A study on the syntactic and semantic features of the english verbs “look”, “see”, “watch” with reference to their vietnamese equivalents

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on the syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs “loo

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

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

report entitled “A study on the syntactic and semantic features of the English

verbs “look”, “see”, “watch” with reference to 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

Hanoi, 2016

Do Thi Toan

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)

Dang Ngoc Huong, Ph.D

Date:10/12/2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First of all, I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor Dr Dang Ngoc Huong , who has patiently 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 many other lecturers, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

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

ABSTRACT

Among the most popular English words being used currently worldwide,

the verbs look, see, watch have been , without a doubt , given great attention

by linguists so far Therefore, an initial investigation into syntactic and

semantic features of the English verbs look, see, watch with reference to their

Vietnamese equivalents would provide valuable experience to further studies

of linguistics in general and teaching them for students at Nguyen Du secondary school in particular Numerous examples have been analyzed cautiously by applying qualitative approach and some other ones so as to achieve the set objectives

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

Chapter1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.Rationale for the research 1

1.2.Aims of the research 2

1.3.Objectives of the research 2

1.4 Scope of the research 2

1.5 Significance of the research 3

1.6.Structural organization of the thesis 5

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1.Review of previous studies 6

2.2.Review of theoretical background 8

2.2.1 Theoretical framework 8

2.2.1.1 Theory of syntax 8

2.2.1.2 Theory of semantics 8

2.2.2 Theoretical Background 10

2.2.2.1.Definition of a verb 10

2.2.2.2.Collocation .11

2.2.2.3.Synonyms 13

2.2.2.4 Definition of perception verbs 13

2.2.2.5 Syntactic features of perception verbs in English 13

2.2.2.6 Semantic features of perception verbs in English 14

2.3.Summary 15

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 16

3.1.Research-governing orientations 16

3.1.1.Research questions 16

3.1.2 Research setting 16

3.1.3.Research approach 17

3.1.4.Principles for intended data collection and data analysis 17

3.2.Research methods 18

3.2.1 Major methods vs supporting methods 18

3.2.2.Data Collection techniques 19

3.3.Summary 19

Chapter 4.FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 20

4.1.Syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs Look, See, Watch 20

4.1.1.Syntactic features of the English verbs Look, See, Watch 20

4.1.1.1.Syntactic features of the verb “look” 20

4.1.2 Semantic features of English verbs look, see, watch 28

4.1.2.1 Semantic features of the verb “look” 28

4.1.2.2 Semantic features of the verb “see” 29

4.1.2.3 Semantic features of the verb “watch” 32

4.2.The English verbs look , see and watch and their Vietnamese equivalents 33

4.2.1.Semantic differences among see, look (at), watch 33

4.2.2.The differences between see, look, and watch in English and Vietnamese 35

4.3 Some possible implications for teaching and learning the English verbs look, see, watch 37

4.3.1.Some possible implications for learning the English verbs look, see, watch 38

4.3.2.Some possible implications for teaching the English verbs look, see, watch 44

4.4.Summary 45

Chapter 5 CONCLUSION 46

5.1.Recapitulation 46

5.2.Concluding marks 46

5.3.Limitations of the current study 47

5.4.Suggestions for further studies 47

REFERENCES 48

APPENDICES 51

APPENDIX 1 51

APPENDIX 1 52

APPENDIX 2 53

APPENDIX 3 56

APPENDIX 4 60

Chapter1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research

Vocabulary in general plays an important role in any language as we cannot communicate without words British linguist Wilkins (1972:111) once stated “without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” There is a common assumption that the more words a learner knows, the larger the learner’s vocabulary knowledge is However, words are not used alone and separately but go with each other and depend on each other Words are combined into phrases There are free phrases and fixed phrases The latter often confuse learners because there are not any fixed rules for all the combinations English-as-a-second-language learners often have difficulties treating fixed phrases in their learning process That is why many learners cannot communicate fluently although they know a lot of words Therefore, the possible combinations of words or collocations have to be taken into consideration

Among verbs of English, we find that the verbs look, see, watch are

quite frequently used These verbs can occur in different syntactic patterns that reflect various meanings in real-life communication They can occur in the same syntactic patterns, but may have different meanings depending on the situation in which they are used

As a teacher of English at Nguyen Du secondary school, I found that my learners have faced many problems when they use this group of verbs They often feel confused to choose the right verb and make errors in using them Therefore, I have carried out a study 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

That is why the subject : “A study on the syntactic and semantic

features of the English verbs “look”, “see”, “watch” with reference to their

contribute a small part in studying and teaching these verbs in English In this

study, The English verbs look, see, watch are described and analyzed in a

variety of contexts and situations Hence, We do hope that the thesis will be a useful reference, to the extent possible, for teaching and learning English and Vietnamese as foreign languages

1.2 Aims of the research

This research is conducted to achieve the targets of finding out syntactic

and semantic features of English verbs: look, see, watch with

reference to the Vietnamese equivalents as well as suggesting some possible implications for teaching them to students at Nguyen Du secondary school who study English as a foreign language

1.3.Objectives of the research

To achieve the above-mentioned aims, the following objectives can be put forward:

+ To point out the syntactic and semantic features of look, see and watch

+ To identify the Vietnamese equivalents of these English verbs where appropriate

+ To suggest some possible implications of teaching and learning English

verbs look, see, watch

1.4 Scope of the research

*Academic scope

The study focuses on studying the syntactic and semantic features of

English verbs look, see, watch and their equivalents in Vietnamese so as to

make crucial contributions to the field of linguistics and improve the efficiency

of teaching English verbs for students in Nguyen Du secondary school The findings hopefully would bring out various suggestions for teachers and researchers to conduct further studies related to English collocations with the

verbs look, see, watch as well as advance teaching effectiveness of

collocations Due to the limited time as well as the scope of the study, the

author focuses on the syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs

verbs and idioms of these English verbs are excluded in the study Such approach definitely helps students efficiently expand their lexical items as students are exposed to a new look at how words are frequently used in reality, not purely words’ definition without notes for practical ways of using them It

is better if English collocations with more verbs are analyzed and totalized, contributing considerably to English learning and teaching in Vietnam

*Social scope

The applications of this work will, hopefully, contribute greatly to find out appropriate methods to teaching English verbs in Vietnam and make changes how Vietnamese learners of English not only in their study at school

as a compulsory subject but also in their daily use of English as a foreign language As mentioned previously, regarding English lexical terms, students often learn English words’ definitions separately with their actual uses In fact, teachers and students often make their own examples without collecting and analyzing examples of collocations indicating how native speakers combine some words with each other while others are not used frequently They also have difficulty in using the words in the conversation, in contexts…Therefore, this study suggests them the definitions of the verbs, different types of parts of speech and discover the rules to make use of them The effects will be vital to students and should be encouraged to be applied at school as well as for self-learners of English

1.5 Significance of the research

Theoretical significance:

It is true that lexical aspect has been given little attention so far and teachers instead only pay attention to grammar or other aspects Thus, students are often not provided with full understandings towards English collocations of

some certain words and only learn their definitions A frequent difficulty is that students might find some common expressions complicated because they have no idea while a combination of the word with another one is not approved In order to overcome such a trouble, the research is carried out in order to offer needed knowledge as to syntactic and semantic features of the

English verbs look, see, watch By providing an innovative approach to

learning English lexical terms, the author expects to change how students learn English words as well as how teachers change their traditional methods of teaching vocabulary If words are separated from their specific contexts and are exposed to students only through their meanings in dictionaries, it is not easy for these 2nd language users to obtain the real meanings of the words in different cases

This study also contributes to verifying significance related to semantic theory in componential analysis by working on a certain synonymic group of verbs It proves that lexical semantics is an important area in linguistics Verbs,

as the core of lexicon, provide the key to exploring the interaction between syntax and semantics as well as understand the nature of lexicon

Practical significance:

The author hopes that this study ‘s findings and conclusion would make great contributions to raise the importance of studying English verbs

when students study about collocations, they might learn them by heart easily, however, the main problem will lie in applications of these words in appropriate contexts Therefore, learning about the syntactic and semantic features of these verbs is the beginning of the whole process The main step is

to understand comprehensively how they are applied in diverse situations and students can only do this by analyzing examples made by native speakers, not their own This research offers them a method to do this Secondly, regarding

translation, students will have problems with understand the meanings if they

learn the words’ definitions separately with its locations and meanings This

study’s implications are to deal with these issues in hope that will help students

overcome their troubles Findings of this study will provide information that

can help learners and translators gain an insight into how the speech act verbs

with look, see and watch can be employed in discourse in English by

Vietnamese learners and translators

1.6.Structural organization of the thesis

This thesis is organized into five chapters

Chapter 1 – Introduction – gives a brief overview of the research with

the rationale for choosing the topic of the research, aims, objectives, scope,

significance of the thesis and structural organization of the thesis

Chapter 2 – Literature review – presents the previous studies relating

to the research area and theoretical background employed for conducting the

thesis

Chapter 3 – Methodology – describes in detail all research-governing

orientations and research methods

Chapter 4 - Findings and Discussion: shows the findings which

address the research questions through the data gathered and analyzed This

section also discusses the results obtained in relation to the research questions

and some previous studies The research implications for teaching and learning

English as a foreign language can be found as the last part of this chapter

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 come 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

verbs: look, see, watch These later would further highlight the features

conducted of the study as well as suggest an array of possible implications for

teaching the English verbs look, see, watch in general and teaching them to

Vietnamese students at Nguyen Du secondary school in particular

2.1 Review of previous studies

There have been a lot of dictionaries such as: Từ điển Anh-Anh-Việt” (2008); Từ điển Việt- Anh” (2000); published by Publishing House of Cultural and Informatics, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003); Dictionary of

Contemporary English (2003) in which mentioned about verbs: look, see,

these verbs In Vietnam, the linguist Nguyen Hoa has made contributions to

the study of discourse analysis in An Introduction to Semantic Analysis, Hanoi

National University publication and Professor Tran Huu Manh (2008)

analyzed the fundamentals of English traditional syntax, Hanoi National

University publication

Some studies of Vietnamese researchers that the author has found so far tend to make comparisons between ways of using some popular structures with the verbs they chose They also listed grammatical structures and provided a wide range of examples and Vietnamese translated versions in order to help other linguists to obtain the examples’ meanings more broadly Thanks to this, when these authors presented their conclusion, their findings can be viewed on a more comprehensive scale

First of all, in terms of collocations, Lan (2010) investigated deeply into the lexical verb DO as she still saw greater opportunities to open more pages about the analyses of collocations despite various studies came previously

Lan pointed out how Vietnamese learners of English and examiners paid their attention to the differences between syntactic and grammatical errors while acquiring English collocations, figuring out they almost consider these notions one type of error

Secondly, while uncovering the dissimilarities between the usages of four verbs Say, Tell, Speak and Talk, the researcher Yen (2010) based herself

on the componential analysis, pointing out clearly the senses which contributed

to the governance of these verbs in the related contexts In order to help other researchers reach a profound understanding of her conclusions, the author examined cautiously and presented the Vietnamese translational equivalents for each quotation used Regarding componential analysis, the author described this method’s function as breaking down into pieces their meanings

of terms and then making several comparisons between the semantic components so as to discriminate the above-mentioned meanings

In terms of the proper methods used to carry out associated studies, three authors of the study Automatic Classification of English Verbs Using Rich Syntactic Features (2008) proved the informative characteristic of syntactic features in verb classification The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods with the purpose of obtaining speech and data analyses to draw conclusion with regards to the instructive significance of syntactic features in automatic verb classification What’s more, while classifying 13 semantic syntactic subsets of English verb types, White (2002) figured out the ways children who are hard for heading or deaf define vocabulary and semantic syntactic features of verbs in their process of learning English

Up to now, there has been some researches about English verbs look,

syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs “look”, “see”, “watch”

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Theoretical framework

2.2.1.1 Theory of syntax

In the past, syntactic clues have sometimes been utilized in lexicography as an aid to establishing polysemy In the theoretically oriented linguistic literature, too, the claim had often been made that a difference in meaning (Diixon, 1985) In the present work, however, a stronger claim has been tried to explore: that a syntactic similarity is likely to reflect a similarity

in meaning, so that shared syntactic patterns are likely to reflect shared semantic components To the extent to which this claim is validated, shared syntactic properties can be seen as evidence for postulated semantic structure

Regarding how syntax is defined, it is clear that syntax is the study of structure of language 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 For this reason, the goal of many syntacticians is to discover the syntactic rules common to all languages They are to dictate how words from different parts of speech are put together to convey a complete thought

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 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 Theory of semantics

Semantics is a branch of linguistics, which deals with meaning or the content of communication According to Hurford and Heasley (1983:1),

semantics is the study of meaning in language Language is a means of communication, and people use language to communicate with others by making conversations, giving information, and other things to make social relationship Human beings have been given the capacity to talk, to communicate with each other, to make meaningful utterances, so that’s they are understood by other human beings They communicate about the world in which they live, about themselves, about their thought and feeling, about what has happened, about what might happen or what they would like to happen, and a lot more

There are some linguists that tried to define semantics Morries as quoted by Lyons (1977) at first defines semantics as the study of the relations

of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable And then he revised his definition, saying that, semantics is that portion of semiotic which deals with the signification of sign in all modes of signifying But Jack Richards, John Platt, Heidi Weber (1987:1972) state that’s :the study of meaning is semantics Semantics is usually concerned with the analysis of the meaning of words, phrases, or sentences and sometimes with the meaning of utterances in discourse or the meaning of a whole text.”

David Crystal (1992:1347) defines that semantics is the study of meaning in language Structural semantics applied the principles of structural linguistics to the study of meaning through the notion of semantic relations (also called sense relation), such as synonym and antonym In generative grammar, the semantic component is a major area of the grammar’s organization, assigning a semantic representation to sentences, and analyzing lexical terms of semantic features The theory of semantic fields views vocabulary as organized into areas, within which words (lexical items) interrelate and define each other

It is widely known that language is obviously used to express meanings that can be understood among speakers However, meanings exist in humans’ minds and what people express is, therefore, already in their minds through spoken and written forms of languages Consequently, there should be

a sub-field studies how speakers convey meaningful messages or receive and understand these meanings The sub-field is Semantics which is the study of meanings in language In other words, linguists are to find an answer for the question of how language is organized to be meaningful Since humans cannot see meanings, it is the most abstract level of linguistic analysis

Additionally, there is one idea that can be regarded as the most important subject in contemporary semantics, pointing out that meaningful units could combine with each other systematically to form larger meaningful units and that understanding sentences is an appropriate method to work out these combinations Researchers, therefore, are to look for general rules to indicate the relationships between forms or arrangements of words in sentences and meaning It is not an easy job as these relationships are often very complex

2.2.2 Theoretical Background

2.2.2.1.Definition of a verb

As has already been mentioned, verbs are very important constituents

of sentences Because of the complexity of the verbal characteristics and also because of the existence of an extensive number of publications dealing with their characteristics in great depth, this part of the thesis does not, by any means, intend to give a comprehensive description of verbal characteristics and behavior of verbs

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, 159) A very general division of verbs is provided by Quirk et al (1985), who divide 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

2.2.2.2.Collocation

First of all, regarding the definition of Collocation, it is a group of words which are often combined together to set phrases, verb patterns and idioms It is said that strong rain or big rain is obviously grammatically correct, however, English native speakers definitely prefers heavy rain As a result, other phrases related to rain in such cases might be found unnatural

There are even more cases when it comes to other couples of verbs that are often mistaken by foreign learners of English Farrokh (2012) mentioned some interesting questions as to collocations, for example, why people say by train or by car, but on foot? His research is to raise the awareness of students and teachers about the importance of learning collocation in ESL/EFL classes, therefore, he used various examples that can be found in English textbooks and are considered familiar to normal learners of English One of his conclusion is that to require the meaning of a word, English users not only need to know its dictionary definition but also the types of words which it is often combined with Thus, learning collocations requires years of proficient use of the language

However, defining collocation has been always a difficult task to solve Researchers have their own ways of recognizing collocation based on where and how they look at it Generally, it can be said that most of them seem

to strongly agree to the sense of co-occurrence of words in which each individual unit will contribute to the overall semantic meaning of the combination

To begin with, Halliday and Hasan (1976) defined collocations as words which are used in lexical cohesion of texts and contained a cohesive

force upon pairs of words such as boy and girl Later, collocation was identified by Palmer(1981) as a succession of two or more words in which they must be considered as an integral whole The linguist said that piecing words together should not be a proper method as each component part had its individual meaning that should not be taken slightly Another case is that of Beson et al (1986) who divided collocation into two categories namely lexical collocation and grammatical collocation While the former consists of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs the later consists of a dominant word, which is the same as a verb, a noun, or an adjective as a whole, and a preposition or grammatical structure After that, Kuo (2009) later suggested 7 types of collocations based on the theory of Beson et al

Last but not least, idioms somehow share a number of similarities with collocations and free compounds in their order of words and it is also true that idioms have their specific meanings, both literal and figurative ones First of all, Farrokh (2012) defined idioms as relatively frozen expressions whose meanings do not reflect the meanings of their component parts, using to kill two birds with one stone to prove his statement More specifically speaking, unlike collocations and free compounds, the meaning of a normal idiom cannot

be guessed by combining the meanings of each element Secondly, idioms can appear as words, combinations of words, phrases, or even entire clauses and sentences As a result, translating idioms from a language to another one is always the hardest job since much of their meanings will not be obtained clearly and precisely if they are perceived literally or separately Thirdly, in terms of characteristics of collocation, there are two main features that should

be taken into consideration cautiously

These sections below present each characteristic clearly The first feature is arbitrary Regarding how collocations are formed, most foreign learners of English often raise a question as to why there are some words are selected to form a meaning and form

2.2.2.3.Synonyms

Since there are four lexical items which are studied in the present paper,

it is important to see in what relations they are to each other The term

‘synonymy’ should be defined in this connection It is clear that a definition of synonyms simply as words having the same or closely related meanings is too

vague Crystal (2003:450) specifies the definition in the following way

2.2.2.4 Definition of perception verbs

In English grammar, a verb of perception is a verb (such as see, watch,

physical senses Also called perception verb or perceptual verb

The verb of perception from a subclass of the verbs of sensory

cognition (henceforth: SVC) that include verbs referring to the five senses employed in the process of human sensory cognition (i.e sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste) That subclass consists of the following lexical items: see, watch, look, hear, smell, feel, and taste) In Kopytko (1986 a) I referred to the discussed subclass of VSC as resultative SVC The reason for that was my attempt to account for the difference in meaning between the sentences

2.2.2.5 Syntactic features of perception verbs in English

Syntax is the study of how combine to the form sentences and the rules which govern the formation of sentences However, syntactic structure is understood as the arrangement of words and morphemes into large units (phases, clauses, and sentences)

Every verb, in its capacity as the core of a clause, is defined semantically in terms of the semantic roles of the participants in the state or event codes by the clause Within the clause, these participants occupy the grammatical roles of, most commonly, subject, direct object, indirect object, adverb or predicate These grammatical roles are marked in English by a combination of morphology and word order But they also have other, more subtle, grammatical-behavioral properties, such as various constraints on their distribution in grammatical environment

According to the grammatical classification of verbs, verbs fall into three broad subclasses-those that require only one role (intransitive verbs), those which require two roles (copular) and those require two or more roles (transitive verbs) There is a considerable difference between intransitive subjects and transitive subject

It is clear that verbs are one of the most central syntactic category in language They have deep relations with the other categories: nouns because they select arguments which are often nominal or adverbs because adverbs modify verbs, prepositions, which, in turn assign thematic roles to NPs Verbs associated with adverbs permit the computation of aspect

These syntactic features of perception verbs are the basis of analyzing the syntactic features of the English verbs: see, look, watch in English and

Vietnamese in chapter 4

2.2.2.6 Semantic features of perception verbs in English

According to R.M.W.Dixon (1991), he defined “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 legs aches

Perception verbs are subcategorized into three classes: the “agentive LISTEN-class” (as in I listened to the tenor), the “experiencer HEAR-class” (as in I heard him struggle), and the “percept SOUND-class” (as in The high C sounded flat) In addition to a description of perception verbs, other areas in lexical semantics such as argument linking, polysemy, and evidentiality are also of interest to him since those areas raise semantic issues associated with perception verbs

These semantics features of perception verbs are the basis of analyzing the semantic features of the English verbs: see, look, watch in

English and Vietnamese in chapter 4

2.3.Summary

In this chapter, an overview of perception verbs in English is given to briefly review what has been found and discuss related studies by describing their methods and key findings, and then identify theoretical background of syntactic and semantic features of sentence elements

Moreover, the definition of verb, the definition of perception verbs, the syntactic and semantic features of perception verbs, are analyzed thoroughly in order to use as the background of analyzing the syntactic and semantic features

of the verbs look, see, watch in English Finally, These features will be

discussed in greater detail in the next chapters

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research questions and method of the study to tackle the proposed issues In other words, the section provides a description of the subjects of the study and the procedure to carry out the research with details of the action plan

3.1 Research-governing orientations

3.1.1 Research questions

In this study, the author is going to investigate the semantic and

syntactic features of the English verbs look, see, watch as well as their

equivalents in Vietnamese by reading through a great number of sources such

as books, dictionaries… While analyzing the entire terms, conclusion will be pointed towards what these above-mentioned features are and what pedagogical applications should be suggested Such knowledge has to base on

the ways grammarians and linguists of each time study the verbs look, see,

In order to gain the aims of the study, the thesis is expected to find out the answers for the following questions:

1 What are the syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs

2 What are the Vietnamese equivalents of these English verbs look,

see and watch?

3 What are the possible implications of teaching and learning English

verbs look, see, watch for Vietnamese learners of English?

3.1.2 Research setting

The research is conducted with references from diverse reliable sources such as dictionaries, encyclopedia, reference books at library and on

some websites in which the English verbs look, see, watch and their

Vietnamese equivalents are used Through years teaching English grammar

and vocabulary for learners of English at Nguyen Du secondary school in Ha

Noi, the author has found out that the English verbs look, see, watch have a

little meaning to students at the school as they only learn words’ definitions and create their own examples by coined formulas, ignoring how these words can be used in specific contexts This leads to a drawback that students somehow learn English words word by word and can not use them effectively and properly in English daily conversations This research aims at pointing out

syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs look, see, watch with

reference to their Vietnamese equivalents in order to help students at secondary school identify more clearly about the differences in syntactics as well as in semantics between these verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents

3.1.3.Research approach

This study is conducted by combining the two research approaches of both qualitative and quantitative In the first place, data was collected from a wide range of sources from printed publications and e-books on the Internet (certified by Google Books) After the collecting stage was finished, examples then were qualitatively described, analyzed and illustrated in terms of syntactic and semantic features At the same time, they were also compared with their Vietnamese equivalents under a process of statistical analysis to fully answer

to the first research question individually For the third question, pedagogical implications were withdrawn after the two questions about syntactic and semantic features were brought out entirely

3.1.4.Principles for intended data collection and data analysis

This study aims at investigating syntactic and semantic features of the

English verbs look, see, watch with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents

For such reason, the author has presented theoretical background related to both fields of linguistics as well as notions Then details of the English verbs

presented clearly

Regarding material selecting, various dictionaries are a great use to list

a great number of the English verbs look, see, watch with reference to their

Vietnamese equivalents and then reliable examples are collected from Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary, Oxford Advanced Encyclopedia, Vietnamese dictionary, English semantic dictionary, Vietnamese grammar books and Internet resources.etc To achieve these aims and the stated objectives, the process of data collection and analysis have been carried out through two major steps The first stage is gathering needed examples from diverse sources while the second one, following closely, is analyzing the selected data so as to withdraw some findings and conclusion

With regards to reliability, the data for this research was only collected from trustworthy sources Quotations and information used in the study is precise as they were presented in the original materials with clear references of the author, the name of publishers, the time and place of publication as well as the page number where the data is cited

3.2.Research methods

The main method of the case study is the qualitative one, as well as explanatory and contrastive analysis All the considerations, remarks, comments and assumptions are largely based on data analysis

3.2.1 Major methods vs supporting methods

The study is intended to investigate the English verbs look, see, watch

with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents, therefore, the descriptive, comparative and contrastive methods have been chosen First of all, the descriptive method is used in order to give complete and evident descriptions

of both syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs look, see, watch

Secondly, the comparative and contrastive methods are applied to indentify similarities and differences with their Vietnamese equivalents Some other methods such as analytical and synthetic methods have also been used as supporting methods Why analyses are vital to analyzing collected data,

grouping results into divisions is crucial to give a comprehensive view of what has been concluded Last but not least, devoted commentaries and guidance from the author’s supervisor are very useful to the author Without these valuable and major contributions, the author could not have done this research

3.2.2.Data Collection techniques

The data are collected from different sources such as dictionaries, namely, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003), Oxford Advanced Encyclopedia (2002); Semantic Dictionary, A New Approach to English Grammar on Semantic Principles; English-Vietnamese Dictionary (2008); Vietnamese-English Dictionary (2000); Word Classification of Modern Vietnamese (1998); some grammar books such as English Grammar in Use by Murphy, R; A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Quirk, R; Moreover, these sources are found to provide the most fertile examples for the lexical items under study

The bilingual dictionaries, encyclopedia, the books are used for this study because they are well known and are confirmed by reliable publishing houses

After identifying different senses of the verbs look, see, watch in

English together their Vietnamese equivalents, these senses are brought into consideration The following part represents the data analysis techniques used

3.3.Summary

Research-governing orientations and research methods are two important elements to help the author to do the study The methods are used in this study include descriptive and comparative methods The data are collected from different sources such as the bilingual dictionaries, encyclopedia, English grammar books, books…that are used for this study because they are well known and are confirmed by reliable publishing houses Based on this plentiful source of materials, the research will be executed as below

Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

First of all, it is important to mention the focus of this study, which is

to do research as to syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs look,

of this initial purpose, the chapter will be divided into three main sections: the

first part is about syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs look,

third part will present some possible implications for teaching and learning these English verbs Examples will be given for each case to demonstrate the features and meanings

4.1.Syntactic and semantic features of the English verbs Look, See, Watch 4.1.1.Syntactic features of the English verbs Look, See, Watch

4.1.1.1.Syntactic features of the verb “look”

The syntactic feature of the verbs “look” can be classified as follows:

(i) look+ adverbial

The girl at whom he looked /(who(m)) he looked at

(ii) look + direct object

ANALYSIS 2:

He looked at the girl

S V O

The prepositional verb “looked at” is a transitive verb and the girl is direct

object Analysis 2 (prepositional verb + direct object) accounts for the similarity of the sentence to others having a transitive single-word verb with respect to passivization:

The girl was looked at

The two analyses are equally valid ways of looking at the same sentence, and account for different aspects of it In this section, in which we are concerned with complementation of the verb, we adopt the second analysis and consider prepositional verbs to be transitive verbs

(iii) look+ adjective

We use adjective to say how sb/sth looks:

He looks tired

S V C

The verb “looks” is classified a lexical verb that denote the state This

stative verb Hanoi National University publication is not commonly used in the progressive tense ( or more concretely, the present tense of the progressive

aspect) The verb “look” is also called an intensive verb This often denote

intensive relationship between subject and complement (SVC) Unlike most

verbs, the verb “look” doesn’t show action It must modified by adjective, not

adverb The adjective describes the subject of the sentence

(iv) look at + direct object+ adverb

The verb “look” may also be transitive verb and take a direct object

When it functions in this way, it becomes active and is modified by adverb

Example:

Professor Ingells looked at the exams happily

S V O A

(v)Look+ like + predicate-nominal

According to Chomsky Theory of Syntax, the verb “look” can be

classified : look+ like+ predicate-nominal

statement of one of the basic process of sub classification

(vi) look + like/as if/as though + S+V

In formal spoken English you can also use like:

That house looks like it is going to fall down

(or It looks like she isn’t coming)

4.1.1.2.Syntactic features of the verb “see”

The verb “see” is an irregular verb with past simple form: saw,

present participle form: seen It is also a transitive verb, always go with direct

object This verb can be classified as below:

(i) see + direct object/ see + object+ A

(ii)see+ that + clause (S+V)

The verbs “see” is followed by “that” + a clause (S+V)

(iii) see + non-finite VP

The none-finite forms of the verb are the infinitive ((to) see), the –ing participle, (seeing) and the –past participle (seen) Non-finite verb phrases consists of one or more such items

The verbs “see” is the verb of perception can be followed by object +

infinitive without to or object + -ing form The infinitive is used after these verbs when we want to say that we see the whole of an action or event The – ing form is used to suggest that we see an action or event in progress

I saw her coming

S V O (-ing participle)

I saw her come

S V O (bare infinitive)

(iv) see + NP

The grammar in the table below contains productions involving

various syntactic categories

PP prepositional phrase with a telescope

A production like VP -> V NP | V NP PP has a disjunction on the right hand side, shown by the | and is an abbreviation for the two productions VP -> V NP and VP -> V NP PP

Example:

The dog saw a man in the park

S V O A

If we parse the sentence: The dog saw a man in the park, we can end

up with the two following trees:

a

b

Since our grammar licenses two trees for this sentence, the sentence is

said to be structurally ambiguous The ambiguity in question is called

a prepositional phrase attachment ambiguity, as we saw earlier in this chapter

As you may recall, it is an ambiguity about attachment since the PP in the

park needs to be attached to one of two places in the tree: either as a child

of VP or else as a child of NP When the PP is attached to VP, the intended interpretation is that the seeing event happened in the park However, if the PP is attached to NP, then it was the man who was in the park, and the agent of the seeing (the dog) might have been sitting on the balcony of an apartment overlooking the park

+The verb see is that after these verbs possessive forms cannot be used

with an –ing form

Example:

I saw Peter getting out of the train (NOT I saw Peter’s getting out of

the train.)

+The verbs see can also be followed by an object + past participle In

this structure, the past participle has a passive meaning

Example:

I saw my name repeated several times (= My name was repeated

several times.)

4.1.1.3.Syntactic features of the verb “watch”

(i) watch + object

The verb “watch” is defined as a mono transitive verb The

complementation of a mono transitive verb (direct object) may be: Od= a noun phrase

Example: He watched TV

S V Od

V “watched” = monotransitive verb, TV= monotransitive complementation

(Od)

(ii) watch+ Object+ bare infinitive/–ing participle

The verb “watch” is a verb of perception takes the bare infinitive in

the active and –ing participle clause

In the passive, the bare infinitive is replaced by the two-infinitive: Bob

with being: I watched Mary being taught (by Bob)

* watch +Object + Infinitive

The verb “watch” can be used with an object and then the bare infinitive (without to):

{verb of perception} + {object} + {bare infinitive}

I watched it explode

S V O bare infinitive

(iii) watch + direct object+ adverb

The transitive verb “watch” may take a direct object When it

functions in this way, it becomes active and is modified by adverb

Example:

He watched the girl nervously

S V O C

*The verb “watch” is used in continuous forms and indicate the

subject is focusing on a particular object or item:

{progressive form} > {item}

He is watching >television

In grammatical analysis, most phrases contain a key word that identifies the type and linguistic features of the phrase; this is known as the head-word, or the head The syntactic category of the head is used to name the category of the phrase; for example, a phrase whose head is a noun is called