Writing Up the Report
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Example [14] clearly shows that the errors happened in the use of if instead of that as the conjunction in indirect statement. This error could be
categorized as misformation, because there was an existence of conjunction but the form was incorrect. Conjunction if should not be used as conjunction in
indirect statement, because it was commonly used as conjunction in indirect yes- no question, which means apakah. The use of if made the meaning of the sentence
ambiguous, whether it expressed statement or yes-no question. Besides errors in the tense, pronoun, and conjunction, errors of
demonstrative and adverb of time also happened in forming indirect speech. The errors are shown in example [15].
[15] a. Direct Speech Michael said, “I had seen these girls three days ago.”
b. Indirect Speech Michael said that he had seen those girls three days before.
c. Incorrect Answer Michael said that he had seen these girls three days ago.
In example [15], the error in demonstrative is shown on the use of these instead of those. Additionally, the adverb error was found on the use of three days
ago instead of three days before. Since the reporting verb was in the form of past, it was assumed that the adverb and the demonstrative should be changed. The
adverb three days ago should be changed into three days before. While, the demonstrative these should be changed into those. In fact, some students formed
the indirect speech without changing the demonstrative and the adverb. Those two kinds of errors in example [15] could be categorized as misformation errors. They
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were categorized as misformation error since the form of the demonstrative and the adverb in the indirect statement used by the students was incorrect.
Errors in indirect statement also happened in some items with special case. The example of the errors was shown in example [16].
[16] a. Direct Speech My teacher said, “The earth is round.”
b. Indirect Speech My teacher said that the earth is round. c. Incorrect Answer My teacher said that the earth was round.
Example [16] was categorized as special case because the clause reported in the sentence was general truth. Thus, it should be no changes in the tense although the
reporting verb was in the form of past. Yet, some students changed the tense into past by changing the word is into was.
In surface structure taxonomy, the error in example [16] was considered as misformation. It was categorized as so since the students used the wrong form of
tense in the indirect statement. They changed the form of simple present tense in the direct speech into simple past tense in the indirect speech although the
reported speech was categorized as general truth.