Error Analysis Of English Verbs In The Writing Of University-level Non-English Majors

Nowadays, international communication is becoming more and more frequent in our country. English as one of the most important second language is becoming more and more important among college students. To master English, we should grasp four basic skills:listening, speaking, reading, and writing. As the most difficult skill, writing is of great importance in English teaching. English writing is one of the key points in College English Test Band 4 and 6, which mainly test students' output capacity. Nevertheless, most college students' writing skills are not up to the basic standard. Mistakes often occur in their writing process, especially when they use English verbs.The main purposes of this study are to classify the error types of verbs in students' writing and to analyze the causes of these errors. The study, based on the writing materials of137 college students and guided by the Error Analysis Theory and the Interlanguage Theory,analyzes the errors of English verbs in their writings. Meanwhile, by means of interviews, the author tries to explain the causes of errors.The result shows that the main verb errors are subject-verb disagreement,non-finite verb errors, transitivity errors, verb and verb phrase misuse, tense misuse and so on.The main causes of errors include interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, and environmental factors. At last, the author puts forward some advice about the English writing of college students.