ABSTRACT
Yokbet Yohana Thesia. Grammatical Errors on the Use Simple Past Tenses at
Universitas Muhammadiyah Sorong (Supervised by Ibrahim, S.S.,M.Hum and
Rizal Akib, S.Pd., M.Pd).
This study aims to analysis the types and the dominant of grammatical
errors on the use of the simple past tense by the First Semester Students of the
English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Sorong. This
research used descriptive qualitative method. The participants of this research
were the First Semester Students of the English Education Department of
Universitas Muhammadiyah Sorong on Academic Year of 2022/2023 which
included 32 students. The samples taken by purposive sampling and the
instrument to this research was interviews and written tests (true or false and
make sentences).
The findings of this research showed that there were 512 errors made by
the students which classified into 4 types based on the surface of grammatical
errors found in students’ written tests. There were error of misformation with 211
(41%), error of omission with 138 (26%) error of addition with 97 (18%) and
error of misordering with 66 (12%). The dominant error found in students’ written
tests was error of misformation. These errors occurred because most students did
not understand the procedure for using the simple past tense properly and
correctly so that students were still confused when using it. The students still find
it difficult or lack learning and do not understand when the use of the basic verb
form is changed to the past tense when using the simple past tense. After these
results, it can be concluded that the First Semester Students of the English
Education Department of Muhammadiyah University of Sorong lacked mastery of
grammar so that most students still made errors on using the simple past tense.
The students should practice writing a lot so they can use the simple past tense
correctly and also to reduce the grammatical errors made by students.
Keywords: Error Analysis, Grammatical, Simple Past Tense