A Few bugs in English writing

A friend of mine, when I was student at this university, asked me, “What is your score in Writing?” I plainly replied “A”. What about yours?” My friend cynically responded, “Don’t ask me about that. It’s lame. I know why, though. I’m poor at grammar while the lecturer, you know, gets crazy about it.”

The above illustration, though it’s just fictitious (rarely did English students speak English at campus in such a situation, right?), is more likely to happen in our academic setting. Students oftentimes feel what bothers them in either writing or speaking English is Grammar, which is considered ‘a bug’. They often claim that grammar always bugs their fluency. They argue that what is apparently needed in real-life communication is not grammar. Instead, communication is all about getting across ideas. Is it true?

Well, irrespective of whether or not grammar is a necessity in communication, what strikes the students when writing or speaking in English is a few (not to mention some or in fact many) seemingly unavoidable errors. Like the earthquake in Jogjakarta or Tsunami in Aceh, those errors can be typified as a national emergency because they seem to have been fossilized or internalized by most English students in Indonesia. I am not making a generalization. Let’s suppose so truthfully. What’s more, a linguist in Indonesia once reveals that the errors are becoming typical characteristics of a possibly new emerging English variety i.e. IndoEnglish. A variety that is characterized by ‘commonly accepted errors’. Erroneous, right?

Anyhow, the concept of error is a fuzzy one. It most probably necessitates a more technical explanation from linguistics point of view. Too delicate. Forget it. What concerns me at present is any deviations from the internationally accepted standard use of English particularly in English writing. You indeed have the rights to express yourself in any way you wish, not necessarily stick to the Standard use. But, if you don’t want to be said ignorant or even less educated by sophisticated English users such as professional writers, teachers, editors, and the like, you’d better not fall into the non Standard use (the errors) because you don’t know the better one.

Let me list a few identifiable errors that frequently bug my students especially when they write a research paper.

1. Combining singular and plural forms in the same sentence.
e.g. Each respondent was asked about their opinions.
Right: Each respondent was asked about his and her opinions.

2. Using an unnecessary comma.
e.g. The data are collected, and then analyzed.
Right: The data are collected and then analyzed.’

3. Writing fragmented sentence.
e.g. For days interviewed the subjects.
Right: For days I interviewed the subjects.

4. Confusing the use of “its” and “it’s”.
e.g. It’s aim is to describe the classroom interaction.
Right: Its aim is to describe the classroom interaction.

5. Using an apostrophe to indicate a plural form of a word.
e.g. The subject’s of the research were observed for several days.
Right: The subjects of the research were observed for several days.

6. Using “he” or “she” when referring to both sexes (men and women)
e.g. Before interviewing the subject, the researcher asked him to complete a questionnaire.
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher asked him or her to complete a questionnaire.
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher administered a questionnaire.

Ups. I hope that’s not exhaustive. Though I have yet to conduct particular research on this matter, the above list of errors is worth considering. So, ponder upon this! Beware of the bugs!

By Eri Kurniawan