ERRORS IN THE USE OF ENGLISH PREPOSITION BY THE BENGALI LEARNERS
OF ENGLISH: A CASE STUDY
1
Md. Absar Uddin, Lecturer
Mohammed Sarwar Alam, Assistant Professor
1,2
Department of English Language and Literature
International Islamic University Chittagong
154/A, College Road, Chittagong-4203, Bangladesh
2
Abstract
The paper makes an attempt to describe the error in the use of English prepositions by the Bangla
language learners based on speaker’s L1 interferences, L2 intraferences, teaching ways and
learning strategies. The paper also has pedagogical implications to teach prepositions to Bangla
native speakers in order to eliminate the errors based on the problems found by the researchers.
1. Introduction: Preposition is a complex area which
the learners find difficulty in using them correctly.
The importance of using appropriate preposition can
not be ignored. Most of the times the wrong use of
prepositions changes the meaning of a sentence.
Sometimes the meaning of a sentence depends on the
preposition so much so that the using of wrong
preposition totally changes the meaning of the
sentence. Hence we may get a message totally
opposite to the intended message. Let‟s consider the
following examples:
a.
b.
Bangla is one of the leading languages of the world
and a large number of people whose 1st language is
Bangla learn English as a second/ foreign language.
So, this study will deal with the problems of a large
number of English language learners and this type of
study will help the instructors and learners identify
their problematic areas for which they are committing
errors and also this will help the instructors to be
careful in preparing materials for the learners so that
they can be able to incorporate the useful materials
and choose the effective strategies to teach them in
the class.
2. Data analysis: The paper writer took several tests
from his learners at his university who all are from
Bangla language background in order to identify the
most problematic linguistic fields where the learners
make errors. He examined and analyzed the result
and the data showed that preposition is one of the
most critical areas where the learners make frequent
errors. That‟s why the writer confines himself to this
area.
He threw a stone to me.
He threw a stone at me.
In the first example, „to‟ suggests that the act of
throwing
a
stone
was
done
out
of
love/help/generosity and the latter „at‟ suggests the
act was done out of hatred/ enmity.
The above examples make us feel how much it is
important to know the correct use of prepositions.
English is taught as a compulsory subject in schools
and colleges in Bangladesh but even after completing
their graduation the bulk of the learners cannot reach
the required level of proficiency. They often produce
sentences which are full of errors what Nemser
(1971) refers by using the term „ approximative
system‟ and Corder ( 1967) defines it as „ transitional
competence‟ or what Rivers and Temperley (1978)
termed as „ fractured English‟.
3. The objective and procedure: The paper
examines the causes of the errors and based on the
findings suggests probable solutions to these errors in
order to eliminate errors in the use of correct
prepositions by the learners whose L1 is Bangla. The
procedure of the analysis is as follows:
1. A brief contrastive analysis:
English and Postposition of Bangla
2. Types of errors.
3. Causes of errors
87
Preposition of
4. Pedagogical implications.
5. Conclusions.
Besides, second language learners also seem to make
non-systematic errors (James,1998: Edge.1989: Jain
1969). According to them, they are the slips- failures
to utilize known systems correctly – of the tongue or
pen caused by psychological conditions. This study
does not discuss such non-systematic errors because
they do not have the pedagogical significance. So, the
paper includes those errors which are systematic.
According to James (1998) Ellis (1997) and Corder (
1967), learners‟ systematic errors can provide
evidence of the language system that they are using
or have learned at a particular point. There are three
types of errors that regarding the use of preposition
which can be found in the writings of Bangali
learners of English.
1. Preposition in English and Bangla : A
contrastive analysis:
Every language has some particles to relate between
entities (one noun/pronoun/ noun phrases and another
noun/pronoun/ noun phrases). When they are placed
after the entities, they are called postpositions and
Bangla has particles called postpositions and when
they precede the entities, they are called prepositions
and English has such particles. All the prepositions of
English belong to the class of free morphemes but all
the postpositions of Bangla do not belong to that
class. Some inflectional markers such as er, r, ra, a,
ke etc. called bibhokti belong to the class of bound
morphemes and the rest belong to the class of free
morpheme.As cited earlier, the use of prepositions is
one of the complex areas which the learners find
difficulty in using them correctly. One of the reasons
for this difficulty is that the number of postpositions
is fewer than the number of English prepositions. In
many cases, Bangla uses one postposition to mean
one relational meaning whereas English has a number
of prepositions to mean the same relational meaning
making meaning dimensions. For example, Bangla
does not distinguish among under, underneath,
beneath, below, down etc. All these can be referred in
Bangla by the postposition niche. Like that, Bangla
does not distinguish between English prepositions
between and among. Only modde is used in Bangla to
refer the two or regarding place, Bangla aslo does not
make any distinction among on, over, above, up etc.
The postposition upor is enough to mean them all.
This can naturally create confusion among the
learners in using right prepositions.
2.1. Omission of preposition: The learners drop
using any preposition that is necessary for the correct
interpretation of the sentence as in (1)
a) They are going university.
b) He walked three hours.
c) He wakes up 5 o‟clock in the morning.
d) She is laughing me
2.2. Insertion of preposition: The learners include a
preposition that should not be used in a sentence as in
(2)
a) They discussed about the matter.
b) We reached at the station at 5 p.m.
c) He has described about the accident.
d) I am going to home
2.3. Choosing of incorrect preposition: The
learners use any preposition in a sentence instead of
the correct one as in (3)
a) I have been reading from morning.
b) He prevented me to go there.
c) He broke the lock by a hammer.
d) Alcohol taking is harmful for health.
2. Types of errors:
Errors can be described in two terms: systematic and
non-systematic. As Brown (2000) and Richards
(1974) point out, systematic errors are the sorts of
errors we might expect from anyone learning English
as a second language and also persist or recur within
any group of learners. Errors under the category of
systematic errors seem to occur in case in which
learners reveal more consistency in producing the
second language and when learners produce incorrect
language because they do not know the correct form.
All these errors are not global but local. “ Global
errors” according to Marina, Bust and Kiparsky
(1972) are mistakes in overall organization which
confuse the relations among the constituent clauses:
and “local error”, according to them, are errors within
clauses. The above mentioned errors are local.
3. Source of errors:
88
The use of prepositions is one of the most
complicated areas in English language learning.
Prepositions are frequently used words in English
sentences. In order to suggest remedies, it is a must to
identify the source for which the learners make
errors. The above mentioned erroneous sentences
indicate that the errors made by the Bangla language
learners originate from main two sourcesinterlingual transfer and intralingual transfer.
(a)Bangla:Tara bisoyti
nie alochona korlo.
English:They matterthe about discussed.
Correct English: They discussed the matter.
No preposition is reqired in English, when only one
object after transitive verb but in Bangla it is a must
except pronoun object as in (6).
(a)Bangla : Ami Aymanke deklam.
English: I
Ayamanto saw.
Correct English : I saw Ayaman.
3.1.Iinterlingual transfer: When learners learn a
new language, they are already accustomed to a set of
rules and they apply these rules in producing
utterances in the new language. Brown (1994), stated
that most of the learners‟ errors in the second
language result primarily from the learner‟s
assumption that the second language forms similar to
the native language. It appears that transfer can occur
in two different ways. Transfer can be positive when
similarities exit between the first and second
language and these facilitate second language
learning . In contrast, when dissimilarities exist, the
learner‟s first language knowledge interferes with
second language learning. That is called interference,
which becomes one of the sources of errors in the
second language. When learners make errors because
of the first language, those errors are known as
interlingual errors. (Brown 2000; Lightbown and
Spada, 1999; James, 1998;Ellis,1997 and 1985;
Norrish, 1993; Krashen, 1981; Richards, 1974).
Such difference between the first language and
second language becomes a hindrance in using
prepositions correctly and this leads the learners to
make sentences like:
(7) (a) I saw to my brother.
(b) We reached at the bus stop.
(c) He resembles like his brother. etc.
3.1.2. Another reason for which Bangla language
learners make errors is there is no one to one
correspondence between Bangla postposition and
English preposition. As mentioned earlier, Bangla
has fewer postpositions than English prepositions.
As a result when Bangla uses one postposition to
express one type of relational meaning, English in
many cases, uses different prepositions based on its
meaning dimensions to express the same type of
relational meaning. A number of examples have
already been given regarding this matter. This
difference creates complexity in using correct
prepositions and learners produce sentences like: (8)
(a) They are walking over the hill.
(b)The cat sat above the table.
(c) Distribute the money between Samiun, Asma and
Ayman. Or
(d) I have been reading from morning.
The study has found that in two ways the learners
make errors in using correct prepositions because of
the interference of the first language.
3.1.1. In Bangla when a noun( not pronoun) is the
indirect object of a transitive verb, a postposition
must be used but in English it is not a must all times
but in the case of certain word order as in (4).
(a) Bangla: Ami Aymanke boiti dilam.
English: I Aymanto bookthe gave.
Correct English: I gave Ayman the book. Or I gave
the book to Ayman.
3.2. Intralingual transfer: A large number of errors
committed by second language learners are similar
regardless of their first language. Those errors are
caused by intralingual transfer. As James (1998)
defines, intralingual errors are created without
reffering to L1 resources. The outcomes produced by
the learner are non-existent in the second language
but result from the misapplication of language rules.
Intralingual errors are found to involve
overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restriction,
No preposition is used in English at all but it is a
must to use postposition in Bangla with certain words
as in (5).
89
incomplete application of rules, and false concept
hypothesized (James,1998; Ellis, 1985; Norrish,
1983; Richarda,1974). In the context of second
language learning, intralingual transfer is frequently
reffered to as overgeneralization- a process that
occurs as the second language learners act within the
target language. It can be explained as extensions of
general rules to specific items where the general rules
do not apply.
In English, certain prepositions are frequently used
with certain words. For example, „to‟ after „go‟ is
common or „for‟ after „wait‟ etc . But this does not
occur always. For example, I‟m going home or, We
are waiting at the station. This misconception leads
the general learners to commit errors in using right
prepositions and produce sentences like : (9)
(a)I‟m going to home. Or
(b)We are waiting for the station. etc.
But the postposition dara can not all times be
replaced by the preposition by as in (13) (a) Hatudi
dara talati vanga hoeche.
Hammar with lockthe has been broken.
Correct order in English: The lock has been broken
with a hammer.
As a result of this faulty teaching strategy or material
learners produce sentences like :
(13) (a) Smoking is harmful for health. (because it is
taught here to use for in the place of jonno .)
(b) Add some sugar with my tea. (because it is
taught here to substitute with for sathe .)
4. Pedagogical implications: At the beginning, in
order to remove L1 interference the teachers should
make aware the learners about the differences which
exist between the postpositions of Bangla and
prepositions of English by making comparison
between or among them which have same relational
meaning but different shades. Shades can be shown
by giving examples like: (14)
(a)Divide the land between two brothers.
(b)Divide the land among the brothers ( more than
two)
The use of some prepositions can be made clear
through demonstration.
Teaching strategy should be modified. The teachers
should stop giving one to one correspondent
meaning. As functional morphemes, prepositions do
not have fixed meaning. So, usage must be taught and
it should be taught through demonstration or using
them in context to make the use clear to the learners.
More and more exercises should be done on those
usages where the learners make most errors in using
prepositions. Students may be asked to make
sentences showing the differences of those
prepositions which have same relational meaning but
different shades. Materials should be prepared based
on the problems identified and they should be
interesting and from the familiar context or culture.
They must give ample illustrations so that the
learners can form a valid general idea to apply the
rules. Exercises should be prepared making focus on
Again, It is a common tendency of human beings to
simplify rules, even children simplify rules. The
learner finds correct use of prepositions in the
sentences like: (10) (a) We went to the station.
(b) He said to us, “I am ill.”
When it becomes known to all general learners that in
the above sentences prepositions are correctly used,
this logically leads him to produce sentences like:
(11) (a)We went to home.
(b) We reached to the station. or
(c) I will tell to you the next day. etc.
3.3. There are some other reasons besides the two
above mentioned main reasons such as defective
teaching strategies, lacking of well written
comparative Bangla- English grammar books or
materials etc. The writer did a survey visiting
different schools and observed that while teaching
prepositions in the class the teachers at first, give one
to one relational meaning between Bangla
postpositions and English prepositions and he also
went through different English - Bangla grammar
books in which the same phenomenon was seen. For
example: Here it is generally taught that „by‟ is used
where you find in Bangla „dara‟ as in (12).
(a) Adit dara ei kajti kora hoyeche.
Adit by this taskthe has been done.
Correct order in English: This task has been done by
Adit.
90
those prepositions which are confusing. For example:
(15)
Choose the right preposition from the bracket
(a)The cat sat ----the table. ( on/ over)
(b)There is a clock----the door. ( on/over)
(c)The sky is ---- us. (on/over/above) or
(d) I am talking ----him. (with/ to) or
(e) Add a little salt--- the curry.( to/with) etc.
i. Beijing: Foreign Language
Teaching and Research
Press.
6.
7.
As preposition learning is a boring thing, students
may be given some interesting stories and they may
be asked to find out the prepositions used in the story
and asked to explain why they are used in such
positions.
5. Conclusion: Until the learners are given proper
instructions in using prepositions, they will continue
committing errors. Through systematic investigation
proper ways can be suggested to instruct. If the
learners are taught and practiced properly according
to the ways suggested, they will be able to reduce
errors in using prepositions which is a matter of great
concern of our teachers and students.
8.
9.
10.
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