HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY No.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY TRAN KIM THOA COMMON ERRORS IN EXPRESSING THE FUTURE IN ENGLISH MADE BY ELEVENTH – GRADE PUPILS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (Summary of Graduation Paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2) SUPERVISOR: TRAN THAI, M. A HANOI, May 2014 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT On the completion of this thesis, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Tran Thai, M.A, who gave me benefit of his wisdom and his expert knowledge as well as his constant encouragement from the beginning stage of working out the research proposal to the final stage of writing up the thesis. Without his critical comments and valuable suggestions, this study could not have been completed. I am indebted to all lecturers in Foreign Languages Faculty of Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 for their useful lectures and supports during the time I has studied for four years. I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to librarians who helped me approach to useful books, references and materials. My special thanks to pupils in My Duc A High School who willingly completed the questionnaires in my survey. I would like to show my gratitude to my friends who gave me useful advices and great help during my doing this graduation paper. Finally, I would also like to thank my parents who have been a constant source of encouragement, support, love and care during the course of my writing. Hanoi, May 2014 Tran Kim Thoa ii ABSTRACT Teaching and learning English tenses are never easy tasks for both pupils and teachers in Vietnam. Moreover, there are many difficulties in teaching and learning future time because there are many ways of expressing the future in English which make pupils confused about their uses. With the aim at finding out common errors in expressing the future in English and solutions to solve this problem, the study titled: ―Common Errors in Expressing the Future in English Made by Eleventh – grade Pupils at My Duc A High School and Suggested Solutions‖ carried out a survey at My Duc A High School with the participation of one hundred eleventh-grade pupils there. Throughout the survey results and analysis processing, we found out some common errors in expressing the future in English made by eleventh-grade pupils at My Duc A High School. Taking these results as a reference data, the study tried to offer some solutions to help pupils minimize these errors. Although I have made great effort, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable. I would be much grateful to welcome all possible comments from readers to accomplish the work. iii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP COMMON ERRORS IN EXPRESSING THE FUTURE IN ENGLISH MADE BY ELEVENTH – GRADE PUPILS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS I certify that no part of this paper has been copied or reproduced from any other person‘s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor. Date submitted: May 22 th , 2014 Student Supervisor Tran Kim Thoa Tran Thai, M.A. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP TABLE OF CONTENT PART A: INTRODUCTION I. RATIONALE 1 II. AIMS OF THE STUDY 1 III. SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1 IV. TASKS OF THE STUDY 2 V. METHODS OF THE STUDY 2 VI. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 2 VII. DESIGN OF THE STUDY 2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1. LITERATURE REVIEW 4 I.2. OVERVIEW OF THE FUTURE AND RELATED CATEGORIES 5 I.2.1. Some categories relating to expressing the future: 5 I.2.1.1. Time 5 I.2.1.2. Tense 6 I.2.1.3. Aspect 6 I.2.1.4. Mood 7 I.2.1.5. Modality 8 I.2.2. Overview of the future 9 I.3. WAYS OF EXPRESSING THE FUTURE IN ENGLISH 10 I.3.1. Different verb forms used to refer to the future 11 I.3.1.1. Simple present 11 I.3.1.1.1. Forms 11 v I.3.1.1.2. Uses 11 I.3.1.2. Present continuous 12 I.3.1.2.1. Forms 12 I.3.1.2.2. Uses 13 I.3.1.3. ―Be going to‖ form 14 I.3.1.3.1. Forms 14 I.3.1.3.2. Uses 14 I.3.1.4. ―Will/shall + infinitive‖ form 16 I.3.1.4.1. Forms 16 I.3.1.4.2. Uses 16 I.3.1.5. Future continuous 18 I.3.1.5.1. Forms 18 I.3.1.5.2. Uses 18 I.3.1.6. Future perfect 20 I.3.1.6.1. Forms 20 I.3.1.6.2. Uses 20 I.3.1.7. Future perfect continuous 21 I.3.1.7.1. Forms 21 I.3.1.7.2. Uses 21 I.3.1.8. Other forms and structures used to refer to the future 22 I.3.2. How to express the future in some special cases 26 I.3.2.1. Expressing the future in the past 26 I.3.2.2. Expressing the future in the subjunctive 27 I.3.2.3. Expressing the future in future time clause 28 I.3.2.4. Expressing the future in reported speech 29 CHAPTER TWO THE METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS II.1. METHODOLOGY 31 II.1.1. Purpose of the survey 31 II.1.2. Population of the survey 31 II.1.3. Type of the survey 31 II.1.4. Construction of the survey 32 II.1.5. Preparation of the survey 32 vi II.1.5.1. Test items 32 II.1.5.2. Arrangement of the test items 33 II.1.6. Administration of the try-out 33 II.1.6.1. Preparation of the try-out 33 II.1.6.2. The try-out 34 II.1.7. Method of data analysis 34 II.1.8. Results of the survey 34 II.2. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 35 II.2.1. Errors in expressing the future in the past 35 II.2.2. Errors in the uses of other forms and structures to express the future 37 II.2.3. Errors in the uses of ‗will/shall + infinitive‘ form, ―be going to‖ form and present continuous 38 II.2.4. Errors in the uses of future continuous and future perfect 39 II.2.5. Errors in expressing the future in reported speech 40 II.2.6. Errors in expressing the future in future time clause 41 II.2.7. Errors in expressing the future in the subjunctive 41 II.3. Suggested solutions and exercises 42 II.3.1. Suggested solutions 42 II.3.1. On the part of teachers 42 II.3.2. On the part of students 43 II.3.2. Suggested exercises 44 II.3.2.1. Sources of exercises 44 II.3.2.2. Types of exercises 44 PART C: CONCLUSION I. Summary of the researching process and implication 46 II. Limitations and suggestions for further research 47 REFERENCES APPENDIX 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION I. RATIONALE In the path of mastering English, we have to face a host of difficulties because each language has its own system which is different from that is in the learner‘s native language. English tense is one of the most complex grammar fields in English. Some grammarians supposed that there are three main kinds of tense in English: past tense, present tense and future tense. However, According to modern grammarians, there is no future tense in English; there are only two groups of tenses: the present tenses and the past tenses. So how we can express the future in English? There are several ways to talk about the future in English, each of which is used in certain situations. The differences between the meaning and uses of the different structures are not easy to analyze and describe clearly. In many but, not all situations, two or more structures are possible with similar meanings. Moreover, time reference is based meaning rather than structures therefore both pupils and teachers face many difficulties in learning and teaching ways of expressing the future in English. Throughout the teaching practice period at a high school, I realized that pupils really had difficulties in dealing with this problem. It is assumed that there are many errors which may be made when pupils express the future in English. This thesis is accomplished in hopes of making a contribution to the process of learning and teaching future time. For the reasons above, this study titled: ―Common Errors in Expressing the Future in English Made by Eleventh – grade Pupils at My Duc A High School and Suggested Solutions‖ is conducted with the aim at focusing on errors in expressing the future in English and solutions to minimize these errors. II. AIMS OF THE STUDY The study is aimed at the following goals: 1. To find out some common errors in expressing the future made by the pupils at My Duc A High school. 2. To find out the causes of the errors in expressing the future made by the pupils at My Duc A High school. 3. To offer some suggestions to minimize errors in expressing the future. III. SCOPE OF THE STUDY The general research area of this study is grammar. The phenomenon is the errors in expressing the future made by the pupils at My Duc A High School. Others relating to expressing the future time are also briefly mentioned. The population involved in the study is one hundred pupils at My Duc A High school. 2 IV. TASKS OF THE STUDY The study involves fulfilling the following tasks: 1. To study some categories relating to expressing the future (time, tense, aspect, mood and modality) and overview about the future in English. 2. To study the ways of expressing the future in English. 3. To conduct a survey to find out error types and causes related to expressing the future in English. On the basis of the findings, some suggested teaching methods are sought to minimize the pupils‘ errors. V. METHODS OF THE STUDY To achieve the objectives of the study, the following methods have been applied: 1. Collecting data from books 2. Consulting the supervisor, experienced teachers (my teachers at high school and university) and friends 3. Synthesizing theoretical materials on English grammar 4. Conducting a survey and analyzing the results VI. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Errors in any language teaching and learning, particularly in English as a foreign language, are sometimes predictable and sometimes unpredictable. Therefore, it is essential for teachers to give better treatment to anticipate errors. After the research, it is hoped that the result will be helpful to provide: 1. Input for learners of English in order to have better understanding about future time in English. 2. Input for learners in order to minimize their errors in expressing the future in English. 3. Input for teachers of English with information on ways of expressing the future, error types pupils often make when expressing the future and solutions to the problems. This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in the future reference in English. VII. DESIGN OF THE STUDY The research work has three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion; focusing on the following: Part A is the introduction, presenting the rationale for choosing this topic, the aims, scope, tasks, methods, significance and design of the study. Part B is the development which is divided into two main chapters: 3 Chapter one, Theoretical Background, consists of three sections. Section one presents literature review in brief. The section two shows some categories relating to expressing the future and overview of future time. Section three deals with ways of expressing the future time in English. Chapter two names ‗methodology and results‘ describes the research method. It is composed of three sections. Section one is devoted to the survey. The second deals with error types and causes. The last one is on solutions to the problems and suggested exercises on future time. Part C is the conclusion, giving all brief results of all the above sections. Reference and Appendix come at the end of the thesis. [...]... the point of leaving when he noticed an attractive girl looking across the room at him Was/were to + infinitive and was/were to have + past participle used to talk about an activity or event that was in the future at a particular point in the past: - At the time she was probably the best actor in the theatre company, but in fact some of her colleagues were to become much better known - He was to find... AND RELATED CATEGORIES I.2.1 Some categories relating to expressing the future I.2.1.1 Time Humans conceive of time in terms of space, as shown by the language that we use to talk about temporal relations: we habitually speak of stretching out or compressing an activity, heading toward the future, returning to the past and so on (Laura: 1988) According to linguists, time is the universal category in. .. look at a past action (reaching the camp) from a time when it was in the future We can use would not for past unwillingness, a refusal - The spokesman wouldn't answer any questions - The car wouldn't start this morning  We can also use be to, be about to etc in the past - It was the last film at the cinema, which was to close the next day - We had to hurry The coach was about to leave - Phil was on the. .. something that had been arranged, but did not happen There is a special use of was to where it has a similar meaning to would - George Washington was the first President of a nation that was to become the richest and most powerful on earth Here was to means that the future action really did happen I.3.2.2 Expressing the future in subjunctive According to the book Master the Basics English of Jean Yates... worry I„ll watch them carefully.” The will future is also used at the moment when the speaker is making a quick choice and when the speaker is offering to do something In contrast to the ‗be going to‘ future, the speaker does not think about this much in advance:  A customer in a restaurant is asking about the soup of the day: - Customer: What kind of soup do you have? Waiter: Tomato and chicken noodle... the intended action (Mr Dudley's retirement) actually happens - He had to retire when the cinema closed But he was going to retire anyway We can also use the past continuous for a past arrangement - Joanne went to bed early because she was getting up at five  We can use would as a past form of will - They set off at daybreak They would reach the camp before nightfall - There was a chance that my letter... constructions lack the fixity of the others On the one hand, they are often used to express nontemporal ideas (e.g., volition, obstinacy) and on the other hand future time can be indicated in many other ways According to Angela, D (1992) Tense is a grammatical category that is realized in English morphologically on the verb In accordance with this criterion, English has just two tenses: the Present and the Past,... talking about the future is more of a problem There is no single form in English that we can always use for the future There are many different ways of talking about the future, depending on how we see a future event It may be something that is fairly sure to happen, but on the other hand it may be just a plan or an intention, or it may be something that you think will happen but you can't be sure about... in the future The timeline is a line (or, equivalently, an ordered set of 5 points) that is unbounded at both ends and segmented into three parts: the past, the present and the future It can be diagrammed as follow: PAST PRESENT FUTURE (Moment of speech) I.2.1.2 Tense The semantics of tense has received a great deal of attention in the contemporary linguistics Tense in language is a grammatical way... years later that the car he had bought was stolen 26 - I was to have helped with the performance, but I got flu the day before - There was to have been a ban on smoking in restaurants, but restaurant owners have forced the council to reconsider When we use was/were to + infinitive we are talking about something that did actually happen When we use was/were to have + past participle we are talking about . results and analysis processing, we found out some common errors in expressing the future in English made by eleventh- grade pupils at My Duc A High School. Taking these results as a reference data,. grade Pupils at My Duc A High School and Suggested Solutions carried out a survey at My Duc A High School with the participation of one hundred eleventh- grade pupils there. Throughout the survey. teachers face many difficulties in learning and teaching ways of expressing the future in English. Throughout the teaching practice period at a high school, I realized that pupils really had