Tiếu luận môn Semantics pdf

“To have” is a verb that the students always confuse about when they are asked to define its meaning in different contexts .When learning and teaching English, we find the problems of le

I could not complete my assignment without the great help and useful advice from my teacher, my family as well as my friends

Firstly, I would like to express my great thanks to y supervisor, Assoc Pro, PhD Vo Dai Quang for his enthusiastic help

Secondly, I would like to express y deep thanks to all the teachers in Foreign Language Department of Vinh University for giving me helpful lectures

Furthermore, my thanks are also sent to all of my friends from class

17 Master Degree of Arts Course for their encouragement and helps

To everyone, thank you very much

Vinh, November 2010

Le Thi Huong

Table of content

Part I: Introduction

1 Reasons for choosing the topic

2 Aims of the study

3 Methods of the study

4 Scope of the study

Part II: Content

1 “To have” in the sense of possess

1.1 In the sense of “own” or “possess”

1.2 In the sense of “own” or “possess”

1.3 Possession mental and emotional qualities

1.4 Family relationships

1.5 Illness

1.6 Contact with other people

2 “To have” with other meaning

2.1 “To have” in the sense of receiving

2.2 Have in the sense of eat or drink

2.3 “To have” in the sense of organize

2.4 “To have “ in the sense of take part in

2.5 “To have” in the sense of enjoy, experience

2.6 “To have” in the sense of encounter

2.7 “To have” in the sense of understand/ know

2.8 “To have” in the sense of buy or take

3 “To Have” as an empty verb

4 “Have” in Imperative

Part III Conclusion

1 Conclusion

3 Teaching implications

References

Part I: Introduction

1 Reasons for choosing the topic

Nowadays, English has become one of the most important international languages in the world The number of people who

communicate and use it as the first language has been increasing day by day In Vietnam, everyone is aware of the role of English in their life or their jobs, so the need of learning English has been popular in all areas To meet that need, many English teaching-learning centre are opened, the quality of training course is quite good This is one of the good signals the Government should care about English is used in many fields such as politics, economics especially the system of international education But to learn English is not easy for Vietnamese learners One verb may have a lot

of different meanings depending on the context that verb has its own meaning and this causes great difficulties to learners “To have” is a verb that the students always confuse about when (they are) asked to define its meaning in different contexts When learning and teaching English, we find the problems of learners is approaching the verb, we take the great consideration on comparing verb between language That interests and encourages us to choose the topic: The verb “To have” and its equivalents

in Vietnamese

2 Aims of the study

- Helping Vietnamese learners understand the use of the verb “to have” when it is used as an ordinary verb and its equivalents in Vietnamese

- Helping them apply the verb “to have” in appropriate situations

- By means of teaching suggestions of the verb “to have”, we hope that our small assignment will make some contribution to help learners leave out their errors in the process of learning English

3 Methods of the study

- Analysis and presenting

- Comparison and contrast method

4 Scope of the study

For the reason of limited time and knowledge, the author only focuses on the verb “to have” as an ordinary verb and its equivalents in Vietnamese

Part II: Content Using the verb “to have” as an ordinary verb is quite popular and it can be used in the following meanings:

1 “To have” in the sense of possess

We often use “to have” "to have" talk about these states: Possess relationships, illness, the characteristics of people and things an similar ideas Sometimes, “to have” simply expresses the fact of being in a particular situation, especially in formal styles

2.4 In the sense of “own” or “possess”

This is the basic meaning of “to have”, we can use “to have” in place

of “to have got” in the present and sometimes in the past to express this sense

Ex:

- I have (got) a big tamp collection

- My uncle has (got) a big villa in the town

- This company has many branches all over the world

In Vietnamese, we always use “có” equivalently to “to have” to express possession

- Tôi có một bộ sưu tập tem rất lớn

- Bác tôi có một ngôi biệt thự rất to trên thành phố

- Công ty này có rất nhiều chi nhánh trên toàn thế giới

We can summarize the relationship between “to have” in English and its equivalents in Vietnamese about possession in the following diagram:

English S + have (got) + N/ NP Vietnamese S + có + N/ NP

1.2 Possession of physical characteristics

This case, “to have” and” have got” are often combined with nouns like black hair, brown eyes, round face, etc to describe appearance They

can also combine with number of thing or quality of a substance to convey this sense

Ex:

- Ellen has got short, straight, fair hair and blue eyes

- This house has fifteen windows

- He has rough hands because he has to do so much work

The word “có” is used in this meaning to express the possession of physical characteristics in Vietnamese

Ex:

- Ellen có mái tóc vàng ngắp và thăng, cô ấy còn có đôi mắt rất xanh nữa

- Nhà này có 15 cửa sổ

- Anh ấy có đôi bàn tay thô vì phải lao động nhiều

1.3 Possession mental and emotional qualities

For this sense, “to have” and “have got” are combined with nouns like faith, patience, etc to describe characteristics

Ex:

- He has such bad temper that no one dares to come close to him

- Miss Beauty of my class does not have beautiful face but she has long legs

- Linh has good manner but bad temper

In Vietnamese, we use the word “có” or omit it but the meanings of the sentences do not change

Ex:

- Anh ấy nóng tính đến mức chẳng ai dám đến gần

- Hoa Khôi lớp tôi có khuôn mặt không xinh lám nhưng lại có đôi chân dài

- Linh có bản chất tốt nhưng lại hay nóng nảy There is a little mixture between 1.2 and 1.3 what we can recognize from the outside appearance, they are physical characteristics, what brief thoughts through the actions, behaviors that are mental qualities

1.4 Family relationships

NPs (Noun phrases) following the verb “to have” in this case indicate the relationship in family of subject who is being mentioned

Ex:

- Have you got any siblings?

- I have a brother and a sister

And in Vietnamese:

- Bạn có anh chị em không?

- Mình có một anh trai và một chị gái

The relationship between subject and object is nor difficult to recognize in the normal situations Not like nouns, Noun Phrases denoting physical characteristics or mental, emotional qualities have just been mentioned above (inside subject itself) Here, it only shows the relationship

on family’s side of subject

1.5 Illness

Here, “to have” and “have got” are combined with nouns describing pain and illness to show the state of health, the physical conditions, or suffer from pain, disability of subject

Ex:

- The baby has got black box

- And he has got a fever all day

- I have a headache

In order to convey this meaning, Vietnamese always use the folowing words: bị, (bị) mắc bệnh, (bị) mắc chứng

Ex:

- Anh ta bị mắc bệnh tiểu đường từ nhỏ, chạy chữa khắp nưi mà vẫn chưa thuyên giảm

- Chồng tôi bị bệnh đau lưng, trái gió trở trời là không tài nào nhủ được

- Nó mới đi khám bệnh về, bác sĩ nói nó bị suy giảm trí nhớ

According to he above analysis, we can sumarize the strurure in two languages:

English S + have (got) + Ns/NPs Vietnamese S+ bị + Ns/NPs

(bị) mắc chứng (bị) mắc bệnh

1.6 Contact with other people

Ex:

- I have a good doctor

In this case, “have” should not be translated into “có” as the folowing sentence: tôi có một bác sĩ tốt cho chị đây This sentence can be considered unclear in Vietnamese The example can be understoosd as “I have a good doctor whom I can introduce to you” and it can be translated “tôi (có) quen (biết) một bác sĩ giỏi, để tôi giới thiệu cho chị nhé!

2 “To have” with other meanings

2.1 “To have” in the sense of receiving

Ex:

- I’ve just had a letter from my husband

- She has got so many flowers on Vietnamese Teachers’ day

- Today, Tom has had three letters from that company

To convey this sense, Vietnamese uses: nhận, nhận được, được nhận, tiếp nhận

- Tôi vừa nhận được thư chồng

- Cô ấy được nhận rất nhiều hoa ngày Nhà giáo Việt Nam

- Hôm nay, Tom nhận 3 lá thư từ công ty ấy

2.2 Have in the sense of eat or drink

In the sense of eating, have may be combined with the words concerning the meals and the dishes which have become popular in English such as have breakfast, have lunch, have dinner

Ex:

- Did you have breakfast?

- What do you have for lunch?

- We’ll have stewed beef for dinner

In Vietnamese, we say:

- mày ăn sáng chưa?

- Trưa nay chúng ta ăn gì?

- Tôi nay chúng ta ăn bò hầm nhé

Beside “ăn”, Vietnamese can use other words in different contexts such as: ă uống, ăn nhậu, chè chén

- Họ đang ăn uống ngoài sân thì mưa rào ập tới

- Maays gã thanh niên trong xóm tôi rất thích ăn nhậu ở quán này

- Sau ca sáng, mấy chú phòng tôi lại rủ nhau chè chén

In Vietnamese, “to have” can eloquate with drink:

- He had some water, then went to work

- Anh ấy uống chút nước rồi đi làm

- Lúc nào rảnh, chị ghé nhà em chơi uống trà nhé

2.3 “To have” in the sense of organize

Ex:

- They are having a class discussion about using paper tomorrow Will you come?

- Let’s have a picnic this weekend The weather is so nice!

In Vietnamese, this shade of meaning is only suitable to organizing something which is relevant to entertainment but not something great such

as a party, a picnic, a discussion, a meeting In this situation, “to have” can

be translated into Vietnamese: “tổ chức”

- Mai bọn họ sẽ tổ chức hộ thảo lớp về việc sử dụng giấy đó, bạn có tới không?

- Cuối tuần này chúng ta đi pinic nhé, thời tiết rất đẹp

2.4 “To have “ in the sense of take part in

- They are having a conference in the hall, don’t make any noises

- Although he is a famous singer, he isn’t like one He rarely has interview

In some cases, “to have” can be understood as organizing or taking part in Its Vietnamese equivalent translation n this circumstance is tham gia, tham dự

- Đừng làm ồn, họ đang tham gia cuộc họp trong sảnh lớn

- Mặc dù là ca sĩ nổi tiếng nhưng anh ấy không giống những người nổi tiếng Anh ấy rất it khi tham gia các cuộc họp báo

2.5 “To have” in the sense of enjoy, experience

For this meaning, “to have” is often combined with adjectives such

as good, nice, lucky, etc It expresses what the speaker or writer experienced whether good or bad

Ex:

- I had a bad night because of the neighbor’s noises

- Did you have a good holiday?

- My brother and his wife had a wonderful honeymoon in Dalat last week

In Vietnamese, this shade of meaning is often used in description and

we use the word “trải qua”, “thưởng thức”, “hưởng” to translate it

- Tôi đã trải qua một đêm tồi tệ vì tiếng động phát ra từ nhà hàng xóm

- Bạn đi nghỉ vui không? (Bạn đã thưởng thức một kỳ nghỉ thú vị chứ?)

- Tuần trưpowcs, anh trai tôi và vợ đã thưởng thức (hưởng) một tuần trăng mật tuyệt vời

2.6 “To have” in the sense of encounter

For this meaning, “to have” accomplied with troubles, difficulties, problems and it refers to bad things that the speaker do not really want Ex:

- Did you have any troubles with your customs?

- I have some problems with pronouncing French

To translate this meaning, we can use its Vietnamese equivalent meanings such as: gặp, gặp phải, mắc phải

Ex:

- Anh có gặp rắc rối gì với khách hàng không?

- Tôi mắc một và khó khăn trong việc phát âm Tiếng Pháp

2.7 “To have” in the sense of understand/ know

Besides, “to have” can be translated as understanding when mentioning about people’s knowledge of certain fields or understanding of certain knowledge

Ex:

- He has good knowledge of society

- I have no sense of this subject; it is too difficult for me

Vietnamese equivalent meanings for these words are: hiểu, hiểu biết

- Anh ấy hiểu biết tốt về xã hội

- Tôi chẳng hiểu gì về mo học này, nó quá hó đối với tôi

2.8 “To have” in the sense of buy or take

Ex:

- Her daughter has had a villa in the centre of the town

- I don’t use this computer anymore, you can have it

In Vietnamese, these examples can be translated as:

- Con gái bác ấy mới mua một ngôi biệt thự ở trung tâm thành phố

- Mình không dùng chiếc máy tính này nưa, bạn lấy đi

3 “To Have” as an empty verb

“To have” is considered the most common empty verb of other ones

in English which are used to perform an action by combining with noun in place of the other verbs When being an empty verb, “To have” has no meaning but the whole sentence depends on following nouns, the verb will become noun without changing the letter when we add an article “a/an” before them

Ex:

- I have a drink after waking up everyday

- You look tired, you should have some rest

- She is having a bath now

“Have” as an empty verb can be arranged into the following groups:

 Leisure activities:

 Have a walk Have a swim

 Have a game of

 Have a dance

 Have a party

 Resting:

 Have a rest

 Have a snap

 Have a sleep

 Have a lie-down

 Have a seat

 Washing:

 Have a wash

 Have a shower

 Have a shave

 Have a bath

 Eating and drinking:

 Have a meal

 Have breakfast/ lunch/ dinner/ supper

 Have a drink

 Have a tea

 Have some cake

 Have something to eat/ drink

 Speech:

 Have a chat

 Have a talk

 Have a conversation

 Have an interview Incident:

 Have a nervous breakdown

 Have an accident

 Have an incident

 Have an operation

 Have a surgery

 Have an injection

 Others:

 Have a go/ try

 Have a feedback

 Have a fight

 Have a baby

 Have a difficulty

4 “Have” in Imperative

One of the most common uses of “have” is in the imperative It is often used after “Do” (or “Do not”) for emphasis or encouragement These are some common cases of “Have” in imperative:

 Offers:

 With count noun, we use the structure:

Have + a/an + count noun

Ex:

- Have a seat ()

- Have a cake ()

 With mass noun, we use the structure:

Have + some + mass noun

- Have some tea!

- Have some rest, you are exhausted today

 Wishes:

Good wishes are often used with an adjective and they are considered fixed expressions

Ex:

- Have a good time!

- Have a good holiday!

- Chúc vui vẻ!

- Chúc kỳ nghỉ vui vẻ!

In some cases, “have” can be used in a warning

Ex:

- Have an eye on your luggage!

- Have a care!

III Conclusion

1 Conclusion

Above, we have discussed about the verb “to have” and its equivalents in Vietnamese in particular situations This is a special verb that is used with high tension in language For its uses are numerous, the students can easily making many mistakes when using it In this