Tài liệu Commom errors in the use of comparative sentences of adjtives made by nam tien hai high school students

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY PHAM THI NGUYET COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF COMPARATIVE SENTENCES OF ADJECTIVES MADE BY NAM TIEN HAI HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English) Hanoi, May 2013 i HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY PHAM THI NGUYET COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF COMPARATIVE SENTENCES OF ADJECTIVES MADE BY NAM TIEN HAI HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English) SUPERVISOR: PHI THI THO, B.A Hanoi, May 2013 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I own Mrs. Phi Thi Tho, B.A, my supervisor, great gratitude for her inestimable support and careful guidance throughout the process of writing this research. Also, I would like to express my great thanks to my all beloved lecturers who always motivated and suggested me to finish my research soon. Furthermore, I want to express my special thanks to all the students in grade 11 from Nam Tien Hai high school because of their support in the survey. Last but not least, I would like to thank my beloved family and all my friends who never stop encouraging me to finish my research. iii ABSTRACT Comparison of adjectives are a basic and interesting category of English grammar. There are many types of comparison of adjectives, and each type has its own characteristics as well as uses. So far the uses of the adjectives referred in some books have not been dealt with in full and it is sometimes difficult for students to understand and use correctly. Therefore, learners sometimes confuse types of comparison of adjectives and usually make errors in the uses of comparison with adjectives. Therefore, this study focuses on common errors in the uses of comparison of adjectives. The most important objectives of the research work is to show how to make a correct comparison of adjectives and suggest some solutions to the common errors in the uses of comparison of adjectives. Based on material analysis and error analysis with the assistance of the test survey, common errors in the uses of comparison of adjectives have been analyzed clearly. Consequently, the noticeable rules as well as solutions to these problems are convenient to understand in using comparison of adjectives in English. iv STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: Common errors in the use of comparative sentences of adjectives made by Nam Tien Hai high school students (Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of bachelor of Arts in English) I certify that no part of the above report has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under instructions of my supervisor. Date submitted: May 2013 Student Supervisor PHAM THI NGUYET PHI THI THO, B.A v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................ i ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... iv STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................ vi PART ONE INTRODUCTION I. RATIONALE ................................................................................................ 1 II. RESEARCH PRESUPPOSITION ............................................................. 2 III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ..................................................................... 2 IV. RESEARCH SCOPE ................................................................................. 2 V. RESEARCH TASKS ................................................................................... 2 VI. RESEARCH METHODS .......................................................................... 3 VII. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE ................................................................ 3 VIII. RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................ 3 PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1. LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF ....................................................... 5 I.2. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES.......................................................... 6 I.2.1. Definitions of adjectives............................................................................ 6 I.2.2. Descriptive adjectives ............................................................................... 7 I.2.2.1. The main functions of descriptive adjectives .......................................... 7 I.2.2.2. Classification of adjectives used in comparison...................................... 9 I.2.2.2.1. Short adjectives ................................................................................... 9 I.2.2.2.2. Long adjectives (disyllabic adjectives) .............................................. 11 vi I.2.2.2.3. Irregular adjectives ............................................................................ 12 I.2.3. Comparative forms of adjectives and their functions ............................... 13 I.2.3.1. Single comparison ................................................................................ 13 I.2.3.2. Double Comparison ............................................................................. 18 I.2.3.3. Multiple Numbers Comparison ............................................................ 18 I.2.4. Substitutions, omissions and additions in comparative patterns ............... 19 I.2.4.1. Substitutions in comparative patterns ................................................... 19 I.2.4.2. Omissions in comparative patterns ....................................................... 20 I.2.4.3. Additions in comparative patterns ........................................................ 20 I.2.5. Intensifier ................................................................................................ 21 CHAPTER TWO: COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF COMPARATIVE SENTENCES II.1. SURVEY ................................................................................................. 22 II.1.1. Purpose of the survey ............................................................................. 22 II.1.2. Population of the survey ........................................................................ 22 II.1.3. Type of the survey ................................................................................. 22 II.1.4. Construction of the test .......................................................................... 22 II.1.5. Preparation of the survey ....................................................................... 23 II.1.5.1. Test items............................................................................................ 23 II.1.5.2. Arrangement of the test items ............................................................. 23 II.1.6. Administration of the try-out ................................................................. 24 II.1.6.1. Preparation of the try-out .................................................................... 24 II.1.6.2. Try-out ................................................................................................ 24 II.1.7. Methods of data analysis ........................................................................ 25 II.1.8. Results of the survey .............................................................................. 25 II.2. COMMON ERRORS AND CAUSES ................................................... 27 II.2.1. Errors when using multiple numbers comparison.................................. 27 II.2.2. Errors when using absolute adjectives.................................................... 28 II.2.3. Errors when using double comparison ................................................... 28 vii II.2.4. Errors when using intensifier in comparison .......................................... 29 II.2.5. Confusion between short adjectives and long adjectives ........................ 29 II.2.6. Wrong form of irregular adjectives ........................................................ 30 II.2.7. Wrong forms of superlative structure ..................................................... 30 II.2.8. Wrong forms of comparative structure ................................................... 31 II.2.9. Errors when adding er and est ................................................................ 31 II.2.10. Wrong forms of comparion at the lower degree ................................... 32 II.2.11. Wrong forms of comparison at the same degree................................... 32 II.3. SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS AND SUGGESTED EXERCISES ........ 33 II.3.1. Suggested solutions................................................................................ 33 II.3.1.1. Thorough lecture can solve the difficulty. ........................................... 33 II.3.1.2. Negative influences of mother tongue should be limited. .................... 33 II.3.1.3. Paying attention to difficult structures is necessary. ............................ 34 II.3.1.4. Students also should study more about adjectives. .............................. 34 II.3.2. Suggested exercises ............................................................................... 34 PART THREE CONCLUSION REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 38 APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 40 viii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I. RATIONALE In Vietnam as well as in other countries, there is a greater and greater need to learn English. No one can deny the importance of English in Vietnam at present. Therefore, English is being taught at every educational level. However, using English grammar structures is never easy to Vietnamese learners because of the complex structures and the differences between the two languages. There is a fact that comparative structures are an important part of English grammar that high school students often see in exercises. Using comparison of adjectives correctly is rather complex because there are many types of comparison of adjectives, and each type has many rules of adjective forms and structures. It is assumed that there are many errors which maybe made. Students sometimes can not distinguish comparative types or some often give a wrong form of comparative structures due to the influence of mother tongue. For example: He is more happyer than me. She ate as twice as much as me. Mary is so beautiful as Anna. As the reasons above, this study was conducted to give basic theory about comparative structures and show the errors students often make when using this type of sentences. Then base on the errors they made, the causes of the problems were found out and some solutions was proposed to limit the errors. 1 II. RESEARCH PRESUPPOSITION 1. What kinds of errors in using comparison of adjectives are made by the high school students? 2. What are the causes of the errors in using comparison of adjectives made by high school students? 3. What are the effective ways to minimize the errors made by the high school students? III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study is to: 1. Find out the kinds of errors in the use of comparison of adjectives made by the senior students. 2. Find out the causes of the errors in the use of comparison of adjectives made by the senior students. 3. Offer some suggestions to minimize errors in using comparison of adjectives. IV. RESEARCH SCOPE The general research area of this study is grammar. The phenomenon is the errors in using comparison of adjectives made by one hundred students at Nam Tien Hai high school. One hundred students from class 12a1 and 11a4 are the subjects of the survey. V. RESEARCH TASKS The research work involves a number of tasks: 1. Studying the theory of comparison of adjectives 2. Conducting a survey to find out error types that high school students often 2 make 3. Suggesting some solutions to minimize the students’ errors VI. RESEARCH METHODS With the aim of finding the common errors as well as their possible solutions in using comparison of adjectives in English, the following methods have been applied: 1. Selecting necessary data and synthesizing theoretical materials relating to comparison of adjectives 2. Conducting a survey in order to find out common errors when using comparison of adjectives 3. Suggesting solutions VII. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE The research is hoped to have significances as following: 1. Helping Nam Tien Hai high school students understand about comparison of adjectives in English 2. Helping Nam Tien Hai high school students minimize their errors in using comparative of adjectives 3. Becoming a useful reference in the issue of comparison and adjectives for both teachers and students to make sure that they can deeply understand things relating to comparison of adjectives VIII. RESEARCH DESIGN The research has three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. 3 The part Development consists of two chapters. Chapter one named Theoretical Background presents literature review in brief and the definition, function, comparative forms of adjectives. Also, the differences among types of comparison of adjectives are mentioned. Chapter two is Common errors in the use of comparison of adjectives. It consists of three sections. Section one is devoted to survey. The second mentions to error types and causes. The last one provides solutions to the problems and suggests exercises on comparison of adjectives. 4 PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1. LITERATURE REVIEW IN BRIEF Comparison of adjectives has been studied by many grammarians like Alexander (1988), Harrison (1998), Jocelyn (1997), Eastwood (1992) and so on. In general, they focus their attention on classification of comparison of adjectives and their uses. Most of the knowledge they present are really useful for high school students. Eastwood (1992) focused on the differences between comparison of superiority and superlative comparison. Jocelyn (1997) studied comparative forms of adjectives. He also mentioned some special notes when using comparison of adjectives such as substitutions, omissions and additions in comparative patterns. Vince (1851) introduced the uses of some types of comparative forms of adjectives. Brown (1851) showed both regular and irregular comparison. To sum up, many researchers have studied about comparison of adjectives. However, not many of them have deeply studied the special cases of comparatives as well as the differences among types of comparison of adjectives. Besides, the errors students make when using comparison of adjectives have not studied specifically. Therefore, it is essential to have a comprehensive study of the common errors in the use of comparison of adjectives. 5 I.2. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES I.2.1. Definitions of adjectives According to Alexander (1988), an adjective describes the person or thing which a noun refers to. We use adjectives to say what a person or thing is like or seems like. For example, adjectives can give us information about:  Quality: a beautiful dress, a nice day  Size: a big car, a small coin  Age: a new handbag, a young man  Temperature: a cool evening, a hot day  Shape: a round table, a square box  Color: blue eyes, grey hair  Origin: a Japanese camera, a Swiss watch To identify whether a word is an adjective or not, learners can sometimes base on suffixes of the words. Here are the main suffixes: (1): -ful: wonderful, beautiful, forgetful (2): -less: thoughtless, worthless, lawless (3): -able: acceptable, likeable, charitable (4): -ible: edible, terrible, irresistible (5): -en: golden, woolen, wooden (6): -ous: glorious, victorious, mischievous (7): -al: musical, national, natural (8): -ive: imaginative, destructive, descriptive (9): -ic: heroic, scientific, poetic (10): -ish: childish, selfish, English (11): -ary: customary, secondary, imaginary 6 (12): -some: handsome, quarrelsome, lonesome (13): -y: silky, shady, smoky (14): -ly: friendly, manly, lonely I.2.2. Descriptive adjectives Adjectives used in comparison are descriptive adjectives. Therefore, in this research, only descriptive adjectives are studied. I.2.2.1. The main functions of descriptive adjectives According to Quirk, et.al. (1972), adjectives have main functions as following: • Used as attributives and predicative The major syntactic functions of adjectives are attributive and predicative. These are termed the major syntactic functions, since a word that cannot function either attributively or predicatively is not recognized as an adjective. Adjectives are attributive when they modify nouns. Attributive adjectives appear between the determiner and the head of the noun phrase: The beautiful painting A mere child His main argument Predicative adjectives can be: (1): subject complement: there is co-reference between subject and subject complement, the two being in an intensive relationship: Your daughter is pretty. He is handsome. (2): object complement: there is co-reference between direct objects and object complement, the two being in an intensive relationship. For example: 7 I consider him foolish. He made his wife happy. • Used as postposition Adjectives can sometimes be postpositive; they can sometimes follow the noun or pronoun they modify. A postposition adjective (together with any complementation it may have) can usually be regarded as a reduced relative clause. Complex indefinite pronouns ending in -body, -one, -thing, -where can be modified only postpositively: Anyone (who is) intelligent can do it. I want to try on something (that is) larger. Of course, adjectives that can occur only attributively are excluded: Something (which is) main Somebody (who is) mere • Used as heads of a noun phrase Adjectives can function as heads of noun phrases and can be subjects of the sentence, complement, object, and complement of a preposition. Adjectives as noun-phrase heads do not inflect for number or for the genitive case and they must take a definite determiner. These types of adjectives function as nounphrase heads. All adjectives qualifying personal nouns can be noun-phrase heads: The poor are causing the nation’s leaders great concern There is a lack of communication between the young and the old. • Used as supplementive adjective clauses Adjectives can function as the sole realization of a verbless clause or as the head of an adjective phrase realizing the clause. One such type of verbless is 8 the supplementive adjective clause. Nervous, the man opened the letter. The man, nervous, opened the letter. The man opened the letter, nervous. As the above examples demonstrate, the supplementive adjective clause is mobile, though it usually precedes or follows the subject of the super-ordinate clause. When it follows the subject, as in, it is in some respects like a nonrestrictive relative clause. The men, who was nervous, opened the letter. But the adjective clause suggests that the man’s nervousness was shown, whereas the relative clause does not convey that implication. The difference is because the adjective clause is related to the predication as well as to the subject. Furthermore, unlike the relative clause, the adjective clause is mobile and its implied subject is the subject of the sentence. Thus, while we have “The man restrained the woman, who was aggressive”, we do not have as its equivalent “The man restrained the woman, aggressive.” I.2.2.2. Classification of adjectives used in comparison There are some ways to classify adjectives. They can be classified based on their functions, their formations, their uses, etc. In this research, adjectives are divided into 3 types: short adjectives, long adjectives and irregular adjectives, so that the study on comparison of adjectives can be done conveniently. I.2.2.2.1. Short adjectives Many short adjectives form comparatives and superlative with -er and -est. 9 Positive degree Comparative degree Superlative degree cheap cheaper cheapest tall taller taller small smaller smallest long longer longest Monosyllabic adjectives can normally form their comparison by inflection. Many disyllabic adjectives can also do so, though like most monosyllabic adjectives they have the alternative of the periphrastic forms: My jokes are funnier/ funniest// more funny/ most funny. Common disyllabic adjectives that can take inflected forms are those ending in an unstressed vowel, syllabic /l/, or / (r)/ (Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum, 1973): (1) -y: funny, noisy, wealthy, friendly (2) -ow: hollow, narrow, shallow (3) -le: gentle, feeble, noble (4) -er, -ure: clever, mature, abscure *Note: spelling of comparative and superlative forms (Alexander, 1988) 1. Most one-syllable adjectives form their comparatives and superlatives are added to their basic forms. Some examples are hot, cold, strong, etc. 2. Many one-syllable adjectives end with a single consonant after a single vowel-letter. This consonant doubles in the comparatives and superlative, as in the case of big. Other example like big are fat→ fatter → fattest; sad → sadder → saddest; thin → thinner → thinnest, etc. 10 3. Many one-syllable adjectives ending in -e, like nice, are added -r and -st to the basic form. Other examples like nice are fine, large, late, safe, etc. 4. Some adjectives, like tidy, end in y with a consonant letter before it. These adjectives are usually two-syllable. In the comparative and superlative y is replaced by i. other examples like tidy are busy, dirty, dry, easy, etc. I.2.2.2.2. Long adjectives (disyllabic adjectives) Most long adjectives combine with the quantifiers more/less to form their comparatives and most/ least to form their superlatives. Less can be used with one-syllable adjectives but more/ most and least are not normally used in this way. More is occasionally used with one-syllable adjectives(e.g. it’s more true to say that British English is influenced by American, rather than the other way round.) more/ less can never be used in front of a comparative (e.g. happier); nor can most/ least be used in front of a superlative (e.g. happiest). Adjective 1. pleasant 2. careful 3. expensive Comparative Superlative more pleasant the most pleasant less pleasant the least pleasant more careful the most careful less careful the least careful more expensive the most expensive less expensive the least expensive * Notes on the comparison of longer adjectives (Alexander, 1988): (1): Some two-syllable adjectives can form their comparatives and superlatives either with -er and -est or with more/ less and most/ least. Other examples like pleasant are common, handsome, stupid, tired, etc. The opposites of such words, 11 when formed with the prefix un, can also form their comparatives and superlatives in two ways: e.g. uncommon, unhappy, unpleasant, unhappier or more unhappy, unhappiest or most unhappy. Where there is uncertainly, it is safest to use more and most with two-syllable adjectives. (2): The comparatives and superlatives of other two-syllable adjectives must always be with more/ less and most/ least. These include all adjectives ending in -full or -less (e.g. careful, careless, useful, useless) Other examples of adjectives which form comparisons in this way are (un)certain, (in)correct, (in)famous, foolish, (in)frequent, modern, (ad)normal. Adjectives with more than two syllable compare with more/most and less/ least such as beautiful, comfortable, dangerous, expensive, important, etc. This applies to most compound adjectives as well, such as quick-witted, waterproof. However, note compounds with good, well, and bad: good-looking → better-looking (or more good-looking); well-built → better-built (but more well-built is sometimes heard); bad-tempered → worse-tempered (or more badtempered). I.2.2.2.3. Irregular adjectives A number of irregular comparative adjective forms in English cannot be explained with reference to the -er inflection or the periphrastic form more: Adjective Comparative Superlative good better the best bad worse the worst far farther the farthest further the furthest older the oldest old 12