An Analysis of the Basic Clause Types of the Students’ Syntactic Competence

Abstract

The article was concerned with the results of a descriptive study about the basic clause types that the students had recognized in the objective test. The aims of the study were to know the students’ syntactic competence in the case of the seven basic clause types and to describe their problems to make the distinctions between one type and the others. The research samples consisted of 80 persons. The data were analyzed by using a mean percentage. The research findings indicated that the six semester students got the fewest scores of SPOA (3.75%) and SPOC (13.75%); the fewer scores of SPOO (21.25%) and SPO (22.50%); and the few scores of SPA (30.00%), SPC (31.25%), and SP (36.25%). The main problematic issue faced by the students was to distinguish the SPO type from SPC (26.25%), meaning that the difference between object and complement had become the confusion for the students. It was recommended that these basic clause types be discussed in syntax class by giving more examples to the main problems faced by the students in order that they could differentiate among the clause types.