
EXCLAMATIONEXPRESSIONSINSIDNEYSHELDON’S
NOVEL“IFTOMORROWCOMES”ANDITS
9,(710(6(7516/7,21(48,9/(176
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Email:pthien@uneti.edu.vn
Received:05/08/2024
Revised:17/02/2025
Accepted:26/02/2025
DOI:10.59266/houjs.2025.541
EVWDFWThispaperinvestigatesthesyntacticfeaturesandexpressionexclamationsin
Englishinthenovel“Iftomorrowcomes”bytheauthorSidneySheldonanditsVietnamese
equivalentbytranslatorNguyenBaLong.Itisconductedwiththehopeofndingoutthe
similaritiesanddierencesbetweenhowexclamationsareformedinbothlanguagesand
VHVWLQ SDWLD DSSLDWLRQV WR WKH HDQLQ DQG WHDKLQ R (QLVK DV D RHLQ
language in Vietnam.Descriptive andcomparative methodsare used.248 datacollected
fromthenovel“Iftomorrowcomes”bySidneySheldonareusedforanalysis.Theresult
ofthestudyillustratesthefactthatexclamationsinthenovel“Iftomorrowcomes”andits
Vietnameseequivalentsarequitesimilarinsyntacticandsemanticfeatures.Thestudyaims
tohelpEnglishlearnerslearnEnglishexclamationsmoreeectively.
.HRV (xclamation, syntactic feature, interjection, expression of English exclamation,
expressionofVietnameseexclamation.
UniversityofEconomics-TechnologyforIndustries
LyThuongKietSecondarySchool,NamDinhCity
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cultures,alongwiththegrowthofhuman
language. To fulll the demand for
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exchangewithothernations,thenecessity
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and more pressing. Undoubtedly, both
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Englishasanaturallanguage;nonetheless,
theyfrequentlyencounterseveralobstacles
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talks.Exclamationsareusedandunderstood
dierentlybydierentpeople,whichisone
ofthecausesoftheseissues.Weknowthat
bothEnglishandVietnamesepeoplehave
thoughts and emotions in common.They
also have dierentemotional tones, such
asanger,joy,happiness,sadness,surprise,
fear, despair, disgust, etc. However, the
ways of expressing it are dierent. One
FDQVJVUVRVKRRQVDLRU
feelingsbecausegesturesarespecicbody
movementsthatcarrymeaning.Whilethe
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through facial expressions. But the most
basicandimportantmeansislanguage.It
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attitudes through their utterances. People
use language to express their shock,
surprise, fear, anger, and admiration.
Theseutterances are called exclamations.
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in English as well as in Vietnamese. In
English as well as Vietnamese, there are
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exclamations.However,sofar,noresearch
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of syntax in detail in both languages.
Moreover, practically, learners often
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inbothEnglishandVietnamese.Theyhave
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or questions, but their usages are quite
dierent. So, we decided to nd out the
similaritiesanddierencesofexclamations
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versionsinthenovel“Iftomorrowcomes”
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masterthiskindofsentenceeectivelyin
theprocessoflearningEnglish.
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linguists’ attention a lot. Many authors
have written works relating to them.
However,thereareseveralareasinwhich
theirstrategiesdiverge.Exclamationisthe
term Quirk et al.(1972 & 1985)used to
describethegrammatical category. David
Crystal (1995) examines the numerous
features and variants of the English
language.Statements,questions,demands,
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of sentence functions that David Crystal
examines.Exclamationsaremostlystudied
intermsoftheirsyntacticstructure.Andrew
Radford (1997) denes an exclamative
as “a type of structure used to exclaim
surprise,delight,annoyance,etc.”andgoes
ontosaythat“inEnglishsyntax,theterm
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with Wh- exclamatory phrases, such as
“what!”or“how!”Heappearstoviewthe
exclamative as a syntactic phenomenon
basedonhisusageoftheword“structure.”
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ofHaThiHaiYen(2000).However,this
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of conversational exchanges, and she
concentrates on the exclamative function
of each action. Besides that, there have
EQVRPSEOLFDLRQVRQVQQFSV
includingexclamationssuchasCâutrong
tiếng Việt (Cao Xuân Hạo, 1998); Ngữ
pháp Việt Nam – phần câu (Diệp Quang
Ban, 2004); Giáo trình ngôn ngữ học
(NguyễnThiện Giáp, 2008); Nghiên cứu
ngữpháp tiếng Việt (Nguyễn Kim Thản,
1963);CâutrongtiếngViệt(NguyễnThị
Lương,2005);etc.However,studiesonthe
VQDFLF FKDUDFULVLFV R FODPDLRQV
inVietnameseandEnglishhavenotbeen
conductedyet.Therefore,researchonthis
topicisimportanttohaveafullerknowledge
ofexclamationsinthetwolanguages.
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inphrases,clauses,andsentencesfocuses
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constructions, their orderly arrangement,
and which sequences are well-formed.
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account.Intermsofsyntax,exclamations
arecomposedofafewsmallclauses.The
emotivepositionorattitudeofthespeaker
is expressed through exclamations.
Occasionally,aninterjection-aphraseor
VRQ V R LQLFD D TLFN VQVDLRQ
oremotion-realizestheexclamation.The
mostbasic kind ofspeech, interjections,
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
language. Interjections can occasionally
be used with an exclamatory structure.
Interjections in speech are a sign of
emotionalintensity.Interjectionsarewords
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emotions but have no lexical meaning.
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sounds and have no symbolic value.
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predicateofsentencesforthisreason.
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Descriptive and comparative
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dierencesbetweenEnglishexclamations
andtheirVietnameseequivalentsinSidney
Sheldon’s novel If Tomorrow Comes.
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English and Vietnamese translations.
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semanticfeatures.
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exclamations in English and their
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novel“Iftomorrowcomes”
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exclamationsinEnglish
In thenovel“Iftomorrowcomes”,
the author used 248 exclamations,
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4.1.1.1. Exclamations formed with
RDQG:KDW
Table1:ExclamationformedwithHowandwhat
1R &RQWHQW PRQW (DPSOHV
ExclamationformedwithHow 37.5 Howhemusthavebeenlaughingat
herallthetime![p.344]
ExclamationsformedwithWhat 62.5 What?Oh.Waitaminute![p.129]
7RWDO 
4.1.1.2.Phrase,Clause,andSentenceexclamations
Thereare169phrases,clause,andsentenceexclamationsthataccountfor68,1%,iQ
whichImperativesentencesaretheleastusedandDeclarativesentencesarethemostused.
Table2:Phrase,Clause,andSentenceexclamations
1R &RQWHQW PRQW (DPSOHV
Exclamatoryadverbphrases Now![p.333]
(FODPDRUSUSRVLLRQDOSKUDVV Ofalltherude---![p.217]
(FODPDRUQRQSKUDVV  23.7 Inspector![p.401]
Exclamatoryadjectiveclauses  14.8 Formidable![p.284]
Exclamatoryverbclauses  19.5 Holdit![p.408
Imperativesentences Let’sgoofme![p.29]
(FODPDRUTVLRQV Isn’tthatexciting!”[p.271]
Declarativesentences  33.7 Youcan’tmissitnow![p.187]
7RWDO  

4.1.1.3.Interjections
Table3:Interjections
1R &RQWHQW PRQW (DPSOH
Interjection  Hey![p.29]
7RWDO 
4.1.2.SyntacticfeaturesofexclamationsinEnglishandtheirVietnameseequivalents
4.1.2.1.ExclamationsformedwithHowandWhat
Table4:ExclamationformedwithHowandWhat
1R &RQWHQW (QJOLV 9LHWQDPHVH
ExclamationformedwithHow 
ExclamationsformedwithWhat 
7RWDO 
7KU DU  (QJOLVK FODPDLRQ
sentences,5exclamationsentencesinthe
Vietnamese version, accounting for 62.5
percent of the rest, and the remaining
sentences are converted into questions
andstatements,forexample:
RGDHWKDWLVVLGLRWLPSWKDW
thepreciousGoyawasafake![p.338].In
9LQDPVThếnogãThụysỹngớngẩn
nylạidmchorằngbứctranhquýgiđ
lcadmnhỉ![p.510]
Buthowshewouldpay![p.381]iQ
9LQDPVNhưngctasẽphảitrảgi!
[p.574]
Exclamationsentencesareconverted
LQRTVLRQVDQVDPQV
What!Oh.Waitaminute![129]LQ
9LQDPVCig?Đimtphút.[p.195]
What! That’s--- that’s ridiculous!
[p.219]LQ9LQDPV Trời,thtl nc
cười.[p.330]
4.1.2.2.Exclamationsusingphrases,clauses,andsentences
Table5:Exclamationsusingphrases,clauses,andsentences
1R &RQWHQW (QJOLV 9LHWQDPHVH
Exclamatoryadverbphrases 
(FODPDRUSUSRVLLRQSKUDVV 
(FODPDRUQRQSKUDVV   
Exclamatoryadjectiveclauses   
Exclamatoryverbclauses   69.7
Imperativesentences 
(FODPDRUTVLRQV 33.3
Declarativesentences   70.2
7RWDO   
WecanseethatEnglishexclamation
sentencesarerealizedbynounphrases,verb
phrases, preposition phrases, imperative
sentences,declarationsentences,and169
sentences with exclamation marks. In
Vietnamesetranslation,translatorNguyen
Ba Long also used 116 exclamation
sentences accounting for 68,6%; the
rest were converted into questions,
imperatives,anddeclarativesentences:
1. Four exclamation sentences
in English realized by adverb phrases

have been converted into 4 exclamation
VQQFVLQ9LQDPVLKFODPDLRQ
marksaccountingfor100%:
Inside![p.153]LQ9LQDPV:Vo
đi![p.82]
2. Five exclamation sentences in
(QJOLVK UDOL E SUSRVLLRQ SKUDVV
have been converted into 5 exclamation
VQQFVLQ9LQDPVLKFODPDLRQ
marksaccountingfor100%:
ForGod’ssake,getmeoutofhere!
[p.146]LQ9LQDPV:Vchúa,hãyđưa
tirakhỏiđy![p.219]
3. Forty exclamation sentences in
Englishrealizedbynounphraseshavebeen
converted into twenty-four exclamation
sentencesinVietnamese,withexclamation
marksaccountingfor60%:
You!Getup![p.61]LQ9LQDPV
Cny!Dyđi![p.95]
7K UV FKDQJ K VQQF
type into imperative, interrogative, and
declarativesentencesịnVietnamesewithout
exclamationmarksaccountedfor40%:
Jesus! I’ve got rats! [p.140] LQ
9LQDPV:Chúai.Cconchuttht.
[p.211]
4. Two exclamation sentences in
EnglishrealizedbyImperativesentences
havebeenconvertedinto18exclamation
sentencesinVietnamese,withexclamation
marksaccountingfor72%:
Wounded![p.34]LQ9LQDPV:B
thưng![p.55]
7K UV FKDQJ K VQQF
type into imperative, interrogative, and
declarativesentencesịnVietnamesewithout
exclamationmarksaccountedfor28%:
Simply unbearable! [p.132] LQ
9LQDPV: Thc s l khng th chu
nổi.[p.200]
5.Thirty-threeexclamationsentences
inEnglishrealizedbyverbclauseshave
been converted into 23 exclamation
VQQFVLQ9LQDPVLKFODPDLRQ
marksaccountingfor69.7%:
Write, goddamn it! [p.204] LQ
9LQDPV: Viết đi, quỷ tha ma bt!
[p.306]
7K UV FKDQJ K VQQF
type into imperative, interrogative, and
declarativesentencesịnVietnamesewithout
exclamationmarksaccountedfor28%:
Stopthegoddamnedcheck![p.205]
LQ9LQDPV:Mtkiuđùagiỡnchăng?
[p.309]
 7R FODPDLRQ VQQFV LQ
Englishrealizedbyimperativesentences
have been converted into exclamation
sentencesinVietnamese,withexclamation
marksaccountingfor50%:
Don’tforgetthatthegunisloaded!
[p.26] LQ 9LQDPV: Chớ qun khẩu
súngđđãnạpđạn![p.44]
7K UV FKDQJ K VQQF
type into imperative, interrogative, and
declarativesentencesịnVietnamesewithout
exclamationmarksaccountedfor50%:
Let me go! [p.29] LQ 9LQDPV
Bungtira.[p.47]
7. Three exclamation sentences in
(QJOLVKUDOLE(FODPDRUTVLRQV
havebeenconvertedintooneexclamation
VQQFLQ9LQDPVLKFODPDLRQ
marksaccountingfor33.3%:
Could you go faster, [p.181] iQ
9LQDPV:Xinchạyxenhanhhnđưc
khng?[p.273]
7K UV FKDQJ K VQQF S
into imperative, interrogative sentences
LQ9LQDPVLKRFODPDLRQPDUNV
accountedfor66.7%: