VERBAL INFLECTIONS IN TAMIL AND PROBLEMS FOR TAMIL LEARNERS OF ENGLISH IN TENSE USAGES

The most important error frequently made by the second language learner’s deals with the indications of the tense aspects in the verbs and verbal phrases of the structures.  The error often bewilders the learners as the structural patterns of the first language entirely differ from that of the new language. This error has been widely discussed by the grammarians but the remedial measures are very often futile. Many grammarians propound the view that emphasizing is the rules of the second language is the best method to overcome the popular error. This method, though powerful, is not effective as it seems to be violent in one way according to some grammarians. Some argue that this overemphasize leads to inter-lingual errors. However, it seems sensible to look into the perception of some others that a sensible shift is essential to learn the second language. The comprehending of the verbal aspects of the second language and their inflections is the best route to adopt the rules of the second language. Keeping this comprehension in mind the present paper deals with the errors made by the Tamil learners in the acquisition of English as their foreign language. The paper studies the English scripts of the Tamil learners and analyzes the errors in both the ways, the perspectives of the Tamil inflections and of the verbal aspects of English.