HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N
0
2
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY
TRAN THI NGOC ANH COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF ZERO ARTICLE
MADE BY THE STUDENTS IN GRADE ELEVEN
AT VU TIEN HIGH SCHOOL
(GRADUATION PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) Supervisor: PHI THI THO, B.A ii

ABSTRACT

The zero article is an interesting category of English grammar. As well
known, zero article is a complex area and it has a lot of rules with different
objects. To correct the use of zero article is one of the most things to get right in
English. However, in some books have not been dealt with in full and
sometimes it is difficult for students to understand and use correctly.
As a result, students often make errors when they use zero article.
Therefore, this research work is focused on investigating common errors in the
use of zero article and to suggest some solutions to the problem.
Based on material analysis and errors analysis, the types of errors have
been found. Solutions to the problem have been suggested.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement . i
Abstract ii
Statement of authorship iii
Table of contents iv
PART ONE
INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale 1
II. Research presupposition 1
III. Research objectives 2
IV. Research scope 2
V. Research tasks 2
VI. Research methods 2
VII. Research significance 3
VIII. Research design 3
PART TWO
DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
I.1. Literature review in brief 4
I.2.The article 5

II.1.5.1. Test items 12
II.1.5.2. Arrangement of the test items 13
II.1.6. Administration of the try out 13
II.1.6.1. Preparation of the try out 13
II.1.6.2. Try out 14
II.1.7. Method of data analysis 14

CHAPTER THREE
THE RESULT
III.1. Results of the survey 15
III.2. Analysis 17
vi

III.2.1. Errors in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church, prison,
hospital, bed 17
III.2.2. Errors in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general
sense 17
III.2.3. Errors in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general
sense 18
III.2.4. Errors in the use of zero article with languages or religions,
subjects, arts, sports and games 19
III.2.5. Errors in the use of zero article with name of countries, towns,
streets, airports, stations 19
III.2.6. Errors in the use of zero article with material used in general sense 20
III.3. Suggested solutions and suggested exercises 21
III.3.1. Suggested solutions 21
III.3.2. Suggested exercises 23
III.3.2.1. Suggested sources for the use of zero article exercise 23
III.3.2.2. Suggested types exercise 23
III.3.2.3. Sample of exercises 24

specific. It often causes embarrassments to students. Due to its various uses, it is
admitted that there are many errors, which may be made. They do not know how
to use no article correctly and they often confuse zero article with the indefinite
and definite article. For example:
Elephant has a good memory
The frogs can live on land and in water
As the reasons above, this study was conducted to give basic theory about
zero article and shows the errors students often make when using zero article.
Then base on the errors they make, the causes of the problems were found out
and some solutions were proposed to limit the errors.
II. RESEARCH PRESUPPOSITION
Some questions are raised:
1. What kinds of errors in the use of zero article are made by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014?
2

2. What are the causes of the errors in the use of zero article by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014?
3. What are the effective ways to minimize the errors made by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014?
III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the study:
1. To find out the main errors in the use of zero article made by the
students in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 -
2014.
2. To find out the causes of the errors in the use of zero article made by
the students in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 -
2014.
3. To offer some suggestions to minimize the errors made by the students
in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School in the academic year of 2013 - 2014.

zero article.
3. Becoming a useful reference about zero article for both teachers and
students to make sure that they can deeply understand things relating to zero
article.
VIII. RESEARCH DESIGN
The research work has three main parts: Introduction, Development and
Conclusion.
The part Development consists of three chapters.
Chapter one named Theoretical Background presents literature review in
brief, definition and classification of the articles, the introduction and usage of
zero article.
Chapter two is Methodology. It describes the research methods.
Chapter three is The Result. It is composed of three sections. Section one
is devoted to the survey. The second mentions to error types and causes. The last
one provides solutions to the problems and suggested exercises on zero articles.

4

PART TWO
DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

I.1. LITERATURE REVIEW IN BREFT
The zero article has been described by many grammarians like Alexander,
L.G. (1998); Aik, K.C. & Hui, K.K. (1999); Thomson, A.J. & Martinet, A.V.
(1989), Foley.M. & Hall.D. (2008), and so on. They each have their own way to
describe zero article. Generally, they focus their attention on the definition and
the uses of zero article. Most of the knowledge they present are useful for

Alexander (1998) defines that “articles are determiners which affect the
meaning of the noun, and make it clearer by showing which particular thing we
are referring to” (p55).
Andrusiak.I.V in The Use of Articles in English, defines: “The articles
belong to a syntactic class of words called determiners. Determiners are words
we use before a noun to show whether the noun is specific or general, singular
or plural, etc. determiners also include possessives like my, demonstratives like
this and quantifiers like all”.
I.2.2. Classification
English articles, according to Thomson and Martinet (1986:15-22) in the
book A practical English Grammar, are classified into two types: definite article
the and indefinite article a/an. However, Quirk adds more type, that is zero
article Ø. Yotsukura (1970) seems to be the first person who suggests adding
another category beside the zero article. So English articles include a/an, the and
Ø (the null or zero marker). The two categories of the article traditionally called
indefinite and definite articles. Singular count nouns take a or an as indefinite
articles. All categories of nouns take the as the definite marker.
6

I.3. ZERO ARTICLE
I.3.1. Zero article
Although the term “zero article” traditionally refers to any instance in
which a noun requires no article, the researchers (Yotsukura,1970; Celce-Murcia
& Larsen-Freeman,1999) divide the zero article into two types: zero and null. To
Yotsukura, there is distributional evidence suggesting a form other than zero
article. By using a post-modifying restrictive relative clause test, she discovered
that the second zero form is found before singular proper nouns and some

I.3.2.3. Before the names of material used in general sense.
Zero article is always used with materials (wine, coal, sugar, etc.) when
they are considered in general sense.
Glass is a difficult material to cut.
Gold is very expensive at the moment.
Note: There is a different between:
They are looking for gold (= any gold).
They found the gold (= the gold they were looking for)
I.3.2.4. Before nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, bed
Zero article is used when we talk about institutions such as hospital,
prison, school, town or church being used for their intended purpose: medical
treatment in hospital, studying in university, and so on. We use articles when we
talk about them as particular places or buildings.
Notice that we talk about bed in the same way.
Jane‟s at school. (to learn)
John‟s in hospital (he‟s ill)
She usually stays in bed till late at weekend.
Some set phrases:
- at college; at ease; at home; at lunch; at night; at rest; at school; at sea; at
work
- by accident; by air; by bus; by bicycle; by car; by chance; by design; by
mistake; by plane; by train; by surprise
- in bed; in class; in danger; in difficulty; in hospital; in love; in need; in
prison; in reply; in tears
- on duty; on foot; on fire; on guard; on land; on purpose; on sale; on
time; on vocation
8

- out of control; out of danger; out of date; out of doors; out of hospital;
out of line; out of order; out of prison; out of stock; out of turn

When we want to describe the features of a particular holiday, season,
etc., we use a/an:
That was a winter I‟ll never forget
I.3.2.7. Before name of mounts, lakes, capes
We use mount (= mountain)/ lake/ cape with a name (without the)
Mount Everest (not the….) - Lake Geneva - Cape Cod
- However we use the with the names of oceans, seas, rivers and canals:
the Indian Ocean - the Red Sea - the Nile - the Sahara - the Suez Canal
I.3.2.8. Before name of languages, subjects, arts, sports and games
- Zero article is used at all in English when we talk about names of games
or transport. For example:
I like chess but she like tennis and swimming.
- Zero article is used before names of subjects and fields of study
English and Mathematics are my favourite subjects.
- There is usually no article before name of languages or a form of art:
Not many children enjoy opera. (rather than ….enjoy the opera).
My father can speak 3 languages: Vietnamese, English, French.
I.3.2.9. Before proper nouns, title followed by a proper noun
We do not normally use article in front of proper nouns (like John, London, etc.).
We usually use titles: Mr/Mrs/Captain/Doctor etc. + a name, we do not
use the.
Mr Johnson/ Doctor Johnson/ Captain Johnson/President Johnson etc.
(not the… )
Uncle Robert/ Saint Catherine/ Princess Maria etc. (not the….)
However, we use the:
- When there are two people with the same name and we want to specify
which once we are talking about:
That‟s not the Stephen Fraser I went to school with.
- When we want to emphasise a person who everyone probably knows:
Do they mean the Ronald Reagan, or someone else?
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CHAPTER TWO
METHODOLOGY

In order to answer the research questions of the study, the survey
questionnaire is carried out with the students in grade 11 at Vu Tien High
School.
II.1. Survey
As it was mentioned in chapter one, the study does help the students of
English to have a deep insight into the zero article. In the process of providing
students with knowledge of zero article, the thesis has identified common errors
made by Vietnamese students. Due to framework of a thesis, to map out all
mistakes made by students at high educational level is impossible. Therefore,
this thesis only focuses on common errors in the use of the zero article made by
one hundred students of English in grade 11 at Vu Tien High School. To find
out the errors made by those students, a survey questionnaire was conducted.
Questionnaire survey is a list of a lot questions that are prepared to gather
information. A questionnaire can be a useful tool to gather survey information
from a large number of people. A questionnaire can be fact or opinion-based and
maybe answered by choosing from a list of opinions or writing out responses by
hand. There are several advantages to using a questionnaire format. It is not
cost-effective, easy to analyze and is less intrusive than other survey method.
II.1.1. Purposes of the survey.
The survey contains questionnaire related to zero article. Therefore, the
purpose of the survey is to check how deep Vu Tien High School students
understand the use of zero article, then shows common errors they often make.
Besides, according to the result of the questionnaire survey, the reasons why the

Common errors in the use of the zero article are unavoidable. The purpose
of this survey is to spot these mistakes. However, there are a great number of
errors in using the zero article, which a survey cannot cover. Therefore, it is
necessary to predict possible errors and include them in the survey. In this
survey, possible errors were classified into the following categories.
1. Error in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general sense
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2. Error in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general sense
3. Error in the use of zero article with material used in general sense
4. Error in the use of zero article with languages, subjects, arts, sports and
games
5. Error in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church,prison,
hospital,bed
6. Error in the use of zero article with name of countries, towns, streets,
airports, stations
II.1.5.2 Arrangement of the test items
After being classified, the questions were arranged into the following
number:
1. Error in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general sense
is in numbers: 1, 5, 6, 11, 13, 21, 24 and 48.
2. Error in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general
sense is in numbers: 4, 9, 10, 15, 17, 26, 36 and 42.
3. Error in the use of zero article with material used in general sense is in
numbers: 8, 16, 30, 31, 35, 38, 41, 45 and 47.
4. Error in the use of zero article with languages, subjects, arts, sports and
games is in numbers: 3, 27, 28, 29, 34, 39, 40, 43 and 46.
5. Error in the use of zero article with nouns: school, church,prison,
hospital,bed is in numbers: 2, 18, 19, 20, 23, 32, 33 and 49.
6. Error in the use of zero article with name of countries, towns, streets,

considered as the major error in the use of the zero article. 15

CHAPTER THREE
THE RESULT

In this chapter, the result will be presented. It is devided into three
sections. Section III.1 deals with the survey questionnaire, which was designed
to map out some common errors made by the eleventh - grade students at Vu
Tien High School. Section III.2 shows common errors and causes. Section III.3
provides students and teacher with some suggested solutions to minimize the
errors in the use of zero article.
III.1. Result of the survey
Based on the survey analysis, the errors made by the students in grade 11
at Vu Tien High School were pointed out. It can be identified which errors level
of zero article is the highest and which is the lowest. The order is as the table
following:

Error

The specific percentages of these errors are given in the following chart:
10
0
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
ERRORS
69%
ERROR-1 ERROR-2 ERROR-3 ERROR-4 ERROR-5 ERROR-6
38%
35%
34%
29%
16%
Common errors in the use of zero article.
The chart shows the common errors in the use of zero article made by the
eleventh- grade students at Vu Tien High School.
It is clear – apparent from the chart that the highest percentage of errors is
the use of zero article with nouns: school, church, prison, hospital, bed, which
make up 69%. The lowest percentage of errors is the use of zero article with
material used in general sense, only 16%. The percentage of the errors the use of
zero article with plural nouns; abstract nouns; languages, subjects, arts, sports
and games; name of countries, towns, streets, airports, stations; name of

of zero article.
III.2.2. Error in the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general
sense.
It can be seen that the second common errors the students made is error in
the use of zero article with plural nouns used in general sense. The percentage of
this type errors make up 38%. There was no student who made 100% of errors
in using zero article with plural nouns in general sense. For example:
18

A street in Cambridge is to be named after _____ scientists who
discovered the structure of DNA.
A. a B. an C. the D. Ø
Almost students choose “D. Ø”, however, the correct answer is “C. the”
Based on the comments of the English teachers at Vu Tien High School
on the attitudes of students in English lessons, the possible main cause of this
error is that the students did not pay much attention to the lesson. Thus, they did
not know how to do the exercises related to the using of zero article with plural
nouns in general sense. Morever, they also could not identify some compound
nouns in plural form. There are 100% of students who had incorrect answer in
the question:
_____ climate scientists all over the world now agree on man's
responsibility for global warming.
The wrong answer: the/a
Even some students could not fill anything into the blank.
The correct answer: Ø
III.2.3. Error in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in general
sense.
The errors related in the use of zero article with abstract nouns used in
general sense stand at 35%. There were no students who made 100% of errors in
using zero article with abstract nouns in general sense. For instance: