MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES
OF ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING THE
VERB “TAKE” AND “BRING” AND THEIR
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(NHỮNG ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÁC DIỄN
ĐẠT TIẾNG ANH CÓ CHỨA ĐỘNG TỪ ‘TAKE’ VÀ ‘BRING’
TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)

LE THI SOAN DUONG
Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Hanoi, 2018
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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES

Le Thi Soan Duong

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Dr. Pham Thi Tuyet Huong
Date: …./04/2018

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For the completion of this work, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable
contributions from many people. I would like to express my deeply thanks to my
supervisor, Dr. Pham Thi Tuyet Huong, who step by step guides me during my
writing thesis. Without her assistance, excellent suggestions and detailed critical
comments, the work could not have been completed. I own her a debt of gratitude
that cannot be measured.
In addition, I am greatly indebted to all my lecturers at the Faculty of Graduate
Studies at Hanoi Open University for their useful lectures, supports, encouragement
and for inspiring me the love for English foreign language teaching and doing
scientific research.
Besides, the study could not have been prepared without the support and
provision of useful materials from all my colleagues and friends. Therefore, their
kindness will never be forgotten.
I would also give my deepest gratitude to my family for their constant support
and encouragement during the time I was attending the course and while the work
was in progress.
Finally, although great efforts have been made to complete the thesis I am
aware that this study is far from perfect. Hence, constructive comments are welcome

Noun

O.
D.O
I.O

Object
Direct object
Indirect object

NP
PP

Noun Phrase
Preposition

Smb
Sth

Somebody
Something

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1. A summary of the Sematic Features of expressions containing the verb
“Take” ......................................................................................................................... 29
Table 2. A summary of the Sematic Features of expressions containing the verb

2.2.1.2. Semantics .......................................................................................... 11
2.2.2. Theoretical Background ............................................................................. 12
2.2.2.1. Concepts of expression ..................................................................... 12
2.2.2.2. Concepts of set expressions .............................................................. 12
2.2.2.3 Types of set expressions .................................................................... 13
2.2.3. The verbs “take” and “bring” in English .................................................... 16
2.2.4. The verbs “Take” and “Bring” in Vietnamese ........................................... 17
2.3. Summary ........................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 3: THE SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH
EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING THE VERBS “TAKE” AND “BRING” AND
THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS .............................................................. 19
3.1 Syntactic features of english expressions containing the verbs “take” and “bring” . 19


3.1.1 Syntactic Features of English expressions containing the verbs “Take” .... 19
3.1.2. Syntactic Features of English expressions containing the verb “Bring”.... 22
3.2. Semantics features of expressions containing the verb “Take” and “Bring” ... 24
3.2.1. Semantic features of expressions containing the verb “Take” ................... 24
3.2.2. Semantic features of expressions containing the verb “Bring” .................. 31
3.3 Similarities and differences between english expressions containing the verbs
“take” and “bring” and their vietnamese equivalents .............................................. 35
3.3.1. In terms of syntactic features of English expressions containing the verbs
“Take” and “Bring” .............................................................................................. 35
3.3.1.1 Similarities ......................................................................................... 35
3.3.1.2 Differences......................................................................................... 36
3.3.2. In terms of semantic features of English expressions containing the verbs
“Take” and “Bring” .............................................................................................. 37
3.3.2.1 Similarities ......................................................................................... 37
3.3.1.2 Differences......................................................................................... 37
3.4. Summary ........................................................................................................... 38


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especially the syntactic and semantic features of expressions containing the verbs
“Take” and “Bring” and their Vietnamese equivalents. What is more, there are
many problems which need being examined when one attempts to show the
meaning conveys as well as the linguistic functions of expressions containing these
verbs.
For the above reasons, I decided to choose the thesis entitled “The syntactic
and semantic features of English expressions containing the verbs “Take” and
“Bring” and their Vietnamese equivalents.”
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
1.2.1. Aims
This research is conducted to achieve the targets of finding out syntactic and
semantic features of English expressions containing the verbs “Take” and “Bring”
and their Vietnamese equivalents. Here, the syntactic and semantic manifestations
of these verbs are taken into account. The study hopes to contribute to enhanced
English language learning in general and to better English communicative
competence by Vietnamese learners of English in particular.
1.2.2. Objectives
To achieve the above-mentioned aims, the following objectives can be
put forward:
(i) Pointing out syntactic features of English expressions containing the
verbs “Take” and “Bring” and their Vietnamese equivalents.
(ii) Figuring out semantic features of English expressions containing the
verbs “Take” and “Bring” and their Vietnamese equivalents.
(iii) Suggesting possible implications for teaching English expressions
containing the verbs “Take” and “Bring”.
1.3. Research questions

“Take” and “Bring” which cause difficulties for Vietnamese learners and suggesting
some implications for teaching these verbs to learners.
1.5. Scope of the study
There are many different types of expressions in English, but here are the
main ones: Expressions (or idiomatic expressions), Slang, Phrasal Verbs, Proverbs,
Clichés and Jargons. Set expression includes fixed phrases, sentences, proverbs and
expressions which contain the verbs “Take” and “Bring” in both languages: English
and Vietnamese. But in this study, we focus on the set expressions that contain
phrasal verbs.
Academic Scope
The study focuses on studying syntactic and semantic features of English
expressions containing the verbs “Take” and “Bring” and their Vietnamese
equivalents. The result of the study will give crucial contributions to the field of
linguistics and improve the efficiency of teaching English expressions containing

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the verbs “Take” and “Bring” for non-English majored students at the University of
Fire Fighting and Prevention. The findings hopefully would bring out various
suggestions for teachers and researchers to conduct further studies related to English
expressions containing the verbs “Take” and “Bring” themselves and those of other
verbs as well as advance teaching effectiveness of expressions. 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’ definitions without notes for practical ways of using them. It is better if
English expressions are analyzed and totalized, contributing considerably to English
learning and teaching in Vietnam.
1.6. Significance of the study
(i) Theoretical Significance

meanings. This study’s implications are to deal with these issues in hope that will
help students overcome their troubles.
1.7. Design of the study
The study consists of the 5 following parts:
Chapter I – 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 II – Literature Review: reviews the previous studies related to the
research topic, a variety of pragmatic concepts most relevant to the research topic
such as expression, phrasal verb, etc and the framework, base on which the research
is conducted.
Chapter III – Syntactic and semantic features of English expressions
containing the verbs “Take” and “Bring” and their Vietnamese equivalents, shows
what have been found and how they are analyzed. The features are accompanied by
statistical results and the analysis of the data shown in the tables. The most
importance in this chapter is the discussion of the data collection and analysis.
Chapter IV – Some suggestions for teaching English expressions containing
the verbs “Take” and “Bring" and English expressions for the freshman in University
of Fire Fighting and Prevention.
Chapter V – Conclusion, provides a summary of the development of the
study, a brief re-statement of the findings. Also, the recapitulation, concluding
remarks, the limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies are cited
here.

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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

English expressions containing the verbs “Take” and “Bring” together with my
realization and analyses is just a small part in this field of linguistics. Moreover, a
study on English expressions containing the verbs “Take” and “Bring” is still a
deserted field that needs to be exploited to keep up with and fulfill the demands in
teaching expressions for EFL students in Vietnam.
2.2. Review of Theoretical Background
2.2.1. Theoretical Framework
2.2.1.1. Syntax

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The word syntax comes from Ancient Greek word. In linguistics, syntax is a
collection of rules, standards as well as methods which regulate the structure of
sentences in a certain language, specifically order of words (Oxford University
Press, 2014).
The word of syntax had been written long before modern grammar official
fixed and appeared. In old times, syntax concept was ruled by a structure name by
grammaire générale which was discovered by Antoine Arnauld in “Grammaire
Générale” in 1660. This framework states that human brain thinking processes will
reflect straightly into language. As a result “there is a single, most natural way to
express a thought” (Antoine, 1660). That framework lasts until the 19th century
which been replaced by the development of linguistics and by the argument of
progressive linguists. They recognize that it is not true about the state “there is a
single, most natural way to express a thought” because of the impact of internal and
external environment on human thinking. And so the logic base for studying
language’s structure had been denied (Bickerton, 1992).
It only became clear when linguists discovered and adapt modern theories of
syntax in the late 20th century. The famous work “generative grammar” of professor
Noam Chomsky is considered as the most popular framework to study and analyze

Main Verbs
English Copular Verb is the first type of verb in English which is the one that
links the subject with its subject complement. The most common copular verbs in
English are be, become or feel. For example:
She is kind.
I feel better.
English Auxiliary Verb is the second type of verb in English that adds more
information related to semantics or syntax about the main verb in the verb phrase.
The three most common auxiliary verbs in English are namely be, do and have. For
example:
Do you eat dog meat?
English Modal Verb is the third type of verb in the English language that
expresses modality and often occupies only the initial position in a verb phrase.
Some common modal verbs are can, may or must. For example:
You must wear a helmet.
English Main Verb is the fourth type to mention in this part. Main verbs are
dynamic or stative verbs that function as the head of the verb phrase. All other verbs
that are not auxiliary or modal verbs are main verbs in English. For example:
He broke my arm.
I killed the man yesterday.
In summary, there are four types of verbs as listed in the table below:

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Types
Copular Verb

Modal Verb


when she states that “Phrasal verbs are common structures in English. They consist
of a verb combined with a preposition like word, known as particle”. She goes on to

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say that “phrasal verbs include both two-and three-word strings”. Examples of such
phrasal verbs are ‘give up’, ‘look after’, ‘hand in’ which include two strings while
‘put up with’, ‘give in to’ and ‘put up for’ include three strings.
Phrasal verbs are considered by Graver as “semi-compounds” whereas
Palmer [Palmer, F. R.(1998). The English Verb. London, New York: Longman:
180] regards them as “single units in the grammar”. He gives reasons for naming
them like that by saying that “there are several collocation restrictions. We can give
up but not give down. We can look after someone but not look before him”. He adds
that phrasal verbs are “obviously semantic units” because ‘give in’ equals ‘yield’,
‘look after’ may be replaced by the literary ‘tend’, ‘put up’ has the meaning of
‘invent’, and ‘put up with’ means ‘tolerate’. What has been stated by Palmer
concerning the treatment of phrasal verbs as single units is quite true and has a solid
basis simply because we have to place certain prepositions or adverbs after certain
verbs in order to convey meanings or concepts. All these definitions lead to
another aspect proposed for discussion, which is the classification of phrasal verbs
in English language In addition to this, it is necessary to distinguish between phrasal
and prepositional verbs.
2.2.1.2. Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It primarily focus on the
correlation between the symbolic constituent of a sentence such as words and
phrases and what they demonstrate for, their references. First discovered by French
linguist Michel Breal, the word semantics relates series of awareness from normal
using to higher application. In simple meaning it describes a range of understanding
which could carry out the word choice. According to Breal (1890), the difference

According to Cambridge Dictionary, expression is a word or phrase,
especially an idiomatic one, used to convey an idea.
For example: He uses a lot of unusual expressions.
"A can of worms" is an expression that means "a difficult situation".
2.2.2.2. Concepts of set expressions
As many languages English and Vietnamese, set expressions are own phrases
and sentences that used daily in communication, in speech as well as in writing. Set
expressions require fixed phrases, sentences, expressions and proverbs.
According to Nguyen Hoa (2001), Set expressions are word-groups
consisting of two or more words whose combinations are integrated as a specialized
meaning of the whole such as to see the red light, to give one a big hand etc.
Set expressions have been sometimes called word equivalents, and they have
been postulated that the vocabulary of a language consists of words and words
equivalents (word group), similar to word in so far as they are not created in speech
but introduced into the act of communication ready-made. If substitution is only
pronominal, or restricted to few synonyms for one of the only, or impossible, i.e if
the elements of the phrase are always the same and bring a fixed context for each
other, the word-group is a set expression.

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In this study, set expressions include expressions, proverbs and phrasal
verbs, but mostly is phrasal verbs.
2.2.2.3 Types of set expressions
A. Expressions
According to Fellbaum (349) expressions are a class of multi-word units,
which pose a challenge to our understanding of grammar and lexis that has not yet
been fully met”.
The following are some definitions of expressions that are given in