infinitive in a sentence which causes them to choose option B call to as the incorrect item in question 5. In the other side, the choice of option B call to for question 5
is also a sign that the students have known the rule of have causative which have is followed by infinitive.
b. Misordering
Misordering is the other error type that students did in question 4. Although most of students had answered the question corretly, there were five students who
answered option A always as the incorrect word in the sentence. Here is the question for number 4 Part A:
Question 4: Romantic movies always have her cry. A B C
The word always in the sentence describes habitual activity. This is the reason why always is put between the subject and the causative verb. Nonetheless,
some of students might think that always in this sentence is the incorrect word for the question 4. It is probably because always also can be used in present or past
progressive for special circumstances, such as expression or anger and complaint Azar, 1999: 30. In this case, students might consider the presence of be arewere
before the word always in the sentence, thus influencing them to choose option A. Overall, the result of Part A in the test shows that most of the students have
understood the active-form of causatives. On the contrary, some of the results show that the students still have some mistakes in differentiating the differences of
causative’s function and meaning.
2. Students’ Errors in Part B
Part B contains of six questions; 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, of active causative sentences. Here, the students are instructed to change the active sentence
into passive causative form. The purpose of the six questions is to find out how far the students’ comprehension about passive causative form.
In order to sum up the result of test in Part B, some steps were taken by the researcher to make the analysis better. All of error types that have been explained in
Chapter III are found out in each question. The following table shows the number of each error.
Table 4.6 Data of Errors in Part B
Note: MF Misformation; A Addition; MO Misordering; O Omission
Type of Error
The Number of Error in Each Question Total
Errors 6
7 8
9 10
11
MF 26
26 24
20 34
28 158
A 2
3 1
1 3
10 MO
2 2
2 2
3 11
O 3
3 1
14 20
12 53
MF + MO 1
1 1
2 2
7 MF + O
1 1
4 6
O + MO 1
1 1
1 4
O + MF 1
1 2
A + MF 3
2 1
1 1
8 A + O
1 1
2 A + MO
1 1
From the table above, misformation is the most common mistake with the highest number of error in Part B. Then, it is followed with omission as the second
common mistake. Next, misordering is the third common mistake and addition error
has the lowest number compared to others. In addition to those four types of error, the researcher also found out that some students did some combination of errors in
several questions. This combination of errors will be explained further later. The number of unanswered questions is not counted.
a. Misformation
There are several mistakes that can be categorized as misformation, the wrong use of morpheme or structure. First is the change of have into get of causative verbs
or otherwise in the answer. For example: Question 9 : We need to have someone check out our computer for
viruses. SA
: We need to get our computer checked out for viruses. Question 7 : Though Bruno refused at first, we got him to paint our house
last year. SA
: Though Bruno refused at first, we had our house painted last year.
It is indeed that get and have causatives have some similarities. First, both of them have a same structure in passive which is: [Subjcauser+ haveget+
complement + past participle +by objcausee] Stefanowitsch, 2001: 201. Second, the semantic meaning of passive causatives of get and have when it comes to the
absence of the causer has no difference Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Larsen Freeman, 1999: 653. It happens when the speaker does not know who is doing the
job. According to the fact that get and have causatives share some things in common, the students might think that it will not affect the result if get is changed into have
causatives and otherwise.
Semantically, when it comes to a known causer in Question 9, get and have causatives will cause different meaning. Although the causee will bring about the
same effect, the process that the causee will come through is different. Stefanowitsch explains that the causee in have causative sentence shows no resistance at all in the
causing event 2001: 204. It is because the service frame connecting the causee and causer causes the causer to have less effort for affecting the causee. In the other hand,
get causative gives a sense that some difficulties are involved Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Larsen Freeman, 1999: 653. The causee needs to be convinced into
doing the causer’s intended action Stefanowitsch, 2001: 205. As a result in question 9, it will lose the sense of persuading Bruno if the students changed the sentence
with had causative. The next misformation error is the change from active causative sentence into
regular passive sentence. Take a look at these examples: Question 7 : Though Bruno refused at first, we got him to paint our house
last year. SA
: Bruno was got to paint our house last year. Question 9 : We need to have someone check out our computer for
viruses. SA
: Someone is needed to check out our computer for viruses. Students’ answers in both examples above seem to maintain the grammar of
the sentences; past tense and simple present tense. However, there are two mistakes done in both questions which are: first, they failed to recognize the causer and the
causee; and second, they failed to change the sentence into a correct passive causative form.
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
