A Semantic Look Into English Verbs and Its Implications for Grammar Teaching

Among the different parts of speech in each language,verbs are usually the most complicated and difficult to understand and master.This paper attempts to classify and analyze English verbs from a semantic perspective,esp.to have a semantic analysis of the grammatical concept of the progressive aspect of English verbs,so as to raise students’awareness of the relationship between semantics and grammar,and thus to help students have a deeper understanding and mastery of the grammatical rules in future English teaching.

The configuration mechanism of English and Chinese double-object construction for verbs of creation

Verbs of creation in English and Chinese demonstrate asymmetries in its projection to double-object construction. But underling the projection process there is a uniform operation mechanism, namely that the configuration is affected by the interaction between the Meaning Assignment Principle （MAP）, the Distance Principle of Iconicity （DPI） and the Lexical Feature Constraints （LFC）, among which MAP and DPI are inviolable due to its cross-linguistic universality. Once LFC is violated, there must be compensation on the part of DPI, otherwise, the verb of creation in question would be unacceptable to double-object construction.

An Analysis of Modal Verbs in Language Teaching

Through classifying modal verbs from the semantic aspect and the pragmatic aspect, this paper discusses difficulties that students may encounter in modal verb learning. It indicates that modal verbs have complicacy, and a deductive approach and inductive approach should intermingle as an appropriate method to improve students' accuracy in use of modal verbs.

Chinese College Students' Use of Copular Verbs——A Corpus-based Study

Adopting corpus-based approach, the use of copular verbs by Chinese college English learners is studied through a comparison between the COLEC and the LOCNESS. The main findings are: 1)Chinese college English learners under-use copular verbs; 2) Chinese college English learners select a limited variety of copular verbs; 3) Types of complement after most copular verbs used by Chinese college English learners lack variety; 4) Chinese college English learners use less various and more simpler complements than native speakers.

A Probe into Learners'Colligational Use of High-frequency Verbs

This study attempts to examine the colligational use of the high-frequency verbs DO, HAVE and BE in Chinese EFL learners'written production in the CIA (Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis) approach. Findings of the study indicate that: Chinese learners use a much smaller variety of colligational patterns, they tend to underuse the inflected forms of these verbs in their colligations and they tend to use pronouns as the subject of these verbs. Though at advanced level, they still have difficulty with grammar in terms of tense, aspect and voice. The influence of L1 transfer, the learners'spoken style in writing, the classroom teaching and the learners'use of the avoidance strategy are thought to be the major reasons. The findings in this study may have some light to shed on the EFL teaching and research in China.

The Appraisal Theory and Translation of Appraisal Verbs(I) Attitude

The appraisal theory of the Systemic Functional Linguistic consists of three main systems:Attitude,Graduation and Engagement.This research is mainly about applying the Attitude system to analyze the translation of Appraisal verbs.

SUBDIVIDING VERBS TO IMPROVE SYNTACTIC PARSING

This paper proposes a new way to improve the performance of dependency parser: subdividing verbs according to their grammatical functions and integrating the information of verb subclasses into lexicalized parsing model. Firstly,the scheme of verb subdivision is described. Secondly,a maximum entropy model is presented to distinguish verb subclasses. Finally,a statistical parser is developed to evaluate the verb subdivision. Experimental results indicate that the use of verb subclasses has a good influence on parsing performance.

Analyzing verbs＇ definitions in learner＇s dictionaries based on the schema theory

The synthetic defining style, a predominant way used to define verbs in many dictionaries, is the main factor that makes dictionary definitions vague and incomplete. The present paper argues that instead of the synthetic defining mode, an analytical meaning-explaining way should be used in dictionaries designed for SLA learners. The analytical meanings of verbs are viewed as mini-narratives and form event schemata comprised of three sub-schemata, namely, participant schema, action schema and scenario schema. The three sub-schemata should be clearly fore-grounded in verbs＇ definitions in learners＇ dictionaries.

A generic analysis of English Research Article abstracts and the use of modal verbs for financial economics

This paper is a generic study of schematic structures and the use of modal verbs of 50 English Research Article （RA） abstracts. With Bhatia＇s （1990） model as the framework, three other move patterns were obtained besides the normal move order. The density of modal verbs varies greatly from move to move with significant differences in the frequency of occurrence in different moves. The use of modal verbs is much more move-determined than discipline-determined.

Modal verbs and adverbs and with Continuous

Through English and Chinese Modals with adverbs, Continuous modal verbs such as a comparative analysis between the two languages inspection Modals different grammatical function comparison.

A Metaphorical Study on Conversions from Animal Nouns to Verbs in English

In the framework of metaphor theory,this paper tries to research conversions from animal nouns to verbs in English,and aims to help English learners to better understand this language phenomenon.First the paper explores the motivations of this language phenomenon,and points out that verbs converted from animal nouns can help enrich the vocabulary,make the expression vivid and concise,and achieve certain pragmatic effects as well.Second,it studies the mechanisms of the conversion by analyzing the mapping process and similarities between two domains.Last it points out the importance of the context and the geographic factor in understanding verbs converted from animal nouns.

The Usage of Modal Verbs and Cultural Values—A Brief Critical Review on Eli Hinkel's"The Use of Modal Verbs as a Reflection of Cultural Values"

The article gives a brief review on Hinkel's study "The Use of Modal Verbs as a Reflection of Cultural Values",aiming at improving language teacher's awareness that culture can influence language learners' use of modals.At the same time,by pointing out the weakness of Hinkel's study,the author suggests that the mere acquisition of linguistic competence is insufficient and teachers should integrate current research findings into their transmission of knowledge to learners.

Expression of the Perfect Semantics in Georgian Verbs

In Georgian the verbal form comprises the names expressing the subjective-objective references of certain quantity,which shows the representing signs to express the category of the subjective and objective person.However,sometimes the subjective person is expressed by the sign of the objective person or vice versa,which is called inversion in Georgian language.There are many options about the reason of inversion.Bipersonal static verbs are considered as the oldest verbs as believed by many scientists.These are the verbs of feeling and owning;they are inverse,bipersonal and hold the dative construction.We think that inversion cannot be only explained with the static character.There are the verbs,which are not static but are inverse.We believe that it must be one and the same aspect in every case:perfect semantics.In Indo-European languages,the verbs of the perfect semantics have been converted from the class of the lexical words into the grammar perfect.When the Georgian language encountered the need to express the perfect forms respective to Indo-European languages,thus,the third series has been generated and it used the form as the model,belonging to the verbs of bipersonal non-transitional“perfect semantics”in present.This form has been supplemented by preverb and has become dynamic and gradually acquired various semantic nuances characterizing the perfect tense:resultativity,will,evidentiality,interrogative and negative,etc.In our opinion such verbs are not the continuation of the I and II series;they are the standalone link of the verb system,namely the perfect group characterized with the dative construction,which is inverse and always bipersonal.

Comparative Analysis of Modal Auxiliary Verbs in English and in Chinese

The study of modal auxiliary verbs has been done by comparing modal auxiliary verbs in English with the ones in Chinese qualitatively and quantitatively. The modals in English and in Chinese are statistically analyzed through their forms and meanings. The data consists of 50 pieces of Chinese prose with their 50 English translation versions called corpus A and 50 pieces of English prose with their Chinese translation versions called corpus B, altogether 200 articles, which represent a type of discourse that is rich in modal auxiliary verbs both in English and in Chinese The major findings are as follows： （1） The three criteria： inversion, negation, and the use of pro-forms can be used to define both English and Chinese auxiliaries; （2） the modals of both languages can be analyzed within the same semantic categories： volition, probability, and necessity; （3） Chinese epistemic modals can have inversion patterns; （4） the negative forms of Chinese modals are more complex than those of English modals; and （5） the statistic analysis shows that the modals in probability category both in English and in Chinese are used much more often compared to the other two categories： volition and necessity and that deontic modals are used much fewer in both languages to express necessity

Construction Morphology Analysis of Compound Verbs in Igbo Language

This research analyses compound verbs in Igbo,using construction morphology theory.It seeks to identify compound verbs,analyse them using schemata structures,ascertain the structures and behaviours of tones,and examine some inflected forms of compound verbs in Igbo language.The study adopts a descriptive method of data analysis to examine data collected through oral interviews,introspections(which are confirmed by two native speakers)and those obtained from journals and textbooks.The research discovers that some compound verbs do not obey the vowel harmony rule,and through the aid of the schema,it is observed that some transformational processes have occurred before a surface compound verb is formed.According to the findings,tones also play a distinctive role in Igbo compound verbs.The research recommends further research in this area,to account for other aspects of compound verbs in Igbo that the current study could not cover.

A Study of the E-C Translation for the Modal Verbs in the Berne Convention

The Berne Convention plays a very important role in the protection of the copyright in its member states. Good Chinese translation for the Berne Convention will undoubtedly improve the implementation of it in China. One of the key factors that affect the translation of the Berne Convention is the translation for the modal verbs, because they are concerning the rights conferred to or obligations imposed on authors or countries of the Union. Based on the statistics of the modal verbs used in the Berne Convention, this paper discovers that ＂shall＂ and ＂may＂ are the most frequently used modal verbs among the ones in English language and they are translated into many types of phrases in Chinese, but not all of them are accurate or appropriate, because the expressions used in the Copyright Law of the People＇s Republic of China to indicate rights, obligations or prohibitions are not all those that ＂shall＂ or ＂may＂ are translated into. Some suggestions can be put forward to improve the current Chinese translation for ＂shall＂ or ＂may＂ in the Berne Convention.

PARTICLES USED IN PHRASAL VERBS

The large number of expressions like "break out, come across", etc. forms an important characteristic in the modern English vocabulary. Such combinations of a common verb plus one or more than one particle are called "phrasal verbs". They are used casually and colloquially in everyday speech. Because of their simplicity and effectiveness, phrasal verbs are more and more used in modern English,especially in the last thirty years. So,a mastery of phrasal verbs will

Introduction to the Use of Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are a specific structural feature in English.The study on phrasal verbs has attracted many researchers because such a common structure always triggers a lot of problems.In China,college students always avoid to use phrasal verbs when they convey a parallel meaning.In recent years,phrasal verbs have attracted a lot of studies in linguistics and language teaching and learning. With different circumstances in which phrasal verbs are applied,categories with examples are separated(Biber et al.,2002;Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman,1999).Phrasal verbs are also studied in association with language teaching and learning(Darwin and Gray,1999;Peter,1998). Moreover phrasal verbs are also studied semantically(Quirk,1985;Palmer,1987) and coguitively (Morgan,1997;Gries,1997;Hampe,2000).This paper is going to introduce four correlational studies on the use of phrasal verbs which has remained unpopular.

A Tentative Analysis of Idiomatic Compound Verbs

In English,especially in oral English,there are a large number of verb+particle combinations for us to account for.Among these combinations,many are idiomatic ones,of which the meanings cannot be easily figured out by simply adding the literal meaning of the verb to that of the particle.Therefore,even quite advanced EFL(English as a Foreign Language)learners get confused from time to time when trying to catch what such combinations are intended to mean.Studied from either the semantic or the syntactic point of view,such combinations show certain linguistic features which are quite different from the assumptions of the EFL learners and therefore worth our efforts to analyze.This paper is supposed to offer a tentative analysis of such combinations,in hope of enhancing EFL learners’mastery of them,practically as well as theoretically.

A View of Research on English Polysemous Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs, accounting for a large proportion in modem language, pose numerous challenges to foreign language learners of English, who usually view verb ＋ particle combinations random. The issue of unpredictability is obviously a problem for English learners. Making things worse, many phrasal verbs are polysemous. For one thing, one phrasal verb may have multiple meanings; for another, several phrasal verbs may have the same or similar meanings. While the fast development of cognitive linguistics theory provides a new perspective for the study of English polysemous phrasal verbs. Researchers apply cognitive linguistic theory into second language acquisition and find that the multiple senses of phrasal verbs are actually systematic and motivated. The present study summarizes studies of polysemous phrasal verbs from the perspective of traditional approaches and cognitive approaches as well as the empirical studies based on it and analyzes the shortage of traditional approaches on phrasal verbs. Lastly, this paper illustrates some drawbacks of empirical study based on the assessment of Boers （2011） and points out some suggestions on further studies.