The purpose of this study is to find out the semantic similarities and differences between the verbs finish and end by analyzing and comparing their meanings and noun collocations, especially abstract and artificial nouns, from COCA. This paper reveals that the verbs finish and end have similar meanings and semantic characteristics which cause both verbs to collocate with the same nouns, whilst they also have completely different meanings and the characteristics which make them collocate with totally different nouns from each other. The semantic characteristic of finish is that it tends to collocate with nouns which are temporally bound and located in time. The meanings of finish is reflected in its own noun collocations. Nouns such as letter, food, and doctorate. The unique semantic characteristic of end, which distinguishes it from finish, is that it collocates with nouns that are temporally unbound. The meanings of end is also reflected in its noun collocations. Negative action nouns, such as conflict, bloodshed and negative feeling nouns, such as disappointment, disgrace fall into this category. The most important difference in the meanings between finish and end is that finish implies `something`s being over and complete` and end implies `something`s being over although incomplete`. This study proves that the verbs finish and end have similar meanings which cause them to collocate with the same range of nouns. Meanwhile each verb has its own semantic characteristics and meanings that clearly distinguish it from the other. The understanding of the semantic similarities and differences among similar words by analyzing and comparing their meanings and the collocations, which relate to each verb ?s meanings directly and reflect their semantic characteristics, helps one distinguish these words more easily.

• 심지영 | Ji Young Sim