An Analysis of Verb Collocation Patterns in English and Persian

An analysis of verb collocation patterns in English and Persian compares the system of verb collocations in English and Persian, predicts and evaluates the difficulties caused by the minimal differences in verb collocations. According to contrastive lexical approach to verb collocation, English has more choices in the construction of verbs than Persian does. English simple verbs outnumber those of Persian. Unlike Persian, English has a broad range of verb types. Above all, English uses verb collocations to paraphrase a verb; change register; elaborate on nouns; switch from the transitive restriction of a simple verb to an intransitive mode; and produce certain pragmatic effects to exercise formality and conciseness whereas in Persian verbs are generally governed by meaning. The use of verb collocations in English seems to be a matter of strategy to give variety to communication, whereas the use of verb collocations in Persian is a matter of necessity. Besides the classification of verbs, the book concluded that when EFL learners receive intervention on verb collocation, and are informed of the grammatical properties of verbs, they can feel at home with English collocations.

Autorentext

Dr. Mohammad Abdollahi-Guilani, Assistant Professor at Booin-Zahra Technical University, Iran, has taught English for over 20 years. He has published several articles and books. His latest book is Stress Success: A Guide to Pronunciation Principles, published by UKM, Malaysia. His main interest is contrastive analysis with focus on verb patterns.