Commonly, the various difficulties will be faced by students at school. One of the reason why the students faced difficulties in learning, it is because their
learning attitude. When the teacher explained the materials some students give their attention fully, and some other did not. Furthermore, some students can
receive the materials easily, and some other cannot. From the background above, the writer would like to try to write about
“An Analysis on Students’ Errors in Using Relative Pronouns Who, Whom, Which, Whose
” A Case Study in the Second Year of Fatahillah Senior High
School.
B. Identification of The Problem
Based on the background of the study above, there are some problems that can be identified:
1. Most of students in Fatahillah Senior High School still have some
errors how to apply the correct relative pronouns in adjective clause. 2.
The students cannot differentiate the function of relative pronouns whether it is subject, object or possesive.
3. The students cannot differentiate the usage of relative pronouns whether
it is for person, or a thing.
C. Limitation of the Problem
To avoid misunderstanding in interpreting the problem, it is necessary to make limitation of the problem. The writer limited the problem only on the
students’ errors in using relative pronouns which, who, whom, whose of adjective clauses at the second year of Fatahillah Senior High School.
D. Formulation of the problem
Based on the statement above, the writer formulates her problems as follows:
1. Do the students make errors in using relative pronouns who, whom,
which, whose in adjective clause? 2.
What are the types of error that the students make? 3.
What kind of relative pronoun which the students often make errors?
E. The Objectives of The Study
According to the statement of the problem above, the objectives of the study are as follows:
1. to know whether the students make some errors in using relative pronouns
who, whom, which, whose in adjective clause or not. 2.
to find out the frequency of occurence of each type of errors in using relative pronouns who, whom, which, whose in adjective clause.
3. to find out the frequency of each kind of relative pronouns errors such as;
who, whom, which, whose in adjective clause.
F. The Significances of The Study
The results of this study are expected to provide useful information for: 1.
English teachers The result of this study for English teachers to get clearly information
about the types and sources of students’ errors in using relative pronouns
who, whom, which, whose, so they will give proper treatment to decrease students’ errors in using relative pronouns who, whom, which,
whose. 2.
Students The students will get proper treatment in decreasing their errors in using
relative pronouns who, whom, which, whose, so they can express relative pronouns who, whom, which, whose effectively and correctly in
their communication whether spoken or written.
3. Further researchers
Other researchers who are interested in analyzing of students’ errors at
Senior High School can get the basic information from this study, so they can do their research in deeper, further, and better technique.
7
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Adjective Clause 1. The Definition of Adjective Clause
English is a foreign language which has different characteristic from our language. Learning new language means establishing new system of the language
where learners have to learn many aspects of new language which are very different from their native language such as vocabulary, sound of the words
pronunciation, spelling, semantics, rules of grammar and so on. Although grammar does not belong to English skills, it is no doubt that
knowledge of grammatical rules is essential to be learnt for mastering a language and it would be impossible to learn language effectively without knowing the
grammar. First, before the writer giving the definition of relative pronoun, she would
like to explain about adjective clause. To know adjective clause is essential because in the English Textbooks, magazines, newspapers, and the other
frequently use the adjective clauses. There are many experts who state the definition of adjective clause.
According to Elbaum said An adjective clause is a group of words with subject and verb that describes a noun.
1
As Huddleston and Pullum said that a relative clause is a special kind of subordinate clause whose primary function is as
modifier to a noun or nominal.
2
In addition, an adjective or relative clause is one type of dependent clause. It modifies a noun or pronoun or occasionally a whole
sentence.
3
Altenberg and Vago said that a relative caluse adjective clause is a kind of dependent clause; it provides additional information about a noun phrase
1
Sandra N. Elbaum, Grammar in Context 2: Fourth Edition, Boston: Thomson Heinle, 2006, p. 354
2
Rodney Huddleston and Geofrey K. Pullum, A Student’s Inroduction to English Grammar,
New York: Cambbridge University Pres, 2010, p.183
3
Patricia k. Werner and John P. Nelson, Mosaic 2 Grammar Forth Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002, p.115
