MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY HOÀNG BÍCH NHUNG A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF THE THINKING VERB GROUP IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA NHÓMĐỘNG TỪ THINKING TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2015 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY HOANG BICH NHUNG A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF THE THINKING VERB GROUP IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA NHÓM ĐỘNG TỪ THINKING TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr Dang Ngoc Huong Hanoi, 2015 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF THE THINKING VERB GROUP IN ENGLISH AND THEIR VIETNAMESEE QUIVALENTS” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2015 Hoàng Bích Nhung Approved by SUPERVISOR Đặng Ngọc Hướng (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Dang Ngoc Huongwho has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers in the Faculty ofPost-graduate studies, Hanoi Open Universityand many others, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my husband and my loving daughter for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to uncover the syntactic and semantic featuresof the English THINKING verbs think, assume, ponder, remember, know and believe from the analysis of their syntactic and semantic features based on the theoretical framework of componential analysis Special attention was paid to different senses by contexts where these six verbs are used In order to help Vietnamese learners of English to have a deep understanding of other nuances of meanings conveyed by these English verbs, their Vietnamese translational equivalents are examined The result of the study showed that the six English verbs under discussion can occur in the same syntactic patterns, but may have different meanings depending on the situation in which they are used and they can occur in different syntactic patterns that reflect various meanings in real- life communication They also reveal that the meaning of verb is determined by its relations with other words That is why we can only identify exactly the meaning of any word when we have to put it in a certain context A further implication resulting from the findings included in this study could be equally beneficial for teachers and learners who would like to expand their knowledge The most typical ways of perceptivity the linguistic is analyzed by means of the six English thinking verbs think, assume, ponder, remember, know and believe iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A Adverbial C Complement E English NP Noun phrase O Object S Subject Sb Somebody Sth Something V Verb Vi Vietnamese iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table Complement clause possibilities for THINKING verbs 32 Table Frequency of types of structures in English THINKING 39 verbs and Vietnamese THINKING verbs Table Syntactic features in English thinking verbs and 39 Vietnamese equivalents Table A summary of the meaning nuances of THINK and their 51 Vietnamese equivalents Table A summary of the meaning nuances of ASSUME and 51 their Vietnamese equivalents Table A summary of the meaning nuances of PONDER and 52 their Vietnamese equivalents Table A summary of the meaning nuances of REMEMBER and 52 their Vietnamese equivalents Table A summary of the meaning nuances of KNOW and their 53 Vietnamese equivalents Table A summary of the meaning nuances of BELIEVE and 53 their Vietnamese equivalents Table 10 A Summary of the comparison of the meaning nuances 54 of THINK, ASSUME, PONDER Table 11 A summary of the comparison of the meaning nuances 54 of REMEMBER, KNOW andBELIEVE Table 12 A summary of THINKING verbs and their Vietnamese 55 equivalents v TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of tables and figures v CHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the research 1.3 Objectives of the research 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Significance of the research 1.6 Structural organization of the thesis CHAPTER 2LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.2.1 Theoretical framework 2.2.1.1 Theory of syntax 2.2.1.2 Theory of semantics 2.2.1.3 Overview of English verbs 10 2.2.1.3.1 Definition of the verb 10 2.2.1.3.2 Verb classification 12 2.2.2 Theoretical background 14 2.2.2.1 Overview of the THINKING verbs 14 2.2.2.2 Concepts of the THINKING verbs 15 2.3 Summary 17 vi CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 18 3.1 18 Research-governing orientations 3.1.1 Research questions 18 3.1.2 Research setting 18 3.1.3 Research approach 19 3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis 19 3.2 20 Research methods 3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods 20 3.2.2 Data collection techniques 21 3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 22 3.3 22 Summary CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24 4.1 24 Syntactic features of the THINKING verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents 4.1.1 Syntactic features of THINKING verbs 24 4.1.1.1 Object as NP and object omission 25 4.1.1.2 Complements 28 4.1.2 The THINKING verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents with 33 respect to syntactic features 4.1.2.1 THINK and their Vietnamese equivalents 33 4.1.2.2 ASSUME and their Vietnamese equivalents 34 4.1.2.3 PONDER and their Vietnamese equivalents 35 4.1.2.4 REMEMBER and their Vietnamese equivalents 36 4.1.2.5 KNOW and their Vietnamese equivalents 37 4.1.2.6 BELIEVE and their Vietnamese equivalents 38 4.2 The THINKING verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents with 40 respect to semantic features vii 4.2.1 Semanticfeatures of the THINKING verbs in English 40 4.2.2 The equivalents of semanticfeatures of the THINKING verbs in 51 Vietnamese 4.3 Implications for teaching and learningthe THINKING verbs 55 4.4 Summary 60 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 62 5.1 Recapitulation 62 5.2 Concluding remarks 64 5.3 Limitation of the research 65 5.4 Suggestions for a further research 65 REFERENCES viii (English Vietnamese Dictionary, 1993:132) From the analysis of semantic features of the THINKING verbs in English and Vietnamese equivalents The similarities and the differences between semantic of the THINKING verbs and Vietnamese as in these tables as follows: TABLE 10: A summary of the comparison of the meaning nuances of THINK, ASSUME and PONDER Meaning Nuances Differences Similarities Verbs - To consider the possibility of - To use your mind to THINK ASSUME PONDER doing something solve something, - To think that something is true, decide something, although you not have definite imagine something proof etc - To spend time THINKING - To find the correct carefully and seriously about a answer to a problem problem, a difficult question, or or the explanation for something that has happened something that is difficult to understand TABLE 11: A summary of the comparison of the meaning nuances ofREMEMBER, KNOWand BELIEVE Meaning Nuances Differences Similarities Verbs 54 REMEMBER - To have a picture or idea in your - To realize, find out mind of people, events, places etc about, or understand from the past something - To bring information or facts that - To think that KNOW BELIEVE you know into your mind someone has - To think with respect about particular qualities someone who has died, often in a - To think that ceremony something is true or - To have information about possible, although somethingto be sure about you are not something completely sure - To be sure that something is true or that someone is telling the truth TABLE 12: A summary of the THINKING verbs and Their Vietnamese equivalents English thinking Vietnamese verbs THINK Nghĩ, suy nghĩ, tưởng tượng, cho là, suy ngẫm, nghĩ đến, hiểu, nhớ ASSUME Giả bộ, cho rằng, thừa nhận, bắt đầu PONDER Suy nghĩ, cân nhắc REMEMBER KNOW BELIEVE Nhớ,nhớ lại, tưởng nhớ Biết, hiểu biêt, nhận biết, phân biệt được, biết tin Tin, tin tưởng, cho rằng, nghĩ (English Vietnamese Dictionary, 1993) 4.3 Implications for teachingandlearning the THINKING verbs 55 The THINKING verbs have some syntactic features that it is easy to make the teachers and learners misunderstand For instance, in English, the THINKING verb with NP as object or in the other cases object omissionsuch as: We assumedher cooperation (R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 134) The THINKING verbs in English and Vietnamese has quite various meanings because it consists of six main verbs It is the reason why teachers and learners meet some difficulties in studying its semantics For instance think verb, we can use with these prepositions of/ about/ over but in some context it’s included consider, ‘think about some actual or possible state of affairs (and its consequences) or imagine ‘think of something as if it were true these different results in nuances of meaning conveyed by each verb as in the following sentence as in: You can’t think how glad I am to see you! Anh tưởng tượng vui mừng gặp anh! (English Vietnamese Dictionary (1993:1833) In addition, what may be sufficient in one circumstance will be probably not sufficient in others Language teacher then should provide his learners with relevant information concerning contexts of situation in which a particular word is used For example, in teaching, we need to point out the context of situation in which the English verb Think has the sense of to believe something or have an opinion or idea In such sentences: 56 You can’t expect me to think of everything! Anh chờ đợi để ý tới thứ Do you ever think about your childhood? Anh có nghĩ thời thơ ấu anh không? Think twice before you speak one! Uốn lưỡi bảy lần nói (English Vietnamese Dictionary (1993: 1833) Remembering a set of various syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verbs in English is not always an easy task for many students To eliminate this limitation, teachers should categorize the THINKING verbs in sub-groups according to topics such as assume, ponder and believemeanings so that the students can take advantage of connecting similar lexical units in the process of memorizing and they can remember them more easily Assume verb, it takes that and clause when we accept as being true, without proof, for the purpose of argument or action In some situations, assume verb has the other meaning such as: presume, suppose, believe, expect, think, presuppose, accept, surmise or guess As in: We cannot assume anything in this case Chúng thừa nhận điều vụ The problem is beginning to assume massive proportions (English Vietnamese Dictionary (1993:84) 57 Ponder verb, which goes with on/ over sth and it has meaning in Vietnamese is đắn đo,cân nhắc, suy nghĩ cách kỹ lưỡng For instance: She pondered over his words Cô cân nhắc/ đắn đo lời anh They were left to ponder on the implications of the announcement Họ để lại suy nghĩ tác động thông báo English Vietnamese Dictionary (1993: 1304) Believeverb has Vietnamese meaning tin, tưởng, nghĩ in some situations; it has meaning cho rằng, tin tưởng It has structures are believe sth of sb,make believeas in the following examples: I believe it to have been a mistake Tôi nghĩrằng sai lầm They believed him to be insane Họ cho điên (English Vietnamese Dictionary,1993:133) From the contrastive analysis of the THINKING verbs in the two languages in chapter IV, it can be seen that some verbs of the THINKING verbs share the similarities of structures or semantics For example, these verbs have the same syntactic feature English thinking verbs + that; English thinking verbs + Wh and Wh- to;English thinking verbs + - ing;English thinking verbs + to; English thinking verbs + Modal (for) toand semantic features in both languages Therefore, discovering and using suitable 58 equivalences in the inventory is the best way to have a perfect teaching and learning this verb group in both English and Vietnamese This is to say that a teacher must have a profound knowledge of the target language and the source language so that the teaching of the THINKING verbs can be exactly and effectively Another interesting thing getting our attention is that there always exist the various meanings in most verbs of the THINKING verbs For instance, with the verb think, is similar to assume and ponderthey are use your mind to solve something, imagine something or they find the correct answer to a problem or the explanation for something that is difficult to understand Thus, a clear explanation of the meaning transfer should be given to make students understand deeply about the verbs This profound understanding will get the learners to be involved in learning actively and enthusiastically Also, the English teachers should not ignore cultural gaps between source language and the target language because interlingual errors are originated from the deficiency of cultural knowledge The best way to solve it is to supply our students with background knowledge of history, culture, traditions, customs, related to the THINKING verbs in particular Knowing vocabulary consists of knowing how to use words which represent the image we wish others to have of us Language learners typically learn core or basic meanings of words in dictionaries to understand what they hear or read without knowing enough about their communication functions, register appropriateness, or collocations in specific contexts Misuse of vocabulary causes misunderstanding in communication Therefore, learning or teaching of vocabulary is necessarily attached to the context of use Acquiring a word, we have to learn how the meaning of that word varies in different patterns In addition, what may be sufficient in one circumstance will 59 be probably not sufficient in others Language teachers then should provide his learners with relevant information concerning contexts of situation in which a particular word is used From these examples as well as structures of thinking verbs above, during learning and teaching processes, both teachers and learners should be aware of the similarities and differences, particularly the differences between them, which will restrict the mother tongue interference at the maximum This helps to avoid culture shocks or “stupid” mistakes in communication That is what a contrastive analysis aims at A further implication resulting from the findings included in this study could be beneficial for teachers who would like to gain a deeper understanding of the syntax, semantics and the meaning equivalents of these six verbs in English as well as in Vietnamese Gaining this knowledge may be of crucial importance if one does wish to avoid failure in the conveyance of message by means of these verbs The findings of the study on the ground of general meanings may help the learners to find the appropriate expressions when dealing with the specific situations where the THINKING verbs are used 4.4 Summary As analyzed above, we can answer for three questions of the research questions In each separately part, the THINKING verbs are analyzed and discussed clearly.The syntactic features of the THINKING verbs are analyzed by the theoretical background by the construction of the verbs The semantic characteristics are shown like the meaning nuances and the powerful degree of meanings of the THINKING verbs Some similarities and differences of English THINKING verbs and Vietnamese THINKING 60 verbs in syntax are carried out in this chapter There are some comparisons between the THINKING verbs as requirements, requisites and advisories In fact, the complication and the diversity of the structures and the meaning nuances of the THINKING verbs are clear.Moreover, the implications for teaching and learning the THINKING verbs for Vietnamese learners are also analyzed in detail Completing the research about thinking verbs, the readers see the next chapter with important parts as follows:Recapitulation, concluding remarks, limitations of the current research and Suggestion for a further study 61 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Recapitulation THINKING verbs are one of the diversified verb types They have a lot of structures and the meaning nuances Moreover, the meaning nuances of THINKING verbs have similarities It is not simple to distinguish between them With this aim, I have set up major goal for the thesis, to investigate the syntactic and semantic features of English THINKING verbs and Vietnamese THINKING verbs and find out the similarities and differences between English THINKING verbs and Vietnamese THINKING verbs The results of the study were more numerous, and they seem to be more significant, with the most salient and general finding consisting in the fact that, despite a number of parallels between the verbs investigated Consequently, it was interesting to investigate both the equivalents of six verbs Of course, an exhaustive summary of all the results would be too extensive in this section, which is why what follows is a synthesis of selected and most important findings Firstly, in terms of syntactic feature verbs in all subtypes of the Thinking verbs typically take a complement clause in O slot An NP is a possible alternative, but for many verbs this must have non- concrete reference The most common verbs from the thinking verbs may more frequently have a concrete NP in thought role All thinking verbs may take a that compliment in O slot except perhaps for some from ponder verb Only the assume and believe, and they not accept some instance of wh- or wh- to Secondly, in terms of semantics the six verbs studied are verbs whose syntax may vary, thus, in a number of cases, affecting their semantics The wide 62 variety of each subtype, which has different features as in the think verb referring to the Cogitator’s mind just focusing on some person, thing, state or happening The most general verb is think (of/ about/ over Others include consider, ‘think about some actual or possible state of affairs (and its consequences) In the assume verb, when there is some doubt as to whether the Thought is true, assume ‘think of something as true when the Cogitator realizes that it is only likely- not certain- that it is’; and suppose ‘think of something as true when the Cognitor realizes that there is insufficient evidence to be sure that it is With the ponder verb, which the different modes of the THINKING verbs On the other hand, the remember verb that refers the Cogitator having in mind, or trying to get in mind Moreover, theknow verb, it mentions the Cogitator being aware of some fact, body of information and method of doing something.Particularly, believe verb, which refers thinking of something as true Believe verb means think of something as true (when in fact it may not be, but the Cogitator will not accept that it may not be)’ Thirdly, when investigating English- Vietnamese equivalents, it is momentously interesting to figure out that translators, depending on each case, apply appropriate Vietnamese equivalents to each English verb In this study, we can see clearly different Vietnamese equivalents of think that are nghĩ, ngẫm nghĩ, suy nghĩ and some other terms to give opinions such as cho rằng, cho là, nghĩ The assume verb has some Vietnamese equivalents such as cân nhắc, suy ngẫm, giả bộ, thừa nhận.Ponder has Vietnamese equivalents meaning as cân nhắc, suy nghĩ, suy nghĩ Remember has Vietnamese equivalents meaning such as nhớ,tưởng tượng, mường tượng know Vietnamese equivalents meaning as biết, hiểu biết Believe verb Vietnamese equivalents meaning such as tin, tin tưởng, tin vào These findings can lead to the conclusion that different meanings created by one lexeme are caused by different contexts 63 This proves the fact that providing students with meanings of each verb must be clearly given in concrete contexts with proper Vietnamese references The obvious conclusion to be drawn is one where by the questions and goals of this study seem to have been answered in the course of linguistic investigations The interface of the syntax and semantics of these thinking verbs:think, assume, ponder, remember, knowand believe Especially, the result of this research is also pointed out the similarities and differences of the THINKING verbs in English as well as in Vietnamese In sum, it is believed that the research goals have been met, thus contributing to a more insightful understanding of the inner nature of academic spoken English in respect of the usage of the six English verbs think, assume, ponder, remember, know and believe 5.2 Concluding remarks The research has showed the relationship betweenthe syntactic and semantic features of English THINKING verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents with some implications for teachers, learners and translators to overcome their difficulties in dealing with THINKING verbs Theoretically, the study has provided a comprehensive and overall knowledge about the syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verbs in English Moreover, the similarities and differences between these verbs in English and in Vietnamese is very helpful in contrasting two languages Practically, the study helps teachers and students to get some useful suggestions in teaching and learning this verb group because the THINKING verbs consist of many verbs and vocationally make people confused when its syntactic and semantic features are under consideration 64 5.3 Limitationsof the current research Firstly, syntax and semantics are analyzed for sixEnglish THINKING verbs but not at all thinking verbs in this paper Secondly, the comparison between English and Vietnamese is rather complex Lastly, the researcher’s knowledge makes it impossible to provide sufficiently and focus on the THINKING verbs intensively Although the study has offered some insightful findings, it has a limitation The results in this study are just relatively reasonable because of the limited number of instances with the six verbs taken for analysis I hope that in the future research, more instances will be analyzed to have a standard result Moreover, in the study, different syntactic patterns and derived meanings conveyed by sixEnglish THINKING verbs think, assume, ponder, remember, know and believehave been scrutinized from semantic perspective through the componential analysis The study might be served as a foundation for studies on other verbs Through I have made my great efforts in this thesis to work out the best results, due to limitation of time and knowledge of the author, mistakes and limitations are unavoidable Therefore, any your comments or corrects for my better work would by highly appreciated 5.4 Suggestion forfurther studies In this paper, we have only focused on the equivalents ofsixTHINKING verbs in syntactic and semantic features and it can be seen that we have taken English to be the target language and Vietnamese the source language Therefore, the following aspects referring to THINKING verbs further studies: 65 1) A study on pragmatic features of the thinking verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents 2) An investigation onto cross- cultural features of the thinking verbs in English and Vietnamese 3) An investigation ontothe thinking verbs in idiomatic expressions in English and Vietnamese equivalents 66 REFERENCES English sources Alexander, L G (1996) Longman English Grammar Longman Publishing Groups Dixon, R M W (1991) New approach to English Grammar on semantic principles Oxford University Press, New York Faure, Richard (2009) Verbs of THINKING and Speaking Bridgewater State University Press Hurford, James R.; Heasley, Brendon 1983 Semantics a coursebook Cambridge University Press Jack Richards, John Platt, Heidi Weber (1987) Longman Dictionary of Applied linguistics Longman, Harlow Date Karlsson, Susanna (2008) Re- thinking THINK in contrastive perspective.Cambridge University Press Leech, Geoffrey N (1983) Principles of pragmatics, vol 30 Longman linguistics library London and New York: Longman Lyon, John (1995) Linguistics Semantic: Introduction Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Norrish, John (1983) Language learners and their errors Essential language teaching series MacMillan Press, London 10 Quirk, Randolph (1985) A comprehensive grammar of the English language Longman Press 11 Ryle’s, Gilbert (2009) Concept of mind Oxford University Press 12 Wierzbicka ,A (1972) Semantic primitives Oxford University Press Vietnamese sources 13 Cao Xuân Hạo (2007) Tiếng Việt, vấn đề ngữ âm, ngữ pháp, ngữ nghĩa Nhà xuất Giáo dục 14 Diệp Quang Ban & et al (2002)Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt (Vol 1) NXB Giao Dục Hà Nội 15 Đỗ Hữu Châu (1999) Từ vựng ngữ nghĩa tiếng Việt NXB Giáo dục 16 Đinh Văn Đức (1986) Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt (từ loại) NXB Đại học THCN 17 Đinh Văn Đức (2001) Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt (từ loại, viết bổ sung) NXB ĐH Quốc Gia Hà Nội 18 Hoàng Phê (1998) Từ điển tiếng Việt NXB Khoa Học Xã Hội 19 Hoàng Tuệ (1962) Giáo trình việt ngữ- tập NXB Giáo dục Hà Nội 20 Hồ Hải Thuỵ & et al (1993) Từ điển Anh- Việt, NXB Hồ Chí Minh 21 Lê Biên (1999) Từ loại Tiếng Việt đại NXB Giao Dục 22 Lê Minh Giang & et al (2011) The distinction between factive verbs and non- factive verbs in English and Vietnamese translational equivalents Tạp chí Khoa học Công nghệ Đại học Đà nẵng, tập 43, số 2, trang 218 23 Nguyễn Kim Thản (1997) Động từ Tiếng Việt NXB Khoa Học Xã Hội 24 Nguyễn Văn Chiến (1992) Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu đối chiếu ngôn ngữ Đông Nam Á NXB Đại Học Sư Phạm Hà Nội 25 Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà (2012) Ngữ Nghĩa động từ Nghĩ tiếng Việt.Tạp chí Khoa học Đại học Huế, tập 72A, số 3, Trang 111 26 Võ SĩKhải& et al.(1996).Từ điển Anh – Việt (English – Vietnamese dictionary) NXB KHXH Hanoi [...]... syntactic and semantic features of the THINKINGverbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents 2 Finding outthe similarities and differences of the THINKING verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalentsin terms of syntactic and semantic features 3 Providing some implications forteachingand learning the THINKING verbs 1.4 Scope of the research Within the framework of a master thesis, only the syntactic. .. syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verbsin English and their Vietnamese equivalent? 2 What are the similarities and differences of the THINKING verbsin English and their Vietnamese equivalentsin terms of syntactic and semantic features? 3.What are possible implications for teachingandlearning the THINKING verbs? 3.1.2 Research setting This thesis is conducted by using various sources as well as... going to contrasted, analyzed in structure of syntactic and semantics 23 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION In this chapter, the syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verb group in English as wellas in Vietnamese are mentioned separately Moreover, the Implications for teaching, learning and translating the THINKING verbs for Vietnamese learners are discussed detail 4.1Syntacticfeatures of the. .. the THINKING verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents 4.1.1 Syntactic features of THINKING verbs After investigating all the materials, it is classified into sixverbs of THINKING verbsin English such as the thinkverb, the assumeverb, the ponderverb, the rememberverb, the knowverb ,and the believeverb After studying the background, it is found out that the THINKING verbs in English is all transitive... situations to communicate To compare the syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verbsare important to learners, so that they can have good knowledge to use these THINKING verbs correctly For the above reasons, the topic A Study on syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verb groupin English and their Vietnamese equivalents is chosen with the purpose of finding out the equivalents of. .. Sources of data are from finding books at libraries, bookshops and on the Internet Data analysis techniques are collecting the materials, investigating the syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verbs in English and contrasting with their Vietnamese equivalents 3.2 Research methods 3.2.1Major methods and supporting methods This study is designed and investigated the syntactic and semantic features. .. general, and teaching the THINKING verbs in particular, it is recognized that this verb group makes students confused much especially their syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verb group and their Vietnamese equivalents As there are a lot of THINKING verbs, learners can use different words to express their ideas However, a great number of peoplemake mistakeswhen they usethe THINKINGverbsin... grammar on semantic principles These studies studied on the semantic of these verbs in terms of semantic features Gilbert Ryle (2009), Concept of mind Richard Faure (2009), Verbs of thinking and speaking The authors have already discussed the discusses the definition of the mind and similarities and the differences between verbs of thinking and speaking Susanna Karlsson (2008), Re -thinking THINK in. .. considered the source language, and Vietnamese is the target one First of all, the qualitative method is referred the meanings as well as the definitions or the concepts of the THINKING verbs in English and in Vietnamese Then, the descriptive method is described the characteristics and equivalents of semantic and syntactic structures of the English THINKING verbs in English and in Vietnamese Besides, the. .. meaning of a whole text.” David Crystal (1992:347) defines that “semantics is the study of meaning in language” Structural semantics applied the principles of structural linguistics to the study of meaning through the notion of semantic relations (also called sense relation), such as synonymy and antonyms In generative grammar, the semantic component is a major area of the grammar’s organization, assigning