Subject-verb agreement errors made by the seventh graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.

vii

ABSTRACT

Raras, Maria Immaculata Nimas Vidyasari. 2013. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Seventh Graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Learning, understanding, and mastering subject-verb agreement in senior high school could become a good start for students in learning English. Normally, a sentence must have a subject and a verb. Subject-verb agreement is easily found in textbooks, magazines, newspapers, and other sources of information. Since it is a common thing, it must be mastered and understood by the students. However, seventh graders in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta had problems in writing so that they would make errors in forming subject-verb agreement.

The researcher was interested to investigate further the subject-verb agreement errors since there was anecdotal evidence which was gathered from the seventh graders in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. It showed that subject-verb agreement errors were made by many students in the seventh grade. This situation encouraged the researcher to find out what errors were usually made by the students. By doing preliminary data gathering from an interview with a veteran English teacher in that school, the researcher was convinced that students in the seventh grade often made errors in forming their subject-verb agreement. In this research, the researcher undertook a document analysis method by obtaining the data from students’ written work. Students’ written work was chosen because it would be easier to see the errors. Besides, description was chosen because it could aim to improve students’ creativity to describe an object that they often see. In analyzing the data, the researcher used surface structure taxonomy from Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1983) as the basic theory. The research problem in this research aimed to find out subject-verb agreement errors made by the seventh graders in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.

From the data gathered, the researcher found that most of the errors happened in misinformation category (68.65%), followed by omission category (29.85%), and then addition category (1.50%). Since subject-verb agreement is a very basic topic to be learned, it would be better if teachers give more attention to it. In the last chapter, the researcher also offered recommendations for teachers, students, and future researchers who are interested to follow up this study.

viii

ABSTRAK

Raras, Maria Immaculata Nimas Vidyasari. 2013. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Seventh Graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Mempelajari, memahami, dan menguasai kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja di sekolah menengah pertama bisa menjadi awal yang baik bagi siswa untuk mempelajari Bahasa Inggris. Di dalam sebuah kalimat, harus mempunyai sebuah subjek dan sebuah kata kerja. Kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja sangat mudah ditemukan pada buku teks, majalah-majalah, koran-koran, dan sumber informasi lainnya. Karena mudah ditemukan, kesesuaian subjek dan kata kerja harus bisa dikuasai dan dimengerti oleh siswa. Namun, siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta membuat kesalahan kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja pada tugas menulis mereka.

Peneliti tertarik untuk menyelidiki lebih lanjut tentang kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja karena adanya bukti anecdotal yang dikumpulkan dari siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Bukti itu menunjukkan bahwa kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja dibuat oleh banyak siswa di kelas VII. Hal ini mendorong peneliti untuk menemukan kesalahan apa saja yang dibuat siswa. Berdasarkan pengumpulan data awal dari hasil wawancara dengan guru Bahasa Inggris berpengalaman di sekolah itu, peneliti semakin yakin bahwa siswa sering membuat kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja mereka. Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti melakukan metode menganalisa dokumen dengan mengumpulkan data dari tugas tertulis siswa. Tugas tertulis siswa dipilih karena akan lebih mudah untuk menemukan kesalahan. Selain itu, deskripsi dipilih karena hal itu bisa meningkatkan kreatifitas siswa untuk dapat mendeskripsikan sebuah objek yang sering mereka lihat. Untuk menganalisa data, peneliti memakai teori surface structure taxonomy yang dikemukakan oleh Dulay, Burt, dan Krashen (1983). Rumusan masalah di dalam kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja yang dibuat oleh siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.

Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh, peneliti menemukan bahwa sebagian besar kesalahan terjadi pada kategori misinformation (68.65%), dan kemudian diikuti oleh kategori omission (29.85%), dan kategori addition (1.50%). Karena kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja adalah dasar pelajaran yang harus dipelajari, maka akan lebih baik jika guru memberikan perhatian lebih dalam mengajarkan hal itu. Pada akhir bab, peneliti juga memberikan saran kepada guru, siswa, dan peneliti lainnya yang tertarik untuk menindaklanjuti penelitian ini.

i

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY THE SEVENTH GRADERS OFSMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA

ASARJANA PENDIDIKANFINAL PAPER

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana PendidikanDegree

in English Language Education

By

M.I. Nimas Vidyasari Raras Student Number: 081214034

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

ii

ASarjana PendidikanFinal Paper on

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY THE SEVENTH GRADERS OFSMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA

By

M.I. Nimas Vidyasari Raras Student Number: 081214034

Approved by

Sponsor

iii

ASarjana PendidikanFinal Paper on

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY THE SEVENTH GRADERS OFSMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA

By

M.I. NIMAS VIDYASARI RARAS Student Number: 081214034

Defended before the Board of Examiners on 10 December 2013

and Declared Acceptable

Board of Examiners

Chairperson : C. Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. _________________

Secretary : Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed., Ph. D. _________________

Member : Markus Budiraharjo, S.Pd., M.Ed., Ed.D. _________________

Member : G. Punto Aji, S.Pd., M. Hum. _________________

Member : C. Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. _________________

Yogyakarta, 10 December 2013

Faculty of Teachers Training and Education Sanata Dharma University

Dean,

iv

It is amazing how much can be done if we

are always doing.

-Thomas

Jefferson-Not all of us can do great things,

but we can do small things with

great love.

-Mother

Theresa-I dedicate this paper to

my great father Heribertus Supardi,

my best mother Veronica Himas Indarti,

and my beloved brother Yohannes de Britto Dimas Indra Nugroho.

v

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this paper, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, 10 December 2013

The Writer

M.I. Nimas Vidyasari Raras

vi

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : M.I. Nimas Vidyasari Raras Nomor Mahasiswa : 081214034

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Santa Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS MADE BY THE SEVENTH GRADERS OFSMP PANGUDI LUHUR 1 YOGYAKARTA

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta,

Pada tanggal: 10 December 2013

Yang menyatakan

vii

ABSTRACT

Raras, Maria Immaculata Nimas Vidyasari. 2013.Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Seventh Graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Learning, understanding, and mastering subject-verb agreement in senior high school could become a good start for students in learning English. Normally, a sentence must have a subject and a verb. Subject-verb agreement is easily found in textbooks, magazines, newspapers, and other sources of information. Since it is a common thing, it must be mastered and understood by the students. However, seventh graders in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakartahad problems in writing so that they would make errors in forming subject-verb agreement.

The researcher was interested to investigate further the subject-verb agreement errors since there was anecdotal evidence which was gathered from the seventh graders inSMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. It showed that subject-verb agreement errors were made by many students in the seventh grade. This situation encouraged the researcher to find out what errors were usually made by the students. By doing preliminary data gathering from an interview with a veteran English teacher in that school, the researcher was convinced that students in the seventh grade often made errors in forming their subject-verb agreement. In this research, the researcher undertook a document analysis method by obtaining the data from students’ written work. Students’ written work was chosen because it would be easier to see the errors. Besides, description was chosen because it could aim to improve students’ creativity to describe an object that they often see. In analyzing the data, the researcher used surface structure taxonomy from Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1983) as the basic theory. The research problem in this research aimed to find out subject-verb agreement errors made by the seventh graders inSMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.

From the data gathered, the researcher found that most of the errors happened in misinformation category (68.65%), followed by omission category (29.85%), and then addition category (1.50%). Since subject-verb agreement is a very basic topic to be learned, it would be better if teachers give more attention to it. In the last chapter, the researcher also offered recommendations for teachers, students, and future researchers who are interested to follow up this study.

viii

ABSTRAK

Raras, Maria Immaculata Nimas Vidyasari. 2013.Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Seventh Graders of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Mempelajari, memahami, dan menguasai kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja di sekolah menengah pertama bisa menjadi awal yang baik bagi siswa untuk mempelajari Bahasa Inggris. Di dalam sebuah kalimat, harus mempunyai sebuah subjek dan sebuah kata kerja. Kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja sangat mudah ditemukan pada buku teks, majalah-majalah, koran-koran, dan sumber informasi lainnya. Karena mudah ditemukan, kesesuaian subjek dan kata kerja harus bisa dikuasai dan dimengerti oleh siswa. Namun, siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta membuat kesalahan kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja pada tugas menulis mereka.

Peneliti tertarik untuk menyelidiki lebih lanjut tentang kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja karena adanya bukti anecdotal yang dikumpulkan dari siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Bukti itu menunjukkan bahwa kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja dibuat oleh banyak siswa di kelas VII. Hal ini mendorong peneliti untuk menemukan kesalahan apa saja yang dibuat siswa. Berdasarkan pengumpulan data awal dari hasil wawancara dengan guru Bahasa Inggris berpengalaman di sekolah itu, peneliti semakin yakin bahwa siswa sering membuat kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja mereka. Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti melakukan metode menganalisa dokumen dengan mengumpulkan data dari tugas tertulis siswa. Tugas tertulis siswa dipilih karena akan lebih mudah untuk menemukan kesalahan. Selain itu, deskripsi dipilih karena hal itu bisa meningkatkan kreatifitas siswa untuk dapat mendeskripsikan sebuah objek yang sering mereka lihat. Untuk menganalisa data, peneliti memakai teori surface structure taxonomy yang dikemukakan oleh Dulay, Burt, dan Krashen (1983). Rumusan masalah di dalam kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kesalahan pada kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja yang dibuat oleh siswa kelas VII SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.

Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh, peneliti menemukan bahwa sebagian besar kesalahan terjadi pada kategori misinformation (68.65%), dan kemudian diikuti oleh kategori omission (29.85%), dan kategori addition (1.50%). Karena kesesuaian antara subjek dan kata kerja adalah dasar pelajaran yang harus dipelajari, maka akan lebih baik jika guru memberikan perhatian lebih dalam mengajarkan hal itu. Pada akhir bab, peneliti juga memberikan saran kepada guru, siswa, dan peneliti lainnya yang tertarik untuk menindaklanjuti penelitian ini.

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ and

Mother Mary, who always give me never-ending blessings. I thank Jesus for

giving me many great people who always support and give their biggest love to

me.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my sponsor, Markus

Budiraharjo, S.Pd., M.Ed., Ed.D., for his care, time, guidance, and valuable

suggestions in finishing this final paper. I would also like to express my gratitude

to all PBI lecturers who had shared their knowledge during my process in PBI.

I would like to thank Br. Valentinus Naryo, FIC, M.Pd. as the

headmaster of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta, A. Ismargyaning Utami, S.Pd. as the English teacher, and also the respondents of my research, VIID

students, for their willingness to do the assignments.

My greatest gratitude goes to my beloved parents, bapak Heribertus Supardi and ibu Veronica Himas Indarti for their eternal love, never-ending support, and prayer. My thanks also go to my only one elder brother, mas

Yohannes de Britto Dimas Indra Nugroho for being a great brother in the

world. Without them, I could have never finished this final paper.

My gratitude is also expressed tomas gajah,Romo Laurentius Dwi Agus Merdi Nugroho, Pr., for his support, prayer, and patience for guiding me to be a

x

My special thanks go to Desiderius Arysta Yuan Christanto for being

my number one supporter. His love, care, patience, attention, support, and prayer

have completed my life.

At last, I would like to thank all friends and people whose names cannot

be mentioned one by one, especially for those who had already supported and

helped me in finishing this final paper. May God bless them all.Berkah Dalem.

xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE……….. i

APPROVAL PAGES………. ii

DEDICATION PAGE………... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………. v

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI……….. vi

ABSTRACT………... vii

ABSTRAK……….. viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS………... xi

LIST OF TABLES………. xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES………... xiv

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background………. 1

B. Research Method………. 5

CHAPTER II. DISCUSSION A. Review of Related Literature……… 9

1. Error……… 9

a. Definition of Error……… 9

b. Types of Error………... 10

1) Linguistic Taxonomy……….. 10

2) Surface Structure Taxonomy……….. 11

a) Omission………... 11

b) Addition………... 11

c) Misinformation………. 12

d) Misordering……….. 13

xii

2. Subject and Verb Agreement……….. 14

a. Concord of Number……….. 15

b. Concord of Person………. 17

3. Subject in English………... 19

a. Pronoun………. 19

1) Personal Pronouns………... 19

2) Demonstrative Pronouns………. 20

3) Indefinite Pronouns………... 21

b. Noun………. 22

1) Proper Nouns………. 22

2) Concrete and Abstract Nouns………. 22

3) Count and Noncount Nouns……… 23

c. There is and There are………... 23

4. Descriptive Writing………. 24

B. Findings………... 24

CHAPTER III. CONCLUSIONS_{……… 29}

REFERENCES_{………. 31}

xiii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: The Classification and The Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Made by the Students (blank)……… 7

Table 1.2: The Summary of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Students……… 8

Table 2.1: The Forms of Be……… 18

Table 2.2: The Modal Auxiliaries………... 19

Table 2.3: The Modal Auxiliaries………... 20

Table 2.4: Indefinite Pronouns followed by–body,-one, and–thing……… 21

Table 2.5: Common Indefinite Pronouns……….... 21

Table 2.6: The Number of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Students……….. 25

xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix A

Surat Ijin Penelitian……….. 33

Appendix B

Samples of Students’ Written Work………. 35

Appendix C

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the researcher provides research background containing the investigated problems, the importance of the study, and an overview of the study strategy. It also provides the research method of the study.

A. Background

English is not an easy foreign language that is commonly taught in Indonesia. As learners of English as a foreign language, students are demanded to have good abilities in both speaking and writing. Since speaking and writing are two productive skills, the students will inevitably produce errors. Errors come up as the effect of different language systems between mother tongue and foreign language. Besides, an error also happens because students do not know what the correct is (Ellis, 1997, p. 17).

Based on a preliminary data gathering through an interview with a veteran English teacher in SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta, it was found that the English teacher was accustomed to teach students based on materials provided in a text book. The English teacher admitted that she did not teach subject-verb agreement in depth, but when the students made errors, she would explain those to them. The English teacher also stated that sometimes the students could not differentiate between the verb and the adjective after a subject in a sentence. They would directly get confused whenever they have to put the auxiliary verb s/es in

the verb or omit it. Meanwhile, some students could not differentiate a singular nouns or a plural nouns, so that they would make errors on putting the auxiliary verbsis,are, was,andwere.

Referring to experts, subject-verb agreement can be defined as follows. According to Langan (1996), a sentence must have a subject and a verb (p. 297). A subject is someone or something that the sentence speaks about, then what the sentence says about the subject is called a verb (Langan, 1996, p. 297). The existence of a subject and a verb in a sentence is obligatory. If there is no subject in a sentence, it cannot be called as a correct sentence. The opposite, if there is no verb in a sentence means that is not a perfect sentence. Wood (1981) states that a verb has to follow its subject based on number or person (p. 12). Furthermore, the subject is used to determine concord where the verb depends on its subject whether it is singular or plural (Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973, p. 10). In addition, Leech and Svartvik (1994) add that concord can also be called as agreement (p. 260). Thus, in this research, subject-verb agreement can be defined as a rule which the verb has to follow its subject that is used to determine concord in both, number or person.

Harmer (2007) states that it is very important to encourage students in order to seriously take more responsibility for their own learning (p. 21). Learning, understanding, and mastering subject-verb agreement in junior high school could become a good start for the students in learning English. Subject-verb agreement is very common thing and can be found in some writings, such as in textbooks, magazines, newspapers, and other sources of information. The

students can sharpen their understanding in subject-verb agreement by writing. Practice writing a lot would help the students improving and producing better writing time by time (Nunan, 2003, p. 92).

According to Tiedt (1989), writing is one of some methods to express ideas which could happen in everywhere with any kinds of subject contents and being the concern of every teacher in the world (p. 1). By writing a lot, students are expected to be able to improve their creativity in developing ideas. Moreover, the students could also improve their writing ability by reading. Reading some books or other sources information could develop someone’s ideas and knowledge. Even the students could note the use of punctuation and capitalization or how to spell in uncommon words (Tiedt, 1989, p. 5). Tiedt also states that writing is the most difficult skills and is needed a hard work to do (p. 6). Compared with other skills, writing skill needs to keep ideas before it disappears. However, teachers could encourage students by clustering ideas on paper while writing the ideas freely (Tiedt, 1989, p. 6).

The researcher was interested to investigate the subject-verb agreement errors since there was anecdotal evidence which was gathered from the seventh graders inSMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta.Some various errors came up as the problems. It showed that the students had not understood yet about how to compose a good writing. This situation encouraged the researcher to do research in that school.

In SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta, the English teacher provided time for writing class only. Since the students had problem in their writing, the

researcher planned to do a research by analyzing what the errors were and how many errors that students had made in their writing assignment which was given by the teacher. However, the researcher only focused on subject-verb agreement errors which were made by the seventh grade students. The seventh graders were chosen because they might make many errors in their writing.

By knowing what the errors are and how many errors students make, the teacher is expected to be able to see her students’ writing ability. It also helps the teacher to give more attention on what the errors usually come up in students’ written work. To create a better improvement in writing, the teacher needs to emphasize the subject-verb agreement materials to the students. Improving the subject-verb agreement topic would give many benefits to the students. A good mastery in the subject-verb agreement would also help the students to easily compose and produce a good grammatically correct writing. Besides, subject and verb are the basic thing in an English sentence. Thus, it is worth to learn since it is important for writing.

The students cannot produce the same writing with the same errors day by day. Thus, it would be a teacher’s duty to help the students improving their writing skill by emphasizing how subject-verb agreement works. Besides, the teacher could give them some writing practices. The researcher hopes that it would build students’ motivation to learn English better. Therefore, the researcher has already formulated a question for this research. That is what are subject-verb agreement errors made by seventh graders ofSMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta?

B. Research Method

Qualitative inquiry was used in this research. In gathering the data, qualitative research deals with data in the form of words which are purely descriptive but not numerical (Sprinthall et al., 1991, p. 100). The data were collected from the students’ written work which was analyzed by using document analysis procedure. According to Ary, Jacobs, and Sorensen (2010), a document analysis is aimed to identify specified characteristics of written or visual materials (p. 457).

The sample of this research was obtained by using purposive sampling. According to Ary et al. (2010), the sample elements of purposive sampling judge to be typical or representative which were chosen from the population. The population in this research was six classes of seventh graders at SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. However, the researcher only gathered from one class since it was not possible to involve all students from six classes by considering the accessibility to the respondents, financial constraint, and time availability. The researcher chose class VIID since there were no absent students in that class.

In conducting this qualitative research, the researcher served human and documents as the important instruments to obtain and analyze the data. According to Ary et al. (2010), the students’ writing was written by people who experienced the phenomena under study directly which can be considered as a primary source (p. 443). That is why the researcher chose students’ written work with description as the topic. Descriptive writing was chosen because it could help the students to write easier since they could see the object directly. Moreover, description aimed

to help students improving their creativity and involving their imagination. Besides, this topic had already discussed in the class, so that the data for this research was able to become an exercise for the students as well.

Before the researcher collected the data, there were several steps as procedures. The researcher made a thesis proposal and asked approval from the researcher’s advisor. After obtaining approval from the researcher’s advisor, the researcher asked to permission letter from university. The next day, the researcher came to school and asked permission from the headmaster ofSMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakartaand the English teacher whose classes were used in this research.

On the process of obtaining the data, the researcher could not join the class since that week was for daily exam. The researcher asked help from the English teacher to give instruction to the students. The data was collected from the English teacher between 22 and 29 May, 2013. It took only a week because the teacher and the students were really cooperative helping the researcher. After collecting all the data, the researcher started to analyze the data by finding the errors and categorize them based on the theories by experts in Chapter II.

There were several steps the researcher had to do before analyzing the errors. First, the researcher assigned a number for each student’s written work as a code. Second, the researcher checked the students’ written work by underlying the errors. Third, the errors were put into the table provided. Fourth, the researcher tried to analyze and classify the subject-verb agreement errors according to the types of errors on Surface Structure Taxonomy. According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen’s (1982), Surface Structure Taxonomy are divided into four (p. 150),

namely (1) omission, (2) addition which is sub-categorized into regularization, double-marking, and simple additions, (3) misinformation which is sub-categorized into regularization, archi-forms, and alternating, (4) misordering (as cited in Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005, p. 61). Fifth, the researcher calculated the percentage and from the percentage the researcher could know which types of errors that mostly did by the seventh graders at SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. Table 1.1. below is how the researcher classified and calculated the percentage each type of errors that have been made by the students.

Table 1.1. : The Classification and The Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Students (blank)

The researcher used a formula to calculate the percentage of each type error that the researcher found in students’ written work. The formula can be seen below.

A

x 100% B

A= The total number of each type of errors

B= The total number of all errors

After obtaining the percentage from each type of errors, the researcher found what types of errors mostly happened in their written work. Sixth, the

Doc #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Found in Students’ Written Work

Brief Errors Analysis

Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformati on

Misordering R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

Total Number of Each Type of Errors Total Number of All Errors The Percentage of Each Type of Errors

researcher could present the summary of some error examples and the percentage that have been made by the students in Table 1.2. as below.

Table 1.2: The Summary of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Students

No Error Category Error Sub-Category Examples of Error Number of Errors

Percentage (%)

1. Omission -2. Addition

Regularization Double-marking Simple additions 3. Misinformation

Regularization Archi-forms/Alternating

forms 4. Misordering

-At last, the researcher discussed further what she had already analyzed based on the theories in Chapter II.

9

CHAPTER II DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the researcher presents review of related literature based on the theories from some experts which become the bases of this research. The second part presents the findings as well as the interpretation of the findings.

A. Review of Related Literature

In this research, the researcher used several theories from experts to help to analyze the data. This part will be elaborated more the theories below.

1. Error

a. Definition of Error

Defining the word error would not be easy since error has its synonymous word. The term that almost synonymous with error is mistake. James (1998) as cited in Brown (2000) argues that an error and a mistake cannot always be distinguished. For example an English learner says “John cans sing”, but in other time he/she says “John can sing”. From the previous example it is difficult to determine a word “cans” is an error or a mistake (p. 218). According to Ellis (1997), an error raises gaps in learner’s knowledge and happens because the learner does not master or even misunderstand the correct one (p. 17). However, still according to Ellis (1997), a mistake is an occasional lapse where learners cannot perform what they have already known (p. 17).

Corder (1967) says that the term mistake is a term used by performance errors, while the term error is a developing knowledge by learners rule system that is reserved for the systematic deviation in some of the second language literature (as cited in Dulay, Burt, & Krashen, 1982, p. 139). Sometimes researchers also distinguish the factors of errors. Chomsky (1965) calls fatigue and inattention as performance factors, while the lack of learners’ knowledge of the rules of the language is called as competence factors (as cited in Dulay et al., 1982, p. 139).

Performance and competence errors are difficult to be distinguished because both are also very important. Since the nature of a deviation has not been classified as a performance or competence error, the term error does not restrict to competence-based deviations. Thus, an error refers to any deviation that is selected from norm of language performance, no matter what the characteristics or causes might be (Dulay et al., 1982, p.139).

b. Types of Error

Some of students’ written compositions are possibly to produce a lot of various errors. Therefore, it is essential to classify errors based on their type. 1) Linguistic Taxonomy

This kind of taxonomy is categorized from a descriptive grammar in target language. Besides, the grammar is relating to basic sentence structure, the verb phrase, verb complementation, the noun phrase, prepositional phrases, adjuncts, coordinate subordinate constructions and sentence connection (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005, p. 60). While according to Dulay et al. (1982), the linguistic

category classifies the errors based on a language component and a particular language aspect. The language components are phonology (pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantics and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style) (p. 146).

2) Surface Structure Taxonomy

In this part, Dulay et al. (1982) divide the category into omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering that can be seen below.

a) Omission

According to Dulay et al. (1982), the errors can be classified as an omission when there is an absence of an item that should appear in a well-formed sentence (p. 154), for example,*Mary president new companyinstead of Mary is the president of the new company.

b) Addition

Addition is the opposite of omission. The addition can be meant as the presence of an item that should not appear in a well-formed sentence. It is sub-categorized into:

(1) Double Marking

According to Dulay et al. (1982), double marking is two items which appear rather than one and those are marked for the same feature (p. 156), for example, *He doesn’t knows my name instead of He doesn’t know my name. Another example is*We didn’t went thereinstead ofWe didn’t go there.

(2) Regularization

Dulay et al. (1982) state that “the addition category are those in which a marker that is typically added to a linguistic item is erroneously added to exceptional items of the given class that do not take a marker”, it is called regularization errors (p. 157). For example: *sheepsand *putted. The plural form of *sheep is still the same instead of *sheeps. Besides, the verb *putted is not correct, the correct past tense is *put.

(3) Simple Addition

Simple addition can be defined as a neither addition error that is not double marking or regularization (Dulay et al., 1982, p. 158).

c) Misinformation

Misinformation deals with the incorrect form of the morpheme or structure. There is the difference between omission and misinformation. In omission the item is not supplied but in misinformation the learner supplies something. According to Dulay et al. (1982) misinformation can be sub-categorized into (p. 158):

(1) Regularization

Dulay et al. (1982) say that regularization in misinformation category which is a regular marker is applied in an irregular one. For example: *runned instead of *run, *gooses instead of *geese (p. 158). Other examples of regularization under misinformation category are *I falled instead of *I fell, *childsinstead of *children(Dulay et al., 1982, p. 159).

(2) Archi-forms

Archi-forms refer to form selected by learners. Dulay et al. (1982) explain further that a learner may temporarily select just one of English demonstrative adjectives such asthis,that,these, and those, to do the work for several of them. The learners usually write *that dogand *that dogs(p. 160).

(3) Alternating Forms

This last type of misinformation happens because the use of archi-form that often makes fairly free alternation of various members of a class with each other, as seen in *Those dogand *This cats(Dulay et al., 1982, p. 161).

d) Misordering

Misordering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement morpheme or group of morpheme which is not place in a well-formed sentence e.g. *She fights all the time her brother (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005, p. 61) instead of She fights with her brother.

c. Sources of Error

A researcher must have already thought the various sources of errors made by learners. Since many possibilities why learners made some errors in their writing, Brown (2000) states that by trying to identify the sources, we are expected to understand how the learner’s cognitive and affective processes are related to the linguistic system and to formulate the integrated understanding in second language acquisition process (p. 223). Besides, according to Brown (2005), the sources of errors are divided into three. First,interlingual transfer, is an error which is a significant error for all learners. There is interference from

mother tongue and many errors are detectable in learner speech, but it is not all errors are the result from the native language transfer, e.g. *the book of Jack instead of *Jack’s book. Second, intralingual transfer, is overgeneralization within the target language. This is the negative part of intralingual transfer. For example, *Does John can sing?, *He goed, *I don’t know what time is it. Third, context of learning, happens when there are a misleading error explanation from the teacher, a faulty presentation in a textbook, and improperly drill to memorize pattern.

2. Subject and Verb Agreement

Langan (1996) states every sentence must have a subject and a verb. Subject is who or something that the sentence speaks about, then what the sentence says about the subject is called verb (p. 297). Langan (1996) adds the right sentence shows that a verb has to follow its subject based on the types of concord (p. 338). Besides, Leech and Svartvik (1994) divide concord into two types, namely concord of number and concord of person (p. 260). Concord can also be called asagreement(Leech & Svartvik, 1994, p. 260).

According to Greenbaum (1989), the general rules of subject-verb agreement are when the verb agrees with its subject in number and person, while agreement happens when the verb makes any distinctions in number and person. However, for all verbs other thanbe, the distinctions only can happen in Present Tense. In the third person singular, the verb has the –s form, and for the third person plural, the verb has the base form. The second person and all persons plural, the verb is also the base form or no changing (p. 208). The examples are:

[1] The noise distracts them. [2] The noises distract them.

From the examples above, [1] the noiseis the singular subject that is followed by verb –s form. For the second example, [2] the plural subjectthe noisesis followed by the base form.

a. Concord of Number

Langan (1996) states that in this concord number, a verb must agree with its subject in the sentence. In this case, a singular subject (one person or thing) should be followed by a singular verb, while a plural subject (more than one person or thing) should be followed by a plural verb (p. 338), for example:

[3] The girlwritesa letter. [4] Danielisan artist. [5] My friendsgoto Jakarta.

[6] The boys in this classaretaller than the girls.

From the examples above, the subjects in sentences [3] and [4] are singular so it is followed by a singular verb. Meanwhile, the subjects in the sentences [5] and [6] are plural so that it must be followed by a plural verb.

Langan (1996) also states when words come between the subject and the verb in a sentence, subject-verb agreement does not change (p. 338).

[7] Aboywith glassesdrinksa mineral water.

[8] The students in the class give a birthday present to their English teacher.

The subject boy in [7] is singular, so it should be followed by a singular verb, while subject in sentence [8],students, is plural, so that it would be followed by a plural verb. Langan (1996) also adds in order to make it become easier, learners should cross out the prepositional phrases to find out the subject (p. 338), for example *A boy with glasses drinks a mineral water.

In addition, Langan (1996) states that a verb must agree with its subject even when the verb comes before the subject (p. 339). Langan (1996) also provides some words that may precede the subject, namely there, here, in questions,who,which,what, andwhere.

[9] There are four children in the car. [10] Here is the card.

[11] Where are your books?

Furthermore, Langan (1996) mentions when subjects in a sentence are joined byeither…or,neither…nor,not only…but also, the verb must agree with the subject that is closer to the verb (p. 340). The examples can be seen as follows:

[12]Eithermy fatheror my mom likesto sing the old song. [13]NeitherAndrewnor his friends knowthe right answer.

In sentence [12], the closest subject ismy momwhich is singular, so it is followed by a singular verb likes. Meanwhile, in sentence [13] the closest subject is his friends which is plural, it means that the plural subject his friends should be followed by a plural verbknow.

Besides, Langan (1996) adds if subjects in a sentence are joined byand, they would be followed by a plural verb (p. 340). The examples are:

[14] Desya, Clarina, and Rioarevery smart students in the class. [15] The shirt, the skirt, and the hatarenew.

In addition, Greenbaum (1989) states if and is not present in a sentence, the subject is still decided as plural (p. 211).

[16] Desya, Clarina, Rioarevery smart students in the class. [17] The shirt, the skirt, the hatarenew.

However, Greenbaum (1989) also states if the noun phrases are introduced by everyoreach, the subjects are considered singular (p. 211).

[18]Everyman andeverywomanhasthe same right.

[19]Eachgirl andeachboy in the seventh-gradeisa great student. b. Concord of Person

According to Leech and Svartvik (1994), in the present tense there are three be as the form, they are I am *I am a student, He/She/It is *She is very beautiful, We/You/Theyare*You are a dentist(p. 264). In a sentence,beform is not only has the present tense form, but also it has eight different forms in common. They aream, is, are,was, were, being, andbeen. These be forms are used in every sentence based on the tense that is used. Leech and Svartvik made a table that would help students to learn easily. In the table 2.1. below shows the forms ofbewhich is proposed by Leech and Svartvik (1994).

Table 2.1: The Forms of Be (Leech & Svartvik, 1994, p. 243) Non-negative Uncontracted negative Contracted negative Base be Present

1stperson singular 3rdperson singular 2ndperson singular and all persons plural

am, ‘m is, ‘s are, ‘re

am not, ‘m not is not, ‘s not are not, ‘re not

ain’t isn’t aren’t

Past

1stand 3rdperson singular 2ndperson singular and plural 1stand 3rdperson plural

was were were was not were not were not wasn’t weren’t weren’t

-ingform being not being

-edform been

Then, according to Leech and Svartvik (1994), main verbs have only two forms in the present tense (p. 264), for example,

[20]He/she/our friendetc.likescooking [21]I/you/we/they/our friendsetc.likecooking

Sentence [20] shows the 3rd person singular subject, while sentence [21] does not show the 3rdperson singular subject.

Leech and Svartvik (1994) also add that modal auxiliaries only have one form (p. 264). It means that modal auxiliaries cannot be added by –s form, -ing form, or–edparticiple, for example,

For modals can, may, shall, and will have a special past forms could, might, should, andwould. While the others (must, dare, need, ought to, used to) do not have any forms. The table 2.2. below is the examples of modal auxiliaries.

Table 2.2: The Modal Auxiliaries (Leech & Svartvik, 1994, p. 244)

Non-negative Uncontracted negative Contracted negative Can could may might shall should will, ‘ll would, ‘d must ought to used to*c

need*c

dare*c

Cannot, can not Could not May not Might not Shall not Should not Will not, ‘ll not Would not, ‘d not Must not

Ought not to Used not to Need not Dare not Can’t Couldn’t (mayn’t)*a Mightn’t Shan’t*b Shouldn’t Won’t Wouldn’t Mustn’t Oughtn’t to

Didn’t use(d) to, usedn’t to Needn’t

Daren’t

*amayn’tis rare

*bshan’tis rare, especially in American English

*cused to,need, anddareas auxiliaries are rare in all forms

3. Subject in English

In this section, the researcher provides some possible subjects in English, since students possibly use various subjects in their writing. From the subject, the researcher is expected to know whether it is singular or plural.

a. Pronoun

1) Personal Pronouns

According to Lester (1990), personal pronouns have many different forms based on three factors (p. 24). The first factor is person. In person, there are first person, second person, and third person. The first person is a person who is speaking (I,we). The second person is a person being spoken to (you). The third person is somebody or something we are talking about (she, he, it, they). The

second factor is number. In this factor it can be singular or plural. Table 2.3. is the pairs of singular and plural.

Table 2.3: The Modal Auxiliaries (Lester, 1990, p. 25)

Singular Plural First person

I me

we us

Subject Object Second person

you you

you you

Subject Object Third person

he, she, it him, her, it

they them

Subject Object

The third factor is form. In this factor there are subject, object, and possessive. However, since this research deals with subject-verb agreement, the researcher would discuss the subject only. According to Lester (1990), subject refers to pronouns used as the subject of sentence, such as I,you,he, she,it,we, they.

2) Demonstrative Pronouns

Greenbaum (1990) states that there are four demonstrative pronouns that are commonly used (p. 131). The demonstrative pronounthisandthatcan be used for singular, whiletheseandthoseare plural.

[23] This is your book. [24] That is your pencil. [25] These are her shirts. [26] Those are our chairs.

In addition, Lester (1990) states that the demonstrative pronouns could also be used as modifying adjectives, for example:

[27] I wanted to buythisbook. [28] I wanted to buythis.

Thisin sentence [27] is an adjective modifyingbook, while in sentence [28]thisis pure demonstrative pronoun.

3) Indefinite Pronouns

The following are indefinite pronouns that are composed ofany,every,no, andsomewhich are followed by–body,-one, and–thing(Lester, 1990, p. 28).

Table 2.4: Indefinite Pronouns followed by–body,-one, and–thing(Lester, 1990, p. 28)

-body -one -thing

any anybody anyone anything

every everybody everyone everything

no nobody no one nothing

some somebody someone something

Lester (1990) adds that everybody, everyone, and everything have a collective meaning, but they are actually singular in grammatical use. For some beginners, they would think that these pronouns are plural (p. 28). The example can be seen as follows.

[29] Everybody in schoolwerethere.

Lester (1990) also mentions that they are indefinite pronouns that are commonly used.

Table 2.5: Common Indefinite Pronouns (Lester, 1990, p. 28)

All Another Both Each Either Few Many More Most Much Neither none One Other Several Some Such

b. Noun

1) Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are the name of specific people, places, or occasions that usually begin with a capital letter, such as Shakespeare, Chicago, January, Christmas (Greenbaum, 1989, p. 107). However, Greenbaum (1989) also adds that sometimes names may consist of more than one word, such as The Hague, New York Times, Kennedy Airport, Captain Andrews, Mount Everest (p. 107). Besides, proper nouns sometimes can be converted into common nouns. Greenbaum (1989) states common nouns are nouns that are not names, such as capital, for example, Thecapitalof the Netherlands is The Hague (p. 107).

2) Concrete and Abstract Nouns

According to Greenbaum (1989), nouns also can be classified into concrete and abstract nouns. Concrete nouns refer to people, places, or things, such asgirl,kitchen,car, while abstract nouns refer to qualities, states, or actions, such as humor,belief,action (p. 108). Some of the nouns may be either concrete or abstract depending on their meaning, for example:

[30] Thomas can kick afootball50 yards. [31] Jeremy often playsfootballon Saturdays.

Sentence number [30] is the example of concrete nouns, while sentence number [31] is the example of abstract nouns. However, according to Greenbaum (1989), there is a tendency that abstract nouns are noncount (p. 108).

3) Count and Noncount Nouns

According to Greenbaum (1989), count nouns refer to entities which can be called as countable. Therefore, count nouns can be both singular and plural. Usually they are accompanied by determiners that refer to distinctions in number (p. 108).

Singular Plural

a

one student

every

ten

many students

those

Noncount nouns refer to entities which can be called as a mass that cannot be counted or non-countable, e.g., bread, furniture, music. They are counted as singular and accompanied by determiners that do not refer to distinctions in number (Greenbaum, 1989, p. 108)

much

your information

that

c. There is and There are

In speech, using a singular verb after introductorythere is common thing even when the subject, which follows the verb, is plural (Greenbaum, 1989, p. 217).

[32]There’stwo men waiting for you.

However, Greenbaum (1989) also states that students should follow the general rule which is formal writing (p. 217).

[34] Therearetwo men waiting for you.

In addition, Azar (2009) says that there+be introduces the idea that something does exist in a particular place (p. 91).

4. Descriptive Writing

According to McMurrey (1983), description is a term used rather loosely in ordinary conversation which means something that quite specific. Description is usually combined with other kinds of writing, such as narration. The goal of description is to visualize a person, a place, or a thing by providing details as much as possible. It includes all senses, particularly sight, while other senses, such as smell, hearing, touch, and taste, are also important roles in description (p. 239).

B. Findings

In this part, the researcher would present the number of subject-verb agreement errors found in students’ written work and the discussion of subject-verb agreement errors made by the students.

To obtain the data, the researcher analyzed thirty-seven (37) students’ written work of class VIID. After analyzing the data, the researcher found sixty-seven (67) errors of subject-verb agreement. However, the errors that the students made were various. The researcher used surface structure taxonomy to help to analyze and to classify the subject-verb agreement errors. In that taxonomy, there are four errors categories, namely omission, addition which is sub-categorized into regularization,double-marking, and simple additions, misinformation which is sub-categorized into regularization, archi-forms, and alternating forms, and

misordering. The examples of errors and the percentage of each type errors can be seen in Table 2.6.

Table 2.6: The Number of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Made by the Students

No Error Category

Error

Sub-Category Examples of Error

Number of Errors

Percentage (%)

1. Omission

-My brother sleep in the second floor.

(Singular marker “-s”)

20 29.85 In my house consist of several rooms.

(Singular marker “-s”)

2. Addition

Regularization - 0 0 Double

Marking - 0 0

Simple Addition

My parent’s bedrooms is on the southern most part of my house.

(Plural marker “-s”)

1 1.50

3. Mis-information

Regularization - 0 0

Archi-forms/ Alternating

forms

I like all rooms in my house, but my favorite rooms is my bedroom and living room.

(Incorrect*beto show the plural subject)

46 68.65 In the bathroom, there is a shower, soap, a

mirror, and a toilet.

(Incorrect*beto show the plural subject)

4. Misordering - - 0 0

From the data in Table 2.5, there were three types of subject-verb agreement errors found in students’ written work, namely omission, simple addition which is under addition, and archi-forms/alternating forms which is under misinformation. According to the data above, there were twenty (20) or 29.85% errors which were classified into omission error category. Omission is an absence of an item that should appear in a well-formed sentence (Dulay et al., 1982, p. 154). Following are the examples of omission error category found in students’ written work.

[1a] *My brother sleep in the second floor.

[2a] * In my living room there long wooden seat and wooden table. [3a] *Carport in my house enough to park the 2 cars.

[4a] *The garage is not very big either, it only fit one car and two motorcycles.

In sentence [1a] *My brother sleep in the second floor, the omission error occurred in the verb*sleep. Since the subject is singular, the student should apply a singular marker –s to the verb. Thus, the correction would be [1b] My brother sleeps in the second floor. Other omission errors also occurred in sentence [2a] and [3a]. The students did not applybeform as the verb in the both sentences. The correct sentences would be [2b]In my living room, there are a long wooden seat and a wooden tableand [3b]Carport in my house is enough to park the two cars. While in sentence [4a] has the same case with sentence [1a]. The omission error occurred in the verb *fit. It happened because the student did not apply singular marker –s to show the singular subject. In this sentence, the correction would be [4b]The garage is not very big either, it only fits one car and two motorcycles.

Under the addition category, there was one (1) or 1.50% error of simple addition sub-category. According to Dulay et al. (1982), simple addition can be defined as a neither addition error that is not double marking or regularization (p. 158). The simple addition error made by the student can be seen as follow.

In sentence [5a], the student put plural marker –s in the word *bedrooms while the verb*isshows singular verb. The researcher had decided to omit “-s” in *bedrooms because logically parents must have only one bedroom. Besides, this sentence also had another type of error category which is archi-forms/alternating forms. The apostrophe is used for showing possessive, for example in the word *my parent’s. The word parentsshow both mother and father, butparentexplains one of them which are mother only or father only. Thus, in this case the apostrophe (‘) should be put after the wordparents. So that the possible correction is [5b]My parents’ bedroom is on the southern most part of my house.

Under the misinformation category, the researcher did not find any errors in regularization. Nevertheless, the researcher found forty-six (46) or 68.65% errors in another sub-category of misinformation which is called archi-forms/alternating forms. The examples of archi-archi-forms/alternating forms can be seen as follows.

[6a] *My house had five bedrooms.

[7a] *I like all rooms in my house, but my favorite rooms is my bedroom and living room

[8a] *In the bathroom, there is a shower, soap, a mirror, and a toilet. [9a] *But I’m sleep in first floor.

[10a] *It have 3 bedrooms, one living room, a dining room, and a kitchen…

Sentence [6a] shows incorrect usage of tense. It can be seen from the word *hadwhich used past tense. In descriptive text, the writer has to use present tense.

Thus, sentence [6a] should be replaced by [6b] My house has five bedrooms. However, in sentence [7a] and [8a], the researcher found that the students put the wrong verb to show a plural subject, so that it must be [7b]I like all rooms in my house, but my favorite rooms are my bedroom and living room and [8b] In the bathroom, there are a shower, soap, a mirror, and a toilet. Another example of this error is sentence [9a] *But I’m sleep in first floor. From the sentence, the researcher found that there were two verbs which werebe, in this case is *am, and the verb*sleep. However, the verb *sleepdoes not need anybe to emphasize its function as the verb, so that the correct sentence would be [9b] But I sleep in the first floor.Then, in sentence [10a], the error occurred in the verb *have. The verb *haveis used to show a plural subject. However, the subject in this sentence is *it which shows the third person and which is always followed by a singular verb. Thus, the sentence should be replaced by [10b]*It has three bedrooms, one living room, a dining room, and a kitchen….

29

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSIONS

In this chapter, the researcher is going to present the conclusion of the research findings. The researcher had found some subject-verb agreement errors in students’ written work made by the seventh graders of class VIID in SMP

Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. The researcher used the theories from Dulay, Burt,

and Krashen which helped the researcher to classify and analyze the errors.

The data were obtained from thirty-seven (37) students’ written work. From the data, the researcher found sixty-seven (67) errors of subject-verb agreement which were classified based on the types of errors in surface structure taxonomy. The first type of error was omission. In this type of error, the researcher found twenty (20) errors or 29.85%. The second type of error was addition. In addition category, there were no regularization and double marking errors found. However, the researcher found one (1) error or 1.50% on simple addition. Thus, from the addition category could be said that there was one (1) error or 1.50% only. The third type of error was misinformation. In misinformation category, they were regularization and archi forms/alternating forms as the sub-category. The researcher did not find any errors on regularization, but there were forty-six (46) errors or 68.65% on archi forms/alternating forms. Therefore, from the misinformation category could be said that there were forty-six (46) errors or 68.65% found in students’ written works.

The last type of error was misordering. However, after analyzing all the data, the researcher did not found any errors on misordering category. Therefore, the errors which were mostly made by the students were misinformation category (68.65%), and followed by omission category (29.85%), and addition category (1.50%).

From the findings, the researcher expects English teachers to give more attention in teaching subject-verb agreement. The English teachers could ask the students to practice writing a lot in order to improve their understanding in forming subject-verb agreement in a sentence. Besides, the teachers should give any feedbacks on students’ written work so that students can improve their writing by learning errors they have made.

The researcher also expects students to pay attention to teachers’ explanation. It would be better to encourage themselves by asking the teacher when they find any difficulties in writing. Besides, they are expected to be able to be responsible for their own writing by doing self-editing before they submit their work.

For future researchers who are interested in this subject-verb agreement topic, you may modify or continue this study to be better research. The future researchers could find errors sources by doing interview or questionnaire to obtain data. Besides, the researcher suggests future researchers to make further research how to learn subject-verb agreement in order to be easily understood by students.

31

REFERENCES

Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., & Sorensen, C. (2010). Introduction to research in education(8thed). Belmont, CA: Wardsworth.

Azar, B. S. (2009).Understanding and using English grammar(4thed.). New York: Pearson Education

Brown, H. D. (2000).Principles of language learning and teaching(4th ed.). New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, S. (1982).Language two. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ellis, R. (1997).Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ellis, R. & Barkhuizen, G. (2005).Analysing learner language.Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Greenbaum, S. (1989).A college grammar of English. New York: Longman. Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching (4th ed.). Essex:

Longman.

Langan, J. (1996).College writing skills(4thed.). New York: McGraw-Hill

Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. (1994).A communicative grammar of English (2nd ed.). London: Longman Group Limited.

Lester, M. (1990).Grammar in the classroom. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

McMurrey, D. A. (1983).Writing fundamentals.New York: Macmillan.

Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English language teaching. New York: The McGraw-Hill.

Quirk, R. & Greenbaum, S. (1973).A university grammar of English. Essex: Longman.

Sprinthall, R. C., Schmutte, G. T., & Sirois, L. (1991).Understanding educational research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Tiedt, I. M. (1989). Writing: From topic to evaluation. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Wood, F. T. (1981).Current English usage. London: Macmillan Press Limited.

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

The Classification and the Examples

of Errors Made by the Students

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

1

My house had five bedrooms. Incorrect tense usage My househasfive bedrooms. 1

My brother sleep in the second floor. Singular marker “-s” My brothersleepsin the second floor. 1

But I’m sleep in first floor. Incorrect*be But Isleepin the first floor. 1

I had three bathrooms. Incorrect tense usage Ihavethree bathrooms. 1

2

In my house consist of several rooms. Singular marker “-s” In my houseconsistsof several rooms. 1

My parent’s bedrooms is on the southern most part of my house.

Incorrect placement of

apostrophe Myparents’ bedroomis on the southern

most part of my house.

1

Plural marker “-s” 1

All the room doors facing west, except my grandparent bedroom is located in front room ironing.

Missing*beas the

verb of the sentence All the room doors_{mygrandparents’bedroom is located in}arefacing west, except front room ironing.

1

Missing apostrophe 1

3

In the family room that has television, a bed, a chair, a carpet, a table and the picture of Jesus.

Incorrect subject and verb

In the family room,there area television, a bed, a chair, a carpet, a table and the picture of Jesus.

1

In the garden that has many plants. Incorrect subject and

verb

In the garden,there aremany plants. 1

-Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

5

In my house also there garage and draw well.

Missing*beas the verb of the sentence

In my house, there arealso a garage and a draw well.

1

In my living room there long wooden seat and wooden table.

Missing*beas the verb of the sentence

In my living room,there area long wooden seat and a wooden table.

1

In family room there sideboard, organ, wooden seat, wooden table, bookcase, computer, television, and aquarium.

Missing*beas the verb of the sentence

In family room,there area sideboard, an organ, a wooden seat, a wooden table, a bookcase, a computer, a television, and an aquarium.

1

In my bedroom there guitar, violin, bed, wardrobe, desk study, dressing table, and electronic goods.

Missing*beas the verb of the sentence

In my bedroom,there areguitar, violin, bed, wardrobe, desk study, dressing table, and electronic goods.

1

In kitchen there refrigerator, stove, plate, glass, and other cooking tools.

Missing*beas the verb of the sentence

In the kitchen,there area refrigerator, a stove, plates, glasses, and other cooking tools.

1

In bathroom there shower, bucket, and other bath appliances.

Missing*beas the verb of the sentence

In the bathroom,there areshower, a bucket, and other bath appliances.

1

6 No subject-verb agreement error -

-7 I use to play in my garden. Incorrect form of the

verb to show regularly event

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

8

In my living room, there’s a television, brown sofa, and a small table.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

In my living room,there area television, a brown sofa, and a small table.

1

I use to read books here. Incorrect form of the

verb to show regularly event

Iam used toread books here. 1

Also there’s a lot of books in my living room.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

Alsothere area lot of books in my living room.

1

My park wasn’t big, but it’s comfortable. Incorrect tense usage My parkis notbig, but it’s comfortable. 1

There’s a mango tree, palm tree, and some flowers.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

There are a mango tree, a palm tree, and some flowers.

1

9

It have 3 bedrooms, one living room, a dining room, and a kitchen…

Incorrect use of the verb*havefor singular subjectit

It has three bedrooms, one living room, a dining room, and a kitchen…

1

The garage is not very big either, it only fit one car and two motorcycles.

Singular marker “-s” The garage is not very big either, it onlyfits one car and two motorcycles.

1

10 No subject-verb agreement error -

-11

In second floor there’s two bedrooms and one bathroom.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

In the second floor,there aretwo bedrooms and one bathroom.

1

I like all rooms in my house, but my favorite rooms is my bedroom and living room.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

I like all rooms in my house, but my favorite roomsaremy bedroom and living room.

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

12 No subject-verb agreement error -

-13 No subject-verb agreement error -

-14 No subject-verb agreement error -

-15

My house consist of 12 rooms are 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room, library, study room, 3 bathrooms.

Singular marker “-s” My houseconsistsof twelve rooms,theyare three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a library, a study room, three bathrooms.

1

Missing a subject before the wordare

1

16 In the bathroom, there is a shower, soap, a mirror, and a toilet.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

In the bathroom,there area shower, soap, a mirror, and a toilet.

1

17 No subject-verb agreement error -

-18 No subject-verb agreement error -

-19 No subject-verb agreement error -

-20

It is also has garage and garden. Incorrect*beto show

the verbhas

It alsohasa garage and a garden. 1

The air feel so fresh. Singular marker “-s” The airfeelsso fresh. 1

21 No subject-verb agreement error -

-Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

23

In the first floor has 3 bedrooms (for

grandfather and grandmother, and

guest),…

Incorrect usage of the verb *has

In the first floor,there arethree bedrooms (for grandfather and grandmother, and guest),…

1

In the second floor has 3 bedrooms (for me, my parents, and brother),…

Incorrect usage of the verb *has

In the second floor, there are three bedrooms (for me, my parents, and brother),…

1

My bedroom enough large. Missing*beas the

verb in the sentence

My bedroomislarge enough. 1

24

I slept a room with my brother. Incorrect tense usage Isleepin the same room with my brother. 1

Carport in my house enough to park the 2 cars.

Missing*beafter the wordhouse

Carport in my houseisenough to park the two cars.

1

25

It also have a working room. Incorrect usage of the

verb*havefor singular subjectit

It alsohasa working room. 1

My living room is also become my family room.

Incorrect*beto show

the verbbecome My living room also_room. becomesmy family

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

26

It’s not big but it had cupboard for toys, books, and clothes.

Incorrect tense usage It’s not big but it has cupboard for toys, books, and clothes.

1

It had 2 beds, 2 cupboards, and 1 TV. Incorrect tense usage It has two beds, two cupboards, and one TV.

1

My house had a storage. Incorrect tense usage My househasa storage. 1

I had 3 aquariums, 2 in living room, and 1 near the fish pool on the backyard.

Incorrect tense usage Ihavethree aquariums, two in living room, and one near the fish pool on the backyard.

1

I had a basketball field on the front of my house.

Incorrect tense usage Ihavea basketball field on the front of my house.

1

I had a room, it’s for toys and clothes. Incorrect tense usage Ihavea room, it’s for toys and clothes. 1

My bathroom had a bathtub, toilet, washbasin, pail, and 2 vessels.

Incorrect tense usage My bathroom has a bathtub, toilet,

washbasin, pail, and 2 vessels.

1

My parents had a special cupboard on the living room.

Incorrect tense usage My parents has a special cupboard on the living room.

1

They had so many shells. Incorrect tense usage Theyhaveso many shells. 1

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering

R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

12 No subject-verb agreement error -

-13 No subject-verb agreement error -

-14 No subject-verb agreement error -

-15

My house consist of 12 rooms are 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room, library, study room, 3 bathrooms.

Singular marker “-s” My houseconsistsof twelve rooms,theyare three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a library, a study room, three bathrooms.

1

Missing a subject before the wordare

1

16 In the bathroom, there is a shower, soap, a mirror, and a toilet.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

In the bathroom,there area shower, soap, a mirror, and a toilet.

1

17 No subject-verb agreement error -

-18 No subject-verb agreement error -

-19 No subject-verb agreement error -

-20

It is also has garage and garden. Incorrect*beto show the verbhas

It alsohasa garage and a garden. 1

The air feel so fresh. Singular marker “-s” The airfeelsso fresh. 1

21 No subject-verb agreement error -

-Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering

R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

23

In the first floor has 3 bedrooms (for grandfather and grandmother, and guest),…

Incorrect usage of the verb *has

In the first floor,there arethree bedrooms (for grandfather and grandmother, and guest),…

1

In the second floor has 3 bedrooms (for me, my parents, and brother),…

Incorrect usage of the verb *has

In the second floor, there are three bedrooms (for me, my parents, and brother),…

1

My bedroom enough large. Missing*beas the verb in the sentence

My bedroomislarge enough. 1

24

I slept a room with my brother. Incorrect tense usage Isleepin the same room with my brother. 1

Carport in my house enough to park the 2 cars.

Missing*beafter the wordhouse

Carport in my houseisenough to park the two cars.

1

25

It also have a working room. Incorrect usage of the verb*havefor singular subjectit

It alsohasa working room. 1

My living room is also become my family room.

Incorrect*beto show

the verbbecome My living room also_room. becomesmy family

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering

R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

26

It’s not big but it had cupboard for toys, books, and clothes.

Incorrect tense usage It’s not big but it has cupboard for toys, books, and clothes.

1

It had 2 beds, 2 cupboards, and 1 TV. Incorrect tense usage It has two beds, two cupboards, and one TV.

1

My house had a storage. Incorrect tense usage My househasa storage. 1

I had 3 aquariums, 2 in living room, and 1 near the fish pool on the backyard.

Incorrect tense usage Ihavethree aquariums, two in living room, and one near the fish pool on the backyard.

1

I had a basketball field on the front of my house.

Incorrect tense usage Ihavea basketball field on the front of my house.

1

I had a room, it’s for toys and clothes. Incorrect tense usage Ihavea room, it’s for toys and clothes. 1

My bathroom had a bathtub, toilet, washbasin, pail, and 2 vessels.

Incorrect tense usage My bathroom has a bathtub, toilet, washbasin, pail, and 2 vessels.

1

My parents had a special cupboard on the living room.

Incorrect tense usage My parents has a special cupboard on the living room.

1

They had so many shells. Incorrect tense usage Theyhaveso many shells. 1

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering

R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

27

My house located at Langenastran Kidul street number 2.

Missing*bebefore the wordlocated

My houseislocated at Langenastran Kidul street number 2.

1

It near alun-alun. Missing*beafter the

wordit

Itis near alun-alun. 1

My house have 8 rooms with two bedrooms, two bathroom, a living room, a dining room, a storage, and a kitchen.

Incorrect use of the verb*havefor singular subjectmy house

My house has eight rooms with two bedrooms, two bathroom, a living room, a dining room, a storage, and a kitchen.

1

In the living room, it have five chairs, a table, and a buffet.

Incorrect use of the verb*havefor singular subjectit

In the living room, ithasfive chairs, a table, and a buffet.

1

That two bathrooms has something inside.

Incorrect use of*that

for plural subjecttwo bathrooms

Thosetwo bathroomshavesomething inside.

1

Incorrect use of the verb*hasfor plural subjectthat two bathrooms

1

28 No subject-verb agreement error -

-29 No subject-verb agreement error -

-30 In the garden, there’s a tree and some flowers.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

In the garden,there area tree and some flowers.

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering

R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

31 There is a pound in the garden and the beautiful plants such as orchid and rose.

Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

There are a pound in the garden and the beautiful plants such as orchid and rose.

1

32 No subject-verb agreement error -

-33

Me and my family live in a house. Incorrect use of a word

*meas the subject

My family and Ilive in a house. 1

I’m sleep with my younger brother in a blue bedroom.

Incorrect placement

*be

I sleepwith my younger brother in a blue bedroom.

1

My family also had a palm tree and many other plants.

Incorrect tense usage My family also hasa palm tree and many other plants.

1

34 The upstairs for watching television. Missing*beafter the single subject,the upstairs

The upstairsisfor watching television. 1

35

Because there is 2 cars inside there. Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

Because therearetwo cars inside there. 1

I loved spend times in there. Incorrect tense usage Ilovespend times in there. 1

There’s 300 books there. Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

There arethree hundred books there. 1

My house like in paradise. Missing*bebefore the wordlike

My houseislike in paradise. 1

There is new big TV and cupboard. Incorrect*beto show the plural subject

Doc. #

Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Found in Students’ Written Work Brief Errors Analysis Possible Correction

Types of Errors

Omission Addition Misinformation Misordering

R DM SA R Ar-F/

Al-F

36 No subject-verb agreement error -

-37 My garage have advantage for saving a car, 2 motorcycles, and 5 bicycles.

Incorrect use of the verb

*havefor singular subjectmy garage

My garagehasan advantage for saving a car, two motorcycles, and five bicycles.

1

Total Number of Each Type of Errors 20 0 0 1 0 46 0

Total Number of All Errors 67