Active and passive participial adjectives in English Errors commonly made by students at Lang Son technical & economic secondary school tính từ chủ động có ngu20150227

iii

ABSTrACT




This research aimed to discover common errors made by students in using English
Participial Adjectives. The participants of the study were 100 the first-year students (aged 18-
30). They are from classes K29A1, K29A5, Business Accounting of Lang Son Technical &
Economic Secondary school in the school year 2009 / 2010. The instrumentations used to
collect data in this study are written grammar test and student interview. Numbers and causes
of common errors were identified, calculated, and compared in terms of error types.

The study shows the six most common errors in students’ performance as follows:
Errors in Participial Adjectives formation (29.4%); Errors in the use of -ing and -ed
Participial Adjectives (31.3%); Failure to identify errors in the use Participial Adjectives
(39.5%); Errors in the choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives (47.5%); Errors in
sentence transformation (46.7%); Errors in Vietnamese -English translation: Incorrect
translation (46.9%)
Based on the findings of the study, some possible solutions to students’ errors in using
English Participial Adjectives were worked out. Recommendations for further study are also
included.

iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

E.g.
For example
E.P.Adjs
English Participial Adjectives
P.Adjs
Participial Adjectives
S V C
Subject + Verb + complement
S V O C
Subject + Verb + Object + complement
L1
First language
L2
Second language

v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1
Table 3.2
Table 3.3
Table 3.4
Table 3.5
Table 3.6
Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Figure 3. 3

Figure 3.4:

Figure 3.5

Figure 3.6
Errors in word formation (p.24)
Errors in the use of -ing and -ed P.Adjs. (p.26)
Failure to identify the wrong use of -ing and -ed P.Adjs (p.270
Incorrect choice of -ing and -ed P.Adjs (p.29)
Errors in sentence transformation (p.30)
Errors in Vietnamese -English translation (p.320
Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to
exercise 1 (p.25)
Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answer to
exercise 2 (p.27)
Difference between two groups of students in failing to identify the wrong
use of -ing and -ed P.Adjs in exercise 3 (p.28)
Difference in perceiving and (differentiating -ing P.Adjs from -ed Adjs of
students of group 1 and group 2. (p.31)
Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to
exercise 5 (p.31)
Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to
exercise 6 (p.33)









vi

GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS

Code
The systems (grammar, meaning and sound) of a language.
Error
A systematic deviation from the accepted code.
Global error
An error which affects the meaning of the whole sentence.
Local error

An error which only affects the meaning of the clause in which it is
found.
L1 transfer
Use of what the learner knows about his first language to try and
assist expression in the target language.
Interference
from L1
The effects of ‘habit’ formed in the speaker’s first language acting
upon the target language. (This is the phenomenon of borrowing
and transferring learner’s native language patterns into the target
language).
Target language
The language which the learner is learning.

Over-
generalisation
A failure by the learner to apply restrictions where appropriate to
the application of a rule. (It is learners’ previous mother tongue
experience that is considered as a means of organizing the second
language data.)

L1
First language (usually the mother tongue).
Ignorance of
rule restrictions
The second language learners “fail to observe the restrictions of
existing structures’’.
Intralingual
errors
are those which reflect the general characteristics of rule learning.
Developmental
errors
are those which illustrate the learner’s attempting to build
hypotheses about English language from his limited related
experience.

vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration p.i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
List of abbreviations iv
List of tables and figures v
Glossary of linguistic terms vi
Table of contents vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
2. Aims and objectives of the study
2.1. Aims of the study
2.2. Objectives of the study

3. Scope of the study
4. Significance of the study
5. Organization of the thesis
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature Review
1.1. An investigation into English Participial Adjectives
1.1.1. The formation of the Participial Adjectives
1.1.1.1. The definition of the participles
1.1.1.2. Participial Adjectives
1.1.2 Syntactic functions of Participial Adjectives
1.1.2.1. Attributive
1.1.2.2. Predicative
1.1.3. Semantic features of Participial Adjectives
1.1.3.1. Stative / Dynamic
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2

3
3
3
3
3
3
6

6
7
9
9

viii
1.1.3.2. Gradable
1.1.4. Participial Adjectives in collocation with nouns
1.2. The meaning of Participial Adjectives compared with their Vietnamese equivalents
1.2.1. The meaning of Participial Adjectives rendered into Vietnamese
1.2.2. The choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives in English
1.3. Error and Error Analysis
1.3.1. What is “error”?
1.3.2. What is “error analysis”?
1.3.3. Classification of errors
1.3.4. Possible causes of errors in second language learning
1.3.4.1. Overgeneralization in learning and using E.P.Adjs
1.3.4.2. Developmental errors
1.3.4.3. Teaching - induced errors
1.3.4.4. Language transfer
1.4. Summary
Chapter 2: Research Methodology
2.1. The context of the study
2. Participants and their background
2.3. Research method
2.3.1. Research questions
2.3.2. Instrumentation
2.3.2.1. Test
2.3.2.2. Interview
2.2.4. Data collection procedures

2.2.4.1. Data collection
2.2.4.2. Techniques of analysis
2.3. Summary

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11
13
13
13
14
15
15
15
15
17
17
17
18
18
19

20
20
20
21
21
22
22
22
22

23
23


ix
Chapter 3: The Study
3.1. Some actual errors that students at Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary
school commit when using E.P.Adjs
3.1.1. Errors in Participial Adjectives formation
3.1.2. Errors in the use of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives
3.1.3. Failure to identify errors in the use Participial Adjectives
3.1.4. Errors in the choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives
3.1.5. Errors in sentence transformation
3.1.6. Errors in Vietnamese -English translation
3.2 Findings and Discussion
3.3. Summary
Chapter 4: Possible solutions to the students’ errors in
using English Participial Adjectives
4.1. Possible solutions to the errors commonly made by students at Lang Son Technical
&Economic Secondary school
4.2. Suggestions for teaching and learning Participial Adjectives in English
4.2.1. Suggestions for teaching
4.2.2. Suggestions for learning
4.3. Summary
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusion
2. Recommendations for further research
References
Appendices
Appendix 1: Written grammar test

Appendix 2: Answer key




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25
27
28
30
31
33
35



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36
36
36
38

39
40
41

I
I
IV

1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English are said to be one of the most
important and complicated elements of English. In modern English, many Active and
Passive Participial Adjectives in English come into existence and cause a lot of troubles
for users, especially non-native speakers.
As a teacher of English at Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school in
Lang Son, I found that my students have faced many problems when they learn Active and
Passive Participial Adjectives in English. They often fail to understand the differences
between Active and Passive Participial Adjectives and make errors in using them.
Therefore, the idea of doing something useful for my colleagues and students has urged me
to do the research on “Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English: Errors
commonly made by students at Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school
and some proposed solutions". The study is expected to make a great contribution to
improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Lang Son Technical& Economic
Secondary school.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
2.1. Aims of the study
 To help teachers and students gain an insight into Active and Passive Participial
Adjectives in English.
 To facilitate the teaching of Active and Passive Participial Adjectives to
Vietnamese learners of English.
2.2. Objectives of the study
 To establish the syntactic and semantic features of English Participial Adjectives.
 To identify the students’ common types of error in using English Active and

Passive Participial Adjectives
 To find out the causes of errors committed by Lang Son Technical & Economic
Secondary school students when learning and using Active and Passive Participial
Adjectives in English.
 To work out possible solutions to the problems identified.


2

3. Scope of the study
 Syntactic and semantic features of E.P.Adjs
 Confused to the errors committed by year students at Lang Son Technical&
Economic Secondary school.
 Types of errors made by 100 first- year students at Lang Son Technical&
Economic Secondary school in using Active English Participial Adjectives. Once
problems have been identified, they will be possible to make suggestions for
improvement.
4. Significance of the study
The study will be useful to the author and her colleagues in improving the teaching
quality. The results of the study will help to work out the possible solutions to students’
errors in using English Passive Participial Adjectives.
5. Organization of the study
The study is structured as follows:
Part A: Introduction
This part introduces the rationale, the aims, the objectives, the significance, the
scope and the organization of the thesis.
Part B: Development
This part consists of four chapters:
Chapter 1 provides literature review focusing on the issues related to Participial
Adjectives in English, error and error analysis in second language learning.

Chapter 2 presents the methodology applied in this work. It also includes an
overview of the context of the study.
Chapter 3 discusses the findings of the study based on the test and interview results.
Chapter 4 offers possible solutions to errors commonly made by students at Lang
Son Technical &Economic Secondary school. Some suggestions for teaching and learning
Participial Adjectives in English are also provided.
Part C: Conclusion
1. Conclusion
2. Recommendation for further research


3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature Review
The following issues are to be dealt with in this chapter:
- The formation of the Participial Adjectives
- Syntactic functions of Participial Adjectives
- Semantic features of Participial Adjectives
- The meaning of Participial Adjectives compared with their Vietnamese equivalents.
- Error and Error Analysis
- Classification of errors
- Possible causes of error in second language learning
1.1. An investigation into English Participial Adjectives
1.1.1. The formation of the Participial Adjectives
1.1.1.1. The definition of the participles
Participle may be defined differently. According to Mc Graw-Hill, "A participle is a
verbal that functions as an adjective. English has two types of participles: the present
participle and the past participle. Participles can be combined with the auxiliary verbs
have and be to form the perfect aspect, the progressive aspect, and the passive voice. The

tense is always expressed through the auxiliary verb.
Glencoe /McGraw-Hill (1976. Grammar and Language Workbook, p. 10)
According to Quirk and others, the present participle is formed by adding -ing to a
verb base. It functions as an adjective (eg -surprising views, the offended man) ; it is used
with BE to form the progressive (eg - He is playing football) ; it occurs in constructions
such as Let's go fishing.
The past participle is formed by adding -ed to a verb base; exceptions are the -en
suffix (drink- drunk; grew- grown) and some irregular verbs (eg. send- sent). It is used as
an adjective (a grown boy); it is used with BE to form the passive (eg. The man was
offended by the policeman); and it is also used to form the PERFECT ASPECT
(eg. I have worked lately)
Randolph Quirk (1987. A University Grammar of English, p.140, 141)




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1.1.1.2. Participial Adjectives
According to Quirk, both -ing and -ed participle form can be used as participial
adjectives. Most of these such as promising, surprised, and determined can serve as main
verb as well as predicative and attributive adjectives. In most cases, then, participial
adjectives can be analyzed as being derived from verbs (eg, following, working, alleged,
frightened). In some case, though, nouns rather than verb provide a more convincing base
form, as with interested or and crowded.
In other instances, as with uninteresting or unemployed, a negatives prefix attaches
to the derived participial adjectives (interesting, employed) rather than directly to the verb.
In still other, the correspondence with a verb or adjective is more indirect, as with
outstanding, ashamed or disabled.
Adjectives with -ed or -ing endings are known as Participle Adjectives (P.Adjs for

short) Apart form the simple form -ing or -ed, E.P.Adjs are also found in combining with
another element to make up a compound.
Quirk, R. et al (1985: 1567) in "A comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language" state that "A compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base".
Participial Adjectives are presented syntactically in co-ocurrence with some other
elements such as a noun, and an adjective or an adverbial prefix. Their syntactic
relationships with P.Adjs can be formulated as:
- Adverb + ed- participle as in carefully- homed, well- timed
- Adverb + ing -participle as in free- spending, rapidly- growing
- Adjective + ed -participle as in ready- made, white- washed
- Noun + ed participle as in classroom- based, church- owned
- Noun + ing participle as in eye- catching, hair- raising
Randolph Quirk (1999. Long Man Grammar of spoken and Written English, p. 274)
breathtaking
fact - finding
heart -breaking
record -breaking
self - defeating
life - giving
self - justifying


They also divide compound P.Adjs into two distinct types follows: Type "verb and
Object" and Type " Verb and adverbial"
We shall consider the -ing and -ed participles in these two types.
* -ing participle in compounds: (active meaning)


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[A] Type "Verb and Object" ( obvious active meaning )
Man-eating: object + -ing participle (It means " X eats men").
For example:
self-justifying
energy-saving
breathtaking
faultfinding
record-breaking
confidence-boosting
life-giving
fact-finding
heart-breaking
self-defeating
life-prolonging
peace-keeping
In mouth -watering, there is a causative relation: "X makes the mouth water".
In informal American English we have such a compound used to pre-modify an
adjective in finger -licking good.
[B] Type "Verb and adverbial" (proto-active meaning)
a) Ocean -going: Adverbial + -ing participle (It mean "X goes across oceans).
These are in fact non-active in proper analysis. For example:
fist-fighting
law-abiding
lip-sucking
* -ed participle in compounds (passive meaning)
- ed participles do not appear in the type "Verb and object". They appear in the type
"Verb and adverbial", which may be sub- classified as follows:
b) Heartfelt; adverbial + -ed participle (It means "X feels it in the heart") The type
is particularly productive when the noun has agential meaning and consists of self: (X
styles oneself)

Self-styled, self- appointed, self- employed, self taught (but a self -addressed
envelope is one that is addressed to oneself). For example:
handmade
suntanned
weather-beaten
airborne
home-brewed
typewritten
cost-led
home-made
thunder-struck
custom-built
language-retarded
town-bred
c) hard-working: adverb/ adjective + ing participle ( It means 'X work hard', 'X
look good') For example:
easy- going
high-sounding
everlasting
sweet-smelling
far-reaching
well-meaning
good-looking
d) Quick-frozen: adjective / adverb + -ed participle (It means "X was frozen
quickly").
For example:


6

dry -cleaned
long -awaited
new-laid
wide-spread
far-fetched
true-born
fresh-baked
well-meant
Randolph Quirk (1985.Comprehensive Grammar of the English language, p.1576,
1577)
1.1.2. Syntactic functions of Participial Adjectives
- Like adjectives, P. Adjs tend to appear in two major syntactic functions in clauses:
attributive and predicative.
1.1.2.1. Attributive
- Attributively, P.Adj may be divided into subtypes: Pre attributive and post
attributive. In pre attributive position, a P.Adj precedes a noun as a nominal group with
obvious active- passive contrast:
* P.Adj + Noun
Eg.
Active: Boiling water turns to steam. (= water which is boiling)
The team was welcomed by cheering crowds.
Passive: I had a reserved seat. (= a seat which had been reserved)
The experiment must be done under controlled conditions.
The terrorists used a stolen car.
- This pattern is often neater than using a finite clause such as when water boils, it
turns to steam, or The terrorists used a car they had stolen. The participle modifies the
noun, like an adjective. Compare hot water, enthusiastic crowds, a special seat.
- In post attributive position, a P.Adj. follows a noun as a modifier in a nominal
group.
* Noun + P.Adj

Eg. He got the watch repaired
I watched the match because I knew some of the people playing.
He found the watch stolen
The man writing on the board when I came in
- According to Quirk.R et al (1985) "Adjectives can sometimes follow the noun or
pronoun they modify. A post- posed adjectives (together with any complementation it may
have) can usually be regarded as a reduced relative clause"
Eg. He got the watch repaired. (He ordered that the watch should be repaired).


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I watched the match because I knew some of the people playing.
(I watched the match because I knew some of the people who were playing).
He found the watch stolen. (He found that the watch was stolen)
The man writing on the board when I came in
(The man who was writing on the board when I came in)
Randolph Quirk (1987. A University Grammar of English, p. 396)
1.1.2.2. Predicative
According to Randolph Quirk (1999. Grammar of spoken and Written English, p.
274) "Predicative Adjectives have two syntactic roles: subject predicative and object
predicative. Subject predicative complements a copular verb such as: seem, become, feel,
look, etc characterizing the nominal expression in the subject position". There is co-
reference between subject& subject complement, the two being in an intensive relation
ship (SVC), characterizing the subject. The predicative can be the subject complement to a
noun, a noun phrase or a clause.
Eg. I don't think your joke was amusing.
The new song is interesting.
My parents were surprised.
Object predicative follow a direct object, making a predication about that noun

phrase. There is co- reference between direct object and object complement, the two being
in an intensive relationship (SVOC).
Eg. He saw the watch stolen (He saw that the watch was being stolen)
Predicative adjectives can be object complement to clauses
Eg. I found what he told me interesting.
The Predicative adjectives are used after the copular verbs, we may have difficulty in
distinguishing between adjectival and verbal uses of the Predicative adjectives. The
following criteria show the distinction between adjectival and verbal uses of the
Predicative adjectives.
The first criterion for this distinction is the presence of a direct objects after
Predicative adjectives (ing form) hence the so-called active participial adjective. Let's look
at figure 1.1



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Adjectival
Verbal
This film is terrifying
This film is terrifying the children
Your comments are alarming
Your comments are alarming the people
Figure 1.1 The criterion for this distinction is the presence of a direct objects after
P.Adjs (ing form)
The second criterion for this distinction is the presence of a by -agent phrase after
the -ed form, which indicates that the -ed form is verbal. Conversely, the presence of
adjectival complement, such as a that - clause or a nonfinite clause or prepositional phrase
indicates that it is adjectival, which is shown in figure 1.2.
Adjectival

verbal
I was embarrassed
I was very embarrassed
I was embarrassed by your behaviour
I was very embarrassed by your behaviour
She was surprised
She was surprised by my reaction
She was frightened that I'd be late

She was frightened of losing power

Figure 1.2: The criterion for this distinction is the presence of a by -agent phrase
after the -ed form,
Another criterion for distinction between the adjectival & verbal uses of the -ing
form is the use of the intensifier "very" before it. Let's have a look at figure 1.3.
Adjectival
Verbal
She was very charming
She is charming a man next door
the fact that "charming" takes " very" as
modifier is strong evidence for analyzing it
as adjective
"charming" is followed by a direct object;
therefore, it is evidently more verbal; it is
not gradable and can not function as
predicative complement. The inability to
supply " very" in this case indicates a verbal
construction showing the transivity of the
verb

Figure 1.3 The use of the intensifier "very" before -ing P.Adjs


9

This criterion can hardly be applied to the -ed form, since "very" can sometimes be
supplied in both the adjectival and verbal constructions as in the following figure:
Adjectival
Verbal
I was very embarrassed

I was very embarrassed by your behaviour
She was very surprised
She was very surprised by my reaction

Figure 1.4 The use of the intensifier " very before -ed P.Adj
1.1.3. Semantic features of Participial Adjectives
According to Quirk (1987. A University Grammar of English, p.124) "adjectives are
characteristically stative. Many adjectives, however, can be seen as dynamic". Most of
these adjectives are gradable. We shall deal with these features of P.Adjs in turn.
1.1.3.1. Stative/ Dynamic
Basing on the meaning of the verb base, we see that P.Adjs are divided into two
groups: P.Adjs of state & P.Adjs of action.
P.Adjs of state refer to P.Adjs which derive from some stative verbs expressing
emotions or feelings like disappointing, disappointed, interested, amusing, amused,
terrfying, terrified The P.Adjs of state are both active and passive. Usually -ing P.Adjs
convey active meaning and -ed P.Adjs convey passive meaning.
Eg. What thrilling news this is! Congratulations!
We were thrilled to hear your good news.
After traveling all day and night they were very tired.

She has a tiring job. She has a tired sound to her voice.
P.Adjs of action refer to P.Adjs which derive from some dynamic verbs expressing
activity and process like damaging, damaged, stolen, fallen, broken, running
Some of the P.Adjs of action are both active and passive while others are either
active or passive.
Eg.
- A broken heart (passive meaning): (a heart that has been broken)
- ( furnishing: non occurring)
- falling leaves (active meaning)
- (ran: non occurring)


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- a damaging earthquake (active meaning): an earth quake which damages
something.
- a damaged building (passive meaning): a building which is damaged by an
earhquake.
- P.Adjs of action sometimes denote a completed action of the noun referent as in:
- the escaped prisoner (‘the prisoner who has escaped’)
- a grown boy (‘ a boy who has grown (up)’)
- the retired manager ( the manager who has retired)
- the faded curtains (the curtains which have faded)
1.1.3.2. Gradable
Because participial adjectives contain the nature of adjectives or adverbs, some of
them, especially for those that are apt to develop into adjectives, have the characters of
gradability. Like common adjectives or adverbs, some –ing or ed participles have three
degrees of comparison: positive/absolute degree, comparative degree and superlative
degree. The positive/absolute degree is just the base form of –ing or- ed participle.
Generally speaking, -ing or-ed participle has two or more than two syllables, their

comparative and superlative degrees are regular by adding more and most in front of –ing
or ed participle, and the superlative degree should be with definite article the, e.g.
more interesting most exiciting
more interested most excited
According to Michael Swan: “When a past participle is used as a gradable
adjective, it can usually be modified by very. This is common with words referring to
mental states, feelings and reactions”
Eg: a very frightened animal
A very shocked expression
The children were very bored
She looked very surprised
Common exceptions:
That’s Alice, unless I’m (very) much mistaken
When a past participle is part of a passive verb, much or very much is normal.
He’s very much admired by his students
Britain’s trade position has been (very) much weakened by inflation.


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Micheal Swan (1995. Practical English Usage, p. 405)
- Certain P.Adjs - which modify a referent noun can focus on the process as a
temporary, non- intrinsic feature of the referent, and not as an intrinsic or permanent
quality: In this case these P.Adjs can not be modified by adverbs of degree.
- an approaching storm ( not a very approaching storm)
- a dying custom ( not an extremely dying custom)
- a setting sun ( not a slightly setting sun)
- The other group of -ing participles is used to describe a process or state that
continues over a period of time,
- windling herds of humpback whales

- life of increasing labor and decreasing leisure
- Oil and gas drillers are doing a booming business.
- P.Adjs can be modified by adverbs referring to the speed or extend of the process.
Eg. - the slowly setting sun - a fast approaching storm
- a horribly injured man - a perfectly planned journey
- a fully furnished flat - a well polished table
1.1.4. Participial Adjectives in collocation with nouns
* Active and passive meaning
- The head nouns in nominal group which are in collocation with P.Adjs play an
important part in the distinction between active and passive meaning of the P.Adjs. Let's
consider the following examples:
The boring professor put the students to sleep.
The boring lecture put the students to sleep.
The bored students went to sleep during the boring lecture.
- In "boring professor" the relationship between "boring" and the noun "professor"
can be interpreted as something like a "professor who bores students". Or "boring lecture"
can be interpreted as something like a lecture which bores students.
- The -ing P.Adjs of state is used to describe someone or something that cause a
feeling or reaction and the head noun is the doer or causes of action.
- In "bored students" the relationship between "bored" and "students" can be
interpreted as something like "students who are bored by the professor or by the lecture".


12

- When the –ed P.Adjs of state is used to describe someone or something who
experience a feeling or reaction, the head noun is affected by the action.
- This distinction can also be applied to the P.Adjs of progress. Take the following as
examples.
- A damaging earthquake occurred recently. People are still in the process of

repairing the many damaged building and streets.
("a damaging earthquake can be interpreted as "an earthquake which causes
damaged by something like and earthquake).
* Being-completed vs completed
- P.Adjs of action with -ed or -ing form can bear the distinction interpreted as being
completed versus completed thus corresponding to the progress and perfect tenses. Take
the following as examples.
- a developed country ( a country which has already developed)
- the retired manager ( the manager who has retired)
- a developing country (a country which is developing its economy)
- a burning house (a house that is on fire)
- in some cases basing on the "permanent" characteristic in attributive positions,
some P.Adj cannot collocation with nouns after them.
The explanation to this case is given by Quirk & Greenbaum (1972; 908, 909) in "
Grammar of Comtemporay English".
Eg. The man was very shocked.
The man was very surprised.
"The man himself can not shock or surprise attributed permanently to him, but a
particular look can, of course, be permanently associated with such a value. So too we may
speak of a smiling face rather than of a smiling person. It is thus necessary to realize that
we are not here concerned with particular participial so much as with their contextual
meaning. A wandering minstrel is one habitually given to wandering, but if we saw a man
wandering down the street, we could not say:
“Who is the wandering man?"
Again, someone who told good stories could be a (very) entertaining person but one
could not say this of someone who happened, at the moment of speaking, to be
entertaining his friends with a good story.


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1.2. The meaning of Participial Adjectives compared with their Vietnamese
equivalents
The focus of this part is to present the comparison between the meaning expressed
by P.Adjs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents.
1.2.1. The meaning of Participial Adjectives rendered into Vietnamese
Vietnamese adjectives which express the quality of things may be: hay, thú vị, buồn
tẻ, đáng ngac nhiên, thất vọng These adjectives may be applied when we are talking about
someone's feeling.
For example:
- Everybody was surprised that he passed the examination
- (Mọi người rất ngạc nhiên về việc nó thi đỗ)
- It was quite surprising that he passed the examination
- (Nó thi đỗ là một điêu đáng ngạc nhiên)
- I was disappointed with the film. I expected it to be much better
-( Tôi thất vọng về cuốn phim. Tôi nghĩ nó hay hơn nhiều)
- The film was disappointing. I expected it to be much better
- (Bộ phim thật thất vọng. Tôi nghĩ nó hay hơn nhiều)
The reason why we can use the same form of adjectives to convey the meaning of
the above examples is that in Vietnamese the concept "voice" does not exist. Therefore,
there is almost no distinction between the active meaning and passive meaning of the
adjectives in the Vietnamese language. In contrast, there should be a choice of -ing and -ed
P.Adjs in the English language, which will be presented here under.
1.2.2. The choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives in English
E.P.Adjs which come from some verbs expressing mental state such as excite,
worry, interest, satisfy, frighten etc, may convey the active or passive meaning.
- These P.Adjs are used both in attributive and predicative positions.
+ Used predicatively, these P.Adjs denote a state where an -ing form implies
something active and an -ed form implies something passive.
For example:

It was disappointing not to get the job. I was disappointed not to get the job.
The game was really exciting. The United fans were excited.


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+ Used attributively, such P.Adjs, apart from expressing activeness or passiveness,
may refer to inherent or temporary value of the head noun -ing P.Adjs refer to both
inherent and temporary value of the noun referent meanwhile -ed P.Adjs only refer to
temporary value of the noun referent. Let's look at the following examples:
- The tired bird flew very slowly.
(temporary value)
- One of them tell us an interesting experience with the tiger.
(inherent value)
- The police are looking for the missing boy
(Temporary value)
E.P.Adjs derived from action verbs, both transitive and intransitive express processs
or event. They are more often used in attributive position than in predicative position.
When used as modifiers, P.Adjs of action often denote a subclass of the noun referent, by
indicating a process associated with it, for example:
+ screaming children, falling leaves, the sailing ship, shrinking man, a growing
population, the burning grass.
+ a lost dog , fried eggs, the offended man, fallen leaves, a broken vase, the expected
results.
Take the following examples for more illustration:
- When Jane noticed the burning building, he notified the fire department
immediately.
- There was the laughter and gurgle of falling water in the empty tanks.
Burning and falling, in the above example are from action verbs which denote an
event in progress.

- The -ed form refers to a completed event or a passive process, as in.
Eg: - The police are looking for an escaped prisoner. (a)
- Japan is a developed country. (b)
- He'd like a boiled egg and some milk for breakfast. (c)
- Many injured people are taken to hospital after the crash (d)
- ed P.Adjs in c and d refer to passiveness and those in a and b refer to a completed
action.


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From the above comparison, it seems that Vietnamese learners of English may have
difficulty in learning and using P.Adjs in the two positions: pre attributive and predicative,
therefore, the confusion about the use of -ing and -ed P.Adjs is inevitable. We shall predict
hypothetical errors made by Vietnamese students in learning and using E.P.Adjs in the
next part.
1.3. Error and Error Analysis
1.3.1. What is “error”?
In language teaching literature, various definitions of errors have been presented by
experts. John Norrish in his book (1983. Language Learners and their errors, p.7) calls a
‘systematic deviation’, when a learner has not learnt something and consistently ‘gets it
wrong, an ‘error’.
We, for the purpose of this study, adopt the definition of error by Richards stated in
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. (2002, p. 184)
“…Error (in the speech or writing of a second language learner) is the use of a
linguistic item (e.g. a word, a grammatical item, a speech act, etc.) in a way which a fluent
or native speaker of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning”.
1.3.2. What is ‘error analysis’?
According to Richards, “Error analysis is the study and analysis of the errors made
by second and foreign language learners". Emerged in the 1960s, Error analysis may be

carried out in order to:
a) Identify strategies which learners use in language learning.
b) Try to identify the causes of learners’ errors
c) Obtain information on common difficulties in language learning as an aid to
teaching, or in the preparation of teaching material
d) Jack.C.Richards & Richard Schmidt (2002. Longman Dictionary of language
Teaching and Applied Linguistics, p. 184-185)
1.3.3. Classification of errors
A number of different categories for describing errors have been identified.
According to Corder, S.P (1973. Introducing Applied Linguistics), errors fall into four
categories: Omission of some required element; Addition of some unnecessary or
incorrect element; Selection of an incorrect element; and Misordering of the elements.
Corder also includes the linguistics level of the errors under the sub-areas of morphology,


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syntax, and lexicon. John Brian Heaton divides errors into two main types: Global and
Local errors. According to him: “Those errors which cause only minor trouble and
confusion in a particular clause or sentence without hindering the reader’s
comprehension of the sentence are categorized as Local errors”. “Global errors are
usually those which involve the overall structure of a sentence and result in
misunderstanding or even failure to understand the message which is being conveyed”. J.
B. Heaton (1998. Dictionary of Common Errors, p.154)
Richards, Jack C. (1984. A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis, p.172-188)
distinguishes three major types of errors: Interlingual errors, Intralingual errors and
Developmental errors.
Richards, J.C. (1992. Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics)
defines “Interlingual errors as being the result of language transfer, which is caused by
the learner’s first language”. Interlingual errors may occur at different levels such as

transfer of phonological, morphological, grammatical and lexico-semantic elements of the
native language into the target language.
“Intralingual errors are those which reflect the general characteristics of rule
learning, such as faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules, and failure to
learn conditions under which rules apply”.
“Developmental errors illustrate the learners’ attempt to build up concepts and
hypotheses about the target language from their limited experience of it in the classroom
or textbook”. Richards, J.C. (1974. “A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis”, p.
174-175)
In this study, the researcher would like to adopt the Richards’ error classification
theory to predict and analyze students’ errors in using English Participial Adjectives
because sufficient types of error and causes of error were much taken into account in his
theory.
 Distinction between ‘error’ and ‘mistake’
According to Richards, a learner makes a mistake when writing or speaking because
of lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other aspects of performance. Mistakes
can be self-corrected when attention is called. Whereas, error is the use of linguistic items
in a way that a fluent or native speaker of the language regards it as showing faulty or
incomplete learning. In other words, it occurs because the learner does not know what is


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correct, and thus it cannot be self-corrected. Richards, J.C. (2002. Dictionary of Language
Teaching and Applied Linguistic, p.184)
1.3.4. Possible causes of errors in the second language learning
From interlingual and intralingual perspectives we shall consider the followings as
major types of errors that Vietnamese learners commit in learning English in general and
predicting errors they may commit in using E. P. Adjs in particular.
1.3.4.1. Overgeneralization in learning and using E.P.Adjs

Overgeneralization is a process common in both first and second - language
learning, in which a learner extends the use of grammatical rule of linguistic item beyond
its accepted uses, generally by making words or structures follow a more regular pattern.
For example, a child may use ball to refer to all round objects, or use mans instead of men
for the plural of man. When dealing with E.PAdjs, students may commit errors of the use
of -ing and -ed P.Adjs, which reflect the general characteristics of the rule learning, such
as faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules and failure to learn conditions
under which rules apply.
In fact, may students think -ing P.Adjs usually collocation with an inanimate noun
and -ed P.Adjs collocate with animate nouns.
They may produce such errors:
- He is an interested man
- After the storm many people are in the process of repairing damaging houses.
1.3.4.2. Developmental errors
Developmental error is an error in the language use of a first or second language
learner which is the result of a normal pattern of development, and which is common
among language learners. For example, in learning English, first and second language
learners often produce verb forms such as comed, goed and breaked instead of came, went
and broken. This is thought to be because. They have learnt the rule for regular past tense
formation and then apply it to all verbs. n using E.P.Adjs, Vietnamese students may make
such errors.
-The breaking dishes lay on the floor.
- He found it surprised to see the passport office closed when he arrived.
This is again a type of generalization since students failed to observe the restriction
of the rules and apply the rules to contexts where they do not apply.


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Later such errors disappear as their language ability increases. These

overgeneralization errors are a natural or developmental stage in language learning.
1.3.4.3. Teaching- induced errors
In language learning transfer of training is known as induced error. Richards et al
define it as an error which has been caused by the way in which a language item has been
presented or practiced.
For example, in teaching at the teacher may hold up a box and say I'm looking at the
box. However, the learner may infer that at means under. If later the learner uses at for
under (thus producing (The cat is at the table) this would be induced error or transfer of
training.
Another example is an induced error in using P.Adjs. We have observed some
lessons on P.Adjs in both lower and upper secondary schools and have taken notes of the
teachers' explanation on the use of P.Adjs. In stead of giving clear and adequate
explanation, some of them simplify this matter by giving such incomplete rules: "animate
nouns go with -ed P.Adjs, inanimate nouns go with
-ing P.Adjs"
They may produce such errors:
- She is an interested writer.
- We bought some freezing vegetable at the supermarket.
Transfer of training may cause learners to build false systems or concept of the rules
in the target language.
In this study, the researcher would like to adopt the Richards’ error classification
theory to predict and analyze students’ errors in using English Participial Adjectives
because sufficient types of error and causes of error were much taken into account in his
theory.
1.3.4.4. Language transfer
On learning one language learners seem to translate whatever comes into their mind
into the target language and may impose their own language on the target language usage.
Frequently, language learners keep trying to find linguistic equivalence of their native
language and immediately transfer it into the target language. The effect off one language
on the learning of another is known as language transfer. Such effects may be either

advantageous or disadvantageous and are divided into two types.