An investigation into syntactic and semantic features of english“go” idioms with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH “GO” IDIOMS WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC TRƯNG CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÁC

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

AN INVESTIGATION INTO SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH “GO” IDIOMS WITH REFERENCE

TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC TRƯNG CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CÓ ĐỘNG TỪ ‗GO‘ TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI

TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT

NGUYEN THI THUY LINH

Hanoi, 2016

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

AN INVESTIGATION INTO SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH “GO” IDIOMS WITH REFERENCE

TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC TRƯNG CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CÓ ĐỘNG TỪ ‗GO‘ TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI

TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TIẾNG VIỆT

NGUYEN THI THUY LINH Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Ph.D

Hanoi, 2016

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

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

entitled An Investigation into Syntactic and Semantic Features of English―Go‖ idioms with reference to the 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

A special word of thanks goes to many other lecturers, without whose support and encouragement, it would have never been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

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

my children 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 verb ―GO‖ has been, without a doubt, of great concern by linguists so far Therefore, an initial investigation into syntactic and semantic features of ―GO‖idioms with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents would provide valuable experience to further studies of linguistics in general and help Vietnamese students as learners of foreign language in translation Numerous examples have been analyzed cautiously by applying qualitative approach and some other ones so as to achieve the set objectives

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Syntactic structures of ―GO‖ combinations 16

Table 2: The semantic senses encoded by the verb GO 16

Table 3.The structure of ―GO‖ idioms with GO as a single verb 38

Table 4.The structure of ―GO‖ idioms with GO as a phrasal verb 39

Table 5 Idioms with ―GO‖ denoting ―movement‖ 41

Table 6 Common categories of noun phrases in ―GO‖ idioms 67

Table 7 Frequency of ―GO‖ idioms denoting different meanings 73

Chart 1: The second component of ―GO‖ idioms with GO as a single verb 38

Chart 2: Phrasal verb "GO" + components 39

Chart 3: Common categories of noun phrases in ―GO‖ idioms 67

Chart 4: Frequency of ―GO‖ idioms denoting different meanings 73

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF TABLES vi

Chapter 1 1

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 3

1.5 Significance of the research 4

1.6 Structural organization of the thesis 5

Chapter 2 7

LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Review of previous studies 7

2.2 Review of theoretical background 8

2.2.1 Definition of idioms 8

2.2.2 Aspects of idioms 9

2.2.3 Features of idioms 10

2.2.4 Source of idioms 11

2.2.5 Types of idioms 11

2.2.6 Verbal idioms 13

2.2.7 Collocations and idioms 14

2.2.8 Application of idioms 15

2.2.9 Overview of the verb ―GO‖ 15

2.3 Summary 17

Chapter 3 18

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Research orientations 18

3.1.1 Research questions 18

3.1.2 Research setting 18

3.1.3 Research approaches 19

3.1.4 Criteria for intended data collection and data analysis 19

3.2 Research methods 20

3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods 20

3.2.2 Data collection techniques 21

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 21

3.3 Summary 22

Chapter 4 23

Findings and Discussion 23

4.1 Syntactic features of ―GO‖ idioms 23

4.1.1 Group 1: Single verb (GO) +noun phrase 23

4.1.3 Group 3: Single verb (GO) + adjective 26

4.1.4 Group 4: Single verb (GO) + adverb 28

4.1.5 Group 5: Single verb (GO) + preposition 29

4.1.6 Group 6: Phrasal verb + noun phrase 30

4.1.7 Group 7: Gerund + noun phrases 34

4.1.8 Group 8: Phrasal verb + preposition + pronoun / noun phrase 35

4.1.9 Group 9: Comparison 36

4.1.10 Group 10: Others 39

4.2 Semantic features of ―GO‖ idioms 40

4.2.1 Go + NP indicating fruit 42

4.2.2 Go + NP indicating a work of art 44

4.2.3 Go + NP indicating a kind of weapon 45

4.2.4 Go + NP indicating distance 46

4.2.5 Go + NP indicating a kind of animals 47

4.2.6 Go + NP indicating kinds of material 49

4.2.7 Go + NP indicating an object 51

4.2.8 Go + NP indicating a part of the house 56

4.2.9 Go + NP indicating sport equipment 58

4.2.10 Go + NP indicating body parts 60

4.2.11 Go + NP indicating living things and natural phenomena 62

4 3 Summary 75

Chapter 5 77

CONCLUSION 77

5.1 Recapitulation 77

5.2 Concluding remarks 77

5.3 Implications 78

5.3.1 Implication for learning ―GO‖ idioms 78

5.2.2 Implication for teaching ―GO‖ idioms 78

5.2.3 Implication for translating ―GO‖ idioms 79

5.3 Limitations of the study 80

5.4 Suggestions for further studies 80

REFERENCES 82

APPENDIX I LIST OF GO IDIOMS AND THEIR MEANINGS 85

APPENDIX II LIST OF GO IDIOMS AND THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 99

APPENDIX III 105

SOURCES OF EXAMPLES USED IN THE STUDY 105

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the research

It is obviously undeniable that language is an indispensable part in the life of humanity Language is an effective and irreplaceable tool of expressing mind, thought, saying, etc English is a very rich language and when people want to be proficient in English, all the linguistic phenomena have to be covered.

In fact, we are daily dealing with different kinds of figurative language, like idiomatic expressions, metonymies and metaphors Some of them are conventional while some of them may be created as we speak (Caillies & Declercq, 2011:207) Accordingly, the comprehension of the former, usually idiomatic expressions, depends on retrieval of a figurative meaning stored in memory, whereas the comprehension of the latter, usually metaphors, depends

on an online sense creation process (Caillies & Declercq, 2011: 219) According to Glucksberg (2001), ―metaphors and idioms reflect both universal and culture-specific ways of thinking‖ as well as being ―the traps in the language‖ Those who learn English desires to master English as the native speakers However, we usually face the difficulties that prevent us from gaining natural conversations One of the reasons for these problems lies

in the way we perceive and use idioms The structural and semantic problems posed by idioms puzzle us because most idioms do not mean what they appear to mean The sense of the whole idiom is usually different from the meanings of the combination of its component parts The study is carried out with the hope of minimizing the problems of understanding idioms

It can be said that studying idioms is not new, but it has never been old

There exist various approaches in studying idioms, not only in Vietnam, but also in the world Here, I would merely like to choose a verb in English and make an investigation into idioms using it - the verb ―GO‖

Through the history of the development of English there has been a list

of around 1,000 most commonly used words of all parts of speech (that can be used on a daily basis for learners of English to comprehend.) In addition, Oxford Dictionary and some other academic sources have also managed to conduct a study of 100 most used English words out of a billion words found worldwide And GO is one of the most common verbs in English, which is able to capture special attention of all-time linguists

For the reasons presented above, I made a decision to conduct my

thesis titled “AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH “GO” IDIOMS WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS”.

By studying cautiously into a minor aspect of linguistics, the author confidently hopes that this study would effectively provide experience to further studies of linguistics in general as well as English idioms with the verb

―GO‖ and those of other verbs in particular What is more, analysis of their equivalents in Vietnamese would also be drawn in order to comprehend and make use of them more effectively

1.2 Aims of the research

This research is conducted to achieve the targets of finding out syntactic and semantic features of ―GO‖ idioms with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents as well as suggesting some possible implications for Vietnamese students 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 forwards:

(i) Pointing out syntactic features of ―GO‖ idioms with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

(ii) Figuring out semantic features of ―GO‖idioms with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

(iii) Suggesting possible implications for Vietnamese students in learning, teaching and translating ―GO‖ idioms

1.4 Scope of the research

(i) Academic scope

The study focuses on studying syntactic and semantic features of ―GO‖ idioms and the equivalents in Vietnamese so as to make crucial contributions

to the field of linguistics and improve the efficiency of teaching English idioms with the verb ―GO‖ for Vietnamese students who learn English as a foreign language, especially for those specialize in the field of translation The findings hopefully would bring out various suggestions for teachers and researchers to conduct further studies related to English idioms with the verb

―GO‖ and those of other verbs as well as advance teaching effectiveness of idioms 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 the definitions of words without notes for practical ways of using them It is better if English idioms with more verbs are analyzed and totalized, contributing considerably to English learning and teaching in Vietnam

(ii) Social scope

The applications of this work will, hopefully, contribute greatly to out appropriate methods of teaching English idioms in Vietnam and make changes to how Vietnamese learners of English view English idioms 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 idioms indicating how native speakers combine some words with each other while others are not used frequently Consequently, they might find English expressions rather difficult and complicated in some cases This study, therefore, suggests that they should learn about English idioms of different types of parts of speech and discover the rules to make use of them

1.5 Significance of the research

(i) 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 of English idioms 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

―GO‖ idioms 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

(ii) Practical significance

The author hopes that this study‘s findings and conclusions would make great contributions to raising awareness of the importance of studying English

idioms in general and ―GO‖ idioms specifically with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents First of all, normally, when Vietnamese students study idioms, they might learn them by heart; however, the main problem will lie in applications of these idioms in appropriate contexts Therefore, learning about idioms 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 Secondly, regarding translation, students will have problems with understanding the meanings if they learn the words‘ definitions separately with its idioms and meanings This study‘s implication is to deal with these issues in the hope that it will help Vietnamese students overcome their troubles

1.6 Structural organization of the thesis

The study will consist of the 5 following parts

Chapter 1 – Introduction: gives a brief overview of the research with the rationale for choosing the topic of the research, aims, objectives, scope of the research, and the structural organization of the thesis

Chapter 2 – Literature Review: reviews the previous studies related to the research topic, a variety of pragmatic concepts most relevant to the research topic such as idiom, lexical verbs, etc., and the framework, based on which the research is conducted

Chapter 3 – Methodology: presents the research-governing orientations and the research methods used in implementing and developing the study This chapter focuses on research questions, research setting, approaches to investigate the research problem, the principles, techniques to collect and analyze data, etc

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: summarizes major findings of the study, points out the limitations and proposes some suggestions for further research

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will provide an overview of the theoretical background as well as relevant knowledge and summaries of previous research‘s findings and conclusions associated with the theme of the investigation In other words, the review is to explain several related terms and definitions as to idioms and verbs These later would further highlight the features conducted

of the study as well as suggest an array of possible implications for teaching English idioms with the verb ―GO‖ to students in Vietnam

2.1 Review of previous studies

There have been a number of writers making investigations into idioms with different points of view and objectives In English, some famous ones

were collected and written by researchers such as ―The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms‖ by Ammer, C In ―NTC‘s American Idioms Dictionary‖, Spears, R and Kirkpatrick, B focus on the meaning, usage

and appropriate contexts for each idiomatic phrase Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang are two authors who made a significant contribution in the field of

Vietnamese idioms They wrote ―Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt‖ which is a collection

of Vietnamese idioms arranged in alphabetical order with clear explanations and examples extracted from Vietnamese novels, newspapers and magazines

Moreover, Nguyễn Trần Trụ who wrote ―Thành ngữ tục ngữ lược giải‖ explains meanings of the most common idioms and proverbs in such

simple, clear ways that learners can use this book for consulting and reference purposes

In addition, ―Từ điển thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt Nam‖ by Đặng Hồng Chương, ―1575 Thành ngữ - Tục ngữ cần bàn thêm‖ by Lê Gia and a number

of contrastive studies on the various aspects of idioms have been carried out

in Danang University by Vietnamese researchers

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 conclusions, their findings can be viewed on a more comprehensive scale

Relating to the verb ―GO‖, Hà Thị Hồng (2010) conducted ―A Contrastive Sudy of the verb Go in English and Đi in Vietnamese: A Perspective of Embodiment in Cognitive Linguistics.‖The study provided a

critical analysis of theoretical approaches of cognition of explaining language phenomena Through the analysis of the verb ―GO‖ in English and the verb

ĐI in Vietnamese, the researcher attempted to present another viewpoint of linguistic exploration, i.e to interpret the use of language from the understanding of our cognition

Recognizing the potential of the verb ―GO‖ and being interested in idioms as well, the author decided to do a research in ―GO‖ idioms That is

the reason why the study with the title ―An Investigation into Syntactic and Semantic Features of English “GO” idioms with Reference to the Vietnamese Equivalents” is conducted

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Definition of idioms

Language grows and changes as well as living things Present-day English is different from the older one because nowadays it is quite popular to use idioms (Mc Mordie and Seidl, 1978) There are many different

definitions of an idiom Various authors define an idiom in different ways "In standard spoken and written English today idiom is an established, universal

and essential element that, used with care, ornaments and enriches the language." (Collins, 1958:11) Definition of V.H Collins originates from the

year 1958 and emphasizes mainly that idioms enrich language, both the written and the spoken form Seidl and McMordie (1978: 1) claim that:

"Idioms are not a separate part of the language which one can choose either

to use or to omit, but they form an essential part of the general vocabulary of English." They put an accent on the incorporation of idioms into a language

Idioms should not be considered as a separate part of language It is not necessary to be an expert in foreign languages in order to understand that the vocabulary of a language grows together with new development in knowledge (McMordie and Seidl, 1978)

"Knowing a language includes knowing morphemes, simple words, compound words, and their meanings." (Fromkin et al 2003: 205) This

phrase means that the knowledge of language is based on knowing fixed phrases that consist of more than one word Idioms can be included in word formations because they are created by giving two or more words together The words acquire new meaning when given together and it is important to learn idioms as a whole

2.2.2 Aspects of idioms

Language is enriched by creating new words Idioms represent one way

in which new expressions can be created

Idioms are not only colloquial expressions, they also appear in formal style, slang, poetry, in language of Shakespeare and in the Bible According to V.H Collins (1958), there is no clear difference between slang and colloquialisms Many words or phrases that were in the past used by uneducated people had been regarded as slang but later they became colloquialisms that are used by educated people and nowadays they can become idioms Seidl and McMordie also claim that some words that were

considered to be slang in the past are nowadays more acceptable and they can

be considered as colloquial or informal McMordie and Seidl (1978) say that:

"an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand alone."

Similar definitions were provided by Huddleston and Pullum (2002) who

consider idioms as: "an expression larger than a word whose meaning cannot

be systematically derived from meanings that the parts have when used independently of each other." Bolinger and Sears (1981) define an idiom as:

"groups of words with set meanings that cannot be calculated by adding up the separate meanings of the parts‖ Based on this, it can be deduced that an

idiom used as a whole means something different than its parts separately Idioms in which the word-order is stable are called fixed idioms Some fixed

idioms are fixed only in certain parts For example, the idiom to come to a bad/nasty/sticky/no good/untimely end is not fixed in all parts because

different adjectives can be used in its structure (McMordie and Seidl, 1978) All the above mentioned definitions of idioms are similar because they emphasize that idioms consist of more than one word and every word gets a special meaning when it is used in an idiom and thus it is difficult to understand idioms

2.2.3 Features of idioms

The main features of idioms are based on the fact that they are unchangeable and tight When idioms are unchangeable, it is impossible to change subject, verb or object On the other hand, there are idioms which can allow a limited manipulation This manipulation is often connected with time

or person Transformation of idioms is also possible In these cases, a passive

of the original idiom can be made Bolinger and Sears (1981) mention an

example: ―He found fault with them that can be made passive- Fault was found with them‖ Degree of tightness is likewise connected with idioms

"The three idioms to take fright, to take courage, and to take heart stand in order of increasing tightness." There is a question whether everything that is

said can be in some way idiomatic because idioms can vary widely in tightness Some linguists do not like this because they prefer to analyze things down to the smallest elements Some idioms have special features which are connected with the ways in which the words are put together These ways are usually odd, illogical or even grammatically incorrect On the other hand, there are also idioms that are completely regular and logical in their vocabulary and grammar Idioms ought to be learnt in a correct word-order because in some cases this word-order cannot be changed The idiom has been fixed by a long usage (McMordie and Seidl, 1978)

2.2.5 Types of idioms

Idioms can be either short or long, they can have different forms or structures Their structures can be irregular or even grammatically incorrect Seidl and McMordie (1978) distinguish three main types of idioms:

1) Idioms that are irregular or illogical in their grammatical structure

For example, in the idiom I am good friends with him, the form is irregular

but the meaning is clear

2) Idioms whose form is irregular but the meaning is not clear, e.g to have a bee in one‗s bonnet

3) Idioms whose forms and meanings are both irregular, e.g to be at large

It has been found out by Seidl and McMordie (1978) that most idioms belong

to the group of idioms whose form is irregular and the meaning is not clear There is also a difference among idioms in this group because some of them are clearer than others Meaning of idioms that are easy to understand can be guessed from the context On the contrary, it is very difficult to size up the meaning of idioms that have nothing in common with the original meaning of the individual words Now it is clear that the meaning of idioms is the most important but different authors who delay with idioms have different opinions V.H Collins (1958) claims that meaning of the idioms is not the main problem Its origin can also cause inconvenience because there is a difference between using idioms in the past and nowadays

Seidl and McMordie (1978) divided idioms into these groups:

• Idioms combining adjectives and nouns

• Idioms with verbs and nouns

• Idioms with prepositions and adverbs

• Adjectives with prepositions

• Verbs with prepositions and adverbial particles

• Idioms with the verb TO BE

• Idioms with common verbs

• Idioms based on special situations and categories

• Idioms of comparison

highly idiomatic thus they have a special meaning, e.g to take someone off means 'to take to another place' Verbs in combination with prepositions do

not have to be idiomatic but it should be distinguished among constructions that are more idiomatic than the others The main problem is not to be able to recognize the meanings of the combinations but to use these combinations correctly in sentences

According to Seidl and McMordie (1978), there are six basic verb

patterns out of which three are for transitive verbs, i.e "verbs that select an obligatory noun-phrase complement" (Fromkin et al.,2003), and other three for the intransitive ones, i.e "verbs that must not have a direct object complement" (Fromkin et al., 2003)

According to Seidl and McMordie (1978: 115), the six patterns are:

1) Intransitive + Particle (E.g slow down)

2) Intransitive + Preposition (E.g go off someone/something)

3) Intransitive + Particle + Preposition (E.g come up against

someone/something)

4) Transitive + Particle (E.g pack something in, pack in something)

5) Transitive + Preposition (E.g put someone off something)

6) Transitive + Particle + Preposition (E.g put someone up to something)

Verbal idioms can enter different idiomatic constructions (Greenbaum

et al., 1985)

1) Non-idiomatic constructions

In these constructions the meaning of components is not constant in possible

substitutions, e.g the verb ―bring‖ can be used with more than one component such as ―in‖, ―out‖, etc

2) Semi-idiomatic constructions

Semi-idiomatic constructions are changeable but this changeability is limited Verb keeps its meaning while the meaning of its particle is less easy to separate

3) Highly idiomatic constructions

There is no possibility of contrastive substitution, e.g bring up, come by

2.2.7 Collocations and idioms

Collocations and idioms have common features and that is a reason why they are very difficult to differentiate Many linguists approached the problems of collocations and idioms in their work and for illustration the definitions by Bolinger and Sears and McCarthy and Sampson are provided

below Bolinger and Sears (1981: 55) say that: "the range and variety of collocations is enormous." And they also add that words are not only

elements that have a more or less fixed correlation with meaning, it is very significant to make a difference between idioms and collocations

In their opinion, if a part of a collocation is known, its meaning can be deduced and thus a collocation is not quite an idiom but it is in some way specialized On the other hand, McCarthy and Sampson (2005) claim that when learning collocations, the attention should be paid to how words are used rather than to individual words by themselves

"Collocational knowledge indicates which words co-occur frequently with other words and how they combine within the sentence." (McCarthy and

be chosen according to the situation in which a certain person is When speaking to a friend, it is preferred to use informal or slang expressions In a formal situation, words must be chosen much more carefully Formal expressions can be found in the written form of language rather than in the spoken one Informal expressions are thus used in day-to-day speeches, e.g among friends The connection between the origin and the current use can be

another problem while using idioms "It has often been necessary, in dealing with an idiom of which the current meaning is clear and that is generally used correctly, to state that the connection between the origin and the meaning in unknown." (Collins, 1958)

2.2.9 Overview of the verb “GO”

―GO‖ is a lexical (or main) verb It can be viewed as a dynamic and an intransitive verb sharing the typical syntactic functions of a verb

Table 1: Syntactic structures of “GO” combinations

(2) Belong / fit (person or entity

belongs in a specific location, fits in a

specific location)

Does that piece go there?; The book goes on the shelf

(3) Disappearance (person or entity is

no longer present/ missing without

implication of prior movement)

Where‘s that book gone? (when

looking for it)

(4) Future intent (infinitival) I‘m going to dance; She goes to get

him from school

(6) Sound (sound, noise or speech) It went bang; Dogs go woof

(7) Happening What‘s going on? What went on here ?

(8) Give up possession Let go

(9) Specified motion (at specific

(11) Order of occurrence You go first

(12) Aim for He‘s going for the red one; I went for

the black

(13) Searching / reading etc Let‘s go through this book; I went

through that pile

(14) Increase/ decrease (size, value) The price went up; That balloon‘s

going down

back to the toys

(16) Catch illness You‘ll go down with a cold; He went

down with flu

I went off jigsaws

2.3 Summary

This chapter provided an overview of the theoretical background as well as previous research‘s findings and some knowledge associated with the theme of the investigation Some terms and definitions such as idioms with some basic aspects related to idioms and the syntactic structure of the verb

―GO‖ combination as well as the semantic senses ecoded by the verb ―GO‖ were presented respectively

Regarding idioms, Seidl and McMordie (1978) are the linguists chosen

to shed the light of the theory during the analysis of the theme On the other words, the syntactic and semantic features of ―GO‖ idioms are going investigated and discussed based on the Seidl and McMordie‘s theory

Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research questions and the method of 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 orientations

3.1.1 Research questions

In this study, the author is going to investigate the semantic and syntactic features of the English ―GO‖ idioms as well as its equivalents in Vietnamese by reading through a great number of sources such as newspaper and literature While analyzing the entire terms, conclusions 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 look at the word ―GO‖ particularly and it is what the study aims at in the first place

In view of that, there are 3 questions prepared guardedly for this study They are listed as follows:

1) What are the syntactic features of ―GO‖ idioms with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents?

2) What are the semantic features ―GO‖ idioms with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents?

3) What are possible implications for teaching English idioms with the verb ―GO‖?

3.1.2 Research setting

The research is conducted with references from diverse reliable sources such as dictionaries, newspapers and literature in which English idioms with

the verb ―GO‖ and the Vietnamese equivalents are used Through years of teaching English grammar and vocabulary for learners of English in Hanoi, the author has found out that the term ―idioms‖ has is not familiar with students at 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 vocabulary word-by-word and cannot use them effectively and properly in English daily conversations This research aims at pointing out syntactic and semantic features of the ―GO‖ idioms with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents in order to help students to understand English idioms

or idiomatic expressions generally and use English idioms with the verb

―GO‖ efficiently By that way, their conversations hope to sound more natural

3.1.3 Research approaches

This study is conducted by combining the two research approaches of both quantitative and qualitative 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 two 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 Criteria for intended data collection and data analysis

This study aims at investigating syntactic and semantic features of

―GO‖ idioms with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents For such reason, the author has presented theoretical background related to both fields of

linguistics as well as notions and related-terms of idioms Then, details of English idioms with the verb ―GO‖ and the Vietnamese equivalents are also presented clearly

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

a great number of English idioms with the verb GO and then reliable examples are collected from Google Books such as literature e-books and some other academic sources 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 step 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 conclusions

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(s), 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

3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods

This study is intended to investigate English ―GO‖ idioms with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents, therefore, the descriptive and comparative 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 English idioms of the verb ―GO‖ Secondly, the comparative method is applied to identify similarities and differences with the Vietnamese equivalents Some other methods such as analytical and synthetic methods have also been used as supporting methods While 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 successfully and effectively

3.2.2 Data collection techniques

With the purpose of collecting data for the study, Google search engine has been placed in use and it has been the most popular and effective tool so far to discover reliable and diverse sources of materials The vital tip the author used here is putting some key words between two quotation marks and, consequently, examples gathered so far have been the most precise ones from printed books that are also typed by Google Books‘ hard-working employees

to make Internet versions Therefore, essential information about authors, years of publication and names of publishers are always presented clearly At the same time, some dictionaries have been searched to find structures and idioms related to the verb ―GO‖ as well as their Vietnamese equivalents After that, the collected data will be classified thanks to the clustering and classification techniques, which helps greatly in defining and figuring out various syntactic and semantic features in meaning categories or structures and idioms later Other techniques are also employed such as reading comprehension, note-taking or meaning analyzing to select precisely materials related to English idioms with the verb ―GO‖ In sum, because of these data collection techniques, English idioms with the verb ―GO‖ have been collected successfully up to now together with an array of authentic examples from reliable sources

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques

The stage of analyzing data is to qualitatively and quantitatively describe syntactic and semantic features of English idioms with the verb

―GO‖ to provide a larger view of English idioms in general as well as English idioms with the verb ―GO‖ in particular For such reason, the data profiling

technique is used in this step to track the frequency, distribution and characteristics of the data collected Finally, illustrated examples of the above-mentioned features are cited to present the features effectively

3.3 Summary

This chapter has dealt with presenting the research methodology of this study which includes major methods, supporting metthods, data collection techniques, data analysis techniques with the selective examples, and the procedure used in collecting and analyzing data

Research approach, research setting, research questions and some criteria for intended data collection and data analysis have been also presented

so that the study can be led to a clear direction Thanks to the pre-pointed guide through the methodology, the research hopes to get the useful findings related to ―GO‖ idioms in the coming chapter – chapter 4

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 English ―GO‖ idioms with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents Secondly, because of this initial purpose, the chapter will be divided into two main sections; the first part is about syntactic features while the second one will analyze semantic features Examples will be given for each case to demonstrate the features and meanings

4.1 Syntactic features of “GO” idioms

Based on the volume of the idioms with the verb ―GO‖ collected by the author, they can be divided into TEN following groups

4.1.1 Group 1: Single verb (GO) +noun phrase

According to Randolph Quirk (1985), a noun phrase is headed to the extent that it has a central constituent or head, to which other elements can be optionally added Noun phrases consist of a head, which is typically a noun, and of elements which (either obligatorily or optionally) determine the head and (optionally) modify the head, or complement another element in the phrase

4.1.1.1 Go + single noun phrase

Single Verb Noun phrase

GO

bananas nuts figure!

As can be seen in the three above examples, single noun phrases have

no determinative like ―a‖ or ―the‖ or ―all those‖ or ―these‖ or ―Peter‘s‖, etc They have no pre-modification like ―delicious‖ or ―good‖ or ―big‖, etc They have no post-modification, either Post-modification, for example, ―on the table‖ or ―in the country‖ or ―that I once had‖, etc There is only head:

―bananas‖, ―nuts‖, ―figure‖ For that reason, they are called ―single noun

phrase‖ In this case, the noun phrase can be singular (figure) or plural (bananas)

4.1.1.2 Go + complex noun phrase

Single verb Determinative Pre-modification Head

GO

Regarding a complex noun phrase, as what can be seen from the idioms listed above, they consist of a head (a noun), a determinative and a pre-modification

However, looking back the table of the syntactic structures of ―GO‖ combinations, it can be seen that there is no structure ―go + noun phrase‖ Hence, this is a unique feature of the combination of making ―GO‖ idioms

4.1.2 Group 2: Single verb + preposition + noun phrase

Of all the ―GO‖ idioms collected in this study, this kind of combination accounts for the highest rate, approximately 50%

4.1.2.1 Go + preposition + simple noun phrase

Single Verb Preposition Singular Noun Plural noun

4.1.2.2 Go + preposition + complex noun phrase

Verb Prep Determinative

Ø bitter end

of one word, such as ―to‖, ―for‖, ―with‖, ―up‖, ―down‖, ―in‖ The simple

prepositions like that are called monosyllabic prepositions, according to Randolph Quirk (1985: 665) Among the prepositions going with the verb

―GO‖ to make idioms, ―to‖ is mostly used, as can be seen from the table above Some of them are the prepositions of movement or orientation (up,

down, to) such as ―go up the line‖, ―go down in flames‖, ―go to the wall‖, etc The prepositions of purpose consist of ―for‖ in some idioms such as ―go for a song‖ and ―go for a spin‖ There are also the prepositions of space like

―in‖ and ―on‖ lying in the idioms ―go down in flames‖, ―go up in smoke‖,

―go on the streets‖ ―Into‖ is a simple preposition as well, but it is called polysyllabic preposition ―Into‖ is the preposition of movement and space in the idiom ―go into passion‖, ―go into details‖, ―go into particulars‖ and ―go into a rage‖ The polysyllabic preposition ―about‖ in the idiom ―go about your business‖ is the kind of respect

However, most of Vietnamese equivalents of the ―GO‖ idioms do not

need to contain any prepositions For example, ―go down in flames‖ = ―tiêu tan‖, ―go to the wall‖ = ―tức điên‖, ―go for a song‖ = ―rẻ bất ngờ‖, ―rẻ bèo‖, ―go into a huddle‖ = ―hội ý‖, ―go to the dogs‖ = ―chó cắn áo rách‖,

―go to pieces‖ = ―đau đớn‖, ―tan nát cõi lòng‖, etc

4.1.3 Group 3: Single verb (GO) + adjective

Adjectives denoting feelings

Adjectives denoting states

Adjectives denoting shapes

s

This way of combination seems not very new and strange because it can be seen in the table of the syntactic structures of ―GO‖ combination which was mentioned in the previous chapter In this case, the verb ―GO‖

means and functions as the verb ―become‖

As can be remarked from the list of idioms above, most of the adjectives here in the ―GO‖ combination are predicative ―Adjectives are predicative when they function as subject complement.‖ (Randolph Quirk, 1985: 417)

E.g The audience went mad with excitement when the elephant stepped on to

the stage [1]

(Khán giả trở nên cuồng nhiệt thích thú khi chú voi đó bước chân lên sân

khấu.)

One can go mad from love, one can go mad over the songs of some singer,

from fear, and so on [2]

(Người ta có thể phát điên vì tình, người ta có thể phát cuồng vì những ca

khúc của một ca sĩ nào đó, cũng có thể phát điên lên vì một nỗi sợ hãi, vân vân.)

In the above example, it is obvious that the adjective ―mad‖ functions

as the complement of the subject ―the audience‖

According to the theory of Randolph Quirk (1985), some adjectives can denote nationalities, such as ―the Dutch‖ in ―Go Dutch‖ Nationality adjectives are normally used to refer to the nation as a whole with the most outstanding feature or the most typical character ―Dutch‖ in the idiom ―Go Dutch‖ (tiền ai nấy trả, phần của người nào người ấy trả‖ is true in this case

E.g Need to go Dutch with your friends, roommates? [3]

( Có cần thiết phải phần ai người ấy trả khi đi ăn cùng với bạn của mình, với

những bạn học cùng lớp của mình hay không?)

The Dutch is, in fact, stereotyped as being "stingy" or "tight-fisted‖ which may have contributed to the phrase

In Vietnamese daily expressions, there is also a word of nationality is used referring to the same meaning, which is ―Cambodian‖ (Cam-pu-chia) However, this meaning of the word is based on the pronunciation of the Vietnamese translated word ―Cambodian‖ is pronounced ―Cam- pu-chia‖ in Vietnamese sound, in which ―chia‖ (e.g Chúng mình cùng cam-pu-chia đi!) means ―share‖ in English It is one of the interesting ways of playing with word and mostly used by a group of young people because the words like this are considered not standard

4.1.4 Group 4: Single verb (GO) + adverb

Single Verb Adverb of manner Adverb of movement

In these above ―GO‖ idioms, three of them denoting manner They are

―astray‖ (trệch ra khỏi con đường, trệch hướng), ―likewise‖ (như thế, tương

tự như vậy), ―well‖ (giỏi, tốt, khỏe).Interestingly, it is syntactically similar to

the equivalent in Vietnamese in respect to the idioms ―Đi mạnh khỏe nhé!‖

(Go well!) and ―Cứ làm như vậy đi‖ (Go likewise) The exception is ―Go

astray‖, which is equivalent to ―lầm đường lạc lối‖

The adverb ―overboard‖ (qua mạn tàu) belongs to the kind of

movement

E.g

Collins did not walk to Rosings, and not many in which his wife did not

think it necessary to go likewise [4]

(Collins đã không đi đến Rosings, và nhiều cái ở đó, theo như suy nghĩ của vợ

anh ấy thì không nhất thiết phải làm như thế.)

4.1.5 Group 5: Single verb (GO) + preposition

Single verb Preposition of

position

Preposition of movement

Preposition of purpose

Go

under

between above and beyond

Different from the prepositions in the group 2, which are followed by

noun phrases In this case, prepositions can be monosyllabic (for, through) or polysyllabic (under, between, above, beyond), but they stand alone, without

other components like noun phrases or adverbial phrases

With respect to the syntactic feature, the idioms in the two languages

are not the same For example, ―go under‖ is equivalent to ―phá sản‖ or ―đau khổ‖ It is obvious that ―phá sản‖ and ―đau khổ‖, in Vietnamese, are

adjectives

―Go between‖ means ―mediate a conflict; try to solve a problem between two people‖ Its Vietnamese equivalent is ―điều đình‖, ―giàn xếp‖,

―hòa giải‖, which is merely a verb

E.g Hilary Clinton has been going between the Palestinians and the

Israelis to solve the conflict between the two groups [5]

(Hilary Clinton đang cố gắng dàn xếp giữa Palestin và Israel để giải

quyết xung đột giữa hai nhóm này.)

This is true with ―go for‖ and its equivalent in Vietnamese ―có giá bao

nhiêu tiền‖

E.g How much is the house down the street going for? - It‘s going for

$ 189,000 [6]

―Go through‖ and ―nằm gai nếm mật‖ or ―qua trăm đắng nghìn cay‖

are seemingly related to each other in terms of senses

4.1.6 Group 6: Phrasal verb + noun phrase

A phrasal verb is an idiomatic phrase consisting of a verb and another

element, typically either an adverb, as in break down, or a preposition, for example, see to, or a combination of both, such as look down on

Here are some idiomatic expressions containing phrasal verbs of ―GO‖ 4.1.6.1 Go off + noun phrase

Normally, the phrasal verb ―go off‖ functions as an intransitive verb,

which stands without an object

E.g

She went off to get a drink

( Cô ấy đi để lấy chút đồ uống.)

The bomb went off in a crowded street

(Quả bom phát nổ trên một con phố đang đông người qua lại.)

Suddenly, the lights went off

(Bỗng dưng, đèn điện phụt tắt.)

In the combinations as idioms, the phrasal verb with ―GO‖ can

combine with a noun phrase, such as ―the deep end‖ in ―go off the deep end‖,

―the beaten track‖ in ―go off the beaten track‖, etc

Idioms which are said to be not grammatical, in this case, seemingly

sound reasonable It is true to the Vietnamese one ―thành công vang dội‖ or

―thành công rực rỡ‖, in which ―thành công‖ functions as a verb or an adjective; ―vang dội‖ and ―rực rỡ‖ may function as an adjective or an adverb

4.1.6.2 Go out/ Go out of+ noun phrase

Phrasal verb Simple NP Complex NP

Go out of

business

Ø use

Go out of something is originally a phrasal verb, which means to be no

longer present in something or to disappear from something This feature is

quite similar to the expressions in Vietnamese, such as ―bị phá sản‖ (go out of business = thôi không còn làm ăn nữa) or ―thôi không sử dụng nữa‖ (go out

a rough / bad / difficult / sticky patch fire and water

The phrasal verb ―go through something‖ is similar to the expression

in Vietnamese, both regarding the structure as well as the literal meaning,

which is ―đi (xuyên) qua cái gì‖