CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
F. Significance of The Study
Hopefully this research can be useful for people in educational aspect, such as:
1. For The Researcher
Hopefully this research can be the best experience for the researcher and also help in order can be better for the next time in creative writing activity.
2. For The English Teachers and Lectures
Hopefully the teachers and the lecturers will get extra informations and insight in the English learning especially about complex sentence.
3. For The College
Hopefully this thesis will be extra references in grammar subject as an example for the next researchers.
G. Definition of The Key Terms
The key terms used in this research are defined as follows:
1. Students Ability means the quality or the capacity of the students to comprehend, to understand, to analyse, to differentate, or to identify some learning processes.
2. Grammar is the a description of the way in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in a language.
3. Dependent Clause is a clause which has a subject and a verb but it can not stand alone because it has incomplete thought. It needs an independent clause to be meaningful.
4. Complex Sentence is a sentence contains at least two clauses which is combined by a conjunctive. Two clauses are independent clause and dependent clause.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of The Related Theory
1. Grammar
a) The Nature of The Grammar
Standard English is the variety of English that grammar books describe.
It is standard not in the sense that it is better English than other varieties but in the sense that it is the widely recognized and codified version of English. In the workplace, a written report or memorandum will require Standard English, as will most conversations with supervisors. Outside of the workplace, students should be able to communicate with professional people such as lawyers or doctors in Standard English. The study of grammar is by no means the only, or even the primary, more important, as English teachers know, are generous amounts of reading, speaking, listening, and writing. But students need a conscious knowledge of grammar so that they can talk about sentences and about the conventions of standard English. In the English learning, the learners need to understand the standard English with studying English grammatical so that can be practiced it in any appropriate situation.
Therefore, grammar is a set of rules of ordering of words to be a sentence. As Nunan defines grammar is generally thought to be a set of rules specifying the correct ordering of words at the sentence level. Besides,
grammar is study about structure of a language as Richards stated in Nunan that grammar refers to a description of the structure of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentence in the language.5In line with Nunan and Richards, Harmer gives definition that grammar is the description of the way in which words can change their form and can be combined into sentences in that language.6 Indeed, in grammar learners will meet the changing of words forms. In additional, Thornbury defines grammar as simple meaning that grammar is partly the study of what forms or structure are possible in language.7It is clear that the study of grammar is about structure of a language. It will talk about words ordering, the changing of words forms, creating sentences, combining phrases, clauses etc.
According to Haussamen, actually, the term grammar refers to two kinds of knowledge about language. One is subconscious knowledge, the language ability that children develop at an early age without being taught. As children begin to talk, as they become able to form sentences, their brains are forming their "grammar circuits" automatically. The other kind of knowledge is the conscious understanding of sentences and texts that can help students improve their reading and writing abilities by building on that subconscious knowledge. This conscious understanding includes knowing the parts of
5David Nunan, Practical English Language Teaching, McGrawHill, NewYork:2003, p.154
6Jeremy Harmer, The Practical of English Language Teaching, England: Pearson Education Limited, 2001, p. 12
7 Scott Thornbury, How to Teach Grammar, England: Blustone Press,1999, p.1
sentences and how they work together, knowing how sentences connect with one another to build meaning, and understanding how and why we use language in different ways in different social situations.8On the contrary, Nunan stated that grammarians distinguish between prescriptive grammars and descriptive grammars. A prescriptive grammar lays down the law, saying what is right and what is wrong. A descriptive grammar on the other hand, sets out to describe the way that people actually use language. In recent years, the trend has been away from prescriptive and towards descriptive grammars.9 It can be understood that prescriptive grammar is too strong in its rule.
b) Principles for Teaching Grammar
According to Nunan, there are three principles for teaching grammar:10 1) Integrate Both Inductive and Deductive Methods into Your Teaching
In the deductive classroom, the teachers give a grammatical explanation or rule followed by a set of exercises designed to clarify the grammatical point and help the learners master the point. Reverse this process, in the inductive procedure the teachers present the learners with samples of language and through a process of guided discovery, get them to work out the principle or rule for themselves. However, Nunan integrates these both of inductive and deductive methods. Nunan suspects that the learners prefer deduction because it requires less mental effort. Meanwhile, Nunan prefers induction
8Brock Haussamen, Grammar Alive: A guide for Teachers, Larchmont, NewYork:2003, p.1
9David Nunan____p.154
10 David Nunan____p.158
because he believe that it demands greater mental effort and it will has result in more effective learning in the longer term.
2) Use Task that Make Clear The Relationship Between Grammatical Form and Communicative Function
Many grammar-based courses are relatively ineffective because the teachers teach grammar as an abstract system, present the language as isolated sentences and fail to give learners a proper contex for the grammar point.
Teaching was largely limited to the form of the new grammatical item. The solution is present the grammar in a context that makes clear the relationship between the grammatical form and the communicative function.
3) Focus on The Development of Procedural rather than Declarative Knowledge
Declarative knowledge is knowing language rules. Procedural knowledge is being able to use the knowledge for communication. Here, Nunan gives example with a learners who know that you have to put an “s” on the end of the verb when making third person singular declarative statement. When making such statements themselves, however, more often than not, they leave off the “s”. The student have declarative knowledge but not procedural knowledge.
c.) The Best Practices in Language Teaching and Learning Grammar
According to Werner in her book Mosaic 1 Grammar, She and team of writers, editors, and teacher consultants has identified the following six interconnected best practices:
1) Making Use of Acedemic Content
Materialand tasks based on academic content and experiences give learning real purpose. Students explore real world issues, discuss academic, and study content-based and thematic materials.
2) Organizing Information
Students learn to organize thoughts and notes through a variety of graphic organizers that accomodate diverse learning and thinking styles.
3) Scaffolding Instruction
A scaffolding is a physical structure that facilitates constribution of building.
Similarly, scaffolding instruction is a tool used to facilitate language learning in the form of predictable and flexible tasks. Some example include oral or written modelling by the teacher or students, placing information in larger framework, and reinterpretation.
4) Activating Prior Knowledge
Students can better understand new spoken or written material when they connect to the content. Activating prior knowledge allows students to tap into what they already know, building on this knowledge, and stirring a curiosity for more knowledge.
5) Interacting with Others
Activities that promote human interaction in pair work, small group work, and whole class activities present opportunities for real world contact and real world use of language.
6) Cultivating Critical Thinking
Strategies for critical thinking are taught explicitly. Students learn tools that promote critical thinking skills crucial to success in the academic world.
2. Complex Sentence
a) The Nature of The Complex Sentence
Complex sentence is composed of two or more simple sentence some of which are dependent on another.11 In line with Clark, according to Oshima and Haque, the complex sentence contains one independent clause and one (or more) dependent clause(s). The dependent clause or the subordinate clause is introduced by either a subordinate conjunction (such as although, while, or because) or a relative pronoun (such as who or which).12 A complex sentence combines a dependent clause with an independent clause. When the dependent clause is placed before the independent clause, the two clauses are divided by a
11David Calrk. Comprehensive English Grammar:Theoretical & Practical, The Educational Tranding Company: London, 1871, p.40
12Alice Oshima & Ann Haque, writing Academic English: third Edition, Longman, NewYork, 1999, p. 160
comma; otherwise, no punctuation is necessary.13 For example in these both of sentences below:
Although women in United States could own property , they could not vote until 1920
In United Stated, women could not vote until 1920 although they could own property
b) Independent and Dependent Clause
A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb. Generally, there are two clauses: Independent clause or principal/main clause and dependent clause or subordinate clause.14 According to The Evergreen Writing Center Library, an independent clause makes a statement or asks a question that can act as a complete sentence. For example, The dog barks. A dependent clause cannot act as a complete sentence because it begins with a subordinating word, such as when, because, if, whoever, etc. For instance, When the dog barks. Oshima and Haque stated that an independent clause contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. It can stand alone as a sentence by itself. An independent clause is formed with:
13The McGraw-Hill companies, Grammar Practice book:grade 4, (New York: Mc Millan McGraw-Hill), P.20
14Robin L. Simmons, Grammar Bytes!, (ChompChomp.com), 2014, p. 1
Subject+Verb+Complement
Example:
The students spend four years in college S V C
The teacher gave writting homework S V C
A dependent clause begins with a subordinate such as when, while, if, that, or who. A dependent does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence by itself. A dependent clause is formed with:15
Subordinator+ Subject+Verb+Complement
Example:
...although students spend four years in college...
Sub S V C
Besides discussing about independent clause or main clause and dependent clause, in complex sentence will also be explained about subordinate conjunction that are needed to combine these both independent clause and dependent clause together. However, the type of clauses as the functions in the complex sentence will be explain first. Besides, these clauses have the subordinate conjunction by each type of clauses.
15Alice Oshima and Ann Hoque, Writting Academic English,3rd. (New York:Longman,1988), P.153
c) The Dependent Clauses of The Complex Sentence
The independent clause can be a simple sentence which contains a subject and a verb. So are the dependent clauses. But, the dependent clauses have no complete thought. These dependent or subordinate clauses have the types based on their each subordinators. In the complex sentence, the researcher would explain about three most clauses or are called “The Subordinate Clauses”
that often become problem for students in the grammatical learning because they do not understand to identify and differentiate them.
(1) Noun Clause
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
This definition is simple enough, but, even so, it is not easy to understand exactly what clause are. A noun clause is a clause that function as a noun;
because the noun clause is a noun, it is used in a sentence as either an object of a verb, an object of a preposition, or the subject of the sentence.
As Pardiyono stated in his book, 12 Writing Clues for Better Writing Competence, that noun clause is a clause which has function as a noun in a sentence. It can be a subject, an object, or a complement.16 Check these following sentences out:
Example:
I know when he will arrive
Noun clause as an objective of verb
16Pardiyono, 12 writing Clues for Better Writing Competence, Andi Offset:Yokyakarta, 2006, P.133
I am concern about when he will arrive
Noun clause as an object of preposition
when he will arrive is not important
Noun clause as a subject17
According to Oshima and Haque, a noun clause is dependent clause that functions is a noun. It can be a subject, object, or subject complement. Because a noun clause is dependent, it must be connected to an independent caluse to form a complex sentence. A noun clause used as an object is peceded by an independent clause called an introductory clause. The noun clause is the object of the introductory clause verb, which is often a verb of speaking (say, tell, report) or mental activity (know, believe, wonder). 18
Meiklejohn stated that a noun-sentence or clause is of course equal to a noun. Therefore a noun-sentence can stand wherever a noun can stand. It may be :
(a) A Subject, as:
“That I have taken away this old man’s daughter is perfectly true”. Here the sentence “I have taken away this old man’s daughter” is the Subject of is true.
17 Deborah Philips, Complete Course for The Toefl, (Longman: library of congres cataloging-in-Publication Data)2001, P. 217
18Alice Oshima and Ann Hoque____P.178
(b) An Object, that is:
A direct object, as: “I know where he is.” Here the sentence “(where) he is” is the object of the transitive-verb “know”19
Based on the subordinate conjunction, Oshima and Hoque classified noun clause to three types :
(a) That-clauses are made from statements and are introduced by the subordinator that.
Example: The bulletin states that science courses require a laboratory period. That science courses require a laboratory period is a noun clause that is modified verb “states”.
According to Clark, the connective that may be omitted as:
‘He replied (that) “all men are mortal”, ‘I know (that) you can’ , ‘I could tell (that) it was you’ or ‘I hope (that) it is not too late’, etc.20
(b) Wh-word clauses are formed from Wh-questions and are introduced by Wh-words, such as who, what, when, how, why, which, how much, how many, where, wherever, and others.
Example: I do not know where the students cafetaria is.
where the students cafetaria is is a noun clause that is modified verb
“know”.
19 J.M.D. MeikleJohn, An easy English Grammar for beginners, (London,1866),P.7
20 David Clark____p. 40
(c) If/ whether-clause are formed from yes/no questions and are introduced by the subordinator whether or if. The phrase or not may be added.
Example: I do not know whether (or not) I should take computer science (or not). Whether (or not) I should take computer science (or not) is a noun clause that is modified verb “know”.
The punctuation of sentence with noun clauses is easy.
1. No comma is used to separated the introductory clause from the noun clause.
2. The introductory clause, which may be a statement or a question, determines the end-of sentence punctuation.
3. If the introductory is a question, use a question mark at the end of the sentence punctuation. If the intriductory clause is a statement, use a period.
Example: Do you know when he called? I do not know when he called.21
The subordinators that used in noun clauses are:
Subordinators of Noun Clause
Where, Whomever, Whose, Whenever, Howlong, Howmany, When, Who, That, What, Whoever, Why, Howoften, However, Wherever, Whom, Which, Whether, Whatever, Whichever, if, Whom, Howmuch.
21 Alice Oshima and Ann Hoque, Writing Academic English,3rd. (New York:Longman,1988), P.178
According to Robbin L. Simmons in his English learning video of
“The Noun Clause”, he gives a big tip to identify a noun clause. The big tip is substitute “it” or “they/them” for the clause to test if it is truly a noun clause. Besides, be aware sometimes the subordinator is unstated. He also give the example to make the learners or audiences understand:
Example: I like what you have written. Here, “what you have written" is a noun clause which can be substituted with “it”. Hence, I like what you have written has the same meaning as I like it where “it” is what you have written.
(2) Adverbial Clause
According to Clark, the adverb clause is equal in value to an adverb22. It is the simple definition meanwhile Alice and Haque stated that an adverbial clause is a dependent clause introduced by an adverbial subordinator. It is used to modify the verb of the independent clause and tells when, where, why, how, how long, or how far. From www.K12reader.com and Simmons have the same stated that an adverb is modifying a verb, an adjective and an adverb23. Adverbial clause is compose of:
22David Clark____p.41
23Gwendolyn Bryant, www.k12reader.com:2014 (adapted in May-28-2016 at 11.58 am)
Subordinator+ Subject+Verb+Complement Because scientists are interested in planets....
...so that humans can learn more about the universe
An adverbial clause can come either before or after an independent clause. If it comes before an independent clause, a comma is placed after it.24 Furthermore, the rule of punctuation in adverbial clause is explained by Simmons that:
(a) Adverb clause after main clause is no need a comma (b) Adverb clause appears before main clause is need a comma
Example:
Antony ran for paper towels as cola spilled over the glass and splashed on to the counter.
Because my dog loves pizza crusts, he never barks at the deliveryman.25
There are several different kinds of adverbial clauses. The following the different kinds along with the subordinators that introduce them:
Adverb clause of time, adverb clause of place, adverb clause of reason, adverb clause of comparison, adverb clause of purpose, adverb clause of result, adverb clause of concession or contrast, adverb clause of
24 Alice Oshima and Ann Hoque, Writting Academic English,3rd. (New York:Longman,1988), P.194
25Robin L. Simmons___p.3
manner, adverb clause of extent, adverb clause of condition. There are 10 of kinds of adverbial clauses which are differentiated by their each subordinators. Take a look in detail, those are:
(a) Adverb Clause of Time
An adverb clause of time shows the time when an action takes place.
An adverb clause of time is introduced by the subordinating conjunctions: when, while, before, after, since, as, whenever, as long as, as soon as, no sooner than, till, until.
Example: They met while we were in class.
(b) Adverb Clause of Place
An adverb clause of place shows the place where an action takes place.
An adverb clause of palce is introduced by the subordinating conjunctions: where, wherever, etc.
Example: He lives where it rains a lot.
(c) Adverb Clause of Reason
An adverb clause of reason shows why an action takes place. Adverb clause of reason are introduced by the subordinate conjunctions:
because, since, as, that.
Example: He was sad because he missed the show
(d) Adverb Clause of Comparison
An adverb clause of comparison indicates a comparison between people or things. Adverb clauses of comparison are introduced by the subordinate conjunctions: than, no less than, and relative adverb as.
Example: He is smarter than he looks or Anna is as though as she is sensitive.
(e) Adverb Clause of Purpose
(e) Adverb Clause of Purpose