An Error Analysis of English Verbs in Written Compositions of Students of Selected Tertiary Institutions in Ogun State

The main concern of this paper is to analyse errors of verbs in the written composition of students of selected tertiary institutions in Ogun state. To gather data for the study, written compositions of 150 year-one students of three tertiary institutions in Ogun state were received for analysis. 100 of the essays were purposively selected for analysis. The theoretical framework for the paper is Adegbija (1995) view about error analysis. The selected errors of verbs identified were described, classified, and explained. It was found that students’ errors are characterised by the wrong choice of verbs, wrong tense formation, wrong sequence of tenses, wrong formation of questions/negatives, and wrong use of modal auxiliaries. Others are errors of phrasal verbs such as wrong use of particles, omission of particles, unnecessary use of particles, and wrong use of phrasal/prepositional verbs. The paper concludes with the view that sociolinguistic factors such as problems of interference, wrong transfer, poor educational background of students, and others, led to the errors. To minimise the errors, language educators and students generally are advised to be involved in regular workshops and conferences where these problems are freely discussed for required solutions.