1. Aim (Mục tiêu) [countable noun]: what you want to achieve when you do something.
• The main aims of the project are as follows.
• A cure for cancer is our ultimate aim. (= the most important aim, which you hope one day to achieve)

2. Purpose (Mục đích) [countable noun]: the reason why you do something, and the thing that you want to achieve when you do it.
• The main purpose of education is to help people to lead satisfying and productive lives.
• Many plants from the rainforest are used for medical purposes.

3. Objective (Mục đích) [countable noun]: the thing that someone is trying to achieve, especially in business or politics - thường được dùng trong kinh doanh hoặc chính trị.
• The policy has three main objectives: firstly, to increase food production; secondly, to improve the distribution of food; and finally, to improve the diet of ordinary people.
• The government is unlikely to achieve its long-term objective of cutting CO2 emissions.

4. Goal [countable noun]: something that a person or organization hopes to achieve in the future, even though this may take a long time - Mục tiêu mà bạn muốn đạt được, mặc dù mất nhiều thời gian.
• It took Mandela over forty years to achieve his goal of a democratic South Africa.
• The company's long-term goal is to be the market leader in this type of technology.

5. Target [countable noun]: the exact result, often a number or an amount of something, that a person or organization intends to achieve - Mục tiêu chính xác mà bạn hoặc một tổ chức muốn đạt được.
• They failed to meet their target of having a computer in every classroom.
• He set himself the target of raising over $1 million for cancer research.

6. Intention (Dự định) [uncountable and countable noun]: something that you intend to do.
• Their intention was to sail on February 10th, but bad weather made this impossible.
• Rafsanjani said that Iran had no intention of developing nuclear weapons. (= they definitely did not intend to do this)
• The reader can never be 100% sure of the writer's original intentions.

7. Mission (Sứ mệnh) [countable noun]: something that a person or an organization hopes to achieve, which they consider to be very important.
• Our mission is to educate people about the disease.
• The students are on a mission to record and preserve the history of their area. (= they are trying hard to do something because they feel it is very important)

8. The point (Mục đích) [singular noun]: the purpose of doing something and the reason why it is right or necessary.
• The point of the experiment is to show how different metals react with oxygen.
• People sometimes find it difficult to see the point of studying subjects such as Latin at school. (= they find it difficult to understand why it is necessary)

9. Ends [plural noun]: the result that someone is trying to achieve, when this is bad or dishonest - Kết quả mà ai đó muốn đạt được, thường mang ý nghĩa xấu, tiêu cực.
• Several politicians were accused of trying to exploit the situation for their own ends. (= use it in order to get advantages for themselves)
• The terrorists will do almost anything to achieve their ends.

Phạm Quốc Thiện
Giáo viên Tiếng Anh – Trường Quốc tế Á Châu