In an attempt to construct a sentence orally and in written form pupils face language problems.These problems can be solved through remediation ,the examples include misspelling,problem in subject verb agreement,misuse of tenses ,errors of lexs which is misuse of vocabulary ,errors in misuse of preposition ,in pantuation and knowledge of singular or plural wording.
Misspelling of words ,according to Sprosty (1995)points out that spelling is the correct sequence of letters in a word.If the arrangement of letters. In a word is not in correct order ,it gives raise to misspelling.
Baruah (1995)gives some of the causes of spelling errors as faulting pronunciation,insufficient practise ,visual presentantion ,ignorance of some rules of spelling and pupils need to have regular spelling exercises. They should carrying out spelling games,rhyms ,songs and many other activites.
Problems in subject verb agreement ,a subject should always in agreement with the verb when a subject is singular the verb should also be singular "John kicked a ball" likewise when subject is plular the verb should always plular ,for example "A teacher teaches children ,Teachers teach children".
Compound subjects(multiple subjects) are made up of two singular subjects joined by and ,for instance "Peter and Mary are hungry".Subjects may be made up of two or more phrases or clauses joined by 'and' like "Where he works and where he stays are completely different places"
When the words of a compound subjects refer to the same person or the same thing ,they are considered together as one unit. The verb is usually singular ,for example "Fish and chips is my favourite " .Subject joined by or ,nor ,either and neither when both subject are singular like: "Neither John nor Martha plays soccer." "Either the man or the women are on duty today.
When a sentence begin with introductory word.The number of verb is determined by the subject that follows take a look:" There are naught boys."
"There comes the bride,"
"There is shortage of rainfall in this area."
Words or phrases added to a singular subject don't make it plular,for example ,"Time and time again a team such as Dynamos ,Caps united and others wins the match."
Collective nouns are singular in nature but ther may be singular or plural in meaning .For instances "The Mhaka family is working in the field."
"The Mhaka familly are all doing different task"
"Sheep are crossing the river."
Some verbs may be a distant from their subjects. A series of lectures on reading is planned next. When the word order is changed or invertrd care must be taken to make the verb agree with the subject . At every corner where baggers singing loudly.
Misuse of tense ,problems with verbs pupils have problems deciding between the pastand past participle. They may confuse the past tense of a verb which is normally used by itself,for instances fell or did with its past participle which usually takes has ,have and had.For example has fallen ,have fallen ,had fallen and done.
A difficulty also araise with irregular verb where the past participle go went gone.
Have a chart on the present ,past and past participle.
Errors of lexs misuse of vocabulary of words in a given context. Words with similarity could be nouns ,adjectives,verbs ,adverbs for instance(All his dresses were destroyed by fire)Dress to be a noun to mean clothes. All his clothes werewere destroyed by fire.
{I accept to accompany you} "I agree to accompany you" Words should be used appropriately.
Errors in use of preposition ,preposition denote axact position of an object .Preposition are usually used before a noun phrase.For example John asked for the book, I am sitting on a chair.
The major problem of a learner is on the problem with propositon to use before the noun ''THe book is on the table''.
Pupils tend to over use preposition like ,at ,on ,in.
Errors of preposition may nat cause misunderstanding but they give appearance of imperfect careless construction {He came to my house in the beginning of the week} '' He came to my house at the beginning of the week.
Errors in punctuation ,the use of printed signs ,quatation mzrks,semi colon ,dash in-ph co-op,three dots apostrophe ,question mark ,exclamation mark,brackets ,full stop etc .
This are essential for dividing up written language units that convey meaning failure to use them will easily leads to miss understanding of iidea being conveyed. Pupils shpuld be told to distinguish one form the other each punctuation make should be taught separetely and function of each clearly stated.
An effective teacher needs to hunt for cause of language problems and provide solutions to every one of them .
Further Reading
Cook ,V(1988)Chomsky's Universal Grammar.
Gimson ,V.C.(1980)An Introductory to pronunciation of English.
Jowit,AM and Nnamons,MA(1985)common errors in English.
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