SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH VERB ‘GET’ WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN THE NOVEL ‘VANITY FAIR’ BY w m THACKERAY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

LÊ BÍCH DIỆP

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH
VERB „GET‟ WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN THE
NOVEL „VANITY FAIR‟ BY W.M.THACKERAY
ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA ĐỘNG TỪ
„GET‟ VÀ TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT TRONG
TÁC PHẨM „HỘI CHỢ PHÙ HOA‟ CỦA W.M. THACKERAY

M.A Thesis
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201

Hanoi, 2018


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Student‟s name: LÊ BÍCH DIỆP
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr LÊ VĂN THANH

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH
VERB „GET‟ WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN THE
NOVEL „VANITY FAIR‟ BY W.M.THACKERAY
ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP VÀ NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA ĐỘNG TỪ

„GET‟ VÀ TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT TRONG
TÁC PHẨM „HỘI CHỢ PHÙ HOA‟ CỦA W.M. THACKERAY

M.A Thesis
Field: English Language
Code: 8220201

Hanoi, 2018


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled
SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH VERB „GET‟
WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS IN THE
NOVEL „VANITY FAIR‟ BY W.M.THACKERAY 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, 2018

Lê Bích Diệp

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Assoc. Prof. Dr Lê Văn Thanh
Date …………………….

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr Lê
Văn Thanh, for his enthusiastic and useful guidance, insightful comment and
encouragement without which this thesis would not have been completed.
My special thanks go to all my lecturers in Faculty of Graduate Studies, Hanoi
Open University for their precious assistance, knowledgement and enthusiasm.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, especially my parents and my
lover for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.

ii


ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to investigate the syntactic and semantics features of
English verb get with reference to Vietnamese equivalent in the novel “Vanity Fair”
by W.M. Thackeray. The study is aimed at three point: (1) finding the syntactic and
semantics features of the verb get with reference to Vietnamese equivalent in the
novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M. Thackeray, (2) finding the similarities and differences
between the verb get in English and their equivalent in Vietnamese and (3)
providing some recommendation for the teaching and learning as well as translation
of verb get into the target language.This study was designed as a descriptive
research with the method of contrastive and componential analysis. According to
the data analysis, the result of the study show that the verb get coincide in their
general meaning. However, the verb get in Vietnamese seems to have much more
meanings than that in English. In practice, the study not only supplies some
implications to language teaching, learning as well as translating but also raises
language users‟ awareness of the differences between the verb get so that they can
use them exactly and be successful in their real life communication in English.

iii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
A

Adverbial

A. P

Adverb Phrase

Adj.

Adjective

Adj. P

Adjective Phrase

cf.

compare

C

Complement

Cs

Subject Complement

Co

Object Complement

i.e

That is

E.g

Example

N

Noun

NP

Noun Phrase

O

Object

Od

Direct object

Oi

Indirect object

Prep. P

Prepositional Phrase

S

Subject

iv


V

Verb

VP

Verb Phrase

Vtr

Transitive phrasal verbs

(Vintr)

Intransitive phrasal verbs

Ø

Zero

v


LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Sentence partern………………..……………………..………….….. p10
Table 2.2 Classification of transitive verb………………..…….…………...…..p13
Table 2.3 Summary of syntactic feature of verb „get” and their Vietnamese
equivalent …………...…………………………………..….……...…p15
Table 2.4 Summary of syntactic feature of verb „get” and their Vietnamese
equivalent………………………………………………......…….……p15
Table 2.5 Summary of syntactic feature of verb „get” and their Vietnamese
equivalent…………………………………………......………….……p16
Table 2.6 Summary of syntactic feature of verb „get” and their Vietnamese
equivalent………...…………………………………...………….……p17
Table 2.7 Summary of meaning of verb “get”……………………….….....……p18

vi


TABLE OF CONTENT
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... vi
TABLE OF CONTENT ........................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................1
1.1 Rationale for the Study..........................................................................................1
1.2 Aims and objectives of the study ..........................................................................1
1.3 Research question..................................................................................................2
1.4 Scope of the study .................................................................................................2
1.5 Significance of the Study ......................................................................................2
1.6 Design of the study................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................4
2.1 Previous study .......................................................................................................4
2.2 Theoretical background .........................................................................................5
2.2.1 Theory of syntax ..........................................................................................5
2.2.2 Theory of semantic ......................................................................................6
2.2.3 Overview of English verb ............................................................................7
2.3 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................14

vii


2.3.1 Syntactic feature of verb “get” ..................................................................14
2.3.2 Semantic feature of verb “get” ..................................................................18
2.4 Summary .............................................................................................................19
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................21
3.1 Subject .................................................................................................................21
3.2 Instruments ..........................................................................................................21
3.3 Procedure.............................................................................................................22
3.4 Statistical analysis ...............................................................................................23
3.5 Summary .............................................................................................................24

CHAPTER 4 SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH
VERB „GET‟ WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS IN THE NOVEL „VANITY FAIR‟ BY W.M.THACKERAY
...................................................................................................................................25
4.1 The syntactic and semantics features of the English verb “Get” with reference to
Vietnamese equivalent in the novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M. Thackeray. .................25
4.1.1 Syntactic feature of verb “get” ..................................................................25
4.1.2 Semantic feature of verb “get” ..................................................................34
4.2 The similarities and differences between English verb “get” in the novel “Vanity
Fair” by W.M. Thackeray and their Vietnamese translation versions. .....................40
4.2.1 Similarities .................................................................................................40
4.2.2 Differences.................................................................................................42
4.3. Some recommendation for the teaching and learning as well as translation of
verb “Get” into the target language. ..........................................................................44
4.4 Summary .............................................................................................................47

viii


CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................48
5.1 Summary of Findings ..........................................................................................48
5.2 Conclusion...........................................................................................................49
5.3 Suggestions for a further study ...........................................................................50
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................51

ix


CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale for the study

Nowadays, English is regarded as the language of modernization and technological
advancement all over the world. Learning English is also problematic for native
speakers in general and foreign learners in particular because they are affected by
their mother tongue during the process of studying grammar, vocabulary, spelling,
pronunciation, etc. Moreover, the reason is there are some words that have many
meaning categories and their meanings sometimes are very different from each
other, as the English verb get.
The verb get is one of the commonest verbs in English; therefore structurally, it can
be detected in seven basic clause patterns presented by Quirk et al (1972:343) and
verb get, semantically, conveys a lot of meanings. Thus, the verb get is most
complicated. Due to their insufficient knowledge of all semantic component coded
in each lexeme, learners of English often have trouble in choosing the right word in
the target language for the translational equivalent. We assume that the semantic
features of these verbs reveal more complicated and interesting issues to linguists.
Learning to interpret and express the idea with the verb get and also, the confusion
in the choice of words and their meaning is difficult task for Vietnamese learners of
English. Awareness of the meanings of these verbs will help learners get better
understanding of their usage, find out English- Vietnamese as well as VietnameseEnglish translational equivalent, avoid producing word-for-word translation in
language transfer.
Therefore, a study for the successful way to translate the verb get in the novel
“Vanity Fair” by W.M. Thackeray and their equivalent in its translation “Hội chợ
phù hoa” translated by Trần Kiệm will be a contribution to the teaching and
learning the two languages. Similarities and differences found from the analysis
between English and Vietnamese will be of great benefit to Vietnamese learners of
English and foreign students of Vietnamese as well.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the study
The thesis is aimed at analyzing the syntactic and semantic features of verb get and
raising Vietnamese learners‟ awareness of this verb, so that they could be able to

1

use them exactly and successful in their real world communication in English.
There are three main objectives of this study. The first objective is pointing out
some syntactic and semantics features of verb get in the novel “Vanity Fair” by
W.M. Thackeray and their equivalent in its translation “Hội chợ phù hoa” translated
by Trần Kiệm; the second is finding out the similarities and differences between
them, and the last one is suggesting implications for teaching, learning and
translating English verb get.
1.3 Research question
In order to gain the above aims, the studies try to answer the following questions
1. What are the syntactic and semantic features of English verb get with
reference to Vietnamese equivalent in the novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M. Thackeray?
2. What are the similarities and differences between English verb get in the
novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M. Thackeray and their Vietnamese translation versions?
3. What are the implications for teaching, learning and translating English
verb get?
1.4 Scope of the study
It is unfeasible to discuss the verb get in details. Therefore, within this study, the
author focuses on analyzing them (concerning syntactic and semantic features of the
verb get) through more than 100 examples in the novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M.
Thackeray, and above 70 examples from other books, novels and dictionaries… and
just briefs the similarities and differences between them.
To serve the purpose of the study, some implications will be suggested to help
Vietnamese learners of English have a better understanding of the verb get and then
use them in daily communication effective.
1.5 Significance of the Study
Theoretical significance
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

2


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.
Practical significance
Practically, the study will help the Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign
language use the verb get effectively in daily communication. The findings of the
study is hopeful 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 Design of the study
The study consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Literature review
Chapter 3 Methodology
Chapter 4 Syntactic and semantic features of verb get with reference to their
Vietanmese equivalent in in the novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M. Thackeray
Chapter 5 Conclusion
References come at the end of the study.

3


CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Previous study
Up to present, there have been a number of studies on different kinds of verb in
English and Vietnam. The description and analyses are based on the starting points
from Chomsky. The other descriptions of syntactic and semantic view are through

different ages in the history of linguistic as William Bullokar in “Brief Grammar for
English” (1785). Verb get are found in English as: in 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. Kenneth Beare (2006) states that the verb get is used in
many senses in English and can be confusing at time (11, p.1). About multiple-class
membership of verbs in the book, entitled “A Grammar of Contemporary English”
Quirk R. et al (1985) defined six parterns of the verb get (22, p.348).
In Vietnam, Nguyen Kim Than [36] mentions the formation of Vietnamese verbs
and their classification. Moreover; there are also some studies on semantic and
lexical features of verbs. For example, Huynh Vu Chi Tam [9] has a study on
semantic features of state related verbs in English and their Vietnamese equivalent
expressions. There also have been many studies that focus on verb groups. Tran Thi
Phuoc Hanh [23] analyzed the semantic and syntactic features of four English
verbs: Say-Tell-Speak-Talk and their Vietnamese equivalents. Bach Thi Duong [4]
studied on semantic and syntactic features of thinking verbs in English and
Vietnamese equivalent. Dang Thi Thuy Van [6] with a study on form and meaning
of lexical verb “get” and Vietnamese equivalent. Nguyen Thi Le Thuy [17] studied
“Get phrasal verbs in term of syntactic and semantic features with reference to
Vietnamese equivalent”
Although all the studies above thoroughly describe about the syntactic and semantic
features of the verb get in general, the equivalents between two languages English
and Vietnamese has not been implemented yet, especially, in a novel “Vanity Fair”.
Moreover, the implications for teaching and learning the verb get from English into
Vietnamese have not carried out yet. As a result, that is why this research studies
about the verb get. In this paper, the features of syntactic as well as semantics of the
verb get will be analyzed clearly from the novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M.Thackeray

4

2.2 Theoretical background
2.2.1 Theory of syntax
Within traditional grammar, the syntax of a language is described in terms of
taxonomy of the range of different types of syntactic structures found in the
language. The central assumption under pinning syntactic analysis in traditional
grammar is that phrases and sentences are built up of a series of constituents, each
of which belongs to a specific grammatical category and serves a specific
grammatical function. 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 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 6 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,

5


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.
2.2.2 Theory of semantic
In general, semantics can be defined as the study of meaning. It is central to the
study of communication. In addition, there is no doubt that communication is a
crucial factor in our life, which is why the need to understand semantics becomes
more and more pressing.
Many authors hold the idea that semantics is the meaning place of various cross
current thinking and various disciplines of the study. Philosophy, psychology and
linguistics all claim a deep interest in semantics, but their interests are diverse
because of their different starting points. “Semantics is the study of meaning”Lyons (1977). “Semantics is the study of meaning in language”- Hurford & Heasley
1983. “Linguistic semantics is the study of literal, decontextualized, grammatical
meaning” Frawley (1992). “Linguistic semantics is the study of how languages
organize and express meanings”- Kreidler (1998). “Semantics is the study of
meaning communicated through language” - Löbner (2002).
Something that can be noticed is that there is no complete agreement. For some,
semantics concerns the study of meaning as communicated through language, while
for some others, semantics studies all aspects of meaning and they have to add the
label “linguistic” to arrive at a more precise definition. This distinction, however, is
not generally given much importance and leaving aside special formulations,
probably all authors would agree with Kreidler‟s definition (to choose just one of
them): linguistic semantics is the study of how languages organize and express
meanings.
Nowadays, there are two ways of approaching semantics. The formal semantics

approach connects with classical philosophical semantics, that is, logic. It should
not be forgotten that semantics was a part of philosophy for many centuries. Formal
semantics tries to describe the meaning of language using the descriptive apparatus
of formal logic. The purpose is to describe natural language in a formal, precise,
unambiguous way. Related (though not identical) denominations for this type of
semantics are truth-conditional semantics, model theoretic semantics, logical

6


semantics, etc. In truth-conditional semantics, the goal is to describe the conditions
that would have to be met for a sentence to be true. Formal semantics follows
Frege‟s principle of compositionality: the meaning of the whole is a function of the
meaning of the parts. This type of semantics has proposed very precise and detailed
analyses of sentences and propositions, though at the price of abandoning many of
the factors affecting meaning, such as etymological, cultural or psychological
considerations, and neglecting a detailed analysis of the meaning of words (lexical
semantics). The other approach to semantics we could call psychologically-oriented
semantics or cognitive semantics. This approach does not consider the logical
structure of language as important for the description of the meaning of language,
and tends to disregard notions such as truth-values or strict compositionality.
Cognitive semantics tries to explain semantic phenomena by appealing to
biological, psychological and even cultural issues. They are less concerned with
notions of reference and try to propose explanations that will fit with everything that
we know about cognition, including perception and the role of the body in the
structuring of meaning structures. Throughout the years, only two plausible
functions of language have been considered: a communicative function and a
representational function; in both of them, semantics has to be placed at the very
heart of the process.
Theory of syntactic and semantic is carried out first with main purpose to decide the

theoretical framework of the study in the next part.
2.2.3 Overview of English verb
2.2.3.1 Definition of the English verb
A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes actions (“go”, “learn”), occurrence
(“to decompose”, “to glitter”) or a state of being (“exist”, “live”).
Similarly, according to Crystal D, verb is a word class, which is traditionally
defined as a “doing” or “action” word. A verb can be formally identified in many
languages as an element displaying contrast of tense, aspect, voice, mood, person
and number. In “The Functional Analysis of English” by Thomas Bloor and Meriel
Bloor [14, p.18], verbs are traditionally defined as words which express an action or

7


state (a rather feeble definition), verbs show the greatest degree of various inform
(morphology) of any of the word classes.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary [2005], verb is “a group or a
group of words that expresses an action, an event, or a state” [p.1636]
“Verb is a word which occurs as part of the predicate of a sentence: carries markers
of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, number, and mood; and
refers to an action or state” (Cambridge dictionary.com)
As for dictionary of Merriam-Webster “Verb is a word that characteristically is the
grammatical center of a predicate and expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of
being, that in various language is inflected for agreement with the subject, for tense,
for voice, for mood, or for aspect, and that typically has rather full descriptive
meaning and characterizing quality but is sometimes nearly devoid of these
especially when use an auxiliary or liking verb”.
2.2.3.2 Classification of Verbs
2.2.3.2.1 Classification of Verbs according to their complementation
According to 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 followed by 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]

8


Intensive verb does not take any object. It presents the relationship between the
subject and the subject complementation. The verb in sentences with subject
complement is a “copular” (or linking verb), which of itself has little meaning but
functions as a link between the complement subject.
There are two subgroups:
Current intensive: be, appear, look, feel, remain, keep...
Her rug is too small for her living room. (SVC)
[E. Warriner, J & Graham, L.S. 1980:108]
Resulting intensive: become, come, get, go, grow, turn...
She grew tired of his complaints (SVO)
[E. Warriner, J & Graham, L.S. 1980:108]
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.

[Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 55]

Extensive verbs include three small types: monotransitive, complex transitive and
ditransitive.
Ditransitive 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)
[Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721]
In contrast, mono transitive verbs take only one object and appear in the structure
“S V O” as in the following examples:

9


That lecture bored me. (SVO)
[Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721]
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 student have found their reasonably helpful (SVOC)
You can put the dish on the table. (SVOA)

[Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721]
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 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 “He was a singer (as opposed to “He were a
singer). Confusion can arise when deciding whether the subject is singular or plural,
for example 'This group of children is very intelligent', or when there are two
subjects, for example „The farmer and his buffalo are in the field”.
2.2.3.2.2 Classification of sentences in terms of sentence pattern
* Sentence pattern
The clause is the key unit of syntax, capable of occurring independently. The
following list presents examples of the basic clause patterns.

10


Type SV

S(ubject)

V(erb)

Someone

was

O(bject(s) C(omplement) A(dverbial)

laughing
Type SVO

My
mother

enjoys

Type SVC

The
country

became

Type SVA

I

have

parties

totally
independent
in the garden

been
Type
SVOO

Mary

gave

the visitor
a glass of
milk

Type
SVOC

Most
people

consider these books

rather
expensivie

Type
SVOA

You

must put all the toys

upstair

Table 2.1 Sentence partern
Each clause type is associated with a set of verbs. The seven fall naturally into three
main types. There are:
1. A two-element pattern: SV
The sun is shining.
They are talking.

[Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721]

11


2. Three-element pattern: SV( O, C, A)
That lecture bored me. (SVO)
Your dinner seems ready (SVC)
My office is in the next building. (SVA)
[Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721]
3. Three four-element patterns: SVO + {O, C, A}
I must send my parents an anniversary card. (SVOO)
Most students have found her reasonably helpful. (SVOC)
You can put the dish on the table. (SVOA)
[Quirk, Randolph, 1985: 721]
This set of patterns is the most general classification that can be usefully applied to
the classification of sentence patterns of the “Get” verb in English.
* Sentence elements
Quirk, Randolph (1985) states that Subject is the most important element of the
clause elements other than the verb. It is the element that is most often present. It is
also the element for which we can find the greatest number of characteristic

features. The subject is normally a noun phrase or a nominal clause, a pronoun, thatclause, to infinitive or V-ing. A subject is obligatory in finite clauses except in
imperative clauses, where it is normally absent but implied.
Verb is also taken an extremely important role in sentences. Cutting across above
three fold classification are three main verb classes:
Intransitive verbs (laugh in [1a]), are followed by no obligatory element, and occur
in type SV Transitive verbs (enjoy in [2a], give in [5a], consider in [6a], put in [7a])
are followed by an object and occur in types SVO, SVOO, SVOC and SVOA
respectively.
Copular verbs (become in [3a], be in [4a]) are followed by a subject complement or
an adverbial, and occur in types SVC and SVA.

12


In general sense, the term transitive is often applied to all verbs which require an
object, including those of clause types SVOO, SVOC, and SVOA. It is, however,
convenient to make a further classification of the verbs in these patterns:
Monotransitive verbs occurs in type SVO
Transitive verbs

Ditransitive verbs occur in type SVOO
Complex transitive verbs occur in types SVOC and SVOA
Table 2.2 Classification of transitive verb

Objects are an indispensable element in a sentence with a transitive verb.
In fact, there are two types of object: direct object (Od) and indirect object (Oi). An
object such as parties in [2a] (The boy enjoys parties) clearly has a different role in
the lause from an object such as the visitor in [5a] (The waiter gave the passenger a
cup of tea), and this has been traditionally recognized by applying the term direct
object to the former, and indirect object to the latter. We give priority here to the

distributional fact that whenever there are two objects (in type SVOO), the former is
normally the indirect object, and the latter is direct object. But although it is more
central with regard to position, in other respects the indirect object is more
peripheral than the direct object: it is more likely to be optional, and may general be
paraphrased by a prepositional phrase functioning adverbial
Complements are used in sentence patterns SVC and SVOC. There are also two
types of complements: subject complement (Cs) and object complement (Co). We
can distinguish between the types of complement found in the SVC pattern; ie:
totally independent in:
The country became totally independent.
[3a]
And the type of complement found in the SVOC pattern; ie: rather expensive in:
Most people consider these works rather expensive. [6a]
The distinction is effectively made by noting that in [3a] the country is understood
to have become a totally independent country, while in [6a] the books are
understood to be considered rather expensive works. In other words, in SVC clauses

13


the complement applies some attribute or definition to the subject, whereas in
SVOC clauses it applies an attribute or definition to the object. This distinction is
usually denoted by the terms subject complement and object complement
respectively. In these cases, the complement is an adjective phrase, but elsewhere,
where the complement is a noun phrase, the same kind of distinction holds:
Type SVC: The country became a separate nation.
Type SVOC: Most people considered Vangoh a genius.
In the SVC sentence, a separate nation is understood to be a definition of the
subject, the country, while in the SVOC sentence, a genius is understood to be a
definition of the object, Vangoh.

Obligatory adverbial is an intergral element in sentence paterns SVA and SVOA.
The adverbial is normally an adverb phrase, prepositional phrase, or adverbial
clause. It may also be a noun phrase.
Except for the obligatory adverbial in the SVA and SVOA types, adverbials are
optional: they may be added to or removed from the clause without affecting its
acceptability and without affecting the relations of structure and meaning in the rest
of the clause.
Obligatory adverbials are a subclass of predication adjuncts that belong to SVA and
SVOA types. In as much as they are obligatory, they are central elements of the
clause, part of the clause nucleus. They may be adverb phrases, prepositional
phrases, or adverbial clauses. Some obligatory adverb phrases and prepositional
phrases may be analyzed as complements belonging to the SVC and SVOC types.
Type SVA: I have been in the garden.
Type SVOA: You must put all the toys upstairs.
2.3 Theoretical framework
2.3.1 Syntactic feature of verb “get”
- As a ditransitive, get permits both a direct object and an indirect object. Usually
the indirect object refers to a person, and comes first.

14