Page 51 - Difference or Disorder Digital Version

Difference or Disorder?

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS FOR LANGUAGE: MORPHOSYNTAX

Note: Sentences marked with an asterisk (*) are not grammatical.

Examples of
Feature German English Errors
Word order Flexible Strict Subject‐ I threw over
Verb‐Object the fence some
order hay to the
horse.*/I threw
some hay to
the horse over
the fence.
Present tense verb use Simple Future, I eat my dinner
Present Present now.*/ I’m
Progressive, eating my
or Simple dinner now.
Present
Past tense verb use Past Simple Past or Then I have
Perfect Past Perfect drunk a
soda.*/Then I
drank a soda.
Question Questions Word order What means that word, please?*/What does
formation marked by inversion or that word mean, please?
inversion or addition of
question “do”
words

(Rintelman, 2012; Shoebottom, 2014)

SPECIAL NOTE: SEMANTICS

A German speaker acquiring English as a second language may make common word choice
errors that reflect different concepts in their languages. This often results when, in one
language, a single word represents a broader meaning than the rough translation equivalent
in another language.

Vocabulary Word: Examples of Errors:
“Schwer” = heavy/hard The homework is very heavy.*/The
homework is very hard.
“Aktuel” = current/actually That’s happening actually.*/That’s
happening currently.
“Ausleihen” = lend/borrow Can I lend your pencil?*/Can I borrow your
pencil?
“Erinern” = remember/remind I don’t remind.*/I don’t remember.
“Aufgeregt” = excited/anxious I’m anxious for Halloween.*/I’m excited for 39
Halloween.
“Machen” = make/have/do We will make a party.*/We will have a
party.

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