Grammar Grammatical Errors found In Student Of English department’s Essay

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2.4.1. Subject Verb Agreement

Azar1999:10,Subject-verbagreementmeans thatthesubjectandverb endingsagreeinnumber.Determining singularorpluralendingscanbeconfusing becausean-sendingonanounindicatesplural,whereasan-sendingonaverb indicates singular form.For examples: -Thedog barkseverynight. Onedog=singular verb -Thedogsbark everynight. More than onedog=pluralverb Thesubjectofevery sentenceiseithersingularorplural,andthat determinestheendingof theverb. -SINGULAR: -I chew.You laugh.Waterdrips. Timeflies. Hesings. -Themansittingon thesteps worksin thelibrary. -PLURAL: -Weknow. Theystretch. Thestampsstick. -Themen sittingon thesteps work in thelibrary. -COMPOUNDSUBJECTS Subjectsjoined byand takeapluralverb.For example: -Myaunt and mysistervisit me every year. Whenthesubjectwordsarejoinedby either... or,neither...nor,ornot only. . . but,theverbagrees with thesubjectclosest to it.For examples: -Either her brothersor herfather hasthemoney. -Neither her mother nor her sistershave the money. 1 -BURIEDSUBJECTS Whenwordgroupsseparatethesubjectandtheverb,locatethesubject word to determinewhether to useasingular or pluralverb.For examples: -The tulipsin thepoton thebalconyneed watering. -High levelsof air pollutioncausedamageto therespiratorytract. -Everyonein our family, includingmysister, hastaken pianolessons. Phrasesstartingwith thefollowingwordsare normallynot part of the subject:including,alongwith,togetherwith,accompaniedby,inadditionto,as wellas, except, with, no lessthan. -CLAUSES ANDPHRASESASSUBJECTS Whenawholeclauseorphraseisthesubject,useasingularverb.For examples: -WhatI want to know is whyIcant trythetest again. -To livehappilyseemslikeaworthwhilegoal. Whenwho,which,andthatareusedasasubject,theverbagreeswiththe word thatwho, which,orthatrefersto.Forexamples: -Theyare thestudentswho studyhard. -He isthestudentwho studiesthehardest. -Thepeople in my classwho arestudyinghard do a lotof extrareading. -Thestudent in my classwho is sitting inthe corner doesa lotof reading. 14 -SUBJECTSAFTERVERBS Whenasentencebegins with thereplus aformofbethereis, thereare, therewas,ortherewere,thesubjectalwaysfollowstheverb.Theverbagrees with this subject.For examples: -There isagood movieon TVtonight. -Therearetoo manyold movieson TV. Ifthenormalorderofverbfollowingsubjectis reversed,theverbagrees with thesubjectitfollows.For example: -At theback of theroom arethreewindowsand a doorto theoffice. -SUBJECTSWITHSINGULARVERBS Somewords thatseemtohavepluralmeanings takeasingular verb:anybody,anyone,each,either, every,everybody,everyone,everything, neither,none, no one, nobody, somebody, someone, something.In additition, the following wordsareconsideredassingular:-ing forms;somenounsending in-s, suchas news,physics,measles,politics,series;andsubjectclauses beginning with what. Collectivenouns suchas jury,committee,club,audience,crowd,class, team,troop,family,andcoupleareusually treatedassingular.Whenthesubjectis an amount, theverb is singular. -Twenty-five centsisone-fourth of adollar. When oneofisfollowed byapluralnoun,theverb is singular. -Oneof her sonshelpsin thestore. 1 Titles, companynames, and wordsused asterms, usesingularverbs.

2.4.2. SingularPlural

A singular noun refersto1oneonly;apluralnoun refersto2twoor more.There are two thingsto note aboutsingular and pluralnouns. Thefirst isthat theychangetheirformdependingonwhethertheyaresingularorplural.Every change isnot alwaysthesamebecauseEnglish hasitsformulated rules: -REGULAR NOUNS Mostsingular nounsform thepluralbyadding-s.For examples: Singular Plural boat boats house houses cat cats river rivers Asingularnounendingin s,x,z,ch,sh makesthepluralbyadding-es. For examples: Singular Plural 16 Singular Plural bus buses wish wishes pitch pitches box boxes Asingularnounendinginaconsonantandthenymakesthepluralby droppingtheyand adding-ies.For examples: Singular Plural penny pennies spy spies baby babies city cities daisy daisies -IRREGULAR NOUNS There aresomeirregular noun plurals.theseare the examples: 1 Singular Plural woman women man men child children tooth teeth foot feet Somenounshavethesameforminthesingularandtheplural.Theseare someof thewords: Singular Plural sheep sheep fish fish deer deer species species aircraft aircraft 18 -IRREGULAR VERBNOUNAGREEMENT Somenounshaveapluralformbuttakeasingular verb.Look at thebelow someof thewords: PluralNounsUsed witha Singular Verb Sentence News Thenewsisat6.30 p.m. athletics Athleticsisgood foryoungpeople. linguistics Linguisticsisthestudyof language. Darts Dartsisapopular gamein England. billiards Billiardsisplayed allover theworld. Somenounshaveafixedpluralformandtakeapluralverb.They arenot usedinthesingular,orthey haveadifferentmeaninginthesingular.Nounslike this include:trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits. PluralNounwithPlural Verb Sentence trousers Mytrousersare too tight. Jeans Her jeansareblack. glasses Thoseglassesarehis. 1

2.4.3. ToInfinitive

Theinfinitiveisagrammar termthatreferstoabasicverbformthatoften actsasanounandisoftenprecededby thewordto” www.yourdictionary.cominfinitive.Thesearetherulesofuse‘toinfinitive’ verb in sentence. -Verbfollowedwith‘ToInfinitive’ There aresomeverbs that mustbefollowedwith‘toinfinitive’.For examples: -Theyintended to renovate their house. -Shepretendsto besick. Theresomeverbsmustbefollowedwithobjectandthen‘toinfinitive’. For examples: -Hewantsme to leavehimalone. -Heforced usto do hishomework. -‘ToInfinitive’ UsedafterNounandAdjective Whensentenceismade,notewhetheritisnounoradjective,‘toinfinitive’ verbmustbe applied. For examples: -The tree istoo highto climb. -Heneedsaknifeto cutthecake. 20 -‘ToInfinitive’ Usedafter QuestionWordsin NounClause NounClauseisasubordinateclauseinordertomakethesentenceoften usequestion words.For examples: -Idon’tknowwhereto go. -He learned how to fixcarsfromhisfather.

2.4.4. PassiveVoice

Typically, therearetwokinds ofsentence,activeandpassivesentence. Activesentenceis usedwhen thefocus is onsubjectbutpassivesentenceis used whenthefocusison theaction. Itisnotimportantornotknown,however,whoor what isperformingtheaction . In English,each timesomeonewantsto usepassive sentence, pastparticipleverband‘to be’mustbeapplied.Theuseof‘tobe’ depends onused tense. This thepattern must be followed to make passive sentence:“Subject+finite formofto be+Past Participle”. For examples: -Active: We clean thehouseeveryday. Passive:Thehouse iscleaned byusevery day . -Active:Theywillfinish thereportsoon. Passive:Thereportwillbefinished bythem.

2.4.5. Formsof Adjective

AdjectiveisThepartofspeech or wordclassthatmodifiesanoun or a pronoun. In English, there are three forms of adjective, namely: PositiveNegative Degree, Comparative Degree, and Superlative 2 Degree.PositiveNegativeDegreeisused toindicate likeor unlike.Thisisthe pattern: “SubjectPronoun+tobe+ asadjectiveas+ObjectPronoun”.For examples: -Mybrother isas strongasmyfather. -Iamnot asbeautiful asmymother. ComparativeDegreeisaformused tocompareanatureof twothingswhere one ismore than theother one.For examples: -Myfather is smarter than mybrother. -Sisca ismorediligent than Rebecca. ForComparativeDegree,onething mustbenoticed,if theadjectiveisone- syllable, at the end of its word mustbe added ‘er’.For examples: -My shoesischeaper than his shoes. -Andiworksharder than Clark. Andifanadjectiveconsistsoftwo-syllablesanditisendedwith‘le’,‘ow’, ‘er’,‘some’,and‘y’,addedwith‘er’.For‘y’,itmustbedroppedandaddedwith ‘ier’.For examples: -Mycoffee isbitterer than hiscoffee -Ryan isnaughtier than Bobby. Thesametreatmentwillbeapplied to SuperlativeDegreebut thedifferent is one- syllabeaddedwith‘est’andifitswordisendedwith: ‘le’,‘ow’,‘er’,‘some’, and‘y’,addedwith‘est’butnotfor‘y’,itmustbedropped and addedwith ‘iest’. For examples: -She istherichest in thisvillage. 22 -Jane isthe mostbeautifulgirl in ourclass. -Andre isthehappiestperson intheworld.

2.4.6. Redundancy

Johnson2001:56saysthat:“Redundancyortautologyistheaddingof wordsorphrasesthataddnothingtotheoverallmeaningbecausetheirsenses havealreadybeen expressed”.From thestatement, it can besaid thatredundancy incorrect.For examples: -Incorrect :Thenew innovationsattheWorld’sFair werefascinating. -Correct :The innovationsat theWorld’sFair werefascinating. -Incorrect :The moneyIhave issufficient enough formyneeds. -Correct :The moneyIhave issufficientfor myneeds.

2.4.7. Preposition

Prepositionisapartofspeechgoverning,andusually precedinganounor pronounandexpressing arelation toanotherwordor element inthe clause. Prepositionhasmany functionsandtypesinsentences,sointhisthesis,thewriter isgoingtoanalyzeprepositionoftimeandplace.Inindicatingtimeandplace, therearefiveprepositionsused,they are:at,in,on,for,andsince.Tablebelow will explain usageof thoseprepositions: Preposition Time At 1.Timeof Clock. -at5 o’clock. 2 2.Short and PreciseTime. -atnoon, atsunset. 1.Month or Year. -in January, in 1945. 2.Particulartime of day, month,or In year. -in morning, in summer. 3.Specifictime in past,century, or etc. -in 21st century, in past. 1.Day. -on Monday. On 2.Date. -on 5th of March, on March 5. 3.ParticularDay. -onIndependenceDay. For 1.Duration of Time. -for two hours. Since 1.Fromacertainpointoftimepast- now. -sinceyesterday. Preposition Place At 1.Used for Confined Place. -athome, at thiscollege, at theschool In 1.Place Having some Boundary Physicalor VirtualBoundary. 24 -inAmerica,inabuilding,ingarden, etc. On .Surfaceof Soething. -at the entrance,atfrontofchair,etc. www.englishpractice.com

2.4.8. ParallelismStructure

Richard2006:259Parallelismissimilarity ofstructureinapairorseries ofrelatedwords,phrases,orclauses.Parallelismsentenceorstructureiswords usedtodescribeorindicatesomething wherepartsofspeechmustbethesame,in ordertoconnectit,usingconjunctionandtheconjunctionhasbeenformulated. These aretheformulas: Parallelism Examples -Notonly But also -Both And - And -She isnot only beautiful but also smart. -He isboth a guitaristand a vocalist. -My sisterdecides to study and to work neither nor -Neither mybrother nor my sisters loveplayingchesslike me. verbaux N1 N2 + either or -Either theworkers or the system needsto beimproved. Verb, determined byN2 2 www.englishpractice.com

2.4.9. MissplacedWord

Grammarconductslanguageusertoconstructanappropriatesentenceto deliverhismeaningtoothers.Themeaningwillneversendcorrectly ifword arrangement isincorrector calledit missplaced word.Missplacedword isaword, phrase,orclausethatdoesnotclearlyrelatetowhatitisintendedtomodify. These aresome examplesof missplaced words: -Incorrect :Andrewtoldusaftertheholidaythatheintendstostop drinking. -Correct :Andrewtoldusthatheintendstostopdrinkingafterthe holiday. -Incorrect :Jack can hearJillwhen shewhispersclearly. -Correct :Jack canclearlyhear Jillwhen shewhispers.

2.5. TheImpact ofGrammaticalErrorinEssay

Theexistenceofgrammarincommunicatingactivity,tohelppeopleso thatthesharingactivity canrunfluently andasaresult,everygoalwouldliketo achievecanaccomplish.Unfortunately,eventhoughlanguageiscommonthing forpeople,communicationismissedsincetheydonotusetherightstructure. AfterelaboratingfewpartofEnglishgrammar,thewriterwouldliketoexposeif 26 grammarisnotappliedtotellordescribesomethinginessay.Thewriterhas collected somedatas which informpeopleif grammaticalerror in writing. -Grammatical errorcan cause intended meaningdistorted. -Grammatical error will change the meaning. -Grammaticalerrormakesthemeaningishighlyunlikelyorcompletely ridiculous. -Grammatical errorcausesreadersdifficult to understand. -Grammaticalerrorcausesthesentenceseemawkwardanddoesnotmake sense. www.towson.com