57 The example above tells that the student did not write the adjective after
the noun. For telling age, the adjective „old‟ is necessary to describe someone‟s age.
b. Verb Phrases
In verb phrases, the researcher presents two categories. They are the use of verbs and subject-verb agreement. Each category is divided into some
subcategories. They are as presented below.
1 Use of Verbs
In this part, the researcher intends to explain the errors or anomalies in the use of verbs. The researcher found five types of errors. They are presented as
follows.
Table 4.7. Number of Errors in Use of Verbs
No. Types of Errors
Numbers
a
Omission of ‘To Be’
55 b
Double Verbs
9
No. Types of Errors
Numbers
c Misuse of Auxiliary Verbs
6 d
Misuse of Main Verbs 4
a Omission of ‘To Be’
This error is the highest frequency error item in the use of verbs. This error is counted 55 items out of 77 total items of errors in use of verbs. To have a clear
explanation, the researcher provides some examples of this error. They are presented as follows.
His age
ø
about 20 years old. R4 Intended: His age isabout 20 years old.
58 The player‟s full name
ø
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro. R11
Intended: The
player‟s full nameis Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro.
Robert Pattinson
ø
born 13 May 1986 at London, England. R16 Intended: Robert Pattinsonwasborn on 13 May 1986 at London, England.
From three examples above, it can be inferred that some students had tendencies to omit to be in their sentences. It is caused by the influence of mother
tongue. The omission did not only happen in simple present tense but it also happened in simple past tense. This error is considered as the major error because
its number is high and it is also dangerous for the students in their upcoming writing.
b Double Verbs
This error happens when the students wrote two verbs in one sentence. This error is not considered as the major error but the teacher needs precaution
toward this error. To be clearer, the examples of this error are presented as follows.
Robert Pattinsonis got black and straight hair. R17 Intended: Robert Pattinsongot black and straight hair.
He is use 7 number for his jersey. R8 Intended: He usesnumber 7 for his jersey.
From the explanation above, the researcher infers that the students were still confused in using the main verbs and the auxiliary verbs. They added one
main verb and one auxiliary verb in one sentence. It might be caused by their
59 perception of English. The students might assume that a main verb is preceded by
an auxiliary verb.
c Misuse of Auxiliary Verbs
This error is about the misuse of auxiliary verbs. Few students made errors in auxiliary verbs. They did not use auxiliary verbs in a proper place. They used
auxiliary verbs instead of main verbs in some sentences. The examples are presented below.
He is big body. R7 Intended: He hasa big body.
He has born on 5 February 1985. R6 Intended: He was born on 5 February 1985.
The first example above shows that the student used an auxiliary verb to describe a person. The student chose „is‟ instead of „has‟. The correct verb to the
first example is „has‟. The second example shows that the student could not differentiate between „has‟ and „was‟. The student might be confused between
simple past tense and present perfect tense.
d Misuse of Main Verbs
This error happened when the student did not proper verbs or main verbs in their sentences; instead, they used auxiliary verbs. The example of this error is
presented below.
He is a very outstanding performance. R29 Intended: He presentshas a very outstanding performance.
60 From the example above, the student tried to describe that his subject
presents a very outstanding and the student used the auxiliary verb „is‟ rather than the main verb „presents‟. There were only 4 items in which this error was found in
the students‟ descriptive texts.
2 Subject-Verb Agreement
In this part, the researcher explains the errors in subject-verb agreement. This error often happened in the students‟ descriptive texts. The researcher found
four types of errors. The explanation of the numbers of the errors is presented as follows.
Table 4.8. Numberof Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement
No. Types of Errors
Numbers
a Disagreement of Subject-Verb Person
82 b
Disagreement of Subject-Verb Number 11
c
Substitution its for is
5 d
Substitution his for he’s
5
The explanation of each type of error is presented one by one as follows.
a Disagreement of Subject-Verb Person
This error happened when the students did not apply the correct pattern or form of a verb in a particular tense. In this research, this error happened quite
frequent in simple present tense because the students made descriptive texts. This error happened quite frequent because some students had a lack of subject-verb
agreement especially in simple present tense. To have a clear explanation, the examples of this error are presented below.
He have almond- shaped eyes. R4 Intended: He has almond- shaped eyes.
61
He have humble and hard working character. R17 Intended: He has a humble and hardworking character.
The examples above show that the students did not apply the correct verbs to the subjects. The other examples also show that the students did not add suffix
–s or –es in the verbs of their sentences.
b Disagreement of Subject-Verb Number
This error is caused by the students not using right auxiliary verbs towards the subjects. The students did not use correct auxiliary verbs for their sentences.
The examples of this error are presented below.
The lips is very thin. R25 Intended: The lips are very thin.
And his lips is thin. R4 Intended: And his lips are thin.
The examples above show that the students did not choose correct auxiliary verbs for their sentence.
c Substitution its for is
This error happened when the students substituted the verbs in their sentences with the words that were similarly pronounced. In this case, the
substitution occurred between it’s and is. Those two words are similarly
pronounced, yet, they are different to each other. To have a clear explanation of this error, the examplesare presented below.
He‟s strong foot it’s right foot. R6 Intended:His strong foot isthe right foot.
62
Ronaldo it’s so top player Real Madrid Football club. R1 Intended: Ronaldo isa so top player Real Madrid Football club.
The explanation above shows the substitution of it‟s and is. This error happened because the student did not understand well about the use of auxiliary
verbs.
d Substitution his for he’s
This error happened when the students substitute the subject „he‟ attached
with auxiliary verb „s with the possessive determiner„his‟. This error is only found in
5 items in the students‟ descriptive texts. The examples are presented below.
Now his playing for Real Madrid. R9 Intended: Now he is playing for Real Madrid.
His playing for Real Madrid football club. R8 Intended: He is playing for Real Madrid football club.
The examples above explain the students had misconception in differentiating a particular subject attached with auxiliary verb and possessive
determiner.
c. Word Order
