (wrong)

              She is talking with the student praised by the teaching staff yesterday. (right)

I.4 In “Subject + have (got) + direct object + past participle”

       Ex: I got my hair cut yesterday.

       This sentence is right. However, many pupils and students write: “I cut my hair yesterday”. This writing is wrong seriously because reader can misunderstand writer, interlocutors, and occasional communication breakdowns.

III.           Solutions to the problems

II.1 Theoretical solutions

       In the first place, the teacher is to make a list of English verb types, which can be used in the past participle sentences. They are copulative, intransitive, regular, and irregular verbs. Nevertheless, emphasis should be laid on regular.

       An irregular verbs as this verb type appear in past participle quite frequently.

       In the second place, English past participle constructions are to be systematically introduced. Below is what to mention in sequences:

1.     The information of past participle.

2.     The use and character of past participle.

3.     The past participle in connection with verb relationship

4.     The differences between past tense and past participle

5.     The differences between past participle and adjective

6.     The “have (get) something done” structure

7.     Other problems

              II.2 Practical solutions

To eliminate the problems of using past participle sentences, teacher should remind students that there are some English verbs such as “to hind”, “to drink”, “to strike”, “to shrink”, “to sink”, “to bend”, “to behold”, which are used with different meanings and functions. In addition, the pupils and students also need to notice the differences between past form and past participle. When choosing a wrong verb, the English sentence’s meaning will change and that is the basic mistake in English grammar. The teacher is required to make a list of verbs and instruct the students to form sentences with some of the pairs. For example:

Regular	Irregular
Invite- Invited- Invited	Eat- ate- eaten
Continue- continued- continued	Hang- hung- hung
Open- opened- opened	Rise- rose- risen

To do so, students can choose the right verb to form a sentence.

Moreover, pupils and students need to distinguish the differences between adjective and past participle. A used technique, which can apply to the teaching process of past participle, is that the teacher can facilitate the students to learn from errors and point out the different methods of uses between adjective and past participle.

As for the last subtype of errors is sentence’s structure. Teacher explains the uses and meanings when writing relative clause and past participle and in “subject + have (got) + direct object + past participle” structure.

 CONCLUSION

Teaching past participle to Vietnamese learners at intermediate and upper-intermediate levels can be hard work as Vietnamese pupils and students generally have problems with verbs distinctions. The degree to which the errors occur because of past participle requires our adequate attention. The final objective is to clarify the problems and find the best solutions to them.

For these reasons, the essay has focused on such tasks as studying the characters, using the position of past participle in English sentences and the errors of past participle that Vietnamese students often make.

The survey results have shown the importance of past participle in tenses and clauses.

Also, the study has further proved the necessary of past participle in writing English sentences and the effect of using wrong past participle.

Base on the findings, the essay has concentrated on seeking the best solutions in both theory and practice. A number of techniques related to the introduction of English verbs used in past participle.

It is hoped that this essay has made certain contributions to English teaching practices in Vietnam and that further research will be done into the errors of using past participle on what the essay has left untouched up to now. Great as many efforts have been, certain errors are inevitable.