“Context” refers to the classroom with the teacher and the material in the case of school learning or the social
situation. In a classroom context, the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner to make faulty hypothesis
about the language what Richards called “False concept” and what Stenson termed “Induced errors.” Students
often make errors because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or
word in the textbook, or even because of a pattern, that was rote memorized in a drill but not properly
contextualized.
20
William T. Littlewood claims that there are four major causes of errors.
a. Overgeneralization
b. Transfer
Transfer and overgeneralization are not distinct processes. Indeed, they represent aspects of the same
underlying learning strategy. Both result from the fact that the learner uses what he already knows about
language, in order to make sense of new experience. In the case of overgeneralization, it s his previous
knowledge of the second language that the learner uses. In the case of transfer, the learner uses his previous
mother-tongue experience as a means of organizing the second language data. It is significant that Barry Taylor
found transfer errors to be more frequent with beginners than with intermediate students. The beginner has less
previous second language to draw on in making hypotheses about rules, and might therefore be expected
to make correspondingly more use of his first language knowledge.
c. Ambiguous source of many errors
d. Simplification by omission.
21
5. Some Errors on Students’ Paragraph Writing
Every learner has a different type of making errors. Furthermore, the most common errors that occur in writing are:
20
Hubbard et. al., A Training…, p. 140-143.
21
Littlewood, Foreign and..., p. 23-28.
a. Article
The occurrence of the article varies depending upon the type of noun. The definite and indefinite article is customary to recognize a
zero article. The two article are the and a. They may be used with a singular or a plural noun. Each of articles undergoes a change before a
word beginning with a vowel sound – the changes in pronunciation, a changes in both pronunciation and spelling.
22
The spelling of a is changed to an before a word that begins with a vowel sound a, e, i, o,
u. an essay, an heir silent h. Use a before a word that begins with a
consonant sound all the other sounds except the vowels. a pencil, a hotel, a university
here the u sound is really a consonant sound like yu instead of like the vowel sound of u in understanding above.
23
In Indonesian writing, no need to use article. It influences the students in
their writing. Some students did not use articles in their composition. e.g. “I have cute little brother” it should be “I have a cute little
brother.” The chief semantic function of articles is to mark nouns as
definite or indefinite. The signals a particular person or thing that has been singled out from others – the students sitting next to you. A
signals unspecified one of others – a students sitting in front of row.
24
22
Douglas Bibe, Stig Johanson, et. al., Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English
, England: Personal Education Limited, 1999, p. 260.
23
Teresa Ferster Glazier, The Least You Should Know About English Basic Writing Skills, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977, p. 6.
24
Marcella Frank, Modern English a Practical Reference Guide, New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, 1972, p. 125.
b. Capitalization
There are many uses of capitalization, some clearly understood by most writers and some not so clearly understood. According to
Eugene Ehrlich, there are many rules that are presented:
25
1 Sentences
The first word of every grammatical unit punctuated as a sentence is capitalized.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.
2 Poetry
The first word of every line of conventional poetry is capitalized. The great majority of poets start each line with a
capitalize word. One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sagas can. -- William Wordsworth
3 Quotations
The first word of a quotation is capitalized, unless the quotation is less than a sentence long. Quotations sometimes
do not consist of complete sentences. When they do not, the opening word of the quotation is not capitalized unless there
is some other reason for capitalization. When the quotation is a complete sentence, the first word is capitalized.
Dave’s father said, “You must learn to fend for yourself.”
Hobbes’s famous phrase “a kind of sudden glory” describes the feeling of the onlooker when he sees
misfortune befall another. Sometimes a quotation of a complete sentence is
broken into two parts in the sentence quoting it. The second part is not capitalized if it is not treated as a sentence.
“You will,” he went on, “do exactly as I say.” 4
The Words I and O The pronoun I and the interjection O are capitalized.
Except for I, pronouns are not capitalized unless they are the first word of a sentence or a line of poetry.
He and I are going into business together. He is capitalized because it is the first word of a sentence, I
because it is I.
25
Eugene Ehrlich, Punctuation, Capitalization, and Spelling, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992, p. 105-117.
The interjection O, which is seen mainly in literature and prayer but is rarely used today, is always capitalized,
even though the interjection oh is not. Hear me, O Israel
5 Names
Proper Nouns and Adjectives Proper nouns and adjectives are capitalized. A proper
noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing. A proper adjective is an adjective derived from a proper noun.
Frank met Lucy for dinner. Frank and Lucy are proper nouns.
The White House is the center of political activity in the United States. White House and United States are
proper nouns. Eleanor Holm was expert in the Australian crawl.
Australian is a proper adjective.
6 Particles
American family names beginning with the particles Van, Von, De, Di,
or Da are capitalized. Do not capitalize foreign family names beginning with the particles van and
von. Do not capitalize foreign names beginning with the particles de, du, di, or da unless they appear without first
names or titles.
One of the best engineers I know in Connecticut is Paul Von Hardenburg. An American name.
Wernher von Braun started his career as a racketeer at Dortmund, Germany. A German name.
7 Geographical Names
Since geographical names are proper nouns, they are capitalized. There are several conventions that are followed
with geographical names. The words such as river, ocean, mountain, and gorge
are geographical terms that are used both alone and as a part of the names of geographical features: Mississippi River,
Atlantic Ocean, Deo Mountain . When river and the others
occur as a part of a geographical name, they are capitalized. When they do not occur with a geographical name, they are
not capitalized. I have seen mountains in my time, but none to rival
the Rocky Mountains. Of all the rivers in the United States, there is none to
rival the Mississippi River.
8 Compass Directions
Compass directions are capitalized when they are part of the names of specific regions. Do not capitalize east, west,
north , and so on when they merely indicate directions: Travel
east on this road . Do not capitalize directions when they
serve as part of the name of a place or region. An old song referred to the region just a little bit
south of South Caroline. 9
Regional Names and Nicknames The names and nicknames of geographic regions and
political units are capitalized. As in compass directions used in regional names, all terms commonly used to name
geographic regions and political units are capitalized. Not only are the proper names of countries and regions
capitalized, but so are the nicknames used by the press, historians, and political commentators to designate such
units.
Columbus set forth from the Old World to find what turned out to be the New World.
10 Streets, Buildings, Parks, and Companies
The names of all formally designated streets, buildings, parks, public places, companies, and other organizations are
capitalized. All the world has heard of New York City’s Fifth
Avenue. The Flatiron Building was once considered a New
York landmark.
11 Organizations and Other Groups
The proper names of all organizations, religions, races, nationalities, and so on are capitalized. this rule is another
specific expansion of the rule governing the capitalization of proper names: Columbia University, Seventh-Day Adventists,
Asians, Poles, Department of Commerce. When anything but the proper name of such a group is used,
no
capitals are
required: college
departments, fundamentalists, bureaucrats, government officials, charities.
When a phrase is used that could serve as the name of an organization but does not, the phare is not capitalized. only
official namea are capitalized.
We ought to organize a cheerleaders’ group. The Tenafly Cheerleaders’ Club is a popular group.
12 Deity and Sacred Writing
Nouns and pronouns referring to God and writing held to be sacred are capitalized.
The Koran is the holy book of the Nation of Islam. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost were
celebrated in a special Mass. 13
Events, Eras, Prizes, Documents The proper names of all wars, battles, historic events, treaties,
documents, prizes, and important historical periods are
capitalized. this rule is still another extension of the general rule governing capitalization of proper names. Proper names
of wars, battles, and so on merit capitalization just as much as the names of people or companies.
The end of the Spanish Civil War saw the death of democracy in that country.
A civil war is the saddest of wars. The Noble Prize for Literature was won by Saul
Bellow in 1976.
14 Titles
Civil and Military Titles Military and civil titles are capitalized when they precede a
name, indicate high rank, or are used as substitutes for the names of individuals.
Did you know that Consul Burton was in danger of losing his position at that point in his career? Title
preceding a name. The Secretary of State is generally the most important
person in the administration of the country’s foreign affairs. Title of High rank. Notice that unimportant
words that are part of a title are not capitalized. Unimportant words are generally considered to be
articles and prepositions and conjunctions of fewer than five letters.
Academic Degrees Capitalize all academic degrees and their abbreviations
Many lawyers who hold the degree of Bachelor of Laws LL.B would prefer to receive the degree Doctor of Law
J.D, which is now common in most American law schools as the initial law degree.
Books, Plays, and Periodicals Capitalize the first word and all important words in the title
of a book, play, story, article, poem, musical work, journal, magazine, and newspaper. The only problem in this rule is
definition of all important words. Important words are anything but short articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
Prepositions and conjunctions of five letters or more are considered important.
The House of Seven Gables The is the first word; of
has fewer than five letters. Much Ado About Nothing
About has five letters. c.
Diction Diction or word choice is choosing the right word in a
sentence. Sometimes one word has the same meaning but has
difference usage in the sentence. For example, pal – pai. That is same when learning about homonyms, as stated by Katherine
Ploeger in her book, “Homonyms are words that sound the same or almost the same but have different meanings. Some are possessives,
other constructions, other something else.
26
Some students made mistake in diction because of their lack of knowledge about this problem. They also generalized the meaning
of words. For example, the using of where instead when in the sentence “When we member of scout”. They over generalized the
meaning of word “where” and used it in wrong place. The students can know the right usage of diction only from learning by reading an
exercise in writing. To make it clear, see these 2 tables below common
homonyms and homonym problem.
Table 1: Common Homonyms
Possessive Pronoun Shows ownership
Contraction Other
Its Our
Their Theirs
Whose Your
It’s It is They are
There is Who’s who is
You’re you are Hour time
Are to be verb There location
Other problem words that sound the same or almost the same but have different meanings are listed in this table below.
Table 2: Homonym Problems
Accept to agree Allowedaccepted
Here at this location Knew past tense of
know: had knowledge Know to know
Except not allow Aloud loudly
Sight the ability to see
New
never see
before Site location
26
Katherine Ploeger, Simplified Paragraph Skills, Chicago: NTC Publishing Group, 2000, p. 21.
knowledge Quiet not noisy
Whether if No negative
Quite very mess Weather
clouds, sunshine
Quit to stop
d. Omission
Omission errors are characterized by the absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed utterance. Although any
morpheme or word in a sentence is a potential candidate for omission, some types of morphemes are omitted more than
others. Content morphemes carry the bulk of the referential meaning of a sentence: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.
27
For example, in the sentence:
“Mary president new company”. It should be:
“Mary is the president of the new company”. e.
Preposition A preposition shows the relation of its object to another word
in the sentence.
28
A preposition is a connecting word that typically indicates time, place, or movement. A preposition connects its object a noun,
pronoun, or noun substitute with some other word in a sentence. Together the preposition, its object, and any words modifying the
object form a preposition phrase-for example, on a sunny morning.
29
The use of preposition: 1
To talk about the place where someone or something is. Prepositions are followed by a noun group. Which is called
the object of the preposition, such as, above, among, at, behind, below, beneath, beside between, in, inside, near,
27
Dulay, Language Two …, p. 154.
28
Barry, Business English ..., p. 213.
29
Kramer, Rigg, Workbook for..., P. 15.
on, opposite, outside, over, round, through, under, underneath.
2 To talk about the direction that someone or something is
moving in, or the place that someone or something is moving towards. The preposition are across, along, back to,
down, into, onto, out of, past, round, through, to, towards, up.
3 Many prepositions can be used both for place and direction.
They are across, over. 4
We can use adverbs and adverb phrase for place and direction. They are abroad, away, downstairs, downwards,
here, indoors, outdoors, there, underground, upstairs, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, somewhere.
5 Many words can be used as prepositions and as adverbs,
with no difference in meaning. Remember that prepositions have noun groups as object, but adverbs do not, such as
down the stairs, underneath the bed. 6
Use ‘at’ when you are thinking of a place as a point in space.at the bus stop.
7 Use ‘at’ with words such as ‘back’, ‘botton’, ‘end’, ‘front’,
and ‘top’, to talk about the different parts of place. 8
Use ‘in’ when you are talking about a place as an area. Use ‘in’ with: a country or geographical region, a city, town, or
village, a building when you are talking about people or things inside it.
9 Use ‘on’ when you are talking about place as a surface.
You can also use ‘on top of’. 10
Use ‘by’ to talk about the type of vehicle or transport you use to travel somewhere.
f. Pronoun
Pronouns make up a small class of words of very high frequency. Pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. The
pronouns that are actual substitutes may refer not only to a preceding noun-its antecedent-but to a large part of a discourse that precedes.
30
In addition, many pronouns have the ability to serve either of two functions—they may stand alone in noun function, or they may act
as adjectives determiners that precede descriptive adjectives.
30
Frank, Modern English…, p. 20.
According to Marcella Frank, there are seven types of pronouns they are:
1 Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns refer to: a
The speaker, called the first person
Singular – I spelled with a capital letter Plural- we includes the speaker and one or more others
b The speaker, called the first person
The person spoken to , called the second person –you
singular and plural c
The speaker, called the first person The person or thing bring spoken of
, called the third person
Singular –he for males, she for females, it for things; also for live beings whose sex is unknown or unimportant
to the speaker Plural-they for all live beings and for all things
2 Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns introduce direct or indirect questions. There are three interrogative pronouns-who for person,
what for things, and which for a choice involving either persons or things. The three interrogative pronouns have
generalizing forms: whoever, whatever, and whichever.
3 Relative Pronoun
Relative pronouns refer to noun antecedents which immediately precede them. They introduce adjective clauses
in which they serve as subjects or objects- The man who answered the phone was rude. Who is the subject of the
verb answered in the adjective clause who answer the phone. The most common relative pronouns are who for
persons, that for persons or things, which for things. As sometimes also serves as a relative pronoun-She likes the
same things as = that her husband does.
4 Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns point out someone or something. The most common demonstrative pronouns are this plural
these and that plural those. This generally refer to what is near at hand, that to what is farther away. This distinction in
space is related to the distinction between the adverbs here and there-This table over here is prettier than that one
over there. Demonstrative pronouns may also point to something that
has just been said-He told his wife he had just received an
increase in salary. This pleased her very much. Occasionally a demonstrative pronoun points to a part of a
discourse that follows-I must tell you this. I can no longer afford to go out to expensive restaurants for dinner.
That or those may be more emphatic alternatives for the.
5 Reflective pronoun
The reflexive pronoun is a combination of –self with one of the personal pronouns or with the impersonal pronoun one.
The reflexive pronoun generally refer to an animate being, usually a person. The most common use of the reflexive
pronoun is an object that “reflects back” to the subject; in other words, it has the same identity as the subject. Thus, in
the sentence The child hurt himself, child and himself are identical.
6 Reciprocal Pronoun
Reciprocal pronoun has the same identity as the subject. The reciprocal pronoun indicates that the individual members of a
plural subject mutually react one on the other. The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another.
7 Indefinite Pronoun
Such pronouns refer to indefinite usually unknown persons or things, or to indefinite quantities.
Indefinite person or things are all singular in form and are used without noun antecedents. For example: somebody,
someone, and something. Indefinite quantities, such as all, another, any, both, each,
either, few, least, lest, little, a lot, etc.
g. Punctuation
Punctuation is the practice or system of inserting various marks in written test in order to aids interpretation.
31
Punctuation is mainly confined to the four following general uses:
1 Punctuation marks the ends of main sentence patterns-of
sentences or of independent clauses in sentences. The period, question mark, and exclamation mark, with
different meanings, indicate the ends of complete sentences. The semicolon, and sometimes the colon or
dash or comma, indicates secondary breaks, breaks between independent clauses within the sentence.
31
Sylvia Chalker, Edmund Weiner, The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 234.
2 Punctuation tends to preserve the flow from subject to
verb to complement by setting apart any elements which interrupt the thought of the pattern-non-restrictive
modifiers, parenthetical expressions, and the like. Usually the comma is used for such purposes, although
semicolon, dashes, and parentheses sometimes mark sharper separations.
3 Punctuation separates co-ordinate elements not
sufficiently separated by punctuation words. Usually commas are sufficient for such separation, but sometimes
a semicolon is used. 4
Punctuation has a number of conventional uses-to clarify statistical material, to mark bibliographical materials, to
identify quotations, and so on. Most of these uses have been established by custom and are mechanical habits or
traditions to be learned.
Marks of punctuation
.
The period marks the ends of sentences not to be distinguished as questions or exclamations. It has also a few
conventional uses, mainly to mark abbreviations. ?
The question mark interrogation point is used at the end of a direct question-not an indirect one.
The exclamation mark is used at the end of a complete or incomplete sentence to indicate strong emotion
or feeling. :
The colon has mainly conventional uses, especially to introduce formal lists; it sometimes separates independent
clauses. ;
The semicolon mainly separates independent clauses, although it sometimes separates items in series.
, The comma is the most common punctuation mark in
English, with a wide variety of uses. - The dash, made with two hyphens on the typewriter,
sometimes marks sharp breaks between clauses and sometimes sets off parenthetical material more sharply than a
comma would. “ “
Quotation marks enclose direct quotations, words
reproduced as spoken or written. Parentheses
have mainly conventional uses, but they also sometimes mark material to be sharply set apart within
the sentence. [ ]
Brackets mainly have conventional uses to set off
inserted materials. Since standard typewriters usually do not
have brackets, brackets should be inserted by hand in typed material or made with the diagonal and underlining bars.
… The ellipsis, three periods, marks an omission, usually
from quoted matter.
32
Most of the students misused the punctuation, e.g., “When I saw you for the first time. I was very surprised” heshe used a period
instead of comma. In this punctuation case, the students made errors because they do not pay attention to the punctuation in writing,
whereas punctuation is important to make the meaning clear. They did not realize that written English is different from spoken language.
Gestures, tones, and stressing can make the meaning clear in spoken language but only punctuation can make the meaning clear in written
English. This error is sometimes the result from immediate
communication strategy when the learner tried to express a meaning, which their competence contained no appropriate items or rules at all.
Overgeneralization and transfer may also become the result of an immediate communication strategy. Indonesian word order and
English word order is different. For example,” Smart you are” it should be “You are smart”.
h. Singular and Plural
According to Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, “Singular is a word or form that denotes or refers to a single person or
thing. Singular contrasts mainly with plural in the description of nouns, pronouns, and verb form.
Uncount nouns are sometimes described as singular because they take singular verbs. But this is misleading, since singular count
nouns and uncount nouns do not share all the same determiners e.g. aone
roll but somemuch bread. Invariable nouns of plural meaning
32
Robert M. Gorrel, Charlton Laird, Modern English Handbook 3
rd
Edition , New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1964, p. 467-468.
lacking an –s but taking a plural verb e.g. police are sometimes described as singular nouns. The term ‘singular noun’ is also
sometimes applied to a noun which, in a particular meaning, can be used with aan e.g. What a pity.
33
While plural is a word or form denoting more than one. Contrasted with singular. In English, plural applies to certain nouns,
pronouns, and determiners, and to verbs. In general, count nouns have distinct plural forms, which in regular nouns end in –s or –es. Nouns
with irregular plurals include some of Old English origin feet, children
, etc., and zero plurals such as sheep, deer and some foreign plurals crises, errata, etc..
A few nouns are plural only. Many end in –s e.g. premises. But some plural-only words are unmarked e.g. cattle, people.
34
The plurals of most English nouns, however, conform to a standard pattern; that is, most of them form their plurals by the
addition of s or es. If you keep the following principles in mind and consult your dictionary whenever doubt arises, you will have no
difficulty in controlling plural forms. If the dictionary entry for a noun shows no plural, it is formed simply by the addition of s or es.
1 English nouns that end in s, x, z, ch, or sh are made plural by
the addition of es. business
businesses bush
bushes tax
taxes watch
watches quiz
quizzes All other proper nouns those not ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh are
made plural by the addition of s. Martin The martins
Sperry the Sperrys
Ford the Fords
2 Most common nouns are made plural by the addition of s.
automobile automobiles
33
Chalker, Weiner, The Oxford..., p. 363.
34
Chalker, Weiner, The Oxford..., p. 300.
employee employees
3 Common nouns that end in y fall into two classifications: if a
noun ends in y preceded by a vowel, the plural is formed by the addition of s. if it ends in y preceded by a consonant, the
plural is formed by changing the y to i and adding es. Plurals of nouns ending in quy are formed in this same manner.
4 The plurals of personal names accompanied by titles may be
correctly expressed in more that one ay. The modern tendency in business writing is to avoid the use of plural
titles, such as Messrs, because they are very formal in nature. 5
Most nouns that end in f, fe, or ff are made plural by the addition of s. in some nouns, however, the f or fe is changed
to v and es is added. 6
The principle that governs nouns ending in o is divided into four parts: if a noun ends with o preceded by a vowel, the
plural is formed by the addition of s. If a musical term ends in o, the plural is formed by the addition of s. if a noun ends
in o preceded by a consonant, the addition of es may be required. The modern tendency, however, is to form the
plurals of such nouns by adding just the s. check a good dictionary when you are in doubt. Some nouns ending in o
have two plural forms.
7 Some nouns are made plural by a vowel change man men.
8 A few nouns take en as a plural ending. child children.
9 Some nouns are the same in the singular and the plural.
sheep sheep 10
A few nouns that end in s are singular in meaning and require singular
11 verbs when used as subjects of sentence. news mathematics
12 Plural nouns such as scissors, thanks, goods, etc. may be
either singular or plural in meaning, but they are used only with plural verbs. They have no corresponding singular
forms. 13
Compound nouns consist of a combination of two or more words that are written in one of these ways: in solid forms as
one word, as a hyphenated word, or as separate words. 14
The plural of a letter, a numeral, a symbol, or a word referred to as a word is formed by the addition of an apostropedhe and
s. 15
The plural of an abbreviation is generally formed by the addition of s to the singular form.
16 Some abbreviations have the same form for both the singular
and the plural. 17
The plural of an abbreviation made up of separate letters is formed by the addition of an apostrophe and s.
18 The plural of a contraction is formed by the addition of s.
19 Many nouns that are foreign in origin are commonly used in
formal, scientific, and technical matter. Some of these nouns have only their foreign plurals; other have been given an
additional English plural.
35
i. Spelling
Spelling ability is not necessary an index to intelligence or education, but certainly the person who spells inaccurately works
under a handicap. He is likely to be considered uneducated by anyone who catches him in errors, and he is likely to be limited in his writing,
as he relies on simple but sometimes colorless words in order to be safe in his spelling. Some people are sufficiently eye-minded that they
learn to spell unconsciously. By the time they have seen a word spelled correctly several times, they know it. Others have to work on spelling,
not because they are slow or stupid but because their minds happen not to work in the way that records spelling automatically. But fortunately
almost any intelligent person can learn to spell reasonably well if he will work at it. A “bad” speller is usually only a person who does not
spell without learning, who has never been properly taught, or who has never tried hard enough to learn.
In spelling, as in almost every else, there is no substitute for a good background. The more a student reads, and the better writing he
reads, the better he is likely to spell. Any diagnosis is likely to turn up problems like the following.
1 Habitual misspelling: the student is misspelling the
same few words over and over. 2
Carelessness: hesitating during composition to spell every word correctly may impede writing, but there is
no excuse for leaving misspelling uncorrected after the writing is done. An uncertain speller should
scrutinize every word before he lets any written work out of his hands.
36
35
Barry, Business English..., p. 63-67.
36
Gorrel, Laird, Modern English..., p. 510-512.
While Willis states that spelling is how to write a word correctly, spelling error can because by lack of knowledge and the
influence of their native language. For instance; hight, wildt, forbitten, coupel
, etc. some students made many errors in this case. It caused by the students’ lack of knowledge and the influence of their native
language. Spelling problems can be over come only through practice and if the students need more practice, they should arrange practice
session with a friend.
37
j. Verb Tense
Tense is a firm taken by a verb to indicate the time at which the action or state is viewed as occurring.
38
They made mistakes because they did not understand well the grammar; it is also caused by intra-
lingual transfer overgeneralization. k.
Word Form Word form is any variant of a lexeme. Used as a way of
avoiding ambiguity of word. e. g. see, sees, seeing, etc.
39
Overgeneralization and transfer can be the cause of error in word form. Indonesian word form is different from English word form.
They often over-generalize the form of words. For example, “to responded” it should be “to respond”; “I were cooking fried rice” it
should be “I was cooking fried rice.”
37
Hullon Willis, Structure, Style, and Usage and Guide to Expository Writing, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964, p. 257.
38
Chalker, Weiner, The Oxford..., p. 395.
39
Chaker, Weiner, The Oxford..., p. 427.
l. Word Order
According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary “Word order is arrangement of words in a phrase, clause, or sentence.
40
This error is sometimes the result from immediate communication strategy when the learner tried to express a meaning,
which their competence contained no appropriate items o rules at all. Overgeneralization and transfer may also become the result of an
immediate communication strategy. Indonesian word order and English word order is different. For example, ‘Smart you are” it should
be “You are smart.” m.
Wordiness According to Buscemi et.al., “Wordiness comes from using
more words than you need to get your message across. Sometimes students become wordy simply to provide the number of words
required by the assignment”.
41
In line with Langan, he states that “Using more words than necessary to express a meaning”.
42
For example: Not
: She is the best swimmer of the three Rumanians swimmers. But
: She is the best of the three Rumanians swimmers.
B. Writing