Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 89

Chapter 7
Classification of Errors

Important concepts and terms used in this chapter:

Linguistic Specification
Construction
Taxonomy
Permutation
Substitution
Orthography
Membership Criteria
Subcategorization
Grammaticalized Forms

7.1 Introduction
After errors are being identified, it is necessary to group them
according to their linguistic specifications. In this way, it would be
possible to build up a clear picture of the features in the target
language that might cause problems for the learners. It is crystal clear
that a well-organized and systematic linguistic taxonomy
(classification) of errors would be very helpful in assessing the nature
and the probable causes of errors.
In setting up a taxonomy of errors, linguistic features should be
grouped into different classes. There are usually two general types of
classifications: (a) category-based classification, and (b) sample-
based classification. In category-based classification, the linguist or
teacher establishes his own categorization of errors before he/she
90 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

actually stans to collect the necessary data. In doing so, he/she relies
n1ainly on hi her previous knowledge of common linguistic
ditTtculties o f a particular group of learners. An example would be
Ethenon ·s ( 1977) suggested list of headings, below:

Adjecti\'es. Adverbs. Agreement, Apostrophe, Articles, As, Be,

Can. Comparison, Conditionals, Conjunctions, Could, Direct
qu~stions. Do, Future Perfect. Gerund, Have, Indirect questions,
lnfinitive. Make. Must, Plural Problems. etc.

There are sotne problems with Etherton' s proposal. First, the headings
are just listed alphabetically without any categorization whatsoever.
The second problem with such a list is that the decision about
choosing the errors is pre-judged by the researcher, i.e. , errors will be
sorted out in terms of pre-determined error types to fill the headings.
To avoid the shortcomings of the above methodology for the
classi ficarion of errors, an alternative approach has been introduced:
the sa1nple-based categorization. In sample-based categorization, the
researcher should first collect the errors-following the procedures
presented in the previous chapter-and only after the initial
interpretation and analysis of errors should he establish an appropriate
taxonomy. ln other words, it is the nature and type of errors that
determine the categories and not the researcher's pre-determined error
types. Another advantage of this approach is that headings are not just
listed alphabetically; rather, major categories and sub-categories are
assigned according to error types.

7.2 Linguistic-Based Classification

Having presented some general remarks on establishing a linguistic
classification of errors, we may now tum to a detailed description of
the taxonomy below. In this taxonomy, four major categories of errors
are introduced namely orthographic, phonological, Jexico-semantic,
Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 91

and morphological-syntactic. These categories will then be classified

into sub-categories in order to give a more detailed description of
error types. The erroneous sentences in the taxonomy are culled from
a corpus of data collected by the author. More specifically, they have
been extracted from the written assignments of lranian university
students over several years. The example sentences have been
granunaticlalized to a certain extent to make them more intelligible.
However, most of the examples may include types of errors other than
those in question.
With regard to membership criteria and the number of categories,
several revisions have been made in the original taxonomy concerning
the overlapping nature of some of the error types. Attempts have been
made to amalgamate the overlapping errors and arrive at a more
comprehensive classification. Some categories were also found to be
too broad and somewhat ambiguous and as a result needed to be sub-
classified. For instance, the category Errors in the distribution and use
of verb groups, in the original taxonomy, was further classified into
four different sub-categories.

7.2.1 Orthographic Errors

A large number of orthographic (spelling) errors are caused by the
inconsistencies of English spelling system. ln the majority of cases,
there is no one-to-one correspondence between letters of alphabet and
the sounds they represent. Typical orthographic errors are presented
below.

Sound/Letter Mismatch

An example of sound/letter mismatch is the following spelling

representations of the English sound lui:
92 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

Spelling Representation Key Words

0 to
00 too
WO two
oe shoe
u June
ue true
ou soup
U1 juice
ew threw
ough through

The second typical orthographic error is when the same spelling has
different pronunciations. For example, letter ' a' has the following
pronunciations:

Phonetic Symbol Key Words

Ire/ apple, hat, mat, wagon
/) / wash, watch, want, water, wander

Ia:! car, far, arm, farnn, star, father

/-;J/ ago, about, again, sugar, canal, dollar
lei any, many, anything, an_y_body
/):/ all, hall, ball, fall, talk, salt

III usage, village, message, passage

lei/ ate, hate, cake, taste, change, April

/e-;J/ share, stare, compare, prayer, parent

The third source of difficulty and error in English orthography is

found in many words similar in pronunciation but different in spelling
and meaning. The following pairs are good examples of such errors,
which are typically called homophones (Richards et al., 1989)
ate eight
air heir
Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 93

bare bear
be bee
beat beet
berth birth
There are hundreds of such pairs in English and they cause a great
deal of confusion and difficulty for EFL learners.
Yet another problem with English orthography is the students'
ignorance of spelling rules such as the doubling of final consonants in
monosyllabic words before a suffix beginning with a vowel, such as
runner, swimmer, wrapping, etc.

7.2.2 Phonological Errors

Phonological errors are of several kinds. Four maJor types of
phonological errors are illustrated in the table below.

Phonological Errors
Lack of Certain TL Phonemes m the
Leamer's NL
Differences in Syllable Structures ofLl&L2
Spelling Pronunciation of Words
The Problem of Silent Letters

Some phonological errors are due to lack of certain target language

phonemes (vowels and consonants) in the learner's mother tongue.
For instance, the English phonemes /I/, /8/, and /0/ do not exist in
Persian. Therefore, Persian-speaking learners of English have
problems with these phonemes. For example, they may pronounce
think /8tl)k/ as /ttnk/ or then /Oen/ as /den/.
The second type of phonological errors is caused by the differences
in the syllable structures of the two languages (the TL and MT). For a
detailed discussion of the differences between English and Persian
94 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

syllable structures and errors attributed to such differences, see

Chapter 2.
The third source of making phonological errors is the spelling
pronunciation of words. That is, the learner tends to pronounce words
as they are spelled. Examples include wild /wild/, top /top/, flood
/tlud/, watched /wat.fed/.
The fourth cause of pronunciation errors, which is similar to the
third type, is the problem of silent letters. In English, certain letters are
spelled but not pronounced. This causes a great deal of problems for
EFL learners since they are likely to pronounce these silent letters. For
example, they tend to pronounce bomb as /bambi, calm as /kalm/, and
honest as /hanestl.

7 .2.3 Lexico-Semantic Errors

Lexico-semantic errors refer to errors related to the semantic
properties of lexical items, as illustrated in the following examples.
* Iran is my mother country.
*My father learned me the Koran.
* Economic problems effect our lives.
* I am working 24 o'clock each week.
* I play different exercises in the evening.
*Today we have a very speeding progress.
* The teacher said we should read hard.
* The bank where my cousin works was stolen last week.
• I always want (ask) my teacher to help me with my English.
*English is an alive language by which everyone can convey his
ideas.
• I think my tolerant for learning English is more than for learning
anything else.
C hapter 7 - Classification of Errors 95

For a detailed description and classification of texico-semantic

errors see Chapters 2 and 8.

7.2.4 Morpho-Syntactic Errors

I TYPICAL MORPHO-SYNTACTIC ERRORS I

Wrong Use of Plural Morpheme
* By learning English we can get much informations.
* Our teacher always gives good advices.
Wrong Use of Parts of Speech
* All people need food for being Uviog.
• It is naturally that everybody needs money.

Wrong Use of Tenses

Present Continuous instead of Simple Present

• I 11m going to work everyday.
* We are drinking tea after lunch everyday.
• I am going to university at 8 o'clock every morning.
• I am saying my prayers before anything else every morning.
Present Perfect instead of Simple Past
• I have visited Mashad a few years ago.
• I have graduated from high school two years ago.
• They have gone on a picnic last week.
• My father hilS been born in Shiraz.
96 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

Simple Past instead of Past Perfect

• He was angry about what his friend said.
• He asked him where he went.
*Before I arrived there they left.
Past Perfect instead of Simple Past
• Our relatives from Isfahan had come to visit us last week.
* I had enjoyed my stay in Chaloos last summer.
Past Continuous instead of Simple Past
• We were going to Ramsar every summer.
*When I was a child, I was going to school by bicycle.

Wrong Use of Tenses

Present Continuous instead of Simple Present
• I am going to work everyday.
* We are drinking tea after lunch everyday.
• I am going to university at 8 o'clock every morning.
• I am saying my prayers before anything else every morning.
Present Perfect instead of Simple Past
• I have visited Mashad a few years ago.
* I have graduated from high school two years ago.
• They have gone on a picnic last week.
*My father has been born in Shiraz.
Simple Past instead of Past Perfect
• He was angry about what his friend said.
* He asked him where he went.
*Before I arrived there they left.
Chapter 7 - C lassification of Errors 97

Past Perfect instead of Simple Past

• Our relatives from Isfahan had come to visit us last week.
* I had enjoyed my stay in Chaloos last summer.
Past Continuous instead of Simple Past
• We were going to Ramsar every summer.
* When I was a child, I was going to school by bicycle.

Wrong Sequence of Tenses

* I said I am sorry for making trouble for you.
* He said that he will come with us to the picnic
Wrong Use of Active and Passive Voice
* I employed in a college last year.
* When they took the soldier to the hospital he was died.

Wrong Word Order

* In medical course should not no matter money.
* Traffic very heavy is in Tehran.

Using It is instead of There is

*It is a difference between a sport and a game.
*It was 35 students in our classroom.

Misplacement of Adverbs
*We went last summer to the beach, but couldn't swim there.
*Because he had to work he usually was absent from classes.
98 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

Errors in the Use of Prepositions

Omission of Preposition
*If we learn English well we can teach it 0 others.
* Most 0 the people who travel abroad are businessmen.
* I usually begin my work 0 the afternoon.
* Most 0 the time I am board.
Redundant Use of Preposition
*We won't let foreign culture enter to our country.
* I like to meet people who speak in English.
* Reading foreign magazines helps to us in many ways.
* We shouldn't discuss about politics.
* We enjoyed from the sceneries of Chaloos and took many
pictures.
* When the teacher entered in the classroom the students stood
up.

Wrong Use of Prepositions

From instead of Of
* Children are afraid from dogs.
From instead of With
• The teacher was satisfied from our compositions.
In instead of On
• There is a large library in the second floor.
• In Iran people don't work in Friday.
In instead of At
• He stays in home most of the time.
Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 99

With instead of Against

* Every young man should fight with Iraqis .
.To instead of In
* We arrived to Isfahan in the evening.
To instead of On
* The exam dates depend to our teachers.
At instead of In
* I have a class at the morning.
* I can' t study at my bedroom.

With instead of To
* He got married with his cousin.
Into instead of In
*He went into the bedroom without knocking at the door.
On instead of In
* On the evening of the following day we went to the cinema.
Than instead of From
• They are very different than other students.
Until instead of To
• Village boys usually walk from home until school.
For instead of To
• I wrote a letter for my brother who lives in Shiraz.
• After my work I go for shopping.
100 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

Errors in the Use of Articles

Omission of The
Before Superlative Adjectives
* Tabriz is one of 0 coldest cities in Iran.
* He is one of 0 best students in our class.
Before Restrictive Adjectives
*0 main food in our country is rice.
Before Restrictive Nouns
* I want to learn about 0 life of people in Africa.
Before nouns referring to times of day and night in a
generic sense
• I have a class in 0 morning.
• We left at three in 0 afternoon.
Before nouns made particular in textual situations
*Then I heard some crashes from 0 sitting room.
*I got up, went out and saw that 0 dog was eating some meat.
After nouns preceded by determiners such as 'some' and
modified by relative clauses
*Some of0 rice (which) we consume in Iran is imported from
India.

Before Unique Nouns

*0 president had a speech at Tehran University.
*0 weather gets very warm in summer.
Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 101

Before Geographical Names

Tabbas is a city in 0 desert.
Last summer we went to 0 beach.
Redundant Use of The
*We can improve our ability in the different ways.
* The man is a social being.
Omission of AlAN

Before Professional Titles

*My brother is 0 teacher in high school.
*He comes from a rich family because his father is 0 doctor.

Before Indefinite Singular Nouns

* We can express our ideas in 0 international language.
* He couldn't speak with 0 loud voice.
Before Numerals
*I told you not to do that 0 thousand time.
Redundant Use of A/AN

Before Abstract Nouns

* He wanted to get an information about this.
* I welcomed them with a great excitement.

Before Uncountable Nouns modified by adjectives

*They received a bad news about war.
102 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

Wrong Use of Articles

The instead of AIAn before generic singular nouns

*We learn English as the second language.
* I nearly cried like the baby.
AlAn instead of The before specific definite nouns
* This is a school where I study.

Wrong Use of Active & Passive Voice

* I employed in a factory last year.
* When they took the soldier to the hospital he was died.

Wrong Use of Conditional Sentences

* If I was a doctor, I help sick people.
* I will visit Ali-Ghapoo in Isfahan, if I will go there.

Double Negation
• Reza had no money with him.
• I don't have nothing to do today.

Wrong Use of Negative Imperative

*My father ordered me don't go to the party.
* Our teacher told us don't bother your parents.
Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 103

Errors in the Use of Relative Clauses & Relative Pronouns

Retention of Direct Object Pronouns
*He is the person whom I have known him for many years.
* I tried to cook a delicious food that they like it.
Retention of Subject Pronouns
* The TV programs that they have many viewers show
interesting programs.
* It was a question which it didn't have any relation with my
field of study.
Retention of Object of Preposition
* The subject that they talked about it was very interesting.
* The house where they live in it is very large.

Wrong Selection of Object of Preposition:

* Reza had two brothers which were older than him.
* It was a month ago which I received a letter from my
brother.

Subject-Verb Inversion in WH-Questions

* Where you will go after lunch?
* When you will finish your studies?

Subject-Verb Invenion in Indirect Questions

*I can't remember when did he get married.
• I don't know how did they found my address.
104 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

Wrong Use of Verb Groups

Wrong Construction of Verbs
* Main food in our country are included meat, ...
* I was stood by the door when my father arrived.
Wrong Use of Gerunds and Infinitives
• It is necessary learning the English Language.
* My work consist to teach mathematics in our school.
Wrong Use of Modals and Auxiliaries
* I would rather football to any other game.
* First I thought someone should be home.
* They don't afraid to be killed.
Errors Due to Lack of Concord or Agreement
Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement
* I often think of changes that has happened.
*My parents was born in Yazd.
Lack of Concord Within a Noun Group
* It was two hour since Ali had left his house.
* There are three clever student in this classroom.

Typical Persian Constructions

* He wasn't agreed with me.
* There is special nothing that one can do in that town.
• It was near that I started to cry like a baby.
Chapter 7 - Classiflcation of Errors 105

7.3 Process-Based Classification

Errors are sometimes classified according to their processes. Process
here means the ways through which language learners make errors.
Four main processes, which lead to erroneous constructions, have
been cited in the literature (Corder, 1973; McKeating, 1981 ; Brown,
2000), as follows.

1. Omission: Leaving out some required linguistic elements

*My father is 8 doctor.

for 'My father is a dodor'.
* I am learn 8 English well.
for 'I am learning English well'.
* I bought three new book 8 yesterday.
for 'I bought three new books yesterday'.
* What 8 you want to do now?
for 'What do you want to do now?'

As the above examples illustrate, this process usually involves the

deletion of function words (e.g. prepositions and articles), auxiliaries
(e.g. do, have), and morphemes (e.g. plural morpheme, 3rd Person
singular morpheme, past and past participle --ed).

2. Addition: Redundant use of certain elements in a sentence

* He entered into the classroom.

* They always discuss about different matters.
* Please answer to my letter soon.
* Good writing is depends on several factors.
* He was going to home when I saw him.
106 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

3. Substitution: Replacement of incorrect elements for correct ones

* I am not afraid from (of) dogs.

*He was angry from (at) his bad marks.
* His bigger (elder) brother is a teacher.
*I always do (make) many mistakes in spelling.

4. Permutation: Incorrect word order

* We last night went to the cinema.

* He comes always late to school.
* My brother is a driver careful
* I don't know why is he late.

Study Questions and Exercises

Part I. Answer the following questions.

I. What are the differences between category-based and sample-
based classifications of errors?
2. What are the main four processes of making errors?
3. What are the major linguistic categories of errors?
4. In what sense homophones are considered a source of difficulty
and errors?
5. What is spelling pronunciation and how is it considered as a
linguistic source of errors?
Cbapter 7 - Classification of Errors 107

Part II. Write the correct form of the following erroneous sentences
and mention the process of error in each one.
I. I don' t know how to use of my new computer .
. . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . ............ . .... . . ... ............ ..... .. .. . . . . . ....
( ............ .......... .. ... )

2. I bought two new book yesterday .

....... .. ........... . . . . . . .. . ............................ .. . . . . . . . . ..
( .......................... .)

3. My brother and I last night went to the cinema.

.............. ... ..................... ........................ . . . . . . .
( ..... .. ...... ............ .. )

4. Students are always afraid from final exams.

......................................................... .. . ...... .. .
( .. .........................)

Part Ill. First, correct the following sentences. Then, explain 1n

linguistic terms why they are wrong.
1. He is the man whom I talked about him.

2. He usually is absent from class.

108 Contrastive Analysis aad Error Aaalysis

3. Teachers always give us good advices.

4. My father ordered me don't go to the party.

Part IV. Read the following erroneous sentences carefully. Tick P for
Permutation, A for Addition,..S. for Substitution and 0 for Omission.
p A s 0
1. I want to be teacher when I finish my studies.
2. He always attends in the meeting late.
3. I'm not interested in discussing about politics.
4. You can ask from your parents to help you.
5. The teacher explained to us how to write letters.
6. I studied English yesterday all day.
7. I don't need to anybody's help in my studies.
8. You should carefully drive in Tehran.
9. Children are always afraid from darkness.
10. If you want to pass the exam you must to study
hard.
II . His parents were not happy from his behavior.
12. My father joined to the anny when he was 20
years old.
Chapter 7 - Classiftcadon of Errors 109

PART V. Put the letter for each of the following erroneous sentences
into the correct classification box they belong to. The first sentence is
done as an example.

a. • I think /stnk/ about my exams.

b . • I play different exercises in the evening.
c. • We have gone on a picnic last Friday.
d. * My brother is a good swimer.
e.* There are three bares in this zoo.
f. * I am working 24 o'clock each week.

g. * We practice /per~ktisl English on Mondays.

h. * It was 36 students in our classroom.

i. *Doctors try /teraii to help sick people.

j. * You should put the small baks into the big one.
k. * I always want my teacher to help me.
I. • Our teacher told us don't bother our parents.

Orthographic Erron
Phonological Erron a

Leue~mantie Erron
Syntactic-Morpbological Erron
110 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

PART VI. Read the following erroneous sentences carefully and then
choose the best possible answer.
1. * "I am saying my prayers before anything else every morning" is
an example of. .. ... ........ .... .
a. Misplacement of adverbs
b. Wrong use of negatives
c. Wrong use of tenses
d. Lack of concord within verb group

2. * "An apple a day makes the man healthy" is an example of

.... ... .. .. ..... .. .
a. Redundant us of the definite article
b. Wrong word order
c. Retention of subject pronoun
d. Wrong use of preposition

3. • "They d'dn'
1 . an examp1e o f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. horne" ts
t argue tn
a. Omission of preposition
b. Redundant use of preposition
c. Error in the use of article
d. Wrong use of preposition

4. • "Last night I was very tired that I couldn't study" is an example

of .................. .
a. Use of Persian construction
b. Wrong use of quantifiers
Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 111

c. Wrong use of parts of speech

d. Wrong use of plural morpheme

5. • "It was near that I started to cry like a baby" is an example of

a. Use of plural morpheme

b. Use of Persian construction
c. Subject-verb inversion
d. Wrong use of parts of speech

6. • "I would rather football to any other game" is an example of

a. Wrong use of auxiliary

b. Omission of copula
c. Wrong use of clause complements
d. Wrong selection of relative pronouns

7. • "Every food have special taste" is an example of.................. .

a. Retention of subject pronoun
b. Wrong sequence of tenses
c. Retention of object of preposition
d. Lack of subject-verb agreement

8. • "One thing that I always think about it is ... " is an example of

a. Redundant us of definite article

b. Wrong use of non-fmite clause complement
112 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

c. Wrong use of active/passive voice

d. Retention of object of preposition

9 . • "I haven' t no work" is an example of. .. ....... ... ... .. .

a. Misplacement of adverbs
b. Wrong use of negative construction
c. Wrong use of preposition
d. Retention of object of preposition

10. • "I have graduated from college tow years ago·· is an example of

a. Wrong use of preposition

b. Wrong use of tenses
c. Omission of preposition
d. Wrong use of negative imperatives

II . ...Am.1r d'dn'
1 ~ t agree me" 1s
. an examp1eo f .. ... . ..... ........ .
a. Misplacement of adverbs
b. Wrong use of articles
c. Omission of preposition
d. Retention of object of preposition

12. *"He always tries to get best score in composition'' is an example

of ..... . .... ....... . .
a. Misplacement of adjectives
b. Wrong use of active/passive voice
Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 113

c. Wrong use of clause complements

d. Omission of the definite article

13. * "When they took the soldier to the hospital he was died" is an
example of. ... .... .......... .
a. Wrong use active/passive voice
b. Wrong use of negative imperative
c. Subject-verb inversion
d. Omission of copula

14. * "In medicine should not no matter money" is an example of

a. Use of plural morpheme

b. Wrong word order
c. Omission of preposition
d. Wrong use of tenses

15. * "He is the person whom I have known him for many years" is an
example of.................. .
a. Wrong selection of relative clause
b. Redundant use of preposition
c. Retention of direct object pronoun
d. Lack of concord within verb group
114 Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis

16. * ""I can't remember when did he get married" is an example of

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .
a. Wrong use of subject-verb inversion
b. Wrong use of negatives
c. Retention of object of preposition
d. Wrong use of plural morpheme

17 . * "Iran IS
. my mother country" IS
. an examp1e of ............ .. ... . .
a. Syntactic-Morphological error
b. Phonological error
c. Orthographic error
d. Lexico-Semantic error

18. Homophones (like ate and eight) are examples of.... .. .. ......... . .
a. Syntactic-Morphological errors
b. Lexico-Semantic errors
c. Phonological errors
d. Orthographic errors

19. Differences in the syllable structure are examples of................. .

a. Syntactic-Morphological errors
b. Phonological errors
c. Orthographic errors
d. Lexico-Semantic errors
 Chapter 7 - Classification of Errors 115

20. Pronouncing "bomb" as /bambi and "honest" as /hanest/ 1s an

example of..... .. ............ .. . .
a. Phonological error
b. Lexico-Semantic error
c. Syntactic-Morphological error
d. Orthographic error

21. * "Economic problems effect our lives" IS an example of

a. Orthographic error
b. Syntactic-Morphological error
c. Phonological error
d. Lexico-Semantic error

22. When there is no one to one correspondence between letters of

alphabet and sounds they represent, we are dealing with ........ . .
a. Orthographic errors
b. Syntactic-Morphological errors
c. Phonological errors
d. Lexico-Semantic errors

23. Doubling the final consonants in monosyllabic words before a

suffiX beginning with a vowel is an example of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
a. Lexica-Semantic error
b. Orthographic error
c. Syntactic-Morphological error
d. Phonological error