1
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
ĐỖ THỊ NGỌC LAN

A STUDY ON THE COLLOCATIONS OF LEXICAL
VERB „DO‟ WITH VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(Nghiên cứu các kết hợp từ của động từ „do‟ và
tương đương trong tiếng Việt) M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15

HANOI - 2010

iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i
ABSTRACT ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

INTRODUCTION 1

1.2.3.2. The lexical „do‟ 16
1.3. Review of some previous studies of collocations 17

CHAPTER 2: COLLOCATIONS OF LEXICAL VERB “DO” WITH
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 20
2.1. Collocations of lexical verb „do‟ with Vietnamese equivalents 20
2.1.1. Form 21
2.1.2. Meanings 22
2.1.2.1. 'Do' for general ideas 22
2.1.2.2. 'Do' for –ing activities 23
2.1.2.3. „Do‟ for „an activity or a task‟ 24

v
2.1.2.4. „Do‟ for „business‟ 27
2.1.2.5. „Do‟ for „sport‟ 27
2.1.2.6. „Do‟ for „subjects of study‟ 29
2.1.2.7. „Do‟ in other cases 29
2.2. Summary 31

CONCLUSION 33
1. Recapitulation 33
2. Limitations of the study 33
3. Suggestions for further studies 34

REFERENCES 35

SOURCES OF DATA 38

claims that “collocation deserves to be a central aspect of vocabulary study.” These pieces of
evidence done can show the great importance of collocation in acquisition of a language. The
author would like to investigate the possibility of combining words into fixed expressions.
As mentioned above, phrases are formed by words together. Words in English are classified
into different classes in which verbs have always been one of the most complex classes of
words because verb, or rather, phrasal verb is the central to the structure of the sentence.

2
According to Palmer (1965:1), “learning a language is, to a very large degree, how to operate
the verbal forms, the pattern and the structure of the verb in that language”. There is a question
which need to be answer is that how verbs collocate with other classes of word. A verb can
collocate with a noun, a preposition, an adjective or even another verb. Verb phrases are then
created. Investigating the combinations of verbs must be necessary for improving the students‟
knowledge and lessening their difficulties.
As can be seen from the discussion above, collocation is a big area in linguistics. Due to the
constraints of time, the focus of this study is only on the collocations with the lexical verb
„do‟, a rather special and complex verb in English. Since the research is carried out against the
Vietnamese backgrounds, the corresponding Vietnamese equivalents are also provided. The
research is so entitled “A study on collocations of lexical verb „do‟ with Vietnamese
equivalents”.
2. Aims of the study
This study aims at investigating the collocations the lexical verb „do‟ in English. This study is
carried out to serve three major purposes:
- To give an overview of the concept of collocation with its main features,
properties and classification.
- To conduct an investigation into the collocations of lexical verb „do‟
- To give Vietnamese equivalents of collocations of „do‟.
In order to get the above-aims, the following questions need to be addressed:
1. What are the meanings of „do‟ in a number of English collocations?
2. What are the Vietnamese equivalents of collocations with lexical verb „do‟ in

The first part, Introduction, states reasons for choosing the topic, the aims of the study with
the detailed methodology to gain these aims, the scope of the study and the organization of the
study.

4
The second part, Development, includes two chapters:
Chapter 1: features the review of related literature and the theoretical backgrounds for
the study, in which the collocation and the theory of verbs will be discussed. The verb
„do‟ will be also identified in terms of grammatical characteristics in structures related
to „do‟.
Chapter 2: presents and describes concrete cases of collocations with the lexical verb
„do‟ with their Vietnamese equivalents in corresponding contexts.
The third part is the Conclusion summarizing the main ideas discussed in the previous parts,
showing the limitations of the study and providing the suggestions for further studies.



6
that collocation cuts across grammar boundaries. Sinclair (1966) introduces the following
terminology: an item whose collocations are studies is called a „node‟; the number of relevant
lexical items on each side of a node is defined as a „span‟ and those items which are found
within the span are called „collocates‟.
We can also find the definition of collocation in any dictionary. In the Oxford advanced
learner‟s dictionary of current English (1995:A4), Hornby gives examples of the words „thick‟
and „dense‟. We can talk about both „thick fog‟ and „dense fog‟. The meaning is the same. But
we do not talk about a person having *‟dense hair‟. This combination just does not sound
right, even through it would easily be understood. „Dense‟ do not collocate with „hair‟. We can
only talk about somebody having thick hair. For him, collocation is the regular combination of
words.
Runcie (2002:vii) gives general definitions of collocation that collocation is the way words
combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing. Benson, Benson &
Ilson (1986b:ix) understand and use this term:
“In English, as in other languages, there are many fixed, identifiable, non-idiomatic
phrases and constructions. Such groups of words are called recurrent combinations,
fixed combinations, or collocations. Collocations fall into two groups: grammatical
collocations and lexical collocations”.
Thus, for him, collocation is defined as specified, identifiable, non-idiomatic, recurrent
combinations. Two kinds of collocations: grammatical and lexical ones will be analyzed in the
near following part. This definition is clearer with some properties and types of collocation.
1.1.3. The distinction between free compounds, idioms and collocations
To attain a clearer understanding of collocations, it is helpful to try to distinguish them from
idioms on the one hand and from free combinations on the other. Apparently, collocations,
free compounds and idioms share one important feature in their form, that is to say they all
refer to combinations of words that go together very often. However, the case is that they
differ from each other in both meaning and form.


8
their meanings reflect the meaning of their constituent parts (in contrast to idioms) and that
they are used frequently, spring to mind readily, and are psychologically salient (in contrast to
free combinations). There are, however, „transitional areas‟ (Cruse, 1986:41) between free
combinations/collocations and collocations/idioms.
1.1.4. Classification of collocation
There are many different ways to classify the collocation. The classification in terms of
frequent use, of structure and of strength is described as follows:
1.1.4.1. In terms of frequent use
Sinclair (1991) divides collocation into two categories: the „upward‟ and „downward‟
collocations. The first group consists of words more frequently used in English than they are
themselves, e.g. back collocates with at, down, from, into, on, all of which habitually collocate
with words that are less frequent than they are, e.g. words arrive, bring are less frequently
occurring collocates of back. Sinclair makes a sharp distinction between those two categories
claiming that the elements of the „upward‟ collocation (mostly prepositions, adverbs,
conjunctions, pronouns) tend to form grammatical frames while the elements of the
„downward‟ collocation (mostly nouns and verbs) by contrast give a semantic analysis of a
word. These two terms are called respectively significant and casual collocations.
1.1.4.2. In terms of structure
Benson, Benson & Ilson (1977) divide collocations into two groups: grammatical and lexical
collocations. The first category consists of the main word (a noun, an adjective, a verb) plus a
preposition or „to-infinitive‟ or „that-clause‟ and is characterized by eight basic types of
collocations:
G1 = noun + preposition
e.g. blockade against, apathy towards
G2 = noun + to-infinitive
e.g. He was a fool to do it; They felt a need to do it.
G3 = noun + that-clause

9

e.g. argue heatedly, apologize humbly.
1.1.4.3. In terms of strength
In terms of strength of collocation, it is worth noting that it is not reciprocal, which means that
the strength between the words is not equal on both sides, e.g. blonde and hair. Blonde
collocates only with a limited number of words describing hair colour whereas hair collocates
with many words, e.g. brown, long, short, and mousy. It happens very often that the bond
between the words in unilateral, e.g. in the phrase vested interest, vested only ever collocates
with interest but interest collocates with many other words.
According to Lewis (2000), there are very few „strong‟ collocations and he makes a distinction
between „strong‟ collocation e.g. avid reader, budding author; „common‟ collocation which
makes up numerous word combinations, e.g. fast car, have dinner, a bit tired and „medium
strong‟ one, which in his view account for the largest part of the lexis a language learner
needs, e.g. magnificent house, significantly different. Sharing the view with Lewis, Hill (1999)
adds one more category – „unique‟ collocation. In his article, Hill (1999:25) divides
collocations into four kinds: unique collocations; strong collocations; weak collocations and
medium-strength ones. To foot the bill, shrug one‟s shoulders are the examples of the unique
collocations. These are unique because foot (as a verb) and shrug are not used with any other
nouns.
1.1.5. Characteristics of collocation
In discussion of the nature of collocation, the author bases on her knowledge with reference to
the linguists‟ works to generalize what characteristics collocation has in common. Generally,
collocation has three major features as follows.
1.1.5.1. Collocations are arbitrary
A question often raised by speakers of English as a foreign language is what underlies native
speakers‟ choice of words or why they choose one word among a list of possibilities to
combine with another so often that they become collocation. Lewis (1997) points out that
collocation is not determined by logic or frequency but is arbitrary, decided only by linguistic

11
convention. In the first characteristic, words are not often combined with each other at

case of the verb làm in Vietnamese as an example. Vietnamese speakers say làm bánh and làm
bài tập with the same verb làm but their equivalent meanings in English are make a cake and
do the homework by using two different verbs do and make. Then, phrases such as *do a cake
and *make the homework is unacceptable. Also, instead of saying ride bicycle, Vietnamese
learners sometimes says *go bicycle because đi xe đạp is totally correct in Vietnamese.
In brief, an acceptable collocation is not always made by joining semantically compatible
parts. The ability of a word to combine with another is restricted by linguistic convention
specific to the English language itself which is highly unlikely to totally overlap with any
other languages.
1.1.5.3. Collocations are not necessarily adjacent
According to McCarthy (1990:14), collocations can be contiguous or proximate, not
necessarily adjacent. He presents that the collocational relationship still applies, even though
several words may separate the collocating items. The following extracts from a newspaper
report concerning a planning application for a new shopping centre who collocation at work
over clause-boundaries:
“The study of planning appeals for similar centres in the past, most of which were
rejected, suggests that the furniture is more hopeful for developers… Now that the
Secretary of State for the Environment has said that applications should be approved
unless there are good reasons against them, many more should succeed.”
The collocational relationship between reject and appeal; application, approve and succeed,
as he argues, is strong, despite the intervening words. The relationship could appear in a
variety of syntactic realizations:
1. They rejected my appeal.
The rejection of his appeal was a great shock.
2. My application succeeded.
She made a successful application.

13
Getting our application approved took ages.
You have to submit your application for approval.

compulsorily be followed by a lexical verb and are structurally necessary for certain
constructions, especially negatives and questions. Auxiliary verbs are a small class of verbs,

15
made up of primary auxiliaries like do, have and be and modal auxiliaries (or modals) like
can, may, must, etc
E.g. I don‟t know what you mean.
Do you like football?
1.2.2.2. Semi-auxiliary verbs
Semi-auxiliary verbs are those that combine with other verbal forms with regular rules of co-
occurrence.
E.g. They have to go outside to eat.
1.2.2.3. Lexical verbs (full verbs)
Lexical verb is a verb that denotes an action or state. One verb is considered a lexical one if it
has five forms which will be detailed in the next part. Lexical verbs comprise an open class of
words that function only as main verbs. Consider the following sentences:
Tim‟s mother met his teacher at school.
What did Miss Jackson give Tim‟s mother?
He didn‟t improve his Spanish grammar.
The verbs meet, give and improve in these sentences are called lexical verbs or full verbs.
1.2.3. The verb „do‟ in English
„Do‟, like „have‟ and „be‟, can be used both as an auxiliary verb and a lexical verb. It is the
most neutral of all the auxiliaries. It has no individual meaning but serves as an operator for
the formation of the interrogative and the negative of the present simple and past simple tenses
and also for emphasis or to convey a coherent style.
There is also a lexical verb „do‟ which has the full range of forms including the present
participle doing and the past participle done.
1.2.3.1. The auxiliary „do‟
As an auxiliary verb, „do‟ is the most neutral or “auxiliary like” of all the auxiliaries and has
the following forms:

1.2.3.2. The lexical „do‟
As other lexical verbs, „do‟ has five forms as follows:
Form

Symbol
Base
form
-s form
Past
form
-ing
particip
le
-ed
partici
ple
examples
V

do I do housework everyday.


homework.
I have done all my
homework.
Lexical verb „do‟ can be used to perform an activity or task.
E.g.: At the weekend, I stay at home and I did a lot of work around the house. I took down
the curtain, washed them and cleaned the windows.
You have to do all the homework the teacher assigned.
What are you doing? – I am learning English.
In most cases, „do‟ is used in fixed expressions and idioms. The later part will discuss about
the uses of lexical verb „do‟ in fixed expressions when it collocates with a noun/noun phrase.
1.3. Review of some previous studies of collocations
In deed, the term „collocation‟ is known very early, along with the language itself. At the
beginning, this issue has been neglected in teaching and learning vocabulary for English
foreign language students. The vocabulary was being learnt and taught only with the words in
isolation. However, with the development of society and that of pedagogical methodology as
well as with the learners‟ needs, there have been several studies of English collocations in the
field of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teaching. There are many linguists deal with the
notion of collocations and its importance in vocabulary acquisition and teaching process such
as Firth (1957), Gairns & Redman (1986), Halliday (1966), Sinclair (1966), McCarthy (1990),
Hill (1999)…. Studying collocations is an interesting topic, touching on the key issue of what
students really need to learn. Clearly, any student who wishes to communicate like native-
speakers will have to come to terms with the challenge of collocation. However, as you hint,

18
English as an international language may well be a somewhat simplified version of the native
varieties. Whether students actually use the collocations may be less important than their need
to understand them. Even if native-speaker proficiency is not desired, students will meet many
collocations in reading passages and when listening to English on television, radio and film,
even song.
Recently, the issue of collocation has been highly estimated. In the book “English collocations

collocations. Chu Thị Phương Vân (2005) analyzed the collocations of one English textbook
on Electronics and Telecommunications. In her works, various types of collocations with
different frequency of use and their characteristics are found out. A test is followed in order to
obtain information about students‟ knowledge of collocation. Likewise, the common errors
and the causes for these errors are also drawn from the test result analysis. Lê Thanh Hà
(2007) carried out the lexical collocations and implications for the translators of English-
Vietnamese when meeting with lexical collocations. More concretely, Đào Thị Ngọc Nguyên
(2007) investigated collocations of only two adjectives (hard, happy) in English. The major
findings of this research are various distinguished senses of hard and happy in different
collocations and the students‟ restricted collocational competence on the two adjectives in
particular and on English lexemes in general. In deed, they are all great useful referential
works for researchers, teachers and students who are going to investigate the issue of
collocation in English.
However, a detailed investigation into the collocations of lexical verb „do‟ has not been taken
There has neither been any works that gave the insights to the comparison between English
collocations and Vietnamese ones. In the frame of an M.A. thesis, the author would like to
contribute a very minor investigation focusing on the collocation “Verb + noun” (lexical
collocation) with the verb “do” in order to facilitate students when dealing with these
combinations of words. Also, the Vietnamese equivalents are given to compare and contrast.

20
CHAPTER 2
COLLOCATIONS OF LEXICAL VERB “DO” WITH
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
2.1. Collocations of lexical verb „do‟ with Vietnamese equivalents
„Do‟ is a very common verb in English. It is taught at very early stage for those who learn
English such as “How do you do? What do you do? How are you doing?” For people who

(i) Please let me know if there is something I can do for you.
Nếu tôi có thể giúp được gì thì cứ nói nhé.
[4: 23]
(ii) Well, we can still do some window shopping, can‟t we?
Này, mình vẫn có thể đi ngắm hàng cơ mà, đúng không?
[4: 166]
(iii) I like the way you do your hair.
Tôi thích kiểu làm đầu của bà.
[18: 165]
(iv) They are doing one Shakespeare‟s play next month.
Tháng tới họ sắp diễn một vở kịch của Shakespeare.
[18: 145]
(v) The doctor did the usual things, which proved his first opinion.
Bác sĩ làm những việc thường lệ, và những việc này chứng tỏ ý kiến đầu tiên
của ông.
[15: 138]
(vi) I‟m still doing research for my thesis.
Tôi vẫn còn đang nghiên cứu để làm luận văn.
[17: no page]