1. NAME : NURHAFIZAH BINTI AJLAN
MATRIK NO: D20102040807
GROUP : UPSI 01 ( A121PJJ )
LECTURER : DR. NAPISAH BINTI KEPOL
TITLE : GRAMMAR TASK 2
COURSE : BIL3013 – ENGLISH GRAMMAR
SEMESTER : Semester 1 2012/2013
Task 2: Error Analysis (15%)
Type: Individual
This second task requires you to do the following:
• Choose one part of speech.
• Examine the errors that your pupils make when using the part of speech in their
written work. Group the errors into different types.
• Describe each type of error thoroughly. Provide examples of the errors as used by
the pupils. Use your knowledge of the rules of grammar that you have learned in this
course to help you to describe the errors.
• Support your description by referring to at least three books and cite them
properly in your paper.
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2. • In the introduction paragraph, state what level or year your pupils are in.
PARTS OF SPEECH
Parts of speech is one of the important items in English Linguistic which explains the
ways that the words can be used in various contexts. This is because, every word
functions as at least one part of speech which is depending on time and the contexts.
There are eight parts of speech which have their own functions. There are Nouns,
Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions and Interjections. But,
this task is focusing to one of the parts of speech that is ‘Nouns’.
DEFINITON OF NOUNS
A noun is a naming-word which is identifies or denote something. It can be the
person, animals, places, things and abstract ideas. The examples of nouns are :
Names of person : Sally, Jennifer, Brenda, Michael.
Animals : tiger, elephant, cat, bird
Places : house, National Museum, jetty
Things : desk, towel, radio, laptop
Abstract ideas : betrayal, charity, courage, cowardice
COMMON
PROPER ABSTRACT
TYPES OF NOUNS
COLLECTIVE UNCOUNTABLE
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3. COMPOUND COUNTABLE
SIMPLE EXPLANATIONS
A proper noun is the name of one particular person or thing. For example Tony is a
boy’s own special name.
A common noun is a name which is used for things of the same kind or class. For
example, the name girl may be given to any and every girl such as to Sally, Sara, etc.
An abstract noun is the name of quality or condition, that is something that we cannot
see or touch, but it can only think of or feel. For example joy, is something that cannot be
touched or seen.
A collective noun is the name of a number of persons, things which are taken together as
one thing such as family, army, troop etc.
A compound noun is a name which is used more than one noun to form a name, or to
refer to an object or a person. For examples, police station, postman, greenhouse, etc.
A countable noun is something that can be counted and can take on either the singular or
plural form. For example, flower, ruler, bicycle, etc.
An uncountable noun is something that cannot be counted and used in singular form and
also called as ‘Mass noun’. For example, salt, air, creativity, etc.
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4. FORMS OF NOUNS
In English Language, nouns can take on two forms, there are :
a) Singular Nouns – which is used to refer to only one person, animal, object or place.
For examples : a book, a pen, a computer, etc
b) Plural Nouns - which is used to refer to something more than one person, animal,
object or place. For examples, boys, hooks, presents, etc.
Referring to the task given, three passages have been chosen to analyze the errors found from
them. The three passages have been written by the different people. The first passage has been
written by a Year 4 pupil, the second passage has been written by a Form 3 student while the
third passage has been written by a Year 5 pupil.
ERRORS ANALYSIS ( FOCUSING ON NOUNS )
PASSAGE 1
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5. The above passage has been written by a Year 4 pupil in a primary school in Perak. The writer
tells about his trip to Cameron Highlands. According to the passage, he went to Cameron
Highlands on last Sunday with his family.
When we look at the fourth line in the first paragraph, he wrote the word of ‘cars’. It shows the
error of using the plural noun. The correct sentence is ‘My father drove the car within two
hours.’ The singular noun ( car ), should be used as the third line shows the sentence of ‘We go
by car’ which is telling that the writer and his family went to Cameron Highlands by car ( one
car ). So, it is unnecessary to write ‘ cars’ in the fourth line due to the previous details which has
been stated before.
Next error is, the use of the word ‘vegetable’ which can be found in the second paragraph ( on
the fourth line ). ‘Vegetable’ should be written as ‘vegetables’ because there is a word/quantifier
( many ) which is located before the word ‘vegetable’, to show that the next word/noun word
should be in plural form ( plural noun ). And, same goes with the word ‘cabbage’ and
‘cucumber’. They are the examples of vegetables and they should be written in plural nouns too
because they are more than one . For example :
They buy so many vegetable and examples cabbages, cucumber, broccoli and long beans.
( wrong )
They buy so many vegetables such as cabbages, cucumbers, broccoli and long beans. ( right )
The same error has been repeated in the third paragraph ( on the second line ) that is the use of
the word ‘vegetable’ ( singular noun ) which is wrong and should be written in plural noun
( vegetables ) due to above explanations mentioned earlier. And, the writer wrote the word
singular noun that is ‘salad’ which is wrong and should be written in plural form ( salads ).
The confusion between singular and plural nouns ( nouns ) should be taken as a serious problem
because it is part of basic grammar before moving to the next seven parts of speech in English
Language.
We can see so many errors ( the same errors of using the nouns ) in the fourth paragraph on the
fourth line. The sentence is ‘ There, we saw many fresh strawberry which is should be corrected
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6. and written as ‘There, we say many fresh strawberries.’ The next sentence that should be
corrected is ‘The cost of the strawberry is RM30 per kilogram’ which is should be written as ‘
‘The cost of the strawberries is RM30 per kilogram.’ And, next is, ‘We eat a kilo of strawberry’
should be written as ‘We eat a kilo of strawberries’ because a kilo of strawberry refers to
‘collective noun’. A collective noun is the name of a number or collection of persons or things
taken together as one thing. In this situation, a group of fruits has been used that is ‘a kilo of
strawberry’ and it should be written in the right way as ‘ We eat a kilo of strawberries.’
By referring to the last paragraph, the use of word ‘ sourvenir’ is wrong because the next
sentence ( supporting detail ) is stated the examples of sourvenirs that the writer bought from for
his friends such as key chains, bags and blankets. For example, ‘At night, we went to Brinchang
Night Market to buy some sourvenir for my friends’ should be corrected as ‘At night, we went to
Brinchang Night Market to buy some sourvenirs for my friends.’ The word ‘sourvenir’ should be
written as ‘sourvenirs’ because it is supported by the next sentence which shows some of the
sourvenirs bought at the Night Market.
PASSAGE 2
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7. The second passage has been written by a Form 3 student. It shows a lot of errors, but in
different parts of speech. By focusing on ‘nouns, the error can be found from the last paragraph
( paragraph 4 ) which has been written as ‘I get a lot of presented.’ I this situation, the writer tells
that she got a lot of birthday presents . But, the error is, the use of word ‘presented’ in the
sentence. The previous topic sentences are related to the next sentence. For example, the
sentences of :
‘They singing to me a birthday song. I was very happy.’ These two sentences or topic sentences
are connected to the next sentence that is ‘I get a lot of presented’. This is because, after they
sang the birthday song to the writer, the next impact is, the write felt so happy to get a lot of
presents. So, the use of word ‘presented’ should be corrected and written as, ‘I get a lot of
presents.’
PASSAGE 3
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8. This passage ( passage 3 ) has been written by a Year 5 pupil. The writer tells about her favourite
hobby that is ‘cooking.’ Cooking refers to a noun which can be seen but it cannot be counted.
For example, in the first paragraph ( on the second line ), the use of word ‘cookings’ is incorrect
and it should be written as ‘cooking’ because there is no other cooking stated in the sentences
and the word ‘is’ also shows that there is only one definition of cooking. The right sentence
should be written is ‘ Cooking is process of making food by using heat.’
Next error is, the use of word ‘stresses’ in the second paragraph. In this situation, the writer
intends to tell that cooking can release her stress. And, stress is an abstract noun which is
something that we cannot see or touch but we can feel or think of. Stress refers to is a feeling
that's created when we react to particular events. It is one kind of feeling that the human always
feel. So, the right sentence is ‘It also release my stress.’ In addition, the word ‘stresses’ refers to
a verb which is done by singular noun such as people.
Based on the three passages which have been written by different levels of pupils, we could say
that the first common errors done is the use of nouns which is known as the first parts of speech
in English Language. It is one of the main grammar items in constructing sentences.
All the parts of speech need to be learned deeply to provide the essential vocabulary for
discussing grammar and good writing.
REFERENCES
Nandy, M. (2012). ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR EVERYONE. Subang Jaya: Pelanduk
Publication.
Susan, T. (2002). THE ONLY GRAMMAR BOOK YOU’LL EVER NEED. USA: F+W
Media.
Ken, P. (2012). Oxford Living Grammar, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom.
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