The Errors in the Non-finite Adjective Clauses

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B. Discussion

This part deals with answering the research questions. The research questions are 1 What are the errors the students commit in using the non-finite clauses? and 2 What is the mastery of the non-finite clauses of the sixth semester students of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University? The discussion on those two questions is based on the research results and related theories.

1. The Errors Committed by the Students

Brown 1994: 205 defines errors as “noticeable deviations from the adult grammar of a native speaker.” In relation to the research, errors refer to the students’ answers which deviate from the rule of the non-finite patterns. The errors were classified based on the types of clauses they belonged to. All the errors that are presented below are sequenced based on the percentage of the occurrence of the error categories starting from the biggest percentage to the smallest. Each of the categories is explained further completed with some examples. Each example is also completed with one of the respondents’ numbers in which the erroneous answer is found. The respondent’s number is indicated by R .

a. The Errors in the Non-finite Adjective Clauses

The errors the students committed in constructing the non-finite adjective clauses were classified into several categories. Those error categories can be seen in Figure 4.1. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 53 Figure 4.1: The Errors in the Non-finite Adjective Clauses The following is further explanations about each type of errors. 1 The Occurrence of Finite Subordinate Clauses In the test, the students were required to transform the finite subordinate clauses and simple finite sentences to the corresponding non-finite clauses. In fact, the subordinate clauses made by the students were still finite. In other words, the subordinate clauses still had tense, person, and number. 71 a. Question: The trees were blown down in last night’s storm. The trees have been moved off the road. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 54 b. Student’s answer: The trees which were blown down in last night’s storm have been moved off the road R : 8. c. Intended answer: The trees blown down in last night’s storm have been moved off the road. Basically, sentence 71b was grammatically correct. It might reflect that the students had understood the way to make a good complex sentence. The problem was that the subordinate clause which were blown down in last night’s storm was still finite. The word were showed that the clause was still in past tense. The word were and the relative pronoun which should have been omitted in order to make the clause non-finite. 72 a. Question: Ms. Donaldson, who teaches Linguistics at the university, recently received recognition for her research on the use of gestures in communication. b. Student’s answer: Ms. Donaldson teaches Linguistics at the university, recently received recognition for her research on the use of gestures in communication R : 20. c. Intended answer: Ms. Donaldson, teaching linguistics at the university, recently received recognition for her research on the use of gestures in communication. The subordinate clause in 72b was still finite. It could be proven by the use of the word teaches in the sentences. In that case, the students only omitted the relative pronoun, but they forgot to change the verb into the non-finite verb form. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 55 The word teaches should be teaching. Another mistake was that the students did not put the clause between commas. 73 a. Question: British trains are equipped with special communication devices. These communication devices may be operated only in emergency . b. Student’s answer: British trains are equipped with special communication devices which may be operated only in emergency R : 64. c. Intended answer: British trains are equipped with special communication devices to be operated only in an emergency. Sentence 73b is another example of the occurrence of the finite subordinate clause. In 73b, the relative pronoun which and the modal auxiliary may should have been omitted to make the adjective clause non-finite. To- infinitive was the correct form of non-finite verb to replace the relative pronoun and modal auxiliaries. The fact that the subordinate clauses were still finite implied that the students might have not fully understood the non-finite clauses rules. The non- finite clauses lack tense markers, modal auxiliaries, and sometimes a subject and a subordinator Quirk et al., 1992: 995. That is the basic principle of the non-finite pattern. Thus, if the students’ answers still contained tense and modal, it could be concluded that they had not understood the basic principle of the non-finite clauses. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 56 2 Confusion between Defining and Non-defining Adjective Clauses The second type of errors is the confusion between defining and non- defining adjective clauses. Basically, the non-defining adjective clauses should be separated from the main clause. In fact, the students were still confused about this. Some of the students put commas for defining clause. On the other hand, they did not put commas for the adjective clause that should be non-defining. Sometimes, they only put one comma for the non-defining clauses. The following are the examples. 74 a. Question: Arizona, which was once thought to be a useless dessert, is today a rapidly growing industrial agricultural state. b. Student’s answer: Arizona thought to be a useless dessert is today a rapidly growing industrial agricultural state R : 34. c. Intended answer: Arizona, once thought to be a useless desert, is today a rapidly growing industrial agricultural state. From 74b, it was clear that Arizona refers to a definite noun. Therefore, the adjective clause thought to be a useless dessert should have been written down between commas. The adjective clause should be written between commas because it did not specify the noun Arizona as the antecedent. The adjective clause functioned only as additional information. Another simple mistake from sentence 74b was the students omitted the word once which should have been placed before the word thought. 75 a. Question: Only a few of the movies that are shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 57 b. Student’s answer: Only a few of the movies, shown at the Super Theatre, are suitable for children R : 65. c. Intended answer: Only a few of the movies shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children. In 75b, the sentence was grammatically correct. The problem was the adjective clause shown at the Super Theatre was put between commas. The adjective clause should have not been written between commas because it helped to specify the indefinite noun. The presence of commas made the sentence have different meaning compared to the original sentence. 3 The Occurrence of Verbless Clauses The focus of the research was whether the students were able to produce sentences using the non-finite correctly or not. The results of the test showed that there were some students who produced verbless clauses. It is called verbless clauses because they do not possess any verbs. Although the sentences were grammatically correct, they were considered wrong because in the test the students were asked to produce the non-finite clauses. 76 a. Question: Ms. Donaldson, who teaches Linguistics at the university, recently received recognition for her research on the use of gestures in communication. b. Student’s answer: Ms. Donaldson, a teacher at Linguistics at the university, recently received recognition for her research on the use of gestures in communication R : 46. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 58 c. Intended answer: Ms. Donaldson, teaching linguistics at the university, recently received recognition for her research on the use of gestures in communication. Sentence 76b showed that the finite adjective clause in the original sentence had been changed into a verbless clause. It was obvious that the no verb was found in the clause. In addition, there was one more little mistake. The preposition at in at Linguistics should have been replaced by preposition of. 77 a. Question: Arizona, which was once thought to be a useless dessert, is today a rapidly growing industrial agricultural state. b. Student’s answer: Arizona, a useless dessert, is today a rapidly growing industrial agricultural state R : 46. c. Intended answer: Arizona, once thought to be a useless desert, is today a rapidly growing industrial agricultural state. From 77b, it was clear that the students omitted the relative pronoun as well as the verbs. This revealed that the students might be confused about the concept of the non-finite clauses and verbless clauses. Actually, both sentences 76b and 77b seemed to be acceptable. They were considered as wrong answers since they were not in line with the purpose of the test. 4 The Adjective Clauses Modifying a Wrong Noun As it has been explained in theoretical description, adjective clauses should be located directly after the noun or the antecedent. Otherwise, there is a possibility that the adjective clause modifies a wrong noun and it will lead to confusion. This thing also happened in the test. The following are the examples. 59 78 a. Question: The Independent Television Authority provides a new commercial television service. It was set up in 1954. b. Student’s answer: The Independent Television Authority provides a new commercial television service, set up in 1954 R : 28. c. Intended answer: The Independent Television Authority, set up in 1954, provides a new commercial television service. The pattern of the non-finite clause in 78b was correct. This implied that the students had understood the rules of the non-finite adjective clause. They had omitted the relative pronoun, modal auxiliary, and changed the finite verb into the correct non-finite verb. The error was on the position of the adjective clause. It should be located after The Independent Television Authority. If the adjective clause was put after the noun service, the sentence was semantically incorrect because the meaning of the word set up was established. 79 a. Question: The trees were blown down in last night’s storm. The trees have been moved off the road. b. Student’s answer: The trees have been moved off the road blown down in last night’s storm R : 27. c. Intended answer: The trees blown down in last night’s storm have been moved off the road. In 79b, the –ed participle blown down should have been placed after the trees . From the original context, the things that were blown down were the trees, not the road. Thus, it was clear that the adjective clause should be put directly 60 after the specified noun. Putting the adjective clause after another noun in the sentence might cause confusion since the meaning would be different. 5 Wrong Choice of Main Clauses and Subordinate Clauses In the test paper, it had been explicitly stated that the students had to use the clauses or sentences written in italics to be the subordinate clause. The reality was that there were students’ answers which used the clause or sentence in italics as the main clause of the sentence. Hence, it could be inferred that the students might have not read the instructions carefully. The examples are: 80 a. Question: The trees were blown down in last night’s storm. The trees have been moved off the road. b. Student’s answer: The trees, which have been moved off the road, were blown down in last nights’ storm R : 58. c. Intended answer: The trees blown down in last night’s storm have been moved off the road. Basically, sentence 80b was acceptable and grammatically correct. The problem was the adjective clause was still in finite form. Another problem was the answer had violated the instructions. The adjective clause which have been moved off the road should have been the main clause because in the original sentence the clause was not italicized. 81 a. Question: The gales caused widespread damage. They swept across southern England last night. b. Student’s answer: Causing widespread damage, the gales swept across southern England last night R : 1. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 61 c. Intended answer: The gales sweeping across southern England last night caused widespread damage. If sentence 81b was compared to the original sentence, it was found out that the clause that should be the main clause was made to be the subordinate clause, while the clause that should be the subordinate clause was made to be the main clause. Besides, in 81b, the subordinate clause functioned as an adverbial clause. The problem was that the relation between the subordinate clause and the main clause became unclear. 6 Problems between Active and Passive Sentences In the test, it was found out that the students were still confused of the difference between active and passive clauses using participle. –Ed participle clauses automatically have passive meaning because they are the reduced form of adjective clause in passive form. In other words, the finite adjective clauses in passive form are transformed into the non-finite clauses by using –ed participle. In some cases, the students used –ing participle instead of –ed participle to produce the non-finite adjective clauses with passive meaning. In some other cases, the students used –ed participle for the non-finite clauses with active meaning. This fact proved that the students were still confused to produce sentences containing the non-finite clauses with active or passive meaning. The examples are presented as follows. 82 a. Question: The Independent Television Authority provides a new commercial television service. It was set up in 1954. 62 b. Student’s answer: The Independent Television Authority setting up in 1954 provides a new commercial television service R : 42. c. Intended answer: The Independent Television Authority, set up in 1954, provides a new commercial television service. In 82b, the position of the adjective clause was correct. It was considered wrong because the verb setting had active meaning. In 82a, the sentence that should be the adjective clause was in passive form, therefore, it should be written using –ed participle. Besides, the adjective clause should be written between commas because the antecedent was specific already. 83 a. Question: Pictures that showed the brutality of war entered the living rooms of millions of TV watchers on the nightly news. b. Student’s answer: Pictures showed the brutality of war entered the living rooms of millions of TV watchers on the nightly news R : 33. c. Intended answer: Pictures showing the brutality of war entered the living rooms of millions of TV watchers on the nightly news. From 83b, the verb should have been showing because the original sentence was in active. The word showed in 83b could be interpreted as past participle or –ed participle. The use of –ed participle made the clause had passive meaning. Thus, the use –ed participle instead of –ing participle was regarded incorrect. 7 Retaining the Relative Pronoun Changing a finite adjective clause into a non-finite clause requires the omission of the relative pronoun. The fact was the students still kept or retained 63 the relative pronoun when they were asked to produce the non-finite adjective clauses. For example: 84 a. Question: Only a few of the movies that are shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children. b. Student’s answer: Only a few of the movies that shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children R : 16. c. Intended answer: Only a few of the movies shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children. From 84b, it was obvious that the students only omitted the be form the verb, but they still retained the relative pronoun. Thus, the sentence was considered wrong. 85 a. Question: The gales caused widespread damage. They swept across southern England last night. b. Student’s answer: The gales who swept across southern England last night caused widespread damage R : 29. c. Intended answer: The gales sweeping across southern England last night caused widespread damage. In 85b, the adjective clause was still in finite form, and the relative pronoun had not been omitted. Moreover, the relative pronoun which was used in 85b was wrong. The relative pronoun who is used to refer to person. Hence, the use of who to refer to the gales was incorrect. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 64 8 Transforming into Wrong Types of Subordinate Clauses In Part B of the test, the students were required to combine two simple sentences into a complex sentence which contained the non-finite clause for each item by using the italicized sentence as the subordinate clause. This type of test required the students to infer the relation between the two sentences before combining them into a correct complex sentence. The students had to think over the subordinate clause whether it would be a noun clause, an adjective clause, or an adverbial clause. The results of the test showed that some students might have misinterpreted the relation of the two sentences, thus, the subordinate clause was in the wrong type of clauses. The following is the example. 86 a. Question: British trains are equipped with special communication devices. These communication devices may be operated only in an emergency. b. Student’s answer: That these communication devices maybe operated only in an emergency, British trains are equipped with special communication devices R : 1. c. Intended answer: British trains are equipped with special communication devices to be operated only in an emergency. In 86b, it could be seen that the subordinate clause was made to be a noun clause which was introduced by that. Then, the function of the noun clause whether it became the subject or object of the main clause was not clear. In other words, the relationship between the main clause and the subordinate clause was not clear. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 65 9 Inappropriate Use of being + V-ed Basically, V-ed, to be + V-ed, and being + V-ed had passive meaning. The difference was that being + V-ed stressed on the progressive aspect Quirk et al., 1992: 1265. The fact was the students might generalize the use of being + V-ed. The misuse of being + V-ed caused difference in meaning of the sentences. For example: 87 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 being operated only in emergency R : 33. c. Intended answer: British trains are equipped with special communication devices to be operated only in an emergency. In 87b, the use of being + V-ed was inappropriate because the original sentence did not put emphasis on the activity in progress. 88 a. Question: The trees were blown down in last night’s storm. The trees have been moved off the road. b. Student’s answer: Being blown down in last night’s storm, the trees have been moved off the road R : 50. c. Intended answer: The trees blown down in last night’s storm have been moved off the road. 66 The use of being + V-ed in 88b was also inappropriate. Besides, the position of the clause was wrong. If the participle clause was located in the beginning of the sentence then it would be an adverbial clause. 10 Inappropriate Use of to be + V-ed Clauses of passive modality could be reduced into the non-finite clauses using to be + V-ed Quirk et al., 1992: 1267. In fact, some students generalized this rule. They used to be + V-ed instead of V-ed, or being + V-ed. The following is the example. 89 a. Question: Only a few of the movies that are shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children. b. Student’s answer: Only a few of the movies to be shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children R : 63. c. Intended answer: Only a few of the movies shown at the Super Theatre are suitable for children. Sentence 89b had no modal auxiliary. Thus, using to be + V-ed instead of –ed participle was considered wrong. 11 Inappropriate Use of –ed Participle -Ed participle clauses are basically the reduced form of passive clauses. In -ed participle clauses, the be form of the verb and the relative pronoun have been omitted in order to change it into the non-finite clauses. In the test, some of the students used V–ed for clauses that required to be + V-ed. The following is the example. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 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