The second sentence is wrong. If the subject is singular, the verb is also singular. It is called subject – verb agreement. In the sentence, in the end of the verb must add SES. The right sentence is:
She usually goes to school by car. ∗ Andy have wrote a letter to his uncle.
The third sentence is wrong because in present perfect tense, if the third person singular subject he, she, it they have to use “has” before the verb and use “have” if the subject plural you, we, they
or I. It also use verb 3 past participle in the sentence. The verb participle from write is written. It is irregular verb. They should say: Andy has written a letter to his uncle.
The errors are made by students, can be understood because the students have learned Indonesian since they were children. They usually use Indonesian rules, meanwhile English rules is
different from Indonesian one. Consequently, the differences make it difficult for the students to develop English because Indonesian has been printed in students’ mind.
The students made errors of using tense because some reasons. First, that English has great variety of tense, is one of reason why the Indonesian students have difficulties in understanding tenses.
The second reason is that Indonesian students are influenced by their mother tongue. The last reason is in Indonesian there is no subject – verb agreement. The students make a sentence without concern with
subject – verb agreement.
From the description above, the writer is interested in doing research about “Error Analysis on English Tenses Found in The Students’ Writing”
of the second year students of “Dharma Karya
UT” Junior High School, “Pondok Cabe Ilir.”
B. Limitation of the Study
To avoid misunderstanding to the problem, it is necessary to make the limitation. The writer limits the discussion on the error made by the second year students of “Dharma Karya UT” Junior High
School of using some English tenses especially in simple present tense, simple past tense, and present perfect tense.
C. Formulation of the Problem
Based on the background of the study described above, the writer would like to seek the answer the following problems:
1. What kinds of errors on tense are commonly made by the students in students’ writing?
2. Which one the items that have the highest percentage of error from all items?
3. Which one the items that have the lowest percentage of error from all items?
D. Objective of the Study
The objective of the study, the writer wants to know the students error in learning tenses especially in simple present tense, simple past tense or present perfect tense.
E. Method of the Study
In the process of writing paper, the writer tried to find out some data from reference books and other notes concerning with the topic discussed.
The writer carried out research investigation at “Dharma Karya Universitas Terbuka” Junior High School; “Pondok Cabe Ilir” for collecting data the writer gave the test to the students.
F. Organization of the Study
This skripsi is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction. It describes Background of the Study, Limitation of the Study, Formulation of the Problem, Objective of the Study, the Method
of the Study, and Organization of the Study.
Chapter Two is Theoretical Framework. This chapter is about some theories of Error Analysis from the Meaning of Error, the Cause of Error, and the Types of Error. The second theory is about
Writing the third is about Tenses includes: the Meaning of Tense and the Form of Tense Chapter Three is discussion about Research Methodology and Research Finding. Research
Methodology includes Purpose of the Research, Place and Time, Population and Sample, Instrument of Research, Technique of Data Collecting and Technique of Data Analysis. The discussion about
Research Findings includes Description of the Data, Analysis of Data, and Interpretation of Data. In the last Chapter, the writer tries to give Conclusion and Suggestion.
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Error Analysis
