Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
English has become one of the most important languages in the world. It has
this globalization era. Many people, especially in Indonesia, learn English in order to
be able to communicate with other people from another country. English has also
junior and senior high school since Indonesia's independence in 1945. English has
been given the most priority to be taught to students over other foreign languages
Imperiani, 2010). English is now being taught in KTSP and K-13 curriculum style to
Among the four language skills, i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing,
writing might be the most difficult skill to master for some people because it requires
other people write or say. However, it is difficult for students to learn grammar.
Students often find it difficult in making proper words or phrases which have correct
1
and meaningful sentences. One of the grammatical items that are difficult to be
mastered is preposition.
sentence. Prepositions are always followed by nouns (or pronouns). They are
connective words that show the relationship between the nouns following them and
usually indicate relationship, such as position, place, direction, time, manner, agent,
possession, and condition, between their objects and other parts of the sentences.
Prepositions have been called the biggest little words in English. There are
uasually quite short and insignificant looking, but they have very important
Most english preposition have several different functions (for instance, one well-
known dictionary lists eighteen main uses of at), and these may correspond to several
different preposition in another language. At the same time, different preposition can
have very similiar uses (in the morning, on Monday morning, at night).
preposition: people say the reason for, arrive at, angry with somebody, on a bus.
Often the correct preposition cannot be guessed, and one has to learn the expressions
as a whole.
course about how to use it, to know the function and kind of preposition, but in
2
reality, many students still make mistakes of the use of preposition. In this case, they
still cannot differentiate which preposition is appropriate for each sentences form.
focus her research to know the students’ ability in using some English preposition
Based on the background of this study, the writer would like to focus on the
prepositions?
This particular writing are (1) to find out the ability of students to use English
prepositions (2) to find out the problems are faced by students inusing English
prepositions.
In line the topic of this study that the ability of using English preposition by
the ninth grade students of MTS NW Kotaraja than the discussion is directed to
investigate the students’ ability to use English preposition on, in, at, before, under
3
and the problem are faced by thee students to use English prepositions. Therefore,
1. To measure the ability of students in using preposition and show the presentage of
The writer expects that this study will provide more information about
preposition and problems faced by the students in choosing preposition. The writer
also intends to show how far the students’ knowledge of preposition and indentify
the difficulties of students in using preposition. The last point is, the writer hopes that
this study can be additional reference for those who are interested to learn more
about preposition.
4
CHAPTER II
meaning closely related to the meaning expressed by adverbs and adjectives: where,
when, how, and what kind. Prepositional phrases can also express a sense of why or
who.
The word in is a preposition. The word jailhouse is a noun. The noun is called the
5
2.2 The Function of Preposition
English prepositions have several different functions (for instance, one well- known
dictionary lists eighteen main uses of at), and these may correspond to several
can have similiar uses( in the morning, on Monday morning, at night). Many nouns,
verbs, and adjactives are normally used with particular prepositions: we say the
reasons for, arrive at, angry with someday, on a bus. Often the correct preposition
cannot be guessed, and one has to learn the expression as a whole. In some
expressions English has no preposition where one may be used in another language;
It is not always easy to know which preposition to use after a particular noun,
verb or adjactive. Here are some of the most common combinations which cause
e.g.
6
2. Preposition before particular words and expressions:
A preposition often connects two things: (1) a noun, adjective or verb that
In some stuctures we may put the preposition object at or near the beginning
of a clause. In this case, the preposition does not always go with it. It may stay
togather with ‘its’ noun, adjactive or verb at the end of the clause.
a) Wh- questions:
7
b) Relative clauses:
preposition, the preposition also often goes at the end of the clause,
c) Passives:
d) Infinitive structures:
Prepositions are also dropped before that after many common words that
We are sorry about the delay we are sorry that the train is late.
8
In other cases (not involving indirect speech or words reffering to
clauses. Instead, the expression the fact is generally put between the
The judge paid a lot of attention to the fact that the child was unhappy at
home. Not: The judge paid a lot of attention (to) that the child)
d) Question words
After some very common words like tell, ask, depend, sure, idea, look,
prepositon can be dropped before who, which, what and other question
Tell me about your trip not: tell me about where you went.
Preposition are not normally used before infinitive in English. After verb/
verb.
I don’t like the idea of getting married not ....the idea of to get married.
1. Prepositional phrases used as adverbs usually follow the verb, though like
2. Prepositional phrases used as adjectives usually follow the noun they modify.
the sentence.
9
2.4 Meaning Categories
The following list illustrates the use of prepositional phrases to convey specific
kinds of information.
1. Place, position
Between: His shop is between the bank and the post office.
10
Over: The window is over the radiator.
2. Direction
Into: I saw her going into the theater a few minutes ago.
3. Time
11
During: During the winter, I think I’ll go to Florida.
From...to: Teh office will be open from nine to one every day.
From...until: She workes from eight until tow six days a week.
4. Purpose,reason
5. Possession
6. Manner, instrument
7. Identification
8. Distance
9. Agent
12
10. Material
11. Quantity
Some preposition are used to express a variety of meanings. These may present
difficulties. Some of the common preposition with their various meanings and their
1. Around
“At approximately”
2. At
With prices.
13
They are on sale at two dollars a dozen
3. By
He lives by himself
4. For
14
He baked a cake for me.
When he was away, his neightbor did the work for him.
5. In
He lives in Cairo.
With language
6. On
15
The book is on the table.
7. With
To indicate association
8. Without
In, on, and, at, discussed previously, are probably the most often confused
1. Above, over
16
Above refers to a place higher than a certain point. Over refers to a place
Over also means “more than” and “in the course of” a period of time.
2. Below, under
Below refers to a place lower that a certain point. Under refers to a place
Under also means “less than” and “under the supervision of”
3. To, toward
To is used with verbs of motion and definite destination. Toward means “in
4. Beside, besides
17
Beside means “next to”. Besides means “in addition to”.
5. In, into
In ise used with location or condition. Into is used with verbs that show
The child is in the pool. The child jumped into the pool.
6. Past, beyond
certain point. Beyond refers to a location further away than some speacified
7. Between, among
8. Through, throughout
18
Through refers to motion first into then out of something. Throughout is
9. By and With
Use by when you want to refer to the doer of an action. Use with when you
want to refer to the instrument with which the action was performed.
The spider was killed by John. (John is the doer. He killed the spider.)
The spider was killed with a stone. (Stone is the instrument with
We met on a Monday.
19
Note that we use at with night.
The pattern of at, on, and in; time: at + clock time, in + part of day, on
It is not always easy to know which preposition to use after a particular noun,
verb, or adjective. Here are some of the most common combinations which cause
Agree to a suggestion.
Believe in God.
20
Belong to (= be a member of)
Congratulate/congratulation on something
Details of
Die of or from
Eventhough prepositions are ususally quite short and insignificant looking, but
they have very important function. By looking the usage and kinds of preposition
21
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
object of research and must follow the rules of writing. Therefore, in relation to the
methodology of this study, the writer uses few things concerned to the writing of this
study namely;
Library research is the way of collecting secondary data. In this case, the
writer needs some books, journals, essays, and research results related to the
problems being studied to have references and guidance’s in explaining the data.
To support this research, the writer used field research in order to get a lot of
information and data that are relevant with this study. In collecting data, the writer
1. Multiple- choice
In this part, the writer give 25 questions about English prepositions. There are
four choices for each qusetion to be choosen by the students to complete the
In the second part, the writer give 5 questions for the students to answer.
22
The writer gave the test to all samples then they were given half an hour to answer
3. Quesionnare
writer also gives quesionnare to answer the second question of this research.
The writer uses descriptive approach in order to know the criteria of the
test. According to Soedjianto (1981;36), there are five criteria of students based on
1. Excellent 86 – 100%
2. Good 76 – 85%
3. Fair 66 – 75%
4. Poor 56 – 65%
Every students were given a score according to the criteria above and the
1. Population.
The writer collect data from the ninth years students of MTS NW Kotaraja. They
are chosen as research object because they generally have learnt about English
23
2. Sample
The writer tooks all of the students of the ninth grade in as the sample of this
research. The sample would be taken out by using simple random sampling.
In this method, the writer analyzed data that is, the result of the tests which
were given to the ninth years sudents of MTS NW Kotaraja. There are several steps
Step one : Studying all the data, which were gathered through some test and
quesionnare.
Step two :The writer categorized the data according to the objective of this
research
Step three : Percentage data by calculating the number of the correct answer and
the wrong answer, in order to know the ability and the error of the
S = Fx X 100%
N
Where, S = Score
m = Fx X 100
N
24
Where, Fx = Sum of total score
N = Number of sample
m = mean score
Step four : Tabulation of the result of the tests will be put into table.
25
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Azar, Betty Schrampter. 1989. A24- A28. Understanding and using English
Grammar. 2nd ed.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Hopper, Paul J.1999. A Short Course in Grammar. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company.
Arisma. 2006. The Use of Simple Preposition by Third year students of Pasantren
Modern Immim Putra Makassar. Unpublished thesis Faculty Of Cultural
Sciences Hasanuddin University Makassar.
Thomas, A.J, and A.V Martinet. 1986. A Practical English Grammar. Fourt Edition.
Hongkong:Oxford Univerity Press.
26