(THINKING1) A Study On Syntactic and Semantic Features of The Thinking Verb Group in English and Their Vietnamese Equivalents

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 1 Complement clause possibilities for THINKING verbs 32

Table 2 Frequency of types of structures in English THINKING 39
verbs and Vietnamese THINKING verbs
Table 3 Syntactic features in English thinking verbs and 39
Vietnamese equivalents
Table 4 A summary of the meaning nuances of THINK and their 51
Table 5 A summary of the meaning nuances of ASSUME and 51
their Vietnamese equivalents
Table 6 A summary of the meaning nuances of PONDER and 52
Table 7 A summary of the meaning nuances of REMEMBER and 52
Table 8 A summary of the meaning nuances of KNOW and their 53
Table 9 A summary of the meaning nuances of BELIEVE and 53
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
1.1 Rationale 1
1.2 Aims of the research 2
1.3 Objectives of the research 3
1.4 Scope of the research 3
1.5 Significance of the research 3
1.6 Structural organization of the thesis 4
CHAPTER 2LITERATURE REVIEW 6
2.1 Previous studies 6
2.2 Review of theoretical background 7
2.2.1 Theoretical framework 7
2.2.1.1 Theory of syntax 7
2.2.1.2 Theory of semantics 8
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 3 METHODOLOGY 18
3.1 Research-governing orientations 18
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 Research methods 20
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 Summary 22
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24
4.1 Syntactic features of the THINKING verbs in English and their 24
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 5 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
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale
The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence. A verb
states what is happening in the sentence.There are many verbs in Englishand
the THINKING verbs play an important role in the sentence. However, in
communication, we have difficulties in expressing our ideas, especially in
transferring meanings of words from a language to another one, in our case
from English to Vietnamese.
It is known that the ability to express freely in communication is of

great importance forfuture career, especially in modern societies where
contacting with foreigners often occurs. In addition, there still exist many
difficulties in learning and teaching English in Vietnam. Many Vietnamese
learners can write and read English quite well but they do not use it correctly
and fluently in real-life communication.
There have been a lot of researchers conducting investigations into

THINKING verbs in both English and Vietnamese. In English with these
studies:Anna Wierzbicka (1972) she studies about the semantic features of
verbs such as: think, know, and want;R. M. W. Dixon (1991),A new approach
to English grammar on semantic principles; Gilbert Ryle (2009), Concept of
mind; Richard Faure (2009), Verbs of thinking and speaking;Susanna Karlsson
(2008), Re-thinking THINK in contrastive perspective. In Vietnam with studies:
Hoàng Tuệ (1962), Giáo trình việt ngữ ; Nguyễn Kim Thản (1997),Động từ
trong tiếng Việt; Hoàng Phê (1998), Vietnamese dictionary. In some Journals
of Science and technology Lê Minh Giang and Ngũ Thiện Hùng (2011), Sự
khác nhau giữa động từ thực hữu và không thực hữu trên cứ liệu tiếng Anh và
1
đối dịch tiếng Việt; Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà (2012), Ngữ nghĩa của động từ nghĩ
trong tiếng Việt. These studies thoroughly describe about the semantic
features of the THINKING verbs but they have not been exploited in terms of
their syntactic features yet. Moreover, the equivalents between two languages
English and Vietnamese has not been implemented yet.
In the process of teaching English verbs in 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 different 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
English and Vietnamese THINKING verbs.Especially, the study only focuses
on six English THINKING verbs think, assume, ponder, remember, know and
believe.We hope that with the thesis, we can contribute a small part to help
students of English as well as Vietnamese people who learn English and who
are interested in English THINKING verbs.
1.2Aims of the research
The thesis is aimed at investigating the syntactic and semantic

features of English THINKING verbs in English and their Vietnamese
2
equivalents with a view helping Vietnamese learnershave a better
understanding of the THINKING verbs andsuggesting some implications
for teachingand learning these English verbs.
1.3 Objectives of the research
To achieve the mentioned aims above, following objectives can be put

forward:
1. Pointing out the 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 and

semantic features of the English THINKING verbs will be taken into
consideration. Other features will be out of the scope of this study.
To serve the purpose of the study, some implications will be

suggested to help Vietnamese learners of English have a better
understanding of the THINKING verbs and then use them in daily
communication effectively.
1.5. Significance of the research
i) Theoretical significance
3
Theoretically, the study will provide a full description of syntactic
and semantic features of the English verbs, so other researchers and
linguistics could take it as a reliable reference to make further studies in this
field.Moreover, the similarities and differences between these verbs in
English and in Vietnamese are very helpful in contrasting two languages.
ii) Practical significance

Practically, the study will help the Vietnamese learners of English as
a foreign language use the English THINKING verbs effectively in daily
communication. The findings of the study is hopefully to be beneficial to
those whose are engaged in teaching English as well as those who want to
learn English as a foreign language.
1.6 Structure of theresearch
Thestudy isorganizedintofivechapters: Introduction, Literature

Review, Methodology, Findings and Discussion, and Conclusion.
Chapter1 - Introduction - gives the reason why this topic has been
chosen for the research as well as its aims and objectives, scope,
significance and organizational structure.
Chapter2 – Presents theLiteratureReview including all the previous

studies related to the research area and a review of theoretical
background,which is considered as a foundation for conducting the whole
research.
Chapter 3 – Methodology – describes all the research-governing

orientation and methods applied for implementing this research.
Chapter 4 – Findings and Discussion – gives a detail description and

discussion on the syntactic and semantic feature of THINKING
4
verbstogether with some possible implications for teaching and learning the
English THINHKING verbs.
Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summaries the whole content of the

research, indicate the limitation, thus giving some recommendation and
suggestion for a further research.
References come at the end of the study.
5
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
The following issues are to be dealt with in this chapter: Previous

studies; Review overview oftheoretical background. These theories are the
basis of the study in the chapter four.
2.1 Previous studies
There have been many researchers conducting investigations into
THINKING verbs in both English and Vietnamese.
For THINKING verbs in English, Anna Wierzbicka (1972) she studies
about the semantic features of verbs such as: think, know, and want. etc,.
Besides, according to R. M. W. Dixon (1991),A new approach to English
grammar on semantic principles. In his study, he pointed that the THINKING
verbs include eight English verbs: think, assume, ponder, remember, know,
conclude, solve and believe. Two these authors studies about the semantic of
these verbs in terms of semantic features.
Gilbert Ryle (2009), Concept of mind discusses the definition of the mind.
Richard Faure (2009), Verbs of thinking and speaking. The author has already
discussed the similarities and the differences between verbs of thinking and
speaking. Although the research has mentioned the syntactic as well as the
semantic features, it has only mentioned the equivalents of these verbs in
English and French.
Susanna Karlsson (2008), Re-thinking THINK in contrastive
perspective.In his study, he discussed eight verbs: think, know, feel, see, hear,
see, wantanddoin terms of syntactic and semantic features in English and
Swedish equivalents.
About Vietnamese THINKING verb group, Hoàng Tuệ (1962), Giáo
trình việt ngữ and Nguyễn Kim Thản (1997),Động từ trong tiếng Việt, these
authors studied about the classification of words in Vietnamese including the
6
THINKING verbs in Vietnamese. Hoàng Phê (1998), Vietnamese dictionary
analyzed and improved to the meaning and the structures of the THINKING
verbs. In addition, some authors of Journal of Science and technology in Da
nang and Journal of Science of Hue University such as: Lê Minh Giang and
Ngũ Thiện Hùng (2011), Sự khác nhau giữa động từ thực hữu và không thực
hữu trên cứ liệu tiếng Anh và đối dịch tiếng Việt. These researchers studied
about the distinction between factive verbs and non- factive verbs in English and
Vietnamese translational equivalents. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà (2012), Ngữ nghĩa
của động từ nghĩ trong tiếng Việt. She has only mentioned the meaning of think
verb in Vietnamese. The author did not discuss or contrast the equivalents of the
think verb in English.
Although all the studies above thoroughly describe about the semantic
or the meaning features of the THINKING verbs, they have not been
exploited in terms of their syntactic features yet. Especially, the equivalents
between two languages English and Vietnamese has not been implemented
yet. Moreover, the implications for teachingandlearning the THINKING
verbs from English into Vietnamese have not carried out yet.
As a result, that is why this research studies about the THINKING verb
group. The THINKING verb group of this study consists of six verbs as
follows: think, assume, ponder, remember, know and believe. In this paper,
the features of syntactic as well as semantic of the THINKING verbs will be
analyzed clearly from many different resources.
2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Theoretical framework
2.2.1.1 Theory of syntax
Syntax is a set of rules in language. It dictates how words from different
parts of speech are put together in order to convey a complete thought.
According to R.M.W. Dixon (1991), syntax deals with the way in which words
7
are combined together. Verbs have different grammatical properties from
language to language but there is always a major class verb, which includes
word referring to motion, rest, attention, giving and speaking.
Syntax is understood to be the theory of the structure of sentences in a
language. This view has its direct antecedents in the theory of immediate
constituents, in which the function of syntax is to mediate between the observed
forms of a sentence and its meaning.
Bloomfield (1993), he states “we could not understand the form of a
language if we merely reduced all the complex forms to their ultimate
constituents”. He argued that in order to account for the meaning of a sentence,
it is necessary to recognize how individual constituents such words and
morphemes constitute more complex forms.
Syntax is now the study of the principles and rules that govern the ways
in which words are combined to form phrases, clauses and sentences in a
language. Syntax, which is a subfield of grammar, focuses on the word order of
a language and the relationships between words. In other words, morphology
deals with word formation out of morphemes whereas syntax deals with phrase
and sentence formation out of words.
Syntax structures are analyzable into sequences of syntactic categories or
syntactic classes, these being established on the basic of the syntactic
relationships and linguistic items have with other items in a construction.
Every language has a limited number of syntactic relations. Subject and
object are probably universal of syntactic relations, which apply to every
language. However, just as the criteria for the major words class noun and verb
differ from language to language, so do the ways in which syntactic relations are
marked.
2.2.1.2 Theory of semantics
Semantics is a branch of linguistics, which deals with meaning or the content of
communication. According to Hurford and Heasley (1983:1), “semantics is the
8
study of meaning in language”. Language is a means of communication, and
people use language to communicate with others by making conversations,
giving information, and other things to make social relationship. Human beings
have been given the capacity to talk, to communicate with each other, to make
meaningful utterances, so that they are understood by other human beings. They
communicate about the world in which they live, about themselves, about their
thought and feeling, about what has happened, about what might happen or what
they would like to happen, and a lot more.
Hurford and Heasley (1983:5) state, “the giving of information is itself an act of
courtesy, performed to strengthen social relationships”. This is also part of
communication. There are some linguists that try to define semantics. Moreover,
as quoted by Lyons (1977) at first defines semantics as the study of the relations
of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable. And then he revises his
definition, saying that, semantics is that portion of semiotic which deals with the
signification of sign in all modes of signifying.
Semantics is usually connected with pragmatics Carnap (Lyons, 1977:116) says
that descriptive semantics (i.e. the investigation of the meaning of expressions in
“historically given natural language”), may be regarded as part of pragmatics.
The reason why descriptive semantics is part of pragmatics seem to have been
that he believed that difference in the use of particular expressions were not only
inevitable in language - behaviour, but must be taken account of in the
description or context. Smith, as quoted by Lyons (1977:116) states that
“semantics studies how these signs are related to things. And pragmatics studied
how they are related to people”. According to Leech (1983:5) in practice, the
problem of distinguishing language and language use has centred on a boundary
dispute between semantics and pragmatics. Hurford and Heasley (1983:14)
further explain that the study of semantics is largely a matter of conceptually and
exploring the nature of meaning in a careful and thoughtful way, using a wide
range of examples, many of which we can draw from our knowledge. But Jack
9
Richards, John Platt, Heidi Weber (1987:172) state that “the study of meaning is
semantics. Semantics is usually concerned with the analysis of the meaning of
words, phrases, or sentences and sometimes with the meaning of utterances in
discourse or 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 a semantic
representation to sentences, and analyzing lexical terms of semantic features.
The theory of semantic field views vocabulary as organized into areas, within
which words (lexical items) interrelate and define each other.
Theory of syntactic and semantic is carried out first with main purpose to decide
the theoretical framework of the study in the chapter four.
2.2.1.3 Overview of English verbs
2.2.1.3.1Definition of the verb
In most languages, verbs are part of speech expressing existence, action,
or occurrence. Moreover, verb is considered to be the king of all parts of speech
in English. At the heart of every sentence is a verb, an action word that is
generally indicates what someone or something is doing or perhaps merely
indicates being.
R.M.W.Dixon (1991) defines that “a verb is the center of a clause”. A
verb refer to some activity and there must be a number of participants who have
roles in that activity as: Sinbad carried the old man; or it may refer to a state,
and there must be a participant to experience the state as: My leg aches.
A set of verbs is grouped together as one semantic type partly because
they require the same set of participant roles. All giving verbs require a Donor, a
Gift and a Recipient, as in:
John gave a bouquet to Mary, Jane lent the Saab to Bill.
10
Or:
The women’s Institutes supplied the souldiers with socks.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 9)
All attention verbs take a Perceiver and an Impression (that which is seen
or heard), as in:
I heard the crash, I witnessed the accident, I recognised the driver’s face.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 9)
Affect verbs are likely to involve an Agent, a Target, and something
which is manipulated by the Agent to come into contact with the target which I
call manip. A manip can always be stated, although it often does not have to be.
Let’s see the following examples:
John rubbed the glass (with a soft cloth).
Mary sliced the tomato (with her new knife).
Tom punched Bill (with his left fist).
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 9)
L.G Alexander (1983) points out a verb is a word or a phrase which
expresses the existence of a state or doing an action.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic (1998) states that a verb is a word or
a phrase indicating an action, an event or state.
According to Borahash (1975), the verb is a part of speech denoting an action or
a process.
According to Jack C. Richards & et al (1992), a word is a verb when it
satisfies these following criteria:
- Occurs as part of the predicate of a sentence
- Caries markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect,
person, number, and mood
- Refers to an action or state
11
Generally in English, the verb tense shows the time of the action or state;
the aspect of a verb defines the temporal flow (or lack thereof) in the described
event or state.
Thompson (1965), states that verbs are not affected by number, person,
gender, mood, voice, and tense.
2.2.1.3.2 Verb classification
According to R. Quirk et al (1985), verbs are classified into two types:
intensive verbs and extensive verbs.
a. Intensive verbs
Intensive verbs are also called copular verbs, and they are usually
followedby a noun, or a noun phrase, and adjective or prepositional phrase.
Intensive verbs are used to describe the subject. It means that the focus is on one
thing – the subject only. Intensive verbs appear in the structure “S V C” or “S V
A”. Words or phrases, which are followed by an intensive verb work as the
subject compliment and they apply to the subject, not the verb. Let’s consider
the following examples:
Your dinner seems ready (SVC)
My office is in the next building. (SVA)
(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)
b. Extensive verbs
Extensive verbs are most other verbs, they do not have subject
compliment. Extensive verbs are used to say what the subject is doing. It coversa
wider area; it takes the information away from the subject. Words or phrases,
which are followed by an extensive verb work as the verb’s object. They apply
to the verb, not the subject as in:
He stayed very quiet.
12
Extensive verbs include three small types: monotransitive, complex

transitive and ditransitive.
Di transitive verbs are verbs which take a subject and two objects or have
the structure “S V O O”. According to certain linguistic considerations, these
objectives may be called direct, indirect objectives, or primary and secondary
objectives as in the following examples:
I must send my parents an anniversary card. (SVOO)
In contrast, mono transitive verbs take only one object and appear in the
structure “S V O” as in the following examples:
That lecture bored me. (SVO)
Verb requires both a direct object and another object or an object

complement is complex transitive verbs. Complex transitive verbs appear in the
structure “S V O C” or “S V O A”. In a complex- transitive construction, the
object complement identifies a quality or attributes pertaining to the direct
object. Let’s consider the following examples:
Most students have found her reasonably helpful. (SVOC)
You can put the dish on the table. (SVOA)
The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence. A verb
states what is happening in the sentence. Finite verbs locate the condition or
action of the verb in a specific time frame: past, present or future and have a
13
specific tense and a subject with which they grammatically agree. A
complete sentence must contain a finite verb. Verbs create the relationship
between the subject and the object of the verb.
In a command, there is still this relationship with the subject and

object understood. “Go!” (Subject –you– understood, verb “go!”
object away– understood.)
The form of the verb must agree with the number of its subject, which
will be a noun or noun group, for example 'They were not home' (as
opposed to 'They was not home'). Confusion can arise when deciding
whether the subject is singular or plural, for example 'This group of students
is very clever', or when there are two subjects, for example 'Ice cream and
strawberries are delicious' (not 'is delicious').
2.2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.2.1Overview of the THINKING verbs
In general, in English, there are thinking verbs whose frequency of use is
very high in both English and Vietnamese. Besides, thinking verbsare found in
English as: Anna Wierzbicka (1972) studies about the semantic features of
verbs such as: think, know, and want. On the other hand, in another study of
R. M. W. Dixon (1991),A new approach to English 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
contrastive perspective. The research studied on syntactic and semantic features
14
of eight verbs: think, know, feel, see, hear, see, want anddo in English and their
Swedish equivalents.
In Vietnam, the THINKING verbs found by these authors such as:
Hoàng Tuệ (1962), Giáo trình việt ngữ and Nguyễn Kim Thản (1997),Động
từ trong tiếng Việt, these authors studied about the classification of words in
Vietnamese including the THINKING verbs in Vietnamese. Hoàng Phê
(1998), Vietnamese dictionary analyzed and improved to the meaning and the
structures of the THINKING verbs. In addition, some authors of Journal of
Science and technology in Da nang and Journal of Science of Hue University
such as: Lê Minh Giang and Ngũ Thiện Hùng (2011), Sự khác nhau giữa động
từ thực hữu và không thực hữu trên cứ liệu tiếng Anh và đối dịch tiếng Việt.
These authors studies about the distinction between factive verbs and non-
factive verbs in English and Vietnamese translational equivalents. For the author
Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà (2012), Ngữ nghĩa của động từ nghĩ trong tiếng Việt. The
author has only mentioned the meaning of think verb in Vietnamese. The author
did not discuss or contrast the equivalents of the think verb in English.
Although all the studies above thoroughly describe about the semantic
or the meaning features of the THINKING verbs, they have not been
exploited in terms of their syntactic features yet. Especially, the equivalents
between two languages English and Vietnamese has not been implemented
yet. Moreover, the implications for teachingand learning the THINKING
verbs from English into Vietnamese have not carried out yet.
The researches above are the background that the theory part of the study
will be carried out.
2.2.2.2Concepts of the THINKING verbs
According to Susanna Karlsson (2008), the THINKING verbsare known
as follows: We use thinking verbs to refer to cognitive processes such as
thinking, wondering, knowing and remembering:
15
Miss Lee wondered why the children were so tired.
"This looks like a job for Granny Gong!" thought Miss Lee.
(Susanna Karlsson, 2008)
On the contrary, he said that. THINKING verbs tell the reader what the
characters are thinking about the event or what they were thinking at the time, as
in:
“I wonder what’s for lunch?” he thought.
THINKING verbs may be included: believe, consider, contemplate,
decide, dream, forget, forgive, guess, idea, imagine, know, notice, realize,
remember, see, suppose, think, understand, and wonder.
THINKINGverbs require using your brain, rather than physically
using your body as in:
I pondered the situation.
I fretted about the situation.
I wondered about it.
I thought about it.
I worried about it.
According to Ryle (1971),states that the verb “think” can refer to both
beliefs and opinions.
On the other hand,Ryle (1978), dismissively compares this interpretation
of thinkingverb: “describing a journey as constituted by arrivals, searching as
constituted by findings, studying as constituted by examination triumphs, or, in a
word, trying as constituted by successes”.
16
Like English the concepts of the THINKING verbs in Vietnam, It also
has many different meaning aspects.
According to Hoàng Phê (1998), the concept of the THINKING
verbsare known as follows:
1. Brainstorming on what was perceived; draw awareness to new
ideas, Judgement, and attitude. (Think stratagem. Think how to respond.)
2. Having in mind, remember, think of. (Go away, always thinking about
the homeland, thinking of your parents.)
3. To be / that after thought. (I think what he's about.)
For the author,Nguyen Thi Thu Ha in Journal of Science of Hue
University mentioned to the meaning of the think verb in Vietnamese, which
shows the think verb is seen as a primary word. Moreover, Hoang Tue,the
author has also pointed that the thinking verb is a word that stands for perceptive
activities.
2.3 Summary
In this chapter, theLiteratureReview includesprevious studies, review

of theoretical background. In the previous studies, the studies of authors in
oversea and in Vietnam are given.In the theoretical background, theory of
syntax and semantics are analyzed thoroughly in order to use for the
background of analyzing the syntactic and semantic features of the
THINKING verbs in English. Moreover, the definition of the verb and
classification of verb are pointed out in details.Finally, theoretical
background is given briefly review what has been found and discussed the
related studies by describing their approaches and key findings, but then
identify weaknesses in the approach and limitations in the findings.
All the parts of this chapter thatcan be considered as a foundation for

conducting the whole research.
17
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
In order to fulfill the aim of the study, some pedagogical implications,
this chapter deals with the study of the thesis, the methodology. It focuses on the
data collection. This chapter is carried out with a view to mapping out the ways
to conduct the whole study. It comprises of two parts: the first part is research-
governing orientations and the second part is research methods.
3.1. Research governing orientations
3.1.1 Research questions
To achieve the aims and objectives of the thesis, the following research
questions are put forward:
1. What are the 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 applying the

physical, social, and cultural site in each part of the research.
Normally, it is realized that the students easily make mistakes when

they use the THINKING verbs because they do not know which verbs
should be chosen in different contexts. So, this study is carried out through
18
dictionaries, encyclopedia, reference books at library and on some websites
to help the teachers and learners more clearly about the differences in syntax
as well as in semantics between the THINKING verbs in English and their
Vietnamese equivalents.
3.1.3 Research approach
The thesis is conducted by combining the three research approaches of

quantitative, qualitativeand comparative, which are carried out following
orientations. Firstly, the thesis is started with data collection by using a various
sources of printed publications as books, articles, journal, English Vietnamese
Dictionary and Vietnamese grammar books or from the internet. After finishing
the collection of data, they are qualitatively described, analyzed and illustrated
by corpora in terms of the structural and semantic features. The data collected
from the reliable sources then are quantitatively computed and compared with
Vietnamese equivalents under a process of statistical analysis to find the answers
to the research questions. Finally, certain conclusions and implications for using
the THINKING verbs in English in an effective way are withdrawn.
3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis
The research is analyzed and collected the data from reliable sources
with clearlyprinciples.The data, the samples and the evidences, they are
showed in logically and unified from the first chapter to the final chapter.
Data types which are chosen to implement this study are derived from
Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary, Oxford Advanced Encyclopedia,
English Vietnamese Dictionary, English semantic dictionary, Vietnamese
grammar books and Internet resources.etc. These are used as reference
books and citation materials in the study.
19
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 of the THINKING verbs in English with reference to the
Vietnamese equivalents, so the qualitative, descriptive and comparative
method is chosen. This study analyzes and synthesizes to some syntactic,
semantic features of the THINKING verbs in English and their Vietnamese
equivalents. Therefore, in the process of the study, the THINKING verbsare
main sources for the research, so English is 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 comparative method is
compared the syntactic and semantic structure of the THINKING verbs in
English and Vietnamese to make clear the similarities or differences between
them. Moreover, analysis or synthesize have also been used as supporting
methods. The analysis is analyzed the similarities and differences of the
THINKING verbs in English and Vietnamese and the synthesize is
synthesized some verbs belong to the THINKING verbs as well as examples
20
to illustrate from different sources such as from books, dictionaries, literary
works, newspapers, magazines, native speakers and websites. As a matter of
the fact, to investigate in details in the structures of the THINKING verbs
with their different components and semantic features with various nuances
of meanings, analytical method is also employed, and then the synthetic
method is used for grouping them on the basic of certain criteria according
to structural and semantic features. In addition, quite a few of research
techniques have been combined, such as statistics, and contrastive analysis
to find the equivalents of the THINKING verbs in Vietnamese.
Finally, in the conducting of the investigation, last but not least,

setting up a regular consultancy with supervisor for a guidance and
academic exchange is critical technique to find out a right direction for
doing the research successfully.
3.2.2Data collection techniques

The data are collected from different sources such as dictionaries,
namely, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003); Oxford Advanced
encyclopedia (2002); Semantic primitives (1972); A new approach to English
grammar on semantic principles(1991);English-Vietnamese
Dictionary(2008); Vietnamese - English Dictionary (2000); The English
verb(1974 ); The Vietnamese verbs (1997); Vietnamese dictionaries (1998;
giao trinh viet ngu (1962),grammar book:A comprehensive grammar of the
English language by Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J.
(1985). Some Journals of Science and technology(2011), (2012) by Le Minh
Giang, Ngu Thien Hung and Nguyen Thi Thu Ha. The reason for choosing
these materials as the sources of the data is that according to R.J Rees
(1973:1-2): literature is divided into two senses: broad sense and narrow
sense. The former means anything that is written such as tables, catalogues,
text, books, brochures, etc. while the latter means a writing that expresses
21
and communicate thought, feelings, ideas, and attitudes, towards life in the
serious fuller and deeper sense of the words. Moreover, these sources are
found to provide the most fertile examples for the lexical items under study.
The bilingual dictionaries, encyclopedia, the novels are used for this
study because they are well known and are confirmed by reliable publishing
houses.
After identifying different senses of the six verbs in English together
their Vietnamese equivalents, these senses are brought into consideration.
The following part represents the data analysis techniques used to analyze
the data.
3.2.3 Data analysis techniques
In this study, these following data analysis techniques are used to do

the best for the result of the thesis, such as placing information into arrays;
Creating matrices of categories; Looking at the data in many different ways
to avoid premature; Dividing the data by type across all cases investigated;
Treating the evidence fairly to produce analytic conclusions answering the
original "how" and "why" research questions; Using representative audience
groups to review and comment on the draft document.
3.3 Summary
In conclusion, this chapter describes all the research-governing

orientation and methods applied for implementing this research. In each part
of this chapter, the data analyzed clearly.On the other hand, in this chapter,
the research is discussed two main points. In the first point, it discusses the
equivalents of the syntactic and semantic features of the THINKING verb
groups in English and Vietnamese. In the second point,the study discusses
the implications in order to help learners to overcome their difficulties in
22
dealing with the THINKING verbs and how can they avoid making
mistakes in using them. Besides, in this chapter with the research approach
and the research methods, the main methods of this study are quantitative,
qualitative and comparative. The datacollected by using a various sources of
printed publications as books, articles, journal, bilingual dictionaries and thesis
or from the internet. After that, the data is 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 THINKING verbs in English and their

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 verbs. In this study, the structure of a sentence, which
belongs the THINKING verbs are discussed with the pattern at the end of a
sentence.
In this pattern, the verb is a transitive verb. The verbs always occur with
direct objects. The direct object may be a noun, noun phrase, pronoun or that-
clause, finite clause/ non-finite clause. The conjunction that can sometimes be
omitted but in this case the ponder verb do not have that clause. This verb
belongs (weather or what clause). The direct object is a finite or non-finite
clause beginning with either A ‘wh-element’, which can be a pronoun (what,
how, weather). Almost all of the verbs in the THINKING verbs belong to this
type except tell and instruct.
24
Only the verb assume in this THINKING verbsdo not belong to the type
SVOO. This pattern has a double-transitive verb followed by an indirect object
and a direct object. Both objects can consist of a noun or noun phrase.
4.1.1.1 Objects as NP and object omission
An NP is a possible alternative, but for many verbs this must have non-
concrete reference as in:
We assumedhis cooperation.
He proved the truth of the theorem.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 134)
Some verbs may have a concrete noun as head of the NP, but this leaves
something unsaid about that thing, which the addressee may be assumed to be
aware of. Let’s see the following examples:
We considered Mary (for promotion).
She understands John (the reason he acts as he does).
They speculated about the house (what price it would fetch at the
forthcoming action).
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 134)
The most common verbs from the THINKING verbs may more
frequently have a concrete NP in thought role as in: think (of/about), remember,
forget, believe, but even here some amplification may be implicit in these
sentences:
I am thinking of Odette (of how much I love her)
25
I forgot John (forgot to invite him to my party).
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 134)
Know has a special sense ‘be acquainted with a person or place’ as in:
I know Paris/ Peter Trudgill well.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 134)
In the above example, which is rather different from the ‘be’ aware of
something’ meaning, which it shares with sense, realize, etc.
Believe also has a special sense, marked by the preposition in compare the
following sentences:
I believe Mary (what she said)
I believe (inthe existence of) the Christian god).
I believe(in the wisdom and goodness of (my boss).
Most verbs of the ponder verbthat take a preposition before a though NP

(this does or drop before that as in:
I reflected on John’s deciding to withdraw.
I reflectthat John had decided to withdraw.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 134)
It is difficult decision whether to regard these as transitive verbs with an

inherent preposition, or as transitive verbs that can take a peripheral NP referring
to the thought. In favor of the transitive alternative is the fact that these NPs
passive relatively easily.
26
That decision by the Vice- Chancellor has been wondered at in every
committee room of the university.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
Nevertheless, as some support for the intransitive analysis, the

preposition- plus- no can be freely omitted after most ponder verbs as in:
She is meditating/ brooding/ reflecting.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
Thinkverb has cross- membership of corporeal type. Like many other

corporeal verbs,a cognate NP may follow it. Let’s consider the following
example:
She has a tendency to think really evil thoughts.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
Note that these cognate NPs, which may not have the full syntactic status
of ‘object’, immediately follow the verb. Think (of/about), as thinking verbs,
involve an inherent preposition before the O NP (which can readily be passive)
as in:
That change in the plans has been thought about for an awfully long
time.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
Some thinking verbs, such as think, dream and learn, may omit an object
NP only in the habitual or progressive.
I dream every night.
27
I’m learning (gradually).
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
Rememberverb and some know, forget(in the ‘be aware of something’

sense) and understand- can omit an O,NP if it can be inferred from the context
as in:
Fred won’t come to the door. Oh, I understand(Why he won’t).
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
Believe verbcan occur with no object only when used in a religious sense
as in:
He believes(in the Christian god).
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
These think, assume verbsmay use so in place of the thought role where
this could be inferred as in:
Does John know? I assume so (that he knows).
(R.M.W.Dixon,1991: 135)
4.1.1.2 Complements
The indirect object can also be a personal pronoun. The direct object can
be a noun/ noun phrase, or a that-clause. In this case, the direct object is that/ wh
and wh- to complements as in this part follows:
a)That, wh- and wh- to complements
28
All thinking verbs may take a that compliment in O slot except perhaps
for some from the other verbs that belongs the THINKING verbs as ponder verb
(brood, mediate). Only the assume and believeverbs, and certain members of
solve, do not accept some instance of wh- or wh- to (doubt is an exception- it
takes a whetherclause as a near- paraphrase of a that complement (see A that
complement refers to some definite event or state) and as in:
I doubt that/ whether John will win.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 135)
b) - ing complements
Verbs from think and rememberverbs, which may have an -ing clause for
the thought role; the subject of the complement clause can be identical to the
subject of the main clause and will then be omitted. Let’s consider the following
example:
I thought of/ imagined/ speculated about/ remember (Mary’s) being

attacked when on holiday in Nigeria. Understand.
(R.M.W.Dixon ,1991: 136)
From the know verb that may also have an -ing clause in O slot. Here the
complement clause subject in unlikely to be the same as the main clause subject;
if it is, it would not normally be omitted.
I understood Mary’s/ my being denied promotion.
(R.M.W.Dixon,1991: 136)
c) Tocomplements
29
All verbscan take a Judgement to complement as in:
I guessed/ supposed/ knew/ inferred/ suspected John to be clever.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 136)
The to be can often be omitted, just after think and other thinking verbs
asconsider and imagineas in:
We considered him (to be) stupid.
I think it (to be) very unlikely.
(R.M.W.Dixon,1991: 136)
d) Omitting (to be)from to complements:
The sequence to be can be omitted from some Judgementto and from

some modal (for) to complements. The conditions for this omission are quite
different in the two cases.
FromJudgementto, a limited number of verbs may omit both the to and a

be which begins the predicate when the predicate is a typical semantic
accompaniment for the verb.
The thinkverb may omit to be from Judgementto complement that make a

straightforward assertion concerning a quality or state, where this is shown by an
adjective or by the passive form of a verb as in:
I thought him (to be)stupid/wrong/healthy/dead/vanquished.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 136)
30
To be may not be omitted from other kinds of Judgementto complement
with these verbs not from as following example:
I thought him to be getting healthier each day.
(R.M.W.Dixon,1991: 136)
Verbs like know and assume appear never to omit to be from a

Judgementto complement, perhaps because there is no particular kind of
predicate that could be considered prototypical for these verbs.
In summary, to be can be omitted from a Judgementto clause when the

main clause verb and the adjective from the predicate of the complement clause
typically belong together.
e)The preposition (for/to)following the THINKING verbs
Remember and knowmay take a Modal (for) to complement. This will

often have its subject co referential with the main clause subject, and then
omitted as in:
I remembered/ knew to stand up when the judge enters the room.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 136)
On the other hand, the subjects can be different (and then for must be
retained) as in:
I remembered for Mary to take her pill.
(R.M.W.Dixon, 1991: 136)
Thinkverbmay also take a modal (for) to complement but only, it appears,

in the past tense and in a negation or question as in:
31
Did you think to look the door?
I didn’t think to lock the door.
(R.M.W.Dixon , 1991: 136)
Remember, know and think, in restricted circumstances- are thus

numbered among the very few verbs to accept both Modal and Judgement
varieties of to complement.
From the characteristics of the THINKING verbs above, the table 1

following that summarizes complement clause possibilities for the THINKING
verb group.
TABLE 1: Complement clause possibilities for the THINKING verbs
THAT WH- ING Judgement Preposition

and TO (for/to)
WH- to
THINK + + + + -
ASSUME + - - + -
PONDER + + + - -
REMEMBER + + + + +
KNOW + + - + +1
BELIEVE + - - + -
1
with know, the to may be omitted in the active, but must be retained in the
passive.
Alone ofremember andknow may take a modal (for) to complement with

both for and to omitted, similar to a small set of attention verbs. This usage
appears always to involve past tense or aspect, and very often includes a
negation such as never or not as in:
32
They had never known him hit her.
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:136)
As with attention (and making) verbs, the supposed to must be used in the
passive as in the following example:
He had never been knownto hit her.
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:136)
4.1.2 The THINKING verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents with respect
to syntactic features
4.1.2.1 THINK and their Vietnamese equivalents
In the terms of syntactic features, think is a static verb. When we use a

wh-question or yes-no question we use a reporting clause followed by a clause
beginning with a wh-word and either if or whether. In this structure, think brings
a Vietnamese equivalent nghĩ, suy nghĩ. Thinkverb is described as belonging
when it depends on the sub-group of transitive and intransitive. It may stand
alone in that-clause and it’s also can combine with to-infinitive and a noun or
noun phrase following it. When this verb goes with to infinitive, it renders into
Vietnamese with meanings tưởng, nghĩ ra được,nghĩ rằng, cho rằng or cho
rằng là. A noun or noun phrase is attached to this verb, the meanings of their
Vietnamese equivalents are nghĩ, suy ngẫm, nghĩ ngợi. Moreover, think makes
some combinations with prepositions such as of, about, over, etc. When there
are some prepositions followed, their Vietnamese equivalents include nghĩ về,
nghĩ đến or suy nghĩ về as in the following examples:
English Vietnamese
Are animals able to think? 1a Súc vật có biết suy nghĩ không?
33
I can’t think what you mean? 1b Tôi không nghĩ ra được anh muốn
nói gì ?
What do you think she’ll do 1c Anh cho rằng bây giờ cô ta sẽ làm
now? gì?
I was just thinking (to myself) Tôi chỉ nghĩ rằng đường sao mà
what a long way it is. xa quá.
1d
(English Vietnamese Dictionary , 1993:1832)
From the examples above, think verb with different meaning. In each
context the meaning has it owns different meaning. In 1a and 1bthink verb after
modal verb able to/ can’t, verb is infinitive without “to”. In a the meaning in
Vietnamese meaning suy nghĩ and meaning in 1bnghĩ ra được but in 1c and 1d
the meaning in Vietnamese is cho rằng and nghĩ rằng.
4.1.2.2 ASSUME and their Vietnamese equivalents
Assume is a transitive verb, which may also be followed by a clause,

introduced by that. After that- clause, a putative “should”, a subjunctive and an
indicative verb can be required. These structures, when translated into
Vietnamese, often take the meaning of cho rằng, thừa nhận. Moreover, assume
is followed by to-infinitive with or without a preceding noun, the Vietnamese
equivalent is giả bộ. Furthermore, after assume, some modifiers are used such as
nouns, noun phrases and the Vietnamese equivalents is giả sửand assume is to
be used in the progressive tenseas in the following examples:
English Vietnamese
I am assuming that the present 2a Tôi cho rằng tình hình này sẽ
situation isgoing continue còn tiếp diễn.
We cannot assume anything in this 2b Chúng tôi không thể thừa
case nhận điều gì trong vụ này.
34
We can all leave together- 2c Chúng ta có thể cũng ra đi –
assuming (that)the others aren’t giả sử (là) những người khác
late? không đến muộn?
(English Vietnamese Dictionary, 1993:84)
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. In
Vietnamese meaning cho rằng as in 2a and meaning in 2b thừa nhậnbut in 2c
the meaning in Vietnamese is giả sử.Although assume verb in Vietnamese
meaning it’s not mentioned the meaning is suy nghĩ, nghĩ, it shows the meaning
and the function as a verb in the THINKING verbs.
4.1.2.3 PONDER and their Vietnamese equivalents
Ponder is both transitive and intransitive verb. It requires an at least

object. Syntactically, ponder combines with what, whether in English. In their
Vietnamese equivalents, suy nghĩ is often used for speech. Besides, modifiers
are used such as nouns, noun phrases and particles such as the preposition about,
on, over and it has the meaning of suy nghĩ về, cân nhắc, suy ngẫm về…suy tính
in its Vietnamese equivalent as in the following examples:
English Vietnamese
I ponder (over) the incident, asking 3a Tôi đã suy nghĩ rất lâu về
myself again and again how it could sự việc xảy ra, tự hỏi mình
have happened. nhiều lần làm sao mà điều
đó lại xảy ra được.
You have pondered long enough; it 3b Anh đã cân nhắc khá lâu
is time to decide. rồi, đã đến lúc anh phải
35
quyết định.
Ponderingon the meaning of life. 3c Suy ngẫm về ý nghĩa của
cuộc đời.
I am pondering how to respond. 3d Tôi đang suy tính trả lời như
thế nào đây.
The ponder verb, which refers to different modes of thinking from the
example of 3a and 3b ponder goes with preposition (on or over) with different
meaningto In 3a the meaning in Vietnamese meaning suy nghĩ về,and meaning
in 3csuy ngẫm về but in 3b and 3d the meaning in Vietnamese is cân nhắc and
suy tính.
4.1.2.4REMEMBER and their Vietnamese equivalents
Remember is a transitive verb. It requires an at least object. Syntactically,

remember combines with that-clause in English. In their Vietnamese is
quivalents, nhớ rằng is often used for that structure. On the other hand,
remember is followed by to- infinitive it has the meaning of nhớ đã in its
Vietnamese equivalent. We can see that a pronoun or a noun or a noun phrase is
between remember and to-infinitive. This structure is known with the meaning
as nhớ in Vietnamese. Besides, this verb is also enclosed with a noun or a noun
phrase in the English structure with the meaning ghi nhớ in the Vietnamese one
but after remember it’s not used the progressive tense as in the following
examples:
English Vietnamese
Rememberthat we are going out 4a Nhớ là chúng ta sẽ đi chơi
tonight tối nay nhé.
Robert’s contribution should also 4b Sự đóng góp của Robert
be remembered cũng cần được ghi nhớ
36
Remember to lock the door 4c Nhớ khoá cửa ra vào nhé
I remember posting the letters 4d Tôi nhớ là đã gửi các bức
thư đi
From the examples above, Remember verb with different meaning. In
each context the meaning has it owns different meaning. In 4a, 4d the meaning
in Vietnamese nhớ là and meaning in 4b, ghi nhớ but in 4c and the meaning in
Vietnamese is cho rằng and nghĩ rằng.
4.1.2.5 KNOW and their Vietnamese equivalents
Know is both transitive and intransitive verb, which may also be followed
by a clause, introduced by that. After that- clause, a putative “understand”, a
subjunctive and an indicative verb can be required It requires an at least object.
These structures, when translated into Vietnamese are biết, biết chắc. Moreover,
know is followed by to-infinitive with or without a preceding noun, the
Vietnamese nhận ra. Furthermore, after know, some modifiers are used such as
nouns, noun phrases and particles such as the preposition about, of, etc. The
Vietnamese equivalents are hiểu biết về, biết tin. Especially, know is to be used
in the question word and it has the meaning of in its Vietnamese equivalent, but
know is not to be used in the progressive tense as in the following examples:
English Vietnamese
Every child knows (that) two and 5a Tất cả trẻ con đều biết (rằng)
two make four. hai cộng hai là bốn.
I know (that) it’s here somewhere 5b Tôi biết chắc(là) nó ở đâu
–it must be! đây – chắc hẳn thế!
She knows a bargain when she 5c Khio thấy một món hời cô ấy
sees one nhận ra ngay.
Do you know of any way to stop a 5d Anh có biết cách nào làm cho
37
person snoring? một người khỏi ngáy không?
Not much is known about his 5e Biết không nhiều về quá trình
background đào tạo của anh ta.
(English Vietnamese Dictionary , 1993: 973)
Know verb has general meaning biết as in 5a, 5b,5d and 5ebut in 5b it has
different meaning is nhận ra.
4.1.2.6 BELIEVE and their Vietnamese equivalents
In the terms of syntactic features, believeis a transitive verb. In terms of

syntactic, believe combines with that or how -clause in English. In their
Vietnamese is equivalents, tinis often used for that structure. A noun or noun
phrase is attached to this verb, the meanings of their Vietnamese equivalents are
tưởng rằng, cho rằng, hình dung. Moreover, believe makes some combinations
with preposition such as in. When there is preposition followed, their
Vietnamese equivalents include tin vào. Furthermore, after believe it’s not used
the progressive tense as in the following examples:
English Vietnamese
I believe him what he says 6a Tôi tin ông ta, điều ông ta
nói.
Nobody will believe what difficulty 6b Sẽ không ai hình dung được
we have had. chúng tôi đã gặp khó khăn
như thế nào.
People used to believe (that) the 6c Người ta vẫn thường tưởng
world was flat. rằng trái đất dẹt.
He believes in getting plenty of 6d Nó tin tưởng vào việc rèn
exercise luyện thân thể.
(English Vietnamese Dictionary , 1993:132)
38
Believe verb referrers to 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)’. The meaning of this verb is also different in
each situation as in 6 a in Vietnamese equivalent is tinbut in 6b it has meaning is
hình dungand 6c is tưởng rằng.
From the analysis of syntactic features of the THINKING verbs in

English and Vietnamese equivalents. The similarities and the differences
between structure types of the THINKING verb group and Vietnamese as in
these tables as follows:
TABLE 2: Frequency of types of structures in English THINKING verbs and

English thinking verbs and their Vietnamese

equivalents
Type of structures
Think Assu Ponde Reme Know believe
me r mber
E Vi E Vi E Vi E Vi E Vi E Vi
1. E. thinking verbs + that + - + - + - + - + - + -
2. E. thinking verbs + Wh + - - + - + - + - -
and Wh- to
3. E. thinking verbs + - ing + - - + - + - -
4. E. thinking verbs + to + - + - - + - + + -
5. E. thinking verbs + modal - - + + -
TABLE 3: Syntactic features in English thinking verbs and Vietnamese thinking

verbs
Types of structures English thinking verbs Vietnamese

Occurrence Rate Occurrence Rate
39
1. E. thinking verbs + that 6 30% 6 24%
2. E. thinking verbs + Wh and 4 20% 6 24%
Wh- to
3. E. thinking verbs + - ing 3 15% 5 20%
4. E. thinking verbs + to 5 25% 5 20%
5. E. thinking verbs + Modal 2 10% 3 12%
Total 20 100% 25 100%
4.2The THINKING verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalentswith

respect to semantic features
4.2.1 Semantic features of the THINKING verbs in English
a) Thinkverb
The thinkverb 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)’; imagine ‘think of something as if it were true, although
the Cogitator is aware that it may not be true (and that is might be surprising if it
were)’.
b) Assumeverb
The assumeverb, 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’.
c) Ponderverb
40
The ponderverb, referring to different modes of thinking as ponder
(on/over), meditate (on/about), brood (on/over), speculate (on/about), wonder
(at/about), reflect (on/about), dream (of/about), contemplate.
d) Rememberverb
The rememberverb, referring to the Cogitator having in mind, or trying to

get in mind, something from the past, remember ‘think about something form
the past, or about something arranged in the past which is to take place in the
present or future’, and forget ‘fail to think of something that one should have
thought about, or that one should have been able to think about’.
e) Knowverb
The knowverb, referring to the Cogitator being aware of some fact, or

body of information, or method of doing something. The most general verb is
know. To here are also sense ‘know some fact intuitively’ (one meaning of feel
may also belong here); realize ‘suddenly think in an appropriate way, so as to
know some fact’, learn come to know something by (often, diligent) effort’, and
understand ‘know something, and reason for it’.
f) Believe verb
The believeverb, referring to think 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)’. There are also suspect “think that something
is likely to be true” and doubt ‘think that something is unlikely to be true’.
Like many other languages, English has many verbs in the THINKING
verb group cover a wide semantic spectrum and take a corresponding diversity
of compliment clause. It will be useful to deal with the subtype’s one at a time.
41
The THINKING verbs, which concludes of these verbs as follows:think,
know, and believe. They typically refer to some unit of information, which can
be realized as a that, wh-;wh- to or Judgement to complement. Thus as in:
I thoughtthat it would rain today.
We pondered over who to appoint.
She believed him to be handsome.
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:136)
The assumeverb and positive members of the believe class must refer to
something quite definite, and thus cannot take wh- or wh- to complements. That
the initial,that may often be omitted when it immediately follows the main
clause predicate.
(i) Wh- This is introduces by whether/ if, or by any other wh- word, as
in:who, what, where, how, why; this wh- introducer may not be
omitted.
A that complement refers to some definite event or state.
1) I know that John is on duty today
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:231)
Wh- complements involve either(i) whether or if, which enquires about a

complement event or state; or (ii) another wh- word (who, what, which, why,
etc.) which enquires about some aspect of an event or state. They may be the
indirect speech correspondents of questions, e.g. They asked whether he is sick,
She enquired who was sick. WH- complements also occur with many verbs not
42
concerned with speaking, then referring to something about which clarification
is needed as in:
2) I (don’t) know whether/if John is on duty today.
3) I (don’t) know who is on duty today/ when john is on duty.
(R.M.W Dixon,1991:125)
The most typical pattern- with verbs like know, hear, understand,
remember, decide and remark- is for a that complement to occur in a positive
sentence an wh- one in a negative as in:
4a) I don’t know that John is on duty today.
4b) I didn’t know that John was on duty today.
(R.M.W Dixon , 1991:215)
Both (4a) and (4b) would be likely to be used when someone else had
made an assertion that John is on duty today. By using (4a), in present tense, the
speaker declines to agree with the assertion (4a) has a meaning not too different
from I don’t believe that John is on duty to day. Sentence (4b), in past tense,
indicates not so much disagreement as surprise- the speaker thought that he
knew John’s duty days, and hadn’t realized today was one of them.
Verbs like ponder, speculate, wonder and guess tend to relate to some
matter that requires clarification, and typically take an wh- complement without
also including not (although theycan also accept not) as in:
I wondered whether/ when I would get released.
She guessed what he would be wearing/ who would come.
43
Almost all verbs that take wh- complements also take that clause. The
few exceptions include enquire (mentioned in the last paragraph) and
discuss,which must refer to some ongoing activity (through an ing complement)
or to something about which clarification is sought (thought a wh- clause). There
are a fair number of verbs that take a that but not wh- complement as in:believe,
assume, suppose, which make unequivocal assertions, and order, urge, which
issue instructions.
Verbs from the ponderverb refers to modes of think; they typically take
wh- complements as in: we speculated over who might have killed him, They
brooded over whether to go or not. Most of these verbs will seldom (or never)
occur with that complements- referring to some define fact- or with Judgement
to clause.
Verbs in think, ponder and remember from know- but not assume, believe
and the remainder of knowmay relate to some continuous activity, by means of
an ing complement as in:
I thoughtof/ pondered over/ remembered her building that wall all by

herself.
(R.M.W Dixon , 1991:218)
If the complement clause subject is co referential with main clause subject

it will be omitted as in:
I thought of/ remembered building that wall all by myself.
(R.M.W Dixon ,1991:218)
44
The potential semantic contrast between that (referring to some specific
event or state) and ing (referring to something extended in time) is brought out
in:
I can understandthat Mary was upset (when her speculates broke)
I can understand Mary (‘s) being upset (all this year, because of the legal
fuss over her divorce)
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:235)
Rememberandknow may relate to the complement clause subject getting

involved in some activity, described by a Modal (for) to complement as: I
remembered/ knewfor Mary to take a pill after breakfast yesterday. One most
commonly remembers etc.
Modal (for) to, Judgementto, and that
There is, at first blush, syntactic similarity between constructions like (5) -
(6) and those like (7) - (8).
(5)I want Mary to be a doctor
(6) She forced him to recite a poem
(7) I discovered him to be quite stupid

(8) We had assumed Mary to be a doctor
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:220)
In fact (5) – (6) are examples of modal (for) tocomplement constructions,

while (7) – (8) are Judgementto constructions. There are considerable semantic
45
and syntactic differences, which fully justify the recognition of two varieties of
complement clause both involving to.
Many verbs that take Modal (for) tocomplement also accept a that
complement clause. The meaning of the (for) toconstruction is often similar to
the meaning of the that construction when a Modal is included.
(9a) I wish that John would go.
(9b) I wish (for) John to go.
(10a) I decided that Mary should give the vote of thanks.
(10b) I decided for Mary to give the vote of thanks.
(11a) I decided that I would give the vote of thanks.
(11b) I decided to give the vote of thanks.
(12a) I expect that Mary will be appointed.
(12b) I expect Mary to be appointed.
(13a) I ordered that the flag should be raised.
(13b) I ordered the flag to be raised.
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:221)
It seems here as if the complement to carries the same sort of semantic

load as a Modal does in a that clause; this is why we refer to this variety of
complement as ‘Modal’ (for) to.
46
Some verbs, which takes both modal (for) to and that complements. They
are seldom found without a Modal in the that clause. But others may freely
include or omit a Modal. Alongside (10a) – (11b) we get:
(14) I decided that I was sick.
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:235)
There is no (for) to correspondent of (14). We do get I decided that I

would be sick, but this is most similar in meaning to I decided that I would be
sick, which does include a Modal.
Although a Modal (for) to construction will frequently have a similar

meaning to a that construction with a Modal, they will never be exactly
synonymous. Compare:
(15a) I remembered that I should lock the door (but then decided not to,
as a way of asserting my distaste for authority)
(15b) I remember to lock the door (but then Mary took the key and
pushed it down a grating, so I couldn’t)
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:224)
The that clause in (11a) simply records a fact, what my obligation was; it
says nothing about my attitude to that obligation. A (for) to complement, as in
(15b), refers to the involvement in an activity of the subject of the complement
clause (which is here co referential with the subject of the main clause). The
unmarked situation is that he would if at all possible become so involved, i.e. on
hearing just I remember to lock the door one would infer that the speaker did
lock it. The subject would only not become involved if something is outside his
control intervened, as in the parenthesis added onto (15b).
47
A further pair of sentences exhibiting the delicate semantic contrast between that
(with a Modal) and Modal (for) to is:
(16a) John and Mary have decided that they will get married (e.g. when
both have completed their professional qualifications)
(16b) John and Mary have decided to get married (e.g. next month)
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:231)
Sentence (16a) announces an intention to get married; no date need yet

have been mooted. But (16b) carries an implication that they have definite plans
to marry in the foreseeable future.
Judgementto complement has a rather different meaning. The subject of

the main clause verb ventures a Judgement or opinion about the subject of the
complement clause predicate (this semantic characterization will be expanded in
the next part. Most often the Judgement is about some state or property which is
either transitoryin I noticed John to be asleep, or else a matter of opinion, asThey
declared Fred to be insane. A Judgementto construction is unlikely to be used to
describe some permanent, objective property; thus, one would be unlikely to
hear? He noticed her to be Chinese (only He noticed that she was Chinese.)
And most often the subject of the Judgementto clause is human? I believe that
glass to be unbreakable sounds rather odd.
Whereas a Modal (for) to complement can fill subject, object or post-

object slot, a Judgement to clause must immediately follow a transitive verb,
effectively in object function. There is never any for, and the underlying
complement clause subject is surface syntactic object of the main verb. This
constituent is seldom co referential with main clause subject (since it is relatively
unusual to make Judgement about oneself); when it is it can never be omitted.
48
Compare the modal (for) to construction I want Mary to win and, with optional
co referential omission, I want (myself) towin, with the Judgementto
constructions I consider Mary (to be) clever than Fred and I consider myself to
be clever than Fred. Myself cannot be omitted from the last example.
A Judgementto construction is frequently found with the main clause

passive, often so as to avoid specifying who is responsible for the Judgement, as
in: He was declared to be insane. In fact the verb say only takes a
Judgementtocomplement in the passive as in Mary said to be a good cook (but
not they say Mary to be a good cook).
The predicate of a Judgementto clause most often begins with be. This
can be copula be, as in I reported John to be absent today; or passive be, as in I
believed John be beaten; or progressive be, as in I suspect him to be hiding in
the shrubbery, eavesdropping on what we are saying. Past tense can be shown-
as in ing and in Modal (for) to complements- by the inclusion of have as in: I
believed john to have been beaten. It is possible to have Judgementto
complements without be, as in (18b), but they are relatively rare.
All verbs which take Judgement to also accept a that complement clause,
sometimes with a very similar meaning.
(17a) I knowthat Mary clever
(17b) I know Mary to be clever
(18a) I know that Mary raced giraffes in Kenya
(18b) I know Mary to have raced giraffes in Kenya
(R.M.W Dixon ,1991:223)
49
Note that a Judgementto complement corresponds semantically to a that
clause without a modal. It is of course possible to include a Modal in a that
clause after know:
(19) I know that Mary may/must/ should be clever
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:223)
But there is then no corresponding Judgementto construction. A to clause

cannot conclude a Modal and there is no means of coding the information shown
by the Modal in (19) into a Judgementto construction. (It is also relevant to note
that a Judgementto clause puts forward a specific assertion, and the inclusion of
a Modal would be semantically incompatible with this.)
This is a major difference between the two varieties of tocomplement. A

modal (for) to clause frequently corresponds semantically to a that clause with a
Modal, as in (9) – (13). If a Modal is concluded in the that clause, as in (14),
then there is no corresponding Modal (for) to construction. In contrast, a
Judgementto clause corresponds to a that clause without a Modal, as in (17) –
(18). Once a Modal is included in the that clause, as in (19), there is no
corresponding Judgementto construction.
Many verbs take a modal (for) to complement in object slot and a fair
number take a Judgementto clause, but only a handful may occur with both.
Those which do- remember andknow never omit the for from a modal (for) to
clause when the complement clause subject included, so that there could be no
difficulty in the listener spotting which type of complement is being used. In fact
these verbs most often have the subject of a modal (for) to clause co referential
with main clause subject and then omitted, as in (22b).
(20a) I remembered that Mary was very smart.
50
(20b)I remembered Mary to be very smart. (Judgement TO)
(21a)I remembered that Mary should sign the visitors’’ book
(21b)I remembered for Mary to sign the visitors’’ book (Modal
(for) to)
(22a)I remembered that I should sign the visitors’ book
(22b)I remembered sign the visitors’ book (Reduced Modal (for)
to)
(R.M.W Dixon, 1991:224)
4.2.2 The equivalents of semantic features of the THINKING verbsin

Vietnamese
TABLE 4:A summary of the meaning nuances of THINKand their Vietnamese

equivalents
Verb English meaning nuances Vietnamese

- Think about something. Nghĩ, suy nghĩ
- think about sb/sth Suy nghĩ về ai/ cái
gì, nhớ ai/ cái gì
THINK - To consider a person’s need or wishes. Cân nhắc
- To use the brain to plan something, solve a Suy nghĩ
problem, understand a situation, etc.
- To think very carefully about something Cân nhắc
(English Vietnamese Dictionary, 1993: 1832)
51
TABLE 5:A summary of the meaning nuances of ASSUMEand their

To accept something to Cân nhắc
be true without question or proof
To pretend to have a different name or be Suy ngẫm

someone you are not, or
ASSUME to express a feeling falsely
To take or begin to Thừa nhận
have responsibility or control, sometimes
without the right to do so, or to begin to have
acharacteristic
TABLE 6:A summary of the meaning nuances of ponder and their Vietnamese
equivalents

PONDER To think carefully about Cân nhắc
something, especially for
anoticeable length of time
TABLE 7:A summary of the meaning nuances of REMEMBER and their


- To remember or imagine Mường tượng
- To be able to bring back Hồi tưởng
52
a piece of information into your mind, or
to keep a piece of information in your m
emory
REMEMBER - To not forget to do something Nhớ

- To be kept in Nhớ
people's memories because of
a particular action or quality
- To hold a special ceremony to honor a Tưởng nhớ
past event or someone who has died
TABLE 8:A summary of the meaning nuances of KNOW and their Vietnamese
equivalents

- To have information in your mind Biết
- To be certain Biết chắc chắn
KNOW
- To be familiar with or have Hiểu biết
experience andunderstanding of
TABLE 9:A summary of the meaning nuances of BELIEVE and their


To think that something is true, correct, Nghĩ
or real
BELIEVE
To pretend or imagine Tưởng tượng
53
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 doing something solve something,
- To think that something is true, decide something,
ASSUME although you do not have definite imagine something
proof etc.
- To spend time THINKING - To find the correct
PONDER 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
- To have a picture or idea in your - To realize, find out
REMEMBER mind of people, events, places etc about, or understand
from the past something
- To bring information or facts that - To think that
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
KNOW somethingto be sure about you are not
something. completely sure
BELIEVE - 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 Nhớ,nhớ lại, tưởng nhớ.
KNOW Biết, hiểu biêt, nhận biết, phân biệt được, biết tin.
BELIEVE Tin, tin tưởng, cho rằng, nghĩ rằng.
(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 không thể tưởng tượng được tôi vui mừng như thế nào được 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 không thể chờ đợi tôi để ý tới mọi thứ được
Do you ever think about your childhood?
Anh có bao giờ nghĩ về thời thơ ấu của anh không?
Think twice before you speak one!
Uốn lưỡi bảy lần rồi mới 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 tôi không thể thừa nhận điều gì trong vụ này
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 về cái gì một cách kỹ lưỡng. For
instance:
She pondered over his words.
Cô đã cân nhắc/ đắn đo về những lời của anh ấy.
They were left to ponder on the implications of the announcement.
Họ đã để lại những suy nghĩ về những tác động của thông báo.
English Vietnamese Dictionary (1993: 1304)
Believeverb has Vietnamese meaning tin, tưởng, nghĩ rằng 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 cái đó là một sai lầm
They believed him to be insane
Họ cho rằng nó 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 5
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 do
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
rằng là, nghĩ rằng. 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 về. 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 do 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
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
1. Alexander, L. G. (1996) Longman English Grammar. Longman

Publishing Groups.
2. Dixon, R. M. W. (1991) New approach to English Grammar on
semantic principles. Oxford University Press, New York.
3. Faure, Richard (2009). Verbs of THINKING and Speaking. Bridgewater
State University Press.
4. Hurford, James R.; Heasley, Brendon. 1983. Semantics a coursebook.
Cambridge University Press.
5. Jack Richards, John Platt, Heidi Weber. (1987). Longman Dictionary of
Applied linguistics. Longman, Harlow Date.
6. Karlsson, Susanna. (2008). Re- thinking THINK in contrastive
perspective.Cambridge University Press.
7. Leech, Geoffrey N (1983) Principles of pragmatics, vol. 30 Longman
linguistics library. London and New York: Longman.
8. Lyon, John. (1995). Linguistics Semantic: Introduction. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
9. 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, mấy vấn đề về ngữ âm, ngữ pháp,
ngữ nghĩa. Nhà xuất bản 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
và 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 1. 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 hiện 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 và Công nghệ Đại học Đà nẵng, tập 43, số 2, trang 218.
23. Nguyễn Kim Thản. (1997) Động từ trong Tiếng Việt. NXB Khoa Học
Xã Hội.
24. Nguyễn Văn Chiến. (1992). Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu và đối chiếu các
ngôn ngữ Đông Nam Á. NXB Đại Học Sư Phạm Hà Nội.
25. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà. (2012). Ngữ Nghĩa của động từ Nghĩ trong 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.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

HOÀNG BÍCH NHUNG

A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC

Field: English Language

HOANG BICH NHUNG

A STUDY ON SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC

Field: English Language

Supervisor: Dr. Dang Ngoc Huong

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study

Hoàng Bích Nhung

Đặng Ngọc Hướng

(Signature and full name)

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to

A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers in the Faculty

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my husband

This study is an attempt to uncover the syntactic and semantic

A further implication resulting from the findings included in this

Table 1 Complement clause possibilities for THINKING verbs 32

It is known that the ability to express freely in communication is of

There have been a lot of researchers conducting investigations into

In the process of teaching English verbs in general, and teaching the

As there are a lot of THINKING verbs, learners can use different

1.2Aims of the research

The thesis is aimed at investigating the syntactic and semantic

To achieve the mentioned aims above, following objectives can be put

1. Pointing out the syntactic and semantic features of the THINKINGverbs

2. Finding outthe similarities and differences of the THINKING verbs in

3. Providing some implications forteachingand learning the THINKING

1.4. Scope of the research

Within the framework of a master thesis, only the syntactic and

To serve the purpose of the study, some implications will be

1.5. Significance of the research

ii) Practical significance

1.6 Structure of theresearch

Thestudy isorganizedintofivechapters: Introduction, Literature

Chapter2 – Presents theLiteratureReview including all the previous

Chapter 3 – Methodology – describes all the research-governing

Chapter 4 – Findings and Discussion – gives a detail description and

Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summaries the whole content of the

References come at the end of the study.

The following issues are to be dealt with in this chapter: Previous

2.2 Review of theoretical background

Your dinner seems ready (SVC)

My office is in the next building. (SVA)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

Extensive verbs include three small types: monotransitive, complex

I must send my parents an anniversary card. (SVOO)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

That lecture bored me. (SVO)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

Verb requires both a direct object and another object or an object

Most students have found her reasonably helpful. (SVOC)

You can put the dish on the table. (SVOA)

(Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721)

In a command, there is still this relationship with the subject and

2.2.2 Theoretical background

I pondered the situation.