VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
PHẠM THỊ NGỌC MINH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
OF SEMANTIC FEATURES OF THE VERB “MAKE” IN ENGLISH
COLLOCATIONS AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN VIETNAMESE

(PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA ĐỘNG TỪ “MAKE”
TRONG CÁC CỤM TỪ CỐ ĐỊNH TIẾNG ANH VÀ CÁC CỤM TỪ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG
TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215
TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215
Supervisor: Dr. Nguyễn Huy Kỷ Hanoi - 2010

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………… ……………………………………………… ii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………… iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………….iv

3.2.1. Implications of EFL teaching and learning……………………………………… 36
3.2.2. Implications for translation……………………… …………………………… 37
PART III CONCLUSION
1. Objectives of the study………………… …………………………………………….39
2. Methods of the study………………… ………… ………………………………….40
3. Implications for Pedagogy…………………… … …………………………………40
4. Contributions made by this study………………………………… ……………… 41
5. Limitations of the study……………………………… ……………………………41
6. Recommendations for further research………………….…………………………….42

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………….43
SOURCES OF THE DATA…………………………………………………………….45
APPENDICES

vi
ABBREVIATION
EFL: English as a foreign language
L1: first language

Table 1: Collocations vs. idioms and free word combinations
Table 2: The result of gap-filling (1) task
Table 3: The result of translation task
Table 4: The result of gap-filling (2) task
Table 5: The result of sentence transformation task

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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
“While without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed” (Wilkins, 1972: 111). This argument has been supported by many researchers in
the field of second language acquisition (SLA) who have emphasize the significance of
vocabulary and agreed that vocabulary is equally, if not more, important than language
structure in language acquisition. This is why it was recommended to pay attention to the
teaching of vocabulary in the same way as the teaching of grammar (Krashen, 1988).
McCarthy (1990) summarizes the importance of vocabulary teaching for second language (L2)
learners in the following statement:
No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds
of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings;
communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way (p. viii).
Within the area of vocabulary research, collocations that are a transitional area between idioms
and free combinations (Benson et al, 1986) have attracted the attention of language
researchers. And language researchers have pointed out many reasons why collocations are so
important in language acquisition. First, acquiring collocations is beneficial for EFL learners‟
lexical development (Ellis, 1996) and communicative competence (Nattinger, 1997). To gain
overall language proficiency, learners need to gain collocational competence (Hussein, 1990).
At the same time, acquiring collocational knowledge may help overcome the problems of
comprehending a sentence word by word thus learners‟ listening and reading abilities can be
improved. Also, by mastering collocations, learners‟ speech sounds more natural, and is more
easily understood by native speakers. With increasing knowledge of collocations, EFL

+ What are the implications of the study for EFL teaching/ learning and translation?
3. Scope of the Study
This is a minor thesis. As a result, it is unfeasible to discuss both the verbs in all aspects.
Therefore, within this study, the author focuses on analyzing semantic features of the
collocations of both the verbs, and then gives a brief introduction about the similarities and
differences between them. 3
4. Methods of the Study
The study has been carried out based on a combination of different methods, among which the
main method is contrastive analysis. For the contrastive analysis method, English is
considered to be the target language and Vietnamese- the source language – a means to
contrast. This method involves two steps: describing the semantic features of the verb „make‟
collocations in English and those of the verb „làm‟ collocations in Vietnamese and then
juxtaposing them to point out their similarities and differences. Another important method
used in this thesis is descriptive research method, which involves componential analysis and
surveys. Componential analysis is one of the most effective methods in identifying the
meaning because it involves the analysis of the sense of a lexeme into its component parts
(semantic features or semantic properties). Surveys are used to collect data about the situation
of learning and teaching English collocations, especially those with „make‟ in English as well
as the students‟ knowledge of collocations in English in general and that of „make‟
collocations in English in particular in Lao Cai High School for Gifted Students. Besides,
other methods are also exploited in this thesis: statistical (the author has collected data about
semantic features of the two verbs in collocations and carried out survey research to find out
the situation of learning and teaching English collocations, especially those with „make‟ in
English in Lao Cai High School for Gifted Students as well as the students‟ knowledge of
collocations in English in general and that of „make‟ collocations in English in particular),
analytical ( the author has examined in detail the data obtained from the dictionaries and
examples in the stories to point out semantic features of the collocations of the two verbs as


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PART II DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1. Semantic features
Semantics is a branch of linguistics dealing with the meaning of words, phrases and sentences,
however, contrary to pragmatics it does not analyze the intended speaker meaning, or what
words denote on a given occasion, but the objective, conventional meaning. Additionally, it is
concerned with the conceptual meaning and not the associative meaning. The conceptual
meaning is what a word in fact denotes, as for example Friday the 13 th is a day between
Thursday the 12 th and Saturday the 14 th, and that is the conceptual meaning of the phrase
Friday the 13 th. Yet, for many people the idea of that day brings to mind thoughts of bad luck
and misfortune, which is the associative meaning. The meaning of words is analyzed in
several different ways in order to account for as many aspects of meaning as possible and
among the ways of analyzing the meaning of words is that words are analyzed in terms of their
semantic features.

can still be thought of as a verb.
A verb always has a subject. For example, in the sentence „John speaks English‟ John is the
subject and speaks is the verb. In simple terms, therefore, we can say that verbs are words that
tell us what a subject does or is; they describe:
- action (Ram plays football.)
- state (Anthony seems kind.)
According to Jack C. Richards et al (1992:398), in English, a word is a verb when it satisfied
these following criteria:
- Occur as part of the predicate of a sentence;
- Carries markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, number, and mood;
and
- Refers to an action or state.
Almost verbs in English change in form in accordance with tense, mood, person, etc. for
example: „Lower fares make it advantageous to travel in winter.‟; „I first made his
acquaintance in 2006’; „Please stop making that noise annoying’, etc.

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In Vietnamese, verbs are one of the two fundamental parts of speech like nouns. Verbs in
Vietnamese also play an important role in vocabulary as well as in forming sentences.
Contrary to verbs in English, verbs in Vietnamese do not have the concord with other parts of
speech. In other words, they are not affected by number, person, gender, mood, voice, and
tense. And in Vietnamese, verbs can combine with other auxiliary components to indicate
tense, aspect like „sắp‟, „sẽ‟, „đã‟ , continuation like „còn‟, „vẫn‟, etc.
There are many ways to classify verbs, however, in this thesis, the classification of verbs into
transitive and intransitive verbs shall be applied, which would be convenient to compare the
two verbs “make” in English and “làm” in Vietnamese.
1.3. Collocations
1.3.1. Definition of Collocations
All languages have a large numbers of collocations, and linguists have defined collocation in
different ways. The concept of collocations was first identified by Palmer (1981) as a string of

In discussion of the nature of collocation, linguists have been trying to generalize what
characteristics collocations have in common. Generally, collocations have two major features
as follow.
1.3.2.1. Collocations are Arbitrary
According to Kathleen R. McKeown and Dragomir R. Radev, the notion of arbitrariness
captures the fact that substituting a synonym for one of the words in a collocational word pair
may result in an infelicitous lexical combination. Thus, for example, a phrase such as make an
effort is acceptable, but make an exertion is not; similarly, a running commentary, commit
treason, warm greetings are all true collocations, but a running discussion, commit treachery,
and hot greetings are not acceptable lexical combinations. In short, there is no absolute rule
that can be learned for collocations. Thus, they are best dealt with isolation as they arise or
depending on notion of typicality to decide what acceptation and unacceptable collocations
are.
1.3.2.2. Collocations are Language-Specific
As Larson (1984:141) points out, every language interprets the physical words in its own way
and has its own convention which governs the collocability of words. In other words,
combinations of words will differ from language to language. For example, in Vietnamese we

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say “earn money” but in English the equivalent phrase is “make money”. Similarly, in
American English one says set the table and make a decision; whereas in British English, the
corresponding phrases are lay the table and take a decision. Therefore, what is perfectly
acceptable collocation in one language may be unacceptable in another. Take the case of make
in English and làm in Vietnamese as a typical example. Although these two words are
equivalent to each other, they cannot go with the same range of nouns. While such
collocations as làm trai, làm duyên làm dáng, làm lẽ are acceptable in Vietnamese, the verb
make in English actually cannot co-occur with these corresponding nouns. Instead, the
equivalents phrases must be be a man, posture, be a concubine in which different verbs are
employed.
1.3.3. The Distinction among Free Word Combinations, Idiomatic Expressions and

According to Jack C. Richard et al (1992: 172), idiom is an expression which functions as a
single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts. Robins (1989),
Palmer (1981), Jackson and Evenla (2000), Seidle (1978) and Cruse (1986) all treat idioms as
a special kind of collocation, however, meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced from the
meanings of its constituents. For example, „make it‟ – the collocation of „make‟ and „it‟ is an
idiom meaning „succeed‟, which is not systematically determinable from the meanings of
„make‟ and „it‟.
To sum up, idiom is a special kind of collocation in which the semantics of the whole cannot
be deduced from the meanings of the individual constituents and without knowing the idiom it
is often almost to understand it.
1.3.3.3. Collocations versus Free Word Combinations and Idiomatic Expressions
Unlike free word combinations, a collocation is a group of words that occur together more
often than by chance. On the other hand, unlike idioms, individual words in a collocation can
contribute to the overall semantics of the compound. Collocations fall between these extremes
and it can be difficult to draw the line between categories. A word combination fails to be
classified as free and is termed a collocation when the number of words which can occur in a
syntactic relation with a given headword decreases to the point where it is not possible to
describe the set using semantic regularities.

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More examples of the distinction between free word combinations and collocations are shown
in Table 1.
Idioms Collocations Free word combinations
to make good to make an appointment to be made of steel
to make it to make a promise to be made of iron
to make or break sb/st to make a mistake to be made from sugar
Table 1: Collocations vs. idioms and free word combinations.
1.4. Summary
This chapter has provided us with the theoretical background for the contrastive analysis of
semantic features of the verb “Make” in English collocations and their equivalents in

- She made a useful contribution to the discussion. (18:18)
- We need more money if we are to make any further advances in this area of
science. (19:12)
According to Oxford Collocations Dictionary for students of English (2009. Oxford University
Press); Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Current English (1995. Oxford University
Press); Collins Pocket Thesaurus (2008. HarperCollins Publishers), Oxford Wordpower
Dictionary (2008. Oxford University Press ); English-Vietnamese Dictionary (1993. Nhà Xuất
Bản TP. Hồ Chí Minh) when collocating with other words, the verb “make” has the following
basic meanings.
2.1.1. Make Conveys the Meaning of “produce or create something”
„Make‟ can be understood as to construct, create or prepare something by combining materials
or putting parts together. Its Vietnamese equivalent expressions are: „làm‟, „tạo ra‟, „ chế tạo‟,
sản xuất‟, „cắt may‟, etc. e.g.:
- Shall I make a sandwich for you? (26: 443)
- This model is made of steel. (26: 443)
- Her speech made a tremendous impact on everyone. (5: 594)
- I first made his acquaintance in 2006. (19: 7)
Also referring to this meaning, „make‟ can be understood as to arrange a bed so that it is ready
for use. In Vietnamese, it means „dọn giường‟. See the following example:

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- Please make your beds before you go out. (5: 708)
„Make‟ also means to create or establish something. Its Vietnamese equivalent is „đặt ra‟:
- These regulations were made to protect children. (5:708)
- Who made this ridiculous rule? (5:708)
Besides, „make‟ expresses the act of writing, composing or preparing something. In
Vietnamese, it means „viết‟, „soạn thảo‟, „chuẩn bị‟, etc. e.g.:
- Have you made your will? (5:1365)
- I‟ll ask my lawyer to make a deed of transfer. (5:708)
2.1.2. Make Conveys the Meaning of “cause a state/ situation”

„bầu‟, „bổ nhiệm‟, „lập‟, „cử làm‟, etc. e.g.:
- He was made spokesman by the committee. (5: 709)
- She made him her assistant. (5: 709)
2.1.3. Make conveys the Meaning of “be or become something”
We can use the verb „make‟ when we want to express the meaning of being or becoming
something. And its Vietnamese equivalents are „thành‟, „trở thành‟, etc. e.g.:
- Karen is very good at making friends. (5: 473)
- That will make a good ending to the book. (5:709)
2.1.4. Make Conveys the Meaning of “to gain or to win something”
Its Vietnamese equivalents are „kiếm được‟, „giành được‟, etc. e.g.:
- He made a fortune on the stock market. (5: 709)
- They make a profit of ten pence on every copy they sell. (5:924)
- The company made a loss on the deal. (5: 698)
- He makes a living by repairing secondhand cars. (5:698)
2.1.5. Make Conveys the Meaning of “to calculate or estimate something to be
something”
„Make‟ also means to calculate or estimate something to be something. Its Vietnamese
equivalents are „tính toán‟, „ước tính‟, etc. e.g.:
- What do you make the time? (5: 709)
- I make the total exactly $50. (5: 709)
- I make it that we‟ve got about 70 miles to go. (5: 709)

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2.1.6. Make Conveys the Meaning of “to put something forward for consideration; to
propose something”
When we want to mean that something is proposed or offered, then use „make‟. Its
Vietnamese equivalents are „đề nghị‟, „đề xuất‟, „đặt giá‟, etc. e.g.:
- Has she made an offer for you car? (5: 709)
- Various proposals were made for increasing sales. (5: 1365)
- I made him a bid for the antique table. (5: 1021)

- The patient is making slow progress after her operation. (5: 925)
(„to make progress‟ = „to advance or develop towards a better or finished state‟)
- I‟d better make a start on the ironing. (5: 1163)
(„to make a start‟ = „to begin doing something‟)
2.1.9. Make Conveys the Meaning of “Manage to reach or go”
The next meaning is to manage to reach or go to a place or position. With this sentence of
meaning, no passive is used though „make‟ is a transitive verb. In Vietnamese, it means „có
thể đến‟, „đạt được vị trí‟, „lên chức‟…See the following examples:
- I‟m sorry I couldn‟t make your party last night. (31: 1021)
- Her novel has made the best-seller lists. (31: 1021)
- She‟ll never make the team. (31: 1021)
- He made sergeant in six months. (31: 1021)
- The story made the front page of the national newspapers. (31: 1021)
2.2. Semantic Features of the Verb „Làm‟ in Vietnamese Collocations
Generally, like other Vietnamese verbs, „làm‟ refers to an action, an activity, a progress, an
impression and feeling, a change, a state, etc. „Làm‟ is used by Vietnamese people in everyday
communication in many contexts and usages. In this section, we will bring out the following
senses of the verb „làm‟ in Vietnamese language. These senses and semantic features have
been collected on the basis of Từ Điển Tiếng Việt (2006. Nhà Xuất Bản Đà Nẵng). The data
for the realization of these semantic features are illustrated with the examples cited verbatim
from this dictionary and stories.
2.2.1. „Làm‟ Conveys the Meaning of „produce or create something‟
Like the verb „make‟ in English, „làm‟ in Vietnamese also denotes the act of producing or
creating something that is non-existent before. For example:

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‘…Đã lâu, người mình làm thơ hầu hết chỉ làm những bài tám câu, mỗi câu bẩy chữ…’ (12:
18)
‘…Họ ước mong làm được một ngôi nhà gỗ tốt, có một cuộc sống yên bình ’ (5: 106)
‘Nước ở đây thở và kêu như cái giếng bê tông thả xuống để chuẩn bị làm móng cầu…’ (15:

Làm cho khốc hại chẳng qua vì tiền’ (3: 6)
‘Chúng đặt ra hàng trăm thứ thuế vô lí, làm cho dân ta, nhất là dân cày và dân buôn, trở nên
bần cùng.‟ (8: 61)
‘Tình yêu ta như cánh kiến hoa vàng,
Như xuân đến chim rừng long trở biết
Tình yêu làm đất lạ hóa quê hương…’ (16: 125)
2.2.5. „Làm‟ Conveys the Meaning of „work‟
Probably, this is the most popular meaning of the verb „làm‟ in Vietnamese. With this sense,
„làm‟ denotes the act of working to earn money to survive. For example:
‘Hắn xăm xăm chạy ra giữa sân, hắn cũng muốn làm một việc gì để dự phần tu sửa lại căn
nhà.’ (2: 118)
‘…Không biết có phải vì mới làm dâu mà thị tu chí làm ăn không?‟ (7: 118)
‘Vợ anh đi làm mướn, đi cấy, đi gặt để lấy công’. (11: 303)
‘Con gái, con trai bằng tuổi chúng ta
Cần cù làm lụng’ (4: 216)
Here are some more examples:
‘làm ở nhà máy’; ‘Đến giờ đi làm’; ‘Về quê làm ruộng’; ‘Làm nghề dạy học’; ‘Làm thầy
thuốc’; ‘Làm việc khẩn trương’; ‘Làm mướn’; ‘Làm công’; ‘Làm tư’; ‘Làm thuê’; etc.
2.2.6. „Làm‟ Conveys the Meaning of „do or carry out‟
„Làm‟ can mean to do or carry out a certain job.
‘…làm như vậy ông sẽ được tất cả, được cho đất nước ông, được cho bản thân ông!’ (9: 32)
‘ Vả lại đâu có rủ được anh làm như tôi, khoác cái ba lô lên vai, đi hết làng nọ đến làng
kia…‟ (1: 69)
‘…Hắn đoán họ ngồi đấy nhặt hạt rơi hạt vãi, hay ai có công việc gì gọi đến thì làm…’ (7:
113)
‘Nhìn công việc làm mỗi ngày tưởng như con người bất lực…‟ (6: 140)

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‘Một người làm hai việc, làm luôn cả chính trị viên xã đội nữa.‟ (14: 198)
Moreover, „Làm‟ can denote the act of making effort to carry out something with a particular