Identifying common errorss in written english of students of english at the intermediate level

In fact, many students find it verydifficult to be good at written English and make a lot of mistakes and errors in this aspect.. Subjects of the study are a group of eighty students of

Part I: introduction1.rationale for the study

Since Vietnam started its “open door” policy, English has gainednational significance And as the government has stressed the importance ofEnglish, it will play a crucial role in the country’s drive to modernize As aresult, English has rapidly become the most popular foreign languageamong Vietnamese people Foreign language schools and centers havemushroomed and provided English classes at all hour of days, catering toall kinds of learners with a variety of learning purposes

Nowadays, English becomes one of the main subjects taught in most

of schools and universities However, learning English well is not easy,especially its writing aspect A majority of students have been aware of theimportance of writing skill To them, writing is useful not only in reference

to their future job, but also because it helps them improve the other skillsand grammar and enriches their vocabulary Writing has been supposed animportant key to exploring English culture, customs and lifestyles

Nevertheless, writing has long been considered as a difficult andboring subject by many second language learners It takes much time andenergy to make progress in this skill In fact, many students find it verydifficult to be good at written English and make a lot of mistakes and errors

in this aspect We want to do something to help them overcome thisproblem and avoid a habit of making common written English errors That

is why, what we want to do in this thesis is that

Firstly, we give some ideas about students’ errors in learning writtenEnglish

Secondly, we would like to look at the fact of errors in this aspect inorder to have a clear knowledge of the rate of errors in each category

Thirdly, we give out some suggestions to reduce and prevent theseerrors, with the hope that they will be useful to the teachers and students ofEnglish to deal with this problem

Finally, we consider this study as a good chance to improve writtenEnglish and get some useful experiences for our teaching job in the future

2 aims and subjects of the study

The study reported in this thesis aimed to:

- help students see clearly their errors in written English From this,they can overcome their problem

- help teachers of English aware of and have positive attitudes towardstudents’ errors in written English.

- show a range of suggestions to reduce, prevent and correct writtenwork for students in general, and especially for students of English at theintermediate level in particular

- help us widen our knowledge of English

Subjects of the study are a group of eighty students of English at theintermediate level of Foreign Language Department at Vinh University

3 scopes of the study

Within the limitation of a graduation thesis, we would like to deal withcommon written English errors, mostly about the errors in writing sentencethat students of English at the intermediate level usually make The survey iscarried out at Foreign Language Department in Vinh University

4 methods of the study

- Collecting materials and information

- Analytic and synthetic method

- Descriptive method

- Statisting and classifying

5 design of the study

Except the acknowledgements, the table of contents and the references

as well as the appendix, this thesis consists of 3 main parts

Part I: IntroductionThis is an introductory part in which we present the rationale, aims,scopes, methods and design of the study

Part II: ContentThis part consists of 3 chapters Chapter 1 deals with the theoreticalbackground Chapter 2 is about the study and presentation of commonwritten English errors of students of English at the intermediate level Thedescription of research and subjects will be presented in this chapter Then,the results and findings of the study will be also presented and discussed.Chapter 3 gives out the suggestions and implications

Part III: ConclusionThe final part will conclude what has been discussed in the contents ofthe thesis, point out the limitations of the study and give some suggestionsfor further research

Part II: content

Chapter 1 theoretical background

1.1.the overview of writing

1.1.1 The nature of writing.

As the language instruction progresses, writing is generally the lastskill to receive intensive attention after listening, speaking and reading Thepurpose of writing, in principle, is the expression of ideas and the conveying

of a message to the reader That is why, writing is considered as a means ofcommunication So, we cannot neglect the important role of writing inlearning a language

According to Halliday (1989: 39), “ writing evolves in response toneeds that arise as a result of cultural change The particular circumstanceled to the development of writing” He speculates that with the emergence ofculture based on agriculture rather than hunting and gathering, a spokenlanguage was no longer enough So, language had to be reduced to a formwhich could be referred to over and over again This was an initial stimulusfor emergence of a new form of language: Writing Obviously, thedevelopment of writing is original from the factual needs It naturallyappears as a form to meet people’s communicative demands

Halliday also divided writing into 3 primary types:

For activities: This type including the writings such as public signs onroads and stations, product label and instructions and personalcorrespondences: letters, postcards …ect This one is used to serve theect This one is used to serve thepractical daily life, materials, machinery …ect This one is used to serve theect

For information: People can get information from this type of writing

It is involved in newspapers and current affairs magazines; non-fictionbooks; public notices…ect This one is used to serve the

For entertainment: we can see this type in light magazines, comicstrips, fiction books, poetry and drama, newspaper features, film subtitles,games…ect This one is used to serve theThrough this one we can entertain ourselves

Basing on those types mentioned above, we can classify the writinginto two trends: functional and unfunctional Functional writing may be abusiness technical, scientific or administrative writing While essay, fictionand short composition are not functional because the users do not reallyknow the reason why the author creates his works However, both of them,

functional or unfunctional writing, are very popular in daily life and servecertain purposes

Nowadays, we are so surrounded by written language that we canhardly conceive of life without it This means the need for communicationthrough written language is very high And we think that when learning in aninnovative way, we can feel writing communicative and interesting

Successful writing involves developing:

- the ability to identify and write accurately the alphabet

- mastery of doing many kinds of writing exercises

- skill in expressing ideas smoothly

- skill in management of writing activities

- skill to use words, phrases and structures

- skill in knowing about and negotiating for writing task

( Halliday, 1989: 40)

1.1.2 The relationship between writing skill and other skills

As we know that a child first learns to practise language through theskill of listening Later he uses language by speaking combined withlistening When school begins, he learns skills of reading and writing Thus,

to achieve a language, we cannot separate the 4 major and necessary skills:Listening, speaking, reading and writing Rod and Carol Forseth (34)presents a diagram:

Receptive skills Productive skillsListening SpeakingOral skills

Reading WritingLiteracy skills

According to this view, the first two skills, listening and speaking arecalled the oral skills The last two skills, reading and writing are called theliteracy skills We also can say that writing and speaking are said to be theproductive skills whereas listening and reading are said to be the receptiveones In conversation, when one person is speaking, another is listening.After listening, the hearer responds by speaking While they are listening,they may also be writing notes or reading a handout Obviously, all of theseskills are related to each other and used in coordination in language use

Reading and writing can integrate each other Through reading,learners not only get a lot of background information but also learn stock ofvocabulary, structure and grammar …ect This one is used to serve theect And like a nature matter, hegradually produces the language with the help of these appeared in his mind.

As for speaking and writing, speaking ability can be transferred towriting ability basing on process of selecting the content, choosing the rightwords and sentences of learners to express their ideas, opinions and feeling

on the contrary, writing ability can improve and boost speaking ability

The purpose of listening is to comprehend The ability to understandthe content of spoken form could therefore be transferred to anunderstanding of the content of written form and vise versa

After all, the skills of listening, speaking and reading will helplearners a lot in writing and make their writing more correct and fluent.Thus, to be master of a language, we should pay attention to 4 skills oflanguage

1.2 Factors affecting second language learning

There have been many books discussing about factors which affectsecond language learning And basing on the collection from these books’ideas, we can see that these factors consist of both internal and external ones

1.2.1 External factors

1.2.1.1 First language

All second language learners have already acquired their firstlanguage This helps them have ideas of how language works and form thehabit of learning it Learners start off with the habits associated with the firstlanguage These habits interfere with those needed for second one Inlearning process, the learners can base on what they have learnt in their firstlanguage to learn a second language Where there are similarities betweentwo languages, they will acquire target language structures with ease.However, where there are differences, the learners will have difficulty anderrors may happen For instance:

In English, pronoun direct objects come after the verb so people write

“The dog eats it” However, in French, pronoun direct objects precede the verb so people write “ Le chien le mange” As a result, a native speaker of English might produce the sentence “ Le chien mange le” when learning French And a native speaker of French might write “ The dog it eats” when

learning English This shows that first language actually influences to secondlanguage acquisition of the learners.

1.2.1.2 The language environment

No one can deny the great effect of language environment on foreignlanguage learning Adrian Doff (1989: 222) emphasized that “ if the teacheruses English most of the time, it will give students practice in listening andresponding to spoken English This will help them “ pick up” words andexpressions beyond the language of the textbook Besides, if the teacheruses English to say real things to the class, it will give students the feelingthat English is a real language which is used for communication, and not just

a language that belongs to the textbook” Clearly, using second languagefrequently in class not only forces learners to learn it but also forms theirhabit of using their second language

Moreover, the popular using of foreign language as English in manyaspects of life such as internet, job interviews, workshops, traveling andeconomy…ect This one is used to serve theect, helps the learners identify the importance of foreignlanguage From this, they are motivated to learn it so that they can take part

in those aspects in the future

To sum up, language environment, inside classroom or outsideclassroom, plays an important role in encouraging the learners to learnlanguage It helps the learners practise their second language frequently and

motivates them to acquire it as well

1.2.2 Internal factors

Internal factors affecting second language learning here are thelearners’ personal characteristics which lead to more or less successfullanguage learning According to Pasty Lightbown and Spada (1999: 52),these characteristics can be classified into: intelligence, aptitude, personality,motivation and attitudes, learning style, and age of acquisition

1.2.2.1 Intelligence

According to Rod Ellis (1994: 23)“ Intelligence refers to abilities tomaster and use a whole range of academic skills” Over the years, manystudies using a variety of IQ tests and different methods of assessinglanguage learning have found that intelligence levels were a good means ofpredicting how successful a learner would be at language learning.Furthermore, some recent studies have shown that intelligence may be morestrongly related to certain kinds of second language abilities than others For

example, in a study with French immersion children in Canada, it was foundthat while intelligence was related to the development French secondlanguage reading, grammar and vocabulary, it was unrelated to oralproductive skills ( Genesse, 1976)

Similar findings have been reported in other studies where intelligencewas highly related to performance in reading, dictation, and writing tasks,but not on listening comprehension and free oral production skills.Intelligence seems to be a strong factor when it comes to learning secondlanguage in classroom, particularly, if the construction is formal However,intelligence may play a less important role when the classroom instruction isless formal

1.2.2.2 Aptitude

Aptitude is innate or inborn ability to learn a language As for Longman dictationary of Applied linguistic by Richard (1992: 57), “ languageaptitude is thought to be a combination of various abilities such as the ability

to identify sound patterns in a new language, the ability to recognize thedifferent grammatical functions of words in sentences, ROTE- LEARNINGability, and the ability to infer language rules A person with high languageaptitude can learn more quickly and easily than a person with low languageaptitude, all other factors being equal ” It is thought that learners will bemore successful if they have these abilities Lorraine Obler (1989) reportedthat a man, a native speaker of English, called CJ has such a specializedability in learning language He can learn quickly and easily many languagessuch as German, Spanish, Latin, Italian and French in a short time

Aptitude is easily shown in formal setting where learners express andshare their opinions

1.2.2.3 Personality

Two aspects of personality which have been studied are extroversionand inhibition Success in learning language is highly related to extroversion.And inhibition is considered as a negative force in language learning processbecause it discourages risk- taking which is necessary for this process.Besides, some other characteristics such as self – esteem, sympathy,dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness also have great effect onsecond language acquisition These characteristics seem to be a major factoronly in acquisition of communicative competence However, manyresearchers believe that personality will be shown to have an important

influence on success in language learning when it combines with otherfactors.

1.2.2.4 Motivation and attitudes

Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon,which can be defined in term of two factors: learners’ communicative needsand the attitudes towards the second language community If learners want tofulfill their purpose, they will perceive the communicative value of thesecond language and will therefore be motivated to acquire proficiency in it.What is more, when learners are highly motivated, they will form positiveattitudes toward second language learning This shows that motivation andpositive attitudes is a key to success in second language learning

Gardner (1985) also defined motivation in terms of L2 learners’overall goal or orientation, and attitude as the persistence shown by thelearners in striving for a goal Attitudes are related to motivation by serving

as supports of the learners’ overall orientation Motivation can be classifiedinto instrumental motivation and integrative motivation Learners withinstrumental motivation is more interested in how second language can be auseful instrument toward furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessaryqualification or improving employment prospects And learners withintegrative motivation are more active in class and less likely drop out

It is believed that learners will be more successful if they are givenfreedom to choose their preferred way of learning and they will do betterthan those who find themselves forced to learn in environments where alearning style which does not suit them is imposed as the only way to learn

1.2.2.6 Age of acquisition

Another internal factor affecting second language learning is age.Many studies have shown that there are differences between adult learners

and young learners That is, adult learners recognize similarities anddifferences as well They think flexibly and have experience of the world andcognitive skill…ect This one is used to serve theThus, they learn a new language with clear purposes On thecontrary, children see only similarities, lack flexible thinking, and have noexperience and no linguistic knowledge So, for them, language is a tool forexpressing meaning As Halliday (1973: 98) pointed out: the young childresponds not so much to what language is as to what it does It is possiblethat age different in second language acquisition can be explained in terms

of the different orientation to language of children and older learners.Besides, children and adult learners also differ from learning conditions Thefact shows that children have more time and more opportunities to learnlanguage than adults ( D A Wilkins, 1975: 185)

1.3 Errors in language learning process.

1.3.1.The notion of error

According to Richard (1992: 95), error is the use of a linguistic item inthe speech or writing of a second or foreign language learner, such as agrammatical item, a speech act…ect This one is used to serve theect in a way which a fluent or native speaker

of language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning Error is theresults of incomplete knowledge

For Dulay et Al (1982: 138), errors are understood as “ the flawed side

of learner speech and writing, those parts of conversation or composition thatdeviate from some selected norms” ( James Carl, Errors in Language learningand use, 1998)

Or for Corder (1967: 122), error is either superficially deviant orinappropriate in items of the target language

1.3.2 Error versus mistake

Error and mistake are two terms that we usually use to identify thefaulty of students in learning a foreign language However, there is adistinction between them, and there are many different ideas about this

Corder (1967: 167) associates errors with failures in competence andmistakes with failures in performance Mistakes are of no significance to theprocess of language learning since they do not reflect a defect in ourknowledge, but are traceable to performance failure The learner is normallyimmediately aware of them (P Hubbard, 1987: 46)

Or for Ellis (1994: 51), “ Errors reflect gaps in a learner’ s knowledge,they occur because the learner does not know what is correct Mistakes reflect

occasional lapses in performance, they occur because, in a particular instance,the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows”

According to Ron and Carol Forseth (160), some language teachersmake a distinction between mistakes and errors That is a mistake issomething the student says or writes incorrectly but usually producescorrectly Mistakes, unless they are not repeated often, do not need to becorrected Students will correct their own mistakes over time

e.g: * They is my friends.

(The student knows and usually says ‘They are my friends’)

An error, on the other hand, is an inappropriate use of language whichthe student is not aware of

* He gived me some candy (gave)

* The policeman said the man to stand up (told)

If errors are caused by lack of knowledge, mistakes are caused by lack

of intention, fatigue and carelessness Thus, while teachers do not usuallyneed to correct mistakes, errors are more serious, especially errors withlanguage already learnt in class If these errors continually go uncorrected,students may develop bad habits that will be hard to break

Therefore, it is very important to study errors analysis and use it inlearning a second language, especially, in dealing with error problems.Because it helps us not only find out causes of learners’ committed errors butalso know difficulties that second language learners meet

Error analysis, according to Richard (1992: 96), is the study andanalysis of the errors made by second or foreign language learners Erroranalysis may be carried out in order to:

* find down how well someone knows a language

* find down how a person learns a language

* obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as anaid in teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials

1.3.4 Causes of errors

There are many causes leading to errors in foreign language learning.Richard (1974: 174) suggested that errors produced by learners can beinterlingual, intralingual and developmental errors

The interlingual errors are errors caused by the interference of thelearner’s mother tongue

The intralingual errors are those which reflect the generalcharacteristics of rule learning, such as faulty generalization, incompleteapplication of rules and failure to learn condition under which rules apply

And the developmental errors illustrate the learner attempting to build

up hypotheses about the English language from his limited experience of it inthe classroom or textbooks

He claims that there are 5 main causes of errors:

1.3.4.1 Mother tongue interference

Mother tongue or first language, which we have discussed above(Factors affecting language learning process), has great effect on secondlanguage learning However, it is also the major cause leading to errors

Although young children appear to be able to learn a foreign languagequite easily and to reproduce new sounds very effectively, most older learnersexperience considerable difficulty The sound system (phonology) and thegrammar of the first language impose themselves on the new language andthis leads to the wrong choice of vocabulary and grammatical patterns

e.g : * The bird is on the tree.

* John is ill for four days.

These sentences were clearly translated from the learner’ s ownlanguage He used the features of his previous mother tongue experience inhis attempts to write in the foreign language Thus, the learner has committederror since the correct sentences must be:

- The bird is in the tree.

- John has been ill for four days.

For Lado (1957: 2), “Individual transfers the forms and meanings andthe distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture toforeign language and culture” In the case that both L1 and L2 are similar, thelearner benefits from their positive transfer However, if there are differencesbetween the two languages, he is encumbered by negative transfer orinterference And errors are generated from negative transfer (James Carl,1998: 179)

1.3.4.2 Over – generalization

The mentalist theory claims that errors are inevitable because theyreflect various stages in the language development of the learner This claimsthat the learner processes new language data in his mind and produces rulesfor its production, based on the evidence Where the data are inadequate, orthe evidence only partial, such rules may well produce the following patterns:

Where you went yesterday?

Where you did go yesterday?

She drinked all the lemonade.

Jakbovits defines overgeneralization as “ the use of previously availablestrategies in new situation…ect This one is used to serve thein second language learning…ect This one is used to serve thesome of thesestrategies will prove helpful in organizing the facts about the secondlanguage, but others, perhaps due to superficial similarities, will be misleadingand inapplicable.” Overgeneralization covers instances where learners create adeviant structure on the basic of their experience of other structures in thetarget language

e.g : *It is occurs.

*We are not work.

1.3.4.3 Ignorance of rule restriction

Closely related to the generalization of deviant structures is failure oflearners to observe the restrictions of existing structure That is, theapplication of rules to contexts where they do not apply Ignorance of rulerestrictions since the learner is making use of a previously acquired rule in anew situation

e.g : The man who I saw him‘ ’ violates the limitation on subject in

structure with who.

Some rule restrictions errors may be accounted for in terms of analogy or may result from the rote learning of rules Analogy seems to be a major factor in the misuse of

prepositions The learner attempts by analogy to use the same preposition with similar verbs

He show me the book. (leads to ) He explained me the book Ask him to do it. (produces) Make him to do it.

1.3.4.4 Incomplete application of rules.

This is converse of overgeneralization One might call itundergeneralization

e.g : Nobody knew where was Barbie ( Barbie was)

Here the learners have applied only two components of the interrogativeformation rule: they have selected and fronted a wh- element, but haveomitted to invert subject and verb

Richard also illustrated errors caused by incomplete application of rules:

What does she tell him? She tell him to hurry

Will they soon be ready? Yes, they soon be ready

Incomplete application of rules involves a failure to learn the morecomplex types of structure because the learner finds he can achieve effectivecommunication by using relative simple rules

1.3.4.5 False concepts hypothesized.

This belongs to developmental errors which derive from faultycomprehension of distinctions in the target language These are sometimesdue to poor gradation of teaching items

e.g : * He is speaks French

‘ ’ interpreted as a marker of the past tense

Richard has traced errors of this sort to classroom presentation, and topresentation which is based on contrastive analysis of English and anotherlanguage or on contrasts within English itself

e.g : many students can not distinguish between too and so, as a result,

they make errors when using them

* Honey is too much sweet.

Honey is so much sweet.

Chapter 2: the study2.1 research design

Research design is a work to test the students’ level and to find outtheir errors in written work of foreign language learning This research tookplace while the researcher was learning the seventh term of senior student atVinh University, and it was carried out at Foreign Language Department.Basing on the writing textbook of first year students of English at theintermediate level and prediction of some errors through the students’writing exercises, we have given many types of questionnaires in order tocollect data for the study

Types of questionnaires

Test 1: I Translate some sentences into English.

II Combine each pairs of sentences to form one sentence III Rewrite some sentences, beginning with the words given

IV Write the full sentence, using suggested words

Test 2: Write a paragraph about 25 sentences to describe your

hometown

With the translation task, the author just wants to focus ongrammatical and vocabulary errors These questionnaires (presented in theappendix) intend to find out what common written errors students of English

at the intermediate level commit and what the sources of the errors might be.From that, we can find out some solutions to this problem

2.2 description of subjects

The subjects of the study are a group of 80 junior students and in theirintermediate level of English for the academic year of 2005- 2006.They areall Vietnamese native speakers Their mother tongue, Vietnamese, was themedium of instruction throughout their past studies They are approximately

of the same chronological age, having the same knowledge of English Most

of them have been studying English at least 3 years They are supposed tohave two 45 minute periods of writing a week Thus, this group of studentsare believed to be qualified enough to do the survey task

2.3 Test setting

The two tests were carried out in 2 periods in classrooms and underthe researcher’s supervision The time allowance for doing test 1 was 45

minutes plus 30 minutes for the test 2 The students did their tests on theirown without discussing and using reference book or dictionary

2.4 Result of the study and presentation of common errors in

written English of students of English at the intermediate level.

The data obtained from 20 questions that 80 junior students wereasked to answer in written form, reflected a sample of the subjects’performance in English The students’ works were corrected and evaluated.And what we got from their performance are the common English writtenerrors that they usually make in their writing Since the students wereconscious of the importance of doing well in the tests, they tried their best tofinish them However, the limitation of time (one hour and 15 minutes)might have decreased the impact of revision and monitoring to some extent.The data was analyzed, then we summed up all of the students’ errors andclassified them into 4 main types of errors as follow:

GrammarPunctuationVocabularySpelling

820345300135

2.4.1.1 Grammatical errors

Grammar is the most complex category in learning language ingeneral and a foreign language in particular It consists of a lot of smallcategories which make students find it difficult to distinguish the use of eachone.

The finding shows that the students’ performance on grammar is51.25% This is an evidence of effectiveness of Error Analysis in identifyingdifficulties of the second language learners There are many types ofgrammatical errors However, the common types here can be classified intothe following ones:

- Wrong tense sequence

The percentages of these errors are presented in the table below:

Table 2.2 Results of grammatical errors

2.4.1.1.1 Wrong tense sequence

The error that figured prominently in the students’ English writtenerrors is the wrong tense sequence It constitutes 30.5% - the highest rate inthe whole test Most of students made errors when they were asked totranslate sentences into English or write the full sentences using suggestedwords

e.g: * That was the shop where I used to have my clothes made.

* I heard yesterday that you just left hospital.

* This morning, when I ask my mother for $10, someone rings the bell.

These respondents over- generalized the use of simple past tense andsimple present tense, and as a result they produced the above sentencesinstead of the correct ones:

- That is the shop where I used to have my clothes made.

- I heard yesterday that you have just left hospital

- This morning, when I was asking my mother for $ 10, someone rang

the bell.

Mother tongue interference might be another cause for the sentences asfollowing:

* I forgot who was the first to reach the South Pole.

* As you have never met him before, I describe him for you

Meanwhile the corrects ones must be:

- I have forgotten who was the first to reach the South Pole.

- As you have never met him before, I’ ll describe him for you

2.4.1.1.2 wrong Preposition

Preposition is one of the eight parts of speech It indicates therelationship between words in a sentence The errors of preposition constitute14.7% in the test Errors involving prepositions in the study include:

+ Wrong choice of prepositions such as:

describe him *to you  describe him for you

a constant theme *of history  a constant theme in history

*At any society  In any society

blamed *on the cancellation of the meeting  blame for the

cancellation of the meeting.

She prides herself *of her cooking  she prides herself on her cooking

A possible explanation for the errors above is ignorance of rulerestrictions They tend to make analogy of what they have learnt and apply it

in new situations

+ Insertion of prepositions

left *from hospital  left hospital

reach *to the South Pole  reach the South Pole

Errors involving insertion of prepositions when a zero preposition isrequired could also be a result of ignorance of rule restrictions

2.4.1.1.3 wrong Article

Although, there are 2 articles- the definite (the) and the indefinite (aand an), English articles have been considered as a difficult category forlearners to use The result shows that, 10.4 % students committed errors

when they were asked to do every kind of exercises This type of errorincludes:

+ Insertion of articles:

e.g: *I heard yesterday that you have just left the hospital.

*I like the green.

Errors related to articles found in this study could be due to ignorance

of rule restrictions Many Vietnamese students are either ignorant or

unaware of the various conditions existing in English that require zero

articles

- I heard yesterday that you have just left hospital.

- I like green.

+ Omission of definite article:

e.g: *I have forgotten who was the first to reach South Pole.

This might be also a case of ignorance of rule restrictions on thelearners’ part That is why, students produced the above sentence instead of

‘I have forgotten who was the first to reach the South Pole’.

+ Wrong choice of article:

e.g: *War and peace is the constant theme in history

The correct one must be:

- War and peace is a constant theme in history.

This error might be traced to the cause of over- generalization

* This morning, when I was asking my mother for 10 $……

* I cannot remember when is our appointment.

* … you just have left hospital.

In these cases, the correct answers must be:

- This morning, when I was asking my mother for $ 10…

- I cannot remember when our appointment is.

- … you have j ust left hospital.

2.4.1.1.5 Incorrect subject- verb concord