Students’ Problems in Using English Pronouns

This study aims to find out what are the students' problems in using English pronouns in using personal and possessive pronouns at SMP Negeri 15 Jambi. In this study, this research used qualitative research. The subjects of this study were class VIIG students of SMP Negeri 15 Jambi in the academic year 2021/2022. All problems in the use of pronouns have been categorized and identified, namely subject, object, possessive adjective, and possessive pronoun. In simple terms, the students face more problems in using object pronouns. This can be seen from the percentage results where the problem of using object pronouns is 35.2%, questions are answered incorrectly. Meanwhile, at least students face problems in using possessive pronouns by 14.4%. The result of this research found that the seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 15 Jambi mostly face the problem of using object pronouns, which is the most difficult thing for students because they do not really understand how to use object pronouns.


INTRODUCTION
English is a widely spoken language around the world. It is effective in disseminating information, science, and technology due to its status as an international language. According to Pincas (2003), in Indonesia, English must be thought because it has an important role in national or social life. It is taught to students from elementary school all the way through university. Students are expected to have a strong command of the English language as part of the program. As a result, because most sciences and technology are written in English, they can broaden their knowledge and sciences.
As we all know, the goal of teaching English in Indonesia is to prepare students to communicate in English with others. In Indonesia, Many people are now trying to master English by taking certain English courses or inviting private English teachers to their homes. The four language skills taught in English are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Furthermore, it includes three language components: phonology, grammar, and vocabulary. Grammar is one of the subskills that students must master when learning English. They must master grammar well as it is needed even in a communicative way.
Grammar is one aspect of language that is taught to every language learner. According to Penny (1996:75), "grammar is sometimes defined as the way words are put together to make correct sentences." By studying grammar, one can communicate the message clearly and precisely. Without grammar, learners can communicate effectively in only a limited number of situations. When students learn English, especially grammar skills, one of the subjects they learn is part of speech. Verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjunctions are the eight parts of speech. The primary concern in this study is with English pronouns. A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. According to Cambridge (2009Cambridge ( :1137, a pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun or a noun phrase: pronouns are frequently used to refer to a noun that has already been mentioned. Based on this research field experience program (PPL) at Jambi Junior High School No. 15. This research observed the problems that students encountered while learning English. The students did not understand the use of the subject pronouns I, he, she, and they, as well as the possessive pronouns my, your, his, and their in family members material. Students make mistakes such as "My mother is Mrs. Kurnia. My mother is a nurse" instead of saying "My mother is Mrs. Kurnia. She's a nurse" then with a sentence error like that then there is a problem of repetition of words that students do not understand.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Pronouns
Pronouns, according to child (1998:5), refer to and replace nouns (the names of people, places, and things) that have already been mentioned or that the speaker/writer assumes the listener/reader understands. According to Mark (2001:66), Pronouns are a type of structure whose members act as substitute forms for noun phrases. The noun phrase that a pronoun replaces is known as its antecedent. Pronoun subcategories serve as substitution forms to varying degrees. This research concludes from the definition above that pronouns are words that function to replace nouns that have previously been mentioned in order to avoid repetition of nouns.
A pronoun is a word that is used to replace a person, place, or thing. A pronoun is frequently used to refer to a noun that has already been mentioned. According to William (2005:60), "English, like other languages, resists the duplication of nouns in sentences, so it replaces duplicated nouns with what are known as pronouns." According to William's viewpoint, the author argues that using pronouns can make a text more effective because we don't have to mention nouns all the time. There are also different types of pronouns. "There are several other types of pronouns: personal, demonstrative, reciprocal, possessive, indefinite, reflexive, and relative," writes William (2005:61).
According to Alsagoff (2008:89) expresses another viewpoint on pronouns, arguing that "a pronoun stands in place of a noun phrase, or part of a noun phrase, when the reference to that noun phrase is clear from the context." He categorizes pronouns into eight categories. Personal, possessive, reflexive, reciprocal, demonstrative, indefinite, relative, and interrogative are some examples.
1. Personal pronouns: I, we, he, she, they, it, me, us, him, her, them, you. Example: The two hungry adolescent boys are munching on apples.
They're munching on some apples. The word "they" takes the place of the noun phrase "the two hungry teenage boys." 2. Possessive pronouns As a noun phrase premodifier: my, our, your, her, it, and their Mine, ours, his, hers, theirs, and yours as noun phrase heads Example: This pen is mine, for example. "Mine" refers to ownership of "this pen." Every day, I wash my car. Because "my" cannot stand alone, it must be followed by the noun "car." 3. Reflexive pronouns: myself, ourselves, yourself, himself, herself, itself, themselves Example: I myself will personality see to it. "Myself" is for emphasis the sentence, the pronoun is as postmodifier. 4. Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another Example: They kept looking at each other and smiling.
5. Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those Example: Some new historical fossil books have been in the library. Those books often are inquired by students and lecturers. 6. Indefinite pronouns: someone, something, somebody, anyone, anything, everyone Example: I must do something. 7. Relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that Example: The man who lives next door is a dentist. 8. Interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, what Example: What would you like to have for lunch? Of the several types above, this research only discusses two types, namely personal pronouns and possessive pronouns.

PERSONAL AND POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Possessive and personal pronoun are parts of English pronoun. Using pronoun is intended to avoid useless and boring repetition in sentences. Pronoun also is consider as a part of speech, while other grammarian say it is subclass of noun. In this research the writer intended to discuss possessive and personal pronoun according to its function in sentence.
Personal from the word "person" as a noun means individual human beings. Personal as an adjective means one's own, individual, private (Fowler 1995:889). Personal is belonging to a particular person rather than a group or an organization. (Hornby 2005:863).
This research concludes from the definition above that personal pronouns are pronouns that refer to a specific person or thing and change form to indicate a person, animal, object, number, or gender. In this study, the following personal pronouns were used as subjects: I, you, we, they, he, she, it, and as objects: me, you, us, her, him, them, and it.
Possessive, according to Hornby (1985:650) in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English, means possession or ownership.
According to Mas'ud (1996:80) Pronoun is class of word that can replace noun or noun phrase position.
Actual substitute pronouns may refer not only to the preceding noun but also to its antecedent. But, for the most part, that comes before. Non-substitute pronouns may simply refer to something indefinitely or express an indefinite quantity. (Frank 1992:20).
In sum, possessive pronouns are pronouns that show possession, indicating that the pronoun acts as a possessive marker and defines who owns the object. In this study, the following possessive pronouns were used: I, we, hers, hers, hers, yours, theirs, mine, ours, hers, hers, yours, and theirs.

PROBLEMS OF USING PRONOUN
According to Merriam (1867), " A problem is an unresolved matter that necessitates a decision and usually necessitates considerable thought or skill for its proper resolution a perplexing or puzzling question" The majority of students struggle with choosing the appropriate Personal Pronoun. Here are some issues that students face. (Nurjanah, 2012).
1. Problem in using subjective pronouns Here are the students' problems: a. They are watching television.
(my mother and I) b. It are in the garden. (flowers) In sentence a, the students were unfamiliar with the subject of my mother and I. Because the subject is plural, it is we. In sentence b, the student did not recognize whether the subject was singular or plural. Because the subject in that sentence is plural (flowers), the students must use the subject they.

Problem in using objective pronouns
Here are the students' problems: a. I can see Marry. I can see she. b. Karen is next to Peter. Karen is next to he Students struggle with determining personal pronouns as objects in sentences a, b, and c. They are still unable to distinguish between personal pronoun forms when used as subjects or objects. Because Marry has a position as an object in sentence a., the students must use her. In sentence b, the students must use Peter because he has position as an object. 3. Problem in using possessive adjectives Here are the students' issues in this area: a. Susan and Peter have invented me to them party.
(they) b. The dog was licking his paws. (it) Students still did not understand when personal pronouns became possessive adjectives in sentence a. They should make use of their. Because personal pronoun it changes to possessive adjective in sentence b, students should use its. 4. Problem in using possessive pronouns a. Tino bought a new computer. The computer is him b. You and I live in this house.
The house is us Students should use his in sentence a. because the personal pronoun Tino (he) changes to his when used as a possessive pronoun. The students should use ours in sentence b.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The qualitative method was used in this study. According to McMillan and Schumacher (2003), qualitative research is an investigative approach that usually collect data through direct contact and interact with people in a research setting. Furthermore, this study is designed as a case study and focuses on a single topic. This research used tests to collect data. The test was designed to identify students' problems with pronoun usage. Furthermore, descriptive analysis techniques are used by this research to determine the percentage of occurrence of each type of problem (percentages).
The subjects of this research was seven (VII) grade students from Junior High School Number 15 in Jambi. This research only took class VIIG which contains 24 students. Furthermore, this research uses this technique to test students on personal and possessive pronouns. This test is used to determine the percentage of junior high school students who have problems using pronouns. This research administers a test focusing on pronoun usage; the test contains thirty items, one for each pronoun; the subject pronoun has nine items. Object pronouns contain ten items, possessive adjectives contain six, and possessive pronouns contain five. The author arranges the items at random. This research employs a number of procedures when analyzing data. First, collect data for analysis. Second, by circling the problem, identify and analyze the trouble that students face. Third, classifying the resulting problems, such as those involving the subject (I, you, they, we, he, she, it), the object (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them), possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their), and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs) Finally, tabulate the problem by counting the problems, organizing them in a table based on the problem classification, and calculating the problem percentage. The percentage obtained by using the following formula will be explained in the table.

P = x 100%
P = Number Percentage f = Frequency is looked for the percentage n = Number of cases (respondents).
After calculating the percentage of problems, this research examined the source of the problems to determine what problems the students encountered when using pronouns. Finally, after reviewing the results of the analysis, it is time to draw some conclusions.

FINDINGS
After analyzing the test data, this research found some problems made by the students when using English pronouns. The problems that most often occurs in class VIIG is object pronoun. With the number of incorrect object pronoun 88 problems, for example "There isn't much difference between you and he". It must "There isn't much difference between you and him." Students still cannot distinguish the form of personal pronouns when they become subjects and objects. Possessive adjective 78 problems, for example, "They are my parents his Names are Mr. Adie and Ms. Ina." It must "They are my parents their Names are Mr. Adie and Ms. Ina." Students were unable to determine whether the subject was singular or plural, Mr. Adie and Ms. Adie are plural in the sentence. Subject 48 problems, for example "She is my brother" It must "he is my brother." students do not understand gender in English. And Possessive Pronoun 36 problems, for example "Don't take my book, it is my." It must "Don't take my book, it is mine." Students have problems distinguishing between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns. The table below is an analysis of the student recapitulation that can be seen.
The object pronoun problem is the most common problem faced by class VIIG Junior High School Number 15 Jambi, with a total of 88 problems. The second problem is possessive adjective with a total of 78 problems. Next is the subject with a total of 36 problems. And the last one is possessive pronoun with a total of 36 problems. And the total problems that students do are 250 problems.
After this research collected data for analysis. This research identify problems faced by students by circling the problems. This research then identified the resulting problems, whether they were with the subject, object, possessive adjective, or possessive pronoun. The following table shows the results of students' pronoun usage problems: This table shows the total problems of class VIIG students in using English Pronouns. From these data, this research found 250 problems. 48 subject problems, 88 object problems, 78 possessive adjective problems, and 36 possessive adjective problems.
We can see the percentage of problems in using English pronouns that are done by students. As mentioned in the explanation above, objects are the most common problem. Where the object pronoun indicates that the pronoun acts as the verb's object in a sentence. The table above shows the percentage of students who have problems using English pronouns. Subject with 19.2% of the total problems. Object with 35.2% total problems, Possessive adjective with 31.2% total problems, the last one is possessive pronoun problem with 14.4% total problems. Students have Problem in determining pronouns as objects. They cannot distinguish sentences as subject or object. For example, "There isn't much difference between you and he." The student does not understand the position of the sentence as an object. The student should answer with, "There isn't much difference between you and him." The problem that many students experience is in determining singular and plural sentences, students do not understand singular nouns that only mention one noun and students do not understand plural nouns which indicate that there is more than one noun in a sentence. For example, "They are my parents his names are Mr. Adie and Ms. Ina." students don't know Mr. Adie and Ms. Ina is a plural noun of more than one person. They should have answered "They are my parents their names are Mr. Adie and Ms. Ina." The problem of subject pronouns is a problem that not many students face with a total of 48 (19.2%). The problem for students in understanding pronouns is that students do not know gender such as, "is his kevin's sister." they did not know whether kevin's sister is male or female. In this sentence, students should use the subject pronoun she. like, "Is she kevin's sister." In this study, the possessive pronoun problem was the least problem faced by students with a total of 36 (14.4%). This problem occurs because students still cannot determine possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns in sentences, for example, "Don't take my book, it is my" the student answered the pronoun my which is a possessive adjective pronoun. The student did not understand the use of a pronouns that cannot stand alone or a sentence followed by a noun and sentences that can stand alone that don't have to be followed by nouns. They should answer with "Don't take my book, it is "mine" because the sentence is a stand-alone and there is no noun after the possessive pronoun.

CONCLUSION
Following research and data analysis, this research conducted a test to class VIIG at Junior High School Number 15 Jambi. Based on the findings and discussion in the previous chapter, the following can be concluded: Problems faced by class VIIG students at Junior High School Number 15 Jambi. The pronouns used are Subject Pronouns with a total of 48 or 19.2%, object pronouns 88 or 35.2%, possessive adjectives 78 or 31.2%, and possessive adjectives with a total of 36 or 14.4%. The students have these problems because they still cannot distinguish subject or object pronouns in sentences, and students do not know the gender of male or female, besides that students do not know singular or plural sentences in a sentence.
Based on the analysis of the data above, this research found that the most common problems faced by students were problems in using object pronouns with a total of 35.2% problems. Although the percentage figure does not reach 50%, from the data we can see that class VIIG students still have problems using personal pronouns and possessive pronouns, especially in distinguishing between the placement of subject or object in a sentence. The problem of using object pronouns is the most difficult for students because they still don't understand when personal pronouns become subject, object, possessive adjective or possessive pronouns.