Errors in the use of conditionals made by the eleventh grade students at co loa high school, dong anh, ha noi

Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N0.2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TRAN THI HANG ERRORS IN THE USE OF CONDITIONALS MADE BY THE ELEVENTH-GRADE STUDENTS AT CO LOA HIGH SCHOOL, DONG ANH, HANOI (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: TRAN THAI, M.A Hanoi, May 2012 Faculty of Foreign Languages - ii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ************ My graduation paper would not be fulfilled if there was no positive contribution of many people in different ways First of all, I would like to show my greatest gratitude to Mr Tran Thai, M.A., my respectful supervisor for his experienced and patient instruction, as well as his detailed, valuable comments, suggestions and advice during my conducting the paper I am delighted to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lecturers at Hanoi Pedagogical University N02, particularly, the lecturers in the Foreign Languages Faculty for their devoted guidance so that not only my overall insight into the English language, but also my writing and researching skills might be enhanced I also wish to thank the teachers and the students at Co Loa High School, especially Mrs Nguyen Ngoc Anh and the two classes 11A1 and 11A4 I am greatly indebted to all of them for their wholehearted assistance and cooperation when I was carrying on the survey questionnaire Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my close friends who have shared with me helpful reference documents and data concerned with my thesis Constantly rather than finally, I owe an enormous dept of gratitude to my beloved family for their immeasurable support and continuous encouragement Faculty of Foreign Languages - iii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper ABSTRACT ******** The conditional sentence is one of the most significant categories in the English language However, due to complicated and numerous ways to form and use conditionals, and the fact that its uses have not been fully described in textbooks, Vietnamese high-school students of English sometimes get confused when using this sentence type Students’ confusion in the use of conditionals causes them to make unexpected errors For this reason, an entailed paper on the subject of conditionals was conducted to investigate high school students’ understanding of conditionals and their ability to produce different conditional sentence types Based on the result of the survey, the errors in use of conditionals and the detached causes have been found The students had difficulties distinguishing conditional types and choosing appropriate elements, namely verb tenses, conjunctions, etc for each clause of conditional sentences, especially of the two unfamiliar types: zero conditional and mixed conditionals Finally, following an identification of these factors, several suggested solutions have been proposed with the hope that this type of sentences will be used more suitably It is advised that teachers should provide students with the knowledge of all conditional types including their variations and their usage For students, practicing hard is an asset to help them deal with this sentence type and other categories of the English language as well Faculty of Foreign Languages - iv - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ************** Title: Errors in the use of conditionals made by the eleventh-grade students at Co Loa High School, Dong Anh , Hanoi (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English) My passion for English has inspired me to conduct this graduation paper I could have sworn that the paper was resulted in my own working seriously for a period of time Certainly, this must not be copied from any honorable authors’ work illegally without asking their permission Date submitted: May 2012 Student Supervisor Tran Thi Hang Tran Thai, M.A Faculty of Foreign Languages -v- Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper ABBREVIATIONS *********** EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESL: English as a Second Language L1: Students’ First Language L2: Students’ Second Language Faculty of Foreign Languages - vi - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper TABLE OF CONTENTS ************ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iv ABBREVIATIONS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART ONE INTRODUCTION Rationale Research questions Research aims and objectives Research scope Research methods Significance of the proposed research Design of the research work PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Literature of review in brief 1.2 Conditional sentences 1.2.1 Definition 1.2.2 Forms of conditionals 1.2.3 Types of conditionals Faculty of Foreign Languages - vii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper 1.2.3.1 Conditional type 10 1.2.3.1.1 Definition 10 1.2.3.1.2 Form 10 1.2.3.1.3 Use 11 1.2.3.1.4 Variations 12 1.2.3.2 Conditional type 12 1.2.3.2.1 Definition 12 1.2.3.2.2 Form 13 1.2.3.2.3 Use 13 1.2.3.2.4 Variations 14 1.2.3.3 Conditional type 16 1.2.3.3.1 Definition 16 1.2.3.3.2 Form 17 1.2.3.3.3 Use 17 1.2.3.3.4 Variations 19 1.2.3.4 Conditional type 21 1.2.3.4.1 Definition 21 1.2.3.4.2 Form 22 1.2.3.4.3 Use 22 1.2.3.4.4 Variations 23 1.2.3.5 Mixed conditionals 24 1.2.3.5.1 Definition 24 1.2.3.5.2 Classification 24 1.2.3.5.2.1 Mixed third-second conditional 25 1.2.3.5.2.2 Mixed second-third conditional 26 1.2.4 Implied conditionals 27 1.2.5 Other conjunctions having similar meanings to “if” 28 1.2.6 Inversion in conditionals 32 Faculty of Foreign Languages - viii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper CHAPTER TWO THE METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS 2.1 Methodology 34 2.1.1 Purpose of the survey 34 2.1.2 Population of the survey 35 2.1.3 Type of the survey 35 2.1.4 Construction of the test 35 2.1.5 Preparation of the survey 36 2.1.6 Administration of the try-out 37 2.1.7 Method of data analysis 38 2.1.8 Results of the survey 38 2.2 Discussion of the results 40 2.2.1 Errors in the use of conditional types 40 2.2.2 Errors in the use of conjunctions in conditionals 44 2.2.3 Errors in the use of verb tenses in conditionals 45 2.2.4 Errors in the use of positives and negatives in conditionals 47 2.2.5 Errors in the use of punctuation in conditionals 48 2.2.6 Errors in the use of inversion in conditionals 49 CHAPTER THREE SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS AND EXERCISES 3.1 Suggested solutions 51 3.1.1 For teachers 51 3.1.2 For students 53 3.2 Suggested exercises 55 3.2.1 Sources of exercises 55 3.2.2 Types of exercises 56 3.2.3 Samples of exercises 57 Faculty of Foreign Languages - ix - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper PART THREE CONCLUSION Summary of the researching process and implications 62 Limitations and suggestions for further research 63 REFERENCES APPENDIXES Faculty of Foreign Languages -x- Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper PART ONE INTRODUCTION Rationale Even if one does not want to, one might recognize that English grammar is really challenging On the way to the competence in English, students have to overcome many obstacles They are a system of complex categories such as reported speech, comparatives and superlatives, relative clauses, and many types of clauses, verbs, etc Among these issues, conditionals are one of the most complicated and significant to master They are used very commonly in both professional and personal life To cope with this grammatical category, learners must concern many types of conditionals structured with two clauses: if-clause and main clause Each of them has variations which create certain meanings for certain contexts Additionally, there are combinations of different tenses and a variety of modals required to form any conditional sentences Therefore, we need to be knowledgeable and sensitive when using this type of sentences without getting confused However intricate the conditional is, it is still an interesting category to deal with Surprisingly, it has not been paid much attention by any forth-year students of Faculty of Foreign Languages at our university when they selected the subject for their graduation papers Conditionals are naturally taught in secondary schools, they are re-designed in the curriculum for high-school students to consolidate their insight on this issue Regrettably, there are only three main types of conditionals introduced to students: type one, type two and type three, whereas each type of these sentences is categorized into many different subtypes with many varied forms Besides, there are numerous ways to express conditions, using a variety of conjunctions, Faculty of Foreign Languages - xi - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper If only I a week, I could have bought that MP3 player on sale A waited B had waited C would have waited D would had waited I wouldn’t shop there if I you That store is too expensive A be B will be C were D had been Please give that book to Mary if you her tonight A see B would see C had seen D will see Everyone the test if the teacher had given it today A might had failed B might have failed C might fail D might failed I’ll tell you a good joke – you’ve heard it before A if B in case C unless D on condition that 10 right now, otherwise you’ll be late A wake up B waking up C If wake up D if you wake up V Find the underlined word or phrase, A, B, C or D, which is incorrect My friend might go to college if his high school teachers had encouraged him to A B C D If I had been paid today, I could had bought that new bag A B C D Where will you go if you could travel anywhere in the world? A B C D We were so hungry that we ate like if we would never see food again A Faculty of Foreign Languages B - lxx - C D Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper If only we hadn’t stay up so late, we wouldn’t have missed our morning class A B C D If you will direct the sunlight to paper with a magnifying glass, the paper will burn A B C D Before going on a road trip, I would check the oil in your car if I am you A B C D Hadn’t you arrived, I wouldn’t have arrived last evening A B C D He would have had enough to pay for the house repairs, if he hadn’t spent A B C D so much on his holiday 10 I would have written down her address in case I should forget it A Faculty of Foreign Languages B - lxxi - C D Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper PART THREE CONCLUSION Summary of the researching process and implications For every student of a certain language, especially ESL/EFL students, studying grammar is a compulsory, but challenging duty Among numerous grammatical categories, the conditional sentence is a typical one that students of English need to be constantly concerned about For this reason, the study was conducted to clarify various types of errors made by sixty - two students from Co Loa High School, Hanoi in the use of this sentence type In the limited framework of the graduation paper, there is an attempt made to give students a valuable amount of knowledge on conditionals, clarifying relevant issues in relation to this type of sentences namely definition, types, forms, variations, use and meanings, and so on In addition, the research notices some other aspects associated with this issue such as inversion, negatives, other conjunctions rather than “if”, etc This aims at helping students to gain deep insight into the five types of conditional patterns Furthermore, to assess the students’ understanding of conditionals and point out their common errors in the use of these constructions, a survey questionnaire was carried on According to the survey’s result, many errors made by students of English in grade 11 at Co Loa High School when they use this sentence type have been found The findings reveal that the errors in the use of conditional types rank first among the total number of errors, making up 52 38% The second highest percentage of errors is about the using of conjunctions, which is estimated to be 44 59% The errors in the use of inversion in conditionals account for the lowest percentage with only 16 33% Noticeably, such errors are almost related to the formation of Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper conditionals In short, two types of conditionals zero and mixed conditionals that have not been officially taught in high school is the two most common As for the other types, the more complicated in structure it is, the more errors are made The errors might be resulted from the limitation in students’ discernment of conditional sentences and their unintentional application of the rules for mother tongue in the English language, their subjectiveness and negligence As a result, several possible solutions to the errors have been suggested  On the part of teachers  Provide students with the knowledge of conditionals systematically  Illustrate the lessons  Help students reduce the negative effects of L1  Provide students with exercises and sources of exercises  Combine giving knowledge, testing and estimating  On the part of students  Understand the use of conditionals  Find a partner  Practice, practice and practice  Be sensitive and careful In brief, to reduce errors in conditionals as well as other grammatical categories in the English language system is not an easy and simply issue, requiring both teachers and learners to make their considerable effort Hopefully, the study is proved to be a useful piece of paper that partially assists them to achieve their aims in English performance Limitations and suggestions for further research The graduation paper was conducted with a great attempt of the author However, Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxiii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper because this is my first work on science and owning to the large scale of the subject, there must be mistakes and shortcomings existing in some areas The paper only is concentrated on the students’ use of conditionals with conjunction “if”, whereas the fund of knowledge concerning English conditionals is far larger Additionally, although students from two classes invited to participate the survey questionnaire have different levels of English proficiency, the number of them is not very large This partially negatively affects the findings Also, I would like to have several suggestions for other students of Foreign Languages Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University N02 as well as lovers of the English language researching, especially for ones intending to study the English conditionals The study will be much better if the researcher overcomes all the limitations mentioned above, delving further into the topic and conducting the survey among the larger number of participants In which, more mixed types of conditionals should be clarified, and the usages of “hope”, “wish”, etc should be also mentioned Furthermore, to make the findings of the research more generalisable, the population of the survey questionnaire should cover all levels of English proficiency Last but not least, I appreciate all possible comments from the fellow readers to enhance the study Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxiv - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper REFERENCES Azar, B S (1996) Basis English Grammar (2nded.) New York: Pearson Education Azar, B S (2002) Understanding and using English Grammar (3rded.) New York: Longman Alexander, L.G (1988) Longman English Grammar New York: Longman Baugh, L S (1987) English Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of English (2thed.) Illinois: Passport Book Bland, S K (1996) Intermediate Grammar: From Form to Meaning and Use: New York Oxford University Press Beason, L & Lester, M (2003) A Commonsense Guide to Grammar and Usage (6thed.) Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s Cobuild, C (1990) English Grammar London & Glasgow: Collins Publishers & the University of Birmingham De Capua, A (2008) Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American for Native and Non-native speakers New York: Springer Science & Business Media Eastwood, J (1992) Oxford Practice Grammar Oxford: Oxford University Press Eastwood, J (1994) Oxford Guide to English Grammar Oxford: Oxford University Press Foley, M & Hall, D (2003) Longman Advanced Learners’ Grammar Longman: Pearson Education Limited Greenbaum, S (1996) The Oxford English Grammar New York: Oxford University Press Hewings, M (1999) Advanced Grammar in Use Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Murphy, R (1985) English Grammar in Use Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxv - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper Murphy, R (2000) English Grammar in Use: A Self-study Reference and Practice Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Quirk, R et al (1972) A Grammar of Contemporary English London: Longman Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S (1973) A University Grammar of English Essex: Longman Raimes, A (1998) How English Works: A Grammar Handbook with Readings New York: Cambridge University Press Swan, M (1984) Basic English Usage Oxford: Oxford University Press Swan, M (2005) Practical English Usage New York: Oxford University Press Thomson, A J & Martinet, A V (1960) A Practical English Grammar (4thed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press Vince, M (1994) Advanced Language Practice Oxford: Heineman Yule, G (1998) Explaining English Grammar Oxford: Oxford University Press Yule, G (2006) Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced Oxford: Oxford University Press (2001) Really Useful English Grammar Essex: Pearson Education Limited Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxvi - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper APPENDIXES SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Part A COULD YOU GIVE SOME PERSONAL INFORMATION? How long have you been learning English? For …………… years What is your English like? A Excellent B Good C Rather good D Not very good E Other (Bad) ………… Part B I Rewrite the following sentences, using conditionals When you use a very hot iron on nylon, it melts => He works hard and he will pass his exam => He didn’t pass the exam because he didn’t work hard => I regret not going to the airport to say good bye => I did not eat breakfast several hours ago, so I’m hungry now => The child is crying because his mother isn’t here => When you put this fish in the fridge, it gets frozen => Hurry up, or you will be late => Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxvii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper I didn’t finish my report; so I can’t begin a new project today => 10 He was driving very fast because he didn’t know the road was icy => 11 Your English will be improved when you practice more => 12 They didn’t follow the map, so they got lost => 13 The circle is called the unit circle when the radius r is => 14 The teacher isn’t here, so the class cannot begin => 15 The room is full of flies because you left the door open => 16 I am not you You should think more positively => 17 I couldn’t pass because the teacher made the test so hard => 18 Try your best, or you will fail the exams => 19 The streets get wet whenever it rains => 20 I’m not you, so I didn't tell him the truth => II Complete the sentences with the verbs in parentheses 21 If I (have) _ enough money, I will go with you 22 If I (have) _ enough money, I would go with you 23 If I (have) _ enough money, I would have gone with you Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxviii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper 24 If the weather is nice tomorrow, we (go) _ to the zoo 25 If the weather were nice today, we (go) _ to the zoo 26 If the weather had been nice yesterday, we (go) _ to the zoo 27 If Sally (be) _ at home tomorrow, I am going to visit her 28 If a2 + b2 = 0, we (have) a = and b = 29 Nowadays, if people (want) something, they just (buy) it 30 I'll probably get lost unless he (come) with me 31 What would you if you (win) a lot of money? 32 If I (realize) he was sleeping, I (make, not) so much noise when I came in 33 If he (catch) the train yesterday, he (be) _in Ho Chi Minh City by now 34 If I (have) more time last week, I (exercise) after work 35 If I (not, be) back by this time tomorrow, (take) this letter to the police III Rewrite the following sentences, using inversion with “should”, “were”, “had” If you should need more money, I will lend you some => Should you need more money, I will lend you some 36 If I were you, I wouldn’t that => 37 If they had realized the danger, they would have done it differently => 38 If I were your teacher, I would insist you better work => 39 If you should change your mind, please let me know immediately => 40 She would have gotten the job if she had been better prepared => Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxix - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper 41 If I were you, I would look for another job => 42 If you should need to talk to me, I’ll be the Hilton Hotel => 43 If he were a good student, he would have studied for the test yesterday => 44 I would have visited you if I had known you were at home => 45 If you should need to buy a new car, you may visit our store => IV Choose the best answers 46 You’ll get hungry during class breakfast A if you have C when you have B unless you have D unless you don’t have 47 Jim isn’t home right now he were at home right now, I would visit him A If B Even if C When D If only 48 the weather is nice, we often go picnic A Even if B As if C When D If only 49 I shan’t wake up unless I (hear) the alarm A not hear B don’t hear C hear D will hear 50 She ran; she would have missed the train A otherwise B if C provided that D when V Choose the best answers 51 you don’t know the meaning of a word, you may use a dictionary A If B Even if C Unless D If only 52 Unless he here soon, we will have to start the meeting without him A don’t get B will get Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxx - C gets D hadn’t got Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper 53 If they had played a little better, they the game A could have won B can win C could win D will win 54 My father isn’t here now If you _ him, you _ him at once A saw/ would recognize C see/ will recognize B had seen/ would have recognized D see/ recognize 55 If I meet him, I him his book A would give B will give C would have given D gives 56 If the air temperature warm enough, ice always A is/ melts C was/ would melt B had been/ would have melted D is/ will melt 57 He a millionaire if he that building years ago A were/ sold B will be/ sells C would be/ hadn’t sold D would be/ sold 58 If I hadn’t left the book at home this morning, I it now A would have read B canread C could read D will read 59 If you Tom, him I have a massage for him A saw/ told B see/ will tell C had seen/ would tell D see/ tell 60 If you didn’t work too fast you wouldn’t make so many mistakes Which punctuation we need in the sentence above? A a full stop (.) B a comma (,) C a semicolon (;) D no commas 61 he here, he could help us A If B Were C Had D Should Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxxi - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper 62 I’ll have enough money for the tickets if he pays me tonight A a full stop (.) B a comma (,) C a semicolon (;) D no commas 63 We can’t go out because the weather is really bad If it nice today, we go fishing A were/ could B is/ can C had been/ could have D were/ can 65 Unless he sorry to me, I will never forgive him A said B doesn’t say C didn’t say D says 65. worked hard at school, I could have got a good job when I left A If I hadn’t B If I C Had I not D Had I Thank you for your cooperation! Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxxii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper SUGGESTED EXERCISES ANSWER KEY Exercise I Type Type Type Type Type Mixed Type Type Type 10 Type 11 Type 12 Type 13 Mixed 14 Type 15 Type Exercise II had run would have brought would not have had worn leaves spoke will fall don’t change 10 should not have bought 11 12 won’t 13 dial, want 14 would not have printed 15 would not be sitting Exercise III If they hadn’t cut off the electricity, I could have finished my work If I were not too busy, I could study Chinese If you had told me you were coming, I would have invited some friends in If I am free on Saturday, I often go to the mountains If I were you, I should stop smoking But for my parents, I would never have gone to university If we buy the tickets in advance, we can avoid waiting If she had hurried, she could have missed the train Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxxiii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper They could have bought the house if they had had enough money 10 If his father hadn’t died, he would have gone to teacher training college Exercise IV D B A B B C A B C 10 A Exercise IV A C A C A D D D C 10 A Faculty of Foreign Languages - lxxxiv - [...]... conducted mainly to seek the accurate answers, or at least, the most acceptable ones to the questions put above Firstly, the research aims at finding out the kinds of errors that are often made by the eleventh- grade students at Co Loa High School in the academic year of 2011 – 2012 Its second purpose is to determine what the most general errors that these students have made are Next the causes of these errors. .. hypothetical conditions of speculation and hypothetical conditions of hindsight He emphasizes that in conditions, a change in tenses might be a signal of a change in types of the conditions rather than a change in time Collins Cobuild (1994) in the book “Colbuid Students Dictionary and Grammar” does not name the types of conditionals, but presents the use of each sentence type in accordance with the. .. Like other types of conditionals, conditional type 3 consists of two clauses The if-clause or condition clause is in the past perfect tense to indicate the unreality of the situation in the past The structure “would have” plus past participle is used in the other part of the sentence, considering the imagined outcomes If - clause Main clause Past perfect tense Would have + past participle e.g If I had... Which kind of errors do the students in grade 11 at Co Loa High School in the academic year of 2011 – 2012 make? 2 What are the most common errors made by these students? 3 By what way can we reduce the number of such errors? These questions have paved the way for my studying the issue Faculty of Foreign Languages - xii - Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper 3 Research aims and objectives The research was conducted... following another supposed in if - clause 1.2.2 Forms of conditionals As mentioned above, the conditional sentence embraces two clauses If - clause (the condition clause) containing a condition often comes first, preceding the main clause (the result clause) which consists of a consequence The adverb “then” is optional in the main clause, but is always implied We have the sentence structure: Faculty of. .. Tran Thi Hang Graduation paper the errors made by students in term of this conditional sentence type As mentioned, the study will be about the errors made by the eleventh- grade students at Co Loa High School in the academic year of 2011 – 2012 with sixtytwo students attending as the population 5 Research methods To achieve the aims mentioned above, the research uses material collection, quantitative and... the certainty in the host clause (termed apodosis) Occasionally, protasis may express an indirect condition In term of structure, it can be concluded that conditionals consist of two clauses, if - clause (or protasis, condition clause, subordinate clause, dependent clause) and the main clause (or apodosis, result clause, independent clause) These clauses interrelate closely The main clause expresses... above, conditionals have surpassed other possible subjects, becoming the topic of my paper Hopefully, it can make certain contribution to the process of teaching and learning English in Vietnam 2 Research questions Many ESL/EFL students find it difficult to solve the errors related to conditional sentences, so do the eleventh - grade students at Co Loa High School, Dong Anh, Hanoi For this issue, there... for the situation in the second one to happen so this sentence is called conditional type 2 1.2.3.3.2 Form We have basic structure of the second conditional: If - clause Main clause Past simple tense Would + bare infinitive Past simple tense is the most common tense used in if-clause not to indicate the past time, but that the situation is unreal In the main clause, modal verb “would” with the contraction... learn about the other ways to form a conditional and their uses 4 To carry out a survey in order that the students use of conditionals is investigated, the errors will be found, and then suggested solutions to the problems will be introduced 4 Research scope There is no doubt that conditional sentences are a large grammatical category In general, conditionals are known as sentences containing conjunction ... conditionals Errors in the use of verb tenses in conditionals Errors in the use of positives and negatives in conditionals Errors in the use of conjunctions in conditionals Errors in the use of inversion... account for the errors made by the students in grade 11 at Co Loa High School: Errors in the use of conditional types 52 38% Errors in the use of punctuation (commas) in conditionals 26 11% Errors. .. Errors in the use of verb tenses in conditionals 34 13% Errors in the use of positives and negatives in conditionals 29 52% Errors in the use of conjunction in conditionals 44 59% Errors in the use