Common errors in the use of zero article made by the students in grade eleven at vu tien high school

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N
0
2
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY






TRAN THI NGOC ANH





COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF ZERO ARTICLE
MADE BY THE STUDENTS IN GRADE ELEVEN
AT VU TIEN HIGH SCHOOL
(GRADUATION PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH)





Supervisor: PHI THI THO, B.A

HANOI - 2014
i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this chance to express my greatest gratitude to Mrs.
Phi Thi Tho, B.A., my supervisor for her invaluable support and careful
guidance as well as encouragement, suggestions and advice throughout the
process of writing this thesis.
Besides, I would like to thank to the librarians of Hanoi Pedagogical
University Number 2 who have helped me in the preparation and writing this
thesis.
I would like to express my thanks to my all beloved lectures who always
motivated and suggested me to finish my thesis soon. Furthermore, I would like
to thank all my friends who never stop encouraging me to finish my thesis.
In addition, I want to express my special thank to students in class 11 at
Vu Tien High School because of their support in the survey.
Last but not least, I own a debt of gratitude to my beloved family, for their
whole – hearted encouragement and endless support.

ii

ABSTRACT

The zero article is an interesting category of English grammar. As well
known, zero article is a complex area and it has a lot of rules with different
objects. To correct the use of zero article is one of the most things to get right in
English. However, in some books have not been dealt with in full and
sometimes it is difficult for students to understand and use correctly.
As a result, students often make errors when they use zero article.
Therefore, this research work is focused on investigating common errors in the
use of zero article and to suggest some solutions to the problem.
Based on material analysis and errors analysis, the types of errors have
been found. Solutions to the problem have been suggested.

iii

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
Title: Common errors in the Use of Zero Article made by the students in
grade eleven at Vu Tien High School
(Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of
Arts in English)

I certify that no part in this thesis has been copied from any other person‟s
work without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by me
under the instructions from my supervisor.

Date submitted:
Student


TRAN THI NGOC ANH
Supervisor


PHI THI THO

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement . i
Abstract ii
Statement of authorship iii
Table of contents iv
PART ONE
INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale 1
II. Research presupposition 1
III. Research objectives 2
IV. Research scope 2
V. Research tasks 2
VI. Research methods 2
VII. Research significance 3
VIII. Research design 3
PART TWO
DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
I.1. Literature review in brief 4
I.2.The article 5

I.2.1. Definition of article 5
I.2.2. Classification of article 5
I.3. Zero article 6
I.3.1. Zero article 6
I.3.2. Uses 6
I.3.2.1. Before plural nouns used in general sense 6
I.3.2.2. Before abstract nouns used in general sense 7
I.3.2.3. Before the names of material used in general sense 7
v

I.3.2.4. Before nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, bed 7
I.3.2.5. Before names of meals in general sense 8
I.3.2.6. Before names of holidays, special times of the year, name of month,
day of weeks .8
I.3.2.7. Before names of mounts, lakes, capes 9
I.3.2.8. Before name of languages or religions, subjects, arts, sports and
games 9
I.3.2.9. Before proper nouns, titles followed by a proper noun 9
I.3.2.10. Before seasons, parts of the day 10
I.3.2.11. Before name of countries, towns, streets, airports, stations 10
I.3.2.12. Before illnesses 10

CHAPTER TWO
METHODOLOGY
II.1. Survey 11
II.1.1. Purposes of the survey 11
II.1.2. Population of the survey 11
II.1.3.Type of the survey 12
II.1.4. Construction of the test 12
II.1.5. Preparation of the survey 12

II.1.5.1. Test items 12
II.1.5.2. Arrangement of the test items 13
II.1.6. Administration of the try out 13
II.1.6.1. Preparation of the try out 13
II.1.6.2. Try out 14
II.1.7. Method of data analysis 14

CHAPTER THREE
THE RESULT
III.1. Results of the survey 15
III.2. Analysis 17
vi

III.2.1. Errors in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church, prison,
hospital, bed 17
III.2.2. Errors in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general
sense 17
III.2.3. Errors in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general
sense 18
III.2.4. Errors in the use of zero article with languages or religions,
subjects, arts, sports and games 19
III.2.5. Errors in the use of zero article with name of countries, towns,
streets, airports, stations 19
III.2.6. Errors in the use of zero article with material used in general sense 20
III.3. Suggested solutions and suggested exercises 21
III.3.1. Suggested solutions 21
III.3.2. Suggested exercises 23
III.3.2.1. Suggested sources for the use of zero article exercise 23
III.3.2.2. Suggested types exercise 23
III.3.2.3. Sample of exercises 24

PART THREE
CONCLUSION
I. Conclusion 26
II. Implication of the study 26
III. Limitations and suggestions for further research 27
REFERENCES 29
APPENDICIES 31
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 31
SUGGESTED EXERCISES 35

1

PART ONE
INTRODUCTION

I. RATIONALE
The English article system is one of the most difficult aspects of English
grammar for students of English as a second language to understand. English
articles occur very frequently and incorrect use may affect communication
negatively. In addition, a writer may prefer to be accurate, when he/she has to
write.
The English article system is so difficult to acquire for students because
there is no such independent grammatical category, as the article exist in
Vietnamese on which the learners could learn when learning the use of the
English article system.
There is a fact that zero article is one of the complex language categories.
It has always been considered one of the most problems to overcome in teaching
English grammar to foreigners and misuse is one of the most evident
grammatical sign that a person is not a native speaker of English, students in

specific. It often causes embarrassments to students. Due to its various uses, it is
admitted that there are many errors, which may be made. They do not know how
to use no article correctly and they often confuse zero article with the indefinite
and definite article. For example:
Elephant has a good memory
The frogs can live on land and in water
As the reasons above, this study was conducted to give basic theory about
zero article and shows the errors students often make when using zero article.
Then base on the errors they make, the causes of the problems were found out
and some solutions were proposed to limit the errors.
II. RESEARCH PRESUPPOSITION
Some questions are raised:
1. What kinds of errors in the use of zero article are made by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014?
2

2. What are the causes of the errors in the use of zero article by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014?
3. What are the effective ways to minimize the errors made by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014?
III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the study:
1. To find out the main errors in the use of zero article made by the
students in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 -
2014.
2. To find out the causes of the errors in the use of zero article made by
the students in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 -
2014.
3. To offer some suggestions to minimize the errors made by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014.

IV. RESEARCH SCOPE
The general research area of this study is grammar. The phenomenon is
the errors in using zero article made by one hundred students in grade 11 at Vu
Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014. One hundred students
from class 11A8 and 11A7 are the subjects of the survey.
V. RESEARCH TASKS
The research work involves the following tasks:
1. Studying the theory of zero in English
2. Conducting a survey to find out error types and causes of the uses of
zero article in English
3. Suggesting some solutions to minimize the students‟ errors.
VI. RESEARCH METHODS
With the aim of finding the common errors as well as their possible
solutions in the use of zero article in English, the following methods have been
applied:
1. Collecting, reading and analyzing documents listed in the references
3

2. Consulting the supervisor, experienced teachers and students
3. Synthesizing theoretical materials on English grammar
4. Conducting test survey and analyzing the results
VII. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
The study will be useful not only to the author and to her colleagues in
improving the teaching quality, but students will also benefit from it. The result
of the study will serve as a foundation for the possible solutions to students‟
errors in using English zero article. Furthermore, the study will contribute to the
field of teaching methodology. This study is hoped provide the following:
1. Helping Vu Tien High School students understand about zero article in
English.
2. Helping Vu Tien High School students minimize their errors in using

zero article.
3. Becoming a useful reference about zero article for both teachers and
students to make sure that they can deeply understand things relating to zero
article.
VIII. RESEARCH DESIGN
The research work has three main parts: Introduction, Development and
Conclusion.
The part Development consists of three chapters.
Chapter one named Theoretical Background presents literature review in
brief, definition and classification of the articles, the introduction and usage of
zero article.
Chapter two is Methodology. It describes the research methods.
Chapter three is The Result. It is composed of three sections. Section one
is devoted to the survey. The second mentions to error types and causes. The last
one provides solutions to the problems and suggested exercises on zero articles.

4

PART TWO
DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I.1. LITERATURE REVIEW IN BREFT
The zero article has been described by many grammarians like Alexander,
L.G. (1998); Aik, K.C. & Hui, K.K. (1999); Thomson, A.J. & Martinet, A.V.
(1989), Foley.M. & Hall.D. (2008), and so on. They each have their own way to
describe zero article. Generally, they focus their attention on the definition and
the uses of zero article. Most of the knowledge they present are useful for

English learners.
Alexander, L.G. (1998) in Longman English Grammar Practice for
intermediate students pays much attention to the use of zero article. He divides
the use of zero article into 4 segmens: zero article with plural nouns and
uncountable nouns; zero article with things in genral; zero article with people
and places; zero article with holiday, time of the day, meal.
In Longman Dictionary of Grammar and Usage, Aik, K.C. & Hui, K. K.
(1999) focus on the specific uses of zero article. According to him, zero article
used before: plural nouns, uncountable nouns, proper nouns, nouns in the
possessive cases, abstract nouns, nouns of some set phrases , names of games or
transports, names of meals, names of holidays, special times of the year, names
of month, days of week, names of places, names and titles, seasons, parts of the
day, illnesses.
Foley.M. & Hall.D (2008) in the book Advanced Learner’s Grammar
only concentrates on the uses of zero article.
In the book A practical English Grammar, Thomson, A. J. & Martinet,
A.V. (1989) give a quite understandable picture of the use of zero article.
Morever, he point out some noticeable cases when using zero article.
5

To sum up, many researchers have studied about zero article. However
none of them point out the errors of students when using zero article. Therefore,
it is essential to have a comprehensive study of common errors in the use of zero
article.
I.2. THE ARTICLES
I.2.1. Definition
An important subset of adjectives in English is the determiner, a category
of words that indicate which noun is being discussed. The determiner in English
consists of articles (a/an, the), possessives (my, your, their, etc), demonstratives
(this, that…), numerals (three, first….) and a few quantifiers (some, many… ).

Alexander (1998) defines that “articles are determiners which affect the
meaning of the noun, and make it clearer by showing which particular thing we
are referring to” (p55).
Andrusiak.I.V in The Use of Articles in English, defines: “The articles
belong to a syntactic class of words called determiners. Determiners are words
we use before a noun to show whether the noun is specific or general, singular
or plural, etc. determiners also include possessives like my, demonstratives like
this and quantifiers like all”.
I.2.2. Classification
English articles, according to Thomson and Martinet (1986:15-22) in the
book A practical English Grammar, are classified into two types: definite article
the and indefinite article a/an. However, Quirk adds more type, that is zero
article Ø. Yotsukura (1970) seems to be the first person who suggests adding
another category beside the zero article. So English articles include a/an, the and
Ø (the null or zero marker). The two categories of the article traditionally called
indefinite and definite articles. Singular count nouns take a or an as indefinite
articles. All categories of nouns take the as the definite marker.



6

I.3. ZERO ARTICLE
I.3.1. Zero article
Although the term “zero article” traditionally refers to any instance in
which a noun requires no article, the researchers (Yotsukura,1970; Celce-Murcia
& Larsen-Freeman,1999) divide the zero article into two types: zero and null. To
Yotsukura, there is distributional evidence suggesting a form other than zero
article. By using a post-modifying restrictive relative clause test, she discovered
that the second zero form is found before singular proper nouns and some

common nouns. Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman also found that the zero article
occurs with nonspecific or generic noncount and plural nouns, such as water and
cats. The null article occurs with certain singular count and proper nouns, such
as Chicago and lunch. Quirk et al. (1985: 246) describes a proper noun like
Marjon as having “no article” and a common noun like music as having a “zero
article”.
Different authors have different opinions about zero article. From my
point of view, the Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman‟s opinion is more complete
than the other is. They said that the zero article occurs with nonspecific or
generic noncount and plural nouns. These are criterias which I follow to present
the use of zero article in the below.
I.3.2. Uses
I.3.2.1. Before plural nouns used in general sense.
Zero article is used before plural nouns that refers to all members of a
class of things or people:
Children like candies
Plants and animals need air and water.
Zero article is also used before plural nouns which focus on an indefinite
number of things or people of a particular category. For example:
There are visitors in the hall
When we use the with plural noun, we are talking about specific things or
people:
The books you ordered have arrived.
7

I.3.2.2. Before abstract nouns used in general sense.
Zero article is used in front of abstract nouns that refer to certain ideas or
things in general:
Life is short
We‟ll have freedom or death

I.3.2.3. Before the names of material used in general sense.
Zero article is always used with materials (wine, coal, sugar, etc.) when
they are considered in general sense.
Glass is a difficult material to cut.
Gold is very expensive at the moment.
Note: There is a different between:
They are looking for gold (= any gold).
They found the gold (= the gold they were looking for)
I.3.2.4. Before nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, bed
Zero article is used when we talk about institutions such as hospital,
prison, school, town or church being used for their intended purpose: medical
treatment in hospital, studying in university, and so on. We use articles when we
talk about them as particular places or buildings.
Notice that we talk about bed in the same way.
Jane‟s at school. (to learn)
John‟s in hospital (he‟s ill)
She usually stays in bed till late at weekend.
Some set phrases:
- at college; at ease; at home; at lunch; at night; at rest; at school; at sea; at
work
- by accident; by air; by bus; by bicycle; by car; by chance; by design; by
mistake; by plane; by train; by surprise
- in bed; in class; in danger; in difficulty; in hospital; in love; in need; in
prison; in reply; in tears
- on duty; on foot; on fire; on guard; on land; on purpose; on sale; on
time; on vocation
8

- out of control; out of danger; out of date; out of doors; out of hospital;
out of line; out of order; out of prison; out of stock; out of turn

- to bed; to church; to dinner; to hospital; to prison; to town; to university;
to work
Each of the above set phrases has a fixed meaning. It is possible to use
some of these phrases with an article but the change in meaning should be noted:
- John is in prison (= John is a prisoner)
- John is in the prison (= John is physically in a certain prison, perhaps as
a visitor)
- I visited Jack in hospital (= Jack is sick)
- Jack is working in a hospital in New York (a certain hospital is referred to)
- He is going to college (= He will soon be a college student.)
- He is going to a good college. (a certain college is referred to)
I.3.2.5. Before name of meals in general sense.
Zero article is used when we talk about meals:
What have we got for dinner?
We would not say, for example, “I had a/the breakfast before I went out”.
However, if we want to describe a particular meal or a formal meal for a special
occasion, we can use an article:
We‟re having a dinner to welcome the new manager.
The dinner we had at Webster‟s restaurant was marvelous.
I.3.2.6. Before name of holidays, special times of the year, name of month,
day of weeks
Zero article is often used with the names of holidays, special times of the
year, or with the names of months and days of the week:
Easter New Year‟s Day September Monday
- In Scotland, they really know how to celebrate (the) New Year.
We say “in the New Year” when we mean at or near the beginning of next
year:
I‟ll see you again in the New Year.
9

When we want to describe the features of a particular holiday, season,
etc., we use a/an:
That was a winter I‟ll never forget
I.3.2.7. Before name of mounts, lakes, capes
We use mount (= mountain)/ lake/ cape with a name (without the)
Mount Everest (not the….) - Lake Geneva - Cape Cod
- However we use the with the names of oceans, seas, rivers and canals:
the Indian Ocean - the Red Sea - the Nile - the Sahara - the Suez Canal
I.3.2.8. Before name of languages, subjects, arts, sports and games
- Zero article is used at all in English when we talk about names of games
or transport. For example:
I like chess but she like tennis and swimming.
- Zero article is used before names of subjects and fields of study
English and Mathematics are my favourite subjects.
- There is usually no article before name of languages or a form of art:
Not many children enjoy opera. (rather than ….enjoy the opera).
My father can speak 3 languages: Vietnamese, English, French.
I.3.2.9. Before proper nouns, title followed by a proper noun
We do not normally use article in front of proper nouns (like John, London, etc.).
We usually use titles: Mr/Mrs/Captain/Doctor etc. + a name, we do not
use the.
Mr Johnson/ Doctor Johnson/ Captain Johnson/President Johnson etc.
(not the… )
Uncle Robert/ Saint Catherine/ Princess Maria etc. (not the….)
However, we use the:
- When there are two people with the same name and we want to specify
which once we are talking about:
That‟s not the Stephen Fraser I went to school with.
- When we want to emphasise a person who everyone probably knows:
Do they mean the Ronald Reagan, or someone else?

10

- When we talk about a family as a whole:
The Robinsons are away this weekend (= the Robinsons family)
I.3.2.10. Before seasons, parts of the day
- With winter, summer, spring, autumn and New Year (meaning the
holiday period), we can often use either the or zero article:
In (the) summer, I try to spend as much time in the garden as I can.
- Zero article is used with at night, by night, midnight, midday and noon:
I don‟t like driving at night.
If possible, I‟d like it finished by midnight.
- We use the and a/an in the usual way when we talk about the
morning/afternoon/evening of a particular day or when we want to describe the
features of a particular holiday, season, etc.
That was a winter I‟ll never forget.
I woke up with a sore throat, and by the evening, my voice had
disappeared.
I.3.2.11. Before names of countries, towns, streets, airports, stations
Zero article is used with proper nouns, so this includes place name. We
use no article for the name of countries (Turkey), states (Ohio), cities (Paris),
streets (Oxford Street), parks (Hyde Park), addresses (24 Norht Street),
buildings (Westminster Abbey), geographical areas (Africa), historical
references (Ancient Rome), and island (Malta).
I.3.2.12. Before illnesses
Zero article is used before illnesses: appendicitis, cancer, toothache, etc.
He is got lung cancer

11

CHAPTER TWO
METHODOLOGY

In order to answer the research questions of the study, the survey
questionnaire is carried out with the students in grade 11 at Vu Tien High
School.
II.1. Survey
As it was mentioned in chapter one, the study does help the students of
English to have a deep insight into the zero article. In the process of providing
students with knowledge of zero article, the thesis has identified common errors
made by Vietnamese students. Due to framework of a thesis, to map out all
mistakes made by students at high educational level is impossible. Therefore,
this thesis only focuses on common errors in the use of the zero article made by
one hundred students of English in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School. To find
out the errors made by those students, a survey questionnaire was conducted.
Questionnaire survey is a list of a lot questions that are prepared to gather
information. A questionnaire can be a useful tool to gather survey information
from a large number of people. A questionnaire can be fact or opinion-based and
maybe answered by choosing from a list of opinions or writing out responses by
hand. There are several advantages to using a questionnaire format. It is not
cost-effective, easy to analyze and is less intrusive than other survey method.
II.1.1. Purposes of the survey.
The survey contains questionnaire related to zero article. Therefore, the
purpose of the survey is to check how deep Vu Tien High School students
understand the use of zero article, then shows common errors they often make.
Besides, according to the result of the questionnaire survey, the reasons why the

students make mistakes when facing with zero article can be identified.
II.1.2. Population of the survey
The survey is designed for one hundred students in grade 11 at Vu Tien
high school. They have been learning English for five to seven years. Naturally,
12

they have been taught some of the zero article uses. They answer the
questionnaires so that the common errors and reasons of the errors are pointed
out. Some of them are really good at grammar but some of them are bad at
grammar in general and the zero article in particular.
II.1.3.Type of the survey
To collect data, the questionnaire is the form of a test. It involves such
activites as choose the correct answer, find the mistake of the sentence, and fill
in the blank. In short, there are 50 sentences in the questionnaire. The time limit
is 45 minutes.
II.1.4. Construction of the test
The material is used in the test was taken from grammar books concerned
with the zero article such as English Grammar, Understanding and Using
English Grammar, Longman English Grammar Practices. The survey consists of
fifty sentences that require the students using knowledge about the zero article to
answer the questions. The questionnaire consists of three exercises:
1. Exercise 1: Fill in the spaces with a / an or the zero article (Ø) :
This exercise consists of ten blanks.
2. Exercise 2: Choose the best answer
This exercise consists of 30 sentences.
3. Exercise 3: Some of these sentences are correct, but some are incorrect.
Correct the sentences where necessary.
This exercise consists of 10 sentences.
II.1.5. Preparation of the survey
II.1.5.1 Test items

Common errors in the use of the zero article are unavoidable. The purpose
of this survey is to spot these mistakes. However, there are a great number of
errors in using the zero article, which a survey cannot cover. Therefore, it is
necessary to predict possible errors and include them in the survey. In this
survey, possible errors were classified into the following categories.
1. Error in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general sense
13

2. Error in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general sense
3. Error in the use of zero article with material used in general sense
4. Error in the use of zero article with languages, subjects, arts, sports and
games
5. Error in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church,prison,
hospital,bed
6. Error in the use of zero article with name of countries, towns, streets,
airports, stations
II.1.5.2 Arrangement of the test items
After being classified, the questions were arranged into the following
number:
1. Error in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general sense
is in numbers: 1, 5, 6, 11, 13, 21, 24 and 48.
2. Error in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general
sense is in numbers: 4, 9, 10, 15, 17, 26, 36 and 42.
3. Error in the use of zero article with material used in general sense is in
numbers: 8, 16, 30, 31, 35, 38, 41, 45 and 47.
4. Error in the use of zero article with languages, subjects, arts, sports and
games is in numbers: 3, 27, 28, 29, 34, 39, 40, 43 and 46.
5. Error in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church,prison,
hospital,bed is in numbers: 2, 18, 19, 20, 23, 32, 33 and 49.
6. Error in the use of zero article with name of countries, towns, streets,

airports, stations is in numbers: 7, 12, 14, 22, 25, 37, 44 and 50.
II.1.6. Administration of the try- out
II.1.6.1. Preparation of the try- out
The try-out was prepared carefully. The questionnaire had to be clear and
easy to understand. Before the try - out was carried out, the teacher in charge of
the two classes, which were intended to do the survey questionnaire, were asked
for permission.

14

II.1.6.2. Try- out
The try - out was conducted on February 15
th
, 2014. One hundred students
in the grade 11A7 and 11A8 were asked to do the questionnaire with their own
ability. They were carefully instructed before finishing the entire survey
questionnaire. Importantly, they were reminded that the result of the
questionnaire was to serve the research and it had no influence on their study
results.Therefore, they did not need to worry about personal information leak.
As a result, the students made their real effort to complete the questionnaire.
The students could review the theory by themselves before doing the test,
but they had to do the test independently. The allocated time for fifty questions
was forty - five minutes. Most students tried to deal with all the questions.
However, there were still a few questions left unanswered.
II.1.7. Method of data analysis
The data were analyzed in five steps. Firstly, the researcher collects the
result of the survey questionnaire. Secondly, common errors in the use of the
zero article were identified. Thirdly, the average percentage of error at each type
of error is calculated. The error levels were ranked from the highest to the
lowest in next step. Lastly, based on this arrangement, the highest was

considered as the major error in the use of the zero article.











15

CHAPTER THREE
THE RESULT

In this chapter, the result will be presented. It is devided into three
sections. Section III.1 deals with the survey questionnaire, which was designed
to map out some common errors made by the eleventh - grade students at Vu
Tien High School. Section III.2 shows common errors and causes. Section III.3
provides students and teacher with some suggested solutions to minimize the
errors in the use of zero article.
III.1. Result of the survey
Based on the survey analysis, the errors made by the students in grade 11
at Vu Tien High School were pointed out. It can be identified which errors level
of zero article is the highest and which is the lowest. The order is as the table
following:

Error

Errors in the use of zero article
Percent
1
Errors in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church,prison,
hospital,bed
69%
2
Errors in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general
sense
38%
3
Errors in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general
sense
35%
4
Errors in the use of zero article with languages or religions,
subjects, arts, sports and games
34%
5
Errors in the use of zero article with name of countries, towns,
streets, airports stations
29%
6
Errors in the use of zero article with material used in general sense
16%

Table: Arrangement of the percentage of errors
from the highest to the lowest
16

The specific percentages of these errors are given in the following chart:
10
0
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
ERRORS
69%
ERROR-1 ERROR-2 ERROR-3 ERROR-4 ERROR-5 ERROR-6
38%
35%
34%
29%
16%
Common errors in the use of zero article.
The chart shows the common errors in the use of zero article made by the
eleventh- grade students at Vu Tien High School.
It is clear – apparent from the chart that the highest percentage of errors is
the use of zero article with nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, bed, which
make up 69%. The lowest percentage of errors is the use of zero article with
material used in general sense, only 16%. The percentage of the errors the use of
zero article with plural nouns; abstract nouns; languages, subjects, arts, sports
and games; name of countries, towns, streets, airports, stations; name of

countries, towns, streets, airports, stations used in general sense are
approximate. They account for 38%, 35%, 34%, and 29% respectively.
All in all, the data clearly showed that there are many errors in the use of
zero article that the students in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School met.

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III.2. Analysis
III.2.1. Error in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church, prison,
hospital, bed.
The most common errors among the students at Vu Tien High School is
the use of zero article with nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, be. The
errors of this type account for 69%. There was no students whose percentage of
errors in using zero article with nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, bed is
100%.
Based on theory, “We use zero article when we talk about institutions
such as hospital, university, prison, school, college or church being used for
their intended purpose: medical treatment in hospital, studying in university, and
so on”. However, the students usually did not know should when to put the
article or not.
For example:
He was sent to _____ prison for his crime.
The wrong answer: a/an/the
The correct answer: Ø
The cause of this error is that maybe the students did not understand
deeply enough and so they did not catch the rules of using zero article with
nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, bed.
Moreover, the errors made by the students at Vu Tien High School also
depend on the subjective cause. Students did not pay enough attention to the
lesson, do their homework and self-practice with the exercises relating to the use

of zero article.
III.2.2. Error in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general
sense.
It can be seen that the second common errors the students made is error in
the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general sense. The percentage of
this type errors make up 38%. There was no student who made 100% of errors
in using zero article with plural nouns in general sense. For example:
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A street in Cambridge is to be named after _____ scientists who
discovered the structure of DNA.
A. a B. an C. the D. Ø
Almost students choose “D. Ø”, however, the correct answer is “C. the”
Based on the comments of the English teachers at Vu Tien High School
on the attitudes of students in English lessons, the possible main cause of this
error is that the students did not pay much attention to the lesson. Thus, they did
not know how to do the exercises related to the using of zero article with plural
nouns in general sense. Morever, they also could not identify some compound
nouns in plural form. There are 100% of students who had incorrect answer in
the question:
_____ climate scientists all over the world now agree on man's
responsibility for global warming.
The wrong answer: the/a
Even some students could not fill anything into the blank.
The correct answer: Ø
III.2.3. Error in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general
sense.
The errors related in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in
general sense stand at 35%. There were no students who made 100% of errors in
using zero article with abstract nouns in general sense. For instance:

_____ life is very hard for some people.
A. a B. an C. the D. Ø
The wrong answer: A. a/ C. the
The correct answer: D. Ø
Most of the students who made mistakes got difficulties in realizing
whether a noun is abstract noun or uncountable noun. In addition, the possible
reason why the students give incorrect answer is that they do not remember the
rules of using zero article with abstract noun.