's

A better way of saying it would be "How/why is Vietnam of importance in U.S foreign policy?"

"Vietnam of importance" is correct, but it doesn't mean anything on its own. "How/why is Vietnam of importance in U.S foreign policy?" basically asks why Vietnam is so important to the US in its foreign policy.

TidusA better way of saying it would be "How/why is Vietnam of importance in U.S foreign policy?"

"Vietnam of importance" is correct, but it doesn't mean anything on its own. "How/why is Vietnam of importance in U.S foreign policy?" basically asks why Vietnam is so important to the US in its foreign policy.

I agree with:
A better way

Hi,

"Vietnam of importance" is correct, but it doesn't mean anything on its own.

Are you sure that "Vietnam of importance" doesn't mean anything on its own?

My questions are:

1/ Why does it have the meaning in my original sentence but it doesn't have the meaning on its own?

2/

Yes, Quoc. Quite sure.

You can't just pick a sequence of words from a sentence and make them a noun phrase.

"This is the chair in which he sat." -- You can't say "the chair in which" has meaning on its own either.

The phase "of importance to {whatever}" goes together. Why is [any noun] of importance to [whatever or whoever it is important to].

Why does it have the meaning in my original sentence but it doesn't have the meaning on its own?

To use the technical term, it has no meaning when extracted from the sentence because it is not a constituent.

Vietnam is of importance is just another way to say Vietnam is important, so when you invert Vietnam and is to form

Hi,

Thanks for your answers.

You'd say : .......in U.S.'s foreign policy.

Is it still correct if I say ....... in U.S.' foreign policy ?

Quoc

I would say so, but, in my opinion, best of all is to consider it a compound noun, using U.S. (no ' or 's) adjectivally.

in U.S. foreign policy

CJ

Thanks
Quoc