5 Evaluation of Errors
In this step, the researcher must decide the criteria of errors which will be corrected because some errors can be considered more serious than other.
The aim of evaluating errors is to distinguish which errors will be corrected.
18
6. The Pronouns
1. The Definition of Pronouns
The researcher will gives some definition of pronouns. Firstthe definition of pronoun according to Payne in his book Understanding English
Grammar A Linguistic Introduction, he wrote pronouns are a word that can be shorted to be noun phrase.
19
In addition, Quirk and friends said on their book “Pronouns share several characteristics, most of which are absent from
nouns.”
20
According to some definitions above, it can be concluded that pronouns are a word that can replace a noun.
2. The Kinds of Pronouns
Pronouns have some different types that can people use in daily activity. There are “I”, “them”, “us” etc that can people usually use. Thus, too many
people only know the word of pronoun whereas words of pronoun have a category.
18
Ibid., p. 56
19
Thomas E. Payne, Understanding English Grammar A Linguistic Introduction, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011, p. 122
20
Randolph Quirk, et al, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, New York: Longman Inc, 1985, p. 335
There are six categories according to Quirk and friends, they are:
21
a. central pronoun. a personal: subject; I, you, we, they, she, he, it. object:
me, you, us, them, her, him, it. b reflexive: myself, themselves, herself, himself, ourselves, itself. c possessive: possessive adjective; my, your,
their, our, her, his. possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs, hers, his. b.
reciprocal pronoun; each other, one another. c.
relative pronoun; who, where, when, which, what, that. d.
interrogative pronoun; who, what, when, which, where. e.
demonstrative pronoun; this, these, that, those. f.
indefinite pronoun. a positive; universal: all, both,each and every. Assertive: some, one, half, several, enough, other and another. Non-
assertive: any and either. b Negative: no and neither
3. The Personal pronoun
a. The meaning of personal pronoun
Marcel Danesi stated in his book “personal pronouns are classified according to the persons; the person speaking first person; the person
spoken to second person; anyone or anything else third person. ”
22
Quirk and friends distinguish personal pronouns in the table below:
23
21
Ibid., p. 345
22
Marcel Danesi, Basic American Grammar and Usage, New York: Barron’s Educational
Series, Inc., 2006, p. 77
23
Quirk, etal, Op. Cit., p. 346
Table 2.2
The English Personal Pronoun System
Subjects Objects
Possessive Adjective
Possessive Pronoun
Reflexive
Singular I
You She
He It
Me You
Her Him
It My
Your Her
His Its
Mine Yours
Hers His
Myself Yourself
Herself Himself
Itself Plural
We They
You Us
Them You
Our Their
Your Ours
Theirs Yours
Ourselves Themselves
Yourselves
Adapted from Randolph Quirk and friends: 1985
There are three parts in personal pronoun:
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a. First person pronouns are used to refer to the person who is speaking Ime or a group of people including the person who is
speaking weus b. Second person pronouns refer to the person or the group of people
to whom we are speaking you c. Third person pronouns are used to refer to specific persons or
things previously mentioned. For a male hehim, a female sheher, an animal or inanimate object it, people, animals or things in the plural
theythem.Personal pronouns change their form for person first, second, third, for case subject, object, possessive, number singular,
24
Evelyn Altenberg and Robert M. Vago, English Grammar Understanding the Basics, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 84
plural, and gender masculine, feminine, neuter except for reflexive pronoun making the same kind of changes.
According to Beaumont Granger’s book, there are some using of personal
pronoun:
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a. Subject pronouns as the subject of verbs
For example: Where is Simon?He is in the garage. Sue did not go out last night. She stayed at home
b. Object pronoun as the objects of verb and prepositions.
1. Verb + object pronoun; help me, I like him, Can you see it?
2. Preposition + object pronoun; I have written to her, Look at them,
They’re waiting for us
7. Previous Related Study
There are some studies related with the pronouns error. Firstly, a research done by Oji Fachruroji entitle
“An Error Analysis on Students’Difficulties in Learning English Pronouns
”, the writer used qualitative descriptive method with the purpose of the research was to analyze and to find out the kind of pronouns
that most students made, where the result was the highest pronouns errors was in possessive adjective with 51,35 of error percentage.
Another study research is a research done by Restina Andriani, entitle “An
Error Analysis of Using Pronouns on Students’ Writing at SMP PGRI 1
Ciputat.” This study was carried out to identify the error of using pronouns which are commonly made by the students. The method used in this study was
descriptive analysis. With the result is the most error made by the students of
25
Digby Beaumont and Colin Granger, English Grammar with Answer Key, London: Henemann Educational Books Ltd, 1989, p. 185
