Misordering Students’ Errors in Part A
In question 7, the student seemed to be influenced by the rules of regular passive voice. This might be the cause why the students added
was
as the be before
got
. This error is also similar with the student’s answer in question 9. In the other side, the students decided to put
Bruno
as the subject for the passive sentence because
him
in the question is put after the verb that can be a sign as the object of the active sentence. The students seemed to notice the rule of regular
passive voice where: one, the form of be is added before past participle of a transitive verb Zandvoort, 1969: 54; and two, the subject of a passive sentence may
correspond to the direct object of active sentence Zandvoort, 1969: 56. This problem is similar with question 9 where the students contemplated
need
as the main verb,
someone
as the object, and
to check out our computer for viruses
as the to- infinitive clause. The omission of
have
in the sentence is probably because the student thought
need
as the main verb for the sentence. Next, the students also did some errors in changing active causative of
have
into passive form in modal tense. The example is in question 9. Question 9 : We need to have someone check out our computer for
viruses. SA
: The computer have to be checked by someone. In the example above, there are two types of error: misformation and
omission. Misformation error in that answer is the change in the verb into
have
as modal. The reason why student omitted
need to have
and changed it into
have
modal probably was because of the meaning of
need
itself. Based on the meaning in Oxford Dictionary,
need
has the meaning of: to show what you have to do. Due to this
reason, it is logical if students thought that the sentence can be changed into passive form of modal because both of
need
and
have
as modal have the same sense. Nonetheless, the answer is incorrect because the sentence should be changed into
passive causative form which is: ‘
We need to have our computer checked out for
viruses’. The omission in the example can be seen from the absence of
out
and
for viruses
. Student’s answer above also shows misformation error of
have
which it should be
has
due to the singular subject:
the computer
. The last common mistake of misformation in Part B is the use of wrong
subject and wrong lexical item when the students changed the sentence into passive form.
Question 10 : I had to have the seller fix my camera after I dropped it in the water.
SA : My seller had to fix my camera after I dropped it in the
water. Question 11 : He got his sister to help his homework.
SA : I get my homework done by my sister.
There is omission of
have
as the causative verb and a change of subject in question 10. The form of
have
modal
+ to-infinitive
in the question is maintained by the student. Probably, because of the repetition of
have
, the student decided to put
fix
after
had
modal
.
In order to indicate the passive form, the student tried to put
the seller
that heshe thought as the direct object of the question as the subject of passive form. It is clearly untrue because
the seller
should be the causee which is put after
by-
i n the end of causative phrase. Misformation error is shown by the student’s answer
that maintaining the sentence in active form.