Several important aspects of English grammar

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Steve
This paper is a six-step investigation of the written productions of Troisieme pupils in
Cameroon. It applies Hendrickson (1976)’s framework of analysis in error analysis. From a Communicative standpoint, it unravels aspects of English grammar needed to improve communicative and linguistic proficiency in English.
1. International Journal of English Language Teaching
Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online)
ASPECTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO BE REINFORCED IN THE TEACHING
OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Dr. Boum Yannick
Department of English, the University of Yaounde I (Cameroon)
P.O.BOX:109 Yaounde/Cameroon
TEL: (237)665523172
EMAIL: yan.boum@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT: This paper unravels aspects of English grammar to be reinforced in the
teaching of English as a second or foreign language. The data sources for the study are the
following: the broad corpus which consists of 392 BEPC exam essays (2014 and 2015), 46
class test essays (15 in 2016, 15 in 2017 and 16 in 2018) and the narrow corpus which
consists of a series of ten (10) designed tests altogether intended for 100 Troisieme class
pupils (administered in 2019). The framework used for this study is the Communicative Effect
Taxonomy in error analysis as developed by Hendrickson (1976). Findings revealed that
Troisieme pupils’ English is strewn with global errors, local errors and ambiguous errors.
Actually, 20 global error types (including the choice of the wrong auxiliary), 14 local error
types (including the V-ed form attached to irregular verbs) and 9 types of ambiguous errors
(including the use of the preposition ‘at’ in place of ‘about’) were identified in the broad
corpus and highlighted in the narrow corpus. By doing so, Troisieme pupils’ communicative
proficiency as well as their linguistic proficiency was found to be low, and their
communicative proficiency was found to be lower than their linguistic proficiency. From the
above aspects of English grammar to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or
foreign language were unveiled. The essence of it all is to improve communicative and
linguistic proficiency in English.
KEYWORDS: Aspects of English grammar; communicative and linguistic proficiency;
global, local, ambiguous errors; error analysis, the teaching of English, English as a second,
foreign language
This paper is a six-step investigation of the written productions of Troisieme pupils in
Cameroon. It applies Hendrickson (1976)’s framework of analysis in error analysis. From a
Communicative standpoint, it unravels aspects of English grammar needed to improve
communicative and linguistic proficiency in English. By doing so, the ongoing study extends
previous works including Burt and Kiparsky (1972), Hendrickson (1976), Simo (1978),
Tadjom (1993), Hamidou (2008), Fornkwa (2013), Sokeng (2014), Kouega and Sokeng
(2013). This study is important because it first looks closely into the characteristic features of
the grammar of Troisieme pupils’ English from a communicative effect standpoint. Secondly,
it proposes a different way of categorising, analysing and explaining learners’ language
errors. Thirdly, it highlights what affect communication and what affect linguistic proficiency,
and finally, it proposes relevant pedagogical interventions highly needed to improve
communicative and linguistic proficiency in English.
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2. International Journal of English Language Teaching
Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online)
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The grammar of learners of English in Cameroon has been the concern of many researchers
including Kenmogne (2002), Emaleu (2004), Fornkwa (2013), Kouega & Sokeng (2013) and
Sokeng (2014).
Kenmogne (2002) limited his study to one specific grammar point: i.e. prepositions. As his
study revealed, prepositions are actually the area where Francophone learners of English
encounter serious difficulties. His focus was on high school Francophone pupils, notably from
“Lycée Classique de Bafoussam” and, G.B.H.S Bamenda. The researcher’s aim was to
compare Cameroon Francophone learners’ use of English with that of Cameroon Anglophone
learners of English. Using Error Analysis frame for data analysis and an elicitation test for
data collection, his findings go as follows:
 Most of the subjects have a general notion of simple prepositions
 Some of them cannot easily distinguish prepositions of time and place
 Insufficient knowledge on English preposition standard usage
 G.B.H.S pupils use of prepositions is much more influenced by Pidgin English than
counterparts, namely pupils from “Lycee Classique de Bafoussam”
 Most of their errors were traceable to faulty rule of learning and overgeneralisation
 Due to their Anglo-Saxon environment, G.B.H.S pupils performed better than their
Counterparts
As opposed to Kenmogne (2002), Emaleu (2004)’s study focused on Francophone bilinguals’
written productions. She compared the written English of Form One pupils of Government
Bilingual High School (G.B.H.S) Etoug-Ebe and Government Bilingual High School
(G.B.H.S) Limbé. Her aim was to identify those grammatical errors which are common to
primary school leavers in general and those which are specific to leavers residing in a given
locality. To achieve this, an elicitation essay test was administered to pupils from both
Informants, namely Francophone pupils from each school under study, were asked to write an
essay on the following topic: “My first day in college.” These testees were to write the test in
not more than a page and within an hour. The researcher added that pupils were told it was a
class test in a bid to motivate them to write the test. The afore-mentioned topic was chosen
because it was assumed every pupil will surely have something to say. In Limbé, unlike in
Etoug-Ebe, Yaoundé, pupils were reluctant to write the test because they had neither
beforehand learnt nor read anything about the English language. However, in the end, these
pupils in question finally wrote the test after they had been warned by their new English
teacher that time was a factor.
The method of Error Analysis adopted was a three-step approach involving the following:
- Step one: identification of errors
- Step two: definition and classification of errors
- Step three: explanation of rule and exemplification
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3. International Journal of English Language Teaching
Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
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Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online)
Common grammatical errors she found were the following:
Misspelled words
- “I was soppose to come.” (Instead of: supposed) “There is a large feel for football and
hand ball.” (Instead of: big field)
Present continuous tense in place of the present simple tense
- “Each teacher is teaching one subject.” (Each teacher teaches one subject.)
Wrong sequence of tenses
- “I was happy because I will have a friend.” (I was happy because I was going to have
a friend.)
Misuse of number
- “The subjects that we do are *differents…” (Instead of: different)
Omission of the indefinite article
- “* It was francophone and anglophone section.” (Omission of “a” and “an”)
Misuse of the definite article
- “ *When I entered the secondary school…”
Lack of subject-verb concord
- “*Everybody know…”
Fornkwa (2013) on the other hand focused on a specific aspect in English grammar, notably
the inflectional affixes. The aim was to analyse the use of inflectional affixes in the verbs and
nouns that Francophone learners use in their English essays. Doing so provided insights into
frequency in the use of inflectional affixes, the various difficulties encountered by learners
and strategies employed to overcome these difficulties. As a result, the general trends in the
use of the –S inflection was unravel.
Data was drawn from 40 English essays: 10 from CM II (primary school), 10 from Troisieme
pupils at LYCEE D’ANGUISSA (a public secondary school), 10 from Terminale at COLLEGE
ADVENTISTE YAOUNDE (a religious and private secondary school) and 10 from Level III at
the University of Yaounde I.
The scripts collected were all read through while identifying all the instances of the use of
inflectional affixes. These instances were entered into databases. Another reading was done
with focus on identifying all the problematic instances of the use of inflectional affixes. They
were in turn entered into databases. After a third reading of the scripts with focus on
identifying the various avoidance strategies used by learners to overcome morphological
difficulties, the data collected from this was also entered into databases. Finally, the following
databases were analyzed:
- Databases I: with instances of correct use of inflectional affixes
- Databases II: Problems involving the use of inflectional affixes
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- Databases III: Avoidance strategies in the use of inflectional affixes
After analyzing these databases, the general trends revealed French interference in the
morphological parameter settings for the use of inflectional affixes, omission of inflectional
affixes where it is necessary and overgeneralization in the use of inflectional affixes.
Findings revealed a high frequency of instances of incorrect use of inflectional affixes in
Troisieme classes. Fornkwa (2013) explained that what can account for this is the fact that, at
this level of secondary school education, learners have been introduced to many inflectional
affixes and they do not yet master their use very well. According to him, that is why learners
end up in confusion using one inflectional affix when another one is required.
Kouega and Sokeng (2013) shifted the paradigm in the study of Francophone English
grammar. They looked into the written English performance of Francophone secondary
school leavers. The aim of the study was to ascertain the written English performance and
mastery of English grammar. They adopted Error Analysis as a frame.
Informants were some 430 francophone pupils who came from different schools in the ten
regions of the country and had just obtained the Baccalauréat, the certificate required for
admission into tertiary education. These pupils were the best that year, as their classmates had
failed. They were 16-23 years old female and male pupils. Some were science-oriented while
others were arts-oriented.
To measure their written English performance, these pupils were given a TOEFL-like test.
Before being tendered to Francophone secondary school leavers, this TOEFL-like test was
taken by English-medium secondary school pupils. They were Form Two pupils from
Yaounde (a Francophone town) and Limbe (an Anglophone town). By doing so, the validity
and reliability of such a test was checked. Thereafter, to facilitate comparison, results were
divided into three categories, labeled 1 to 3:
 Category 1: scores between 0-19 out of 40 (less than 50%)
 Category 2: scores between 20-29 out of 40 (between 50% and 75%)
 Category 3: scores between 30-40 out of 40 (above 75%)
Results disclosed that Francophone secondary school leavers did not attain college level
English and the English test they took at the ‘Baccalaureat’ did not seem to effectively assess
knowledge of English grammar. The “Baccalaureat” English test was reported to have been
just as “a rag bag of exercises that do not follow any internationally recognized pattern.”
Taking into consideration their findings above, Kouega and Sokeng (2013) pointed out that
there is a need to re-orient the English syllabus and to use the time allotted to the English
subject (3 hours a week for seven years) to teach Francophone learners of English the
substance of the English-medium primary education content. These researchers concluded
that, when this is done, these pupils will be able to take the First School Leaving Certificate
examination before they complete French-medium secondary education.
Sokeng (2014) further buttressed what was done by Kouega and Sokeng (2013). She
investigated the written English of Francophone students majoring in the French-English
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bilingual degree programme. The aim of the study was to identify and quantify the
grammatical errors made by these students, classify such errors into types and propose ways
to minimize their occurrence. The frame adopted for the study was Error Analysis. Her study
follows six steps in the description of errors. These are:
o Step 1: Selection of a corpus of language
o Step 2: Identification of errors
o Step 3: Errors are counted and rated in percentage of frequency
o Step 4: Errors are classified according to type of error (e.g. Subject-verb agreement,
o Step 5: Grammatical analysis of each error is carried out
o Step 6: The different types of errors are explained
The informants were some 250 Level One university students majoring in English and
French. 147 were female and 103 were male. They were 16-20 years old and had been
studying English as a school subject in primary and secondary school for more than 7 years.
French is their first official language and English their second official language.
These students were randomly selected among Level One students who enrolled for the
French-English bilingual programme in the 2013-2014 academy year. These informants were
asked to write an essay on the following general topic: How did you spend your Christmas
holiday? This elicitation test was given for 2 hours. Each script that was collected was
awarded a mark later on.
Frequency of error occurrence was calculated and errors at the level of verb tense and form
(23%) were the most frequent followed by errors at the levels of subject/verb concord (22%),
prepositions (18%), word order (13%), number (9%), articles (5%), passive voice (5%),
auxiliaries (3%) and double negation (2%) respectively. It was inferred from the above
findings that the teaching and learning of written English in Francophone primary and
secondary schools need more reinforcement and development.
These researchers, reviewed above, have arrived at the same findings as outlined below:
- Subject/verb concord (lack of subject-verb concord)
1) e.g. My father like Achu and Yellow soup. (Likes)
2) e.g. Everybody know (Knows)
- Number concord (lack of number concord)
1) e.g. “My holidays was very nice.” (My holidays were very nice.)
2) e.g. “These is a warning from the Ministry of Public Health: illegal drugs can kill!”
(This is a warning from the Ministry of Public Health: illegal drugs can kill!)
- Plurality (Omission)
1) e.g. “You can have more job opportunity if you are bilingual.” (You can have more
job opportunities if you are bilingual.)
2) e.g. *I saw many new thing. (Instead of: many new things)
3) e.g. “I bought two new shoe.” (I bought two new pairs of shoes.)
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Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
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3) e.g. “Many body… many of our language.
- Tenses (Misuse)
1) e.g. “It is a long time I has not received any letter; I only receive and send electronic
mails.” (It is a long time I have not received any letter; I only received and sent electronic
2) e.g. “When strangers come, my brother go to buy drinks for everybody.” (When
strangers come, my brother is sent to buy drinks for everybody.)
3) *They didn’t thought us anything. (They didn’t teach us anything.) *I never knew
where they are called mile two. (I never knew where people called Mile Two.).
4) When I ask something from him he will give. (When I ask something from him he
- Definite articles (Misuse)
1) e.g. “I have worked hard all the day.” (I worked hard all day.)
2) *When I entered the secondary school… (When I entered secondary school…)
- Prepositions
1) Misuse: e.g. “The main characters are clearly delineated between the first chapter of
the book.” (The main characters are clearly delineated in the first chapter of the book.)
2) Omission: e.g. “During Christmas, I prefer to go the village to see my grand-mother.”
(During Christmas, I prefer to go to the village to see my grand-mother)
- Wh-pronouns (misuse)
1) e.g. “The project who…” (The project which…)
2) e.g. *I saw my friend which came from the same school. (Instead of: who)
In a nutshell, researches on the English grammar of Francophone learners of English have
identified the following categories of errors: Misspelled words, misspelled proper nouns,
present perfective in place of the past simple tense, present progressive in place of the present
simple tense, wrong sequence of tense, omission of the Ed-participle, misuse of pronouns,
omission of pronouns, misuse of number, omission of the indefinite article (simplification),
omission of the definite article (simplification), misuse of the definite article
(overgeneralization), misordering of attributive adjectives (native language transfer) and lack
of subject verb concord (regularisation). These categories are illustrated below.
Misspelled words
1° “I *worn you not to put on *warn clothes. (Instead of: I warn you not to put on worn
clothes.) (Abessougue, 1982)
2° I am *louque Jean *de *Marquet. (I saw Jean at the market.) (Tadjom, 1993)
3° I was soppose to come. (Instead of: supposed). There is a large feel for foot ball and hand
ball. (Instead of: big field) (Emaleu, 2004)
4° *I have a *blacke ruler. (Instead of: black) (Tadjom, 1993)
Misspelled proper nouns
5° Peter will arrive *monday. (Abessougue, 1982)
6° “*he was playing the sax so marvellously. Mbia is a young *cameroonian.”(Tadjom, 1993)
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7° I have always like English and *mathematics. (Abilamekou, 2007)
Present perfective in place of the past simple tense
8° *Yesterday, I have eaten rice.” (Yesterday, I ate rice.) (Tadjom, 1993)
Present progressive in place of the present simple tense
9° “Each teacher is teaching one subject.” (Each teacher teaches one subject.) (Emaleu, 2004)
Wrong sequence of tense
10° “I was happy because I will have a friend.” (I was happy because I was going to have a
friend.) (Emaleu, 2004)
11° “We knew Canon will have won the match.” (We knew Canon was going to win the
match.) (Ekani, 2007)
12° “When I ask something from him he will give.” (Still mostly from “CM2” pupils) (When
I ask something from him he gives) (Fornkwa, 2013)
13° My holidays had begun well and ended bad. This is because of my grand-mother. (My
holidays began well but did not end well. This was caused by my grand-mother.) (Sokeng,
Omission of the Ed-participle
14° Last holidays I enjoy myself very well. I eat a lot. It was very good. (Instead of: enjoyed)
(Sokeng, 2014)
Misuse of pronouns
15° His for her and vice versa: A mother sent his son. (her son) The man is sitting near her
house. (his) (Simo, 1978)
16° Which for who: *I have a professor which communicates very well. (Instead of: who)
“The men who beat his wife.” (Instead of: their) (Abilamekou, 2007)
17° He for it: *Religion is important for our life because he determined… (Instead of: it)
(Fornkwa, 2013)
18° Nobody for anybody: My father does not want to see nobody in the parlour as from 10pm
neither me neither my brother even during holidays. (Instead of: anybody)
(Sokeng, 2014)
Omission of pronouns
19° *I asked the boy to show the classroom. (Omission of: him) (Emaleu, 2004)
20° *It is the only I could find. (Omission of: one) (Tadjom, 1993)
Misuse of number
21° “Mary and John are very *intelligents.” (Instead of: intelligent) “They had *sharps
knives.” (Instead of: sharp) (Tadjom, 1993)
22° “The subjects that we do are *differents…” (Instead of: different) (Emaleu, 2004)
Omission of the indefinite article
23° *My father is teacher. (“a” is omitted) (Tadjom, 1993)
24° * It was francophone and anglophone section. (Omission of “a” and “an”) (Emaleu,
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25° *I have got pig. (“a” is omitted) (Ngallassum, 2007)
Omission of the definite article
26° *Christmas tree is in the parlour. (the Christmas tree: omission of “the”) (Sokeng, 2014)
Misuse of the definite article
27° *The bravery is a great virtue. (Tadjom, 1993)
28° *When I entered the secondary school…(Emaleu, 2004)
29° I danced all the night with my friends. (Sokeng, 2014)
Misordering of attributive adjectives
30° Was the well enough deep? (deep enough) (Tadjom, 1993)
31° We are requested very much in the labour market international. (instead of: the
international labour market) (Abilamekou, 2007)
32° On the 1st of January, I visited my friends old from secondary school. (instead of: old
friends) (Sokeng, 2014)
Lack of subject-verb concord
“Agreement or concord shows syntactic links that exist between words” (Tadjom,
1993). Extent of bond and linkage between words are uncovered through concord. Thus, a
verb agrees with its subject and the subject agrees or collocates with its verb form. The same
goes for the verb and its complement (s). Concord might differ from one language to another.
Some cases of subject-verb disagreement can be comprehensible in the learners’ first or
dominant language but incomprehensible in the target language. In French, for instance,
existential forms such as “Il y’a” (meaning: “there is”) remain invariable whether words that
follow it are in plural or singular. But, this is not the case with the equivalent existential form
in English. It is worth noting that some subject-verb disagreement may not only occur as a
result of interference but they can also result from intralingual factors. This is discernible in
these examples from literature.
33° *Everybody know… (Emaleu, 2004)
34° The teaching is a job which require the knowledge and many time. (Teaching is a job
which requires knowledge and much time.) (Abilamekou, 2007)
35° *He work in the bush. (He works in the bush.) (Fornkwa, 2013)
36° *There is two men. (There are two men.) (Simo, 1978)
37° “My holidays was very nice.” (My holidays were very nice.) (Sokeng, 2014)
38° *The news are on TV at 19:30. (The news is on TV at 19:30.) (Tadjom, 1993)
To improve his students’ proficiency in English, Hendrickson (1976) sought to find out
whether two direct methods to error correction can improve his subject’s proficiency in
English. He found that these methods failed to improve his students’ proficiency in English.
The latter just contributed to increasing the total number of words in each student’s
composition. One of his suggestions was that a great deal more empirical research is needed
to determine the communicative effect of students’ written errors and to find out effective
ways of improving language learners’ proficiency in English.
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The ongoing study is an extension of the studies reviewed above. It will be limited to syntax,
morphology and orthography. Other levels of language study, namely lexis and phonology,
will be considered in further studies.
This work uses Error Analysis (EA) following Hendrickson (1976). The study follows six
STEP 1. Collect data
Troisieme pupils were asked to write an essay in section D of the English paper in the 2014
BEPC examination in Cameroon. The essay in question was to be written, between 150-200
words, on one of the following three topics:
1) Which do you prefer, modern or traditional medicine. Give your reasons.
2) Imagine that you have just returned from a foreign country of your choice where you
spent your Easter holiday. Tell your classmates how you felt while there, the things you did,
what you liked and did not like, the places you visited and your general impressions.
3) You have discovered that many of your classmates are HIV positive. Write a speech in
which you advise them on the preventive methods and cure. Your name is Esua John, and
your school is GBSS Betangmbeng.
Since there was no essay on the second topic and very few essays were found on the third
topic, such essays were excluded from the study. As many pupils chose the first topic, we
collected essays only on the first topic.
In the 2015 BEPC examination in Cameroon, another batch of Troisieme pupils was asked to
write an essay between 150-200 words. Candidates were to choose only one essay topic from
the following:
1° You just had your birthday party which you liked very much. Write an essay on how the
party took place.
2° Describe a person you admire most.
3° Imagine you are a journalist. Write out a dialogue in which you interview Samuel Eto’o on
the brilliant performance of his team in a football match.
A substantial majority of essays were on the second topic. The first essay topic was not
tackled. A small number of pupils’ essays were on the third topic. Thus, only essays on the
second topic were considered for this study. The 2014 BEPC essays were coded CA while
those of 2015 were coded TT. Unintelligible or illegible and plagiarized essays were
discarded from the study. Essays that were deemed plagiarised essays were those essays in
which pupils reproduced integrally or copied out either the essay topic or some sentences
found in the text from the section entitled, Reading Comprehension.
In the 2014 BEPC scripts, out of the 172 essays collected, 78 were excluded from scrutiny
(i.e. 12 were unintelligible, 27 were both plagiarised and unintelligible while 39 were just
plagiarised). Thus, in the 2014 BEPC scripts, out of the 172 essays collected, only 94 essays
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were analysed for the current study. In the 2015 BEPC scripts, out of the 349 essays collected,
51 were excluded from scrutiny for plagiarism and unintelligibility.
Thus 521 essays were extracted from the 2014 and 2015 BEPC scripts, 129 essays were
excluded from scrutiny and only 392 essays were included in the broad corpus for this study
which also contained 46 class test essays.
We collected, from two secondary school English teachers, a total of 46 class test essays: 15
in 2016, 15 in 2017 and 16 in 2018. These essays were written by Troisieme pupils from
Lycee de Biyem-Assi (a French-speaking secondary school in Yaounde where English is
taught and learned as a second official language). These essays disclosed the same types of
faulty constructions as was found in the BEPC essays in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The
afore-mentioned constituted the broad corpus (i.e. BEPC and class test essays) for this paper.
What comes next constituted the narrow corpus (i.e. a series of ten designed tests intended for
Troisieme pupils schooling in the following secondary schools: College Adventiste de
Yaounde (an urban area), Lycee D’Elig-Essono (an urban area), Lycee de Kol-Afamba (a rural
area) and College Saint Joseph de Messa Mvelle (a rural area).
STEP 2. Identify errors
Recurrent and common errors in the broad corpus were identified. They included the
1. Use of the present perfective in place of the simple past tense: “We have giveing some
reasons.” (gave)
2. Use of the singular form in place of the plural form: “She has got moving song.”
(moving songs)
3. Use of a personal pronoun in place of a possessive adjective: “He is my best friend, he
name is Kenedy.” (his)
It is worth bearing in mind that comparison across the various Troisieme classes and
secondary schools under consideration is excluded from this study because the recurrent and
common errors identified were of the same type irrespective of the Troisieme class, the school
or the area involved; and the same language difficulties and needs, as disclosed in this
research work, run across the board from one Troisieme class to another, from one secondary
school to another as well as from rural to urban areas.
STEP 3. Classify errors
After identifying all the recurrent and common errors in the broad corpus, the researcher
grouped them into ten types and designed ten tests (see Appendix) to quantify them. These are
the following:
 TEST 1, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of tense, aspect and
 TEST 2, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of number in English
 TEST 3, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of pronouns
 TEST 4, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of articles
 TEST 5, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of attributive
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 TEST 6, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked orthography
 TEST 7, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked subject-verb concord
 TEST 8, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of the various verb
forms in English
 TEST 9, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of derivational
 TEST 10, intended for 10 pupils randomly selected, checked the use of prepositions
Each test contained 10 sentences. Each test was taken in 2019 by 10 Troisieme class
pupils randomly selected. In all, a total of 100 pupils took part in the testing of recurrent and
common errors that were identified in the broad corpus outlined above. As a result a narrow
corpus was built.
Some sentences were found to contain three or more errors of different types. To solve this
difficulty, the researcher picked out recurrent and common faulty constructions (words or
structure), proposed a correction leaving out only one recurrent and common error in each of
the sentences as shown in TEST 1 (cf. Appendix I).
STEP 4. Quantify errors
Then 10 randomly selected pupils were asked to choose the right answer for each sentence.
Results for each of the ten tests were quantified and recorded.
STEP 5. Analyse source of errors
Using Hendrickson (1976), some recurrent and common error types were analysed as global
while some were analysed as local and others were deemed ambiguous. From this analysis,
aspects of grammar to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or foreign
language were disclosed.
STEP 6. Remediate
To improve low communicative proficiency in English some recommendations were given
including a revision of the syllabus.
Definitions of some terms
This paper uses some terms worth defining: global and local errors, communicative and
linguistic proficiency, Troisieme pupils and BEPC examination. They are defined in turn
3.1 Global and local errors
A global error is defined as “a communicative error that causes a native speaker of English
either to misinterpret a written message or to consider the message incomprehensive within
the total context of the error” (Hendrickson, 1976, p. 2). In other words, a
communicative/global error is a grammatical error in which the addresser’s intended meaning
impairs understanding or intelligibility.
 e.g. “When the woman watch this he is scare and cried” (cf. “she”).
 e.g “They go out and bring something to make the holds” (cf. “hole”).”
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A local error, on the other hand, is identified as a “linguistic error that makes a sentence
appear ungrammatical or unidiomatical but, nevertheless, causes a native speaker of English
little or no difficulty in understanding the intended meaning of a sentence, given its contextual
framework” (Hendrickson, ibid). It means that, inspite of the ungrammaticality of a linguistic
error, the latter still communicates the addresser’s intended meaning.
 e.g. “The little brother look at his sisters who play badminton.” (cf. “looks”)
 e.g. “They enjoy highly the cooking.” (cf. “highly enjoy”)
3.2 Communicative and linguistic proficiency
According to Hendrickson (1976), learners’ linguistic and communicative proficiency is
considered low whenever global and local errors are frequently identified in their language
productions. And learners’ linguistic and communicative proficiency is considered high
whenever global and local errors are not frequently identified in their language productions. If
the proportion or types of global errors outnumbers the proportion or types of local errors,
communicative proficiency is lower than linguistic proficiency.
If on the contrary, the proportion or types of local errors outnumbers the proportion or types
of global errors, linguistic proficiency is lower than communicative proficiency. If the
proportion or types of global errors does not outnumber the proportion or types of local errors,
communicative proficiency is higher than linguistic proficiency. If on the contrary, the
proportion or types of local errors does not outnumber the proportion or types of global errors,
linguistic proficiency is higher than communicative proficiency.
3.3 Troisieme pupils
Aged between 13-18 years, these pupils are Cameroon Francophone secondary school
learners of English as a second official language. They are male and female French-speaking
pupils from different mother tongue backgrounds including Ewondo populaire, Duala, Bulu
and Fulfulde. French is their first official language and English their second official language.
3.4 BEPC examination
At the end of each school year, Troisieme pupils are to write an official examination held
across the country and referred to as “BEPC” or “Brevet D’ etudes du Premier Cycle du
Second Degré.” It is said to be the equivalent to the Anglo-Saxon GCE Ordinary Level which
is written after five years of secondary school education.
1. DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
Three research questions guided the study. These questions are reproduced below and
findings of the study outlined and discussed thereafter.
1.1 Research question 1: What are the characteristic features of Troisieme pupils’
These characteristic features of the English productions of Troisieme pupils were found to fall
under three broad categories, namely global [communicative] errors, local [linguistic] errors
and ambiguous errors.
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Global errors were observed at the level of morphology, syntax and orthography. They
included the following:
Misuse of tense, aspect and auxiliary: (Morphology)
4. Use of the present perfective in place of the simple past tense: “We have giveing some
reasons.” (gave)
5. Use of the past perfective in place of the simple present tense: “I had admired this girl
most because she has a good heart.” (admire)
6. The progressive form of the verb in place of the simple present tense form: “Every day
you go going for modern medicine.” (go)
7. The choice of the wrong auxiliary: “They can going to some countries.” (are)
Misuse of number: (Morphology)
8. Use of the singular form in place of the plural form: “She has got moving song.”
(moving songs)
9. The –S morpheme attached to noun premodifiers: “Russian guns had caused the death
of thousands people over many decades.” (thousands of people)
10. The –S morpheme attached to premodifying adjectives: “In Cameroon, the two
officials languages are English and French.” (official)
11. The singular “this” used for plurality: “But this tests are complicated.” (these)
Misuse of pronouns: (Syntax)
12. Use of a personal pronoun in place of a possessive adjective: “He is my best friend, he
name is Kenedy.” (his)
13. The use of a possessive adjective in place of a wh-pronoun: “HIV is a human
immunodeficiency virus their preventive methods and cure are abstinence, fidelity and
screening tests.” (its)
14. Use of a personal pronoun in place of a wh-pronoun: “I love my father she is a role
model to women.” (who)
15. The choice of the wrong personal pronoun: “This person, it is my beloved friend.”
16. Use of “that” in place of “them” (a personal pronoun): “The rebels and the
government recruit children to train that.” (them)
Omission of the definite article: (Syntax)
17. The omission of the definite article where it is expected: “I prefer way it is.”
Misuse of the definite article: (Syntax)
18. The insertion of “the” where it is not needed: “The bilingualism is important for me
because it enables me to express my thought in French and English.”
19. The use of “the” in place of “a” (an indefinite article): “It is a problem that we could
tackle with the sense of responsibility.”
Misuse of the indefinite article: (Syntax)
20. The insertion of “a” where it is not needed: “A preventive methods are abstinence,
fidelity and the use of condom.”
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Omission of the indefinite article: (Syntax)
21. Omission of “a” in non-copular relationship: “She has got good hairstyle.”
22. Misordering of attributive adjectives (Syntax): “People can have job good.” (good
23. Seriously misspelled verbs (Orthography): “This is the person I went to describe.”
Thus, as shown above, 20 global error types were identified in the broad corpus and were
highlighted in the narrow corpus for this study. 14 Local error types were also observed at the
level of morphology, syntax and orthography as shown below:
Lack of subject-verb concord: (Morphology)
1. The subject-verb plural concord in place of the subject-verb singular concord:
“Modern medicine is an innovative type of cure that give satisfaction.” (gives)
2. The subject-verb V-ING concord in place of the subject-verb V-s concord: “I can see
one girl who usually sitting in front.” (sits)
Inappropriate verb forms: (Morphology)
3. The use of the past form in place of the ED participle: “We have just gave some of the
reasons.” (given)
4. The V- ed form attached to irregular verbs: “The lionesses of Cameroon have wined
the match.” (won)
5. Use of the V-ed form in place of the base form: I will described a person I admire
most.” (will describe)
6. Use of the V-s form in place of the V-ING form: “You are speaks French and
English.” (are speaking)
7. Use of BE+V in place of V: “You are makes me happy.” (make)
8. Use of the V-ING form in place of V: “You would notice the presence of many boys
who can carrying guns.”
9. Use of the base form in place of the V-ed form: “In the DRC (Democratic Republic of
Congo), soldiers are use to carry out what we call “coup d’état.”
10. The V-s form in place of the V-ed form: “We drinks juice.” (drank)
Avoidance and substitution of adverbs: (Syntax)
11. An adjective in place of a derivational adverb
- Usual is used in place of usually: “He usual looked forward to holidays.”
- Final is used in place of finally: “They final got it.”
- Strong is used in place of strongly: “My uncle strong believes he is the best.”
- Hasty is used in place of hastily: “They hasty put on their clothes.”
- Serious is used in place of seriously: “Laura was serious wounded.”
- Rare is used in place of rarely: “My English teacher rare corrects my
homework.”
- Fluent is used in place of fluently: “Mum and dad speak English and French fluent.”
- Week is used in place of weekly: “A traditional healer week provides long-lasting treatments
for his patients.”
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12. Avoidance of adverbs (Syntax): “Paul and David were complete discouraged by the
sad news.”
13. Omission of the indefinite article in copular relationship (Syntax): “My mother is
very simple woman.” (omission of “a”)
14. Slightly misspelled nouns (Orthography): “holydays” in place of “holidays” as in
“That is how I spent my Christmas holydays.” “medecin” instead of “medicine” “In modern
medecin, medical appliances are used to provide care to patients.”
As for the use of prepositions in English, it was found to fall into another category, i.e.
ambiguous errors. These errors are at the same time global and local errors depending on the
context of the error. Hendrickson (1976) characterised them as errors that often make
meaning ambiguous (i.e. “They worked and at last they found their sheeps without frozen.
=They worked and at last they found their sheep were not frozen.” “He is listening the talk of
the man. =listening to”. “They are going a brizde. =They are going to a bridge”).
Hendrickson’s findings show that omitted propositions often confused meaning. That is why
here we referred to them as ambiguous errors. Omitted as well as misused propositions were
deemed ambiguous errors. They were observed only at the level of syntax. They included the
Misused prepositions:
1. “into” in place of “to”: “My uncle is good into everybody.”
2. “in” in place of “to”: “They can talk in great people.”
3. “at” in place of “about”: “Dear people, I was informed at the deadly virus.”
4. “at” in place of “from”: “My friend is a pupil at the Bilingual High School at
5. “about” in place of “for”: “I love my dad who is, about my mum, a role model.”
6. “about” in place of “to”: “About all the youth, Lami is a model young person.”
Omitted prepositions:
7. Omission of “to” placed after the verb “came”: “Greg and Mike came our country.”
8. Omission of “in” after the verb “translate”: “You can translate your exercise book.”
9. Omission of “about” placed after “especially: “Let’s talk about you, especially the
brilliant performance of your team in the pitch.”
Thus, 9 types of ambiguous errors were identified in the broad corpus and highlighted in the
narrow corpus.
These characteristic features outlined above were found to affect proficiency in English.
Global errors were found to lead to communication breakdown. Local errors were found to
lead to ungrammaticality. Ambiguous errors were found to lead to ungrammaticality as well
as communication breakdown. The afore-mentioned show that characteristic features of the
English of Troisieme pupils in Cameroon have got little to do with first language interference.
Characteristic features of communication breakdown that were found can be summarised as
follows: misuse of pronouns, misuse of number, misuse of the definite article, omission of the
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definite article, misuse of the indefinite article, omission of the indefinite article in non-
copular relationship, misuse of tense, aspect and auxiliary, misordering of attributive
adjectives and seriously misspelled verbs.
Characteristic features of ungrammaticality that were identified can be recapped as follows:
slightly misspelled nouns, lack of subject-verb concord, inappropriate verb forms, avoidance
and substitution of adverbs, and omission of the indefinite article in copular relationship.
Features of ungrammaticality as well as communication breakdown are found to be omitted
prepositions and misused prepositions.
The characteristic features of Troisieme pupils’ grammar that are global (communicative)
originated in (i) word order (e.g. attributive adjectives), (ii) serious misspelling (e.g.verbs),
and (iii) knowledge and use of tense, aspect, auxiliaries, pronouns, number, the definite article
and the indefinite article in non-copular relationship. Those that are local (linguistic)
originated in slight misspelling (e.g. nouns), subject-verb concord, verb forms, knowledge and
use of derivational adverbs and the indefinite article in copular relationship. And those that
were ambiguous (i.e. deemed at the same time local and global) originated in the knowledge
and use of prepositions precisely.
From the above, the following grammatical aspects were unraveled:
- Aspects of communicative proficiency: Tenses, aspects, auxiliaries, number,
pronouns, the definite article, the indefinite article in non-copular relationship, adjectives and
- Aspects of linguistic proficiency: Subject-verb concord, verb forms, adverbs and the
indefinite article in copular relationship.
- Aspects of linguistic as well as communicative proficiency: Prepositions.
This study reveals that high communicative proficiency heavily depends on the following
grammatical aspects: an adequate use of tenses, aspects, auxiliaries, pronouns, the definite
article, the indefinite article in non-copular relationship, number, adjectives and nouns. High
linguistic proficiency on the other hand heavily depends on making subjects and verbs agree,
on an adequate use of verb forms, adequate use of derivational adverbs as well as the
indefinite article in copular relationship. High linguistic as well as communicative proficiency
heavily depends on an adequate knowledge of prepositions and skill in using prepositions
Misused and omitted prepositions were found to only involve low communicative as well as
low linguistic proficiency. Yet, misuse of tense, aspect including auxiliary, misuse of
pronouns, misuse of the definite article, omission of the definite article, misuse of the
indefinite article, omission of the indefinite article in non-copular relationship, misuse of
number, misordering of attributive adjectives and seriously misspelled verbs were found to
only involve low communicative proficiency. As for low linguistic proficiency, it was found
to only involve slightly misspelled nouns, lack of subject-verb concord, inappropriate verb
forms, avoidance and substitution of adverbs, and the omission of the indefinite article in
copular relationship.
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1.2 Research question 2: What is the level of Troisieme pupils’ communicative/linguistic
Recurrent and common errors were identified in the broad corpus and highlighted in the
narrow corpus. The overall number of error types examined in this study is displayed below.
As global error types (20 types) outnumbered local error types (14 types), it was inferred that
the communicative proficiency of Troisieme pupils is lower than their linguistic proficiency.
To put it in simple terms, these learners of English cannot communicate in English. This
substantiated Troisieme pupils’ low communicative proficiency as well as their low linguistic
proficiency in English.
Thus, Troisieme pupils face English language difficulties and needs at the level of linguistic
and communication. The above findings show that the written productions of Troisieme pupils
have been suffering, for the most part, from communication failure. Communicative error
types (20 types) outnumbered linguistic error types (13 types) in the broad and narrow
corpora for this study. This is a proof that Troisieme pupils’ communicative proficiency is
lower than their linguistic proficiency in English.
1.3 Research question 3: What are the relevant pedagogical interventions?
This study shows that a number of pedagogical interventions are highly needed so as to
improve the English language proficiency of Troisieme pupils in Cameroon. This research
work has found grammatical aspects that need to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a
second or foreign language. In so doing, the current study attempts to improve communicative
and linguistic proficiency in English used as a second or foreign language. These grammatical
aspects are the following: tense, aspects, auxiliaries, number, pronouns, articles, attributive
adjectives, subject-verb concord, verb forms in English, derivational adverbs, prepositions
and orthography. These aspects need to be taught thoroughly with practical exercises. TESTS
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 (see Appendix I) should be used to find out whether the vast
majority of learners of English have actually got the lessons on the afore-mentioned
grammatical aspects. It is worth pointing out that each test is meant to check specific
grammatical aspects as shown below.
- TEST 1 would check the learning/mastery of tense, aspect and auxiliary usage
- TEST 2 would check the learning/mastery of the use of number in English
- TEST 3 would check the learning/mastery assimilation of the use of pronouns
- TEST 4 would check learning/mastery the assimilation of the use of articles
- TEST 5 would check the learning/mastery of the use of attributive adjectives
- TEST 6 would check the learning/mastery of orthography
- TEST 7 would check the learning/mastery of subject-verb concord
- TEST 8 would check the learning/mastery of the use of the various verb forms in
- TEST 9 would check the learning/mastery of the use of derivational adverbs
- TEST 10 would check the learning/mastery of the use of prepositions
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In case a given TEST above shows that a particular aspect of English grammar is not
yet assimilated, further teaching and practical exercises on this aspect in question would be
considered and so on until all these grammatical aspects are all mastered by the vast majority
of learners of English as a second or foreign language.
Following the Communicative Effect Taxonomy in Error Analysis as developed by
Hendrickson (1976), the current paper has unraveled aspects of grammar to be reinforced in
the teaching and learning of English in a bid to improve communicative and linguistic
proficiency in English used as a second or foreign language. The data for the study were
collected from two sources i.e. a broad corpus and a narrow corpus. Recurrent and common
errors were identified in the broad corpus and highlighted in the narrow corpus. These errors
were classified, analysed, quantified and remediated. Results disclosed aspects of English
grammar (to be reinforced in the teaching of English as a second or foreign language), which
go as follows:
Morphology
- Use of the present perfective in place of the simple past tense: “We have giveing
some reasons.” (gave)
- Use of the past perfective in place of the simple present tense: “I had admired this
girl most because she has a good heart.” (admire)
- The progressive form of the verb in place of the simple present tense form: “Every
day you go going for modern medicine.” (go)
- The choice of the wrong auxiliary: “They can going to some countries.” (are)
- Use of the singular form in place of the plural form: “She has got moving song.”
(moving songs)
- The –S morpheme attached to noun premodifiers: “Russian guns had caused the
death of thousands people over many decades.” (thousands of people)
- The –S morpheme attached to premodifying adjectives: “In Cameroon, the two
officials languages are English and French.” (official)
- The singular “this” used for plurality: “But this tests are complicated.” (these)
Syntax
- Use of a personal pronoun in place of a possessive adjective: “He is my best friend,
he name is Kenedy.” (his)
- The use of a possessive adjective in place of a wh-pronoun: “HIV is a human
immunodeficiency virus their preventive methods and cure are abstinence, fidelity and
screening tests.” (its)
- Use of a personal pronoun in place of a wh-pronoun: “I love my father she is a role
model to women.” (who)
- The choice of the wrong personal pronoun: “This person, it is my beloved friend.”
- Use of “that” in place of “them” (a personal pronoun): “The rebels and the
government recruit children to train that.” (them)
- The omission of the definite article where it is expected: “I prefer way it is.”
- The insertion of “the” where it is not needed: “The bilingualism is important for
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me because it enables me to express my thought in French and English.”
- The use of “the” in place of “a” (an indefinite article): “It is a problem that we
could tackle with the sense of responsibility.”
- The insertion of “a” where it is not needed: “A preventive methods are abstinence,
fidelity and the use of condom.”
- Omission of “a” in non-copular relationship: “She has got good hairstyle.”
- Misordering of attributive adjectives: “People can have job good.” (good jobs)
- Seriously misspelled verbs: “This is the person I went to describe.” (want).
The above aspects were analysed as global error types. They were 20 types. Other aspects
were found. They were analysed as local error types. They were 14 and were also found at the
level of morphology, syntax and orthography as shown below:
- The subject-verb plural concord in place of the subject-verb singular concord:
“Modern medicine is an innovative type of cure that give satisfaction.” (gives)
- The subject-verb V-ING concord in place of the subject-verb V-s concord: “I can
see one girl who usually sitting in front.” (sits)
- The use of the past form in place of the ED participle: “We have just gave some of
the reasons.” (given)
- The V- ed form attached to irregular verbs: “The lionesses of Cameroon have
wined the match.” (won)
- Use of the V-ed form in place of the base form: I will described a person I admire
most.” (will describe)
- Use of the V-s form in place of the V-ING form: “You are speaks French and
English.” (are speaking)
- Use of BE+V in place of V: “You are makes me happy.” (make)
- Use of the V-ING form in place of V: “You would notice the presence of many boys
who can carrying guns.”
- Use of the base form in place of the V-ed form: “In the DRC (Democratic Republic
of Congo), soldiers are use to carry out what we call “coup d’état.”
- The V-s form in place of the V-ed form: “We drinks juice.” (drank)
- An adjective in place of a derivational adverb: “He usual looked forward to holidays.”
- Avoidance of adverbs (Syntax): “Paul and David were complete discouraged by the sad
- Omission of the indefinite article in copular relationship: “My mother is very simple
woman.” (omission of “a”)
- Slightly misspelled nouns: “holydays” in place of “holidays” as in “That is how I spent my
Christmas holydays.” “medecin” instead of “medicine” “In modern medecin, medical
appliances are used to provide care to patients.”
Other aspects were deemed ambiguous errors. They were 9 types. They were identified
only at the level of syntax. They are the following:
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- “into” in place of “to”: “My uncle is good into everybody.”
- “in” in place of “to”: “They can talk in great people.”
- “at” in place of “about”: “Dear people, I was informed at the deadly virus.”
- “at” in place of “from”: “My friend is a pupil at the Bilingual High School at
- “about” in place of “for”: “I love my dad who is, about my mum, a role model.”
- “about” in place of “to”: “About all the youth, Lami is a model young person.”
- Omission of “to” placed after the verb “came”: “Greg and Mike came our country.”
- Omission of “in” after the verb “translate”: “You can translate your exercise book.”
- Omission of “about” placed after “especially: “Let’s talk about you, especially the
brilliant performance of your team in the pitch.”
Aspects of English grammar disclosed above were found to affect communicative and
linguistic proficiency in English. Global errors were found to lead to communication
breakdown. Local errors were found to lead to ungrammaticality. Ambiguous errors were
found to lead to ungrammaticality as well as communication breakdown.
From the above, learners of English as a second or foreign language were found to face
English language difficulties and needs at the level of linguistic and communication. This
was a proof that aspects of English grammar as disclosed above should be reinforced in the
teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language. In so doing communicative
and linguistic proficiency in English used a second or foreign language will be successfully
The proposed relevant remedy to such a non-standard English is to revise the syllabus by
reinforcing in the teaching of English these grammatical aspects: aspects of communicative
proficiency (tenses, aspects, auxiliaries, number, pronouns, the definite article, the indefinite
article in non-copular relationship, adjectives and verbs), aspects of linguistic proficiency
(subject-verb concord, verb forms, adverbs and the indefinite article in copular relationship)
and aspects of linguistic as well as communicative proficiency (Prepositions).
5.2 Significance of the study
This paper is important for a number of reasons: (i) it unravels aspects of English grammar to
be reinforced in teaching of English in a bid to improve communicative and linguistic
proficiency in English used as a second or foreign language, (ii) and shows grammatical
aspects that affect linguistic and communicative proficiency in English.
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Sokeng, P. S. C. (2014). Grammatical errors of bilingual 1 francophone learners of English
in the University of Yaoundé I. Theory and Practice in Language: Academic
Publisher, 4(9), 1778-1785.
Tadjom, J. H. (1993). The source language as an obstruction in second language learning: A
case of francophone learners of English. Unpublished postgraduate thesis, The
University of Yaounde I, Cameroon.
I hereby certify that this paper is approved by my institutions and was not used in a
conference before. It is original and not consider in another journal. Special thanks are
therefore extended to Professor Jean Paul Kouega from The University of Yaounde I,
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22. International Journal of English Language Teaching
Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online)
 TEST 1: Tense, aspect and auxiliaries
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
1) We ------------- some reasons. (have giveing, gave, have giving, have givening)
2) They------------ to some countries. (can gone, can going, can go, have going)
3) Dear people, I ------------ about the problem of HIV. (have informed, have been
informing, was informed, have informing)
4) Every day you ----------for modern medicine. ( going, gone, go going, go)
5) I prefer modern medicine because I ---------- a doctor. (go going to see, seen, go
seeing, see)
6) I prefer modern medicine because I --------- it. (am admired, had admired, have been
admired, admire)
7) We arrived when the train --------- (left, was left, had left, had been left)
8) If I were you, I -------- modern medicine (go chosening, go going to choose, go
choosing, would have chosen)
9) I was doing the dishes when my mother ----------- (have returned, returned, had
returned, had been returned)
10) I ----------- this girl most because she has a good heart. (am admired, had admired,
have been admired, admire)
 TEST 2: Number in English
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
11) My ------------- are based on the usefulness of traditional medicine. (reasons, reason,
reasones, reasonings)
12) The presidents from ------------ can visit us. (others countries, other countrie, other
countries, other country)
13) Russian guns had caused the death of ------------ over many decades. (thousands
people, a thousands people, thousands of people, thousands peoples)
14) Lami is a role model for ---------- of today. (youths, gang of youth, gangs of youth,
15) My aunt likes to go and visit ----------. (animale, animal, animals, animales)
16) But --------- are complicated. (these test, this tests, these tests, these testes)
17) I prefer ----------- medicine because my family prefers it. (traditions, traditione,
traditionale, traditional)
18) She has got ---------- (movings songs, movings song, moving songs, moving song).
19) In Cameroon, the two ----------- are English and French. (officials languages, official
languages, officiales languages, official language)
20) With short-----, her face looks long. (legs, leges, leg, lege)
 TEST 3: Pronouns
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
41) I love my father -------- is a role model to women. (he, she, whom, who)
42) I admire Sophie ---------- loves children very much. (she, that, whose, who).
29
23. International Journal of English Language Teaching
Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online)
43) Bilingualism can develop gendarmeries ---------- can improve the country’s security
measures. (what, it, its, which)
44) He is my best friend, ------- name is Kenedy. (its, his, he, who)
45) The rebels and the government recruit children to train ------------. (he, his, that, them)
46) My aunt likes ----------. (he, I , it, we)
47) We would like to tell him our secrets because, in return, he will give -----------advice.
(it, her, its, his)
48) I prefer modern medicine because --------- is the best for one’s health. (she, he, it, that)
49) HIV is a human immunodeficiency virus ------- preventive methods and cure are
abstinence, fidelity and screening tests. (their, whose, it, its)
50) This person, ----------- is my beloved friend. (its, it, he, his)
 TEST 4: Articles
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
51) ------------- are abstinence, fidelity and the use of condom. (a preventive methods, a
preventive method, preventive methods, the method, the preventive)
52) I prefer ---------- because it is sure and advantageous. (the modern medicine, modern
medicine, a modern medicine, an modern medicine).
53) ---------- is important for me because it enables me to express my thought in French
and English. (the bilingualism, an bilingualism, a bilingualism, bilingualism)
54) I prefer ------- it is. (way, a way, the way, the ways)
55) They have ------------. (a moving songs, an moving song, moving songs, the movings
56) The recruitment of child soldiers continued in --------- a long-lasting civil conflict in
poverty-stricken regions (the periods of, a period of, an period of, period of).
57) It is a problem that we could tackle with ---------- responsibility. (the sense of, a sense
of, a senses of, an sense of)
58) My mother is --------- simple woman. (very, an very, a very, the very)
59) If I have -----------, he helps me. (a problems, a problem, the problem, the problems)
60) She has got ----------- hairstyle. (good, the good, a good, an good)
 TEST 5: Attributive adjectives
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
61) People prefer -------------. (medicine traditional, traditional medicine, traditional
medicinal, medicinal traditional)
62) The best ---------- is purely traditional. (medicine curative, medicinal curative, curative
medicinal, curative medicine)
63) People can have ----------. (jobs good, good job, good jobs, job good)
64) I prefer -------------. (medicinal modern, modern medicinal, modern medicine,
medicine modern)
65) They use all ------------. (resources well-known available, available resources well-
known, well-known resources available, well-known available resources)
66) ---------- are abstinence, fidelity and the use of condom. (methods preventive,
preventives methods, method preventives, preventive methods)
30
24. International Journal of English Language Teaching
Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online)
67) A ---------- is safer but expensive. (treatment medical modern, medical treatment
modern, modern medical treatment, medical modern treatment)
68) My father is a ---------. (person very quiet, quiet very person, very quiet person, very
person quiet)
69) I will present the -----------. (interesting aspects physical, aspects physical interesting,
physical aspects interesting, interesting physical aspects)
70) My Aunt is a -----------. (woman friendly hospitable, woman hospitable friendly,
hospitable friendly woman, friendly woman hospitable)
 TEST 6: Orthography
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
91) She is a beautiful --------. (gear, gluer, girl, gears)
92) He likes ------. (banane, benema, benana, banana).
93) My aunt has got long ------. (hare, hahre, hair, here)
94) In modern ----------, medical appliances are used to provide care to patients. (medecin,
medicin, medicine, medecine)
95) That is how I spent my Christmas ----------. (holydays, holiday, holidays, hollidays)
96) This is the person I --------- to describe. (went, won’t, want, wand)
97) I can see one girl who --------- in front. (seat, seats, sit, sits)
98) It is good to be -----------. (bilinguale, bilinguals, bilinguales, bilingual)
99) I love my father who is a role model to ----------. (wouman, woumen, wumen women)
100) I prefer ----------medical treatments. (mother, moder, modern, model)
 TEST 7: Subject-verb concord
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
21) It ------------- speaking and writing in many languages. (ease, eases, easing, easeing)
22) He ------------ traditional medicine. (preferring, prefere, prefer, prefers)
23) Modern medicine is an innovative type of cure that ------------ satisfaction. (giveing,
giving, gives, give)
24) I can see one girl who usually ---------- in front. (sit, sits, sitting, siting)
25) This girl ---------- a small head. (having, haveing, has, have)
26) Her body --------- like that of Miss Cameroon. (look, lookes, looks, looke)
27) When she -----------, I am enthralled. (speaking, speak, speaks, speakes)
28) He told me what he ---------- in the house. (doing, doeing, do, does).
29) She ----------- English to secondary school children. (teaching, teaches, teachs, teach)
30) A medical doctor ----------- patients. (examin, examine, examines, examineing)
 TEST 8: The various verb forms in English
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
31) I --------- a person I admire most. (will described, was described, was being described,
am going to describe)I have just ------------- a person I admire most.
32) In the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), soldiers are ------------ to carry out what
we call “coup d’état.” (useing, use, uses, used)
31
25. International Journal of English Language Teaching
Vol.8, No.6, pp.8-32, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0820(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0839(Online)
33) We ------------ juice. (drinking, drinks, drank, drinked)
34) The lionesses of Cameroon have ---------- the match. (wined, winning, wins, won)
35) We have just ---------- some of the reasons. (giveing, giving, given, gave)
36) She has just --------- the money. (provide, provides, providing, provided)
37) You would notice the presence of many boys who can ----------- guns. (carrying,
carried, carries, carry)
38) You ---------- me happy. (are makes, are make, makes, make).
39) You are ----------- French and English. (speak, speaks, speaked, speaking)
40) For example, in Soudan, rebels ----------- people in villages. (kill, kiled, killed, kills)
 TEST 9: Derivational adverbs
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
71) He ------------- looked forward to holidays. (habitual, usual, unusual, usually)
72) They------------ got it. (final, definite, finite, finally) to some countries.
73) My uncle ------------ believes he is the best. (strong, gracious, strongly, sad)
74) They ---------- put on their clothes. (hasty, hastily, rapid, frequent)
75) Laura was ---------- wounded. (serious, seriously, grave, bad)
76) My English teacher --------- corrects my homework. (rare, rarely, scarce, kind)
77) His speech was --------- welcomed. (kind, rapid, swift, warmly)
78) Paul and David were ----------discouraged by the sad news. (utterly, complete, blunt,
79) Mum and dad speak English and French ----------- (fluent, fluency, fluently, swift)
80) A traditional healer ----------- provides long-lasting treatments for his patients. (week,
day, rough, weekly)
 TEST 10: Prepositions
Fill in the gap in each of the ten sentences below with the correct words or structure in the
81) Let’s talk about you, ----- the brilliant performance of your team in the pitch.
(especially to, especially, specially, especially about)
82) You can ------ your exercise book. (translate, translate on, translate in, translate into).
83) They can ------- great people. (talk, talk in, talk at, talk to)
84) Dear people, I was ------ the deadly virus. (informed at, informed in, informed about,
85) We can ------ some countries. (go, go in, go on, go to)
86) Greg and Mike ----- our country. (came in, came, came to, came into)
87) ------ all the youth, Lami is a model young person. (at, about, in ,to)
88) My friend is a pupil ------ the Bilingual High School at Mendong. (into, from, on, at)
89) I love my dad who is, ----- my mum, a role model. (of, in, for, about)
90) My uncle is good ------ everybody. (to, into, on, in)
32