Errors in Indirect Statements

40 Table 4.2: Percentage of Students’ Errors in Forming Indirect WH-Questions Item Number Number of Students Who Made Errors Percentage 2 7 12 17 22 58 18 24 28 49 87.87 27.27 36.36 42.42 74.24 The table shows that errors still happened in the students’ answers in transferring direct WH-questions into indirect WH-questions. Tenses still became the main problem for students in transferring direct speech into indirect speech. Besides the tenses, the students still made errors in pronouns, demonstratives and adverbs. The same as indirect statement, errors in special case also happened in special case. The first example of students’ erroneous answer in forming indirect WH- questions was shown in example [17]. [17] a. Direct Speech  Mrs. Brown asked me, “When will you submit this assignment?” b. Indirect Speech  Mr. Brown asked me when I would submit that assignment. c. Incorrect Answer  Mr. Brown asked me when you will submit that assignment. It is clearly shown in example [17] that errors in the tense and pronoun happened. The error in the tense was shown in the use of present future tense in the indirect speech. The students still used will instead of would. However, the 41 tense in example [17] should be back shifted into past future tense because the direct question had past reporting clause. In addition, the pronoun you should be changed into I because you in the direct speech referred to the reporter. In fact, the students still used pronoun you without changing it into I. In example [17], students formed indirect question by using the wrong form of tense. Besides, the wrong form of pronoun was also used. Thus, those two kinds of errors shown in example [17] were categorized as misformation error because the students used the wrong form of pronoun and tense. Other kinds of errors happened in the form of demonstrative error. The error can be found in example [18]. [18] a. Direct Speech  Mrs. Brown asked me, “When will you submit this assignment?” b. Indirect Speech  Mr. Brown asked me when I would submit that assignment. c. Incorrect Answer  Mr. Brown asked me when will I submit this assignment. Demonstrative error in example [18] was shown in the use of this. The word this should be changed into that in the indirect question because the direct speech had past reporting verb. Nevertheless, the students still kept the original form of the demonstrative. This error was called misformation error because the demonstrative used in the indirect speech was incorrect. Error in word order can also be found in example [18]. The error happened in the order of the auxiliary verb will and the pronoun I. The pronoun I should be 42 placed before the auxiliary verb because the form of the reported clause was no longer an interrogative, but it was changed into positive form. In surface structure taxonomy, this error could be classified into misordering error. It was because incorrect placement of words happened. Another example of erroneous answer is shown in example [19]. [19] a. Direct Speech  Dedy asked Dina, “How long had you been waiting for me here?” b. Indirect Speech  Dedy asked Dina how long she had been waiting for him there. c. Incorrect Answer  Dedy asked Dina that how long had she being been waiting for him here. Besides errors in the tense and word order, there were also errors in conjunction and demonstrative in example [19]. Error in the use of conjunction was shown in the use of that in WH- question. That should not be used as conjunction in indirect WH-question, but it is used in indirect statement, command, or exclamation. Indirect WH-question does not need any additional conjunction. Thus, based on surface structure taxonomy, this error could be categorized as addition error. It was because the students added unnecessary conjunction which should not be used in indirect WH-questions Error in adverb can also be found in example [19]. The error is shown on the use of adverb here in the indirect WH-question. It indicates that the students did not change the adverb in transferring direct question into indirect question. However, here as the adverb of time, should be changed into there. This kind of 43 error could be categorized as misformation error. It was because in the indirect speech, the student used the wrong form of adverb in the indirect speech.

3. Errors in Indirect Yes-No Questions

The same as other types of indirect speech, yes-no questions were distributed in five items. They existed in items 3, 8, 13, 18, and 23. The percentage of students who still made errors in forming indirect yes-no question was presented in Table 4.3. Table 4.3: Percentage of Students’ Errors in Forming Indirect Yes-No Questions Item Number Number of Students Who Made Errors Percentage 3 8 13 18 23 20 13 28 33 37 30.30 19.69 42.42 50.00 56.06 Errors in pronouns, word order, tenses, and demonstratives were found in indirect yes-no questions. The example of errors in tenses, word order, and pronoun can be found in example [20]. [20] a. Direct Speech  “Can I get coffee on the train?” my aunt asked. b. Indirect Speech  My aunt asked if she could get coffee on the train. c. Incorrect Answer  My aunt asked could I get coffee on the train. Pronoun error is indicated by the use of pronoun I as in the indirect question. The pronoun I in the direct speech should be changed into she when it