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hearing an idiom or colloquialism they may feel frustrated or confused, since the true 
meaning of the idiom generally cannot be determined by the knowledge of its 
component parts. In many circumstances an attempt on the part of the learner to tie 
down (quán triệt) a definition of an idiom that would work in all instances is a futile 
understanding. 
When being used by native speakers, idioms sound natural and fit the occasion, 
since the British, together with the Americans, instinctively feel the imagery and 
impact of what they are saying. A nonnative speaker of English, on the other hand, 
may know the basic meaning of such expression as I gave it my best shot (nổ lực hết 
mình) or be dressed to kill (ăn mặc bảnh bao), but still not be able to use them 
appropriately. For instance (from Collis, H., 1997), if at a formal gathering an 
American says to the wife of a foreign diploma that her gown is elegant, or that she 
looks lovely, and in appreciation for the compliment her answer is, “Thank you, I gave 
it my best shot!” or “Thanks, I’m dressed to kill!”, the chances are that the American 
would be trying his hardest to hold back peals of laughter. Even with a fairly accurate 
idea of the meaning of an idiomatic expression, the nonnative lacks the intuitive feel 
for its impact or for the picture it creates. 
Functioning as a single unit, an idiom is a combination of words. These words 
are taken from the general vocabulary of a given language. Idiomatic verb phrases turn 
out to be a big group which becomes the topic of this thesis, as we are interested in the 
way English and Vietnamese peoples use these special verb phrases to satisfy their own 
need in daily communication. 
Idioms, as a whole, have been studied in the lexicological relation with words, 
with free-combination groups of words and with proverbs. Here and there, there are 
investigations on idioms with certain linguistic units, such as with colour terms, 
cultural terms, kinship terms, and so on. There are also researches on idioms in terms 
of noun phrases and adjective phrases. I take idiomatic verb phrases as the topic of 
Introduction 
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research with the consideration of the lexicon of both the English and Vietnamese 
languages. 
 
B Aims and Objectives 
Idioms are anomalies of a language, mavericks of the linguistic world. It is 
therefore not an easy task for learners to use them in communication. Besides, verb 
phrases normally play a gruesome part of sentence structure in forming meanings of 
sentences or propositions. Therefore, there is a need to study some semantic features of 
English and Vietnamese idiomatic verb phrases with the hope of helping learners use 
this part of idioms more effectively and confidently. My aims and objectives are 
expressed below. 
Aims: This project will examine the basic ideas and various views on semantic 
features of English and Vietnamese idiomatic verb phrases to demonstrate their 
superiority in terms of practical uses in comparison with other kinds of verb phrases. 
To be equipped with the knowledge of semantic mechanisms and characteristics of 
idiomatic verb phrases, Vietnamese learners of English will be able to handle such an 
interesting and popular group of verbs or verb phrases. As a result, we would like to 
help students with correct language practicing and performance through contrastive 
analysis with Vietnamese. Also, the understanding of English and Vietnamese idioms 
in general and idiomatic verb phrases in particular would encourage Vietnamese 
learners of English at all levels to spot out idioms not only in receptive skills like 
listening and reading but also in productive skills like speaking and writing 
 Objectives: The paper is intended to aim at the following objectives 
¾ To identify and describe semantic mechanisms of English and Vietnamese 
idiomatic verb phrases. 
¾ To identify and describe semantic characteristics of English and Vietnamese 
idiomatic verb phrases. 
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Semantic Features of English - Vietnamese Idiomatic Verb Phrases 
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¾ To suggest solutions and hints aimed at enabling Vietnamese students of 
English to use appropriate idiomatic verb phrases in their speaking as well as 
writing. 
¾ To help Vietnamese learners of English be alert to the existence of English 
and Vietnamese idioms in the lexicon of the languages. 
¾ To assist them to be aware of the differences and similarities between idioms 
and other language units. 
¾ To motivate Vietnamese learners of English to obtain the insight of the 
semantic features of idiomatic verb phrases in English and Vietnamese. 
¾ To inspire the learners to feel affection for their own language, including 
culture through studying the specific group of idiomatic verb phrases. 
 
C Research Questions 
 In general, with the aims and the objectives above I would like to answer the 
following questions: 
1. What are semantic mechanisms and semantic characteristics of English and 
Vietnamese idiomatic verb phrases? 
2. What are similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese 
idiomatic verb phrases in terms of cultural aspects? 
3. Are there equivalent correspondences between English and Vietnamese 
idiomatic verb phrases? 
 
D Research Scope 
This research paper is restricted in English and Vietnamese idiomatic verb 
phrases. Its author does not have much ambition to cover all idioms as well as all kinds 
of verb phrases in English and Vietnamese, which seems to be impossible due to a 
deficiency in knowledge, ability and time. Also, idiomatic verb phrase is such an 
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Semantic Features of English - Vietnamese Idiomatic Verb Phrases 
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important part in basic language structure that is very necessary for language learners 
not only in academic study but also in communicative practice and skills development. 
However, on account of reference constraints, in this paper we just try to narrow down 
to semantic features, not all the aspects that we intend to deal with for further research, 
of idiomatic verb phrases. 
Together with the limited scope of research mentioned, from the analysis on the 
semantic view of English and Vietnamese idiomatic verb phrases which have been 
collected mainly from: 
“Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by A. P. Cowie, 1994. 
“Current Dictionary of English and Vietnamese Idioms” by Lã Thành, 1995. 
“101 American English Idioms” by Harry Collis, 1997. 
TOEFL Materials in the years 1995 - 2001 
Speeches on Radio and Television, especially, “Words and Their Stories” on the 
VOA. 
 In terms of popular usage in everyday communication and published works, I 
have accumulated: 
1. The total number of English idiomatic verb phrases 
being investigated is 344. 
2. The total number of Vietnamese idiomatic verb 
phrases being investigated is 350. 
 
E Methodology 
1)  Research Methods 
The methods of research are for all time determined by “object” of the research. 
This study is descriptively and principally qualitatively achieved in terms of a 
contrastive analysis with which we hoped to find out some implications for English 
teaching. In other words, ours is a combination of qualitative and quantitative 
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research. We have collected and analysed both qualitative and quantitative data in 
order to find out the relationship of semantic features in English and in Vietnamese 
idiomatic verb phrases. 
By reason of the nature of idioms defined as “fixed phrases, consisting of more 
than one word with meanings that cannot inferred from the meanings of the individual 
words”
1
 and that of verb phrases in both English and Vietnamese, while doing this 
research paper we have used a combination of interpretive, exploratory, and contrastive 
methods. 
Interpretive method is dealt with in the first stage of the research. The 
idiomatic verb phrases and their meanings are interpreted and described base on the 
help of a prevailing source of dictionaries and lexicons on the purpose of obtaining 
their structural as well as semantic features. 
Exploratory method is used when idiomatic verb phrases are examined on both 
a static and dynamic scheme in separation along with in correlation with other 
language units, such as verbs and free-combination verb phrases. This technique 
smoothes the progress of the study on various patterns of idiomatic verb phrases and 
the relevant relations. The thesis aims at finding out different groups of idiomatic verb 
phrases based on their semantic features. 
Contrastive method helps us to set up the similarities and differences in the 
ways English and Vietnamese people use the idiomatic verb phrases in their daily 
conversations as well as pieces of writing. 
 
2)  Research Procedure 
 This research is carried out on the basis of the exploratory-interpretive-
contrastive method. Suggested steps are as follows: 
                                                          
1
 Partridge, E., 1985, Usage and Abusage, Penguin Books, GB, P.149. 
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1. Collecting English and Vietnamese idiomatic verb phrases from publications 
(published works, novels and radio programmes) with reference to 
dictionaries and relevant materials; finding examples in which they are used. 
2. Using the thought of functional grammar by M. A. K. Halliday to analyze 
English and Vietnamese idiomatic verb phrases in terms of the contrastive 
analysis and to classify them in accordance with their semantic features. 
3. Finding and making a comparison and contrast between structural 
mechanisms and then semantic mechanisms of English and Vietnamese 
idiomatic verb phrases. 
4. Showing the similarities and differences in terms of semantic characteristics 
between English and Vietnamese idiomatic verb phrases. 
5. Suggesting possible ways of learning and teaching English idiomatic verb 
phrases. 
 In terms of practical background, as far as Vietnamese learners concerned, the 
use of idiomatic expressions in general and idiomatic verb phrases in particular may be 
of sensible value. That is, learners’ stock of vocabulary is richer in both quantity and 
quality through studying idioms.