on category classified into four categories: linguistic category, surface category, comparative taxonomy, and communicative effect taxonomy.
10
1. Linguistic Category
Linguistic category taxonomy classified error either or both the language component or the linguistic constituent. Language component involve
phonology pronunciation, syntax and morphology grammar, semantic and lexicon meaning and vocabulary, and discourse style while linguistic
constituent involve the elements that comprise each language component. As example in syntax, error can lies on main clause or subordinate clause which
constituent is affected, examples the noun phrase, the auxiliary, the verb phrase, the preposition, the adverb, the adjectives, and so forth. In this study,
the writer focuses on syntax and morphology grammatical area and semantic and lexicon meaning and vocabulary. All of these were
summarized into the area of grammatical error describe into the table below:
Table 2. 1 The Area of Grammatical Error
Linguistic Category and Error Type Example of Learner Error
A. Morphology
1. Indefinite article incorrect ~ a used for an before vowels
a eagle
~ an used for a an
fish 2. Possessive case incorrect
~ Omission of s The woman
s feet
3. The third person singular verb incorrect ~ Failure to attach -s
The cat help
s man
~ Wrong attachment of -s The orange fall
s down
s 4. Simple past tense incorrect
~ Regular past tense. Omission of -ed She
visit ed
Borobudur
10
Heidi Dulay, et al., Language Two, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 146.
temple ~ Adding -ed to past already formed
He called ed
~ Irregular past tense. Regularization by adding- ed
He putt ed
the cookie there 5. Past participle incorrect
~ Omission of -ed He was call
ed 6. Comparative adjectiveadverb incorrect
~ Use of more + er He got up more high
er
B. Syntax
1. Noun Phrase a. Determines
~ Omission of the article He no go in
the hole
~ Use of possessive with the article He put it in
the his room
b. Nominalization ~ Simple verb used instead of -ing
By to cook
cooking it
~ Preposition by omitted The dove helped
by him
putting leaf on the water c. Number
~ Substitution of singular for plural She got some
leaf leaves
~ Substitution of plural for singular She stabs him in the
feet foot
d. Use of pronouns ~ Omission of the subject pronoun
He pinch the man
~ Omission of the “dummy” pronoun it
Is it
nice to mock person? ~ Omission of the object pronoun
I don‟t know it
in English ~ Alternating use of pronouns by number as
well as gender So she can eat
it referring to
manggo ~ Subject pronoun used as a redundant element
My brother he
goes to Palestine
~ Use of me as subject Me
I forget it
e. Use of prepositions ~ Omission
She came to
the Fays party ~ Misuse
She fell down from
for into
the water 2. Verb Phrase
a. Omission of verb ~ Omission of main verb
She drives
a car every morning
~ Omission of to be He
is in the kitchen
b. Use of progressive tense ~ Omission of be
She is
going ~ Replacement of
–ing by the simple verb form The bird was shake ing
his head
~ Misuse of verb She is
drives ing
right now ~ Misuse of the progressive for the simple past
Then the man shooting
shot with the gun
3. Verb-and-verb construction ~ Embedding of a noun-and-verb construction
in another noun-and-verb construction I go to play
I go and I play ~ Omission of to in identical subject
construction I go
to work
~ Omission of to in the verb-and-verb construction
I see a bird to
get got
the leaf
~ Attachment of the past marker to the dependent verb
He was going to fell
fall 4. Word order
~ Repetition of the object The snake object he was
gonna shoot it He was gonna
shoot the bird ~ Erroneous preposition
I go by plane to Singapore I
go to Singapore by plane ~ Adjectival modifies placed after noun
She put it inside her house a little round
She put it inside a little round her house
5. Some transformation a. Negative transformations
~ Formation of no or not without auxiliary do He
do not play anymore
~ Multiple negation She
doesn‟t know
nothing She knows nothing
b. Question transformation ~ Omission of auxiliary
How can
he go there? c. There transformation
~ Omission of there Is
there one bird?
d. Subordinate clause transformation ~ Use of for for so that
For so that
the ant could get out
2. Surface Category
Surface category highlight the ways surface structures are converted. Students sometimes omit necessary items or add unnecessary ones; they may
misform items or misorder items. Furthermore, omission, addition, misformation, and misordering would be described in paragraph below:
a Omission [Ø]
Omission is ungrammatical. Students usually omit some required element in grammatical. Example, A strange thing happen [
ed ] to me
yesterday .
Indicates that one item is omitted, which is „ed‟. The word „ed‟ is grammatical verb form that plays an important role in constructing
a proper sentence. And the word „ed‟ in that sentence functions as verb
inflection. Noun or verb inflection such as the –s in birds, the –ed in
happened , the
–ing in laughing, etc. Other example is The audiences are sitting [
on ] the chair
. The second sentence is also omitted, which is „on‟. The word „on‟ is functions as
prepositions. Without the word „on‟, the second sentence can‟t be a
proper sentence.
b Addition
In this kind of error, Dulay, Burt, and Krashen suggest there are two subtypes. First, regularization, which involves overlooking exceptions
and spreading rules to domains where they do not apply, as in womans for women, buyed for bought, etc. Second, double marking, it means that
students use two tense markers in a sentence, as in she didn‟t went back, he doesn‟t knows me, and so forth.
11
Another example, in morphology, The book
s is here
. In syntax, The
London, The
Jakarta .
c Misformation
Misformation means selection or misuse. Misformation errors are marked by the use of the wrong form of the morpheme or structure.
12
Example, in morphology, My friends is old
est than me
. In syntax, I want
that she comes here
. d Misordering
Misordering or word order, as Dulay, Burt, and Krashen states, is the result of learners rely implement word-for-word translation of native
language surface structure when producing written or spoken utterances in the target language.
13
It is also characterized by incorrect placement of morpheme or group of morphemes. As example, in pronunciation,
fignisicant
for significant
,
prulal
for plural
. In morphology,
get upping
for
11
Carl James, Errors in Language Learning and Use, New York: Addison Wesley Longman Inc., 1998, p. 107.
12
Heidi Dulay, op. cit., p. 158.
13
Carl James, op. cit., p. 110.
getting up . In syntax, he is a
dear to me friend for
he is a dear friend to me
. In lexicon,
key car
for car key
.
3. Comparative Taxonomy
The types of errors in comparative taxonomy are classified based on comparisons between the structure of second language and other types of
constructions.
14
There are three types of errors in this category: developmental
errors, interlingual errors, and ambiguous errors. a Developmental Errors
These errors are errors that made by children learning the target language as their first language. In this type of errors, the L
2
and L
1
are compared. Example: Dog
eat it
. The omission of the article and the past tense can be classified as developmental because it also found in the
speech of children learning English as their first language.
b Interlingual Errors
Interlingual can be interpreted as transfer. The learner‟s native language somehow automatically interferes with the learning of the L
2
or automatically transfers to the learner‟s developing L
2
system.
15
Interlingual errors are lies in structure to a semantically equivalent phrase or sentence in the learner‟s native language. Example: Dog
eat it
. The researcher would translate the grammatical form The dog ate it, then
compare both sentences to see if the learner‟s L
1
structure is discernible in the L
2
sentence.
c Ambiguous Errors
Ambiguous errors reflect the learner‟s native language structure, and at the same time, they are found in speech of children acquiring a first
language. Therefore ambiguous errors could be classified as well as developmental or interlingual errors.
14
Heidi Dulay, op. cit., p. 163.
15
Heidi Dulay, op. cit., p. 171.
4. Communicative Effect Taxonomy
Communicative effect focuses on the perspective of error effect on the listener and reader. Communicative effect distinguishes between errors
and mistake that cause miscommunication. Errors that affect the entirety organization of the sentence hinder successful communication, if only a
single element of the sentence do not hinder communication. There are two types of errors in this category: Global Errors and Local Errors.
a Global Errors
Global errors hinder communication. It prevents the message from being comprehend. Example: I like bus but my father said so not that we
must be late for school. b Local Errors
Local errors do not prevent the message from being understood because there is a single element of a sentence that the hearer can get the
meaning. Example: If I hear from her, I would
will let you know
. For this study, the writer will only use two categories, linguistic
category and surface category, because this study focuses on the writing skill. The writer used linguistic category because she used two language
components of linguistic category are syntax and morphology grammar, semantics and lexicon meaning and vocabulary which is these language
components emphasize on writing skill. Surface category used in this study because the writer also focuses on the aspect of errors. There are
four types of error in this category are omission, addition, misformation, and misoredering. From linguistic category syntax, morphology,
semantic, and lexicon the writer can classify the types of errors omission, addition, misformation, and misoredering which is in surface category.
Both linguistic category and surface category are interrelated. While comparative taxonomy do not used in this study because the
purpose of this study do not compare the structure of second language errors and other types of constructions. Communicative effect taxonomy
also does not used in this study because it focuses on the perspective of error effect on the listener and reader, while the purpose of this study
emphasize on writing skill.
D. Source of Errors
Study a foreign language or a second language naturally there will be trial and error approach. Most common error happens in speaking and writing. The source of
errors can be caused by interlingual transfer and intralingual transfer in other word, L1 and L2 interference.
16
1. Interlingual Transfer
Interlingual transfer is a significant source of error for all learners. It is caused by behaviouristic approach of language transfer. It is habitual of
learners when they learn a foreign or a second language; they use language patterns of first language into a second language or the interference of the
learner‟s mother tongue. Interlingual error appears at different levels like transfer of phonological, morphological, grammatical and lexica-semantic
elements of native language into target language.
17
Vacide Erdogan 2005 reported a study about error analysis which had been done at Turkish learners.
18
The teacher of Mersin University Faculty of Education had done the study about students‟ error at phonological level and
morphological level. At phonological level the result shows that Turkish‟ learners mispronounce some sounds like „th‟ of „thank you‟ as „t‟ of „tea‟; or
„th‟ of „they‟ as „d‟ of „dean‟. And sometimes they place a vowel between two consonants at the beginning of a word, example, „station‟ become „sitation‟.
Another error that happen in Turkish‟ learners are on morphological level.
They tend to omit the plural suffix at the end of the word, example, „three
chair ‟, „five students is coming‟, and so forth.
16
Vacide Erdogan, op. cit., p. 265.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.
2. Intralingual Transfer
Intralingual transfer is a major factor in second language learning. Intralingual error is the outcome from partial learning of the target language
rather than language transfer.
19
It means that students know the background knowledge, the structure or grammatical of target language, but they do not
know the overall. In other word, intralingual errors occur as a result of students‟ attempt to build up the concepts and hypotheses about the target
language from students‟ limited experience.
As Vacide Erdogan had done the study of error analysis at Turkish learners, the error not only occurs in interlingual transfer but also in
intralingual transfer. In this case, students attempt to use two tense markers at the same time in one sentence since they have not mastered the language yet.
For example, „He made me to smile‟, I want learning Arabic, „He is comes here‟, and so forth.
E. The Use of Independent Clause and Dependent Clause in
English Grammar
Before understanding the different kinds of clauses, it is important to understand what a clause is. A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a
verb. On the other hand, if a group of related words does not contain a subject with an attached verb, it is simply a phrase.
20
There are two kinds of clauses: Independent and Dependent.
1. An Independent clause
An Independent clause or main clause is a complete sentence. It can stand alone as a sentence by itself. An independent clause contains the main
subject and verb of sentence, often a complement to express a complete thought.
21
19
Ibid., p. 266.
20
Betty Schrampfer Azar, English Grammar: Understanding and Using, 3
rd
edition, New York: Longman, 1999, p. 239.
21
Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Writing Academic English, New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999, 3
rd
edition, p. 153.
Table 2. 2 Examples of Independent Clause
Part Subject
Verb Complement
A He
ran I
was late to work
Various elements contributed
to the success
B Where
does Fay live?
What happened
with you?
Notice that while the first sentence only contains two words, it is still a complete sentence because it contains one subject He and one verb or
predicate ran that is also a complete idea. For part A is a statement and part B is a question.
2. A Dependent Clause A Dependent clause begins with a subordinator such as when, before, even
though, as soon as, whether, if, since, while, if, that, because, although , and so
forth.
22
A dependent clause also has a subject and verb, but alone, it is not complete sentence: it depends on the main clause.
23
22
Marcel Danesi, Basic American Grammar and Usage: An ESLEFL Handbook, New York: Barron‟s Educational Series, Inc., 2006, p. 247.
23
Patricia K. Werner, et al., Interaction 2: Grammar, New York: McGraw Hill, 2002, 4
th
edition, p. 180.
Table 2. 3 Examples of Dependent Clause
Notice that dependent clause can‟t stand alone; it must be connected to independent clause to make a complete sentence. When independent clause is
not attached to an independent clause, it is a fragment incomplete idea. A dependent clause also has another elements, it is named a dependent
word. In the preceding dependent clause, dependent words appear in bold type. There are three main types of dependent clause: noun, adjective, and
adverb.
a Noun Clause
A noun clause is any dependent clause that can function as a subject or predicate object.
24
24
Marcel Danesi, loc. cit.
Main clause Dependent clause
sentence fragment Complete sentence
Almost 200
people were evacuated
because the city was
struck by a powerful earthquake
Because the city was
struck by a powerful earthquake, almost 200
people were evacuated. We were very afraid of
cockroach
when we were children
When we were children,
we were very afraid of cockroach
I know where
Shofie lives I know where Shofie
lives
Table 2. 4 Examples of Noun Clause that Function as a Subject or Predicate
As subject As predicate
Where Fay lives is very large.
I do not know where Fay Live. What he said
was interesting. I heard what he said.
A noun clause can also be introduced by that known as a
complementizer:
Table 2. 5 Examples of Noun Clause that Introduced by That
As subject As predicate
That Joe loves Bali is obvious.
It is obvious that Joe loves Bali. That the world is round
is a fact It is a fact that world is round.
Noun clause beginning with if or whether indirect YesNo
questions:
Table 2. 6 Examples of Noun Clause Beginning with If or Whether
YesNo question Main Clause
Noun Clause indirect YesNo question
Did he see you? Do you know
Ifwhether he saw you or not? Are they hungry?
I don ‟t know
Ifwhether they‟re hungry or not.
b
Adjective Clause
Adjective clause also called a relative clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun. It describes, identifies, or gives further information
about a noun.
25
An adjective clause consists of a subject and a predicate that modifies a preceding noun or pronoun its antecedent. Adjective
clause introduced with relative pronouns such who, whom, which, or that.
26
The introductory word who or that refers to a person, which or that to a thing, when to a time, where to a place, why to a reason.
Adjective clause pronouns used as the subject, example: “I thanked the woman who helped me.”
Notice that I thanked the woman is an independent clause; who helped me
is an adjective clause. The adjective clause modifies the noun
woman .
Adjective clause pronouns used as the object of a verb, example:
“The man whom I saw was Mr. Ferdy”
or
“The man that I saw was Mr. Ferdy” Notice that Who is usually used instead of whom, especially in speaking.
Whom is generally used only in very formal English.
Reduced Adjective Clause. Adjective clause can be reduced to an adjective phrase. An adjective phrase modifies a noun. An adjective
phrase does not have a subject and a verb. There are two ways to reduce an adjective clause:
1 If the adjective clause has form of be, the subject relative pronoun and
the form of be were omitted. Adjective clause : Do you know the woman who is standing by the
window
?
25
Betty Schrampfer Azar, op. cit., p. 267.
26
Milada Broukal and Ingrid Wisniewska, Grammar: Form and Function, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p. 140.
Adjective phrase : Do you know the woman standing by the window
? Clause
: The words that are underlined in red have errors.
Phrase : The words underlined in red have errors.
2 If there is no form of be in the adjective clause, the subject pronoun is
omitted and change the verb to the present participle -ing form. Clause
: Anyone who wants to send a message can use these
computers to do so. Phrase
: Anyone wanting to send a message can use these
computers to do so. Clause
: The Inuit have about 70 words that describe different
kinds of snow. Phrase
: The Inuit have about 70 words describing different kinds
of snow.
c Adverb Clause
An adverb clause is dependent clause that functions as an adverb.
27
An adverbial clause consist of a subject and predicate introduced by a
subordinating conjunction like when, although, because, if, and so forth. Such a clause may be used in initial position, final position, and
occasionally in mid-position with the main verb of the sentence.
“Because he was sleepy, he went to bed.” “He went to bed because he was sleepy.”
Notice that Because he was sleepy is an adverb clause. Because an adverb
clause precedes an independent clause, as in a, a comma is used to
separate the clauses. Because the adverb clause follows, as in b, usually
no comma is used.
27
Marcel Danesi, op. cit., p. 250.
Table 2. 7 The Word Introducing Adverb Clauses
28
Time after, before, when, while, as, as soon as,
since, until, by the time, once, as long as, whenever, every time that.
Cause and effect because, now that, since.
Contrast even though, although, though, while,
whereas.
Condition if, unless, only if, whether or not, even if,
in case, in the event that.
1 Adverb Clause to Prhase Reduction
An adverb clause also can be reduced as well as adjective clause. An adverb clause does not have a subject or a verb. It consists
of a present or past participle and an adverb clause time marker. The present participle replaces verbs in the active voice, and the past
participle replaces verb in the passive voice.
29
Adverb clause : The Internet was for the use for university and
government scientists when it was originally invented.
Adverb phrases : When originally invented, the Internet was for
the use for university and government scientists.
The modifying adverb phrase can come before or after the main clause. A comma is used after the adverb phrase when it comes at the
beginning of sentence.
28
Marcel Danesi, loc. cit.
29
Milada Broukal and Ingrid Wisniewska, op. cit., p. 184.
“Since starting this class, she has made a lot of friends.” “She has made a lot of friends since starting this class.”
An adverb clause can be changed into an adverb phrase when the subject of the main clause and the adverb clause are the same.
“Before I came to the United States, I took some English classes.” “Before coming to the United States, I took some English classes.”
“While I walked, I ran into my best friend.” “While walking, I ran into my best friend.”
Notice that sometimes while can be omitted if it start the sentence and still keep the meaning “at the same time.”
“Walking, I ran into my best friend.”
Upon or on is sometimes used in place of when in an adverb phrase.
The meaning is the same.
“When we entered the house, we took off our shoes.” “Upon entering the house, we took off our shoes.”
“On entering the house, we took off our shoes.” a Eliptical Phrases
Adverb clause with the verb be can be reduced if the subjects in the main and adverb clause are the same.
30
To do this, omit both the subject and the verb be.
Table 2. 8 Examples of Eliptical Phrases
Clause Phrase
Notes When they were finished
with the research , they left
When finished with the research
, they left When
and while can be
omitted in
30
Patricia K. Werner and John P. Nelson, Mosaic 2: Grammar, 4
th
edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002, p. 365.
the village. the village.
elliptical phrases.
Although she was tired and hungry
, she kept traveling.
Although tired and hungry
, she
kept traveling.
Although and if are
never omitted
in these phrases.
b Dangling Phrases
Phrases must have the same logical subject as the independent clause. Phrases that do not are ungrammatical named dangling
phrases. To correct a dangling phrase, either expand the phrases into a full clause or change the independent clause, it has the same logical
subject as the phrase.
Table 2. 9 Examples of Dangling Phrases
Dangling Phrase Implied Meaning
Corrected Sentence
Having lived for 100 years, the doctors were amazed at
my grandmother. The dangling phrase
implies that
the doctors had lived for
100 years. Because she had lived for
100 years, the doctors were
amazed at
my grandmother.
After finishing
the operation, the patient was
given a sedative. The dangling phrase
would imply that the patient finished the
operation. After
finishing the
operation, the doctor gave the patient a sedative.
F. Independent Clause and Dependent Clause in Argumentative Essay
Most of the papers that students write in college are essays or special forms of essays such as reports or research papers. An essay is a piece of writing consists of
several paragraph long instead of just one or two paragraphs.
31
Essays take a variety
31
Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, op. cit., p. 100.
of forms such as argumentative, narrative, descriptive, and expository
32
; an argumentative essay will be the major focus in this study. Afterwards, what is
argumentative essay? An argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic, involving collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and
establish a position on the topic in brief.
33
As the name of argumentative itself, an argumentative essay is an essay in which the writer agree or disagree with an issue, it
can be pros and cons of the issue, and the goal of an argumentative essay is to try to persuade the readers to agree with the writer‟s opinion about a controversial topic.
Below is the example of argumentative essay which consist of independent clause and dependent clause in complex sentence in it. Independent clause marked with
blue, while dependent clause marked with red.
Table 2. 10 Example of Argumentative Essay
Teenagers Have Jobs While They Are Still Students
Many teens work while they are studying
. Some of them really need the money they earn to compensate for their school expenses
whereas others use the money they earn as pocket money
. Working is a great experience for teens; having a job is an important opportunity to learn about responsibility, cooperation, and the value of
money. To start with,
working gives teenagers lots of situations in which they must act
responsibility in order to keep their jobs .
For example, one has to wake up early
if work starts at 8.00 AM
, no matter how late heshe stayed up the night before. Otherwise the worker will be warned or may eventually be fired. The real possibility
of being fired may force students to behave responsibly. A second reason
why having jobs has positive effects on teenagers is that it
teaches them how to cooperate and the importance of cooperation . In a work setting
32
H. Ramsey Fowler, The Title Handbook, New York: Longman, 2011, p. 2.
33
Retrieved on
March 10
th
, 2013,
at 11.46
AM https:owl.english.purdue.eduowlresource68505
employees often have to depend on each other. When a single employee loafs
, others will have to compensate for hisher workload in addition to their own tasks.
Students will learn from their working experience the importance of cooperation and
why every individual should effectively carry out hisher own work .
Another point is that these working possibilities
enable the students to understand the value of money
and that “Money does not grow on trees”. After the student sees how hard heshe has to work to earn money
, heshe will also be more
reasonable while spending it
. Thus, working helps lead to responsible spending.
In conclusion, when one has a job as a student
, heshe will benefit
significantly from the experience . This way,
students will be more responsible when
they graduate . Furthermore, they will be more cooperative and better able to work as
part of a team. Finally, since they‟ll be cautious about spending their money
, they
will be less likely to get into trouble due to excessive spending . All in all,
having jobs
as students is a terrific idea and I think every student should have a working
experience before graduating and starting their professional careers
.
34
G. Previous Related Studies