ABSTRACT

Kharisma Putri. 2009. English Grammatical Collocation: Restricted to Prepositions at,for, in, and on. Research. Skripsi. English Department. Faculty of Letters. GunadarmaUniversity. Advisors: Prof Dr. Indiyah Imran, Dra. Endang Purwaningsih Msi.

Key Words: Linguistic, Grammatical Collocation____________________________________________________________

The aims of this research are English to describe the dominant words whichcollocate with prepositions at, for, in and on, to describe the types of grammaticalcollocations in English, to describe the most frequent combinations of grammaticalcollocation, to describe the meaning of grammatical collocations in English. The sourceof the data is Oxford collocation dictionary, Agatha Christies novel The Man in theBrown Suit and internet provider. This research uses descriptive qualitative method.

The results show that there are 4 main categories and 6 sub-categories. Thecategories are; 1) noun + preposition (countable noun + preposition and uncountablenoun + preposition), 2) preposition + noun (preposition + abstract noun and preposition +concrete noun), 3) adjective + noun (descriptive adjective + preposition and derivationaladjective + preposition) and 4) verb + preposition. The most frequent combination ofEnglish grammatical collocation is preposition + noun (G4) with 67 (33, 5%) of thewhole data, meanwhile, 62 (31 %) data is in the pattern of noun + preposition (G1) then,adjective+ preposition (G5) with 51 (25,5%) and the last is verb + preposition (G8) with20 data (10%) data. All of the collocations in this research have grammatical meaning.

Chapter IIntroduction

1 Background of the Research1.2 Justification of the Research

The subject of this research is collocation that refers to the way words occurtogether in speech and writing (L Geoffrey, C Benita, and I Roz . 84:2005). Collocationis defined as a sequence of words or terms which co-occur more often than would beexpected by chance (www.wikipedia.com) The concept of collocations was firstidentified by Palmer (1933, as cited in Nation, 2002, p. 317) as a string of words thatmust or should be learned, or is best or most conveniently learned as an integral wholeor independent entity, rather than by the process of piecing together their componentparts. Collocation fall into two major groups: grammatical collocations and lexicalcollocations.

Grammatical collocation is a phrase consisting of dominant words (noun,adjective, or verb) and a prepositional or grammatical structure such as an infinitive orclause. On the other hand Lexical collocations, in contrast to grammatical collocations,normally do not contain prepositions, infinitives, or clauses. Typical lexical collocationsconsist of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs (Benson, M., Benson, E., Ilson, R.,1997:xxiv). And the problem is there are no collocation rules that can be learned. Thenative English speaker intuitively makes the correct collocation, based on lifetimesexperience of hearing and reading the words in sets of combination but not for the non-native speaker because they have more limited experience. Besides, collocations arearbitrary and unpredictable. Non-native speakers cannot cope with them; they must havea guide. They have no way that one says in English make an estimate, (but not *make anestimation), commit treason (but not *commit treachery). In English one says commitfraud and *perpetrate fraud. However, only the collocation commit suicide is possible;one does not say *perpetrate suicide. One says bake a cake, but make pancakes (Benson,M., Benson, E., Ilson, R., 1997).

The writer is interested to make research on English grammatical collocationrestricted to the preposition at, for, in, and on, because these are English prepositionswith have high frequency. Besides, the writer finds that many students encounterproblems how to collocate preposition at, for, in, and on in predictable ways. The writeralso realized that collocation is one of the most difficult aspects in language learning, buthas been largely neglected by researchers and practitioners. Heretofore, the research onEnglish collocation is never written in Gunadarma University especially for S1 studentsfaculty of Letter.

This research is important to be conducted because it can be useful for students inIndonesia, because as non-native learners we must study about collocation in order tomake our speech much more natural and more native speaker like. This research is alsoimportant for teacher, in order to know what mistakes their students made and they willguide their students to learn more about collocation.

Chapter IVResult of the Research

4.1 Introduction

verb+prep10%

adj+prep25,5%

prep+noun33,5%

noun+prep31%

noun+prepprep+nounadj+prepverb+prep

Figure 4.1 The main categories of grammatical collocation and frequencies

After collecting 200 data, there are four main categories, namely noun +preposition (G1), preposition + noun (G4), adjective + preposition (G5) and verb +preposition (G8). By far the most frequent of combination is preposition + noun (G4)with 67 (33, 5%) of the whole data, meanwhile, 62 (31%) data is in the pattern of noun +preposition (G1) then adjective + preposition (G5) with 51 (25,5%) data, and the last isverb + preposition (G8) with 20 data (10%). It means that the four main categories onthis research are apt to the pattern of grammatical collocation in English that has beenmentioned in theoretical reviews.

Then the writer analyzed the data into sub-categories based on the types ofdominant words (noun, verb, and adjective). In figure 4.2 below consist of the maincategories and the sub-categories.

No The Pattern of grammatical collocation Data Percentage1 Noun + preposition (G1) 62 31%

Countable noun + preposition 27 13,5%Uncountable noun + preposition 35 17,5%

2 Preposition + noun (G4) 67 33,5%Preposition + abstract noun 26 13%Preposition + concrete noun 41 20,5%

3 Adjective + preposition (G5) 51 25,5%Descriptive adjective + preposition 26 13%Derivational adjective + preposition 25 12,5%

4 Verb + Preposition (G8) 20 10%Total 200 100%

4.2 The main categories and sub-categories on grammatical collocation

Based on the table above, all the data has grammatical meaning becauseprepositions (function words) should be taught as a part of grammar.

4.2 Noun + Preposition (G1)The total data of Noun + preposition (G1) is 62 (31%), with the types of noun as

follows;

4.2.1 Countable noun + PrepositionData:

Preposition atNovice atAbility ~HuffAccountPreposition forPreparation forPrecaution ~Plans.SponsorAlibi

Preposition inInvestor InParticipant ~SpecialistSimplificationDiscrepancy

Preposition onHoax onGamble ~HandoutCommitteeMark

Uncountable noun + Preposition Preposition at

Glimpse ~HappinessFrustrationFury

Preposition forFervour for

Hunger ~HeadacheHateCompassion

Preposition inConservatism inGrowth ~Interestcomfort

Preposition onGuidance onHold ~KnockSlanderSlant

4.3 Preposition + Noun (G4)The total data of preposition + noun (G4) is 67 (33,5%), with the types of noun as

follows;

4.3.1 Preposition + Abstract noun Preposition at

At peace~ guess

libertyinfinity

Preposition forFor fear~ pleasure

funflavourease

Preposition inIn love~ public

democracydepressiondanger

Preposition onOn mind~ throne

4.3.2 Preposition + concrete noun Preposition atat Academy~ playgroup

schoolembassyfuneral

Preposition forFor fee~ homework

hiremoney

Preposition inIn handcuffs~ handwriting

luggagemagazinediary

Preposition onOn television~ internet

agendaa ship

Adjective + Preposition (G5)The total data of Adjective + Preposition (G5) is 51 (25,5%), with the types of

adjective as follows;

4.4.1 Descriptive adjective + preposition Preposition atGood atMad ~StrongQuickWeak Preposition for

Fit forFine ~ImportantGladPopular

Preposition inTop inAlike ~NarrowCorrectBilingual Preposition onUp to-date onGentle ~Tough

Derivational adjective + Preposition Preposition atFlattered atHopeless ~IndignantFrightenedFrustrated Preposition for

Favorable forHumiliating ~HelpfulGratefulInteresting

Preposition inHuddled inInterested ~FruitfullInexperincedFearless Preposition onHelpful onHooked ~IntentPayableDependent

4.5 Verb + PrepositionThe total data of verb + Preposition (G5) is 20 (10%)

Preposition atNod atGuess ~HissHintGlance

Preposition forFear forFight ~FineForgiveGesture

Preposition inFloat inGaspFrownGlitterGuide

Preposition on

Feed onInsistImpose

Chapter VConclusions and Suggestions

5.1 ConclusionThe research problems are: What dominant words collocate with prepositions at,

for, in and on?, what types of grammatical collocations are in English?, whatcombinations are the most frequent in grammatical collocation?, what is the meaning ofgrammatical collocation in English?. The subjects of the analysis are grammaticalcollocation of prepositions at, for, in, and on. The data are taken from Oxford collocationdictionary, Agatha Christies novel The Man in the Brown Suit and the internetprovider.

The findings of the skripsi are as follows: after finding 200 data, the data areclassified into four main categories; firstly noun + preposition (G1) with its sub-categories there are countable noun + preposition and uncountable noun + preposition.Secondly, preposition + noun (G4) with its sub-categories there are preposition +abstract noun and preposition + concrete noun. Thirdly, adjective + noun (G5) with itssub-categories there are descriptive adjective + preposition and derivational adjective +preposition. And the last is verb + preposition (G8). The most frequent combination isPreposition + noun (G4) with 67 (33,5%) of the whole data, meanwhile, 62 (31 %) datais in the pattern of noun + preposition (G1), then adjective + preposition (G5) with51(25,5%), and the last is verb + preposition (G8) with 20 (10%). The collocation whichis discussed in this research has grammatical meaning.

The writer realized this skripsi has its weaknesses, such as this research does notdiscuss the entire pattern in grammatical collocation like adjective + that-clause,adjective + to-infinitives, noun + to-infinitive, noun + that-clause, etc. this researchfocused on prepositions at, for, in, and on only, and not included other commonprepositions like by, from, before, off, as etc.

5.2 SuggestionThe writer would like to suggest the next researcher to analyze common

preposition such as at, for, in, and on only. She wishes the next writer wants to makeresearch about prepositional collocation in other kinds of common preposition such as by,as, of, off, before, etc. Secondly, this research not discussed another pattern ofgrammatical collocation such as adjective + that-clause, adjective + to-infinitives, noun+ to-infinitive, noun + that-clause, etc

For students of Gunadarma University especially from Faculty of Letters, thisresearch may be used as a primary step to apply the theories of grammatical collocationin order to make our speech and writing much more natural and more native like.

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