An Error Analysis on the Use of Gerunds in Writing Descriptive Paragraph

This study suggests two research questions. First, what kinds of errors do the students make on the use of gerunds in their writing. Second, what are the errors' causes. This study aimed to describe types of errors and explain the causes of errors on the use of gerunds in writing descriptive paragraph by eleventh grade students of a private vocational school in Jember . Case study of qualitative research was used in this study because the data in this study was to explain and identify phenomena of research subject by identifying, collecting, classifying, describing, evaluating, or correcting of language errors that made by student in their writing, especially in using gerunds. This study obtain data in the form of students’ assignment. The participants of the study were 31 eleventh grade students of a private vocational school in Jember. The results showed thatthe eleventh grade students of a private vocational school in Jember made several errors in the use of gerunds in writing descriptive paragraph.
The types of error in using gerunds in writing descriptive paragraph are errors of omission, errors of addition, error of misformation, and error misordering. Based on these types of errors, the causes of student errors are caused by overgeneralization, incomplate application of rules, and false concept hypothesized. It can be concluded from the results and the discussion that the most frequent error that were committed by students is omission error, and the most frequent causes of students in making error in the use of simple present tense is overgeneralization.