Common errors in the use of post determiners among eleventh grade students at doi can high school

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Titles: Common errors in the use of post-determiners among eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School.. 12 CHAPTER TWO: COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF POST-DETER

I am gratefully indebted to the teachers at Doi Can High School, especially Mrs Bui Thi Bich Thao for her help and guidance while I was carrying out the survey

I am also very happy to acknowledge my gratitude to my friends who has encouraged me much and have helped me much with collecting relevant materials

I would like to express my thanks to eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School who have helped me to answer the survey questionnaire and their work is a big contribution to completion of this thesis

Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks to all members in my family who have made it much easier for me to do my research by supporting me with not only finance but also time

ABSTRACT

Post-determiners are known as an interesting category of English grammar which was taught and learned at High School Students often make errors when they use post-determiners Therefore, this research will entail studying the uses of post-determiners and conducting survey for error analysis

Based on the result of the survey, the types of errors and causes have been found Solutions to the problems have been suggested

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Titles: Common errors in the use of post-determiners among eleventh grade

students at Doi Can High School

(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor

of arts in English)

I certify that no part of this report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance from my supervisor

Date submitted: May 2013

Student Supervisor

Nguyen ThiThuy Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLESGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

PART ONE INTRODUCTION I Rationale 1

II Research presupposition 2

III Research objectives 2

IV Research scope 3

V Research tasks 3

VI Research methods 3

VII Significance of the proposed research 3

VIII Design of the research work 4

PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1 Literature review in brief 5

I.2 Determiners 6

I.2.1 Definition 6

I.2.2 Classification 7

I.3 Post-determiners 8

I.3.1 Definition 8

I.3.2 Pre-determiner and post-determiner 9

I.3.3 Types 9

I.3.3.1 Cardinal Numerals 9

I.3.3.2 Ordinal numerals and general ordinals 10

I.3.3.3 Closed – class quantifiers 11

I.3.3.4 Open – class quantifiers 12

CHAPTER TWO: COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF POST-DETERMINERS AMONG ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT DOI CAN HIGH SCHOOL II.1 Survey questionnaire 13

II.1.1 Rationale behind the survey questionnaire 13

II.1.2 Purpose of the survey 14

II.1.3 Population of the survey 14

II.1.4 Type of the survey 14

II.1.5 Construction of the test 14

II.1.6 Preparation of the survey 15

II.1.6.1 Test items 15

II.1.6.2 Arrangement of the test items 15

II.1.7 Administration of the try-out 16

II.1.7.1 Preparation of the try-out 16

II.1.7.2 Try-out 16

II.1.8 Method of data analysis 16

II.1.9 Results of the survey 16

II.2 Common errors and causes 18

II.2.1 Common errors in the use of ordinal numerals with plural count nouns 18

II.2.2 Common errors in the use of cardinal numerals with plural count nouns 18

II.2.3 Common errors in the use of cardinal numeral with mass noun 19

II.2.4 Common errors in the use of cardinal numerals with singular count nouns 20 II.2.5 Common errors in the use of quantifiers with plural count nouns 20

II.2.6 Common errors in the use of ordinal numerals with singular count nouns 21 II.2.7 Common errors in the use of quantifiers with non-count nouns 22

II.3 Suggested solutions and suggested exercises 22

II.3.1 Suggested solutions 22

II.3.2 Suggested exercises 24

PART THREE CONCLUSION CONCLUSION 25

REFERRENCES 27

APPENDICES 28

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 28

SUGGESTED EXERCISES 33

PART ONE INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALE

Language is a very important means of communication in daily human life Human beings use language to express their ideas However, different countries have different languages; it makes difficult for people to get along with each other

In this case, an international language is much needed One of the languages is the English language

English is an international language and it’s used in many fields such as finance and banking; commerce; politics; etc In Vietnam as well as in other countries, the teaching and learning English are now mushrooming English has become a compulsory subject in most schools and universities However, English confronts the learners with a multitude of difficulty because each language has its own feature which is different from that in the learner’s native language The differences in the system of language may bring about learning problems for foreign language learners in general and for Vietnamese students in particular

It is proved that English grammar is complex and often causes embarrassment

to students A mass of supplementary exercise books, grammar books and other learning materials have been compiled to help students study English grammar better But they often make the mistake when doing exercises Post-determiner is one of the grammatical items that students often make errors For example:

…….customers have come into the shop It has been quiet (Few / little)

In this case, students wavered between two opinions They can’t distinguish the use of post-determiners with plural, singular count nouns or with non-count nouns

Moreover, with the aims of helping students of English to overcome these difficulties as well as a prospective teacher, I would like to make a contribution to

the English teaching in Vietnam For these reasons above, this study is conducted with the aim of focusing on errors related to the use of post-determiners among eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School

II RESEARCH PRESUPPOSITION

With the typical error quoted above The answer must be “few”

Few customers have come into the shop It has been quite

Some questions are raised:

1 What kinds of errors are made by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School in the academic year 2013/2014?

2 What kinds of error in the use of post-determiners is the most often made

by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School in the academic year 2013/2014?

3 What are the causes of the errors in the use of post-determiners made by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School in the academic year 2013/2014?

Based on these questions about, I am eager to learn about the problems and make an error analysis in post-determiners so that the major errors related to the use of post-determiners may be found

III RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The study aimed at the following goals:

1 To find out kinds of errors in the use of post-determiners made by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School?

2 To find out kinds of errors in the use of post-determiners most often made

by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School in the academic year 2013/2014

3 To find out the causes and the errors in the use of post-determiners made

by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School in the academic year 2013/2014

IV RESEARCH SCOPE

The general research of this study is grammar:The phenomenon is errors in the use of post-determiners made by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School Others relating to the postdeterminers are also briefly mentioned

The population involved in the study is one hundred students in eleventh grade at Doi Can High School

V RESEARCH TASK

The study involves fulfilling the following tasks:

1 To study types of post-determiners

2 To research into the uses of post-determiners

3 To conduct a survey to find out error types and causes On the basic of the findings, possible solutions to the problems are sought to minimize the students’ errors

VI RESEARCH METHODS

To achieve the objectives of the study, the following methods have been applied:

1 Collecting documents from books listed in the references

2 Consulting with the supervisor, experienced teachers and friends

3 Synthesizing theoretical documents on English grammar

4 Conducting a survey and analyzing the results

VII SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH

Errors in any language teaching and learning, particularly in English as a foreign language, are sometimes predictable and sometimes unpredictable It is, therefore, essential for teachers to have better treatment to anticipate errors After the research, it is hoped that the result will be helpful to provide:

1 Input for learners of English in order to minimize their errors related to the use of post-determiners

2 Input for teachers of English with information on error types and solutions

to the problems so that they can have good methods of teaching the determiners

This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in the determiner in English

post-VIII DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK

The research work has three main parts, namely: introduction, development and conclusion The part “ Development” consists three chapters Chapter one is entitled “theoretical background” It consists two sections Section one reviews literature in brief The second one deals with things related to determiners The last one focuses on post-determiners in definition, types and uses

Chapter two is named “Common errors in the use of post-determiners among eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School” It has three sections Section one

is devoted to the survey The second one deals with error types and causes The last one is on solutions to the problems and suggested exercises on the post-determiners

PART TWO DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I.1 LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF

Post-determiner is a universal phenomenon in linguistics It has been described by many grammarians like Randolph Quirk (1985), Reginald Arthur Close (1979), Ron Cowan (2008), Marting Hewing (1999), Sidney Greenbaum, Randolph Quirk (1976) and so on They each have their own way to describe the post-determiner Generally, they focus their attention on the definition, classification and uses of post-determiners

Ron Cowan (2008) in the book The Teacher’s Grammar of English refers to

post-determiners in its definition and types According to him, post-determiners

include: quantifiers (many, much, a little….), cardinal numbers (one, two….), ordinal numbers (first, second, another… ) and partitives (glass / bottle / jar of…) Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum (1976) in the book A University Grammar of English refer to post-determiners in term of its definition,

classification and the uses of each type He said that post-determiners have three main types: cardinal numerals, ordinal numerals and general ordinals and quantifiers

In the book Advanced Grammar in Use, Martin Hewing (1990) focuses his

attention on describing only one type of post-determiner He gives a full understand about quantifiers

Reginald Arthur Close, Louis George Alexander (1979) in the book A Reference Grammar for Students of English deal with post-determiners in the use

of numerals and quantifiers

In the book A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Randolph

Quirk (1985) gives an understanding about post-determiners in terms of definition, classification and uses He defined post-determiners base on the position of post-determiners in the sentence He classified post-determiners into four main types: cardinal numerals, ordinal numerals and general ordinals, closed-class quantifiers, open-class quantifiers

Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum (1990), in the book A Student’s Grammar of the English Language points out some issues related to post-

determiners such as its types and uses

In short, many researches have been conducted on post-determiners in English However, there is no research that has focus on errors in using post-determiners In fact, there are many errors that learners of English often made when they use post-determiners in learning and communicating Therefore, it is essential to have a comprehensive study on common errors related to the use of post-determiners

I.2 DETERMINERS

I.2.1 Definition

According to Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum (1985) in the book A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, determiner is the items which

occur before the noun acting as head of the noun phrase

For example: Both the beggars are sitting at the door

I haven’t got enough tools to do the job

I want to interview every student individually

Ron Cowan (2008) in the book The Teacher’s Grammar of English also

defined:” Determiners are words that precede head nouns in a noun phrase”

For example: I want that book not this one

Howard Sargeant in the book Basic English Grammar claimed that:”

Determiners are special adjectives used before nouns” For examples:

John is reading a book

That animal is making a funny

All children seem to like chocolate

I.2.2 Types of determiner

In the book Basic English Grammar, the author classified determiners into six kinds They are articles, demonstrative determiners, quantifying determiners, interrogative determiners, possessive determiners and numerals

For examples: You’ll need a ruler and a pencil (Articles)

This car belongs to my mom (Demonstrative determiners)

I have fewer CDs than you (Quantifying determiners)

Which boy is your brother? (Interrogative determiners)

I gave my sandwich to John (Possessive determiners)

Our family has two dogs (Numerals)

Ron Cowan (2008) in the book The Teacher’s Grammar of English classified

determiners based on the “relative order of occurrence of determiners within a

noun phrase” Thus, he classified into three categories predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers According to him, pre-determiners include:

quantifiers (all, both, and each), multipliers, fractions For examples:

Both sisters wanted to go (Quantifiers)

We stopped once every mile (Multipliers)

He did it in one-third the time it took me (Fractions)

Post-determiners consist: quantifiers (much, many, few, a little, less, least, more, most), cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, partitives Examples:

I bought three ties and one shirt (Cardinal numbers)

The last band to perform was definitely the best (Ordinal numbers)

I’ll have a glass of water (Partitives)

I’ll have two pieces of pie (Cardinal numbers)

Central determiners involve: quantifiers (any, every, and some); articles (a,

an, the); possessive determiners (my, your, our…); nouns as possessive determiners (John’s, Anne’s….) and demonstrative determiners (this, that…) For instance:

Some birds cannot fly (Quantifiers)

He met a woman (Articles)

Anne’s car is older than Jessica’s car (Nouns as possessive determiners) That’s her book (Demonstrative determiners)

Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum (1985) in the book A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language stated that “the three classes of determiners

have been set up on the basic of their position in the noun phrase in relation to each

other” Three classes are predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers

For examples:

You can part on either side (Central determiners)

What’s a pity! (Pre-determiners)

Both students were excellent (Pre-determiners)

We stopped one every mile (Post-determiners)

I.3 POSTDETERMINERS

I.3.1 Definition

Post-determiners, according to Sidney Greenbaum, Randolph Quirk (1990) in

the book A Student’s Grammar of the English Language refer to the items which

take their place immediately after determiners

For example: All three passengers are still missing

In the book A University Grammar of English, Randolph Quirk defined

post-determiner is “items which must follow post-determiners but precede adjectives in the premodification structure”

For example: The first three planes were American

I.3.2 Pre-determiner and post-determiner

Pre-determiners can occur only before articles or demonstratives all the meat, all the students ( Randolph Quirk, 1976)

Quirk (1985) said that central determiners may be surrounded by a determiner or a post-determiner

pre-Pre-determiner often occur before certain central determiners all the girls, twice my salary, one-third the time However, post-determiner always follows central determiners or pre-determiners my three children, the first day

I.3.3 Types of postdeterminers

I.3.3.1 Cardinal numerals

Cardinal numerals, according to John Sinclair (1990), are used to “indicate how many things you are referring to”

For examples: There was the only one gate into the palace

In the sentence, cardinal numerals often stand before the noun and after the determiner

For example: All three candidates are coming to Blackpool later this week

Cardinal numerals can occur with plural count nouns (two, three, four, etc ) except one One only occurs with singular count nouns

Examples: He has written another two novels

I am going to ask you only one question

Moreover, Reginald Arthur Close, Louis George Alexander (1979) stated that cardinal numerals can use with a mass noun

Examples: She bought twenty bottles of milk

She eats six loaves of bread

Furthermore, cardinal numerals can function as pronouns or labels

For examples: The best thirty have the potential tobe successful journalists

Number eleven Downing Street

By adding “of” after the cardinal numerals, it can be used as quantifiers In

this case, we use cardinal numeral to “emphasize that you are talking about a part

or all of a group” (Collins Cobiuld English Grammar)

For instance: I saw four of these programmes

Three of the questions today have been about expressions

In addition, cardinal numerals can use with time expression such as “month”,

“year” when using cardinal numerals with time expression, it means that you

want to “describe something by saying how long its last” (John Sinclair, 1990) For example: On Friday, she had been given two week’s notice

I.3.3.2 Ordinal numerals and general ordinals

Ron Cowan (2008) claimed that “ordianl numbers generally have a one – to –

one relation to cardinal numbers, that is, the ordinal first corresponds to the cardinal one, second corresponds to two and so on”

For example: They stopped at the first tree

Flora’s flat is on the fourth floor of this five – storey block

Generally, ordinal numbers cooccur with singular count nouns

Examples: The ticket will go to the tenth caller

However, when it is preceded by a cardinal number, ordinal number can occur with plural count nouns

Such as: The first three boys were obviously not trying

Words like next, last, previous are used freely before or after cardinal

numbers and often use with plural count nouns

Examples: The last two years have been very successful

He has written two previous novels

Or: He has written two further novels

I.3.3.3 Closed – class quantifiers

According to Randolph Quirk (1976) closed – class quantifiers include two groups The first group is the words that can occur with plural count nouns and the second one only occur with non-count nouns

Many, few, a few, several only occur with plural count nouns (A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language)

For examples: There aren’t many portraits of Shakespeare

This is a very modern city There are few old buildings

Several is rarely preceded by a determiner

Several friends went with me

A few children are absent today

Although few and a few can occur with plural count nouns, few is used to express negative ideas and a few expresses positive ideas (Raymond Murphy) Much, a little, little only occur with non-count nouns

Examples: We’ll have to hurry We haven’t got much time

The weather has been very dry recently We’ve had little rain

Listen carefully I’m going to give you a little advice

Similar to few, a few, a little is used to express a positive idea and little

expresses negative idea

“Few, little, much, many are gradable, and also have comparative and

superlative forms” (Randolph Quirk, 1985)

Further examples: There were fewer people today than yesterday

Harry made the fewest mistakes

Please make less noise

George gives me the least trouble

George did more work than anyone else

Or: George did more exercises than anyone else

She did the most exercises

Or: She did the most work

I.3.3.4 Open – class quantifiers

Randolph Quirk (1985) stated that “most of open - class quantifiers consist of

a noun of quantity lot, deal, amount, etc followed by of and often preceded by the

You need a lot of/ lots of money to travel around the world

I don’t know a lot of/ lots of people in this town

However, many words like a great deal of, a large amount of… are restricted

to use only with non-count nouns

Examples: I have thrown a large amount of old clothing

Mr Lucas has spent a great deal of time in Far East

Others like a great number of, a large number of…can only occur with plural

count nouns

Examples: She taught a great number of students

We bought a large number of cards

PART TWO COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF POST-DETERMINERS AMONG THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT DOI CAN HIGH SCHOOL

This chapter presents the findings of the practical research with the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School It falls into three sections Section II.1 deals with survey questionnaire which was designed to map out some common errors made by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School Section II.2 presents common errors and causes Section II.3 provides students and teachers with some suggested solution to minimize the errors related to the use of post-determiners

II.1 Survey questionnaire

As it was mentioned above, the study does help students have deep insight into the post-determiner in English Moreover, the study also points out some difficulties, especially some errors that students usually make Making errors in the use of post-determiners is unavoidable at all educational levels However, due to the framework of a thesis, this thesis is only focused on common errors in the use

of post-determiners by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School A survey questionnaire was conducted to find out the errors of students

II.1.1 Rationale behind the survey questionnaire

Survey questionnaire was chosen for the study because of four main reasons Firstly, it is believed that it is an inexpensive way to gather data from a potentially large number of respondents Secondly, it can reach a large number of people in a very short time As it is in the case, with the students in Doi Can High School, a survey questionnaire was designed to find out the common errors in the use of post-determiners in English made by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School in the school year of 2013/2014

Another advantage of this tool is that the collected data are relatively easy to summarize and report as all the informants answer the same questions Last but not least, one of the most important reasons to choose this tool is that the survey questionnaire gives the students an opportunity to express their answers without fear of either being embarrassed or being punished Students are not required to write their names when answering questions because traditionally Vietnamese students are afraid of being judged by the teachers and making the names known II.1.2 Purpose of the survey

The overall objectives of the survey questionnaire are to test students’ understanding of post-determiners and find out common errors made by the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School in the year 2013/2014

II.1.3 Population of the survey

The number of students participating in the survey questionnaire is one hundred in the eleventh grade students at Doi Can High School They have to learn English as a compulsory subject Most of them have been learning English for six years Some have learnt English for eight years Therefore, the expected English level among them is intermediate Naturally, they have been taught uses of post-determiners Some of them are really good at grammar but some of them are bad in grammar in general and post-determiners in particular

II.1.4 Type of the survey

To collect data, a completion test was used It involves such activities as choosing correct answer, choosing suitable word to fill in blank

II.1.5 Construction of the survey

The material in use in the test was taken from grammar books concerned with post-determiners The exercises in the survey are made to find out how much students have known and mastered post-determiners This survey has three exercises

1 Exercise 1: Choose the most suitable option to complete the sentences

2 Exercise 2: Choose the suitable word to fill in the blank

3 Exercise 3: Which word A, B, C, or D is not true?

II.1.6 Preparation of the survey

II.1.6.1.Test items

There are many possible errors in the use of post-determiners that a survey cannot find out Thus, it is necessary to predict possible errors and include them in the survey In this survey, possible errors were classified into the following categories

1 Errors in the use of cardinal numerals with singular count nouns

2 Errors in the use of cardinal numerals with plural count nouns

3 Errors in the use of cardinal numerals with mass noun

4 Errors in the use of ordinal numerals with singular count nouns

5 Errors in the use of ordinal numerals with plural count nouns

6 Errors in the use of quantifiers with plural count nouns

7 Errors in the use of quantifiers with non-count nouns

II.1.6.2 Arrangement of the survey

After being classified, the test items were arranged into the following numbers:

1 Test on the use of cardinal numerals with singular count nouns, numbers 1,

15, 38

2 Test on the use of cardinal numerals with plural count nouns, numbers 2,

22, 36

3 Test on the use of cardinal numerals with mass noun, numbers 3, 17, 21

4 Test on the use of ordinal numerals with singular count nouns, numbers 7,

16, 34, 35, 37

5 Test on the use of ordinal numerals with plural count nouns, numbers 4, 5,

19, 23