A study on english transitive verbs in comparision with vietnamese ones

In reference to the number of elements of sentence structure, there might be the question about the number of clause structures in English which contain verb patterns composed of verbs a

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A Thesis

A STUDY ON ENGLISH TRANSITIVE VERBS

IN COMPARISON WITH VIETNAMESE ONES

(SO SÁNH ĐỘNG TỪ NGOẠI ĐỘNG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

BÙI VĂN TUẤN

Field of study: English Language Code: 60220201

Supervisor: DR ĐANG NGOC HUONG

Hanoi, 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER 1 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim and objectives 3

1.2.1 Aims of the study 3

1.2.2 Objectives of the study 4

1.3.3 Research questions 5

1.3 Methods of study 5

1.4 Scope of the study 6

1.5 Significance of the study 7

1.6 Structure of the thesis 8

CHAPTER 2 10

LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.1 Review of previous studies 10

2.2 Review of theoretical background 11

2.2.1 Concepts of syntax 11

2.2.2 Concept of semantics 14

2.2.3 An overview of the verb 16

2.3 Summary of the chapter 23

CHAPTER 3 24

TRANSITIVE VERBS IN ENGLISH IN COMPARISON WITH VIETNAMESE 24

3.1 Syntactic and semantic features of English transitive verbs 24

3.2 The comparison between English and Vietnamese transitive verbs 41

3.2.1 One-object transitive verb patterns 42

3.2.2.Two-object transitive verb patterns 43

3.2.3 Mixed-type transitive verb patterns 46

3.3 Summary of the chapter 43

CHAPTER 4 Error! Bookmark not defined

APPLICATIONS IN LEARNING AND TEACHING ENGLISH

TRANSITIVE VERBS FOR VIETAMESE LEARERS 51

4.1 Subjects of the survey 51

4.2 Survey test description 51

4.3 Survey results and discussion 53

4.4 Some suggested strategies relating to learning and teaching English transitive verbs to Vietnamese learners of English 56

4.5 Summary 62

CHAPTER 5 63

CONCLUSION 63

5.1 Recapitulation 63

5.2 Concluding remarks 64

5.3 Limitations of the study 66

5.4 Recommendations for further study 67

REFERENCES 69

APPENDIX 1 72

APPENDIX 2 65

APPENDIX 3 76

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I sincerely thank all the lecturers of the Hanoi Open University, especially the lecturers in the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies who have been teaching and conveying to me the valuable knowledge and skills in the learning process

Secondly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor,

Mr Dang Ngoc Huong who guided me throughout my study Without his valuable supervision my thesis could hardly be completed

I also wish to extend my deep thankfulness to my friends, colleagues and students who assisted me in collecting the data and provided valuable resources to help me complete my thesis

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for their encouragement and the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of my academic work

ABSTRACT

Among all the word classes of a language in general and English in particular, the verb could be considered the most important one Many areas

of the verbs in English have been investigated so far and some are prioritized

In the same vein, English dynamic verbs in English may have been concentrated on by many experts in the field of linguistics and language teaching over the last decades Two reasons have been put forward for this phenomenon: the importance of dynamic verbs and the difficulty of mastering this group of verbs

It is clear that dynamic verbs in general, and transitive verbs in particular are not totally similar between English and Vietnamese in many aspects By investigating deeply into English transitive verbs in terms of their syntactic and semantic features, the thesis expects to go on to compare transitive verbs in the two languages In language learning, because of some discrepancy in transitive verbs in English and Vietnamese, there is a likelihood of committing errors on the part of learners of English-as-a-second

or any foreign language The thesis is hoped to make contributions to the mastery of a high-frequency transitive verbs in English of the learners

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Verbs in the English language which are always regarded as essential elements in creating sentences which are basic units of communication of humans In grammar, verbs have become one of the subjects that receive special attention of linguists It is not doubtful that there is almost no scientific work of grammar that ignores researching into verbs and their relating aspects However, it is also the issue of disagreement among language researchers

As far as verb classification is concerned, one set of terms used to describe verbs is transitive and intransitive Transitive verbs convey a sense of action and the sentence identifies whom or what the subject addresses

Research on English transitive verbs which shows this part of speech has been approached from so many aspects Each of the approaches led to different findings Even in one approach, the characteristics and usages of transitive verbs are clarified differently by different authors

So far a lot of linguistic research has based itself on different concepts and approaches when discussing grammar matters and verbs particularly Many authors have tried to define the criteria for identifying transitive verbs

as well as proposing direction of describing and classifying them However,

to date, very few authors have focused their attention on the survey of transitive verbs - an important category in the English language

So far, there have been a great number of works written about English verbs Almost every grammar book in English discusses the verb, the most essential element of English sentences Everyone who learns English has got familiar with the grammatical terms: subject, verb, complement, adverb, etc

In Longman English Grammar (1992,pp.4-5), the author claims that in

English there are five simple sentence patterns: 1) subject-verb: My head

aches, 2) subject-verb-complement: Frank is clever, 3) subject-verb-direct

object: My sister enjoyed the play, 4) subject-verb-indirect object-direct object: The firm gave Sam a watch, 5) subject-verb-object-complement: They

made Sam redundant According to the author, out of the five sentence

patterns there are three patterns which include the transitive verbs going with objects: example 3, 4, and 5 In A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Randolph Quirk et al (1985, pp.) is famous for categorizing seven

clause types: 1) SV: Someone was laughing, 2) SVO: My mother enjoys

parties, 3) SVC: The country became totally independent, 4) SVA: I have been in the garden, 5) SVOO: Mary gave the visitor a glass of milk, 6)

SVOC: Most people consider these books rather expensive, 7) SVOA: You

must put all the toys upstairs In other words, in this grammar book, out of the

seven types of clause structure, there are up to four clause structures which contain verbs and objects: structure number 2, 5, 6, and 7

In reference to the number of elements of sentence structure, there might be the question about the number of clause structures in English which contain verb patterns composed of verbs and noun phrases as objects, three as Alexander or four as Quirk et al claimed or more than that

Also, in everyday communication in English, some Vietnamese people who have learned English for a long time or even have got a good English proficiency, sometimes speak or write in English, using such expressions as:

basing on …, contact with…, or discuss about… This carelessness in diction

may result from the inadequate awareness of the structure of transitive verbs used in sentences

As with language learning, in Vietnam, there is an undeniable fact that English is taught in many places, but people learn it mainly for language

competence, not for performance; learners learn English mainly to pass the tests, not to communicate themselves in the language Therefore, a good knowledge of English grammar, especially of sentence structures could be considered to be most essential for the learners to understand and develop different skills in learning and using the language

In the context as mentioned above, the thesis A study on English

transitive verbs in comparison with Vietnamese ones is implemented for

several purposes: to identify how transitive verbs in English combine with other elements in the sentence syntactically and semantically and also to make

a comparison with their equivalents in Vietnamese to find out whether English transitive verbs are similar or different from Vietnamese ones By doing this, the study is hoped to offer some strategies for learning transitive verbs in English for Vietnamese learners of English effectively

1.2 Aim and objectives

1.2.1 Aims of the study

As the title indicates, the thesis aims to analyze the transitive verbs in English Since there are a great number of aspects relating to verbs of this type, the thesis will confines itself to the study English transitive verb patterns based on the basic sentence structure SVO During the process of study the thesis will employ the constituent analysis method to point out the syntactic and semantic features of transitive verbs structures in English On the basis of the research into English transitive verbs, the thesis embarks on comparing them with transitive verbs in Vietnamese to find out if the transitive verb structures in two languages have something in common Because English and Vietnamese belong to two different types of language, English being a synthetic language whereas Vietnamese is an analytic language, the thesis will compare English verb patterns with their translational equivalents in Vietnamese, not English verb patterns with Vietnamese verbs patterns In

Vietnamese grammar, in spite of many differences, as in English, Vietnamese words are also classified as verb, nouns, adjective, adverb… However, so far

in Vietnamese there has not yet been a clear classification of preposition in the aspect of word class and of object and complement in the aspect of grammatical function Hence, the thesis follows the assumption that in English the terms: verb / verb phrase, noun and noun phrase, preposition and prepositional phrase, adverbial, object and complement correspond to the Vietnamese terms: động từ / cụm động từ, danh từ / danh ngữ, giới từ / giới ngữ, trạng ngữ, tân ngữ, bổ ngữ respectively In the process of describing the features of transitive verb patterns in English, the thesis will focus on the elements which stand after the verb: object, complement and adverbial in the sentence structure in the aspects of their syntax and grammatical meanings Aimed at the practical side of the study, on the foundation of the results in comparing the verb patterns in the two languages, the thesis is expected to offer some implications for learning and teaching transitive verbs for Vietnamese learners of English

1.2.2 Objectives of the study

In order to achieve the aims of study above, the thesis sets up its specific objectives as follows:

(i) To investigate the syntactic and semantic features of English transitive

verbs

(ii) To compare English transitive verbs with their equivalents in

Vietnamese

(iii) To find out the challenges which Vietnamese learners have to

encounter when learning transitive verbs in English and suggest strategies for overcoming them

1.3.3 Research questions

In order to implement the objectives established as above, the thesis find it

as its tasks to answer the following research questions

(i) What are the syntactic and semantic features of English transitive

verbs?

(ii) What are the syntactic and semantic similarities and differences

between English transitive verbs and their equivalents in Vietnamese?

(iii) What could be the applications in learning and teaching English

transitive verbs for Vietnamese learners?

1.3 Methods of study

This study aims to investigate the transitive verbs in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese equivalents in the aspects of syntax and semantics; therefore it adopts both qualitative and quantitative research approaches With qualitative research, the thesis primarily conduct exploratory to understand how transitive verbs have been and could be described syntactically and semantically in grammar books With quantitative research, the thesis quantifies the problems Vietnamese learners of English may face and the mistakes they may make with English transitive verbs by means of survey tests

Following the two research approaches above, the thesis adopts as main methods of study the methods below:

1 The componential analysis method is utilized to define the number of

elements and the patterns of element combination of transitive verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents

2 The descriptive method is employed to describe the linguistic features

of verb patterns qualitatively and to describe the test results quantitatively

3 The comparative method is adopted to uncover the similarities and

dissimilarities between English verb patterns with their Vietnamese equivalents

In order to support the above methods, the synthetic method is employed to synthesize the secondary information for categorization of verb patterns and for generalization of the syntactic and semantic similarities and differences between English transitive verbs and their equivalents in English The analytical method is also applied to analyze the number of constituents of each transitive verb pattern in English and Vietnamese in terms of syntax and semantics The method is also helpful in analyzing survey results statistically

as a foundation to find out specific ways to avoid making errors in using English transitive verbs for Vietnamese learners In addition, throughout the process of study, setting up a regular consultancy with the supervisor for guidance and academic exchange is a constant activity the writer undertakes

to find out the right way to fulfilling the research successfully

1.4 Scope of the study

Understanding the special importance of verbs in general and transitive verbs in particular in sentence building, the writer bases himself on the theory and studies of transitive verbs mainly through grammar books The English books which serve as sources of reference are not so up-to date, such as Longman English Grammar (1992), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985), Reference Guide to English (1992), etc; however, they still appear to provide a large amount of useful information In order to obtain English transitive verb equivalence in Vietnamese, the thesis relies mainly on the English-Vietnamese Dictionary (1993) by the Institute of

Linguistics and Raymond Murphy’s English Grammar in Use (bilingual) (2010) by Hai Phong Publishing House The reason for this choice of reference material is that the thesis attempts to uncover the structural and semantic aspects of verbs in comparison with their equivalents in Vietnamese which are derived from translated sentences These translated sentences prove

to be helpful and reliable sources to get information

Transitive verbs in English are quite a big topic for study However, the thesis just focuses on a limited aspect of the topic, studying the syntactic features of English transitive verb patterns to see how the elements of the verb patterns are combined, with a focus on the elements following not preceding the verb in the sentence The study of the semantic features of English transitive verbs is confined to that of grammatical meanings only Also, because of its limited size and because of too many typological differences between English and Vietnamese, the thesis can only compare English transitive verbs with their Vietnamese equivalents syntactically and semantically since the thesis assumes that their comparison can be conducted through word order and basic concepts of sentence elements: S, V, O, A based

on general linguistics It also occurs that although transitive verbs can be used

in active and passive form, the thesis only under takes as its focus the investigation of their active form As for its practical side, the thesis can just select a small group in an institution, Ha Dong Medical College, where the thesis writer is working to investigate the problems the learners of English may encounter when learning English transitive verbs

1.5 Significance of the study

The thesis A contrastive study of transitive verbs in English and

Vietnamese ones is expected to make several contributions when it is

completed

In terms of its theoretical significance, within his accessibility to the topic-related literature, the writer finds that English transitive verbs are very commonly used in English, but a thorough description of their linguistic features in comparison with Vietnamese ones have not been discussed so far The study will probably highlight a certain description of the syntactic and semantic features of English transitive verbs from which some similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese transitive verbs are drawn out It

is somewhat useful for linguistic researchers or theorists to shape a certain rules or principles in the field of syntactic and semantic studies relating to English transitive verbs The results of the study may make the understanding about verbs in English in general and transitive verbs in particular in greater detail In regard to its practical significance, by conducting the survey with a group of learners of English in a college in Hanoi, the thesis aims to explore the challenges which may face the learners when learning English transitive verbs under the influence of the Vietnamese language The comparison between the transitive verb patterns in English and their Vietnamese equivalents may uncover some links between the two languages in the aspects

of syntax and semantics It is believed that the findings would be a practical source of material for both teachers and learners of English transitive verbs If they take it seriously to explore these features, they could not only gain a good knowledge of English transitive verbs in the light of structures and meanings but also have a better capability of using them in a natural and authentic ways

1.6 Structure of the thesis

The thesis is divided into five main chapters:

After the preliminary pages, Chapter one is the introduction which contains the rationale, aims and specific objectives of the study, research

questions, methods, scope of study and proposed organization of the thesis

Chapter two is the literature review which includes a review of previous studies and of theoretical background with an overview of English verbs, transitive verbs, their usage and other related concepts This chapter sets out the general theoretical issues as the basis for understanding the different transitive verb structures

Chapter three presents the study results which includes the findings on syntactic and semantic features of English transitive verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents from the data collection analysis

Chapter 4 focuses on a survey which is meant to point out some difficulties Vietnamese learners may face when learning transitive verbs in English and suggest possible solutions to overcome the challenges

Chapter five includes the conclusions, limitations of the study and some recommendations for further research

The five chapters above are followed by a number of supplementary parts such as:

- References

- The appendix which includes the survey tests and answer keys for the exercises

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies

Verb sub-categorization frequencies (verb biases) have been widely studied in psycholinguistics and play an important role in human sentence processing Yet available resources on sub-categorization frequencies suffer from limited coverage, limited ecological validity, and divergent coding criteria Prior estimates of verb transitivity, for example, vary widely with corpus size, coverage, and coding criteria This category is often associated with the classification of works from classical grammar The author of the grammar schools of ancient Greece (as Aristotle, Thrax, Dyscolus, etc.), schools of ancient Rome (as Donatus, Priscian, etc.), the ancient Indian grammar (as Panini, etc.) did not only refer to the issue of classification but also determine to divide verbs into intransitive and transitive verbs

From the 30s of the twentieth century, associated with the trend of structural grammar, intransitive and transitive verbs have been considered purely grammatical categories

Later, the linguists of generative grammar schools identified intransitive and transitive verbs based on domination and hierarchical order components

An important milestone in the study of categories of intransitive and transitive verbs is the work of P Hopper and S Thompson published in the journal "Language" (Language) No.2 in 1980 In this article, the authors gave

a bunch of ten criteria to identify categories of intransitive and transitive verbs Depending upon the satisfaction of specified criteria, review the status

of transitive verbs need to be determined The author believed that the

category of intransitive and transitive verbs ties to the sentence and it is driven significantly by using context factors

Verbs can be so tricky things that even the best grammar students and writers are often confounded by the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs The confusion with the use of the transitive and intransitive verbs can be resolved as a grammar point becomes clear with an understanding of objects Greenbaum & Nelson (2002), Rozakis (2003), Williams (2005), Downing & Locke (2006), Leech (2006), DeCapua (2008), and Altenberg & Vago (2010) claim that it is the object of any given sentences that makes the difference, a clear grammatical point that may serve

as a clue to determine if the sentences have a transitive verb or intransitive verb They all agreed that transitive verbs express an action and are followed

by an object

The learners of English language should know the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs Understanding the different functions of those two verbs can help any students, dealing with the use of those two types

of verbs, avoid grammatical mistakes, such as incomplete sentences that may result in misleading sentences that lose its exact meaning Students, particularly the learners of English, often have difficulty determining which verbs require an object, and which do not

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Concepts of syntax

2.2.1.1 An overview of syntax

Firstly, syntax is defined as a set of rules in language It dictates how words from different parts of speech are put together in order to covey a complete thought In other words, its main targets are said to be the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a

given language Dixon, R.M.W (1991) defines that syntax deals with the way

in which words are combined together Syntax seeks to describe the way words fit together to form sentences or utterances In this way of definition, syntax can be understood as sentence structure which concerns itself with the way words from different parts of speech to combine together in a language to form sentences to convey complete thoughts It is also said that syntax is a form of grammar and it is concerned primarily with word order in a sentence and with the agreement of words when they are used simultaneously Every language has a limited number of syntactic relations However, subject and object are probably universal of syntactic relations which apply to every language Because languages are different from each other, the criteria for classifying word classes may differ from language to language, so do the ways in which syntactic relations are marked However, it is also true that every language has developed a specific mechanism that is similar to syntax

to make a boundless number of sentences This is a common feature that can

be witnessed in all languages

2.2.1.2 Sentence and elements of the sentence

Concept of sentence

So far, there have been numerous definitions of the sentence in English since different grammarians look at the sentence from different perspectives For example, A sentence is defined as a group of words that are put together

to mean something A sentence is the basic unit of language which expresses

a complete thought It does this by following the grammatical rules of syntax

A sentence is the largest independent unit of grammar: it begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point Through the definition of the sentence, it can be understood that the sentence comes first and then comes grammar and words as its elements are not categorized according to their word classes or the role they play in the sentence

The thesis follows the definition in the dictionary in which the sentence

is said to be a group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete idea; in writing the sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a stop or question mark (Dictionary of Contemporary English, p.1587)

Elements of the sentence

Traditional grammar describes the sentence with two parts For example, Hopper, V (2000) claims that the sentence has two parts The topic

of the sentence is the subject What is said about the subject is the predicate

In line with this definition, a verb phrase can be the predicate of the clause or sentence which contains both the verb and either a direct or indirect object (the verb’s dependents) We’re going to take a look at what verb phrases are, and then view some verb phrase examples

Sentence Subject predicate

Auxiliary and operator predication

Example: He had given the girl an apple

In modern theories of grammar, grammarians look at the sentence in structural and functional the aspects of its constituents Modern grammarians (Quirk 1985, Eastwood 1994,…) relate the structure of the simple sentence to that of the single independent clause with central elements as subject (S), verb (V), object (O), complement (C) and adverbial (A) and categorize the constituents which function as elements of clause structure are phrases As a result, the five formal categories of phrase are defined as verb phrases (VP), noun phrases (NP), adjective phrases (AdjP), adverb phrases (AdvP) and prepositional phrases (PP) Overall, based on the form, the internal structure and function (S, O ): of the constituents as the elements of sentence

structure, not on parts of the structure of the clause or simple sentence in English modern grammarians formulate 7 clause types as follows:

Type 1 SV (e.g The car has stopped)

Type 2 SVO (e.g The dog ate the bone.)

Type 3 SVC (e.g The dog is dead.)

Type 4 SVA (e.g The dog is over there.)

Type 5 SVOO (e.g She bought him a dog.)

Type 6 SVOC (e.g He kept the dog clean.)

Type 7 SVOA (e.g He kept the dog carefully.)

2.2.2 Concept of semantics

Semantics contrasts with syntax, the study of the combinations of units

of a language (without reference to their meaning), and pragmatics, the study

of the relationships between the symbols of a language, their meaning, and the users of the language According to Dictionary of Contemporary English (2010), semantics has two meanings, one being the study of the meaning of words and phrases and the other the meaning of a word In the study of language by George Yule, semantics is defined as the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences In semantic analysis, there is always an attempt

to focus on what the words conventionally mean, rather than on what a speaker might want the words to mean on a particular occasion Also, linguistic semantics deals with the conventional meaning conveyed by the use

of words and sentences of a language

As with meaning, there could be two ways of looking at the meaning of meaning For example, from a linguistic perspective, a distinction should be made to distinguish between lexical and grammatical meaning Lexical meaning refers to the meaning of words that belong to one of the lexical word

classes: verb, noun, adjective and adverb Lexical meanings of words are usually found in a dictionaries When describing lexical meaning, people have

to consider the linear or structural relations of one word after another in the

sentence; for example, when we use the word speak, for example, the next word which may combine could be a noun, e.g English (speak English) or an adverb, e.g loudly, (speak loudly), but not e.g table (*speak table) or heavily

(*speak heavily) People have to take into consideration the functional relations of lexical words, in the same function or position in the sentence

For example, both the word red and blue are adjectives; they can replace each

other to describe the color of an object and in the same function other words

can be used, e.g a red / blue / cotton / nice… scarf in a sentence In contrast,

grammatical meaning includes the meaning of grammatical items, for

example, the meaning of function words: preposition, article, particle… and inflectional affixes: -s ending, prefixes…, grammatical functions: e.g subject,

verb, object… and different clause or sentence types: e.g nominal, non-finite, subordinate, declarative, interrogative…

Taking into account certain non-linguistic aspects of meaning Geoffrey Leech (1981) lists seven different types of meaning Denotative meaning which is also called referential, descriptive , conceptual meaning or sense,

refers to the logical, cognitive aspect of words, e.g bread, rose…, In contrast,

connotative meaning which is called associative meaning denotes the

associations and secondary meanings the word implies: e.g slim, thin, skinny

Words can have social meaning; for example, the same thing can bear different names depending different locations One example of this is that Vietnamese people call the bowl for rice eating differently in different regions While the emotive or affective meaning together are sometimes realized through the use of denotative or connotative meaning of words people can understand the emotion or attitude of the word users The term reflective meaning refers to that of collocations which is conveyed by

characteristic word combinations, e.g fast food (not *quick food) indicating

one kind of food Finally, thematic meaning denotes the organization of a

message in terms of information structure For example, three sentences: I

like this food, This food I like, and It is this food that I like which have

different position of subjects mean differently

2.2.3 An overview of the verb

2.2.3.1 Definition of the verb

The opening short definition of a verb from Longman English Grammar states that “a verb is a word (run) or a phrase (run out of) which expresses the existence of a state (love), seem) or the doing of an action (take, play) (Alexander 1998, p.159) A very general division of verbs is provided

by Quirk et al (1985), who divides verbs as a class of words into three principal categories They classify them according to their function within the

verb phrase and label them full or lexical verbs such as leave, primary verbs consisting of be, have and do, and modal auxiliary verbs such as will, might,

etc Primary and modal auxiliary verbs form closed classes (it is not possible

to easily add new words in such groups) whereas the class full verbs is an open class Full verbs function in sentences as main verbs, and the primary verbs can act either as main verbs or as auxiliary verbs

Verbs are usually defined as part of a speech (or class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being In English, the verb often has a predicate function in the sentence They are usually written next to the subject (following the S + V + O principle from left to right) Verbs play an important role in sentence structure because they allow language users to articulate human physiological actions clearly

In general, it is more meaningful to define a verb by what it does than

by what it is Like the word similar (rain or snow, for example) can serve as a

noun or a verb, the same verb can play different roles depending on how it is used To put it simply, verbs will move our sentences in different ways

It is a well-known fact that the verb is considered to be the king of all parts of speech in English At the heart of every sentence is a verb, an action word that is generally indicated what someone or something is doing or perhaps merely indicates being The shortest sentence can be formed with one

word such as Stop! or Go According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005, p.1636), the verb is “a group or a group of words that

expresses an action, an event, or a state” According to Jack C Richards et al

(1992, p.398), in English, a word is a verb when it satisfies these following criteria:

- Occurs as part of the predicate of a sentence

- Carries makers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, number and mood

- Refers to an action or state

From the description of its features above, the verb could be said to be a word or group of words that describe an action, experience or state When used in English sentences, verb usage follows certain grammar rules

2.2.3.2 Classifications of verbs

So far there have been numerous ways of classifying English verbs Depending on different criteria of classification, verbs could be categorized differently For example, verbs could also be grouped into stative and dynamic classes based on aspectual contrast of ‘progressive’ and non-progressive’ Stative verbs usually refer to a state, situation or condition

which is not changing or likely to change, for example: love, hate, like… Meanwhile, dynamic verbs (sometimes referred to as ‘ action verb’) usually describe actions we can take, or activities that happen such as run, sleep, eat,

work… Verbs could also be classified, based on their patterns of conjugation,

into regular or irregular For example, action verbs might be divided into

regular or irregular verbs One example of this division is the verb work as a regular one since the word requires the ending –ed in the past tense form like other verbs such as work-worked, learn-learned, etc However, the verb, for example, come is an irregular verb because in the past tense form, the verb needs to change its base form: come–came, sleep-slept There are a great number of irregular verbs in English: have, get, go, teach, etc Based on the

ability to combine with other elements in verb phrase, verbs could be

classified into main verbs such as live, buy,…; auxiliary verbs which are sometimes called helping verbs: can, may, should, … and linking verbs like

be, smell, feel, according to their functions in the sentence For this reason,

Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) categorized English verbs as lexical and auxiliary when relating them to their function in the verb phrase (p.26) In addition, based on their ability to combine with other elements in the sentence verbs could be classified into intensive verbs, requiring complements and extensive verbs, requiring objects in the sentences For example, in the

sentence She is a student the verb be is an intensive and in I gave him a book the verb give (gave, given) is a transitive verb Another type of classification

is whether or not the verb requires complementation In this way, verbs can be classified into transitive verbs (the ones which cannot stand alone, they need

objects) such as buy, give, tell, and intransitive verbs (ones can stand alone without objects) like sleep, cry, rain, On this basis of classification, if a verb

indicating actions relates to one person or object, in other words, the subject performs that action, verbs of this kind belong to intransitive verbs Sentences with intransitive verbs are complete in meaning even though the verbs stand alone or followed by adverbials of manner, place or time as in the following examples:

- She suddenly stopped (SVi)

- She wept bitterly on hearing this news (SViA1-how?A2-when?)

Unlike intransitive verbs, transitive verbs are used in the sentence pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object in which transitive verbs are not only related to the

subject but also to the object following them Sentences with transitive verbs

are not complete in meaning if they lack objects

Examples:

- I love my country/*I love (SVO)

- She is watching TV in the next room /*She is watching in the next

room (SVOA)

However, it is noticeable that in English there are a great number of verbs which can be used either as intransitive or transitive verbs, depending

on the meanings they convey in particular contexts of situations For example,

in the sentence I asked him to come in, but he did not enter, the verb enter is used as an intransitive verb but in the sentence, for example, He did

not enter the room the word enter is a transitive verb It requires the object

the room, without which the sentence does not make sense * He enter

From what has been discussed above, English verbs could be grouped into different classes, depending on different principles of classification Different types of English verbs could be summarized in the table below:

Table 2.1: Different types of English verbs

Criteria Classification of verbs

1 Based on the role

in a verb phrase

Helping verbs

(Determining the mood or tense of the verb in the verb phrase)

Main verbs

(Conveying a real meaning

and not depending on another verb)

form

Finite verbs (Expressing tense)

the base form)

Intransitive verbs

(Not followed by a

direct object)

2.2.3.3 Transitive verbs

In English grammar, transitive verbs can be compared with intransitive verbs Both of them usually express actions (people doing things) and things and events (things happening); however, they contrast with each other in the aspects of complementation Transitive verbs take an object (direct or indirect) whereas intransitive do not In line with this classification, such

verbs as wait, rely, happen, etc are intransitive verbs; we can say The man

was waiting at the side of the road, but not *The man was waiting his friend

at the side of the road In English many verbs have both a transitive and an

intransitive function, depending on how they are used in the sentences The

verb run, for instance, sometimes is an intransitive verb, sometimes is a

transitive verb: The man runs along the beach every morning (Eastwood,

1994, p.7) More exactly, we should talk about transitive or intransitive uses

of certain verbs, as a great many verbs can be used in English both

transitively and intransitively For example, Land is transitive in The pilot

landed the plane safely, but intransitive in The plane landed Carry is

transitive in They carried backpacks, but it has an intransitive use in His voice

carries well (carries = projects)." (Downing, A 2006) In terms of meaning,

transitive verbs can express not only action, but also feelings: He enjoyed

himself at the party, perception: He saw her in the crowd, and possession: He

has a black beard What is special of transitive verbs in this aspect is that

after some transitive verbs the object can be left out when it would add little

or nothing to the meaning; for example, The man opposite was reading (a

book), We ‘re going to eat (a meal) The object can also be left out after some

verbs such as ask/answer (a question), enter/leave the room), pass/fail (an

exam), play/win/lose (a game)… In addition, some verbs can also go without

an object if the context is clear Verbs of this type include: begin, choose,

decide, help, know, notice… (Eastwood, J.1994, p.8)

Marjolyn Verspoor and Kim Sauter (2000) agreed among transitive

verbs there are three sub-types: mono-transitive verbs which have only a

direct object; di-transitive verbs which have a direct object and an indirect or benefactive object Complex-transitive verbs have a direct object and an

object attribute In specifics, a mono-transitive verb is a verb that takes two

arguments: a subject and a single direct object For example, the verbs buy,

bite, break, and eat are mono-transitive in English The following examples

show mono-transitive verbs in sentences (the direct object is in boldface):

- Yesterday, I bought a cat

- The cat bit me!

A di-transitive verb is one that takes both a direct object and an indirect

object For example, He gave her the letter (The letter is the direct object,

what he gave, and her is the indirect object, the person he gave it to This

sentence can also be written He gave the letter to her.)

A complex-transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct object and another object or an object complement In a complex-transitive construction, the object complement identifies a quality or attributes pertaining to the direct

object Complex transitive verbs in English include believe, consider, declare,

find, judge, keep, label, name, presume, pronounce, prove, rate, and think

For example, She found the book interesting There is a connection between

transitive and complex transitive verbs In reference to the relationship

between them, Martin J Endley (2010) claimed that many of the verbs that

appear in complex transitive clauses will also appear in transitive clauses without an object complement; but when they do, there is a change of meaning The difference in their meanings lies in the fact that complex-transitive verbs denote actions referring to opinions or ideas whereas transitive verbs indicate activity The following pairs of sentences in each example illustrate this:

- Ahmed found the professor (Transitive) - Ahmed found the professor

marvelous! (Complex transitive)

- Transitive: Hojin considered the matter (Transitive) - Hojin considered

the matter a waste of time (Complex transitive)

2.3 Summary of the chapter

In this chapter, an overview of literature written by previous authors which refers to what they have done, what they have thought about the topic

is provided The chapter also touches upon a number of theoretical background issues concerning key aspects of syntax and semantics which serve as a foundation to realize the syntactic and semantic features of elements in English sentences In addition, the definition of verb, the definition and classification of verbs, and especially of transitive verbs in English are given What has been done in this chapter will be a firm basis for the thesis to go into analyzing the syntactic and semantic features of the transitive verb patterns in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese in the next chapters

CHAPTER 3 TRANSITIVE VERBS IN ENGLISH IN COMPARISON WITH

VIETNAMESE

This chapter deals with the first and second research questions, attempting to find out the linguistic features of transitive verbs in English and some similarities and differences of their Vietnamese equivalents The thesis employed the componential analysis; however, it stops at analyzing the functions of the elements of sentence structure, rather than the inner structure

of each element For this reason, throughout the chapter, the thesis will describe and analyze English transitive verbs on the basis of sentence structures, using the key terms: subject (S), verb (V), object (O), complement (C) and adverbial (A) in which the transitive, in most examples, are main verbs

3.1 Syntactic and semantic features of English transitive verbs

Verb pattern 1: V- NP

In English, noun phrases can stand after the verb, performing different grammatical functions even though in some descriptions of grammar, any word or phrase which is governed by a verb and usually comes after the verb

in a sentence is referred to as complement (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2013, p.305) However, there is a difference between object and complement, depending on their grammatical meaning In the cases when noun phrases are used in transitive verb patterns as in this pattern, noun phrases work as the object since they are acted on by the verb, not giving a description or definition of the subject like the complement In linguistic typology, subject–verb–object (SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third In this verb pattern, the noun phrase must stand after the verb since without it the verb

alone cannot make sense For example, we can say I likes fruits (Tôi thích hoa

quả), but we cannot say *I like The direct object is something or somebody

different from the subject except for the rare object that is a reflexive pronoun

Examples:

- All her shots hit the target (Tất cả các phát bắn của cô ta đều trúng

In reference to the objects, while the typical object in this sentence pattern is a pronoun, noun, or noun phrase, objects can also appear as a variety of syntactic categories In general, objects in the pattern can be realized in different ways:

- By means of noun phrases: I love my country The noun phrase can be

headed by a noun The noun phrase can be a pronoun in the objective or

In speaking, sometimes the direct object is the pronoun it “cataphoric

it” which refers to the whole clause that follows: I believe it that she said that

(RT: Tôi tin có chuyện rằng bà ấy nói điều đó) In this sentence, the pronoun

it can be omitted, the clause that follows it is a nominal clause However, in

another case, for example, I’ll believe it when I see it This sentence is a proverb which means Seeing is believing (RT: nhìn thấy mới tin - DCE, 2010,

p.139), the pronoun it cannot be omitted since the clause that follows is not a

nominal clause, it is an adverbial clause This idiom is used to say that you will only believe that something happens or exists when you actually see it

Different categories can function as objects of transitive verbs in

English sentences can be summarized in the table below:

Table 3.1 Different categories used as objects of transitive verbs in

words or some idea expressed by clauses

Verb pattern 2: V-P-NP

The verb pattern V-P-NP can be found in the sentence structure which

contains such verbs as approve of, look after, pay for, refer to, wait for… Although some dictionaries (EVD, 1993; DCE, 2010) indicate the verbs: look,

approve… in the structure as intransitive verbs (V(i) The thesis follows the

claim put forward by Alexander (1992) that some transitive verbs can consist

of more than one part In this usage, the verbs which combine with prepositions are used as a collocation, a fixed group of words, and can take an object; we cannot omit or put the preposition after the object For this reason,

we can write, for example, He listened to me attentively (Anh ấy nghe tôi

chăm chú), but cannot * He listened me or *He listened me to attentively The

thesis adopts the assumption that the fixed combination of a verb with a

preposition like believe in, listen to, look at… can be considered a transitive verb There are some reasons for this categorization Firstly, in theory of

grammar when a verb is intransitive, it can stand alone (e.g: It is raining!) or can go with adverbs (e.g: He came suddenly), and it cannot have objects, for example, it is not correct to say: a) They were still *talking the film loudly

when the teacher came in, but it is correct to say: b) They were still talking

about the film loudly when the teacher came in This example refers to the

fact that in a context as in sentence (b), some verb which goes with an object must be a transitive one; in this case, a verb combined with a preposition

becomes a transitive verb In the sentence, verbs of this type are used as a

collocation, a unit of vocabulary; the whole word group conveys one meaning, expressing the action upon the noun object which follows the verbs

If the verbs stand alone, they make no sense but when they combine with prepositions the combination is a transitive verb, going with noun phrases as

direct objects For example, in the sentence When I said some people are

stupid, I was not referring to you (Khi tôi nói một số người ngốc nghếch, tôi

không nói tới anh), we cannot omit the preposition, the word refer cannot

stand alone, we cannot write * When I said some people are stupid, I was not

referring you or the sentence makes no sense if the verb refer stand alone

*When I said some people are stupid, I was not referring A very important

thing is that, in terms of the meaning of words, the verbs of the type are used

in their normal sense, as in the example, refer is synonymous with speak In

addition, since the noun phrase which follows the preposition is the object,

being the answer to the question What? or Who? before the question-form of

the verb, some transitive verbs of this type can go into passive:

Examples:

- I approve of (What?) Your trying to earn some money, but please don’t

neglect your studies (Tôi đồng ý cho cậu cố kiếm thêm chút tiền, nhưng

dừng sao nhãng việc học tập – EVD, p.66) (Active)

- This incident in his childhood is never again referred to (Sự việc này

trong thời thơ ấu của anh ta không bao giờ được nhắc đến nữa (EVD, p.1400) (Passive)

From the example sentences above it is noticed that the objects in the pattern are noun phrases which can contain nouns or pronouns as head In addition, after verbs of this type, objects could be non-finite clauses The non-finites can be infinitives or gerunds:

Examples: `

- I approve of (What?) Your trying to earn some money, but please don’t

neglect your studies (Tôi đồng ý cho cậu cố kiếm thêm chút tiền, nhưng

dừng sao nhãng việc học tập – EVD, p.66) (Gerund)

- We were waiting for him to explain (Chúng tôi đang đợi anh ấy giải

thích - Infinitive)

- He boasted about how successful he was (RT: Ông ấy khoe khoang

việc thành đạt của mình-Alexander,p.14)

Verbs which can be used in this sentence pattern and types of words or phrases can be used as objects after these verbs can be summarized in the table below:

Table 3.2 Different categories used as objects of transitive verbs

the combinations preposition + NP in the pattern are termed prepositional

objects There are two reasons for this, one being that they are so called just

because they are preceded by prepositions and are governed by them and the

other reason is that we can put the question who? or what? For the noun

phrase preceded by the preposition For this reason we can put the question

Who did he tell the news to? and What did you thank them for? for the

example sentence (i) and (iii) respectively below Among these verbs are the

following: admit, say, explain, declare, prove, report, suggest, introduce, tell,

congratulate, blame, thank, …What prepositions which can be used in the

pattern depend on what verbs are used before them

- We thanked them for all their help (Chúng tôi đã cảm ơn họ về tất cả

sự giúp đỡ của họ-EVD,p.1772)

In sentences of this pattern, it usually happens that the direct object which is between the verb and the preposition is short When it is a long object, for example, an object as a long phrase or a clause, the object can move to the end of the sentence, standing after the prepositional object This

is possibly the case with to or with +noun or pronouns In either position, the

preposition must always stand before the noun or pronoun Otherwise, there will be grammatical problems with the sentence structure For example,

- Jack was still discussing / *about the game with his friends when I got

there (Khi tôi đến đó Jack đang còn tranh luận với bạn bè về trận đấu- EVD, p.449)

- Catherine explained to me / *explain me what the situation was.(RT:

Catherine giải thích cho tôi về tình huống lúc đó-Alexander,p.7)

In addition, usually the noun phrases after the prepositions are short However, sometimes after the prepositions long phrases or even clauses may

be used as well For example:

- Ask him about the ring you lost, he may have found it (Hãy hỏi anh ta

về cái nhẫn cô đánh mất, có hể anh ta đã bắt được-EVD,p.78)

- Thank you for giving me a lift (Cảm ơn anh đã cho tôi đi nhờ

xe-EVD,p.1773)

- He boasted about how successful he was (RT: Ông ấy khoe khoang

việc thành đạt của mình-Alexander,p.14)

Verb pattern 4: V-NP1-NP2

This verb pattern can go with the sentence structure SVOiOd in English grammar This sentence pattern can be said to be one of the basic sentence patterns in English It means: Subject + Verb + Object + Object What is special of this pattern is that it has 2 Objects The word order of the pattern is

that the first object is somebody while the second is something The indirect

object comes first, right after the transitive verb whereas the direct object which answers the question What? or Who? of the verb in the sentence

Example: I gave each of the boys an apple (Tôi cho mỗi đứa trẻ một

quả táo – EVD, p.690)

In the sentence example above, after the verb give in the past tense form is the indirect object each of the boys and an apple is the direct object which answers the question I gave what?, not *I gave whom? In English

there are a great number of transitive verbs which can be used in this way

Some of them are: wish, sell, show, lend, write, bring, buy,… Semantically,

the transitive verbs which follow this sentence pattern have the meaning of

giving or transmitting, for example: give, pass, lend, bring, throw, send, etc

and many other possible words which have a similar meaning to them, but

indirectly: show, cook, teach, sing, sell, pay etc

What is noticeable in this pattern is that this word order SVOiOd is fixed The reason for this could be that transitive verbs of this type indicate purposeful actions; the actions are aimed at somebody; somebody may receive something done by the verb and becomes the target of the action For

example, if you give something to somebody, you must know to whom you give it, you know that you will give it to this person, not anybody else For this reason the indirect object must stand right after the verb; if a preposition

is inserted before the object, the sentence will be wrong For example: He

gave her / *to her a watch In the pattern, the object which stands right after

the verb might be a thing (e.g.: He gave the door a strong kick), but usually is

a person which is the recipient of the object The recipient is the indirect object, then comes the direct object which is usually something The direct object is acted upon by the verb, standing after the indirect object This word order appears to be helpful especially when the direct object is realized by a long noun phrase or by a clause For example:

Tell me where you live (Anh hãy cho tôi biết anh sống ở đâu-EVD,

p.1764)

Things will become different if the two objects are mixed up in the pattern, there will be some trouble; the sentence will be wrong if it does not follow a rule The following sentence is not accepted when the order of the

two objects is reversed: *I gave an apple each of the boys

The reason for this is that when the indirect object moves itself to stand

after the direct object, there must be a preposition, usually the preposition to

or for, in front of it, separating it from the direct object and conveying some

meaning of the action Different grammarians look at the indirect object in this position in the sentence differently Quirk (1985) classifies it as adverbial because of its peripheral position in the sentence (p.59) However, Maclin (1992) maintains that the indirect object of the verb can stand either after the

verb or after the direct object preceded by the preposition for or to (170) The

thesis follows the idea that if the indirect object stands after the direct object,

the sentence structure will look like the verb pattern V- NP1 - P- NP2 in the

sentence structure SVOPO, an expansion of the first sentence pattern (SVO)

The thesis assumes that in this sentence pattern, the direct object becomes the focus of the activity and the recipient is just an afterthought, for example, a

woman can say I want to buy a shirt, I buy it for my son, but she cannot say

*I want to buy a son, I buy him a shirt In this pattern, the person or agent is

the one who receives the object, the preposition that follows the direct object

can indicate different meanings: the preposition to tends to indicate the direction of the action towards the recipient and the preposition for can refer

to the indirect as a beneficiary of the action Generally, the meaning of prepositions after the direct object depends on context The differences between the two prepositions can be seen better in the following sentences:

- We sent a letter to him (Chúng tôi gửi một lá thư cho nó-EVD,p.1530)

- I like to cook Chinese foods for my family (Tôi thích nấu món ăn Tàu

cho gia đình tôi-EVD,p.338)

In some cases, in English sentences that follow the pattern SVOiOd the direct objects can be omitted; after the verbs are only indirect objects found The reason for this is that in these sentences the direct objects are implied The context of communication could help the listeners or reader understand what is meant by the indirect object or what comes after the indirect object,

the direct object Those verbs which can be used this way include: bet, ask,

forgive, show, pay, promise, teach, tell…

Examples:

i I bet you.(Alexander,p.9 - RT: Tôi cược với anh đấy)

ii Don’t ask me! (RT: Đừng có hỏi tôi)

In sentence (i) after the indirect object the direct object is implied by context If, for example, you are talking with a friend who is a heavy smoker

and he retells you a conversation with a girl in which she said I bet you £20 if

you can give up smoking In the conversation, instead of saying the full

sentence, she just said I bet you, the friend must have understood what the girl

meant In the sentence (ii), the direct object is omitted We can suppose that the speaker, the indirect object, may think that the question the listener wants

to ask is silly or that the other can find the answer himself

As for the preposition to and for, it is necessary to distinguish the verb

pattern in the structure SVOdPOi transformed from SVOiOd with that of the structure SVOPO The two patterns are different in that the object in the structure always follows the preposition, when possible the object in SVOPO can move to stand before the verb but the preposition still remains standing before the object whereas when the indirect object in SVOdPOi moves back

to stand before the direct object, it goes without a preposition The reason for

this is that in English some verbs go with the preposition to and for after the

direct objects, before noun phrases acting as prepositional object, not as indirect objects According to Alexander (1992, p.7) the verbs used in the

pattern SVOPO include: admit, announce, confess, confide, declare,

demonstrate, describe, entrust, explain, introduce, mention, prove, repeat, report, say, state, and suggest The examples below illustrate the syntactic

difference between the structure SVOiOd and SVOPO:

- She’s buying a present for her boyfriend (Cô ta mua tặng phẩm cho

bạn trai-EVD, p.205)

- I can’t describe this Would you describe it for me? (RT: Tôi không

miêu tả được chuyện này Anh có thể miêu tả chuyện đó giúp tôi được không? Alexander,1992,p.7)

In short, the difference between the sentence pattern SVOiOd and SVOPO lies in the focus of activity and the position of the preposition before the object The following table illustrates this

Table 3.3 Position of indirect objects and prepositional objects in English

sentences

We sent him a letter =

We sent a letter to him

They explained what had happened to us

= They explained to us what had

happened

Incorrect:

- We sent a letter him

- We sent to him a letter

Incorrect:

- They explained what had happened us -They explained us what had happened

Verb pattern 5: V-NP-V (non)

The verb pattern V-NP-V (non) indicates that in the sentence the object

is followed by a non-finite verb; in other words the object is realized by a non-finite clause Some grammarians called the combination NP-non-finite clause the complex object (Oc) Structurally, this pattern has something in common with the pattern 1 (V-NP/VO) where a non-finite clause can function

as an object, sharing the same subject with the main verb in the sentence; however, the difference here is that the subject of the non-finite verb is the object noun, not the subject of the sentence

In English, grammar rules dictate that every sentence must have a finite verb as the main verb that agrees with the subject in number and other verbs

in the sentence must be used in non-finite forms which include: infinitive (to V), -ing form (gerund or present participle) and –ed form (past participle)

The infinitive is the form of the verb that follows to (e.g.: to do), the gerund and present participle have the -ing ending (e.g.: doing), and the past participle (e.g: done, the verb do is an irregular verb) In most English

sentences, usually to-infinitives are used after the object, after such verbs as: