A study of the aspecutal complements of 'begin' and 'start'

The main purpose of this thesis is to study the aspectual complements of the aspectualizers begin and start. Aspectualizers are verbs that give aspectual readings to the sentence. I started with a summary of Freed's (1978) analysis. In this summary, semantic differences among seven aspectualizers that take to V and V-ing complements were explained. The semantic distinction between to V and V-ing was also discussed. Following the summary, a brief research on aspectual complements was conducted. Based on Freed's analysis, I first examined the difference in meaning and in frequency of occurrence between the to V and the V-ing complement of the two aspectualizers. My research revealed some interesting problems that Freed failed to address. These problems blur the difference between the to V and the V-ing complement of begin and start that Freed claims. Through the research, however, I failed to pinpoint the significant difference, too. More research on this issue should be done in the future.

Autorentext

Xinzheng Zhao earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Education in Tokyo Gakugei University in 2008. After he graduated from the university, Xinzheng decided to major in Linguistics. Xinzheng studied Linguistics systematically in Louisiana State University. He hopes to be a teacher of English in the future.