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- Title
Analysis of errors in subject-verb agreement among Malaysian ESL learners.
- Authors
Stapa, Siti Hamin; Izahar, Ohd Mustafa
- Abstract
This article analyses errors on subject-verb agreement among post-graduate teacher trainees in a college in Malaysia. Twenty postgraduate (English Language Studies) students from a teachers' training college from the northern state of Malaysia participated in the study. The study examined errors in 5 types of subject-verb agreements: person, number, coordinated subject, indefinite expression of amount and also notional agreement and proximity. 2 types of written compositions (argumentative and factual) were analyzed to identify the problems in writing grammatically correct subject-verb agreement by the students. The results of the study reveal that the majority of the students commit errors in subject-verb agreement, especially in SVA of number followed by SVA of person. The students were found to avoid using the complex sub-rules of SVA that include the agreement with coordinated subject, agreement with indefinite expressions of amount and also notional agreement and proximity.
- Subjects
MALAYSIA; VERBS; NOUN phrases (Grammar); ENGLISH as a foreign language; ENGLISH teachers; COLLEGE teachers
- Publication
3L: Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 2010, Vol 16, Issue 1, p56
- ISSN
0128-5157
- Publication type
Article