Analysis into Chinese Students’ Misuse of English Verbs
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Abstract. In the course of college English teaching， English teachers may find some errors made by the non-English majors. Errors made when they are using English verbs are analyzed from the aspect of the similarities and differences between English verbs and Chinese verbs in this thesis. We can conclude that the most obvious cause of the misuse seems to be the interference of the first language （L1）， that is， interlingual errors affect the English output of Chinese students. At last， the author calls for more input of the difference between L1 and L2 in L2 teaching and acquisition so that the same mistakes can be avoided.
Key words： misuse； interference； language transfer； incorporation
1.Introduction
As an English teacher for non-English major college students， I’ve always noticed that students may make errors in using English verbs. “Borrow” and “lend” are mixed up. “Retrieve” may be translated into “fetch back”. And the same error is committed with expressions like “still remain”， “repeat again”， “connect together”， “return back” and so on. Chinese students’ writing may also be filled with causative sentences. The following two sentences are cited from students’ CET6 writing.
1）. Firecrackers might cause the fire， make the eyes blind， and even kill somebody， so they must be banned.
2）. Firecrackers are good things， but when they make people dangerous they become bad things. （CET6 June 1995）
The above-listed expressions and sentences are grammatically correct， but they are not native English. Why does this phenomenon take place？ Why do students make such errors again and again？ And how can we English teachers improve the situation？
In college non-major English teaching and learning， much of daily work has aimed to cope with CET-band 4/6. Little research has been done on the performance of students’ language output. But just as in the development of a country， foundation of economy should be solid and strong， the basic language competence of students must be emphasized in the first place. Verbs are the grammatical center of predicates， which are the essential part of sentences. According to Wentao Zhang （2003）， in college students’ writing， 73 of 332 （22%） errors are lexical verb errors. And Yu Jue （2011） thinks phrasal verbs used by Chinese English learners share such mistakes as uisuse of verbs or particles， collocational deviations， syntactic problem and simplified use. Therefore， we should have a comprehensive understanding of English verbs or phrasal verbs and their Chinese equivalents to consolidate our foundation of English learning.
2.analysis of the misuse
The above-mentioned errors are interlingual errors which result from language transfer， caused by the learners’ native language， i.e. mother tongue interference in second language acquisition accounts for these errors. English verbs， although similar in many aspects， have subtle but significant difference in semantic composition， causing misuse by chinese students in using English verbs. Thus， in order to analyze this kind of misuse and then avoid it， let’s study how language transfer has an effect on learning english verbs.
2.1The similarities of English verbs and Chinese verbs
A verb is “ a word or phrase indicating an action， an event or a state”. From this we can see that the semantic function of a verb is to describe a motion， which can be an action， an event or a state. A motion is expressed by a verb or a phrasal verb， which is the case in both English and Chinese.
e.g. He stood there.
The rock slid/rolled down the hill.
We worked on into the night.
look somebody up and down （Yan Chensong， 1998）
In these sentences， the linguistic expressions of motions are in correspondence in both English and Chinese. Sometimes， a motion is realized by a single verb. In other cases， particles are used in conjunction with the head verb to indicate direction， aspect， manner， etc. Under these circumstances， it’s easy for Chinese students to find correspondent English expressions.
2.2 The differences of English verbs and Chinese verbs
For the different morphological features of lexicon， language in the world can be divided into two types----incorporating language and isolating language. English belongs to the former one （Cai Jigang， 2000）. According to Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics （2001）， an incorporating language is one in which incorporations are systematic. Incorporation means a regular process by which lexical units， which are syntactically components of verbs， can also be realized as elements within the verb itself. So incorporation is quite common with English verbs， whereas in Chinese----an isolating language， the exact equivalents to these incorporation verbs cannot always be found. In other words， single Chinese verbs cannot express complex semantic content， and other sentence elements like adverbial and complement are added to achieve this. Influenced by Chinese expressions， Chinese students may misuse English incorporation verbs. The author is going to analyze these errors from the aspect of the types of incorporations.
2.2.1 Incorporations from conversion
Conversion is a productive means of word formation in English. A noun， when converted into a verb without any change of form， can convey a more complex meaning. Examples can be found just in our textbooks， College English Intensive Reading （Dong Yafen， 2006）.
Some priest， nuns and researchers spend a great deal of time shepherding or observing shopping-bag ladies…
shepherd： n. someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock
vt. take care of， guide or direct （people） like sheep
（Lady Hermits Who Are Down but Not Out Unit 4， Book 3）
…who attach such great importance to staying alive that they claw their neighbors to death just for the privilege.
claw： n. sharp curved horny process on the toe of a bird or some mammals or reptiles
vt. tear， seize， pull with claws or hands
（Rod Serling， The Shelter Unit 7， Book 3）
…the requirements of honesty often seem dwarfed by greater needs…
dwarf n. a person who is abnormally small
vt. cause to appear small by comparison.
（Sissela Bok， To Lie or Not To Lie---The Doctor’s Dilemma Unit 5， Book 4）
While in Chinese， this is not the case. Thus Chinese students seldom use nouns to express motions， but rely on analytic method， i.e. using phrases， not words. Just like sentence 1 in the introduction part. Actually if we use “blind the eyes” instead of “make” phrase， that sentence will become more native. Take another sentence as an example：
I try to hide my inner fear with a mask of showing confidence.
This is a sentence made up by analytic method， which is marked with Chinese traces. In order to make a native English sentence， we can use the verb “mask” instead of the noun “mask”：
I try to mask my inner fear by a show of confidence
2.2.2 Incorporation from derivations
The most important characteristics of English， an incorporating language， are that abundant affixes are used to distinguish parts of speech and to indicate different meanings of words. For instance：
The new problem deepened the economic crisis.
The soldiers are encamped in the forest.
The complex concepts can be delivered by adding affixes to root words in English， which， in Chinese， can only be achieved by phrases. This also explains why Chinese students produce so many causative sentences with “make” instead of using derivations to work out more concise sentences. Chinese is characteristic of using analytical method to denote causative relation， so Chinese students are inclined to analogize the structure “make + object + complement” when making up an English sentence. For example：
Doing part-time job could make them draw near the society.
It could be better improved as “Doing part-time job could shorten the distance between society and campus.” Just like sentence 2 in the introduction part， it can be changed into “endanger human life”.
2.2.3 Incorporations from single root verbs
When taking examinations， students may be required to fill in the blanks like this：
The teacher ______ her fingers on the desk impatiently.
A. struck B. hit C. tapped D. knocked
Later， mother _______ into the children’s room to make sure they are all asleep.
A. burst B. slipped C. floated D. entered （Hou Ninghai， 2002）
These choices are synonyms. In sentence 1， “tap” is the proper choice， which means “to knock gently on somebody or something”. In sentence 2， “slip” means “to go somewhere quietly or quickly， e.g. in order not to be noticed， or without being noticed”. The complex meanings of these two incorporation words cannot be conveyed by specific words of this kind in Chinese， but usually by general verbs with adverbials. Affected by this phenomenon， students may always work out sentences like this：
Usually I will read the newspaper very quickly and try to find some interesting stories.
John went to the window and looked at the crowd outside.
Please go and fetch me a chair.
These are all misuse of incorporation verbs in English. “Flip through”， “tiptoed”， “stared” and “fetch” are the better choice （Ding Xianwen，2000）.
3.Conclusion
Until now， we have better understood the similarities and differences of English verbs and Chinese verbs， which contributes to the Chinese students’ misuse of English verbs. But how can we reduce Chinese interference in teaching and learning English verbs and how can we improve students’ language output？
First， students should be informed that L2 learning is different from their L1 learning， which could be inevitably affected by negative or positive interference from their previous knowledge of language and learning strategies. As for the vocabulary， students should be advised to read through the English meaning and to remember one or two example sentences to make sure of its exact meaning.
Then， teachers should pay greater attention to the semantic property when explaining verbs and encourage students to use specific verbs in daily expression. To achieve this， a componential analysis would be of importance. For instance， giggle = laugh + silly + repeatedly + uncontrollably. Through this， students may know when they should use “giggle” instead of the general word “laugh”.
Also， more comparison between English and Chinese should be carried out in our daily teaching and learning. Students should be notified of the type and source of errors made by themselves. Only when they get to know the reasons why they make errors in these aspects， will they be able to avoid such errors.
Attention should also be drawn to the differences of culture and thinking mode between West and East. Language is the tool for thinking and also the representation of thinking. So different thinking modes will produce different language expressions （Liu Jiyun， 2003）.
References
[1]Cai Jigang，2000， A Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Writing， Fudan University Press
[2]Ding Xianwen， 2000， English Construction， Southwest Jiaotong Unviersity Press
[3]Hou Ninghai， 2002， A Handbook of Correcting Common Errors in English， Press of University of Science and Technology of China
[4]Liu Jiyun， Error Analysis of Culture in English Teaching， Foreign Languages Research， 2003 （5）： 68-69
[5]Matthews， P. H. 2001， Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics， Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
[6]Quirk， R. et al. 1972， A Grammar of Contemporary English. Longman Group Ltd.， London
[7]Yan Chensong， 1998， A comparison of lexicalization patterns of motion event between English and Chinese， Comparative Study of Enlish and Chinese Language and Culture （1995---2003），Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
[8]Dong Yafen， 2006， College English Intensive Reading， Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
[9]Yu Jue， 2011， On the use of Oral English Phrasal Verbs Based on Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners， Foreign Language World， 2011 （5）：24-30