The Frequency and Function of relative pronoun/conjunction that: A Corpus Analysis of Three-Level Opinion Essays
To write concisely, one should pay attention to word choice and sentence structure. This is to eliminate unnecessary words, to use simple sentence as well as not to repeat the same things. However, Japanese writers tend to use the relative pronouns or the conjunction that heavily, which can be superfluous or distracting to English-speaking audiences (Fujii, n.d.).
This study aims to examine the use of the relative pronoun or the conjunction that and to see whether the incidence of that varies across the three-level opinion essays of the High, Mid and Low (based on the learners’ TOEIC scores).
This study is based on a set of English data composed of 82 learner essays in text format (High (28), Mid (29) and Low (25)). The total number of words in all the essays is 43240 (Word Types: 1663).
In order to meet this goal, AntConc software is employed; the main basic usages of that based on A Communicative Grammar of English (Leech and Svartvik, 2002) are used as a reference. After identifying the frequency in the three sets of data, the interpretation/close examine of that to identify its function/use is also provided. The incidence of that was recorded separately for the three levels.
The frequency of the relative pronoun/conjunction that was calculated. Table 1 (please see at the back page) presents the results of that across the three-level essays. As Table 1 shows, the frequency/occurrence of that in the Low is 1.56% (n = 70) per 4477 words followed by the High (1.39%, n = 5643) and the Mid (1.33%, n = 5828). The three different levels show tendencies for relative pronoun/ conjunction that. According to Table 1, that is higher in the Low than in the others. One can explain that the difference use of that appears that the Low students tend to use that by getting influence from spoken discourse. It can also be seen from the Table 1 that when they get go to higher level, they realize to use that moderately, though the discrepancy between the Mid (1.33%) and the High (1.39%) appears 0.06%.
The functions of that were determined and counted in this study, too. That not only introduces clause, but also is used a demonstrative adjective or pronoun. The prominent main function of that across the three level essays is in the relative clause as a Direct Object (e.g. I think that, I believe that, etc.). Table 2 (please refer to the back page) shows the distribution of the functions of that across the three-level essays.
Table 2 shows that the highest frequency of that relative clause as a direct object is in the Mid, 46.15% (n = 36), followed by the Low, 44.28% (n = 31) and the High only 37.97% ( n = 30). As can be seen in Table 2, the ratio of the Low/Mid and High shows a great tendency of natural spoken discourse. The lower level tends to write like a spoken discourse.
To conclude, the heavy use of that-relative clause in writing is quite predictable since it is the influence of spoken discourse. Moreover, the main function of the that-relative clauses is as a direct object of the verbs. However, as was mentioned earlier, the use of that-relative clause as a direct object with higher level students tends to decrease due to the awareness of the difference between the spoken and written English.
To write concisely, one should pay attention to word choice and sentence structure. This is to eliminate unnecessary words, to use simple sentence as well as not to repeat the same things. However, Japanese writers tend to use the relative pronouns or the conjunction that heavily, which can be superfluous or distracting to English-speaking audiences (Fujii, n.d.).
This study aims to examine the use of the relative pronoun or the conjunction that and to see whether the incidence of that varies across the three-level opinion essays of the High, Mid and Low (based on the learners’ TOEIC scores).
This study is based on a set of English data composed of 82 learner essays in text format (High (28), Mid (29) and Low (25)). The total number of words in all the essays is 43240 (Word Types: 1663).
In order to meet this goal, AntConc software is employed; the main basic usages of that based on A Communicative Grammar of English (Leech and Svartvik, 2002) are used as a reference. After identifying the frequency in the three sets of data, the interpretation/close examine of that to identify its function/use is also provided. The incidence of that was recorded separately for the three levels.
The frequency of the relative pronoun/conjunction that was calculated. Table 1 (please see at the back page) presents the results of that across the three-level essays. As Table 1 shows, the frequency/occurrence of that in the Low is 1.56% (n = 70) per 4477 words followed by the High (1.39%, n = 5643) and the Mid (1.33%, n = 5828). The three different levels show tendencies for relative pronoun/ conjunction that. According to Table 1, that is higher in the Low than in the others. One can explain that the difference use of that appears that the Low students tend to use that by getting influence from spoken discourse. It can also be seen from the Table 1 that when they get go to higher level, they realize to use that moderately, though the discrepancy between the Mid (1.33%) and the High (1.39%) appears 0.06%.
The functions of that were determined and counted in this study, too. That not only introduces clause, but also is used a demonstrative adjective or pronoun. The prominent main function of that across the three level essays is in the relative clause as a Direct Object (e.g. I think that, I believe that, etc.). Table 2 (please refer to the back page) shows the distribution of the functions of that across the three-level essays.
Table 2 shows that the highest frequency of that relative clause as a direct object is in the Mid, 46.15% (n = 36), followed by the Low, 44.28% (n = 31) and the High only 37.97% ( n = 30). As can be seen in Table 2, the ratio of the Low/Mid and High shows a great tendency of natural spoken discourse. The lower level tends to write like a spoken discourse.
To conclude, the heavy use of that-relative clause in writing is quite predictable since it is the influence of spoken discourse. Moreover, the main function of the that-relative clauses is as a direct object of the verbs. However, as was mentioned earlier, the use of that-relative clause as a direct object with higher level students tends to decrease due to the awareness of the difference between the spoken and written English.
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