The Procedures of Error Analysis

15 e. Irregular plurals based on older English may take the form of: a an internal change man – men, foot – feet, mouse – mice. b an en ending child – children, ox – oxen. f. The plural has the same form as the singular sheep – sheep, deer – deer. g. The singular has the same form as the plural series – series, means – means h. Many foreign words retain their foreign in English: a Singular us ending becomes plural i ending stimulus – stimuli, radius – radii. b Singular a ending becomes plural ae ending larva – larvae, vertebra – vertebrae. c Singular um ending becomes plural a ending memorandum – memoranda, stratum – strata. Some such words are used chiefly in the plural data, bateria. d Singular is ending becomes es ending crisis – crises, parenthesis – parentheses. e Singular on ending becomes plural a ending criterion – criteria, phenomenon – phenomena. f Singular ex or ix ending becomes ices ending vortex – vortices, matrix – matrices, appendix – appendices. g Singular eau ending becomes plural eaux ending bureau – bureaux, plateau – plateaux. i. No plural is used for noncountable words such as information, advice, clothing, furniture. j. Some words ending in s are singular non countable words, especially names of diseases and fields of study news, measles, economics. k. Some words ending in s are used chiefly as plurals ashes, brains, goods, riches. In this group are words for items that have two parts scissors, spectacles, pliers, trousers. 30 From the classifications above, it can be said that irregular nouns which have their „uniquely different‟ ways compared with the regular nouns between their singular and plural forms comprise those of abstract and concrete nouns that can be either countable or uncountable ones. 30 Ibid, p.13-14 16

CHAPTER III THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter comprises the method of the research, the place and time of the research, the object of the research, the instruments, and the technique of data collecting as well as its analysis.

A. The Method of the Research

The writer applies qualitative method on this research. Several characteristics of qualitative research according to Bogdan and Biklen are, 1 qualitative research has the natural setting as the direct source of data and researcher is the key instrument; 2 qualitative research is descriptive. The data collected is in the form of words or pictures rather than number; 3 qualitative research is concerned with process rather than simply with outcomes or products; 4 qualitative research tend to analyze data inductively; and 5 meaning is of essential to the qualitative approach. 31 The writer collected the written test result from the students, identified, and classified the errors on the irregular plural nouns formations by using the theory of Marcella Frank‟s nouns classification and described the data descriptively with the Corder‟s errors explanation. After that, he classified those errors into their source of errors, followed by synthesizing the conclusion.

B. The Place and Time of the Research

This research was conducted at MA Madrasah Aliyah “Jamiat Kheir” Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, beginning in the early November 2012 until the mid of November 2012.

C. The Object of the Research

The writer took and used the written test result from 17 students who fill in the items as the object of this research. The total students of the class is 20 and there were 3 of them who did not follow the test. 31 Bogdan R.C., and Biklen, S.K., Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods, 1982, Boston: Allyn and Bacon Inc, p.