67 90
a. Question: British trains are equipped with special communication devices. These communication devices may be operated only in an
emergency. b. Student’s answer: British trains are equipped with special
communication devices operated only in an emergency R : 11. c. Intended answer: British trains are equipped with special
communication devices to be operated only in an emergency. In 90b, the use of V-ed was incorrect. From 90a, it was obvious that there was
a modal expression. Thus, the students should have used to be +V-ed instead of V-ed.
b. The Errors in the Non-finite Noun Clauses
The errors committed by the students in constructing the non-finite noun clauses were classified into several categories. Those categories are described in
Figure 4.2. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
68
Figure 4.2: The Errors in the Non-finite Noun Clauses
1 The Occurrence of Finite Subordinate Clauses
In the test, the students’ answer revealed that the students had not understood the concept of the non-finite clauses. This fact was proven by the
occurrence of students’ answers that were still in finite clauses quite frequently, even in every number. The examples are:
91 a. Question: Six companies have signed an agreement. The agreement
is that they should share the costs of research and development. b. Student’s answer: Six companies have signed an agreement that
they share the costs of research and development R : 17. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
69 c. Intended answer: Six companies have signed an agreement to share
the costs of research and development. Sentence 91b proved that the students still produced the finite clauses rather than
the non-finite clauses. The students might have not understood what the non-finite clause was. If they had understood the concept of the non-finite clauses, they
would not use modals like in 91b when they were asked to produce sentences using the non-finite clauses.
92 a. Question: She had not telephoned us. We were surprised about it.
b. Student’s answer: We were surprised about the fact that she had not telephoned us R : 64.
c. Intended answer: We were surprised about her not having telephoned us.
Sentence 92b was another example showing that the students still had problems in constructing the non-finite noun clauses. In 92b, the students had produced a
grammatically correct sentence containing the noun clauses, but the clause was still in finite form. The clause still had tense aspect, which was shown by the word
had .
2 Transforming into Wrong Types of Subordinate Clauses
In part B of the test, the subordinate clauses produced by some students were in the wrong types. In this case, some students changed the sentence that
should be the noun clause into other types of clauses. The following is the example.
70 93
a. Question: The students are required to pay an extra fee to use the laboratory.
I am upset about that fact. b. Student’s answer: I am upset about the students who are required to
pay an extra fee to use the laboratory R : 58. c. Intended answer: I am upset about the students being required to pay
an extra fee to use the laboratory. From 93b it was clear that the subordinate clause was in the form of adjective
clause. Sentence 93b was grammatically correct. The problem was that the meaning was very different compared to the original context. Besides, the
adjective clause was still in finite form. 94
a. Question: I opened a checking account. That took about an hour. b. Student’s answer: Opening a checking account, I took about an hour
R : 43. c. Intended answer: Opening a checking account took about an hour.
Sentence 94b was grammatically correct. Besides, the clause was in the non- finite form. The problem was the clause functioned as an adverbial clause. The
student failed to replace the word that with a correct form of non-finite clause.
3 Problem in Constructing Negative Clauses
Some items in the test were in negative form. This was aimed to test the students’ ability in producing the non-finite clauses in negative. The results
showed that some students were confused to produce clauses in negative. Clauses
using participle could be made negative by putting not before the verbs Frank,
1972: 305. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
71 95
a. Question: She had not telephoned us. We were surprised about it. b. Student’s answer: Having not telephoned us, we were surprised
about it R : 30. c. Intended answer: We were surprised about her not having
telephoned us. In 95b, the subordinate clause was in the form of adverbial clause, hence, it was
wrong. From 95b, it could be inferred that the student had problem in constructing the noun finite clause in negative form. The word not should be
placed before the verb having. This fact showed that the students might be interfered by the rules of negative in finite form. In 95a the word not was located
after had. Similarly, they just simply put not after having. The students seemed to have generalized the rules.
4 Wrong Choice of Main Clauses and Subordinate Clauses
The test required the students to change the clauses or sentences written in italics to be the subordinate clause. In fact, some answers were found to have
violated the requirement. The student used the sentence in italics to be the main clause of the sentence. For example:
96 a. Question: How could I fix the leak in the sink? The plumber told me
about it. b. Student’s answer: How could I fix the leak in the sink which the
plumber told me R : 45? c. Intended answer: The plumber told me how to fix the leak in the
sink. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
72 The students were asked to use the sentence The plumber told me about it to be
the main clause. The fact was it was used as the subordinate clause in 96b. Besides, the subordinate clause functioned as an adjective clause, not as a noun
clause. 97
a. Question: Anne arrived an hour late. They considered it very impolite.
b. Student’s answer: Considering it very impolite, Anne arrived an hour late R : 47.
c. Intended answer: They considered Anne’s arriving an hour late very impolite.
The same case could be seen in 97b. In 97b, the clause that functioned as the main clause should be the subordinate clause. On the other hand, the subordinate
clause should be the main clause. In addition, the subordinate clause in 97b should be a noun clause, and not as an adverbial clause.
5 Problems between Active and Passive Sentences
In the test, some students still had problems in producing sentences containing the non-finite noun clauses in active or passive form. Close 1977: 96
states that in the non-finite noun clauses, –ed should be preceded by –ing. In other words, -ed participle, which had passive meaning, could not be used to
introduce the non-finite noun clauses. Thus, being should be used to precede the clauses. The fact was some students used V-ing instead of being + V-ed to express
passive meaning. V-ing, which had active meaning, was not appropriate to be used to clauses in passive form.
73 98
a. Question: The students are required to pay an extra fee to use the laboratory.
I am upset about that fact. b. Student’s answer: I am upset about requiring the students to pay an
extra fee to use the laboratory R : 37. c. Intended answer: I am upset about the students being required to pay
an extra fee to use the laboratory. The use of V-ing in 98b indicated that the clause had active meaning. The
students should have used –ed participle instead. Besides, the pronoun the students
should be placed after the preposition about. It was clear that sentence 98b had different meaning if it was compared to the original context. Sentence
98b meant that the person who required the students to pay an extra fee was I. Hence, sentence 98b was semantically incorrect.
6 Lack of Genitive Case of Pronoun
In constructing a noun clause using gerund, if the gerund clause has a subject, the item realizing the subject are written in the genitive case Quirk et al.,
1992: 1063. The genitive form, which is written with apostrophe s, is used to show possession Close, 1977: 123. In fact, the students still used the 3
rd
person of pronoun, or even omitted the pronoun. This revealed that the student might
have not understood the rules that the pronoun should be written in the genitive case. The examples are:
99 a. Question: Anne arrived an hour late. They considered it very
impolite. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
74 b. Student’s answer: They considered Anne arriving an hour late very
impolite R : 18. c. Intended answer: They considered Anne’s arriving an hour late very
impolite. There was one small mistake in 99b. The students should change the pronoun
into the genitive case. 100
a. Question: No one doubted that he was sincere in his beliefs. b. Student’s answer: No one doubted he being sincere in his beliefs R
: 35. c. Intended answer: No one doubted his being sincere in his beliefs.
In 100b, it could be seen that the students preferred to the 3
rd
person instead of genitive case.
7 The Occurrence of Verbless Clauses
In the test, it could be found some students who produced the verbless clauses rather than the non-finite clauses.
101 a. Question: Six companies have signed an agreement. The agreement
is that they should share the costs of research and development. b. Student’s answer: Six companies have signed an agreement about
the share the costs of research and development R : 16. c. Intended answer: Six companies have signed an agreement to share
the costs of research and development. It was clear that the subordinate clause in 101b did not have a verb. Thus, it was
considered as a wrong answer. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
75
8 Confusion to Choose Either to-infinitive or Gerund
When the student were asked to write the non-finite noun clauses, it was obvious that they were confused when to use to-infinitive and when to use gerund.
In fact, there are some verbs that should be followed by to-infinitive, while some other verbs should be followed by gerund. The following are the example.
102 a. Question: Teachers have found that the overhead projector is
invaluable as a teaching aid .
b. Student’s answer: Teachers have found the overhead projector being invaluable as a teaching aid R : 15.
c. Intended answer: Teachers have found the overhead projector to be invaluable as a teaching aid.
To change sentence 102a into the non-finite form, the conjunction that should be omitted. Then, the overhead projector became the object of the sentence. The rest
of the sentence functioned as object complement and to be was used to replace the linking verb. Thus, the correct sentence was Teachers have found the overhead
projector to be invaluable as a teaching aid . In other words, the word being in
102b was inappropriate and it should be replaced by to be. 103
a. Question: The management promised that they would look into the workers’ grievance
. b. Student’s answer: The management promised looking into the
workers’ grievance R : 30. c. Intended answer: The management promised to look into look into
the workers’ grievance. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
76 In 103b, the word promised should be followed by to-infinitive. In fact, the
student used gerund instead of to-infinitive.
9 Problems with Clauses Derived from Questions
The results of the test showed that quite many students still had difficulties in constructing the non-finite noun clause which was derived from question
introduced by a question word. The finite noun clause, which was derived from question introduced by a question word, could be changed into the corresponding
non-finite form by putting to-infinitive right after the question word. The fact was the students still produced the finite form, omitted the question word, and
sometimes they used gerund. The examples are: 104
a. Question: I don’t know where I should buy the meat for the lamb stew
. b. Student’s answer: I don’t know to buy the meat for the lamb stew R
: 2. c. Intended answer: I don’t know where to buy the meat for the lamb
stew. In 104b, the to-infinitive had been used to replace the subject and modal
auxiliary. The problem was that the question word was also omitted. 105
a. Question: How could I fix the leak in the sink? The plumber told me about it.
b. Student’s answer: The plumber told me about fixing the leak in the sink R : 52.
77 c. Intended answer: The plumber told me how to fix the leak in the
sink. From 105b, it was clear that the question word was also omitted, but the
preposition was retained. Moreover, the verb was gerund. Thus, the sentence was incorrect.
10 Incorrect Use of Comma
In the non-finite clauses, the use of comma is not needed. In fact, some students put comma when constructing the non-finite noun clauses. It made the
sentence functioned as an adverb, especially when the clause was located in the beginning of the sentence. Here is the example.
106 a. Question: I opened a checking account. That took about an hour.
b. Student’s answer: Opening a checking account, took about an hour R : 28.
c. Intended answer: Opening a checking account took about an hour. In 106b, if the comma was deleted then it was correct. The presence of a comma
in 106b caused the clause looked like as if it functioned as an adverbial. If it was an adverbial, the sentence had no subject.
11 Problems in Perfect Construction
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman 1999: 649 state that to express the completion of an action, the perfect form is used. In the test, it could be seen that
the students had difficulties in constructing the non-finite clause with perfect form. Some of the students made the finite clauses, and some other students
omitted the perfect form. The following are the examples. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
78 107
a. Question: She had not telephoned us. We were surprised about it. b. Student’s answer: Had not telephoned us, we were surprised R :
35. c. Intended answer: We were surprised about her not having
telephoned us. There were some mistakes made by the students in 107b. The first was that the
clause was still in finite form. The second was the word not, which was used to express negative meaning, was misplaced. The third was the clause was an
adverbial, not a noun clause. 108
a. Question: She had not telephoned us. We were surprised about it. b. Student’s answer: Her not telephoning surprised us R : 15.
c. Intended answer: We were surprised about her not having telephoned us.
From 108b, it was clear that the perfective aspect found in the question was omitted. The perfective aspect should be retained, and the form should be in the
non-finite verb form.
c. The Errors in the Non-finite Adverbial Clauses
