Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm An investigation into the linguistic features of catenative verbs in English

Nội dung text: Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm An investigation into the linguistic features of catenative verbs in English

1. SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO BÌNH ĐỊNH TRƯỜNG THPT VÕ GIỮ ĐỀ TÀI AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF CATENATIVE VERBS IN ENGLISH Họ và tên tác giả : Trương Minh Hoàng, M.A Đơn vị : Trường THPT Võ Giữ Năm học 2011 - 2012
2. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 I. BACKGROUND 1 1. Rationale 1 2. Significance of the Study 2 3. Scope of study 2 II. THE METHOD OF CONDUCTING 2 1. Theoretical and factual basis of the study 2 2. Research Procedures 2 Chapter 2 CONTENTS 4 I. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 4 1 .Theoretical Background 4 1.1 Catenative Verbs 4 1.2. Catenative Complements 5 2. The Semantic and Syntactic Features of Catenative Verbs 7 2.1. The Semantic Features of Catenative Verbs in English 7 2.2.1. The Same-Subject Constructions 7 2.2.2. The Different-Subject Constructions 15 2.2. The Syntactic Features of Catenative Verbs in English 19 2.2.1. By to-infinitive clauses 19 2.2.2. By -ing clauses 21 2.2.3. By bare infinitive clauses 22 2.2.3. By past participle clauses 23 II. THE SOLUTION OF THE STUDY 25 1 . The Novelty of the study 25 2 . Applied Solutions of the Study 25 3 . The Benefits of the Study 30
3. Chapter 3 CONCLUSION 32 1 . Some implications for language teaching and learning 32 2 . The development of the study 32 3 . Petition 33 A. REFERENCES 34 B. SOURCES OF DATA 37
4. LISTS OF TABLES Table 2.1.The Summary of the Semantic Features of the Same Subject Constructions 14 Table 2.1.The Summary of the Semantic Features of the Different Subject Constructions 19 Table 2.3.The Summary of the Syntactic Features of English Catenative Verbs 24 Table 2.4.The Frequency of English Catenative Verbs 26 Table 2.5.The percentage of correctness in three exercises (26 sentences) of 50 students distributed respectively 29
5. 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION I. BACKGROUND 1. Rationale One of the many problems that confront learners of English is non-finite complement in English. Yes, indeed , English verbal groups emphasized on the complement predicator following the first verb, which makes learners often uncertain to choose the appreciate complement in cases where only one is possible as in ‘he enjoys studying English’ and ‘she intends to study English’ as well as in those where either may occur: ‘they love studying/to study English’. In the following cases, verbs are also often accompanied by other verbs as non –finite complements. (1) They kept laughing. [21, p.142] (2) I want to go to London. [30, p.172] (3) It began to rain. [11, p.329] As shown examples above, two verbs (strictly speaking, two verbal groups) form a structure in which the second verb is dependent on the first verb. The first verb is called a catenative verb because it is capable of initiating a verb chain. Such chains have their own internal structure, depending on the catenative verb and the other verbs in the chain. In fact, learners of English often have difficulties in using catenative verbs. They could hardly know why one may say, they kept laughing, but not * they kept to laugh. Kept must be followed by a nonfinite, not an infinitive. The other catenative verbs may be followed by either nonfinite or infinitive, with little apparent difference in meaning: It began to rain. / It began raining. It is therefore necessary to research on nonfinite complementation in English to help learners to gain some insight into the linguistic phenomena in English. That is the reason why I decide to research the topic: “An investigation into the linguistic features of catenative verbs in English”
6. 2 2. Significance of the Study The purpose of the study on the linguistic features of Catenative Verbs in English is (1) To help learners of English have a comprehensive understanding about the semantic and syntactic of Catenative Verbs in English . (2) To help learners of English know for effective use of Catenative Verbs. 3. Scope of the Study Owing to the limited research time and my own ability, so I would like to focus on a detailed description of the semantic and syntactic features of Catenative Verbs in terms of the meaning of the first verbs. II. THE METHOD OF CONDUCTING 1. Theoretical and factual basis of the study As pointed out above, in the part of rationale, it is obvious that there is a particular feature of certain verbs like e.g. want, begin, try or seem that sets them apart from other verbs: their ability to be combined into chains of verbs, to 'catenate' (Lat. catena: chain). The treatment of the grammatical phenomena above is further complicated by the fact that learners of English confront difficulties in knowing how to use either to –infinitive or an –ing complement after these certain verbs above. Therefore, the study is aimed at finding novel solutions to help learners grasp and use catenative verbs precisely in distinct circumstances. 2. Research Procedures The research work is carried out with the following steps: Step 1: After identifying the research topic, the main points are outlined to be researched, data is collected, time is planned and procedure is estimated to finish this paper according to the general scheme within academic year 2011 - 2012. Step 2: The second step is to find as many documents relating to catenative verbs as possible. Step 3: Documents are planned to read thoroughly, or to be used as quotation.
7. 3 Step 4: Based on the theoretical basis, catenative verbs are described carefully with the help of many samples from the data collected; we will carry out an analysis of the semantic and syntactic features of catenative verbs. Step 5: Conclusion of the whole work and some implications for learning and teaching are also given.
8. 4 Chapter 2 CONTENTS I. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study is expected: - To identify and describe the semantic and syntactic features of catenative verbs in English. -To provide a theoretical insight into catenative verbs so that students can comprehend and use them effectively in studying and in speaking English as well. 1 .Theoretical Background 1.1 Catenative Verbs Leech [25] defines that Catenative verb is a verb which takes a non-finite clause as its complement, like want in I want to invite you, or love in We love playing scrabble. The term catenative (from Latin ‘catena’, a chain) alludes to the possibility of a recursive chain of such verbs, since the verb in the complement of the previous catenative verb can itself be a catenative verb with a non-finite complement, and so on indefinitely. A possible but rather improbable chain structure of this kind is: (4) Someone will need to try getting him to help mend the dishwasher.[25, p.17] As presented above, it is clear that catenative verbs resemble and yet differ from auxiliary verbs. Common examples are: He seems to think the same way. We began planning the Christmas party. They remembered leaving the keys under the mat. You love to surprise your family. [32, p.96] Like auxiliaries, catenatives forge links with other nonfinite verbs to express a complete meaning. The catenatives also differ from auxiliaries in the meanings they express. Instead of paraphrasing the modals like other semi-auxiliaries, they qualify the action of the following verb (as do seem, begin), or else set up a mental perspective on it (as do remember, love). Other examples like seem are:
9. 5 appear cease chance continue fail finish get happen help keep manage stop tend Others like remember are: Attempt consider detest endeavor want expect forget hate hope intend like prefer regret resent risk strive try Note that some catenatives can take either to-infinitives or -ing constructions as their complement, others only one of them. Catenatives are relatively new in the classification of English verbs, and grammarians still debate which belong to the class. The Comprehensive Grammar [35] admits only the first group mentioned above, whereas the Introduction to the Grammar of English [21], allows both types as simple catenatives. A third group of constructions labeled complex catenatives are also embraced, those which require a noun phrase before the nonfinite verb. For example: (5) He advised her parents to come. [30, p.96] Other examples are: ask entreat invite oblige remind request teach tell urge These verbs typically express some kind of speech act. The Longman Grammar [2] groups the three types together with those which take a content clause as complement , and uses the term “controlling verbs” for all. 1.2. Catenative Complements Most linguists agree on four basic forms of catenative constructions that can be distinguished, based on the type of non-finite construction that is employed. The four basic types of catenatives as exemplified by Palmer: i) - bare infinitive ii) - to infinitive iii) - ing form iv) - en form.
10. 6 The catenative verbs may be classified according to two ways below: (1) in terms of the form the non – finite verb : Simple catenative verbs (2) in terms of whether there is a noun phrase between the two verbs or not : Complex catenative verbs As noted above, there are four basic non-finite forms of main verbs: The bare infinitive, the to infinitive, the -en and the-ing form. These occur in simple catenative verb construction as well as in complex one like catenative complements (Non-finite complements).  Simple catenative verbs: The identification of the subject in simple catenative sentences is usually unproblematic. Here the subject of the subordinate clause is identical with that of the main clause. a) bare infinitive He helped wash up. b) to-infinitive He wants to go to London. c) -ing form He keeps talking about it. d) -en form He got shot in the riot. [31, p.173] Here it is clear intuitively that the subject of in the four sentences above is He.  Complex catenative verbs: The identification of subjects in complex catenative phrases is not as straightforward as it is in simple ones. Palmer shows the subject of the subordinate clause to be identical with the intervening noun phrase between the catenative and the following verb. a) bare infinitive He helped them wash up. b) to-infinitive He wants them to go to London. c) -ing form He kept them talking a long time. d) -en form He had the rioters shot. [31, p.174] The sentences above show that the subjects of wash up, to go, talking and shot are the intervening noun phrases like them, the rioters.