(Luận văn thạc sĩ) common mistakes in english negative patterns the case of students at academy of public administration

iii ABSTRACT In an attempt to improve APA students’ knowledge of English, the thesis is carried out with 97 students to find out their common mistakes in using the English negative patterns The English negative patterns are chosen in the study divided into four groups: no group, neither…nor, little & few and semi – negative adverbs The data collected through questionnaires and students’ test help to confirm the assumptions that the lack of knowledge of negative patterns really exists The major research methods are qualitative and quantitative methods Questionnaires are used to get their attitudes towards their understanding of negative patterns as well as their difficulties in using them and causes The students’ test is designed to investigate students’ knowledge and evoke their typical mistakes in using the English negative patterns The results of the study reveal that APA learners have certain difficulties in using those negative patterns such as confusing the negative words with other, wrongly translating Vietnamese negative sentences into English negative sentences, etc The main causes of these mistakes are mother tongue inference and overgeneralization Finally, some suggestions and recommendations are given for APA teachers and learners of English to make their teaching and learning of English negative patterns really effective iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES & CHARTS .vii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Overview of theories of mistake in English language learning 1.1.1 Notion of mistake 1.1.2 Distinction of error and mistake 1.2 Learners’ common mistakes in English negative patterns 1.2.1 English negative patterns 1.2.1.1 Negative patterns with NO- 1.2.1.2 Negative patterns with NEITHER/ NOR 1.2.1.3 Negative patterns with LITTLE & FEW 1.2.1.4 Semi – negative adverbs 1.2.2 Common mistakes in English negative patterns 10 1.2.2.1 Problems related to negative patterns using NO- 10 1.2.2.2 Problems related to negative patterns with NEITHER/NOR 11 1.2.2.3 Problems related to negative patterns with LITTLE & FEW 12 1.2.2.4 Problems related to negative patterns with semi – negative adverbs 12 1.3 Causes of mistakes in English negative patterns 13 1.4 Summary 14 v CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15 2.1 Research setting 15 2.2 Subjects 15 2.3 Data collection instruments 16 2.3.1 Questionnaires 16 2.3.2 Students’ test 16 2.4 Procedure 17 2.5 Summary 17 CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 18 3.1 Results collected from questionnaires 18 3.2 Results collected from exercises 22 3.2.1 Mistakes in using ‘neither, either, no one, none, nothing, nobody, no, nowhere’ 22 3.2.2 Mistakes in confusion of using ‘little, a little, few, a few’ 26 3.2.3 Mistakes in wrong uses of positions of semi – negative adverbs 27 3.2.4 Mistakes in translating negative expressions 29 3.3 Summary 31 PART III: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 32 Recommendations 32 1.1 Suggestions for lesson preparation 32 1.2 Suggestions for presentation 33 1.3 Focused practices 35 1.4 Feedback correction 35 Limitations of the study 35 Conclusion 36 REFERENCES 37 APPENDICIES I Appendix I Appendix .IV Appendix VIII Appendix XII vi LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS A: Adverb Adj: Adjective APA: Academy of Public Administration Art: Article Aux: Auxiliary Co: Complement Count: Countable Deter: Determiner TESL: Teachers of English as a second language N: Noun NP: Noun phrase O: Object Pre: Preposition Pro: Pronoun S: Subject Ss: Students Uncount: Uncountable V: Verb vii LIST OF TABLES & CHARTS Table 1: Negative patterns with no- Table 2: Negative patterns with neither/nor Table 3: Negative patterns with little & few Table 4: Negative patterns with semi – negative adverbs Table 5: Rate of frequencies and confusion of using negative words 19 Table 6: The correct wrong choice & the wrong choice of exercise 24 Table 7: The rate of choice of little,a little, few, a few 26 Table 8: Positions of semi – negative adverbs in sentences 28 Table 9: Negative ideas - their English equivalents made by APA students 30 Chart 1: Students’ recognition of negative words … 18 Chart 2: Numbers of students giving correct answers to exercise 23 Chart 3: Correct & incorrect answers in choosing verbs agreed with subjects as neither & negative words of no group 25 PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale ‘Most of people agree that making mistakes is part of learning Most of people also agree that correction is part of teaching (Edge, J., 1:1989) Finding mistakes is an interesting issue which draws much attention of researchers as well as teachers In the field of teaching English as foreign language, Richards is famous for Error analysis (1974), Norrish (1983) is well – known by Language Learners ad their Errors and Corder (1974) is popular with the significance of learners’ errors As a matter of fact, mistakes appear daily in classrooms Working as a teacher of English as a foreign language (TESL), the writer of this study has no doubt about the phenomenon Recently, there has been increasing realization of the mistakes concerning negative patterns in English language classrooms at the Academy of Public Administration (APA) The variety of English negative patterns makes the students confused They seem to be familiar only with the negative patterns with not Except for the popular negative patterns, these students hardly use other negative patterns correctly Some students even not know whether little or a little refers to a negative meaning This leads to their mistakes whenever they express negative ideas With ambition to help students to eliminate their mistakes in the most practical way, the study has investigated common mistakes in English negative patterns, specifically the negative patterns without not Following is the topic of the researcher’s M.A thesis: Common mistakes in English Negative Patterns: The case of Students at Academy of Public Administration It is hoped that the study will make some contributions to improve the level of teaching and learning process of APA students and teachers Aims of the study The study is conducted in order to: - find out common mistakes concerning negative patterns without not made by APA students; - figure out causes of these mistakes; - make suggestions to reduce the students’ mistakes Research questions These above aims of the study bring us to three major questions: - What are common mistakes in English negative patterns without not made by APA students? - What are the causes of these mistakes? - What should be done to reduce and eliminate these mistakes? Scope of the study Students at different levels face with different difficulties in leaning English Hence, mistakes made in the learning process are also various This study has investigated types of mistakes concerning negative patterns derived from writing practice tests made by pre intermediate non – major English students at APA In this study, the writer has also presented different kinds of negative patterns without not, including No- group, neither, little and few, and semi – negative adverbs (Nguyen, Q., 1998: 77) (hardly, scarcely, rarely, etc.) and mainly focuses on analyzing mistakes within those negative patterns Mistakes of other negative patterns are hoped to be investigated in further studies Methods of the study To achieve its objectives, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed as the main research methods Qualitatively, the writer synthesizes theories concerning notions of mistakes, popular structures of negative patterns, common mistakes of negative patterns, and mistake treatment After that, the writer bases on the theory background to investigate typical mistakes of negative patterns made by APA students and relevant causes Quantitatively, the writer collects data through questionnaires and students’ paper tests In addition, such methods as descriptive, analytic, comparative and contrastive are also utilized to describe and analyze, to compare and contrast the database so as to bring out persuasive findings of the study Significance of the study The study is expected to bring benefits to teaching and learning English at APA In details, this study desires to figure out common mistakes relating to typical negative patterns without not made by non – major English students at APA and causes of these mistakes From this investigation, the teachers and learners could have a deep insight into the problems they have been faced with and draw out solutions for their better language teaching and learning In terms of material design, the study suggests useful information which is more practical and effective to their learning and teaching environment at APA Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: Part I – Introduction - provides the rationale, the aims and research questions of the study; it also specifies the scope and the general structure of the study; Part II – Development - consists of two chapters: Chapter - Literature Review - presents the theoretical background related to the topic; Chapter - The study – includes the research setting, subjects of the study, data collection instruments, procedure, analysis of the data and the results; Part III – Conclusion - summarizes major findings of the investigation and provides implications and suggestions for further study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents theoretical background related to notions of mistake, common English negative patterns and second language learner’s typical mistakes in using them It also summaries possible causes of the mistakes 1.1 Overview of theories of mistake in English language learning 1.1.1 Notion of mistake When we use the word mistake in general sense, we all know what it means In teaching and learning language, mistakes appear every day in classroom When a teacher says to a student that his writing is full of mistakes, it seems to be easy to understand the meaning of the word mistake in this situation However, if we look at it carefully, we can see that the word mistake owns various meanings and there are many different views of its notion Hence, firstly, the paper would like to review some typical notions of mistake From the views of language teachers, Norrish (1983:1) explains that a mistake is an unwanted problem and a sign of failure to students due to lack of paying attention or listening properly Mistakes may be caused by teachers themselves because they not give their presentation clearly or not allow their students enough time to practice what they have been taught Oxford dictionary (2008: 282) defines ‘a mistake as a wrong action, idea, or opinion’ According to Collin English dictionary (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mistake), ‘a mistake is an error or blunder in action, opinion, or judgment, or misconception or misunderstanding’ In Wikipedia dictionary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error), ‘mistake is an error’ In general, mistake refers to a wrong performance in action From the point of teaching methodology, the writer defines notion of mistake as any incorrect results appearing when students practice exercises or tasks 1.1.2 Distinction of error and mistake In spite the fact that many dictionaries claim that mistake is synonymous with error, arguments concerning the distinction between mistake and error have emerged among researchers Liski and Puntanen (1983:227) argue that an error occurs ‘where the speaker fails to follow the pattern or manner of speech of educated people in English speaking countries today’ Another idea of definition of error is discussed by Lennon (1991:182) that an error is ‘a linguistic form or combination of forms which in the same context would in all likelihood not be produced by the learner’s native speaker counterpart’ This view is the same as James’ opinion (1998:1) that defines an error as an unsuccessful bit of language In terms of comparison, according to Corder (1967: 166), a mistake is regarded as an error of performance meanwhile an error is applied to systematic deviation We can rebuild learners’ acquisition of the language when he makes an error Similar to Coder’s opinion, Norrish (1983: - 8) gives a more detail explanation of differences between mistakes and errors When a learner has not been taught the knowledge, he will give an answer which is incorrect in the same way time from time We call this phenomenon an error which is systematic deviation A child using his own language sometimes makes the same error For example, when a learner practices a form of a verb followed by to + verb (V), it is supposed that he has already learnt that need + to V, want + to V, ought + to V However, he has not known about the use of must He creates the form of must + to V on his own He will make the error continuously if no one shows him the correct form The learner will make a mistake if he has learnt the right form of must; however the right form is not always expressed The last kind is lapse A lapse is caused by lack of full attention or memory, etc It is unlike an error or a mistake Both native speakers as well as second language learners could sometimes cause a lapse APA students chosen in this study are all learners of English as a foreign language They are at different levels In Vietnam, each university requires taking some specialized subjects for its entrance examination These specialized subjects are usually divided into four main groups such as: group A including Math, Physics, and Chemistry, group B including Math, Chemistry, Biology, group C including Literature, History, Geography and group D including Math, Literature and English Traditionally, if a student chooses a university requiring taking group A exams, he spends most of his time on those subjects and just studies other subjects only to pass his final tests This leads to the case that normally a student who is good at subjects of group A is hardly good at other subjects or vice verse The point here is although these students are in the same class at their high school, some knowledge of the subject is well – known to this student but unknown or dim 36 the data had been analyzed by analysis software, the results of the study would have been more precise It is suggested that the above limitations are the challenging questions for any further studies, which will find out more effective methods to overcome these shortcomings Conclusion So far, it is concluded that APA students’ knowledge of negative patterns without not is poor and need to be taken into consideration It has been found from the study that APA students get serious confusion among negative words in no- group This causes them trouble when they have to choose a suitable word for a certain negative expression Little and few seem to be familiar to APA students; however, four – fifth of them couldn’t distinguish which word among little, a little, few, a few carries negative meaning and attributes for countable and uncountable nouns Hardly APA students know about semi – negative adverb such as: rarely, hardly, seldom, etc Then obviously, most of them get failure when they practice exercises including this type of negative pattern Almost of the students own habit of thinking in their mother tongue before translating Vietnamese sentences into English In the aspects of causes, it is believed that there are two factors much affecting on APA performance on the usage of negative patterns, that is, overgeneralization from within the English system itself and mother tongue interference Furthermore, English was not a major subject for entrance examination into universities; or teaching and learning are inadequate; or lectures in classroom are uninteresting, etc which have led to APA student’s poor knowledge of the negative patterns None of students avoid making mistakes during their language learning Finding mistakes and providing corrections could help them acquire language items deeply Therefore, hopefully, the study has shed light on teaching and learning the negative patterns without not at APA Also, suggestions advised by Marianne Celce & Murcia Sharon Hilles (1988: 27), including: lesson preparation, presentation, focused practice, communicative practice, feedback & correction are expected to develop an effective teaching and learning procedure of the English negative patterns at APA 37 REFERENCES English works Alexander, L.G & Allen, W.S & Close, R.A & O’Neill, R F (1975) English Grammatical Structure Longman publisher; Allen, J.P.B & Corder, S P (Ed.) (1974) Techniques in Applied Linguistics The Endinburgh Course in Applied Linguistics - Volume Oxford University Press; Batko, A (2400) When Bad Grammar Happens to Good People Rosenheim, E (Ed.) Career Press; Bull, V (2011) Learner’s Pocket Dictionary Oxford University Express; Celce, M & Hilles, M S (1988) Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar Oxford University Press; Eastwood, J (2008) Learner’s Pocket Grammar Oxford University Express; Edge, J (1989) Mistakes and Correction Longman publication; Fitikedes, T.J (1936) Common Mistakes in English Longman Publisher; Jacoborits, L.A (1969) A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Second Language Learning and Bilingualism Illinois; 10 James, C (1998) Errors in Language Learning and Use Addision Wesley Longman Ltd; 11 Lado, R (1957) Linguistics Across Cultures University of Michigan Press; 12 Lennon, P (1991) Errors: Some Problems of Definition, Identification and Distinction Applied Linguistics, Vol.12, No Oxford University Press; 13 Liski, E & Puntanen, S (1983) A Study of the Statistical Foundations of Group Conversation Tests in Spoken English Language learning 23/2; 14 Norrish, J (1983) Language Learners and Their Errors Modern English Publications; 15 Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S & Leech, G and Svartvik, J (1972) A Grammar of Contemporary English Longman publisher; 16 Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S & Leech, G and Svartvik, J (1973) A Grammar of Contemporary English Longman publisher; 17 Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S & Leech, G and Svartvik, J (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of English Language Longman publisher; 38 18 Richards, J.C (Ed.) (1974) Error Analysis Perspectives on Second language Acquisition Longman publisher; 19 Thornbury, S (2003) How to Teach Grammar Bluestones Press, Charlbury, Oxfordshire: UK; 20 Thornbury, S (2004) Natural Grammar Oxford publisher; 21 Turton, N (1995) ABC of Common Grammatical Errors Macmillan Heinemann English Language teaching, Macmillan publisher limited; Vietnamese works: 22 Mai Lan Huong & Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam (2010) Trắc Nghiệm Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Anh – Lý Thuyết & Bài Tập Nhà Xuất Bản Đà Nẵng; 23 Murphy, R (1999) English Grammar in Use Phạm Đăng Bình (Ed.) Nhà Xuất Bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội; 24 Nguyễn Quang (1998) The Negative Sentence in English and Vietnamese – A Contrastive Analysis MA Thesis Vietnam National University – Hanoi University of Foreign Language; 25 Nguyễn Xuân Tùng (2003) Ngữ Pháp – Lỗi Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Anh Nhà Xuất Bản Trẻ; 26 Trần Văn Phước (2000) Phân Tích Đối Chiếu Câu Phủ Định Tiếng Anh Tiếng Việt Trên Bình Diện Cấu Trúc Ngữ Nghĩa Luận Án Tiến Sĩ Ngữ Văn Đại Học Khoa Học Xã Hội Nhân Văn; Websites: 27 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error Retrieved Tuesday, 5: 40 PM, December 22, 2010; 28 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mistake Retrieved Tuesday, 6: 23 PM., December 22, 2010; 29 http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramex20.html/ Retrieved Monday, 9:54:00 PM, June 14, 2011; 30 https://sites.google.com/site/tuduytienbo/home/tips/no -not -none/ Retrieved Monday, 9:40 PM, June 14, 2011 I APPENDICIES Appendix PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA Tôi học viên Khoa Sau Đại Học Trường Đại Học Ngoại Ngữ - Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội Tôi thiết kế phiếu điều tra nhằm mục đích thu thập số liệu cần thiết cho luận văn tốt nghiệp Rất mong anh (chị) giúp đỡ trả lời câu hỏi phiếu điều tra Xin chân thành cảm ơn Hãy đánh dấu (√) vào trước kiện anh (chị) lựa chọn: Anh chị học mẫu phủ định đây? None Little Scarcely Neither Few Rarely Seldom Anh (chị) thường xuyên sử dụng mẫu phủ định nào? None Little Scarcely Neither Few Rarely Seldom Mẫu phủ định dễ gây nhầm lẫn cho anh (chị) trình sử dụng? None Little Scarcely Neither Few Rarely Seldom Theo anh (chị), nguyên nhân sau gây khó khăn cho anh (chị) q trình học sử dụng mẫu phủ định? Tại sao? (ghi chi tiết nguyên nhân cụ thể) a không ý trình học: …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………… II b chưa học …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………… c sử dụng nên quên …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………… d nguyên nhân khác: …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… III Khi phải viết câu phủ đinh tiếng Anh, anh (chị) thường nghĩ trực tiếp tiếng Anh hay nghĩ tiếng Việt dịch tiếng Anh? a trực tiếp tiếng Anh b tiếng Việt trước Để tránh nhầm lẫn trình sử dụng mẫu phủ định, anh (chị) thường dùng biện pháp đây? a làm nhiều tập b tham khảo thêm kiến thức (từ sách, giáo viên,…) c tránh sử dụng d biện pháp khác (nếu có, ghi cụ thể): …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Theo anh (chị), cách giáo viên giúp anh (chị) nhận dạng sử dụng thành thạo mẫu phủ định? …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Xin chân thành cảm ơn! Hết - IV Appendix STUDENTS’ TEST (60 minutes) Exercise 1: A Complete these sentences with no, none,no one, nobody, nothing, nowhere, neither, nor, neither … nor… ‘Where did you go for your holiday?’ ‘……………I stayed at home’ I couldn’t make an omelet because I had ………… eggs When the boat started to sink, we were really frightened because …… of us could swim The town was still the same when I returned years later ……… had changed ………………intelligent person could such a stupid thing There was complete silence in the room …………… said anything ‘Is today the 18th or the 19th?’ ‘ ……… It’s the 20th.’ ‘How many cinemas are there in this town?’ ‘………… The last one closed six months ago.’ ‘What did you have for breakfast?’ ‘……………… I don’t usually have anything for breakfast.’ 10 ………………of my parents is English My father is Polish and my mother is (Murphy, R., 1999: 272) B Choose the correct form of the verbs in the following sentences: There were three students in the class but no one (was/ were) friendly None of these people I met (was/ were) English Nothing (has changed/ have changed) since I left Neither he nor she (works/ work) for foreigner companies Nobody (is/ are) trying for the coming examination (Murphy, R., 1999: 279) V Exercise 2: Complete these sentences with little, a little, few, a few: We didn’t have any money but Tom had …………… Nora’s father died ………… years ago ‘Would you like some more cake?’ ‘Yes, please, but only ……… ’ This town isn’t very well – known and there isn’t much to set So ………… tourists come here I don’t think Jill would be a good teacher She’s got …… patience with children This is not the first time the car has broken down It has happened…………….times before The cinema was almost empty There were very…………….people there There is a shortage of water because there has been very ………….rain recently (Murphy, R., 1999: 283) Exercise 3: Put the given negative adverbs in appropriate positions: I have seen a worse piece of work (rarely) I have seen you properly dressed (hardly ever) I’ve met a more ill – mannered man (seldom) I had to tell him twice (scarcely ever) He’ll have to leave you again (never) Do we receive such generous praise (seldom) There is an opportunity for us to serve the community in this way (rarely) Have we heard a more distinguish performance (never) (Nguyễn, Q., 1998: 163) VI Exercise 4: Translate into English using negative following patterns: no, none, no one, nobody, nothing, nowhere, neither, nor, neither … nor…, few, little, hardly, scarcely, etc (without using negative patterns with ‘not’) Example: Chẳng sống lâu  nobody could live here for long time Chẳng thỏ sống Khơng biết tơi Dường khơng có quan trọng Cô ta đọc tiểu thuyết Anh ta chưa có ác mộng kinh khủng đến Mỗi ngày mua sắm nàng tiêu tiền Ít người quan tâm đến nhạc Pop Không số hai người họ hiểu (Trần, V P., 2000) VII Key of Exercise A nowhere no one/ nobody no neither neither none nothing nothing no 10 neither B was works were is has Key of Exercise 2: little little a few a few a little few few little Key of Exercise None of the rabbits survived Nobody knew me Nothing seems so important She seldom reads novels Scarcely ever has he had such a terrible nightmare Everyday, when she went shopping, she spent very little money Few people were interested in Pop music Neither of them understands me VIII Appendix Typical exercises In order to help APA students overcome difficulties in using the negative patterns without not, the researcher would like to introduce some typical exercises as follow: Type 1: Fill in the gaps using: no, none, no one, nothing, nowhere, nobody: She speaks very good English and she's fool I got sleep last night Two is company but three is It occurs to me that ordinary man would be able to speak Chinese so perfectly You don't get something for This is of your business It's got to with politics Something is better than You didn't know about the test told me 10 I know is able to recover as fast as you (http://www.tolearnenglish.com/cgi2/myexam/voir2r.php?id=17242 (6/14/2011 9:45:24 P.M) Type 2: Choose an acceptable verb form, giving two answers if necessary: None but the brave (deserve/ deservers) the fair Neither John nor Mary (have/ has) replied my letter I wrote both to Kohn and Mary Neither (have/ has) replied No tourists (come/ comes) here There (were/ was) no letters for you this morning None of my friends (live/ lives) here (Nguyễn, Q., 1998:167) IX Type 3: Choose the best answers: There was ……….food in the fridge It was nearly empty (little/ a little) ‘When did Sarah go out?’ ‘…………minutes ago.’ ( few/ a few) I can’t decide now I need ……… time to think about it (little/ a little) There was ………traffic, so we arrived earlier than we expected (little/ a little) The bus service isn’t very good at night – there are ……buses after o’clock (few/ a few) ‘Would you like some soup?’ ‘Yes, ……………, please.’ (little/ a little) I’d like to practice my English more but I have opportunity (little/ a little) I have three winter coats, but of them are new (neither, none) There are two umbrellas here, but _ of them is mine (neither, none) 10 He owns twelve cows _ of them are Jerseys (All, Both) 11 She has painted dozens of pictures Have you seen of them? (any, either) 12 Amy and Beth are twins They _ play the guitar (all, both) 13 Two people said ‘Hello’ to me, but I did not recognize of them (any, either) 14 My wife and I _ enjoy classical music (all, both) 15 I found all of the questions difficult Did you answer of them correctly? (any, either) 16 I asked six different people, but of them knew where Walnut Street was (neither, none) 17 My friends and I would like to thank you for your hospitality We _ enjoyed ourselves very much (all, both) 18 There are two public libraries in the city, but of them is located close to where I live (neither, none) 19 Two wrist watches were left here Is _ of them yours? (any, either) 20 He has three nephews of them have graduated from university (All, Both) 21 I have two violins You are welcome to use of them (any, either) 22 My aunt and uncle are _ coming for a visit (all, both) 23 George and Tom like playing chess together, but _ of them likes to lose a X game (neither, none) 24 The bush is covered with blueberries Are of them ripe yet? (any, either) 25 I have read five books on the subject, but of them were very helpful (neither, none) (http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramex20.html/ 6/14/2011 9:54:00 PM) Type 4: Put the given adverbs in appropriate positions: I have seen a worse piece of work (rarely) I have seen you properly dressed (hardly ever) I’ve met a more ill – mannered man (seldom) I had to tell him twice (scarcely ever) He’ll have to leave you again (never) Do we receive such generous praise (seldom) There is an opportunity for us to serve the community in this way (rarely) Have we heard a more distinguish performance (never) (Nguyễn, Q., 1998:163) Type 5: Rewrite these sentences without changing their meanings: We have never heard a more distinguished performance -> Never The hotel wasn’t clean And it wasn’t comfortable -> The hotel was neither I haven’t got time to go on holiday I haven’t got the money -> I’ve got neither We seldom receive such generous praise -> Seldom We were never before asked to make a sacrified of this magnitude XI -> Never George doesn’t smoke And he doesn’t drink -> George neither This nation scarcely ever in the past faced so great a danger -> Scarcely This is rarely an opportunity for us to serve the community in this way -> Rarely (Nguyễn, Q., 1998:165) Type 6: Translate these sentences from Vietnamese into English: Không xe phép vào trung tâm thành phố Tôi cịn tiền tài khoản ngân hàng ‘Bạn nói vậy?’ ‘Đâu có nói gì.’ Chỉ có vài người bạn thân đến thăm tơi nằm viện ‘Bạn đâu?’ ‘Không đâu cả, lại đây.’ Ngôi nhà bỏ trống Khơng có sống Cơ tìm việc làm khơng khó khăn Bố mẹ tơi chẳng cơng chức nhà nước (https://sites.google.com/site/tuduytienbo/home/tips/no -not -none/ 6/14/2011 9:40 PM) XII Appendix Count Number Function Noncount personal Nonpersonal No one pronoun Nothing nobody None None singular pronoun and Neither determiner NEGATIVE Pronoun and little (of) quantifier Pronoun and plural quantifier pronoun Singular and plural Few (of) determiner None No Major indefinite negative pronouns, determiners & quantifiers (Quirk, R., 1985:377-380)) ... specifically the negative patterns without not Following is the topic of the researcher’s M.A thesis: Common mistakes in English Negative Patterns: The case of Students at Academy of Public Administration. .. in finding APA students? ?? common mistakes in using English negative patterns However, limitations are inevitable For one thing, the research has been done on some common negative patterns in English. .. This part of the study focuses mainly on finding typical mistakes made by APA students in using of four following groups of English negative patterns: negative patterns with no, with neither…nor,