Rahmi Yuniarti

AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING
REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS
By:
Rahmi Yuniarti
108014000016
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TARBIYA AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING
SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
JAKARTA
2014 / 1435 H
ABSTRACT
AN ERROR ANALYSIS Of STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING REGULAR
AND IRREGULAR VERBS A Case Study at the Second Grade of SMP YPN
Bojong Gede. Skripsi of English Education Department at Faculty of Tarbiyah
and Teachers‟ Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatulloh Jakarta,
2014
Keywords: Error Analysis, Types, Source, Regular and Irregular Verbs
This study was carried out to analyze students‟ error made by the Second
Grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede in using regular and irregular verbs.
Specifically, it aimed at obtaining the types of error in identifying regular and
irregular verbs in the past form and finding out the sources why the students make
such errors.
The method used in this study was qualitative. The qualitative reasearch
applied in this study was case study. This study was conducted by following the
procedures of error analysis: collecting sample of learner language, identifying of
errors,describing of errros, explaining of errors and evaluating of errors. The data
sources of this study was the Second Grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede
which consisted of 25 students. Furthermore, the data are collected through
observation, test, andquestionnaire to the students.
The results of the error analysis process showed that students committed error
into three types: omission, addition, and misselection/misformation. From the
frequency of each error types, there are 10.25% errors fell into addition and
18.70% errors fell into omission. Moreover, 71.05% fell into error of
misselection/misformation which was the most frequently produced by the
students. Based on Hubbard et al.‟ theory, it was interpreted that the existence of
errors was due to mother tongue interference, overeneralization, and errors
encourages by teaching material or method.
i
ABSTRAK
AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING REGULAR
AND IRREGULAR VERBS A Case Study at the Second Grade Students of
SMP YPN Bojong Gede. Skripsi of English Education Department at Faculty of
Tarbiyah and Teachers‟ Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatulloh
Jakarta, 2014
Keywords: Error Analysis, Types, Source, Regular and Irregular Verbs

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kesalahan siswa yang dilakukan
oleh siswa kelas dua SMP YPN Bojong Gede dalam menggunakan regular dan
irregular verbs. Secara khusus, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memperoleh jenis
kesalahan dalam mengidentifikasi regular dan irregular verbs dalam bentuk past
serta mencari tahu penyebab mengapa siswa melakukan kesalahan.
Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif,
sedangkan pola umum penelitian yang digunakan peneliti adalah studi kasus (case
study). Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan mengikuti prosedur-prosedur error
analysis yaitu dimulai dengan pemilihan sampel, pengidentifikasian, penjabaran,
penjelasan dan penilaian terhadap kesalahan-kesalahan. Sumber data pada
penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas 2 SMP YPN Bojong Gede yang terdiri dari 25
siswa. Data dalam penelitiaan ini diperoleh dengan cara melakukan observasi,
memberikan test dan memberikan kuesioner kepada para siswa.
Dari proses error analysis diperoleh hasil bahwa peserta didik melakukan tiga
jenis kesalahan yaitu ommision, addition, misformation/misselection. Dilihat dari
persentase setiap jenis kesalahan, ada 10.25% kesalahan pada addition dan
71.05% kesalahan pada omission. Selanjutnya, 71.05% kesalahan pada
misselection/misformation yang merupakan jenis kesalahan yang paling sering
dilakukan oleh peserta didik. Berdasarkan teori Hubbard dkk, hal ini ditafsirkan
bahwa adanya kesalahan disebabkan oleh mother tongue interference,
overeneralization, and errors encourages by teaching material or method.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
‫ِبسْمِ اهللِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيْم‬

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the world who has blessed the writer in
completing this “skripsi” entitled An Error Analysis of Students’ Ability in Using
Regular and Irregular Verbs (A Case Study at the Second Grade of SMP YPN
Bojong Gede). Peace and Blessing beupon the Prophet Muhammad SAW, his
family, his companion, and his followers.
Alhamdulillah by the grace of Allah the Highest, the writer could finish her
research paper after long hard effort of writing. Thus, she would like to express
her great gratitude to her beloved parents, D. Mawardi A.S and Sakilah; her two
borthers, Lutfi Budiman and Fadhli Darmawan who have given the greatest love,
prayer, moral and support in every part of her life especially in finishing this
skripsi.
The writer also would like toaddress her greatest thanks to her advisors Dr.
M. Farkhan, M.Pd and Yenny Rahmawati, M.Ed who have spent their time,
guidance, valuable helps, correction and suggestion during completing this study.
She would also like to express her deep appreciation and gratitude to:
1. All lecturers of English Education Department who have taught and give
their motivation during her studyat „Syarif Hidayatullah‟ State Islamic
University Jakarta.
2. The chairman of English Education Department, Drs. Syauki, M.Pd and
Zaharil Anasy, M. Hum; the Academic Advisor and the Secretary of English
Education Department.
3. Dra. Nurlena Rifa‟i, MA., Ph. D as the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiya and
Teacher‟s Trainingof „Syarif Hidayatullah‟ State Islamic University Jakarta.
iii
4. Nurdin S. Sos; the headmaster of SMP YPN Bojong Gede who had allowed
the writer to do the research, and Zikriyah Ekarina, S. Pd; the English
teacher of the second grade who had guided the writer in doing the research.
5. Her beloved friends Dewi Purwanti, Dyah P.U, Musonah, Shofa S.H, Rizki
Juwitasari, Maylani, Wiwi Wardianti and all of English Education
Department students Class A for academic year 2008 who have always been
in the writer side in facing all laughter and tears during her study.
6. To all of people whose name cannot be mentioned for their contribution to
the writer during finishing her skripsi.
For the last, she realizes that her research paper is far from being perfect. It is
a pleasure for her to receive constructive critic and suggestion from anyone who
reads her skripsi for valuable improvement.
Jakarta, December 13th 2013
The Writer
NIM. 108014000016
iv
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................vii
LIST OF SCHEMA...........................................................................................viii
LIST OF APPENDICES...................................................................................ix
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ...................................................................1

A. Background of the Study.........................................................................1
B. Identification of the Problem ..................................................................6
C. Limitation of the Study ...........................................................................6
D. Formulation of the Study ........................................................................6
E. Objective of the Study ............................................................................7
F. Significance of the Study ........................................................................7
CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................8
A. Error Analysis ..........................................................................................8
1. Understanding of Error Analysis......................................................8
2. Types of Error .................................................................................9
3. Sources of Error ..............................................................................15
4. Procedures of Error Analysis ..........................................................18
B. Verbs .........................................................................................................19
1. Understanding of Verbs ..................................................................19
2. Kinds of Verb ...................................................................................21
a. Regular Verb .............................................................................22
b. Irregular Verb ............................................................................23
3. Forms of Verb ..................................................................................24
a. Regular Verb ............................................................................24
b. Irregular Verb ............................................................................26
v
CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................30
A. Place and Time of the Study ...................................................................30
B. Research Design ......................................................................................30
C. Research Participant ...............................................................................31
D. Technique of Data Collecting .................................................................31
E. Technique of Data Analysis ....................................................................32
CHAPTER IV : RESEARCH FINDINGS......................................................34
A. Data Description......................................................................................34
1. The Result Observation ...................................................................34
2. The Result of Tests .........................................................................35
3. The Result of Questionnaire ............................................................38
B. Data Interpretation ..................................................................................39
1. Description of Errors ......................................................................39
2. Explanation of Errors ......................................................................63
3. Evaluation of Errors ......................................................................71
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ..................................76
A. Conclusion .................................................................................................76
B. Suggestion .................................................................................................77
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................78
APPENDICES
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 (The Example of Verbs Purposes in the Semantic)..........................21

Table 2.2 (The Example of Regular Verbs) .....................................................23
Table 2.3 (The Example of Irregular Verbs) ....................................................24
Table 2.4 (The Four Principal Parts of Verb)...................................................24
Table 2.5 (The Regular Verbs Form) ...............................................................25
Table 2.6 (The Irregular Verbs Form V1 = V2 = V3) ........................................26
Table 2.7 (The Irregular Verbs Form V1 ≠ V2 = V3) .......................................27
Table 2.8 (The Irregular Verbs Form V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3) ........................................28
Table 3.1 (Number of Items of Regular & Irregular Verbs) ............................31
Table 4.1 (Students‟ Score of First Test Result) ..............................................36
Table 4.2 (Students‟ Score of Second Test Result) ..........................................37
Table 4.3 (The Description Error of Omission) ...............................................40
Table 4.4. (The Description Error of Addition) ................................................43
Table 4.5. (The Description Error of Misselection/Misformation) ...................46
Table 4.6 (Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular & Irregular Verbs) ...57
Table 4.7 (Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular Verbs) ......................59
Table 4.7 (Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Irregular Verbs) ....................61
Table 4.8 (The Frequency of Each Error Type) ...............................................62
Table 4.9 (Examples of Global Error ) .............................................................71
Table 4.10 (Examples of local Error) .................................................................73
vii
LIST OF DIAGRAMS
4.1 The Percentage of Sources of Errors ............................................................63
viii
LIST OF APPENDICES
1a Classroom Observation Form .................................................................... 80

2a Research Questionnaire Form ..................................................................... 82
2b The Percentage of Students‟ Questionnaire .............................................. 84
Instrument of the Research (Test)
Surat Pengesahan Proposal Skripsi
Surat Bimbingan Skripsi
Surat Permohonan Izin Penelitian
ix
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study

“A language is a complex system of symbols, or sign, that are shared by
members of community. It will be useful to consider other sign that we know and
how we react to them”.1 Every language has its own symbols or sign that usually
used by the member of particular community who have their own words,
pronunciation and also their own structure.
According to Julie S. Amberg and Deborah J. Vause, language is foremost
a means of communication, and communication almost always takes place within
some sort of social context. Language is a rule-based system of sign spoken by a
particular community.2 When people use language, and communicate individual
thoughts, as well as the cultural beliefs and practices of the communication of
which they are a part of their families, social groups, and other associations.
A particular group of language users who share the use of a specific
language adopted to fit their needs is called a language community. 3 When people
use a specific language in the particular society means that they are a part of
language community.
English is a foreign language for Indonesian students. Most of them learn
English because English is a part of Indonesian curriculum at the primary or
secondary level. According to Jeremy Harmer, The others learn English for
several reasons.
a. Some students only learn English because it is on the curriculum at
primary or secondary level.
b. Some people learn English because they have moved into a target
language community.
1
Charles W. Kreidler, Introducing English Semantics, (New York: British Library, 1998), p. 20
2
Julie S. Amberg and Deborah J. Vause, American English (History, Structure, and Usage),
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 210
3
Ibid., p. 4
1
2
c. Some students learn English for specific purposes such as for tourism,
banking, nursing, etc.
d. Many people learn English because they think it will be useful in some
way for international communication and travel.4
Gebhard in Butlet-Pascoe and Winburg suggests that many minority

language learners may have an especially hard time in learning English. It is not
because they are offered limited instruction in English, but because they may exist
in a painful sort of cultural limbo.5 Learning English is not easy because English
is a foreign language for Indonesian students. They also have to master two
aspects of English. They are language skills and language component.
As in the curriculum, students are expected to master four skills such as
listening, speaking, reading and writing. In this aspect, speaking and writing are
the production skills, and listening and reading are the receptive skills. Besides, to
support those skills, they also expected to master the language component such as
grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, spelling, semantic, etc.
Tom McArthur said in his book that grammar is the rules people use when
speaking or writing.6 Grammar also deals with the form of sentences and smaller
units: clauses, phrases and words.7 Learning a language is impossible without
learning the grammar of that language, because grammar is one of the language
components which has an important role in the process of mastering language.
Actually, grammar consists of many elements such as part of speech
(noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction and interjection),
tenses, modal auxiliaries, comparison degree, etc. in this study, the writer focuses
on verbs that consist of regular and irregular verbs.
4
Jeremy Harmer, How to teach, (England: Longman, 2007), p. 11
5
Mary Ellen Butler-Pascoe and Karin M. Wiburg, Technology and Teaching English Language
Learners, (New York: A and B, 2003), p. 189
6
Tom McArthur, A Foundation Course for Language Teachers, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1984), p. 75
7
Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar,
(United Kingdom: Cambridge, 2010), p. 1
3
In English language, verb forms are divided into two kinds. They are
regular and irregular verbs, but the regular verbs more than the irregular verbs.
The way to change the verbs between regular and irregular are different. To
change the regular verbs into past form generally by adding –ed or –d. For the
irregular verbs, there are not specific ways to change them into past form because
the students have to memorize all of unpredictable change.
For example to make a past form of walk students just add –ed at the end
of words become walked because walk is a regular verb. Then, to make the past
form in the irregular verbs such as say, we cannot only add –ed or -d to make the
verb say into the past form, but we have to memorize the change of verbs say that
is say-said-said.
Charles W. Kreidler said that every language has a grammatical system
and different languages have somewhat grammatical system. 8 For Indonesian
students, mastering English grammar is not easy because English and Indonesian
language have different rule of grammar.
In the process of learning English, students sometimes do some mistakes
and errors. Mistakes and errors are different. Brown said that a mistake is a
performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip”, in that it is a failure to
utilize a known system correctly.9 Then, according to Jeremy Harmer, errors are
mistakes which they can’t correct themselves and which need explanation.10 So,
mistakes can cause by the students who can’t memorize well, slip of fingers or
slip of tongue. Whereas errors are caused by lack of knowledge about the target
language that makes the students can’t correct themselves.
Here the writer would like to show some common errors that students
often do when they use regular and irregular verbs.
a. They goed to Bali last Sunday.
b. She buyed a new bag two days ago.
8
Charles W. Kreidler, op. cit., p. 50
9
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Forth Edition), (New
York: Pearson Education, 2006), p. 257
10
Jeremy Harmer, op. cit., p. 96
4
The above sentences are definitely wrong because the students use the
wrong form of verbs. Go and buy are the irregular verbs, but the students just add
–ed/d to the verb that they know as the way to make the past form. Actually, the
verb Go will be changed into go-went-gone and the verb Buy will be changed into
buy-bought-bought. The correct sentences are:
 They went to Bali last Sunday.
 She bought a new bag two days ago.
In this case, students think that to change the verbs into past form, they
have to add –ed/d to all kinds of verbs. It means they did not understand that verbs
are divided into two kinds (regular and irregular) and both of them have different
way to be the past form.
The writer also found the other errors in using regular and irregular verbs,
as follows:
c. We studyied English yesterday.
d. He moveed to Solo last Wednesday.
Those sentences are wrong, because the students cannot apply the past
form of verb study and move perfectly. They give the addition one letter to the
past form of study and move. They make the past form of study becomes studyied
by adding “y” and move becomes moveed by adding “e”.
The correct sentences are:
 We studied English yesterday.
 He moved to Solo last Wednesday.
In this case, the students have to change the verb into past form
appropriately. Such as, study become studied not studyied, and move become
moved not moveed. Actually, in using the regular verbs with ending “y” as in
study, students should omit the “y” letter and change it become “i” and then add –
ed to show the past form. For the regular verbs with ending “e” as in move, they
way that student have to do in changing the verbs into past form just by adding –d
not –ed.
5
There are also other errors in using regular and irregular verbs, such as:
e. He admited his mistakes last night.
f. My family picniced to Puncak last holiday.
Those sentences are incorrect because both of them have imperfect writing
of verbs. The past forms of verbs admit and picnic should become admitted and
picnicked. For the verb admit, the students should add a letter “t” before –ed, and
for the verb picnic, the students should add a letter “k” before –ed.
The correct sentences are:
 He admitted his mistakes last night.
 My family picnicked to Puncak last holiday.
In this case the students omit a letter that should be admitted they just
wrote admited, and the past verb of picnic that should be picnicked, they just
wrote picniced.
All of those errors are some cases that happened in the process of learning
regular and irregular verbs. Those cases commonly because of several reasons,
such as the influence of their native language, lack of knowledge about the target
language or other reasons.
Actually, there are many types of error based on the different area.
According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen, errors are classified into four categories
plus a fifth by James based on the surface structure taxonomy. They are omission,
addition, misformation, misordering and blends.11 The source of errors are various
in the process of learning foreign language, especially in learning English. Peter
Hubbart divided a source of error into three parts. They are mother-tongue
interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching material or
method.12
11
Carl James, Errors in Language Learning and Use, (New York: Longman, 1998), p. 106-111
12
Peter Hubbard et,al. A Training Course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1983), p. 140
6
So, in this study the writer would like to analyze common error that
happen in the process of learning regular and irregular verbs. Then, the writer also
would like to analyze the sources of error that happen in the process of learning
both verbs.
Based on the background of the study above, the writer would like to
discuss about: “AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING
REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS (A Case Study at the Second Grade of
SMP YPN Bojong Gede)”.
B. Identification of The Problem

Based the background study above, there are some problems which can be
identified, such as:
1. The students’ ability to differentiate regular and irregular verbs.
2. The students’ ability in using verbs in the simple past tense.
3. The kinds of errors which students made in using regular and irregular
verbs.
4. The sources of student’s errors in using regular and irregular verbs.
C. Limitation of the Study

Based the identification above, the writer only focuses the problem on
regular and irregular verbs in simple past form.
D. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the description above, the writer would like to formulate the
problem as follows:
1. What types of errors do students make in using regular and irregular
verbs?
2. What sources of errors do students make in using regular and irregular
verbs?
7
E. Objectives of The Study

According to the statement of the problem above, the objective of the
study are as follows:
a. To classify the types of errors which students made in using regular and
irregular verbs.
b. To classify the sources of errors which students made in using regular and
irregular verbs.
F. Significance of the Study

The significances of this study are expected to provide useful information
for students, the English teacher, and the further researcher.
1. The Students
The result of this study is expected to give an input to them to improve
their knowledge.
2. The English Teacher
The result of this study is expected to give useful information to the
English teacher about the student’s mastery in regular and irregular verbs
to improve their quality in teaching English.
3. The Further Researcher
This study is expected can be used by other researcher to do better
research of teaching and learning cases.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Error Analysis
1. Understanding of Error Analysis
English is a foreign language for Indonesian students. In the process
of learning English, they sometimes do some mistakes or errors. As H.
Douglas Brown said in his book that learning is fundamentally a process that
involves the making of mistakes. Mistakes, misjudgments, miscalculations
and erroneous assumption form an important aspect of learning virtually any
skill or acquiring information.1
Sometimes researchers distinguish between errors are caused by
factors such as fatigue and inattention that Chomsky called “performance”
factors, and errors resulting from lack of knowledge that Chomsky called
“competence”. In some of the second language literature, performance errors
have been called “mistakes” while the term “errors” was reserved for
systematic deviations due to the learner‟s still-developing knowledge of the
L2 rule system.2
Peter Hubbard et al. differentiate between error and mistakes as
follows: errors are caused by lack of knowledge about the target language
(English) or by incorrect hypotheses about it and mistakes caused by
temporary lapses of memory, confusion, slips of the tongue and so on.3 Errors
and mistakes are different. Errors are caused by lack of knowledge of the
learners or incorrect hypotheses, and mistakes are caused by some factors
such as slips of tongue, confusion etc.
1
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Forth Edition), (New
York: Pearson Education, 2006), p. 257
2
Heidy Dulay et al., Language Two, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 139
3
Peter Hubbard et al., A Training Course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1983), p. 130
8
9
Heidi Dulay said that errors are the flawed side of learner speech or
writing. They are those parts of conversation or composition that deviate from
some selected norm of mature language performance.4 We use “error” to refer
to any deviation from a selected norm of language performance, no matter
what the characteristics or causes of the deviation might be. According to
Peter Hubbard et al, so far all incorrect forms produced by the student we
have called “errors”. 5
Carl James defines Error Analysis as the process of determining the
incidence, nature, causes and also the consequences of unsuccessful
language.6 According to H. Douglas Brown, The fact that learners do make
errors, and that these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to
reveal something of the system operating within the learner, led to a surge of
study of learners‟ errors, called error analysis.7 So, in this study the writer
would like to observe, analyze and classify learner‟s error in mastering
regular and irregular verbs.
2. Types of Error
Basically, there are many classifications about types of errors in
learning English that classify by Corder and Heidi Dulay et, al.
According to Corder, errors are classified into four basic such as
errors of omission, errors of addition, errors of selection, and errors of
ordering. If some element is omitted which should be present, it is called
errors of omission. If some element is present which should not be there, it is
called errors of addition. Next, if the wrong item has been chosen in place of
the right one, it is called errors of selection. And the last, where the elements
presented are correct but wrongly sequenced, it called errors of ordering.8
4
Dulay, et al., op. cit., p. 138
5
Hubbard et al., op. cit., p. 136
6
Carl James, op. cit., p. 1
7
Brown, op. cit., p.259
8
S. P. Corder. Error Analysis and Interlanguage. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981),
p. 36
10
This types of error would be explained more in the next explanation about
error based on the surface strategy taxonomy according to Dulay et al.
Dulay et al. claim that errors are divided into four types. They are
error based on the linguistic category, error based on the surface strategy
taxonomy, error based on the comparative taxonomy, and error based on the
communicative effect taxonomy.9 Here, the writer would like to explain more
to make them clearer.
a. Error based on the linguistic taxonomy

This category carries out specification of errors of linguistic categories
in terms of where the error is located in the overall system of the Target
Language (TL), based on the linguistic item that is affected by the error.
First, this taxonomy shows on what level of language the error is
located, such as in phonology, grammar, graphology, lexis, text, or discourse.
Next, it indicates the specification of the category of linguistic unit where the
error occurs. Finally, we need to specify the grammatical system that affected
by the error (tense, voice, countability, etc)10 For example:
Rani *study math last night.
This sentence above is incorrect, the learner used “study” in term of
the verb in the past form. This error is located in the grammar level of the
simple past tense, which is specified into morphological category that shows
omission of –ed as the past form of verb. So, the correct sentence is:
Rani studied math last night.
b. Error based on the surface strategy taxonomy

This second type of descriptive taxonomy proposed by Dulay, Burt
and Krashen, it divided into four categories. They are omission, addition,
misformation, and misordering. Besides, that four categories, James adds one
categories blends that complements the Target Modification Taxonomy.
9
Dulay, et al., op. cit., p. 140
10
James, op. cit., p. 104-105
11
1. Omission (Ø)
Omission errors mean the learner omits an item that must appear in
a well-formed utterance.11 James stated that omission is different from
ellipsis and zero elements which are allowed by the grammar, because
omission makes a structure ungrammatical.12 Here, the writer would like
to shows the example of omission:
He *call me two days ago.
The sentence above is incorrect, because the learner omits –ed in
the past form of verb put that should be putted. So, here is the correct
sentence:
He called me two days ago.
2. Addition
Addition errors are the opposite of omission errors, which presence an
item that must not appear in a well-formed utterance. It usually occur in
the L2 acquisition process, when learners has already acquired some rules
in the TL. Dulay et al, divide it into three sub-categories.13
a) Double Marking
This sub categories is defined as a failure to delete certain items which
are required in some linguistics construction but not in others.14 For
example:
She did not *studied last night.
Above is an incorrect sentence, because added –ed on the main verb
study. It make the sentence is redundant because the auxiliary did
already carries the marker of the past tense. Below is the correct
sentence:
She did not study last night.
11
Dulay, op. cit., p. 155
12
James, op. cit., p. 106
13
Dulay, loc. cit., p. 156
14
james, loc. cit., p. 107
12
b) Regularization
Regularization error involves overlooking exceptions to domain where
they do not apply.15 It usually applies in the liguistic items, such as the
class of main verbs or the class of nouns.16 For example:
Incorrect sentence: Yusuf *putted the bag there just now
Correct sentence: Yusuf put the bag there just now.
Here, the learner apply the incorrect rule to the irregular verb by added
–ed to the verb of put that must become put in the past form.
c) Simple addition
In simple addition errors, there are no particular features characteristic
other than caracterize in all additional errors, that is the use of
unnecessary item in a well-formed utterance. Here is the example:
Incorrect sentence: Shana *workeded in this company last year
Correct sentence: Shana worked in this company last year
3. Misformation
Misformation errors are the use of wrong form of the morpheme or
structure.17 Furthermore, misformation is classified into three subtypes,
they are:18
a) Regularization error is misformation category which a regular marker
that used in a place of an irregular one. For example: eated for ate,
falled for fell, maked for made, and so fort.
b) Archi-form occurs when the learner select one member of class of
forms to represent others. For example: *Me hungry for I am hungry.
c) Alternating form
Alternating form is the way to the apparently fairly free alternation of
various members of a class with each other. For example: *I seen him
yesterday for I saw him yesterday.
15
James, op. cit., p. 107
16
17
Ibid., p. 158
18
Ibid., p. 158
13
d) Misordering
Misordering error that characterized by the incorrect placement of a
morpheme or group of morpheme in an utterance.19 For example:
Incorrect sentence: *he is all the time late
Correct sentence: he is late all the time.
e) Blends
Blends is typical of situations where there are two well-defined target
and the learner is undecided which of those two target that he would like
to use. For example:
Incorrect sentence: *According to Tina’s opinion
Correct sentence: according to or Tina’s opinion.
c. Error based on the comparative taxonomy

In the comparative taxonomy, the classification of errors is based on
the comparisons between the structure of L2 errors and certain other types of
construction. For example, if someone uses comparative taxonomy to classify
the errors of Indonesian students in learning English, one might compare the
structure of the student‟s errors to that of errors reported for children
acquiring English as the first language.
In the Comparative taxonomy, errors are divided into developmental
errors, interlingual errors, ambiguous errors, and other errors.20
1) Developmental errors
Developmental errors are errors similar to those made by children learning
the target language as their first language. For example:
Incorrect sentece: *Dog it is black
Correct sentence: This dog is black
19
20
Ibid., p. 163
14
2) Interlingual errors
Interlingual errors are similar to a semantically equivalent phrase or
sentence in the learner‟s native language. For example:
Incorrect sentence: *The boy handsome
Correct sentence: The boy is handsome
3) Ambiguous errors
Ambiguous errors are the errors that reflect the learner‟s native language
structure and at the same time they found in the speech of children
acquiring a first language. For example:
Incorrect sentence: *I no have a car
Correct sentence: I don’t have a car
4) Other errors
Few taxonomies are complete without grab bag for items that don‟t fit into
any other category. For example:
Incorrect sentence: *She do hungry
Correct sentence: She is hungry
d. Error based on the communicative effect taxonomy

Communicative effect taxonomy deals with errors from the
perspective of their effect on the listener or reader. It is divided into two parts;
global and local errors.
1) Global errors are errors that affect overall sentence organization
significantly hinder communication. Here is the example:
Incorrect sentence: *English language use many people
Correct sentence: English language is used by many people.
2) Local errors are the errors that affect single elements (constituents) in a
sentence that do not hinder communication significantly.
Incorrect sentence: * Why like we each other?
Correct sentence: Why we like each other?
15
Researchers have found that like L1 learners‟ error, most of the errors
L2 learners make indicate they are gradually building an L2 rule system
among the most common errors are:
a. Omitting grammatical morphemes
b. Double marking
c. Regularizing rules
d. Using two or more forms in random alternation
e. Misordering21
3. Sources of Error
Naturally, teachers can be blamed for causing errors by sloppy or careless
teaching or planning. On the other hand, if teachers blame the students, their
accusations are usually directed at lack of motivation, self-discipline or general
intelligence. However, much truth may be on the other side, we must agree that
even the most intelligent, conscientious and motivated students do make errors
even when learning under the best possible conditions.22
By trying to identify the sources of error the writer can take another step
forward to understand student‟s cognitive and affective processes in learning
foreign language. Actually, students do some errors caused by several factors that
called sources of error.
Pit Corder in Hubbard claims that there are three major sources of error,
which he labels as follows:
a. Transfer errors
In the transfer errors, before the system of second language is familiar, the
native language is the only linguistic system in previous experiences upon
which the learner can draw.
21
Dulay et al., op. cit., p. 138-139
22
16
b. Analogical errors
Eventhough the learners have discovered a correct rule of the target
language, they may still make some error in the process of learning languge by
analogy something because the students have not yet discovered the rule
applies.
c. Teaching-induced errors.
In the process of learning error may appear. Thus error may caused by the
method and the material that delivered by the teacher.23
However, a Training Course for TEFL book uses the same categories but
give them different names such as mother-tongue interference, overgeneralization,
and errors encouraged by teaching material or method.
a. Mother-tongue interference
Even though young children appear to be able to learn a foreign language
easily and to reproduce new sounds effectively, most of older learners
experience considerable difficulty. The sounds system (phonology) and the
grammar of the first language impose themselves on the new language and this
leads to a „foreign‟ pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns and occasionally
to the wrong choice of vocabulary.
b. Overgeneralization
The mentalist theory claims that errors are inevitable because they reflect
various stages in the language development of the learner. It claims that the
learner processes new language data in his mind and produces rules for its
production, based on the evidence.
c. Errors encouraged by teaching material or method.
Error is evidence of failure of ineffective teaching or lack of control. If
material is well chosen, graded and presented with meticulous care, there
should never be any error.24
23
Hubbard, op. cit., p. 140
24
ibid., p. 140
17
According to H. Douglas Brown, sources of error are divided into four

parts. They are interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, context of learning and
communication strategies.25
a. Interlingual transfer
Interlingual transfer is a significant source of error for all learners. The
beginning stages of learning a foreign language are especially vulnerable to
interlingual transfer from the native language, or interference. In the
interlingual transfer, before the system of the second language is familiar, the
native language is the only previous linguistic system upon which the learner
can draw.
b. Intralingual transfer
Intralingual transfer is a major factor in the second language learning.
Researchers have found that the early stages of language learning are
characterized by a predominance of interference, but the learners have begun to
acquire parts of the new system.
c. Context of learning
The third major source of error is context of learning. “Context” refers
to the classroom with its teacher and its materials in the case of school learning
or the social situation in the case of untutored second language learning.
Students often make errors because of a misleading explanation from the
teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook, or even
because a pattern that was rarely memorized in a drill but improperly
contextualized.
d. Communication strategies
Learners obviously use production strategies in order to enhance
getting their messages across, but at times these techniques can themselves
become a source of error.26
25
Brown, op. cit., p. 263
26
18
4. Procedures of Error Analysis

According to Muriel Saville said that there are several steps in the
procedure for analyzing learner errors. They are collection of a sample of
learner language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of
errors, and evaluation of errors.
a. Collection of a sample of learner language
In this step, the data are collected from some learners who answer
the task or test that is suitable to the objective of the study.
b. Identification of errors
In the identification of errors the researchers are determinate the
sample of the learner which deviate from the target language in some way.
c. Description of errors
In this step, the errors are usually classified according to language
level (whether an error is phonological, morphological, syntactic, etc),
general linguistic category (auxiliary system, passive sentence, etc), or
more specific linguistic elements (e.g. articles, preposition, etc).
d. Explanation of errors
In the explanation of errors, the researchers have to analyze why an
error was made by the learners. The researchers also have to find the
causes or sources of error that made by the learners.
e. Evaluation of errors
This step involves analysis of what effect the error has on whoever
is being addressed.27
In another theory, Penny Ur said there are four stages to analyze the
learner errors. They are gathering samples, classifying, ordering, and
reordering.
27
Muriel Saville Troike, Introducing Second Language Acquisition, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2008), p. 39
19
a. Gathering samples
In this step, the researcher has to gather several learners‟ writing
sample to analyze.
b. Classifying
In the second step, the researcher has to classify or categorize the
students mistake or errors that the most common.
c. Ordering
Then, the researcher makes a list of the most common mistakes or
error that learners made.
d. Reordering
In the last step rearrange the list of student‟s error to make sure and
it is very necessary for the error correction.28
B. General Concept of Verb

1. Understanding of Verbs
The verb is indispensable: without it no sentence can be made. A
verb is needed to express the thought, and the verb is the only part of
speech that can by itself express a thought. So, because of their prime
29
importance, verbs must be thoroughly studied and mastered. Verb has
an important role in a sentence to express our thought, because of it the
learners have to study and master it.
The basic building blocks of English sentences are subject and
verbs. Mastering both of them is an important step toward mastering a
number of sentences. All sentences consist of a subject and a verb. Subject
means who or what the sentence speaks about, and verb means what the
sentence says about the subject.30 When people just write or speak the
28
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, (London: Cambridge
University Press, 1996), p.86
29
James C. Fernald, English Grammar Simplified, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1979)
p. 79
30
John Langan, English skills (Seventh Addition), (New York: Mc Graw Hill, 2001), p. 411
20
subject in his/her writing or speaking, it means that he/she doesn‟t speak a

sentence.
Silvia Robertson said that a verb in general is the key to the
meaning of the sentence.31 The verb is the most important thing in a
sentence because a verb is a keyword to express the meaning in a sentence.
So, without verb, it cannot be called as a sentence.
Verb is one of part of speech that consists of noun, pronoun, verb,
adverb, preposition, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. In the book
“how to teach” by Jeremy Harmer, verb is a word or group of words which
is used in describing an action experience or state.32 So, verbs have the
functions in a sentence to express an action, experience, state, etc.
The verb is the chief determinant of what kind of situation it is: an
action (I opened the window), some other event (the building collapsed), a
state (They know the rules), and so on.33 This definition is almost similar
with the definition from Penny Ur and James C. Fernald as follows:
 Penny Ur said that verbs are often called words of doing, such as
walk, write, read etc. they also indicate a state of being (such as
seems) , state of feeling (such as regret), and a state of being in
relationship to.34
 According to James C. Fernald, verb is a word that expresses action or
state of being. Among verbs expressing action are walk, run, ride, go,
come, look, see, call, etc. Among verbs expressing emotion and state
of being are be, exist, seem, appear, remain, etc.35
Actually the three of them give a definition that verbs express an
action, event, state of being, feeling or emotion etc. So, verb has many
functions to express our thought in a sentence.
31
Hodder & Stoughton, Parken Verboten (Teach Yourself : German Verbs), (German: Hodder
Headline, 2003), p. 2
32
Jeremy Harmer, op cit., p. 65
33
Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar,
(Cambridge: Cambridge, 2010), p. 17
34
Penny Ur, op. cit., p. 80
35
James C. Fernald, op. cit., p. 79
21
From a semantic standpoint, verbs serve several purposes, such as

to equate X with Y, to indicate state or condition and to indicate the
performance of action.36 For example:
Table 2.5
The example of verbs purposes in the semantic
1. To equate X with Y Nasya is a nurse

2. To indicate state or condition Talitha seems sick today
3. To indicate the performance of action Salsa read a book.
2. Kinds of Verb
The term main verb refers to the word that expresses action or
helps to make a statement complete. Even though the main verb consists
of one word, it may have helping verbs in front of it. 37 Without verb, a
statement or sentence cannot be a complete statement or complete
sentence.
Verbs are variable lexemes. They have a number of different
inflectional forms that are required or permitted in various grammatical
contexts.38 The most distinctive grammatical property of verbs is their
inflection.39 Inflectional is variation in the form of a lexeme determined by
syntactic properties like singular and plural number in nouns, preterite and
present tense in verbs.40 Actually, the preterite form is similar to the past
form of verb, such as watch – watched – watched.
36
Richard V. Teschner and Eston Evans, Analyzing the Grammar of English (A Brief
Undergradate Textbook, Second Edition), ( Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2000), p.
11
37
Barbara Hansen and Rebecca McDaniel, Simplifed Sentence Skills, (Chicago: NTC
Publishing Group, 1998), p. 4
38
Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, op. cit., p. 29
39
Ibid., p. 17
40
Ibid., p. 301
22
Eugene J. Hall said that there are only two tenses in English which
are marked by inflection. These are the simple present and simple past
tenses.41 Most modern grammarians also consider that there are only two
tenses in English which have inflected endings; the simple present and the
simple past. In this study, the writer will focus on the verbs inflection in
the simple past tense. The simple past tense indicates past actions that
occur at a definite time in the past, whether the time is stated or not.
According to their changes of form (inflection) verbs are divided

into regular and irregular verbs.42
a. Regular Verb
Most English verbs are regular in the form of the past and the past
participle. According to Silvia Robertson, regular verbs are verbs which
conform to a certain pattern. She also said that the regular verbs have certain
patterns to change such the word walk that changes into walk-walked-walked, but
to be cannot change regularly as the word walk.43
The simple past and past participle of regular verbs is –ed, such as
clean–cleaned, live–lived, paint–painted, etc. For example:
Simple past:
 I cleaned my room yesterday.
Past participle:
 Present perfect : have/has + past participle
For example:
Candy has lived in Miami for ten years.
 Passive : be + past participle
For example:
These rooms are cleaned every day.44
41
Eugene J. Hall. Grammar for Use. (New York: Voluntad Publishers, Inc, 1992), p. 153
42
James C. Fernald, op.cit p. 82
43
Hodder & Stoughton, op. cit p. 4
44
Raymond Murphy with William R. Smalzer, Basic Grammar in Use (second edition),
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 50
23
With regular verbs we can also predict that the past tense form and
past participle forms are identical and formed with the –ed ending added to
the base:
Table 2.6
The example of regular verb
The base past form past participle
Walk walked walked45
b. Irregular Verb
Irregular verbs is a small number of verbs, among the some of the
most commonly used verbs in the language, which have forms that differ
from the regular tense form.46 Irregular verbs form the past tense and the
past participle which are different with the regular verbs that adding –ed.
Actually, there are only about 200 irregular verbs, including all the
auxiliaries, in the English language.47
Besides, regular and irregular verbs are different in the number of
verbs, irregular verbs also different in the way to make it. Different with
regular verbs, however, in the irregular verbs we cannot predict their past
and past participle forms from the base. For example:
Table 2.7
The example of irregular verbs
The base past form past participle

Break Broke Broken
45
Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svantvik, A Communicative Grammar of English (Third Edition),
(Boston: Pearson Education, 2002), p.300
46
Marcella Fank. Modern English: a Practical Reference Guide. (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
INC, 1972), p. 61
47
James C. Fernald. Op. cit., p. 82
24
Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svantvik said that there are three main types of
irregular verbs divided as in the bellow:
1) Verbs in which all the three principal part (the base, the past form,
the past participle) are identical, for example:
Cut ~ cut ~ cut let ~ let ~ let
2) Verbs in which two parts are identical, for example:
Spend ~ spent ~ spent come ~ came ~ come
3) Verbs in which all three parts are different, for example:
Blow ~ blew ~ blown speak ~ spoke ~ spoken48
3. Forms of Verb
Verbs indicate the time of an action by their form. The form tells
whether the action is in the past, the present, or the future. The English
language has six tenses to indicate three of them, and all of the tenses are
based on the four principal parts of verb. As follows:
Table 2.8
The four principal parts of verb
Present Past Past participle Present participle

Walk Walked (have) walked (is) walking
a. Regular Verb
There are two types of main verbs, they are regular and irregular.
„Regular‟ means that we can state all the verb forms of an English verb
once we know its base form. The base is the basic, uninflected form which
is given as the entry from in dictionaries. A regular English verb, such as
call, has the following four forms:
48
Leech and Jan Svantvik, op. cit., p.300
25
1. The base : call

2. The –s form :calls
3. The –ing form : calling
4. The –ed form : called
In the regular verb, the verb is formed by adding –ed to the base to
change into two forms, past and past participle.49 For example:
Table 2.9
The regular verbs form
-ed form
Base Past form Past participle
Help Helped Helped
Play Played Played
Regular verbs form the past tense and the past participle by adding
–ed to the simple form of the verb. When the simple form end in mute e,
the e is put before adding -ed.
Eugene J. Hall said that regular verbs in the past tense are formed
by adding –d or –ed in written usage. In speech the –d ending has three
different pronunciations. Those different pronunciations have no
significance in meaning.50
49
Leech and Svantvik, op. cit., p.316-317
50
Eugene J. Hall, Grammar for Use, (New York: Voluntad Publishers, Inc, 1992), p. 153
26
b. Irregular Verb
According to Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svantvik, there are three main
types of irregular verbs, they are verbs in which all the three principal parts,
verbs in which two parts are identical, and verbs in which all three parts
are different.51 In other words, the first type is verbs whose forms in the
present, past, and past participle are similar (V1 = V2 = V3). The next type
is the verbs whose forms in the present is different with the past and past
participle (V1 ≠ V2 & V3). In the last type, the form in the present, past and
past participle are different (V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3).
In the list below, the verbs are grouped according to how three past
from and past participle forms differ from the base form. 52
1) All three verb parts are identical (V1 = V2 = V3)
Table 2.10
The irregular verbs form (V1 = V2 = V3)
Verb I Verb II Verb III
Cut cut cut
Hurt Hurt Hurt
Put Put Put
Hit Hit Hit
Quit Quit Quit
Read Read Read
Set Set Set
Let Let let
51
Leech and Jan Svantvik, op. cit., p. 300
52
Ibid., p. 301-309
27
Cost Cost cost
Thrust thrust thrust
Spread Spread spread
Upset Upset upset
Wed Wed wed
2) Two verb parts are identical (V1 ≠ V2 & V3)
Table 2.11
The irregular verbs form (V1 ≠ V2 & V3)
Say Said said
Pay Paid paid
Dig Dug dug
Feel Felt felt
Feed Fed fed
Stand Stood stood
Bring Brought brought
Buy Bought bought
Teach Taught taught
Think Thought thought
Catch Caught caught
Pay Paid paid
Dig Dug dug

28
Feel Felt felt
Feed Fed fed
Stand Stood stood
Find Found found
Hang Hung hung
Hear Heard heard
Hold Held held
Keep Kept kept
Lay Laid laid
Lie Lay lay
Lead Led led
Lose Lost lost
3) All three verb forms are different (V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3)
Table 2.12
The irregular verbs form (V1 ≠ V2 ≠ V3)
Go went gone
Write wrote written
Speak spoke spoken
Hide hid hidden
Become became become
Begin began begun
Break broke broken

29
Choose chose chosen
Do did done
draw drew drawn
Drive drove driven
drink drank drunk
Fall fell fallen
Forgive forgave forgiven
Get got gotten
Give gave given
Know knew known
Ring rang rung
See saw seen
Sing sang sung
Swim swam swum
Take took taken
Wake woke woken
Undo undid undone
Wear wore worn

CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Place and Time of The Study

1. Place of The Study
This study was held at SMP YPN Bojong Gede which is located in
Bambu Kuning Rt 02/06, Desa Bojong Baru, Kecamatan Bojong Gede,
Kabupaten Bogor.
2. Time of The Study
The writer conducted the study at that school from December 2012 up to
January 2013.
B. Research Design
This research is a qualitative research in a form case study. Qualitative
research is a research that involves data collection procedures that gave result in
open-ended and non-numerical data which is then analyzed primarily by non-
statistical methods.1 According to Gall et al. in the Patricia A. Duff’s book, case
study is the dept study of instances of phenomenon in its natural context and from
the perspective of the participants involved in the phenomenon.2
To compile this paper, the writer also did library research. The writer did
library research in order to broaden the theoretical framework such as looking for
ideas from experts, some definitions. The writer also reads many reference books
which related to the topic. She also visited some libraries such as FITK library,
UIN library and Atmajaya University.
1
Zoltan Dornyei, Research Methods in Applied Linguistics (Quantitative, Qualitative, and
Mixed Methodologies), (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 24
2
Patricia A. Duff, Case Study Reseacrh in Applied Linguistics, (New York: Taylor & Francis
Group, 2008), p. 22
30
31
C. Research Participants
The research participants of this study were 25 students as the total
population at second grade of SMP YPN Bojong Gede which were taken by
purposive random sampling.
D. Techniques of Data Collecting

To collect data, the writer uses three kinds of data collecting techniques, they
are:
1. Observation
In this research, this technique is used to get the accurate information about
the school where the writer does her research, such as the location, the students,
and the student’s material. The writer also did classroom observation in order to
get the supporting data about the sources of error in second grade of SMP YPN
Bojong Gede.
2. Test
In this study, the writer gave written tests to get data about the student’s
errors in mastering regular and irregular verbs in simple past tense as the material
in the second grade in the junior high school.
The test is divided into three parts. The first part asked the students to
complete the text by using the past form of the verbs in the bracket. The second
part asked the students fill the right verbs than change it into the past form. The
last part asked the students to change the verbs in the bracket into the past form.
Table 3.1
Number of items of regular and irregular verbs
No. Regular and irregular verbs Number of items

1 Task A
Regular verbs 2, 4, 8, 10
Irregular verbs 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9
32
2 Task B
Regular verbs 1, 4, 5, 7, 9
Irregular verbs 2, 3, 6, 8, 10
3 Task C
Regular verbs 2, 5, 6, 8, 9
Irregular verbs 1, 3, 4, 7, 10
3. Questionnaires
The writer gave questioner as the supporting data to the second grade
students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede in order to find out the sources of errors
which consist of fifteen questions. The questions are talking about the
students’ motivation in learning English, students’ knowledge about Regular
and Irregular Verbs, students’ view about Indonesian and English verbs, and
the teacher performance in teaching Regular and Irregular Verbs.
E. Techniques of Data Interpretation

After collecting the data, she interprets it by presenting data from class
observation, questionnaire, and identifying the error from the tests.
In identifying error, the writer determines the types of errors and the
source of errors. The writer used the Surface Strategy Taxonomy theory of James
which consists of omission, addition, misformation/misselection, misordering and
blends to classify the types of errors. She also used table in presenting the types of
error. Then, she used theory from Hubbard et al. about sources of error which
consist of mother tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged
by teaching material or method.
In data interpretation, the writer used the procedures from Murriel Saville
Troike that claims that there are five steps in analyzing data. They are collection
of sample of learner language, identification of errors, description of errors,
explanation of errors, and evaluation of errors.3
3
Muriel Saville Troike, op. cit., p. 39
33
The first step, the writer collected the data by doing classroom
observation, giving questioner to the students and also giving tests to the second
grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede about regular and irregular verbs in the
simple past tense.
Next, after collected the data, the writer identified the data which she got
from the observation, tests and questioner. She also determinate the sample of the
learners which were deviated from the target language by giving a circle to the
incorrect answer to the student’s answer.
Then, the writer classified the errors based on the surface strategy
taxonomy according to James. They are omission, addition,
misformation/misselection, misordering and blends. She also classified the errors
into several tables according to types of errors.
After classifying the errors based on the surface strategy taxonomy, the
writer made a percentage of the errors from the students answer. It will be
describe as the formula below:
P = Percentage
F = frequency of wrong answer
N = Number of sample
In the explanation of errors, the writer tried to analyze the sources of error
after making a percentage of students’ error and giving questioner to the students.
In this part, the writer used the source of error by Hubbard et al. that consists of
mother-tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by
teaching material or method.
In the last step the writer evaluated the effects of errors which made by
second grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede in mastering regular and
irregular verbs in the simple past form. Then, the writer classified the effects into
two kinds, global and local error. Finally, to sum up the result, she gives some
conclusions.
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. Data Description
Having done class observation (see appendix 1a), the writer gave the tests
to the second grade students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede. The writer gave the tests
which covered by Regular and Irregular Verbs areas that consist of 30 questions.
Then, the writer analyzed the students‟ errors in mastering Regular and
Irregular Verbs by classifying the students‟ error. After that, the writer makes a
percentage of the types of errors. In addition, the writer also gave questioner to the
students to find the source of error (see appendix 2a& 2b).
1. The Result of Observation

According to Patricia A. Duff, observation can help researcher understand
many aspects, such as the social/cultural, linguistic contexts in which the language
is used and also collect relevant linguistic and interactional data.1In this study the
writer did the observation as the supporting data in order to get the sources of
error
The writer did the class observation by observing the students and teacher
activity in teaching-learning process in the classroom. It was held at second grade
students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede which consist of 25 students. This
observation was conducted on 6th of December 2012 at 07.30 – 09.00 a.m. In this
observation, the writer was as an observer which did not involve in teaching
learning process.
1
Patricia A. Duff, Case study Research in Applied Linguistics, (New York, Taylor & Francis
Group, 2008), p. 138
34
35
From the class observation, the writer observed the teaching material or
method that used by the English teacher in the teaching learning activity. The
teacher used Grammar Translation Methodin delivering Regular and Irregular
verbs in the Simple Past tense. The English teacher explained the
materialgenerally. Then, she also gave few examples of regular and irregular
verbs. The last, she gave the students some exercise from the textbook.
From the beginning, many students seem did not really interested in learning
English, just some of them who paid attention to the teacher‟s explanation.
However, when the teacher gave them some exercise, many of them were cheated
each other.When the teacher asked the students to discuss the exercise, not all of
them involved in this discussion. Many of them were sleeping, drawing, and
talking to their friends.
From the observation, the writer thought teaching learning activity in this
classroom may lead students do some errors in applying regular and irregular
verbs.
2. The Result of Test

After observing the classroom activity, the writer gave tests about regular
and irregular verbs to twenty five students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede. The writer
gave the tests twice to get the real data which show errors in the students answer
sheet. The first test was held on 8thof January 2013, and the second test was
conducted on 15thof January 2013.
The test consists of 30 items which divided into three parts. The first part
asked the students to complete the recount text by filling the blank with the right
verbs whether regular or irregular verbs. Then, the second part asked the students
to fill the right verbs with the sentences then change it into the past form. The last
part asked the students to change the verbs in the brackets to the past form.
After collecting data from the second grade students of SMP YPN Bojong
Gede, the writer identified the students‟ error by giving a circle to the erroneous
item. The result of this identification can be seen at the following table.
36
Table 4.1
Students’ Score of First Test Result
Score
No. Student Part A Part B Part C
(A+B+C)/3
1 Student 1 60 40 30 44
2 Student 2 20 10 10 14
3 Student 3 40 20 40 34
4 Student 4 60 50 60 57
5 Student 5 50 30 30 37
6 Student 6 60 30 30 40
7 Student 7 60 30 60 50
8 Student 8 20 20 50 30
9 Student 9 40 30 30 34
10 Student 10 40 30 30 34
11 Student 11 20 20 30 24
12 Student 12 30 10 20 20
13 Student 13 30 10 40 27
14 Student 14 20 20 40 27
15 Student 15 40 50 40 44
16 Student 16 40 20 30 30
17 Student 17 30 10 40 27
18 Student 18 50 20 70 47
19 Student 19 50 30 60 47
20 Student 20 50 40 40 44
21 Student 21 40 50 30 40
22 Student 22 40 50 40 44
23 Student 23 40 20 30 30
24 Student 24 40 30 30 34
25 Student 25 50 50 70 57
37
Total score 916

Average 36.64
The table 4.1 above is the first test result about regular and irregular verb.
From the first test the writer got total score 916 with the average 36.64.
Table 4.2
Students’ Score of Second Test Result
Score
No. Student Part A Part B Part C
(A+B+C)/3
1 Student 1 60 40 30 44
2 Student 2 20 10 30 20
3 Student 3 50 50 40 47
4 Student 4 60 60 60 60
5 Student 5 50 30 30 37
6 Student 6 60 30 30 40
7 Student 7 60 40 60 54
8 Student 8 60 70 50 60
9 Student 9 60 20 60 47
10 Student 10 60 20 60 47
11 Student 11 30 10 30 24
12 Student 12 30 20 30 27
13 Student 13 30 10 40 27
14 Student 14 20 20 40 27
15 Student 15 40 50 40 44
16 Student 16 40 30 30 34
17 Student 17 40 10 50 34
18 Student 18 50 40 70 54
19 Student 19 50 30 70 50
38
20 Student 20 40 50 50 47
21 Student 21 40 60 30 44
22 Student 22 50 50 40 47
23 Student 23 40 30 30 34
24 Student 24 40 30 30 34
25 Student 25 50 60 70 60
Total score 1043
Average 41.72
The table 4.2 above is the students‟ score from the second test about
regular and irregular verb. From the second test, the total score of students are
increasing became 1043 with the average 41.72 from 36.64. Then, the incorrect
answer would be explained more and also would be presented in the percentage in
the data analysis.
3. The Result of Questionnaire

Based on the Patricia A. Duff, Data collection often includes a number of
instruments or techniques. Many studies focus on documents, observation, and
interview data. In addition, test, verbal reports and questionnaires are the possible
data sources for surveying whom cases are selected.2
In this study, the writer gave questionnaire to the second grade students of
SMP YPN Bojong Gede to get supporting data about sources of error. She gave
questionnaire to the twenty five students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede on 8th of
January 2013. The questioner asked the students to chose between two alternative
answers which proper with themselves whichis consist of fifteen questions
In the questionnaire, the writer asked about student and teacher‟s activities
in learning regular and irregular verbs in the simple pat tense.Based on the data,
100 % students said that they have learned simple past tense as their material in
the second grade of Junior high school. They also said that their English teacher
has explained about regular and irregular verbs and give some examples of it.
2
Patricia A. Duff, op. cit., p. 128
39
However, the writer got 88% students are less motivation in learning English
because only 12 % students who like English from the result of questionnaire.
Besides, 52% students thought Indonesian and English verbs have the similar
pattern. In fact, Indonesian and English have different pattern of verbs. Then, 40%
students thought that regular and irregular verbs are similar. It may lead
overgeneralization in applying regular and irregular verbs.
Many studentsadmitted that they did some errors in doing some exercise about
simple past tense and also regular and irregular verbs. Students‟ motivation in
learning English gave influence to their activities in the English lesson. It also can
be seen from only 28% students who usually bring dictionary to the class. Some
of those factors may be lead students do some errors in mastering regular and
irregular verbs.
B. Data Interpretation
In the data interpretation, the writer use procedure of error by Muriel Saville
which has been explained clearly in the preceding chapter and some of those
procedures have been done such as collecting data by gave tests to the students
and identifying students errors by circling students‟ answer sheet. Next, the other
procedures would be described clearly as follows:
1. Description of Errors
In describing the errors, the writer classified the types of errors based on the
Surface Taxonomy Categories using theory of James that classified the errors into
five parts.They are omission, addition, misformation/misselection, misordering
and blends. The aim of this step is to know whether these errors involve in
omission, addition, misformation/misselection, misordering or blend.
Based on the identified data from the student‟s answer sheet in using regular
and irregular verbs, the errors are falls into three types. They are omission,
addition and mis-selection or mis-formation, and the writer did not find error of
mis-ordering and blends in the student answer sheet. This classification will be
presented below.
40
a. Omission
Some students made errors in using regular and irregular verbs by omit some
crucial component in forming past form of verbs. Many of them made this error
because they did not write the verb correctly. Some of them omit several letters of
the verb such as –e, -d, -ed, for example borrowd (borrowed), slam (slammed),
studi(studied) etc. The errors are presented in the following table:
Table 4.3
The Description Error of Omission
Item’s
Error Identification Error Correction
Number
1. In the holidays a few years ago we

In the holidays a few years
wen to Hawks Nest. (students 11, 12,
ago we went to Hawks Nest.
13)
My brother Chris and I went walking My brother Chris and I went

on the beach one sunny day, and we walking on the beach one
3. foud a little cubby out of overgrown sunny day, and we found a
bushes. (Students 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, little cubby out of overgrown
12) bushes.
I loked at Chris and he made a I looked at Chris and he made

8. rustling sound of wind in the bushes. a rustling sound of wind in
(Student 2 ) the bushes.
Then Chris dived down, but slam

into my head as I was stuck half way
down. (Student: 2)
Then Chris dived down, but
10. slammed into my head as I
Then Chris dived down, but slamed was stuck half way down.
into my head as I was stuck half way
down. (Students: 17, 23, 24)
41
Dava borrowd my pen yesterday.

(Students: 4, 7)
11. Dava borrowed my pen

Dava brrowed my pen yesterday. yesterday.
(Student: 16)
Dava borow my pen yesterday.

(Students: 2, 5, 6)
The accident happend last Sunday The accident happened last

14.
afternoon. (Students: 1, 8, 13, 14) Sunday afternoon.
It‟s a nice day today, but yesterday it

rain all day. (Students: 7, 11, 12, 13,
20)
17.
It‟s a nice day today, but
yesterday it rained all day.
raind all day. (Students: 5, 6, 9, 10,
12, 23)
Andy‟s grandfather die when he was Andy‟s grandfather died

19.
85 years old. (Students: 2, 13, 17, 18) when he was 85 years old.
The students studi those lessons last The students studied those
22.
week. (Student: 8) lessons last week.
Last holiday, I and my family

picniced in Cibodas. (Students: 1, 3,
7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 24 )
23.
Last holiday, I and my family Last holiday, I and my family
picnicd in Cibodas. (Student: 23) picnicked in Cibodas.
Last holiday, I and my family picnic

in Cibodas. (Student: 14)
42
The driver stoped the bus very

quickly five minutes ago. (Students:
1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17,
18, 19, 21, 22, 24)
25. The driver stopped the bus

The driver stoppd the bus very very quickly five minutes
quickly five minutes ago. (Student: ago.
2)
The driver stop the bus very quickly

five minutes ago. (Student: 14)
She lved in Bandung for two years, She lived in Bandung for two
26. but now she lives in Jakarta. years, but now she lives in
(Student: 17) Jakarta.
From the table above, most students were omitting a letter which must exist
within a morpheme. From the table above, the students omitted –n of the past
form of “find” that should be “found”. The students also omitted –m which must
exist in the “slammed” as the past form of “slam”. They also omitted –e in the
verb “borrowed” and –d in the verb “died”. Next, they omitted –k which must
exist in the “picnicked”, and –p in the “stopped”.
b. Addition
These errors occur if the students add some letters or elements which are not
suitable to the rule of the past form of regular and irregular verbs. Many students
did not use the right rule in changing the verbs into past form. From the data,
some of them did not understand well how to transform the verb into the past
form in regular and irregular verbs. They also seem confused in using –d or –ed to
the verbs. The Errors are illustrated as follows:
43
Table 4.4
The Description Error of Addition
Item’s
Number
First, Christ tried it out and he

slideed down and soon came back up
saying that it was safe, and that it was
great fun. (Student: 13)
First, Christ tried it out and he slide

down and soon came back up saying
that it was safe, and that it was great
fun. (Student: 4)
First, Christ tried it out and

First, Christ triedit out and he sliden
he slid down and soon came
back up saying that it was
5. that it was safe, and that it was great
safe, and that it was great
fun. (Student: 8)
fun. (Student: 4)
First, Christ triedit out and he slaid

fun. (Student: 14)
First, Christ tried it out and he slided

fun. (Students: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12,
16, 20, 22, 23, 24)
I madee a rainbow cake yesterday. I made a rainbow cake

12.
(Student: 2) yesterday.
Last night, the baby crieed in his Last night, the baby cried in
15.
room. (Student: 19) his room.
44
Fauzi Bowo lead Jakarta last year. Fauzi Bowo led Jakarta last
16.
(Students: 1, 2, 3, 25) year.

rainied all day. (Students: 15, 21 )
It‟s a nice day today, but
17.
rainyed all day. (Student: 22)
I mett my old friend in the restaurant

yesterday. (Student: 2)
I met my old friend in the
18.
restaurant yesterday.
I meet my old friend in the restaurant
yesterday. (Students: 13, 16, 17, 20,
21, 22, 25)
Andy‟s grandfather diied when he

was 85 years old. (Student: 14)
Andy‟s grandfather dieed when he

Andy‟s grandfather diedwhen
19.
he was 85 years old.
Andy‟s grandfather diednt when he
was 85 years old. (Students: 9, 10)
Andy‟s grandfather dieded when he

I reads this novel five days ago.

(Students: 7, 14)
I read this novel five days
20.
ago.
I readed this novel five days ago.
(Students 10, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24)
45
I readth this novel five days ago.

(Students: 11, 12)
The students studyied those lessons The students studied those

22.
last week. (Students: 21) lessons last week.
Rita brought a new car three days Rita bought a new car three
29.
ago. (Students: 5, 6, 9, 10) days ago.
Zamzami satd in the chair because he Zamzami sat in the chair

30.
was tired. (Student: 12) because he was tired.
In this research, the writer found that the most error is in formulating the
regular verbs. For examples:
* Last night, the baby crieed in his room.
* Andy‟s grandfather dieed when he was 85 years old.
* Andy‟s grandfather dieded when he was 85 years old.
Error correction
a) Last night, the baby cried in his room.
b) Andy‟s grandfather died when he was 85 years old.
The examples above showed that students failed added certain item which
should not exist in their answer. Besides false in formulating regular verbs, the
students also committed errors by adding unnecessary element which is not
applied in the target language, such as in the following examples:
* I mett my old friend in the restaurant yesterday.
* Zamzami satd in the chair because he was tired.
Thus, the suggested corrections are:
c) I met my old friend in the restaurant yesterday.
d) Zamzami sat in the chair because he was tired.
46
c. Mis-selection/ Mis- formation

This type of error occurs if there students used the wrong item of the
regular and irregular verbs. From the data, many students did this errors by
transformed the verb into other words which have similar pronunciation with the
verbs. Many of them also did not use the right form of the verbs, because they
simplified the irregular verbs only by adding –d/ -ed like in regular verbs. The
errors are illustrated as follows:
Table 4.5
The Description Error of Mis-selection/ Mis-formation
Item’s
Number
In the holidays a few years ago we

1. wend to Hawks Nest. (Students: 11,
12, 13)
We steyed in a house that was

opposite a long, white beach with a
lot of sand dunes. (Students: 2, 3)
We statdid in a house that was

We stayed in a house that was
2. opposite a long, white beach
with a lot of sand dunes.
We staied in a house that was
We study in a house that was

47
My brother Chris and I went walking

on the beach one sunny day, and we
feud a little cubby out of overgrown
bushes. (Students: 5, 6)

My brother Chris and I went
walking on the beach one
fine a little cubby out of overgrown
3. sunny day, and we found a
bushes. (Students: 13, 14)
little cubby out of overgrown
bushes.

finded a little cubby out of
overgrown bushes. (Students: 15, 16,
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
First, Christ trayed it out and he slid

fun. (Students: 1, 3, 4, 8)
First, Christ tried it out and
he slid down and soon came
4. First, Christ tried it out and he slid back up saying that it was
down and soon came back up saying safe, and that it was great fun.
fun. (Students: 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14,
23, 24)
First, Christ tlied it out and he slid

fun. (Student: 17)
First, Christ try it out and he slid

fun. (Student: 2)
48
First, Christ cry it out and he slid

fun. (Students: 11, 12)
First, Christ tried it out and he slade

fun. (Students: 2, 15, 17, 18, 19, 25)

First, Christ tried it out and he slood
slid down and soon came
5. back up saying that it was
safe, and that it was great fun.
fun. (Students: 11, 12)
(Students: 2)
First, Christ tried it out and he slad

fun. (Student: 21)
First, Christ tried it out and he slid

down and soon comed back up
saying that it was safe, and that it
was great fun. (Students: 16, 20, 23,
25)
slid down and soon came
6.
back up saying that it was
safe, and that it was great fun.
First, Christ tried it out and he slid
down and soon come back up saying
fun. (Student: 17)
Then I went for another slide, but I

freeze too because I saw what he has
seen. It was a long snake and it was
7. heading for me. (Student: 2)
Then I went for another slide, but I Then I went for another slide,
frezed too because I saw what he has but I froze too because I saw
49
seen. It was a long snake and it was what he has seen. It was a
heading for me. (Students: 3, 11, 12) long snake and it was heading
for me.

fercesed too because I saw what he
has seen. It was a long snake and it
was heading for me. (Student: 4)

freezen too because I saw what he
was heading for me. (Student: 13)

freezed too because I saw what he
was heading for me. (Students: 1, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
I locked at Chris and he made a I looked at Chris and he made

8. rustling sound of wind in the bushes. a rustling sound of wind in
(Student: 2) the bushes.
I looked at Chris and he maked a

I looked at Chris and he made
rustling sound of wind in the bushes.
9. a rustling sound of wind in
(Students: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
the bushes.
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
As soon as I did, the snake headed

straight back to the bushes. Then
Chris dived down, but slem into my As soon as I did, the snake
head as I was stuck half way down. headed straight back to the
(Students: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) bushes. Then Chris dived
10.
down, but slammed into my
head as I was stuck half way
As soon as I did, the snake headed down.
Chris dived down, but slem into my
head as I was stuck half way down.
50

Chris dived down, but selem into my
(Student: 4)

Chris dived down, but slum into my
(Students: 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
25)
Dava borrown my pen yesterday.

(Student: 9)
Dava borrowent my pen yesterday.

(Student: 10)
Dava borrowed my pen
11.
yesterday.
Dava boroght my pen yesterday.
(Students: 11, 12)
Dava barrow my pen yesterday.

(Student: 13)
I make a rainbow cake yesterday.

(Students: 5, 14)
I made a rainbow cake
12.
yesterday.
I maked a rainbow cake yesterday.
(Students: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22,
23, 24, 25)
Mr. Agus teach us about the

narrative text last week. (Students: 1, Mr. Agus taught us about the
13.
2, 11, 13, 17) narrative text last week.
Mr. Agus teached us about the

51
narrative text last week. (Students: 7,

14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,
25)
Mr. Agus teachd us about the

narrative text last week. (Student:
12)
The accident happent last Sunday

The accident happened last
14. afternoon. (Students: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10,
Sunday afternoon.
11)
Last night, the baby cryed in his

room. (Students: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9,
10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24)
Last night, the baby cried in

15. Last night, the baby cryd in his
his room.
room. (Student: 2)
Last night, the baby try in his room.

(Students: 11, 12)
Fauzi Bowo leand Jakarta last year.

(Students: 5, 6, 9, 10)
Fauzi Bowo leads Jakarta last year.

Fauzi Bowoled Jakarta last
16. (Student: 7)
year.
Fauzi Bowo leaded Jakarta last year.

(Students: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 25)

ran all day. (Student: 2) It‟s a nice day today, but
17.
rainy all day. (Students: 17, 19)
52
I meed my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Students: 1, 3,
14)
I meent my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Students: 6, 9,
10)
I met my old friend in the

18. I meedn’t my old friend in the
restaurant yesterday.
restaurant yesterday. (Student: 11)
I meednt my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Student: 12)
I meeted my old friend in the

restaurant yesterday. (Students: 16,
18, 19, 23, 24)
Andy‟s grandfather day when he was

85 years old. (Students: 4, 7)
Andy‟s grandfather died
19.
when he was 85 years old.
Andy‟s grandfather dident when he
was 85 years old. (Students: 5, 6)
I reed this novel five days ago.

(Student: 8)
I read this novel five days
20.
ago.
I red this novel five days ago.
(Student: 9)
All tickets for the concert were sall

very quickly. (Students: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7,
All tickets for the concert
21. 9, 10)
were sold very quickly.
All tickets for the concert were salld
very quickly. (Student: 14)
53
All tickets for the concert were selld

very quickly. (Students: 2, 11, 12)
All tickets for the concert were selled

very quickly. (Students: 13, 15, 16,
17, 18, 19, 23, 25)
All tickets for the concert were sell

very quickly. (Students: 20, 21, 22,
24)
The students studyed those lessons

last week. (Students: 1, 5, 6, 16, 23,
24)
The students studyd those lessons

last week. (Students: 2, 11, 12)
The students studied those

22. The students stayed those lessons
lessons last week.
last week. (Student: 13)
The students studiet those lessons

last week. (Student: 17)
The students stay those lessons last

week. (Students: 1, 5, 6, 16, 23, 24)

piciniced in Cibodas. (Student: 2)

23. Last holiday, I and my family picnid
picnicked in Cibodas.
Last holiday, I and my family pacnic

in Cibodas. (Students: 6, 9, 10)
54
Last holiday, I and my family picned


picning in Cibodas. (Student: 19)
Last holiday, I and my family panic

Last holiday, I and my family went


picininc in Cibodas. (Student: 21)
I good to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 2)
I god to bed early because I was I went to bed early because I

24.
tired. (Student: 11) was tired.
I goed to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 2)
The driver steped the bus very The driver stopped the bus
25. quickly five minutes ago. (Students: very quickly five minutes
5, 6) ago.
She lave in Bandung for two years,

but now she lives in Jakarta.
(Students: 1, 4, 5, 6) She lived in Bandung for two
26. years, but now she lives in
Jakarta.
She love in Bandung for two years,
(Student: 3)
55
She lave in Bandung for two years,

(Students: 1, 4, 5, 6)
Last night, David drever his car very

fast. (Students: 5, 6)
Last night, David drank his car very

fast. (Student: 8)
Last night, David dlove his car very

Last night, David drove his
27. fast. (Student: 17)
car very fast.
Last night, David drived his car very

fast. (Students: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12,
13, 115, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
Last night, David drives his car very

fast. (student: 14)
Andri lived football yesterday.

(Student: 2)
Andri playt football yesterday.

28.
(Student: 14)
Andri played football
yesterday.
Andri plaied football yesterday.
(Students: 15, 20, 21, 22)
Rita bay a new car three days ago.

(Students: 1, 3)
Rita bought a new car three
29.
days ago.
Rita booght a new car three days
ago. (Student: 2)
56
Rita baught a new car three days

ago. (Student: 8)
Rita bun a new car three days ago.

(Student: 13)
Rita buied a new car three days ago.

(Students: 15, 20, 21, 22)
Zamzami sitd in the chair because he

was tired. (Student: 2)
Zamzami sat in the chair
30.
because he was tired.
Zamzami sited in the chair because
he was tired. (Students: 16, 23, 24)
From the data above, misformation/misselection is the most errors which

occur in students‟ answer sheets. Students did some errors because they did not
really understand the transformation of the verbs whether regular or irregular
verbs. Many of them did misformation by added –d/-ed to the irregular verbs.
They also sometime used other words which have similar pronunciation to the
verb.
d. Misorder and Blend

In this research, the writer did not find any misorder and blend errors.
From the table of error description above, it could be seen that there are
many errors from student‟s answer sheet. The students committed the errors in
the substance level concerned on the spelling, graphology, punctuation and so
forth. The writer found that some students omitted, added some letters and mis-
selected/ mis-formation the past form of the verb.
57
After classified students‟ errors based on the Surface Taxonomy

Categories, the writer calculated the number of each error types to know the
frequency of occurrence of each error types. This calculation used the formulae
of descriptive analysis technique as can be seen as below:
P = x 100%
Explanation: P = Percentage
f = frequency of each error type (frequency of wrong answer)
n = sum of the errors
From the formula above, the writer make a percentage of the errors on the
table below:
Table 4.6
Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular and Irregular Verbs
Frequency of Error Total

Frequency
Number
misformation
Mis-ordering
Misselecion/
of Error Percentage
Omission
Addition
Blends
of items
of Each
Number
1. 1 0 3 0 0 4 0.89%
2. 0 0 10 0 0 10 2.23%
3. 8 0 15 0 0 23 5.13%
4. 0 0 18 0 0 18 4.02%
5. 0 5 2 0 0 13 2.90%
6. 0 0 5 0 0 5 1.12%
7. 0 0 25 0 0 25 5.58%
8. 1 0 1 0 0 2 0.45%
58
9. 0 0 13 0 0 13 2.90%
10. 4 0 21 0 0 25 5.58%
11. 12 0 5 0 0 17 3.79%
12. 0 1 12 0 0 13 2.90%
13. 0 0 18 0 0 18 4.02%
14. 5 0 7 0 0 12 2.67%
15. 0 1 17 0 0 18 4.02%
16. 0 5 18 0 0 23 5.13%
17. 9 3 4 0 0 16 3.57%
18. 0 8 15 0 0 23 5.13%
19. 4 7 4 0 0 15 3.35%
20. 0 10 2 0 0 12 2.67%
21. 0 0 23 0 0 23 5.13%
22. 1 1 12 0 0 14 3.12%
23. 15 0 10 0 0 25 5.58%
24. 0 0 3 0 0 3 0.67%
25. 21 0 2 0 0 23 5.13%
26. 1 0 5 0 0 6 1.33%
27. 0 0 20 0 0 20 4.46%
28. 2 0 6 0 0 8 1.78%
29. 0 4 12 0 0 16 3.57%
30. 0 1 4 0 0 5 1.12%
Total 84 46 319 0 0 449 100.00%

59
From the table above, the number of errors that made by 25 students in
YPN Bojong Gede are 449 incorrect answer with different number of each types.
In this case, the students did 84 omission, 46 additions, and 319 mis-selection/
mis-formation in using regular and irregular verbs.
The writer did not find the error of misorder and blends in the students
answer. From the table above, error of mis-formation/mis-formation is the most
common occur in the students‟ answer sheets with319 errors.
After the writer calculated all students‟ error, she would like to analyze the
errors in each Regular and Irregular Verbs. Then, she changed the result into
percentage that can be seen in the table below:
Table 4.7
Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Regular Verbs
Frequency of Error
Total
Frequency
misformation
misordering
Misselecion/
Number
Omission
of Error Percentage
Addition
Blends
of item
of Each
Number
Part A
4.50%
2. 0 0 10 0 0 10
8.11%
4. 0 0 18 0 0 18
5.86%
5. 1 1 11 0 0 13
0.90%
8. 1 0 1 0 0 2
11.26%
10. 4 0 21 0 0 25
Part B
7.66%
1. 12 0 5 0 0 17
5.41%
4. 5 0 7 0 0 12
60
8.11%
5. 0 1 17 0 0 18
7.21%
7. 9 3 4 0 0 16
6.76%
9. 4 7 5 0 0 15
Part C
6.31%
2. 1 1 12 0 0 14
11.26%
3. 15 0 10 0 0 25
10.36%
5. 21 0 2 0 0 23
2.70%
6. 1 0 5 0 0 6
3.60%
8. 2 0 6 0 0 8
Total 75 13 133 0 0 221 100.00%
The table above shows the students‟ error in mastering past tense of
Regular verb. The part consists of 15 regular verb questions. From the table, there
are 75 errors of omission, 13 error of addition, and 133 error of mis-selection or
mis-formation.
The lowest error frequency in the regular verbs in the question number 8
in the part A, it is 0.90% that made by 2 students. For the highest error percentage
in regular verb is in the question number 10 in the part A & 3 in the part C, with
100% percentage of error answer.
Next, the writer would like to present the percentage of error in irregular
verbs as the following table:
61
Table 4.8
Frequency of Error in Past Tense of Irregular Verbs
Frequency of Error
Total
misformation
misordering
Misselecion/
Frequency
Omission
Number
Addition
Blends
of Error of Percentage
of item
Each
Number
Part A
1.77%
1. 1 0 3 0 0 4
10.18%
3. 8 0 15 0 0 23
2.21%
6. 0 0 5 0 0 5
11.06%
7. 0 0 25 0 0 25
5.75%
9. 0 0 13 0 0 13
Part B
5.75%
2. 0 1 12 0 0 13
7.96%
3. 0 0 18 0 0 18
10.18%
6. 0 5 18 0 0 23
10.18%
8. 0 8 15 0 0 23
5.31%
10. 0 10 2 0 0 12
Part C
10.18%
1. 0 0 23 0 0 23
1.33%
4. 0 0 3 0 0 3
8.85%
7. 0 0 20 0 0 20
7.08%
9. 0 4 12 0 0 16
2.21%
10. 0 1 4 0 0 5
Total 9 33 186 0 0 228 100.00%

62
The table above shows the different frequency in each types of error. They
are 9 errors of omission, 33 error of addition, and also 186 error of mis-selection
or mis-formation the irregular verb in the past tense.
The writer got the number 7 in the part A is the highest frequency of
students‟ error. It is 100% of error in the part A. it means all student cannot
answer the question number 7 in the part A with the correct answer. For the
lowest error percentage is in the number 4 in the part C with 3 students who made
errors. The percentage of error in the number 4 in the part C is (1.33%).
Next, the writer would like to describe the students‟ errors in mastering
Regular and Irregular Verbs. As the result in the table 4.6, the students do some
errors in using Regular and Irregular Verbs such as omission, addition, and
misselection/ misformation. In this case, the writer did not find error of
misordering and blends.
Furthermore, to make it easier to read, the writer presents it in the following
table below:
Table 4.9
The Frequency of Each Error Type
No Error Types The Number of Error Frequency of Each

Type Error Type
1 Addition 46 10.25%
2 Omission 84 18.70%
3 Mis-selection/ 319 71.05 %
Mis-formation
4 Misorder 0 0%
5 Blend 0 0%
Total Number of 449 100 %
Errors
63
From the table above, it could be seen that there are many errors from
students‟ answer sheet. Error of mis-selection/mis-formation is the highest
number of all with 319 errors or 71.05%. Then, error of omission is 18.70% or 84
number of errors. The lowest percentage is error of addition with 10.25% or 46
errors.
2. Explanation of Errors
In this step, the writer interpreted the sources of error after doing
observation, giving questioner and making a percentage of students‟ error to the
students. The writer used the source of error by Hubbard et al. They are mother-
tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching
material or method.3
From the students‟ answer sheet, there are 36% errors are caused by mother-
tongue interference, 46% errors are caused by overgeneralization, and 18% errors
encouraged by teaching material and method. The writer made percentage of
sources of error in using regular and irregular as follow:
The Sources of Error
mother tongue
18% interference
36%
overgeneralization
46%
error encouraged by
teaching material and
method
3
Peter Hubbard et al., A Training course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1983), p. 140
64
a. Mother-tongue interference
This source of error is caused by the different sounds system
(phonology) and the grammar of the first language which lead to a
„foreign‟ pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns and occasionally to
the wrong choice of vocabulary.4
Many Indonesian students do some errors in learning regular and
irregular verbs, because in Indonesian there are no regular and irregular
verbs. From students‟ answer sheet, there are some errors that may
caused by foreign language pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns,
and also wrong choose the vocabulary.
From the data, the writer got 36 % errors are caused by mother
tongue interference from 449 total errors. According to Brown, an error
is the result of transfer from the native language. Before the system of
the system of the second language is familiar, the native language is the
only previous linguistic system upon which the learner can draw.5
From the observation, the writer saw that the teacher used
Indonesian language in delivering the material. Besides, the English
teacher explained the material generally and the teacher only gave few
examples of each regular and irregular verb.
From the result of questionnaire, there are 52 % of 25 students
thought that Indonesian has the similar verb form/ pattern with English.
This percentage reflected students do some errors are caused by mother-
tongue interference, because the Indonesian language has no verbs
transformation when used in the different time.
Therefore, the students did false concept hypothesis, because they
did not familiar to the system of foreign language (English Language)
and they still influenced by the native linguistics system (Indonesian
language).
4
Peter Hubbard et al., A Training Course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1983), p. 140
5
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, (New York: Pearson
Education, 2006), p. 263
65
The examples bellow are the errors which caused by the foreign
language pronunciation as the first aspect of mother-tongue interference
based on the Hubbard‟s theory:
 I locked at Chris and he made a rustling sound of wind in the
bushes. (Student: 2)
 Last night, the baby try in his room. (Students: 11, 12)
 I meed my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. (Students: 1, 3,
14)
 Andy‟s grandfather day when he was 85 years old. (Students: 4, 7)
 I reed this novel five days ago. (Student: 8)
 Rita bay a new car three days ago. (Students: 1, 3)
In English language there are some verbs or words which have

almost similar in pronunciation. From the examples above, they thought
the verbs “reed” has similar pronunciation with “read”. It also occurs in
the words try for “cry” that should be “cried” in the past form. Then, the
word “meed” for “meet” should be “met” in the past form. Next, the
word locked for looked. And then, the word “day” for “die” that should
be “died” in the past form.
Some students also did errors which influenced by different
grammatical pattern in Indonesian language and English as the second
aspect of mother-tongue interference. Here are some examples of faulty
grammatical pattern:
 Fauzi Bowo leads Jakarta last year. (Student: 7)
 Last night, David drives his car very fast. (student: 14)
 I reads this novel five days ago. (Students: 7, 14)
The sentences above show that the students used incorrect

grammatical pattern. They transformed the verb “lead” become “leads”,
“drive” become “drives”, and “read” become “reads” as the past form of
those verbs. However, the correct answer are led, drove and read.
66
Mother- tongue interference also lead students choose the wrong

vocabulary as the third aspect of mother-tongue interference. For example:
 She love (live) in Bandung for two years, but now she lives in
Jakarta. (Student: 3)
 She lave (live) in Bandung for two years, but now she lives in
Jakarta. (Students: 1, 4, 5, 6)
 I meed (meet) my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. (students
3, 14)
 Andy‟s grandfather day when he was 85 years old. (students 4, 7)
Those examples used incorrect vocabulary, such as the students

used “love” and “lave” as the past form of “live”. The others students
used “meed” as the past form of “meet”, and “day” as the past form of
“die”.
b. Overgeneralization
This source of error occurs when a learner applies a grammar rule
to forms that do not take it.6 In this research, overgeneralization is the
dominant error. There is 46 % error which is caused by
overgeneralization.
From the observation, the writer saw that the English teacher only
gave few examples of regular and irregular verbs. So, the students did not
get more examples in forming regular and irregular verbs in the past form.
Most of errors of this study are caused by overgeneralization, especially in
irregular verbs that the change of the verbs should be remember by them.
Few examples of irregular verbs that given by the teacher lead the students
simplified the change of irregular verbs by adding –d and –ed.
6
Ron Cowan, The teacher‟s grammar of English (a cource book and reference guide), (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 44
67
From the result of questionnaire, the writer also get data that 40%
of students thought both regular and irregular verbs have similar form or
pattern. So, it may lead false hypothesis for them which made some errors
in applying the regular and irregular verbs in the past form. The writer also
get data from the questionnaire that 56% of students admit that they did
not memorize more than 10 verbs of regular and irregular verbs.
According to Brown, learners have begun to acquire parts of the
new language system, but generalization within the target language is
manifested.7 Many students did some errors in transforming the irregular
verbs by adding –d or –ed. They simplified the way in forming the past
form of irregular verbs. For example:
 I maked a rainbow cake yesterday. (students 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
22, 23, 24, 25)
 Mr. Agus teached us about the narrative text last week. (students
7, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
 Fauzi Bowo leaded Jakarta last year. (students 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
 I readed this novel five days ago. (Students 10, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24)
 My brother Chris and I went walking on the beach one sunny day,
and we finded a little cubby out of overgrown bushes. (Students:
15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
 First, Christ tried it out and he slid down and soon comed back up
saying that it was safe, and that it was great fun. (Students: 16, 20,
23, 25)
 Then I went for another slide, but I frezed too because I saw what
he has seen. It was a long snake and it was heading for me.
(Students: 3, 11, 12)
 Then I went for another slide, but I freezed too because I saw what
he has seen. It was a long snake and it was heading for me.
7
Brown, op. cit., p. 264
68
(Students: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 25)
 I looked at Chris and he maked a rustling sound of wind in the
bushes. (Students: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
 I maked a rainbow cake yesterday. (Students: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 22, 23, 24, 25)
 Mr. Agus teached us about the narrative text last week. (Students:
7, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
 Fauzi Bowo leaded Jakarta last year. (Students: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
 I meeted my old friend in the restaurant yesterday. (Students: 16,
18, 19, 23, 24)
 All tickets for the concert were selled very quickly. (Students: 13,
15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 25)
 I goed to bed early because I was tired. (Student: 2)
 Last night, David drived his car very fast. (Students: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7,
11, 12, 13, 115, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
 Zamzami sitd in the chair because he was tired. (Student: 2)
 Zamzami sited in the chair because he was tired. (Students: 16, 23,
24)
Some examples above are caused by overgeneralization. Students

made a simplify in transforming irregular verbs into the past verb just by
adding -d or –ed. This source of error is the dominant errors in the
students‟ answer sheet of SMP YPN Bojong Gede.
69
c. Errors encouraged by teaching material or method

Error is evidence of failure/ineffective teaching or lack of cotrol. If
the material is well chosen, graded and presented with meticulous care,
there should be any error.8
According to Brown, in a classroom context the teacher or the
textbook can lead the learner make faulty hypotheses about the language.9
Based on the class observation, the teacher delivered material generally by
explaining the meaning of regular and irregular verbs and giving only few
examples of regular and irregular verbs in the simple past form. In this
observation, the writer as the observer saw the situation of the class is not
really good, because many students seem did not give attention to the
teacher‟s explanation.
From the questionnaire 100% of 25 students said that their English
teacher had explained the material about regular and irregular verbs with
the examples. However, the teacher did not give students many examples
of regular and irregular verbs as in the observation. So, their memorization
of regular and irregular verbs is limited.
Another result of questionnaire, 88% of students admitted that they
did not interesting in learning English. There are only 12 % of the students
who interest in learning English. This situation leads some errors in
applying regular and irregular verbs because the students did not pay
attention to the teacher‟s explanation.
Some student did errors in applying the regular verbs by omitting
several elements that should be present. For example:
 Then Chris dived down, but slamed into my head as I was stuck
half way down. (Students: 17, 23, 24)
 Dava borrowd my pen yesterday. (Students: 4, 7)
8
Peter Hubbard et al., A Training Course for TEFL, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983),
p.142
9
Brown, op.cit., p. 265
70
 The accident happend last Sunday afternoon. (Students: 1, 8, 13,

14)
 The driver stoped the bus very quickly five minutes ago. (Students:
1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24)
From the example above, some students omitted some letters in the
regular verb such as omitted –m in the “slammed”, -k in the “picnicked”,
-p in the “stopped” and –e in the “borrowed” and “happened”. The other
errors occur because the students added some unnecessary element. For
example:
 Last night, the baby crieed in his room. (Student: 19)
 Andy‟s grandfather dieed when he was 85 years old. (Student: 23)
 The students studyied those lessons last week. (Students: 21)
 First, Christ tryedit out and he slid down and soon came back up
saying that it was safe, and that it was great fun. (Students: 5, 6, 7,
9, 10, 13, 14, 23, 24)
 Last night, the baby cryed in his room. (Students: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9,
10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24)
The examples above show that many students did not understand
well in forming the past verbs of cry, die, study, try, etc. In the student‟s
answer sheet, they added some unnecessary element that should be omitted
in those verbs. for example they added –e for “crieed” and “dieed”, and –
y in the “studyied”. They also did not change –y in some verbs that should
be –i such as “tryed” and “cryed” that the right answers are “tried” and
“cried”.
71
4. Evaluation of Errors
In the evaluation of error, the writer tried to analyze the effect of the error
based on the communicative effect taxonomy by Dulay et al. It divided into global
and local errors. Global error is the errors that affect overall sentence
organization, and it can hinder the message of the communication. Local error is
the errors that do not hinder communication significantly.10
From the data, the percentage error of mis-selection/ mis-formation which
made by students of SMP YPN Bojong Gede is the highest of all. It can be
considered more serious than others because they could hinder the message of the
communication. From the answer sheet, many students mis-select the vocabulary
in transforming the verbs. It may cause by mother-tongue interference, because in
Indonesian language there are no verbs transformation in making sentences. Here
are some examples of global errors taken from students‟ answer sheet in using
regular and irregular verbs:
4. 10 Examples of Global Error
No. Error Identification Error Correction
Rita brought a new car three Rita bought a new car three
days ago. (Students: 5, 6, 9, 10) days ago.
1.
Rita bun a new car three days
ago. (Student: 13)
We study in a house that was We stayed in a house that

opposite a long, white beach with was opposite a long, white
2. a lot of sand dunes. (Students: 5, beach with a lot of sand
14) dunes.
10
Heidy Dulayet al., Language Two,(New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 191
72
My brother Chris and I went

walking on the beach one sunny My brother Chris and I went
day, and we fine a little cubby walking on the beach one
3.
out of overgrown bushes. sunny day, and we found a
(Students: 13, 14) little cubby out of
overgrown bushes.
I locked at Chris and he made a I looked at Chris and he

4. rustling sound of wind in the made a rustling sound of
bushes. (Student: 2) wind in the bushes.
Dava barrow my pen yesterday. Dava borrowed my pen

5.
(Student: 13) yesterday.
Andy‟s grandfather day when he Andy‟s grandfather died

6.
was 85 years old. (Students: 4, 7) when he was 85 years old.
The students stayed those

lessons last week. (Student: 13)
The students studied those
7.
lessons last week.
The students stay those lessons
last week. (Students: 1, 5, 6, 16,
23, 24)
I good to bed early because I was

tired. (Student: 2)
I went to bed early because I
8.
was tired.
I god to bed early because I was
tired. (Student: 11)
She love in Bandung for two She lived in Bandung for

9.
years, but now she lives in two years, but now she lives
Jakarta. (Student: 3) in Jakarta.
Last night, David drank his car Last night, David drove his
10.
very fast. (Student: 8) car very fast.
73
From the table above, it can be seen that many students transfer the verbs
into another words. For example, there was a student use “bun” as the past form
of “buy” to complete the sentence “Rita .........(buy) a new car three days ago”. In
the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 3rd Edition, “bun” is woman‟s
hairstyle where the hair is brought together into a round shape at the back of the
head. So, the right past form of buy is bought.
Another example is student filling the word “day” to the sentence
“Andy‟s grandfather .......... (die) when he was 85 years old”. The verb “die” and
the word “day” almost similar in pronunciation, but it have different meaning and
the right answer is died. Next, student used the word “barrow” that should be
borrowed in completing the sentence “Dava .......... (borrow) my pen yesterday”.
Actually, the meaning of “barrow” is a vehicle moved by a person which
especially fruits and vegetables are sold at the side of a road.
Those examples shows that mis-select the wordsin a sentence can hinder
the message to the listener or reader. However, the other errors that caused by
overgeneralization and errors encouraged by teaching material or method are less
serious, because the message still can be understood even thought there are some
errors in spelling. for example:
4. 11 Examples of local Error

No.
In the holidays a few years ago

1. we wen to Hawks Nest. (students
11, 12, 13)
Dava borrowd my pen Dava borrowed my pen

2.
yesterday. (Students: 4, 7) yesterday.
74

Last holiday, I and my
3. picniced in Cibodas. (Students:
family picnicked in
1, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18,
Cibodas.
24 )
The driver stoped the bus very

The driver stopped the bus
quickly five minutes ago.
4. very quickly five minutes
(Students: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
ago.
12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24)
I madee a rainbow cake I made a rainbow cake

5.
yesterday. (Student: 2) yesterday.
Last night, the baby crieed in his Last night, the baby cried in
6.
room. (Student: 19) his room.
I mett my old friend in the I met my old friend in the

7.
restaurant yesterday. (Student: 2) restaurant yesterday.
Zamzami satd in the chair Zamzami sat in the chair

8.
because he was tired. (Student: because he was tired.
12)
Andy‟s grandfather diied when Andy‟s grandfather died

9.
he was 85 years old. (Student: when he was 85 years old.
14)
The students studyied those The students studied those

10.
lessons last week. (Students: 21) lessons last week.
The table above shows some local errors which made by the students in
using regular and irregular verbs. Many of them did error in graphology like
incorrect spelling, but the sentences still can be understood. For example, students
used “wen” for the past of “go”. The student omitted one letter (-t) that should be
“went” to fill the sentence “In the holidays a few years ago we .......... (go) to
Hawks Nest”.
75
The other incorrect verbs which made by students are the verb “borrowd”
for “borrowed”, “stoped” for “stopped”, “mett” for “met”, “studyied” for
“studied”, “tryed” for “tried”, “cryd” for “cried”, “madee” for “made”,
“picniced” for “picnicked”, and “diied” for “died”. All of them are incorrect,
but those incorrect verbs did not hinder the message of the sentences to the
listener. They have problem when they used in the written text, but in the
conversation it still can be understood by the listener.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
The differences between Indonesian and English in using verbs in the
sentences encourage the writer to conduct this research. This research has been
carried out to recognize the errors that were made by second grade students of
SMP YPN Bojong Gede in using regular and irregular verbs in the past form.
The writer did the research in some procedures of error analysis by Muriel
Saville began with collecting data, identifying errors, describing errors, explaining
errors and evaluating errors. To collect the data, she used some techniques such as
observation, questionnaire and test. However, she only used test as the primary
data. She classified the test based on surface taxonomy strategy to know the types
of students’ errors in using regular and irregular verbs. In addition, she adapted
theory of Hubbard et al to classify the source of errors, such as mother- tongue
interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching material or
method.
According to the description in the previous chapter, the writer found that
the students committed the errors in three categories; they are omission, addition,
and misselection or misformation. Based on the data, from 449 totals of errors,
there are 46 errors or 10.25% fell into addition categories. Next, there are 84
errors or 18.70% error of omission. Then, there are 319 errors or 71.05% error of
misformation or misselection categories. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
highest percentage of errors produced by student is misselection or misformation
errors.
Based on the high percentage of the errors, it can also concluded that the
existence of errors caused some factors, such as mother-tongue interference,
overgeneralization and encouraged by teaching material or method. The writer
also found that the most sources of errors is overgeneralization, where the
students used the same pattern in transform regular and irregular verbs into past
form by added –d or –ed.
76
77
B. Suggestion
Even though error is an inevitable part of learning process, it still needs
much effort to seek the proper way in teaching learning process in order to reduce
students’ error occurrence in using regular and irregular verbs. The writer would
like to suggest as follows:
1. The teacher must increase students’ motivation in learning English.
2. The teacher must provide more examples and exercises to improve
students’ mastery in using regular and irregular verbs in the Simple Past;
3. Students must pay attention to the rules or forms of regular and irregular
verbs when it used in the Simple Past tense; and
4. Students must do more exercises in using regular and irregular verbs.
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Ur, Penny, A Course in Language Teaching: Practive and Theory , London:

Appendix 1a: Classroom Observation Form
Teacher : Zikriyah Ekarina, S. Pd
Date : Thursday, 6th December 2012
Place :SMP YPN Bojong Gede
Number of students present: 25 students
A. Teacher Activities
No. Indicator *1 2 3 Explanation

The teacher seems obey
Teacher attracts students
1. √ students who did not pay
interest in learning English
attention to her
The teacher did not give
Teacher raises students’
2. √ motivation in the
motivation
beginning of the study
The teacher explained
Teacher explains the
about regular and
3. material clearly to the √
irregular in the past tense
students.
clearly
The teacher
sistematically explained
Teacher explains the about the simple past
4. √
material systematically tense, then she explained
about regular and
irregular verbs
The teacher used
Teacher uses an easy language which can be
5. √
language to be understood understood by the
students
The teacher also gave
Teacher gives some some example to the
6. √
example about the material students about regular
and irregular verbs
After delivering the
Teacher gives some material, teacher gave
7. √
exercise to the students some exercise to the
student
The teacher discussed
Make a discussion talking
8. √ the exercise with the
about the material
students
80
Not all students involved
in the discussion, many
Teacher involves all
9. √ of them were sleeping,
students in the discussion
drawing, and talking to
their friend
The teacher concluded
Giving conclusion at the
10. √ the material at the end of
end of the study
the study
B. Students Activities
No. Indicator *1 2 3 Explanation

Not all students seems
interest in learning
Students shows interest in
1. √ english, just view of
learning English
them who like english
lesson
When teacher delivering
Students give attention to the material, not all of
2. √
the teacher’s explanation students gave attenion to
her
All of the students did
Students do some exercise the exercise, but some of
3. √
from the teacher them are cheated to their
friend
Only few of them who
Students involves in the
4. √ involved in the
discussion
discussion
Students gives some There are two students
5. questions to the teacher √ who gave question to the
about the material teacher
*1 = good enough 2 = good 3 =very good
81
Appendix 2a: Research Questionnaire Form
KUESIONER PENELITIAN
Responden : Siswa kelas 2 SMP YPN Bojong Gede
Penjelasan :
Penelitian ini untuk kepentingan ilmiah. Oleh karena itu, kami mohon
bantuan untuk mengisi kuesioner ini dengan sejujurnya. Jawaban anda
merupakan partisipasi anda bagi kami, maka jawablah seluruh pertanyaan sesuai
dengan kondisi yang sebenarnya dan penuh rasa tanggung jawab.
Petunjuk pengisian :
Berilah tanda check (√) pada kolom yang tersedia dan jawaban yang
paling sesuai dengan kondisi dan persepsi anda.
NO PERTANYAAN YA TIDAK
1. Apakah anda senang dengan pelajaran
bahasa Inggris?
2. 2. Ketika guru mengajarkan bahasa Inggris di
kelas, apakah anda memperhatikannya?
3. 3. Apakah materi “Simple Past Tense” sudah
diajarkan di kelas oleh guru anda?
4. 4. Apakah guru anda memberikan latihan
setelah mempelajari “Simple Past Tense”?
5. 5. Apakah anda melakukan kesalahan dalam
mengerjakan latihan yang berkaitan dengan
“Simple Past Tense”?
6. 6. Apakah guru anda juga menjelaskan
perubahan Verb (regular and irregular)
dalam “Simple Past Tense”?
82
7. 7. Menurut anda, apakah penggunaan kata kerja
(Verb) dalam Bahasa Indonesia dan Bahasa
Inggris itu sama?
8. 8. Apakah perubahan dalam Regular &
Irregular Verbs dalam bentuk past itu sama?
9. 9. Ketika mengajar, apakah guru anda
memberikan beberapa contoh perubahan
Verb baik itu Regular ataupun Irregular?
10. 10. Pada setiap jam pelajaran Bahasa Inggris,
Apakah anda selalu membawa kamus?
11. 11. Ketika mengerjakan latihan mengenai
“Simple Past Tense”, apakah anda mencari
perubahan Verb dalam bentuk past di dalam
kamus?
12. 12. Apakah anda pernah menghafal perubahan
V1-V2-V3?
13. 13. Apakah anda telah menghafal lebih dari 10
Regular & Irregular Verbs?
14. 14. Ketika mempelajari Regular & Irregular
Verbs, apakah anda sering melakukan
kesalahan?
15. 15. Apakah guru anda selalu memberikan
feedback dari latihan-latihan yang telah
diberikan?
83
Appendix 2b: The Percentage of Students’ Questionnaire
Frequency of Each answer

No. Questions
Yes No
1. Do you like English? 12% 88%
Did you give attention to the teacher’s
2. 88% 12%
explanation in the class?
Have you ever learned about Simple
3. 100% 0%
Past Tense?
Did you English teacher give some
4. exercise after explained the Simple 100% 0%
Past tense?
Did you make some errors in doing
5. 72% 28%
the exercise?
Did your english teacher explain
6. 100% 0%
about regular and irregular verbs?
Do you think Indonesian and English
7. 52% 48%
verbs have the similar pattern/form?
Do the change forms of regular and
8. 40% 60%
irregular verbs are similar?
Did your English teacher give some
9. examples of regular and irregular 100% 0%
verbs?
Do you usually bring dictionary in
10. 28% 72%
English lesson?
Did you looking to the dictionary to
11. see the change of regular or irregular 60% 40%
verbs?
Have you ever memorize some
12. 44% 56%
regular and irregular verbs?
Did you have memorized more than
13. 10 verbs of regular and irregular 44% 56%
verbs?
Did you do some errors in applying
14. 84% 16%
regular or irregular verbs?
Does you English teacher always give
15. 64% 36%
feedback to your exercise?
84

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AN ERROR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN USING

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYA AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

Keywords: Error Analysis, Types, Source, Regular and Irregular Verbs

Keywords: Error Analysis, Types, Source, Regular and Irregular Verbs

‫ِبسْمِ اهللِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيْم‬

Jakarta, December 13th 2013

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ...................................................................1

Table 2.1 (The Example of Verbs Purposes in the Semantic)..........................21

4.1 The Percentage of Sources of Errors ............................................................63

1a Classroom Observation Form .................................................................... 80

A. Background of the Study

Gebhard in Butlet-Pascoe and Winburg suggests that many minority

B. Identification of The Problem

C. Limitation of the Study

D. Formulation of the Problem

E. Objectives of The Study

F. Significance of the Study

a. Error based on the linguistic taxonomy

b. Error based on the surface strategy taxonomy

c. Error based on the comparative taxonomy

d. Error based on the communicative effect taxonomy

According to H. Douglas Brown, sources of error are divided into four

4. Procedures of Error Analysis

B. General Concept of Verb

subject in his/her writing or speaking, it means that he/she doesn‟t speak a

From a semantic standpoint, verbs serve several purposes, such as

1. To equate X with Y Nasya is a nurse

According to their changes of form (inflection) verbs are divided

The base past form past participle

Present Past Past participle Present participle

1. The base : call

Base Past form Past participle

Help Helped Helped

Play Played Played

1) All three verb parts are identical (V1 = V2 = V3)

Verb I Verb II Verb III

Cut cut cut

Hurt Hurt Hurt

Put Put Put

Hit Hit Hit

Quit Quit Quit

Read Read Read

Set Set Set

Let Let let

Cost Cost cost

Thrust thrust thrust

Spread Spread spread

Upset Upset upset

Wed Wed wed

2) Two verb parts are identical (V1 ≠ V2 & V3)

Verb I Verb II Verb III

Say Said said

Pay Paid paid

Dig Dug dug

Feel Felt felt