VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA RESEARCH PROPOSAL

ENGLISH PASSIVE SENTENCES AND THEIR

VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS BASED ON THE
BOOK "MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE
FROM VENUS" BY JOHN GRAY
(CÂU BỊ ĐỘNG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG
TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT DỰA TRÊN CUỐN SÁCH "MEN
ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS"
CỦA JOHN GRAY)

Student: VU HONG TRANG

Major: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Supervisor: PHAM THI HANH

Hanoi – 2022

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Part 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the study
Language is a way to help people communicate with each other in life. It is diverse
and changes a lot based on the different way of speaking and thinking of each person.
From a sentence, the speaker can use many different ways to convey to the listener
such as: direct speech, indirect speech, etc. In this thesis, I want to mention a way of
saying that is " passive speech”. This is considered one of the topics studied by many
linguists. In the essay, I present an aspect revolving around the passive sentences in
English, and at the same time compare and contrast the meaning of the passive
sentences in Vietnamese.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
The main aim is to study the structure and pragmatic characteristics of English passive
sentences. Specifically, English passive sentences and equivalent words in Vietnamese
based on the book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" by John Gray.
The objectives of the study are:
- Learn passive sentence forms in the book Men are from Mars, Women are from
Venus.
- Detect the pragmatic function of the passive sentence in the narrative.
- Consider how the English passive sentences in the book are translated into
Vietnamese.
1.3. Research questions (in form of questions)
- What are the English passive sentences in Men are from Mars, Women are from
Venus?
- State the pragmatic function of English passive sentences in the book Men are from
Mars, Women are from Venus?
- How are English passive sentences translated into Vietnamese?
1.4. Scope of the study
This study is limited to English-Vietnamese passive sentences. Due to time and length
limitations of the study, I only analyzed the passive sentences in the book Men are
from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray. This study focuses on the structure,
characteristics and usage of passive sentences between English and Vietnamese as a
reference for readers.
1.5. Significance of the study
In this study, I focus on describing, analyzing the structure and usage of English
passive sentences in grammatical documents, then consider how to use them in
different communication contexts in the book. "Men are from Mars, Women are from
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 Venus". In addition, the study will also find the frequency of occurrence of passive
sentences in the book to hypothesize the presence of these passive sentences and their
Vietnamese equivalent.
1.6. Design of the study
Chapter 1: The introduction presents the theoretical basis of the study, the research
problem, the purpose and objectives of the study, the meaning of the study and the
scope of the research.
Chapter 2: Literature review and theoretical basis: summarize and evaluate the critical
views of previous related studies. Concepts covered in the theoretical foundation of
interpretation include an overview of moods, tenses and passive sentences in English
and Vietnamese.
Chapter 3: Methods and Procedures: using data collection and analysis methods
considers subject selection and data collection and analysis procedures.
Chapter 4: Results and Discussion
Chapter 5: Conclusion and meaning. The conclusion summarizes the main features of
passive sentences to answer three research questions, points out limitations and
proposes some directions for further research.
Part 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Review of the previous studies

2.2. Review of theoretical background

Part 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research methodology

3.2. Research setting/context

3.3. Data collection

3.3.1. Data collecting instruments

3.3.2. Data collecting procedures

3.4. Data analysis

Part 4: TIMELINE
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No. Things to do Time Expected outcomes

1 Preparing research proposal … …

… … … …

Part 5: REFERENCES
Suggested referencing style: APA 6th
(http://sydney.edu.au/library/subjects/downloads/citation/APA
%20Complete_2012.pdf or http://latrobe.libguides.com/content.php?
pid=145852&sid=1240134
Total length of the research proposal: 3 000 – 3 500 words
Font size: Times New Roman: 12; Spacing: 1.5
All margins: 2.54cm
Justified left margin, flushed right margin

Part 6: Approved by supervisor(s)

......., date …month…year…….. ......., date… month…year……..

Supervisor Student
(Signature and full name) (Signature and full name)

Certified by Department of Professional English

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