Aspects of past tense in English and Maithili: a comparative study

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to present the analysis of aspects of past tense in English and Maithili. The analysis of the aspects of past tense in English and Maithili is based on the primary and secondary data. With the help of secondary data collected from A Reference Grammar of Maithili (1997), A University Grammar of English (1990), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985), the researcher sets the rules of aspects of past tense in Maithili, then tests those rules by collecting the written data from Maithili speakers of Dhanusha district. By making the comparative analysis of the aspects of past tense in English and Maithili, it also predicts the errors that Maithili speakers are likely to commit while learning aspects of past tense in English and Maithili. It also calculates the errors actually committed by 40 Maithili speaking students of grade IX and X of Dhanusha district through errors analysis. Finally, it points out the correlation between the predictions of errors and the actual occurrences of error. The sample population for this study consists of 40 Maithili speaking students of grade IX and X of Dhanusha District from four different schools. In this work, both primary and secondary sources are used for the collection of the data. After collecting the data, the responses of the students are marked systematically and errors committed by them and tabulated. The researcher claims that this study is satisfactory and complete. Because of limited time and research, there may be some limitations and shortcomings in the study.