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CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK In introducing a new language structure, a teacher has to show the students what the language means and how it is used, or in other words, to give clear information to the students about the language they are learning. The teacher must also show the students what the grammatical form of the new language is and how it is said and/or written (Harmer, 1991:56). To speak and write well, students should know how to use the important element of the English language, which is called grammar. We all use grammar whenever we speak or write. What is grammar? Grammar is the system by which a language works. It is concerned with system that is governed by principles. Grammar describes how language works, categorizes words by function (naming, asserting, modifying, and so forth) and part of speech (noun, verb, or other descriptive terms that enable us to talk about words in sentences), and explains how users of language put single words together to make meaningful groups (Leggett et al., 1985: 2). English language is composed of individual words and grammatical devices that are put together to make a meaningful combination. It needs strong efforts to do that, especially because English is not our mother tongue. Therefore, students should have the basic skills of learning English as a foreign language to be successful in language learning. 6 7 2.1 Basic Skills in Language Learning As a learner of a foreign language, ideally one should possess four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Using those skills, they will be able to listen to the radio, speak to other people, read books, or write letters. The four skills were classified into two major skills; receptive skills and productive skills. Harmer (1991) said, “Speaking and writing involve language production and are therefore often referred to as productive skills. Listening and reading, on the other hand, involve receiving messages and are therefore often referred to as receptive skills” (p. 16). Of course, the two skills (receptive and productive) are the basics. Language users need a combination of skills for processing the language they use and face. It is true that one skill cannot be performed without the involvement of the other skills. It is impossible to speak in a conversation if you do not listen, and people very seldom write without having reading activities before and after. In these cases and in many more, the same experience will lead to the use of many different skills. One’s ability in using English can be measured through his productive skills. The reason is that productive skills involve speaking and writing, which can be seen and heard by others. Perhaps the most important difference between writing and speaking concerns the need for accuracy. There is often far greater pressure for accuracy in writing than in speaking. People can speak even without having a good grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation. The point is that the person 8 whom they talk with can grab the point of speaking. A piece of writing, however, with grammar mistakes and/or half-finished sentences would be judged as unskilled since it is expected that writing should be ‘correct’. The writer also suffers from the disadvantage of not getting immediate feedback from the reader and sometimes getting no feedback at all. Perhaps the most important is that there is a greater need for logical organization in a piece of writing than there is in a conversation, for the reader has to understand what has been written without asking for clarification or relying on the writer’s tone of voice or expression. 2.2 Mistakes in Language Learning Students are often confused of selecting the correct use of verb in a sentence. They make mistakes and mistakes should not be repeatedly made. The writer will help the students to reduce the possibility of mistakes by analyzing the common mistakes of using the correct verb form in relation to subject-verb agreement. In order to avoid mistakes, we need explanations about the causes of mistakes. There are at least two reasons why the students make mistakes. First, they may not have the appropriate knowledge or false knowledge. They may either not know how a verb works in a sentence or have the wrong idea. The result is what Corder (cited in Ardiningsih, 2004) called an error. The second reason for the mistakes is the lack of student’s processing ability. The result is what Corder (cited in Ardiningsih, 2004) called a mistake. 9 The Webster’s New World College Dictionary (1995:462) defines a mistake as an error resulting from carelessness, inattention, misunderstanding, etc. and does not in itself carry a strong implication of criticism, for example: a mistake in reading a blueprint. It implies deviation from truth, accuracy, correctness, right, etc. Long et al. (cited in Makino, 1993: 337-338) argued that mistakes made by learners are part of a natural process of language learning, and they indicate a certain stage of the learner’s development into more accurate and appropriate forms. Most teachers believe that to ignore these mistakes might put the learner’s linguistic development at risk. As Abbs & Freebaim (cited in Thornbury, 2003) said, “Making mistakes is an important and positive part of learning a language. Only by experimenting with the language and receiving feedback can students begin to work out how the language works” (p. 116). It is not always easy to identify mistakes. Once a mistake has been identified, the next step is to classify it. Learners may make mistakes at the level of individual word, in the way they put sentences together. At the word level, learners make mistakes either because they have chosen the wrong word for the meaning they want to express, for example: My brother was stopping at the door instead of standing, or they have chosen the wrong form of the word, for example: lower instead of lawyer, thinks instead of things. These are called lexical mistakes. Grammar mistakes, on the other hand, cover such things as mistakes in verb form 10 and tense and in sentence structure. One of the mistakes is subject-verb agreement that will be discussed in this paper. The following section will deal with the subject-verb identification, the basic rules of subject-verb agreement, and some common mistakes related with subject-verb agreement made by the students. 2.3 Definition of a Sentence What is a sentence? According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995:1298), a sentence is a group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb, expresses a complete idea or asks a question, and that, when written in English, begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. Whereas Brown et al. (1984) stated, “A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought to describe an action or state a condition of a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. A group of words must make complete sense by itself to be called a sentence” (p. 34). He also categorized the sentences into four kinds: declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory. A declarative sentence makes a statement and ends with a period. An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark. An exclamatory sentence shows strong feeling and ends with an exclamation point. An imperative sentence gives an order or makes a request (Brown et al., 1984: 35). Hurford (1994) said, “A sentence is neither a physical event nor a physical object which is, conceived abstractly, a string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a language. It can be thought of as the ideal string of words behind various realizations in utterances and inscriptions. Or in other words, a 11 sentence is a grammatically complete string of words expressing a complete thought” (p. 16). So there are two necessary qualities of a sentence: 1. The boundaries of the sentence are clearly marked off by a capital letter at the beginning and a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point at the end. 2. Within these boundaries, every sentence contains at least one subject and one predicate that fit together to make a statement, ask a question, or give a command. (Marius & Wiener, 1988: 132) In this research, the writer is going to focus only on analyzing declarative sentence. Declarative sentence is a sentence that has a form of a statement and usually ends with a period (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1995: 352). Example: My name is Miriam. That’s a beautiful picture. To make it clearer, the writer now will give other examples of what is and is not a sentence. The writer will use the line to separate the two basic grammatical parts of the sentence, that is the subject and the verb. 12 Example: The boy. (not a sentence) The boy | is here. (a sentence) Human | are intelligent creatures. (a sentence) The first example is not a sentence since there is no verb following the subject. The second example is a sentence -the boy as the subject and is as the verb- as well as the third example. 2.3.1 Subject-Verb Identification Almost every sentence has a subject and a verb. In order to use verb forms correctly, it is important to be able to identify the subject and the verb, the two main parts of any sentence. Understanding them is an important first step toward mastering a number of sentence skills. “Most sentences name something and then make some statement about the thing named. The part of the sentence that names what the sentence is about is called the subject. The part of the sentence that makes a statement about the subject is called the predicate” (Marius & Wiener, 1988: 131) It was also stated by Langan (1999), “Who or what the sentence speaks about is called the subject; what the sentence says about the subject is called the verb” (p. 86). 13 2.3.1.1 Subject Subject is a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that usually comes before a main verb and represents the person or thing that performs the action of the verb, or about which something is stated (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1995:1438). Also stated by Marius & Wiener (1988), “Subject serves as the focus of the sentence and to get the subject, you must remove all the describing words that may provide additional information about it. The subject may be a thing, person, place, action, idea, name, or anything else serves as the element the verb makes a statement about” (p. 132). Though noun phrase can be a complete subject, we often speak of a simple subject as the subject of the sentence which is the approach that we will use in the analysis of this paper. In the present tense, the presence of the ‘-s’ suffix at the end of a subject or verb usually indicates a plural subject or a singular verb. Example: The girl on the volley ball team has played her best. The girls on the volley ball team have played their best. According to Marius & Wiener (1985: 169), the suffix ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ on a noun subject generally means that the subject is plural, and the subject is singular if the noun subject does not have the suffix ‘-s’ or ‘-es’. To find the subject, you can use the following hints: 1. Who or what is doing the action in the sentence? 2. Who or what is the sentence about? 14 3. The subject usually comes before the verb. 4. The subject of a sentence is always a noun (any person, place, or thing), a noun phrase, or a pronoun (he, she, it, you, we, they). (Tyner, 1987: 29) Example: Sarah went to the movie last night. (Who went to the movie last night? Sarah) The mouse got into the hole. (What got into the hole? The mouse) Mary is very tired today. (Who is the sentence about? Mary) So, respectively the subjects of the above sentences are: Sarah, the mouse, and Mary). 2.3.1.2 Verb Verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence. It is a word or group of words that is used to describe an action, experience, or state (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1995:1590). Whereas Marius & Wiener (1985: 111) stated that verb is a word that report an action, a condition, or a happening that express a state of being. Small changes in their form can reflect many differences in meaning. Writers have more problems with verb than with any other grammatical area. Verb may take many different forms depending on their tenses, which indicates a particular time period: past, present, or future. It also changes form depending on 15 whether the subject is singular or plural. And some verbs can change in irregular ways rather than conforming to the rules. Example: I am happy to be here. (singular) We are not so sure about the appointment. (plural) Mary loves chocolate chip cookies. (singular) Mother and father love to go sailing. (plural) Verb is divided into three kinds: action verb, linking verb, and auxiliary verb. Action verb describes the behavior or action of someone or something that may express physical actions or mental activities, for example: Paul goes to the church every sunday morning. Linking Verb connects a noun or a pronoun with a word or words that identify or describe the noun or pronoun. Many linking verbs are verbs of being, formed from the word be. But there are also some linking verbs other that be, such as appear, become, feel, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, and taste, for example: The students look upset when they hear the news. Auxiliary Verbs or usually called helping verbs are verbs that help other verbs, such as is, am, are, have, do, may, will, and so forth, for example: Bill is waiting outside (Brown et al., 1984: 12). To find a verb, we can use the following hints: 1. What is the action or thought in the sentence? 2. What word tells what the subject is doing? 3. What word changes form with time? 4. The verb usually comes after the subject. (Tyner, 1987: 29) 16 Example: My mother buys some vegetables. (What is the action? The verb buys) The trout swim lazily in the pond. (What do the trout do? The action swim) The truck usually stops at the gas station. (What word changes form with time? The verb stop) 2.3.2 The Basic Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement: The fundamental rule of subject-verb agreement is that the verb must agree with, or match their subjects. This means that a singular subject must go with a singular verb, and a plural subject must go with a plural verb. When those parts of a sentence agree, there will be a logical relationship between them. As Langan (1999) said, “A verb must agree with its subject in number. A singular subject (one person or thing) takes a singular verb. A plural subject (more than one person or thing) takes a plural verb” (p. 150). Lack of agreement between a subject and a verb often occurs not because the students misunderstood the general role, but because they are uncertain of the number of subjects (Legget et al., 1985: 64). Beside that, another opinion comes from Richards (cited in Ardiningsih, 2004) who explains that the result of disagreement between a subject and a verb is because the students often implement incomplete application of ‘-s’ in their writing by disobeying the general ‘s’ which they have already learnt. 17 The main difficulties are identifying the subject of the sentence and determining whether it is singular or plural. We should pay more attention to some subjects, such as compounds and indefinite pronouns, in order to use correct verb forms with them. Singular means one of anything: a person, a state, a team, an idea while plural means more than one of anything: people, six houses, rooms, books, ideas. Most plural words end in ‘-s’ or ‘-es’: dogs, cats, apples, students, boxes. Here are some important considerations: a. If the subject is singular, the verb ends in ‘-s’. Example: Jack enjoys a good spy movie. That cat sleeps in front of the door. b. If the subject is plural, the verb does not end in ‘-s’. Example: The boys enjoy a good spy movie. Those cats sleep in front of the door. When pronouns are subjects, here are the subject-verb agreement rules: c. With he, she, and it (third person singular): verb ends in ‘-s’. Example: He likes to fish below the dam. She prefers tea than coffee. 18 d. All other pronouns (I, you, they, we): verb does not end in ‘-s’. Even though the pronoun I is singular, it always takes a plural verb. Example: I like to fish below the dam. You prefer tea than coffee. e. Use a plural verb when and joins more than one subject. Example: Pepper and garlic flavor the soup. Queenie and Clarence work on cars. f. In present tense, the various forms of to be are irregular and require selective use with subjects. - am - is : Use with the pronoun I. : Use with all singular noun subjects and with singular pronoun subjects other than I and you. - are : Use with plural noun subjects, plural pronoun subjects, and with the pronoun you, whether it is singular or plural. Example: When I am tired, I cannot think. The door is rattling. He is serving tables. The waves are racing to the shore. 19 They are gardening; we are resting. When you are finished, you can go. The rules of agreement also pertain to the present perfect tense. The helping verb has is singular, and the helping verb have may be either singular or plural. Example: I have biked across the country twice. He has often complained about his back. They have been out all night. (Tyner, 1987: 31-33) Since the focus of the study is only in the present tense, the writer will not discuss the rules of agreement that pertain to verbs in past tense. 20 In addition, there are some areas in which common agreement problems occur: 2.3.2.1 Intervening Words and Phrases Sometimes word or phrase that contains plural words comes between a subject and its verb. For instance, a prepositional phrase that modifies a subject usually follows the subject and separates it from the verb. Words that come between the subject and the verb do not change subject-verb agreement (Leggett et al., 1985: 65). Example: The repetition of these sounds stirs the emotions The cup next to the glasses looks clean. In the first example, the subject repetition is singular, and so the verb stirs is singular. You should not be misled by nouns or pronouns intervening between the subject and the verb. The word ‘sounds’ do not affect subject-verb agreement. To help find the subject of certain sentences, you can cross out prepositional phrases: Example: The study of languages is very interesting. Several theories on this subject have been proposed. 2.3.2.2 The Verb Comes before the Subject/Inverted Word Order In most sentences, the subject comes before the verb. In that case, subjectverb agreement comes naturally. What if the order of the subject and the verb is 21 different? A verb agrees with its subject even when the verb comes before the subject. This strategy is often used for poetic effect. Be especially careful to determine the subject and make it agree with the verb. Words that may precede the subject include there and here. In sentences begin with there and here, the subject (which determines the number of the verb) comes after the verb. The words here and there are not the subjects. To find the subject, reverse the order of the sentence (Leggett et al., 1985: 66). Example: Over the ripples glides a small canoe. (Read: A small canoe glides over the ripples) There was a well-known writer at the meeting. (Read: A well-known writer was at the meeting) If you are unsure about the subject, ask who or what of the verb. With the first sentence above, you might ask, “What glides over the ripples?” The answer, a small canoe, is the subject. To make sure that questions have subject-verb agreement, reverse the order of the sentence by reading the question as a statement. Example: Does Jean practice today? (Read: Jean does practice today) Where are the books? (Read: The books are where) 22 When the sentences begin with it, always use the singular form of the main verb which usually ends in ‘-s’. Example: It was the guard who spotted the burglar. It means we are the winners. 2.3.2.3 Indefinite Pronoun Subject Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that refer to people or things in general. The following words, known as indefinite pronouns are always singular and therefore always take singular verbs (Leggett et al., 1985: 65). (‘-one’ words) (‘-body’ words) (‘-thing’ words) no one nobody nothing each anyone anybody anything either everyone everybody everything neither someone somebody something other Example: No one is able to answer the question. Everyone likes her. Students should have no problems with this agreement if they simply memorize the endings of words that are always singular. 23 * Note: - The word following the phrase one of the (as an object of the preposition of) will always be plural. Example: One of the reasons we do this is that it rains a lot in spring One of the students in this room is responsible Some people sometimes slip into using verbs that agree with nearby nouns instead of indefinite pronoun subjects. Notice that the verb is agrees with one, which is singular, and not with the object of the preposition which is always plural (www.webster.commnet.edu, 2005). - When either and neither appear as a subject alone (without their sidekicks or and nor), they are singular even though the subject seems to be two things (Leggett et al., 1985: 65). Example: Neither of these choices appears to be satisfactory. Either is fine with me. - Some indefinite pronouns are always plural and always take plural verbs. The most common plural indefinite pronouns are several, both, few, and many (www.webster.commnet.edu, 2005). Example: Many are called, but few are chosen. Both are at the top of the class. 24 - The following indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural, depending on their use in sentences: all, any, enough, more, most, none, plenty, and some. These indefinite pronouns are singular when they refer to a portion or to a single person, place, or thing. They are plural when they refer to a number of individual persons, places, or things. Sometimes an indefinite pronoun refers to a word that is not in the sentence but is understood. The verb that accompanies pronouns such as some will be determined by whether the pronoun is referring to something that is countable or uncountable (www.webster.commnet.edu, 2005). Example: Some of the students in the class have voted already. Some of the grain has been ruined by the flood. Students in the first sentence is countable, so we use the plural verb have. In the second sentence we cannot count the grain, so we use the singular verb has. The pronoun none has been debated among writers. Strict grammarians point out that none means “no one” and should always take a singular verb (Marius & Wiener, 1985: 178). Example: None of my students is here yet. 25 But many writers make the same distinction with none that they make with any. When none refers to a plural noun, some use a plural verb and when none refers to a singular noun, then singular verb will be used. Example: None of my students are here yet. One way to select the proper verb for a sentence with an indefinite pronoun is to identify the noun to which the pronoun refers. Then determine if the noun is singular or plural. Finally select the verb that agrees in number with the noun (Marius & Wiener, 1985: 178). 2.3.2.4 Compound Subject According to Brown et al. (1984:110), a compound subject consists of two or more words or groups of words connected by one of the following conjunction: and, or, nor, either…or, or neither…nor. Two factors determine the number of the verb to use with a compound subject: (1) the conjunction and (2) whether the words in the compound subject are singular or plural. There are some rules to be noticed relating with the use of compound subjects: a. Use a plural verb with most compound subjects connected by and and both…and (Brown et al., 1984: 110) Example: Reading and singing are my hobbies. Both Jim and Jason go to the theatre. 26 b. Use a singular verb with a compound subject that refers to one person or thing or that generally conveys the idea of a unit (Brown et al., 1984: 110). A compound subject also takes a singular verb if the two nouns are synonyms and are modified by each, every, many a, such a, or no (Christ, 1975: 319). Example: My neighbor and closest friend is Susan. (one person) Macaroni and cheese is on the lunch menu. (one dish) c. When a compound subject is connected by or, nor, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also, use a verb that agrees in number with the subject that is closer to it in the sentence (Marius & Wiener, 1985: 176). Example: Either Sarah or her friends go to the school today. I am sure that neither the lawyer nor the accountant is to blame. * The nearer subject in the first example, friends, is plural, and so the verb is plural. d. Phrases such as in addition to, plus, including, together with, along with, and as well as seem to join subjects, but they do not work the same as and: they are not conjunctions. They do not affect the number of the subject and usually serve as prepositions introducing the object of a preposition, which can never be the subject of a verb (Marius & Wiener, 1988: 329). 27 Example: The major football team, together with its supporters, has gone to Spain. Mary, as well as her friends, is coming along. e. The phrase the number of referring to an actual number of people or things is followed by a singular verb. Whereas the phrase a number of refers to several people or things is followed by a plural verb (www.webster.commnet.edu, 2005). Example: The number of students attending college increases every year A number of these students intend to go on to graduate school. 2.3.2.5 Relative Pronoun Subject When who, which, and that are used as subjects, they take singular verbs if the word they stand for is singular and plural verbs if the word they stand for is plural. Christ (1975) stated, “In an adjective clause with the relative pronoun who, which, or that used as subject, the verb should agree with the antecedent of the relative pronoun. A relative pronoun is placed near its antecedent” (p. 318). Example: Mary is a person who is very generous and kind. (The verb is is singular, agrees with its antecedent, person.) Mary is one of those people who are very generous and kind. (The verb are is plural because who stands for people, which is plural.) 28 2.3.2.6 Collective Noun Subject A collective noun is a noun that names a group or collection of people or objects, such as team, crowd, fleet, class, family, committee, audience, band, group, army, club, school, herd, troop, flock, crew, gang and jury. Although these nouns are singular in form, they may take a singular or a plural verb, depending on their use in a sentence (Leggett et al., 1985: 67). If a collective noun refers to a group as a single unit, use a singular verb. If a collective noun refers to the individual members or parts of a group and the individuals acting within the whole, use a plural verb. Example: The team plays well. (The team is a unit) The team go their separate ways after the game. (The team members are acting individually) 2.3.2.7 Noun Ending in ‘-s’ as Subject Most nouns that end in ‘-s’ are plural, but others present agreement problems. Some nouns are plural in form but singular in meaning because they refer to a single thing or a unit, such as news, civics, the United States, measles, physics, mathematics, and economics. Use singular verbs with these nouns (Leggett et al., 1985: 68). 29 Example: The news seems good. Mathematics is an interesting subject for me. Other nouns ending in ‘-s’ take a plural verb even though they refer to one thing or one pair, such as scissors, ashes, oats, riches, pliers, trousers, pants, spectacles, clothes, and thanks. Example: His pants look too long. My trousers are dirty. A few nouns ending in s may be either singular or plural, depending on the meaning of the sentence, such as politics, athletics, and headquarters. Example: Athletics is my favorite subject. Athletics provide good recreation. 2.3.2.8 Titles and Names as Subject The title of a book, story, play, movie, television program, musical composition, or magazine refers to an individual work. It is singular, even though it may include plural words. The name of the country or of an organization is also singular when it refers to an entire country or group (Leggett et al., 1985: 68). Use a singular verb with a subject that is a title or is the name of a country or of an organization. 30 Example: The Times presents more features than other newspapers. Twelve Angry Men is a powerful drama. 2.3.2.9 Words Indicating Amount and Time as Subject With fractional expressions (fractions or decimal equivalents), the verb will be determined by what is being measured: is it countable or not. Use a singular verb with a subject that expresses a fraction, a measurement, an amount of money, a distance, or a specific interval of time when it refers to a single unit (Leggett et al., 1985: 68). Example: Ten centimeters is less than five inches. Forty-eight hours is not enough for him to complete the task. Two-fifths of the students do not agree with the decision. Half of the grain is ruined. Numerical expressions are usually singular, but they can be plural if the individuals within a numerical group are acting individually. Use also a plural verb when the subject expresses a length of time or an amount that is considered as a number of separate units. Example: One-half of the faculty is retiring this summer. One-half of the faculty have doctorates. 31 Five years have passed since I’ve seen her in Jakarta. Two dimes were left in the table. 2.3.2.10 Verbal Phrase Subject Sometimes an ‘-ing’ or ‘to infinitive’ verb form is used as a noun. A phrase containing one of these forms may appear as the subject of a sentence. In these cases, the subject is always singular and the verb must also be singular. Example: Knowing her has made him happy. To see is to believe. 2.3.2.11 The Subjects consist of a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular According to Christ (1975: 317), when the sentence has two subjects, one is positive and the other is negative; and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject. Example: The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on Valentine’s Day It is not the faculty members but the president who decides this issue