Some errors made by students at Tho Xuan 4 high school when doing exercises on English nominal clauses and suggestions for teaching them

PART A: INTRODUCTION
I. Reasons for Choosing the Study
	Nowadays English has become an international language. It plays an important role in enhancing the solidarity among the countries all over the world and is also used in every field of society. Realizing its importance, most of Vietnamese schools choose it to be one of the obligatory subjects. However, learning English as a foreign language brings learners certain problems, especially with English structures. In this study, we choose the topic: “Some errors made by students at Tho Xuan 4 high school when doing exercises on English nominal clauses and suggestions for teaching them” for the following reasons:
	Firstly, nominal clauses play an important role in both spoken and written English. However, they are not easy to use and are one of the most difficult English grammatical phenomenon, especially, with their sub - types and their functions.
	Secondly, because of their difficulties, students often make mistakes or commit errors when using English nominal clauses. Sometimes they cannot realize what is a nominal clause and what functions they are acting.
	For example, they may think “that – clauses” in these two following sentences: 
“1. The news that you told me is not true.
The news that he has left home is not true.”
are of the same type, that is, relative clause (or adjectival clause). In fact, these two that – clauses are of absolutely different types: “that – clause” in the first sentence is adjectival clause but “that – clause” in the second sentence is nominal clause functioning as appositive.
	Finally, being teachers of English, we should do something to help our students overcome these confusions so that they can use English nominal clause in an excellent way with as few errors as possible. 
II. Aims of the Study
	Our study is aimed at:
- Listing all kinds of English nominal clauses.
- Indicating some errors that students often commit when doing exercises on English nominal clauses.
- Offering some suggestions for teaching English nominal clauses.
III. Research Questions.
This study tries to find out the answers for the following questions:
What is a nominal clause?
What is the classification of English nominal clauses and the features of each sub – type?
What are predicted errors students may commit when learning English nominal clauses?
How to teach English nominal clauses effectively?
IV. Methods of the Study
1. Descriptive method.
2. Analytic and statistical method.
V. Design of the Study
	The study is developed in three main parts:
Part A: Introduction:
Reason for choosing the study.
Aims of the study.
Research questions.
Method of the study.
Design of the study.
Part B: Investigation:
	Chapter 1: Theoretical Background
	Chapter 2: Some errors made by students when doing exercises on English nominal clauses and suggestions for teaching them
Part C: Conclusion
PART B: INVESTIGATION
Chaper 1: Theoretical bacground
Definition of nominal clause.
Nominal clause or noun clause is one category of dependent clause. Quirk et al (1972: 732) stated that nominal clauses have a function of a noun phrase. Just as noun phrases may act as subject, object, complement, appositive and prepositional complement in a clause, hence every nominal clause may act in some or all of these roles.
Nominal clauses are usually connected with the main clause by that, if, whether, whom, which, what, when, where, why, how, etc. (noticing that the meanings of these words are different when they are used to connect adjectival and adverbial clauses). One common use of nominal clauses is the object in reported speech. Below are common functions of nominal clauses:
Subject (S):
Eg: Whether we need it is a different matter.
 	 S
Direct object (Od):
Eg: Adam could not believe what he heard.
	 Od
Indirect object (Oi):
Eg: He gave whoever came into the door a winning smile.
	 Oi
Subject complement (Cs):
Eg: The trouble was that February the twenty – fourth looked a lot closer from this
	 Cs
side of Christmas.
Object complement (Co):
Eg: You can call me whatever you like.
	 Co
Appositive:
Eg: The question, where my husband was last night, has not been answered yet. 
	appositive
Prepositional complement:
Eg: He thought about why he could not sell Lady.
	 prepositional complement
Adjectival complement:
Eg: He was not sure what he was saying.
	 adjectival complement
In order to check whether a clause is a nominal clause or not, we can substitute it with an appropriate pronoun such as: he, she, it, or them. For instance: “Whoever said it is wrong.”
We can substitute “Whoever said it” with “he” or “she”, therefore we have sentence: “He/ She is wrong.”
Categories of nominal clauses
According to Quirk et al (1972: 734), nominal clauses are classified into five major categories: the That – clause (or dependent declarative clause); the dependent interrogative clause; the nominal relative clause; the to – infinitive clause; and the –ing clause.
That – clauses
A nominal clause which begins with that is so called that – nominal clause (that – clause). That clause can occur as Subject, Direct object, Subject complement, Appositive and Adjectival complement. However, it cannot occur as Prepositional complement or as Object complement. 
Harry thought (that) he was having a heart attack. 
	 	 Direct object
That he accepted his behavior is unbelievable.
 	 Subject
Your trouble is that you need to lern to relax
	 Subject complement	
I am sorry that your brother is ill.
 Adjectival complement
The announcement that a new airport was to be built nearby aroused immediate 
	Appositive
position.
Dependent interrogative clauses
	The dependent wh – interrogative clauses occur in the whole range of functions available to the that – nominal clauses. In addition, they can act as prepositional complement and usually begin with: who, whom, which, what, where, when, why and how.
The dependent interrogative clause consists of two main sub – types: “wh – interrogative” clause and “yes – no interrogative” clause.
Wh – interrogative clause:
Eg: What is coming will come.
 Subject
Grandmother then told him how her husband won her heart.
	Direct object
Yes – no interrogative clause:
Eg: The question is whether he is able to do that job.
	Subject complement
He wasn’t sure if this wonderful smell came from the flowers or from her breath.
	 	adjectival complement
1.2.3. Nominal Relative Clauses
	The nominal relative clauses are also introduced by a “wh – element”. The formation of nominal relative clauses follow the same pattern as that of interrogative kind but the list of introductory “wh – elements” used is slightly different. “Whether”, “if” and “who” are not used for relative type while the compound with “-ever” are not used with the interrogative type. For example:
What – whatever
Which – whichever
Where – wherever
When – whenever
How – however
Whoever
However, we rarely used “whoever” and “whomever”. In stead of using “whomever”, we usually use “whoever” even if nominal relative clauses function as object of sentence.
	Nominal relative clauses refer to facts, events, states, ideas, etc. rather than to objects. The only exception to this generalization is the nominal relative clauses which may refer to objects, people, substances, etc. and may in fact be analyzed, on one level, as a noun phrase consisting of head and post – modifying relative clauses.
Eg: Whoever breaks this law deserves a fine.
We can paraphrase this sentence as: 
“Anyone who breaks this law deserves a fine.”	
	Nominal relative clauses can function as: Subject; Direct object; Indirect object; Subject complement; Object complement; Appositive; and Prepositional complement.
Eg: Whatever happened was over so quickly that Harry didn’t catch it. 
	 	I will give you what you want. 
He told whoever he knew this piece of information.
This is exactly where we wanted to end up.
Nominal to – infinitive clauses
+ Nominal to – infinitive Clauses as Subject
Eg: For Osbert to appear in public at such a time was rather courageous. (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 99)
 To get married with a rich person is her dream.
+ Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Direct Object
	Nominal to – infinitive clauses functioning as direct object often occur after these verbs:
allow
arrange
ask
beg
choose
claim
decide
demand
expect
fail
help
hope
learn
plan
prepare
promise
prove
permit
teach
tell
threaten
warn
want
wish, etc.
 Eg: I expect everyone to be punctual this evening. (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 99)
 I consider her to be a very able headminister. (Rowling, 580)
+ Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Subject Complement
Eg: The Triwizard Tournament’s aim was to further and promote magical understanding. (Rowling, 723)
 The main goals of the Association are to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development. (Van Hoang Van, English 12, 173)
+ Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Adjectival Complement
Eg: He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin. (Rowling, 481)
+ Nominal to – Infinitive Clauses as Appositive
Eg: The plan for us all to meet outside was absurb. (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook, 99) 
Nominal –ing clauses
The nominal –ing clauses may be called a participle clause and functions as: Subject; Direct object; Subject complement; Appositive; Adjectival complement and Prepositional complement.
Eg: Buying and selling drug are illegal.
 	Subject
When the –ing clause has a subject, there is sometimes a choice between genitive case in formal style. For instance:
“I’m bored with her/ Mary’s telling that story.”
and in informal style, objective case (for personal pronouns) or common case (for nouns). For example:
“I’m bored with her/ Mary telling that story.”
+ Nominal –ing Clauses as Subject
- Telling the truth makes me confused
+ Nominal –ing Clauses as Direct Object
Nominal –ing clause functioning as direct object often occur after these verbs:
admit
anticipate
can’t help
can’t stand
delay
deny
dislike
enjoy
excuse
fancy
give up
imagine
keep (on)
leave off
mention
mind
permit
postpone
practice
quit
resume
suggest
tolerate
etc.
Eg: I dislike people asking me personal questions.
+ Nominal –ing Clauses as Subject Complement
Eg: His desire is holding a special place in my heart.
+ Nominal –ing Clauses as Appositive
Eg: His greatest pleasure, climbing mountains, had to be abandoned. (Quirk & Greenbaum, workbook,99)
+ Nominal –ing Clauses as Prepositional Complement
Eg: Jane is thinking of selling her house.
+ Nominal –ing Clauses as Adjectival Complement
	The nominal –ing clause acting as adjectiaval complement often occurs after some adjectives such as: “busy; happy; regret; worth; etc.”
Eg: Tom regrets having invited her to the party.
The two minors types of nominal clause which we must briefly consider are: the bare infinitive clause (without to) and the nominal verbless clause.
The to of the infinitive is optionally omitted in a clause which, as complement, expands the meaning of the verb do.
 Eg: What the plan does is (to) ensure a fair pension for all.
	 Subject complement
 All I could do was (to) sit and look at her in class.
	 Subject complement
In addition, the category of a verbless nominal clause is required to account for a type of subject which, although superficially a noun phrase, has some of the structural as well as semantic characteristics of a clause.
Eg: A friend in need is a friend indeed. (proverb)
 S
Chapter 2: Some errors made by students at Tho Xuan 4 high school when doing exercises on English nominal clauses and suggestions for teaching them
2.1. Predictions of errors made by students when learning English nominal clauses.
Nominal clauses in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese are far different from each other. Thus, from these differences, some errors which students of Xuan Truong C high school may commit when studying nominal clauses are predicted as follows:
2.1.1. Inversion between subject and verb in nominal interrogative clauses.
A large number of Vietnamese students think that a sentence beginning with wh – element has the form of a question. Students may commit this error because they are accustomed to the form of a wh – question. This is a reason why the verb or auxiliary is usually put in front of the subject in wh – interrogative clauses.
For example, students may say: 
“ Please tell me what is your name.” (1)
In stead of: “ Please tell me what your name is.” 
Or: “ I don’t know what does that word mean.” (2)
In stead of: “I don’t know what that word means.”
	The two sentences (1) and (2) are incorrect as the dependent clauses: “what your name is” and “what that word means” are statements, not questions. Therefore, the verb “ is” and “mean” can not be placed in front of the subject.
2.1.2. Disagreement of subject and verb
Nominal clauses often refer to abstract things. Therefore, when they function as a subject of a sentence, they always take singular verb. But sometimes, students may use the verb at plural form, especially with to – infinitive clauses as subject complement. This is because Vietnamese learners are interfered by their mother tongue when studying the second language, or in other words, it is the effect of the negative transfer that causes them to commit this error. 
For example: “All I could do was to sit and look at her in class.”
 Students may put the verb to be after “all I could do” is “were”. They may transfer this clause to their mother tongue as: “tất cả tôi có thể làm” and think that “tất cả” is plural in Vietnamese. This is the reason why they may use the verb “were” instead of “was”.
Or: “What he needs now are sleep, and peace and quiet.” (incorrect sentence)
Instead of “What he needs now is sleep, and peace and quiet.” (correct sentence)
2.1.3. Misuse of “whether” and “if” in yes – no interrogative clauses.
	Being transferred into Vietnamese, “whether” and “if” have similar meaning. An amount of Vietnamese students do not know exactly the usage of these two conjunctions because there is no equivalent construction of “whether” and “if” between these two languages. Vietnamese language does not have distinguished forms between “whether” and “if”. Thus, they may use the negative verb form in whether – interrogative clauses.
	For example: “I don’t know whether it doesn’t rain.” (incorrect sentence)
	In fact, whether – interrogative clauses cannot be made negative except in the second part of an alternative question. We have change “whether” into “if”, so that the correct sentence must be: “I don’t know if it doesn’t rain.”
	Moreover, yes – no interrogative clauses functioning as subject can only take “whether”, not “if”. “If – interrogative” clauses cannot occur in subject position.
For example, students may say: “If he will come or not is not your concern.” (incorrect sentence)
In stead of: “Whether he will come or not is not your concern.” (correct sentence)
2.1.4. Omission of “that”
	When that – clauses functioning as subject of the sentence, Vietnamese students may omit the conjunction “that” when transferring from their first language (Vietnamese) to their second language (English). In Vietnamese, learners do not pay much attention to the meaning of “that” because its meaning is unimportant, and when they omiting “that”, there is no effect on the meaning of the whole sentence. Therefore, they can say: 
“Anh ấy thi đỗ làm tôi rất ngạc nhiên.”
	Because of their habit in using Vietnamese structures, they may transfer this sentence to their foreign language as:
“He passed the exam makes me very surprised.”
	The construction of this sentence is acceptable in Vietnamese but in English, it is absolutely incorrect. The correct sentence in English must be: 
“That he passed the exam makes me surprised.”
2.1.5. Unsuitable change from quoted speech to reported speech.
	Reported speech is one of the most common forms of nominal clauses. It refers to using a nominal clause to report what someone has said. When changing a sentence from quoted speech into reported speech, students often do not change all the necessary elements appropriately. It is also the effect of earlier learning that negatively affects to Vietnamese learners’ process of learning reported speech. 
For example, we have a sentence in quoted speech as: 
(1) “I’m going to move to Ohio.”, said Bruce
Learners may change this sentence into reported speech as:
“Bruce informed me that he is going to move to Ohio.”
Or: “Bruce informed me that I’m going to move to Ohio.”
Another example is: 
(2) Maria asked, “Have you seen my grammar book?”
They may change this sentence to indirect speech as:
“Maria wanted to know if I have seen her grammar book.”
Or: “Maria wanted to know if I had seen my grammar book.”
	According to the rules to change from direct speech to indirect speech, we must take the tense of the verb backwards to the past tense, except for the reporting verb is simple present, present perfect or future. Moreover, we have to change all the other elements appropriately such as: the pronoun, possessive adjective, adverb of time and place, etc. Thus, the correct sentence of (1) must be:
“Bruce informed me that he was going to move to Ohio.”
And (2) must be: 
“Maria wanted to know if I had seen her grammar book.”
2.2. Some actual errors that learners at Tho Xuan 4 high school committed when doing exercises on English nominal clauses.
	To find out actual errors that Vietnamese learners commit when learning English nominal clauses, a survey was carried out. I investigated the ability to learn English nominal clauses of 37 students at Xuan Truong C high school. The students were asked to do five exercises dealing with some major types of nominal clauses (The exercises are added in the appendix). The detail results are illustrated as follows: 
2.2.1. Inversion between subject and verb in nominal interrogative clauses
Type of error
Frequency of occurrence
Percent (%)
Inversion between subject and verb in nominal interrogative clauses
15
40,5
 Table 1: Error of inversion between subject and verb in nominal interrogative clauses
	The result from the table above shows that there are an amount of students commits this error when using nominal interrogative clauses (15 students over total 37 ones). It is clear that the effect of prior learning upon later learning is far from imagination. Nearly a half of the students place the verb in front of the subject in nominal interrogative clauses.
2.2.2. Subject and verb disagreement
Type of error
Frequency of occurrence
Percent (%)
Subject and verb disagreement
27
73
 Table 2: Error of Subject and verb disagreement
	This table illustrates that there have been a large number of students do not use the form of the verb after nominal clauses appropriately (27 students, making up 73%). The detailed errors that student committed in the survey are:
What causes the fire remain a mystery.
What we all needed were a spell of warm sunshine.
Now all he could do are sit and listen to the others.
What he needs now are sleep, and peace and quiet.
Or: 5. All I could do are sit and look at her in class. 
	As I have mentioned, these errors are made by the negative transfer from foreign language to students’ mother tongue. The students transferred the word “all” to their mother tongue with the meaning “tất cả” which is plural in Vietnamese but in English nominal clauses, it is always at singular form. On the other hand, in the sentence: “What he needs now are sleep, and peace and quiet.”**, students saw that the predicate of this sentence contains three elements: “sleep, peace and quiet”. Therefore, they used the verb “to be” at plural form. In fact, we have to put the verb in concord with the subject of the sentence, not with the predicate. For this reason, the