48 answers fell on item 12 13. In object relative clauses, the highest number of
incorrect answers in defining relative clauses fell on item 11 14. In non- defining relative clauses, the highest number of incorrect answers fell on item 19
27. From the result, it is seen that most of the participants were actually understood clearly how to use comma in both defining and non-defining relative
clauses, regardless the test result.
2. Students’ Errors in Translation
As discussed before, errors categorization adapted the errors categorization by Dulay et al. 1982. Additionally, this categorization was also based on the
most common errors found in the participants’ test result. Errors in translation are divided into two subtopics, grammatical errors and errors in meaning.
a. Grammatical Errors
In this study, grammatical errors constitute the errors in the relative clauses construction and in the non-relative clauses. The errors in the participants’
relative clauses construction have been discussed above. While the errors in the non-relative clauses discussed two most common errors found in the participants’
work, i.e. omission and punctuation.
1 Omission
According to Dulay et al. 1982, one of the errors often encountered in language acquisition is omitting grammatical morphemes, further mentioned as
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
49 omission. Further, they stated that omission errors are characterized by the
absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed utterance. The following sentence is the example of omission.
a He hit car. Dulay et al., 1982 In the above example, there is an omission of ‘-s’ on the third person singular verb
‘hit’. There is also failure in putting ‘a’ as the determiner for ‘car’. The sentence
should be: He hits a car.
The participants of the test also encountered some omission errors. They often omit some grammatical morphemes. This did not merely change the
meaning of the sentence but it failed to make a good sentence, hence produced an incorrect one. Here are some samples of the participants’ work which show
omission errors. b She like to talk to everyone who can listen her carefuly. P:3
Intended answer: He enjoys talking to anyone whothat will listen attentively.
c Couple next door has 16 grandchildren. P:12 Intended answer: The couple whothat live next to us have sixteen
grandchildren. d Mr. Breinstarm, who taught mathematic, had died two days ago.
P:29 Intended answer: Mr. Breinstarm, who taught mathematics, died two
days ago.
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50 In sample b, the participant made omission errors on the word ‘like’ and
‘listen’. The participants made a mistake in the third person singular verb ‘like’, which should be added with ‘–s’. He or she also failed to put ‘to’ after the phrasal
verb ‘listen’. The word ‘carefuly’ is also incorrect because it missed one letter l, but this error is not considered to be an omission error but rather a spelling error.
The correct sentence for this example must be: She likes to talk to everyone who can listen to her carefully.
In sample c, the participant failed to put an article the before the definite word ‘couple’. The correct sentence for this sample should be: The couple
next door has sixteen grandchildren. In the meantime, in sample d the omission error took place in the word ‘mathematic’. Since this word is a name of a subject
science, there should be an ‘s’ attached. The correct form of this sample is: Mr. Breinstarm, who taught mathematics, had died two days ago.
2 Punctuation
Errors in punctuation are characterized by the absence, presence or misplace of punctuation in the sentence. Here are some samples the writer took
from the participants’ work. a RoRedy Annatalie, who died at age 90, escaped fRom Russia with heR
family in 1917 no full stop P:31 Intended answer: Roredy Annatalie, who has died aged 90, escaped
from Russia with her family in 1917.
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51 b Prof Johnson, whom I have been admiring, will visit our campus next
week. P:40 Intended answer: Professor Johnson, whomwho I have long admired,
is going to visit the university next week. c The man whom I saw, he is Mr. Jackson no full stop P:3
Intended answer: The man whowhomthatø I saw is Mr. Jackson. Sample a clearly shows the wrong use of capital letter ‘R’. The
participant tended to write letter ‘r’ in capital letter. It is shown in the sentence that capital letter ‘R’ consistently used, even replaced the small letter ‘r’ when this
type of letter should be used. Since the sentence is a positive sentence, to indicate that it is a sentence it should be ended with a full stop .. In this sentence there is
no full stop, which makes the sentence incorrect. The correct form for this sample would be: Roredy Annatalie, who has died aged 90, escaped from Russia with her
family in 1917. In sample b, the error takes place in ‘Prof’. In academic writing or a test,
it is advisable not to use abbreviation to address a particular person. Thus, this word should be fully written. However, in non-academic informal writing, it is
allowed to abbreviate the word. Yet, if the participant wanted to abbreviate the word ‘Professor’, he should put a full stop after the abbreviated word. Hence, the
sentence would be: Prof. Johnson, whom I have been admiring, will visit our campus next week.
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52 Sample c also shows the absence of full stop to point out the sentence. It
also shows the ineffective presence of comma ,. The correct form of this sample
should be: The man whom I saw is Mr. Jackson.
b. Errors in Meaning
