SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF BEGINNING VERB GROUP IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

24 CHAPTER 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF BEGINNING VERB GROUP IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS .... CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my au

HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

TỪ BEGINNING TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG

PHẠM THỊ NHUNG Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Pro Dr LE VAN THANH

Hanoi,2017

Contents

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

ABSTRACT 6

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 7

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 8

1.1 Rationale 8

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 9

1.3 Research questions 9

1.4 Methods of the study 9

1.5 Scope of the study 10

1.6 Significance of the study 11

1.7 Design of the study 11

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 13

2.1 Previous studies 13

2.2 Overview of syntax and semantics 14

2.2.1 Theory of syntax 14

2.2.2 Theory of semantic 15

2.3 Overview of English verb 17

2.3.1 Definition of English verb 17

2.3.2 Classification of English verb 18

2.4 Classification of sentences 20

2.5 Overview of BEGINNING verb group 23

2 6 Summary 24

CHAPTER 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF BEGINNING VERB GROUP IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 26

3.1 Syntactic features of the BEGINNING verb group 26

3.2 Semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group in 30

3.3.1 In term of their sybtactic features 45

3.3.2 In terms of their semantic features 46

CHAPTER IV: APPLICATIONS FOR VIETNAMESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH WHEN USINGBEGINNING VERB GROUP 50

4.1 Survey 50

4.2 Common errors made by students at Tong Duy Tan High School when using BEGINNING verb group in English 53

4.3 Suggestions for teaching and learning BEGINNING verb group in English 57

4.4 Summary 61

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 62

5.1 Concluding remark 62

5.2 Limitations 63

5.3 Suggestions for further researches 63

REFERENCES 64

APPENDIX 66

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report

entitled “Syntactic and semantic features of BEGINNING verb group

and their Vietnamese equivalents” submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due

acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my

supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Thanh who has patiently and constantly

supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher

A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers in the Faculty of graduate studies Hanoi Open University and many others, without whose support and encouragement it would have never been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Post-Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my husband and

my two loving sons for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

ABSTRACT

BEGINNING verb group is used regularly and flexible in daily communication, but the significant meaning of the concept of BEGINNING verb group is still misunderstood by Vietnamese people Therefore, the author thinks the study on the subject of BEGINNING verb group in Vietnamese and English is helpful for improving the knowledge of learners as well as the students learning English in general This paper is to study the BEGINNING verb group in terms of syntactic and semantic features in English and their Vietnamese equivalents We have used the combination of descriptive and contrastive methods in this study The findings show that the similarities and differences between two languages and remarkable syntactic and semantic features We also present the implications for teaching and learning the BEGINNING verb group as well as for further study and understanding the meaning of the BEGINNING verb group in general and the usages of them in particular is the first difficulty of learners and the second one is the way of using the BEGINNING verb group in each specific context The BEGINNING verb

group includes 7 verbs: begin, start, continue, keep (on), stop, finish and

complete The thesis is expected to help Vietnamese learners of English learn,

translate and use the BEGINNING verb group in English effectively

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

It cannot be denied that the verb is one of the most important parts in any kinds

of sentences According to De Capua (2017), the verb is considered the “heart” of a sentence as it is the verb that provides the central meaning to a sentence Through the verb, information about actions or states of being is expressed, making it the crucial element of the predicate of a sentence

There have been a lot of researchers conducting investigations into BEGINNING verb group in both English and Vietnamese In English, there are different researchers with books such as: Anna Wierzbicka (1972) studied about the semantic features of

verbs such as: start, continue, finish; R M W Dixon (1991), A new approach to

English grammar on semantic principles; Gilbert Ryle (2009); Susanna Karlsson

(2008) In Vietnam with studies: Hoàng Tuệ (1962), Giáo trình Việt Ngữ; Nguyễn Kim Thản( 1997), Động từ trong tiếng Việt; Hoàng Phê (1998), Vietnamese

dictionary These studies thoroughly describe about the semantic features of the

BEGINNING verb group but they have not been exploited in terms of their syntactic features yet Moreover, the equivalents between two languages English and Vietnamese have not been implemented yet

In the process of teaching English verbs in general, there is a fact that my learners have faced many problems when they use this group of verbs They are often confused to choose the right verb and make errors in using them Therefore, a study has been carried out to find out how to use these verbs accurately and correctly from the analysis of their syntactic and semantic features with reference to their equivalents

in Vietnamese As there are a lot of BEGINNING verb group, learners can use numerous words to express their ideas However, a great number of people make mistakes when they use the BEGINNING verb group in different situations to communicate To compare the syntactic and semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group are important to learners, so that they can have good knowledge to use the BEGINNING verb group effectively

A great numbers of studies on verbs with certain linguistic units has been researched; however, there is no study of BEGINNING verb group For the above

reasons, the topic “Syntactic and semantic features of BEGINNING verb group in

English and their Vietnamese equivalents” is chosen with the purpose of finding out

the equivalents of English and Vietnamese BEGINNING verb group The study only

focuses on seven English BEGINNING verbs begin, start, continue, keep (on), finish,

stop, complete with the hope that thesis will be a useful reference, to the extent

possible, for teaching and learning English as foreign language in Vietnam

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study aims at describing the features of BEGINNING verb group in English

and making a comparison between this verb group in English and their Vietnamese equivalents

In order to gain the above aims, the study carries out the following objectives: (i) Identifying syntactic and semantic features of BEGINNING verb group in

English

(ii) Comparing the syntactic and features of these BEGINNING verb group in

English and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic features

(iii) Offering some implications for teaching and learning BEGINNING verb

1.4 Methods of the study

This study is designed and investigated the syntactic and semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents, so the qualitative, descriptive and contrastive methods are chosen This study analyzes

and synthesis to some syntactic, semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group in English and their Vietnamese equivalents Therefore, in the process of this study, the BEGINNING verb group is main resources for the research making English the source language and Vietnamese the target one

First of all, the qualitative method is referred the meaning as well as the definitions or the concepts of the BEGINNING verb group in English and in Vietnamese Then, the descriptive method is used to describe the characteristics and equivalents of semantic and syntactic structures of the English BEGINNING verb group in English and Vietnamese Additionally, the contrastive method is used to compare the syntactic and semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group in English and Vietnamese to make clear the similarities and differences between them Moreover, analysis and synthesize are also utilized as supporting methods Though analysis method, the similarities and differences of the BEGINNING verb group are analyzed and with synthesize method, some verbs belong to the BEGINNING verb group are synthesized to illustrate from different sources such as books, dictionaries, literary works, newspapers, magazines and websites As a matter

of fact, to investigate the structures of the BEGINNING verb group with their different components and semantic features Analytical method and synthetic method is also used for grouping them on the basic of certain criteria according to structural and semantic features Finally, in the conducting of the investigation, setting up a regular consultancy with supervisor for a guidance and academic exchange is critical techique

to find out a right direction for doing the research successfully

1.5 Scope of the study

Within the frame work of the study, seven BEGINNING verb group are analyzed

in terms of syntactic and semantic features Data were collected from books,

dictionaries and internet

Some implications will be suggested basing on the survey on 90 students at Tong Duy Tan high school in order to help Vietnamese learners of English have a better understanding of the BEGINNING verb group and then use them in daily communication effectively

1.6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the study will provide a full description of syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs, so other researchers and linguistics could take it as a reliable reference to make further studies in this field Moreover, the similarities and differences between these verb in English and Vietnamese are very helpful in contrasting two languages

Practically, the study will help the Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language use the English BEGINNING verb group effectively in daily communication The findings of the study is hopefully to be beneficial to those whose are engaged in teaching English as well as those who want to learn English as a foreign language

1.7 Design of the study

This thesis is organized into five chapters named as follows: Introduction, Literature Review, Syntactic and semantic features of BEGINNING verb group in English and their Vietnamese equivalents, Common errors made by students at Tong Duy Tan High school when using BEGINNING verb group in English and Conclusion

Chapter1, Introduction, gives the reason why this topic has been chosen for the

research as well as its aims and objectives, methods, scope, significance and structure

of the thesis

Chapter 2, Literature review, presents the previous studies on different kinds of verb

in English and Vietnamese along with the theoretical background employed for

conducting the thesis

Chapter 3, Syntactic and semantic features of BEGINNING verb group in

English and their Vietnamese equivalents, presents the syntactic and semantic

features of the BEGINNING verb group in English and Vietnamese, and then finds out

the similarities and differences between them

Chapter 4, Common errors made by students at Tong Duy Tan High school when using BEGINNING verb group in English, shows the research implications for

teaching and learning English and common errors made by students as a foreign language

Chapter 5, Conclusion, makes a brief summary of the whole thesis, points out some

limitations and give recommendation as well as suggestions for a further study

References are presented at the end of the study

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical background as well as relevant knowledge and summaries of previous research’s findings and conclusion associated with the theme of the research In other words, the review is to explain several related terms and definitions as to semantics, syntax, collocation, lexical unit and approach, verb and structures with the BEGINNING verb group These later would further highlight the features conducted of the study as well as suggest an array of possible implications for teaching the English BEGINNING verb group in general and teaching them to Vietnamese students at Tong Duy Tan high school

2.1 Previous studies

There have been numerous researchers conducting investigations into BEGINNING verb group in both English and Vietnamese The descriptions and analyses are based on the starting from Chomsky The other description of syntactic and semantic views is through different ages in the history of linguistic as William Bullokar in “Brief Grammar for English” (1785)

For BEGINNING verb group in English, Anna Wierzbicka (1972) studies about the semantic features of verbs such as: start, continue, finish, etc In another

study of R M W Dixon (1991),A new approach to English on semantic principles, he

pointed that the BEGINNING verb group include eleven English verbs: begin, start, commence, continue (with), keep (on (with)), go on (with), finish, cease, stop, complete, discontinue Two these authors studies about the semantic of these verbs in terms of semantic features

In Vietnamese, it should be noticed the works of Diep Quang Ban (2005), Nguyen Huu Quang, Nguyen Minh Thu (2016) In these books, the authors analyzed Vietnamese verbs as well as show their syntactic and semantic features

Hoàng Phê (1998)analyzed and improved to the meaning and the structures of the BEGINNING verb group In addition, some authors of Journal of Science and technology in Da nang and Journal of Science of Hue University such as Lê Minh

Giang and Ngũ Thiện Hùng(2011)named Sự khác nhaugiữa động từ thực hữu và

không thực hữu trên cứ liệu tiếng Anh và đối dịch tiếng Việt, studied about the

distinction between factive verbs and non- factive verbs in English and Vietnamese translational equivalents

Although all the studies above thoroughly describe about the semantic or the meaning features of the BEGINNING verb group, they have not been exploited in terms of their syntactic features yet Especially, the equivalents between two languages English and Vietnamese have not been implemented Moreover, the implications for teaching and learning the BEGINNING verb group from English into Vietnamese have not carried out yet

As a result, that is why this research studies about the BEGINNING verb group

The BEGINNING verb group of this study consists of seven verbs as begin, start,

continue, keep (on), finish, stop and complete In this paper, the features of syntactic

along with semantic of the BEGINNING verb group will be analyzed clearly from many different resources

2.2 Overview of syntax and semantics

2.2.1 Theory of syntax

Within traditional grammar, the syntax of a language is described in term of taxonomy of the range of different types of syntactic structures found in the language The central assumption underpinning syntactic analysis in traditional grammar is that phrases and sentences are built up a series of constituents, each of which belongs to a specific grammatical category and serves a specific grammatical function

Syntax is a set of rules in language It dictates how words from different parts

of speech are put together in order to convey a complete thought According to R.M.W Dixon (1991), syntax deals with the way in which words are combined together Verbs have different grammatical properties from language to language but there is always a major class verb, which includes word referring to motion, rest, BEGINNING, giving and speaking Syntax is understood to be the theory of the structure of sentences in a language This view has its direct antecedents in the theory of immediate constituents,

in which the function of syntax is to mediate between the observed forms of a sentence and its meaning

Bloomfield (1993), he states “we could not understand the form of a language if

we merely reduced all the complex forms to their ultimate constituents” He argued that in order to account for the meaning of a sentence, it is necessary to recognize how individual constituents such words and morphemes constitute more complex forms

Syntax is now the study of the principles and rules that govern the ways in which words are combined to form phrases, clauses and sentences in a language Syntax, which is a subfield of grammar, focuses on the word order of a language and the relationships between words In other words, morphology deals with word formation out of morphemes whereas syntax deals with phrase and sentence formation out of words

Syntactic structures are analyzable into sequences of syntactic categories or syntactic classes, these being established on the basic of the syntactic relationships and linguistic items have with other items in a construction

Every language has a limited number of syntactic relations Subject and object are probably universal of syntactic relations, which apply to every language However, just as the criteria for the major words class noun and verb differ from language to language, so do the ways in which syntactic relations are marked

2.2.2 Theory of semantic

If not most, at least, many introductions to semantics begin by asking the following question: what is semantics? What does semantics actually study? This seems like a sensible way to start a course on semantics, so we can begin by looking at some of the answers that different authors provide

Semantics is the study of meaning Lyons(1977)

Semantics is the study of meaning in Language Hurford & Heasley 1983

Semantics is the study of meaning in

Communicated through language

Lobner (2002)

Linguistic semantics is the study of literal,

decontextuallized, grammatical meaning

Frawley(1992)

Linguistic semantics is the study of how languages

organize and express meanings

Kreidler (1998)

Table 2.1: Some definitions of semantics

Table 2.1provides a selection of definitions Something that can be noticed is that there is no complete agreement For some, semantics concerns the study of meaning as communicated through language, while for some others, semantics studies all aspects of meaning and they have to add the label ‘linguistic’’ to arrive at a more precise definition This distinction, however, is not generally given much importance and leaving aside special formulation, probably all authors would agree with Kreidler’s definition (to choose just one of them):

Linguistic semantics is the study of how languages organize and express meanings

Nowadays, there are two ways of approaching semantics The formal semantics approach connects with classical philosophical semantics, that is, logic It should not

be forgotten that semantics was a part of philosophy for many centuries Formal semantics tries to describe the meaning of language using the descriptive apparatus of formal logic The goal is to describe natural language in a formal, precise, unambiguous way Related (though not identical) denominations for this type of semantics are truth- conditional semantics, modal- theoretic semantics, logical semantics, etc In truth- conditional semantics, the goal is to describe the conditions that would have to be met for a sentence to be true Formal semantics follows Frege’s principle of compositionality: the meaning of the whole is a function of the meaning of the parts This type of semantics has proposed very precise and detailed analyses of sentences and propositions, though at the price of abandoning many of the factors affecting meaning, such as etymological, cultural or psychological considerations, and neglecting a detailed analysis of the meaning of words(lexical semantics) The other approach to semantics we could call psychologically- oriented semantics or cognitive semantics This approach does not consider the logical structure of language as

important for the description of the meaning of language, and tends to disregard notions such as truth- values or strict compositionality Cognitive semantics tries to explain semantic phenomena by appealing to biological, psychological and even cultural issues They are less concerned with notions of reference and try to propose explanations that will fit with everything that we know about cognition, including perception and the role of body in the structuring of meaning structures Throughout the years, only two plausible functions of language have been considered: a communicative function and a representation function; in both of them, semantics has

to be placed at the very heart of the process

Theory of syntactic and semantic is carried out first main purpose to decide the theoretical framework of the study in the chapter four

2.3 Overview of English verb

2.3.1 Definition of English verb

According to R.M.W.Dixon (1991) defines that “a verb is the center of a clause” A verb refers to some activity and there must be a number of participants who

have roles in that activity as: Sinbad carried the old man; or it may refer to a state, and there must be a participant to experience the state as: My leg aches

A set of verbs is grouped together as one semantic type partly because they

require the same set of participant roles All giving verbs require a Donor, a Gift and a

Affect verbs are likely to involve an Agent, a Target, and something which is

manipulated by the Agent to come into contact with the target which I call manip A manip can always be stated, although it often does not have to be For examples:

John rubbed the glass (with a soft cloth)

Mary sliced the tomato (with her new knife)

Tom punched Bill (with his left fist)

(R.M.W.Dixon,1991: 9)

We are here working at the semantic level, and it should be stressed that each type has a quite distinct set of roles There is nothing in common between Gift (that which is transferred from one owner to another) and Impression (an object or activity that is seen or heard) or Perceiver (a person who receives visual or auditory sense impressions) or Agent (a person who wields a Manip to come into contact with a Target), and so on

According to Merrian-webster, verb is a word that characteristically is the grammatical center of a predicate and expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being, that in various languages is inflected for agreement with the subject, for tense, for voice, for mood, or for aspect, and that typically has rather full descriptive meaning and characterizing quality but is sometimes nearly devoid

of these especially when used as an auxiliary or linking verb In most languages, verbs are parts of speech expressing existence, action, or occurrence Verbs are used to indicate the actions, processes, conditions, or states of beings of people or things

2.3.2 Classification of English verb

According to R Quirk et al (1985), verbs are divided into two types They are intensives verbs and extensive verbs

Extensive verbs are most other verbs, they do not have subject compliment Extensive verbs are used to say what the subject is doing It covers a wider area; it takes the information away from the subject Words or phrases, which are followed by

an extensive verb work as the verb’s object They apply the verb, not the subject as in:

He stayed very quiet

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985:55) Extensive verbs include three small types: monotransive, complex transitive and ditransitive

Ditransitive verbs are verbs which take a subject and two objects or have the structures ‘SVOO’ According to certain linguistic consideration, these objectives may

be called direct, indirect objectives, or primary and secondary objectives as in the following examples:

I must send my parents an anniversary card (SVOO)

In contrast, monotransitive verbs take only one object and appear in the structure SVO

as in the following examples

That lectures bored me (SVO)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

Verbs require both a direct object and another object complement is complex transitive verbs Complex transitive verbs appear in the structure “SVOC’’ or ‘SVOA’’ In a complex- transitive construction, the object complement identifies a quality or attributes pertaining to the direct object Let’s consider the following examples:

Most students have found her reasonably helpful (SVOC)

You can put the dish on the table (SVOA)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721) The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence A verb states what

is happening in the sentence Finite verbs locate the condition or action of the verb in a specific time frame: past, present or future and have a specific tense and a subject with which they grammatically agree A complete sentence must contain a finite verb Verbs create the relationship between the subject and the object of the verb

In a command, there is still this relationship with the subject and object

understood “Go!” (Subject –you- understood, verb “go!” object away– understood.)

The form of the verb must agree with the number of its subject, which will be a noun or noun group, for example 'They were not home' (as opposed to 'They was not home') Confusion can arise when deciding whether the subject is singular or plural,

for example 'This group of students is very clever', or when there are two subjects, for example 'Ice cream and strawberries are delicious' (not 'is delicious')

Intensive verbs are also called copular verbs, and they are usually followed by a noun, or noun phrase, and adjective or prepositional phrase Intensive verbs are used to describe the subject It means that the focus is on one thing- the subject only Intensive verbs appear in the structure SVC or SVA words or phrases, which are followed by an intensive verb work as the subject compliment and they apply to the subject, not the verb Let’s consider the following examples:

Your dinner seem ready (SVC)

My office is in the next building (SVA)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721) Intensive verbs do not take any object It presents the relationship between the subject and the subject complementation The verb in sentences with subject

complement is a ‘’copular’’ or (linking verb), which of itself has little meaning but functions as a link between the complement subject

There are two subgroups:

Current intensive: be,appear, look, feel, remain, keep…

(E Warrriner, J & Graham, L.S.1980: 108) Resulting intensive: become, come, get, go, grow, turn…

She grew tired o his complaints (SVC)

(E Warrriner, J & Graham, L.S 1080: 108) This part is a source to analyze in the chapter three

2.4 Classification of sentences

2.4.1 In terms of sentence pattern

Sentence classification is carried out in order to get the foundation of studying the sentence types in the BEGINNING verb group in English and Vietnamese in chapter III

By eliminating optional adverbials from the clause structures, we have seven clause types in the classification of the essential core of each clause structure

Table 2.1: Sentence patterns (Quirk, Randolph, 1985)

Each clause type is associated with a set of verbs The seven fall naturally into three main types There are:

1 A two-element pattern: SV

They are talking (Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

2 Three three-element patterns: SV + {O}

That lecture bored me (SVO)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

3 Three four-element patterns: SVO + {O, C}

I must send my parents an anniversary card (SVOO)

Most students have found her reasonably helpful (SVOC)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721) This set of patterns is the most general classification that can be usefully applied to the classification of sentence patterns of the BEGINNING verb group in English

2.4.2 In terms of sentence elements

2.4.2.1 Syntactic features of sentence elements

Subject is the most important element of the clause elements other than the verb

according to Quirk, Randolph (1985) It is the element that is most often present It is also the element for which we can find the greatest number of characteristic features The subject is normally a noun phrase or a nominal clause, a pronoun, That-clause, To infinitive or V-ing A subject is obligatory in finite clauses except in imperative clauses, where it is normally absent but implied

Verb is also taken an extremely important role in sentences It is convenient to

make a further classification of the verbs in these patterns:

Transitive verbs

Monotransitive verbs occurs in type SVO Ditransitive verbs occur in type SVOO Complex transitive verbs occur in types SVOC and SVOA

Object is an indispensable element in a sentence with a transitive verb In fact, there are two types of object: direct object (Od) and indirect object (Oi) An

object such as parties in [2a] (My mother enjoys parties) clearly has a different role in the clause from an object such as the visitor in [5a] (Mary gave the visitor a glass of

milk), and this has been traditionally recognized by applying the term direct object to

the former, and indirect object to the latter We give priority here to the distributional

fact that whenever there are two objects (in type SVOO), the former is normally the indirect object, and the latter is direct object But although it is more central with regard to position, in other respects the indirect object is more peripheral than the direct object: it is more likely to be optional, and may generally be paraphrased by a prepositional phrase functioning as adverbial

Complement is used in sentence patterns SVC and SVOC There are also two

types of complements: subject complement (Cs) and object complement (Co) We can

distinguish between the types of complement found in the SVC pattern; ie: totally

independent in:

The country became totally independent [3a]

And the type of complement found in the SVOC pattern; ie: rather expensive in:

Most people consider these books rather expensive [6a]

The distinction is effectively made by noting that in [3a] the country is

understood to have become a totally independent country, while in [6a] the books are understood to be considered rather expensive books In other words, in SVC clauses

the complement applies some attribute or definition to the subject, whereas in SVOC clauses it applies an attribute or definition to the object This distinction is usually

denoted by the terms subject complement and object complement respectively In these

cases, the complement is an adjective phrase, but elsewhere, where the complement is

a noun phrase, the same kind of distinction holds:

Type SVC: The country became a separate nation

Type SVOC: Most people considered Picasso a genius

2.4.2.2 Semantic features of sentence elements

Quirk, Randolph (1985)shows that the most typical semantic role of a subject in

a clause that has a direct object is that of the agentive participant: that is, the animate being instigating or causing the happening denoted by the verb:

Margaret is mowing the grass

Besides, the subject may have a recipient role with verbs such as have, own,

possess, benefit (from); the role of position with intransitive stance verbs such as sit, stand, lie, live, stay, remain, and with transitive verbs related to stance verbs such as carry, hold, keep, wear; the locative, temporal and eventide role

Direct object has several roles in sentences The most typical role of the direct object is that of the affected participant: a participant (animate or inanimate)

which does not cause the happening denoted by the verb, but is directly involved in some other way:

Many MPs criticized the Prime Minister

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 741) The direct object may have a locative role with such verbs as walk, swim, pass, jump,

turn, leave, reach, surround, cross, climb

Besides, the direct object has a resultant, cognate, and instrumental object

Besides, the most typical role of the indirect object is that of the recipient

participant: i.e., of the animate being that is passively implicated by the happening or state:

I’ve found you a place

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 741)

It occasionally takes an affected role with a few of the verbs that combine with an

eventide object The most common verb in the latter construction is give:

She gave me a push

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 742)

Complement is also a very important element in sentences The typical semantic

role of a subject complement and an object complement is that of attribute We can distinguish two Subgroups of role for the attribute: identification and characterization

We can further subdivide attributes into current or existing attributes (normally with verbs used stativity) and resulting attributes, resulting from the event described by the verb (with verbs used dynamically)

Branda became their accountant (Identification)

Dwight is an honest man (Characterization)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 728)

2.5Overview of BEGINNING verb group

BEGINNING verb group are founded in English as R.M.W DIXON who studied about

the semantic features of verbs such as begin, start, continue, keep (on), finish, stop and

complete in A new approach to English on semantic principles(1991) In other words,

A new approach to English grammar on semantic principles is one of the study to discuss the definition and semantic features of BEGINNING verb group The book

show three group: (i) begin, start(ii)continue (with), keep ((on) with),(iii) finish, stop,

complete

In Vietnam, the BEGINNING verb group was founded by some authors such as Hoang

Tue(1992), Giáo trình việt ngữ Động từ trong Tiếng Việt was written by Nguyen Kim

Than (1997), these authors studied about of words in Vietnamese including BEGINNING verb group Moreover, some authors of Journal of Science of Hue University: (2011), sự khác nhau giữa động từ thực hữu trên cứ liệu Tiếng Anh và đối dịch tiếng These authors studies about the distinction between factive verbs non factive verbs in English and Vietnamese translation Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2012), ngữ nghĩa của động từ trong tiếng Việt The author has only mentioned the meanings of BEGINNING verb group in Vietnamese, not discuss or compare the equivalents of the BEGINNING verb group in English There have been a lot of researchers conducting investigations into verb goups in both English and Vietnamese For verbs in English R.M.W DIXON (1991) studies about the semantic features of English verb groups such as: the BEGINNING group, BEGINNING group, DECIDING group, THINKING group.etc This book has two purposes: one purpose is practical: it is meant to be of service to the general public, both to native speakers of English and to people learning or teaching English as a second language The other purpose is scholarly: it is meant to be a study of an important section of the English vocabulary, a study of a kind which has never been undertaken before The present dictionary can be regarded as a justification of the semantic theory on which it is based This does not mean, however, that the practical lexicographic purpose is subordinated to a theoretical linguistic goal On the contrary, the semantic theory is viewed here as a lexicographic enterprise, which will be also useful as a reference book According to R.M.W DIXON (1991), the BEGINNING verb group includes seven English verbs:

begin, start , continue, keep (on with), finish, stop, complete, discontinue These verbs

are analysed thoroughly in terms of their meanings and using in daily life Given the necessary limitations of scope, the clues offered by the syntactic properties of the individual verbs have not been exploited as fully and as systematically as it was hoped

2 6 Summary

In this chapter, the Literature Review includes previous studies, review of theoretical background In the previous studies, the studies of authors in oversea and in Vietnam are given In the theory of syntax and semantics are analyzed thoroughly in order to use for background of analyzing the syntactic and semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group in English Moreover, the definition of the verb and classification of verb are pointed out in details Finally, theoretical background is

given briefly reviewing what has been found and discussed the related studies by describing their approaches and key findings

CHAPTER 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF BEGINNING VERB GROUP IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

In this chapter, the syntactic and semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group in English as well as in Vietnamese are mentioned separately in Vietnamese equivalents

are investigated through Vietnamese translation version

3.1 Syntactic features of the BEGINNING verb group

After studying the background, it is found out that the BEGINNING verb group

in English is divided into four sentence patterns according to their syntactic feature:

SV, SVO, SVOC and SVOO

The following table can account for the sentence patterns of BEGINNING verb group

Table 3: Summary of the sentence patterns of the BEGINNING verb group

As we can see from the table, among seven verbs above, there are six verbs (begin,

start Continue, keep, finish, stop) belong to both sentence patterns: SV, SVO Two

verbs (start and keep) belong to sentence pattern SVOC Only verb keep occurs in SVOO The verb complete belongs to type SVO

A BEGINNING verb should be followed by another verb, which it modifies and which may in certain circumstances be omitted

The choir started (singing) ‘Messiah’ at two o’clock

Tommy has finished (selling) the peas

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 172)

This statement of usage will be expanded and refined below

There are two kinds of verbs that may be readily be omitted after a member of the BEGINNING type:

Verbs concerned with making or preparing or performing something, such as cook,

knit and tell

He began (cooking) the supper

She began (knitting) a sweater

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 172) Other verbs of similar meaning that may be omitted include: build, perform, write,

copy, print, bind, weave, sew, mend, cook, boil, peel, scrape, shell, chop, clean, wash, polish, and sweep

Verbs concerned with consumption, such as read, eat, drink and smoke

I started (reading) ‘Great Expectations’ last night

John began (eating) the chocolate cake

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 173)

When a verb is omitted after a BEGINNING item, its object NP is left behind This

NP is something that is a typical object of the omitted verb, so that the nature of the verb can with a degree of probability to be inferred from it

Jon began building Mary’s house last February

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 173)

It is permissible to omit build, since house is a prototypical object of that verb

However, it is not possible to omit if the verb can take any sort of object

Mary began liking her new house after she’d been living in it for six months

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 173)

As mentioned before, there may be more than one verb that is omissible before a given object NP

John began (building/painting) Mary’s house

Hosanna began (reading/writing) a new detective novel

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 173)

A speaker will not normally omit a verb unless he thinks the addresser has enough background knowledge to be able to retrieve it

It might be known that John is a painter and not a builder, that Hosanna writes

detective stories but seldom reads them

The verbs which can be omitted after a BEGINNING item mostly come from the AFFECT, CORROEAL and SPEAKING types (but are only a selection of verbs from these types) It would be highly unusual to omit a verb that belongs to MOTION, REST, GIVING, THINKING, DECIDING, LINKING or ANNOYING – that is, from sentences like

The old lady started fetching the firewood

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 173)

Verbs that are omitted normally have two stated NPs (in A and O syntactic relations) and both are retained It is interesting that a verb for which three roles are stated is not open to omission

She started giving alms to the beggars

He began telling another joke to the delegates

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 173)

However, it may be omitted when there are just two roles stated

He began (telling) another joke to the delegates

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 173)

If the subject noun phrase is a description of a person such that it indicates their

habitual activity then it may be possible to omit a object NP together with a transitive verb, or to omit an intransitive verb

Mary started (cooking) the dinner at four o’clock

The chef started (cooking) (the dinner) at four o’clock

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 174)

In the Mary sentence, the NP dinner should be included to enable the listener to

retrieve the verb cook; but if the chef is subject NP, this is not necessary

When a BEGINNING verb modifies an intransitive verb, or a transitive verb that has

no object stated, then this verb may often be replaced by an activity or speech act noun derived from the verb

John began the apology before you arrive

John began apologizing/ to apologize before you arrived

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 174) There is a recurrent meaning difference – the noun may refer to some unit of activity and the verb just to the fact that the activity happens

A BEGINNING verb may also appear in an intransitive construction where the subject

is an activity, state or speech act noun

The game continued after tea

John’s jealousy first began when he saw Mary out with Tom

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 174)

For each of these sentences, there is a near-paraphrase that includes a related verb or adjective in a complement clause

People continued the game after tea

John first began to be joules when he saw Mary out with Tom

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 174) There are some peripheral members of the BEGINNING type which can only be used

in transitively, with an activity noun is subject slot

3.2 Semantic features of the BEGINNING verb group in

Semantically, the verbs of this type divide into three Subgroups:

(i) Begin, start

(ii) Continue (with), keep (on (with))

(iii) Finish, stop, complete

3.2.1 Beginning Subgroup

Beginning Subgroup consists of two verbs: begin and start There is a meaning

contrast of a different sort between them

The marathons race begins at Santa Monica

The marathon race starts at three o’clock

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 176)

Start tends to refer to a time and begin to a place

The three o’clock race began at the 500 meter mark (place); it started ten minutes late (time)

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 176) Wierzbicka (1988:77) has pointed out that the noun start refers to the first moment of

some activity- which means that the verb start tends to refer to a time

In many sentences, start and begin may be substituted one for the other with little or

no change in meaning (as may finish and stop) However, there do appear to be

semantic preferences for each verb, which motivates their use to an appreciable extent 3.2.2 Continuing group

Continue is often used when someone has stopped doing something and then starts

again Keep on (with) implies no cessation of activity while keep (on)-without with-

can be used to describe relentless (and, often, unreasonable) repetition of some activity

He kept on mowing the grass

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 177)

This sentence could be used to refer to someone cutting his lawn twice a week, even though the grass had scarcely grown during the interval

All three verbs may optionally omit their preposition(s) before an ING complement but must include them before an NP

John kept (on (with)) building the wall, but John kept on with the wall

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 177) 3.2.3 Finishing Subgroup

The last Subgroup consists of three verbs: finish, complete and stop

There is a clear contrast between finish on the one hand and stop in the other

The verb complete tends to be used for some definite and significant piece of work, not just any everyday job It is just like other verbs in the type (except stop) in that it may omit a following verb referring to making, preparing or performing, but complete

differs in that a verb referring to consumption would not normally be omitted

They completed the meal

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 176)

It implies that they finished cooking it, not eating

Start, stop and keep can all be used causatively

The official started the jockeys racing implies The jockeys started racing

Peter stopped John chopping wood implies John stopped chopping wood

Mary kept her horse galloping at full pelt across the plain implies Her horse was galloping at full pelt across the plain

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 177)

Begin may also be used causatively like in the following example

The master began the boys racing as they passed the cops

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 177) However, it is used in a causative construction less often than the other three verbs

The fact that stop has a causative use whereas finish doesn’t is related to their semantic orientation Stop generally refers to something done at the subject’s instigation, and this can be transferred to a Causer Finish refers to the referent of the O NP being fully satisfied

John stopped chopping firewood (He was tired.)

Fred stopped John chopping firewood (Fred considered that John was tired.)

Jack finished chopping firewood (All the firewood was chopped up.)

(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 177)

It would not be plausible to transfer this reason for termination to a Causer; hence we

do not get ‘Fred finished John chopping firewood.’

Table 2.2: Summary of semantic features

1 Beginning Begin - Perform or undergo the first

part of (an action or activity)

Peter had just begun a life sentence for murder’

- Come into being or have its starting point at a certain time

or place

A new era had begun

- Hold a specified role before holding any other (object of a person)

He began as a drummer

- Have as a first element

The words begin with a vowel

- Set to work at

Picasso began on a great canvas

- Start speaking by saying

- Cost at least (a specified amount)

Rooms begin at £139

- Not have any chance or likelihood of doing a specified thing (no object, with negative and infinitive)

I can't begin to tell you how much I hate that commercial

Start - Begin or be reckoned from a

particular point in time or space; come into being

The season starts in September

We ate before the film started Below Roaring Springs the real desert starts

- Embark on a continuing action

or a new venture

I'm starting on a new book

- Use a particular point, action, or circumstance as an opening for

a course of action

The teacher can start by capitalizing