PUBLISHED DURING THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2006
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ANGELIA MAYA RATRI KUSUMA
Student Number: 024214001
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2007
Worry about words, Bobby. Your grandmother is right
For whatever else you may do,
you will be using words always.
All day, and every day, words matter.
Though you live in a barrel and speak to nobody but yourself,
words matter……
For words are the tools of thought
A.P. Herbert
Ya TUHAN,
Aku memberi Engkau kebebasan penuh dalam hidupku
untuk mendatangkan kebahagiaan ataupun kesusahan;
demi memperhalus sifatku,
untuk memuliakan Engkau,
atau untuk belajar apapun
yang ingin Kau ajarkan kepadaku mengenai Engkau.
Aku ingin membiarkan Engkau
menyingkapkan peristiwa-peristiwa dalam hidupku
di dalam kebijaksaan-Mu
sesuai dengan rencana-Mu yang penuh kuasa.
AMIN.
A prayer from Mas Indra ‘n Mba Tatik 29th March 2007
This thesis is dedicated to
Jesus
Christ
My
caring
Papa
My wonderful
Mama
My beloved brother,
Theo
do and pouring me with His miracles. Writing this thesis is a very long journey for me but I thank Him because He has placed me among people who always support
me to finish this thesis.
I would like to give my deepest thankfulness for Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd.,
M.A., my advisor whom I greatly admire, for understanding my difficulties,
guiding me patiently and encouraging me to finish my thesis. I would also like to address my thanks to my co advisor Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum, for giving
constructive suggestions and evaluation, and convincing me to finish my thesis as soon as possible.
I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to all the lecturers for giving me priceless knowledge and guidance. I would like to thank the staff of The English Letters Department, especially Mbak Ninik, and the librarians for
their help.
I am deeply indebted to my beloved parents, Mama for being a helpful
companion, Papa for cheering me up when I’m sad, also for my special brother for being a truly best friend. I thank them for their everlasting love and affection. I dedicate this thesis to them. I also thank Mbak Tatik and Mas Indra to raise me
up whenever I am down.
It is also a special thing for me to experience the great love from Bapak
and Ibu Satmoko as well as their beloved son, Satriyo Setiawan. No matter what happens, he always ensures me that life is beautiful!
cry on. I am thankful to my reliable friends: Berbudi Yudhosunu, Ochie, Lira, Swesty, Grace, Linda, Yani, Lia, Titin, Olive, Kuncup, Thomas, Nuke, Fena,
B’not, Ko David and all my friends in SING 2002 for the unforgettable friendship. My sincere thanks go to mudika St. Patrick and lektor St. Yohanes
C. They always color my life and show me what a wonderful friendship is. I want
to thank my Sunsmile Kids fellows and Ms. Detty for being very understanding to me. It is extremely enjoyable to work with them.
Last but not least, my appreciation goes to numerous individuals whose name I cannot mention. It is their support that makes this thesis possible.
Angelia Maya Ratri Kusuma
APPROVAL PAGE ……….. ii
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW ……….. 6
A. Review of Related Studies ………. 6
2) Central Determiners ……… 11
3) Postdeterminers ………... 11
c. Modifiers ………. 11
C. Theoretical Framework ………... 21
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ……….. 22
A. The Object of the Study ………. 22
B. Population and Sampling ……… 23
C. Data Collection and Processing Activities ………. 24
D. Data Analysis ………. 24
3. Premodifiers ……… 34
4. Postmodifiers ……….. 36
B. The Types of Noun Phrases ……… 39
C. The Average Length of the Noun Phrases ……….. 46
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ……….. 50
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………... 52
APPENDIX ……….. 55
Appendix 1 ……….. 55
Table 1. The Elements of Noun Phrase………. 27 Table 2. The Types of Noun Phrase ………..40
Phrases in Football News in The Jakarta Post published during the FIFA World Cup 2006. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
A noun phrase is a phrase which has a noun as its head. The noun phrase can be found in almost every sentence because a sentence usually consists of a verb phrase and a noun phrase. By understanding noun phrases someone is able to understand a sentence. However, the structure of English noun phrase is different from Indonesian. The difference may cause difficulties in understanding English noun phrase. Concerning the statement above, the writer is interested in studying English noun phrases that occur in football news in The Jakarta Post. In football news, there are many active sentences which require the occurrence of noun phrase to complete the thematic role. Moreover, many people are fond of football thus they are always enthusiastic to know every football news.
This thesis has three objectives. The first objective is to identify the elements of noun phrase in football news. The second is to identify the types of noun phrase that mostly occur in the football news. The third objective is to identify the average length of those noun phrases.
The method employed in this study is a descriptive study, meaning that it describes the elements of noun phrase, the type mostly occurs and the average length of those noun phrases. The number of the noun phrases used as the data is 451 which are taken from 5 articles in The Jakarta Post published during the FIFA World Cup 2006. The method of sampling was convenient sampling. There were some steps in collecting the data. First, the writer collected and identified all the noun phrases occurred in the football news. Second, the writer identified the element realized the noun phrase. Third, the writer classified the noun phrases into their types and counted them. Last, the writer summed up by putting them in a table.
From the analysis, it can be concluded that a head of the noun phrase is mostly realized by countable nouns. A definite article occurs as a determiner of a noun phrase, an adjective phrase as a premodifier, and a prepositional phrase as a postmodifier. The most frequent type of noun phrase is type 1, a noun phrase which only consists of a head. After knowing the type that is mostly used, thus the average length can be identified. On average the noun phrases are one-word length. It is because the news writing style is basically simple and concise. The occurrence of simple noun phrase in the football news in The Jakarta Post makes the readers who are mostly Indonesians easy to understand the articles.
World Cup 2006. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Frasa nominal adalah frasa yang memiliki kata benda sebagai induknya. Frasa nominal dapat ditemukan hampir di seluruh kalimat karena sebuah kalimat biasanya terdiri dari frasa verbal dan frasa nominal. Dengan memahami sebuah frasa nominal seseorang dapat memahami sebuah kalimat. Namun, struktur frasa nominal bahasa Indonesia berbeda dengan bahasa Inggris. Perbedaan tersebut menyebabkan kesulitan dalam memahami frasa nominal bahasa Inggris. Berdasarkan pernyataan tersebut, penulis tertarik untuk mempelajari frasa nominal bahasa Inggris yang terdapat dalam berita sepakbola di koran The Jakarta Post. Dalam berita sepakbola, terdapat banyak kalimat aktif yang memerlukan frasa nominal untuk melengkapi pola kalimatnya. Terlebih lagi, banyak orang menyukai sepakbola maka mereka akan selalu bersemangat utuk menyimak setiap berita sepakbola.
Studi ini memiliki tiga tujuan. Tujuan pertama adalah untuk mengetahui elemen-elemen dari frasa nominal dalam berita olahraga tersebut. Yang kedua adalah untuk mengetahui tipe frasa nominal yang paling sering digunakan dalam berita olahraga. Tujuan ketiga adalah mengetahui panjang rata-rata dari kata benda tersebut.
Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah studi deskriptif yang memaparkan elemen-elemen frasa nominal, tipe yang sering muncul, dan panjang rata-rata dari frasa nominal itu. Jumlah frasa nominal yang digunakan sebagai data adalah 451 yang diambil dari 5 artikel di The Jakarta Post yang dicetak selama FIFA World Cup 2006. Metode yang digunakan dalam sampling adalah convenient sampling. Ada beberapa langkah dalam pengumpulan data. Pertama, penulis mengumpulkan dan mengidentifikasi seluruh frasa nominal dalam berita sepakbola. Kedua, penulis mengidentifikasi elemen –elemen dari frasa nominal. Ketiga, penulis mengelompokkan kata frasa nominal menurut tipenya dan menghitungnya. Langkah terakhir, penulis meringkas seluruh frasa nominal dengan memasukkannya ke dalam tabel.
Dari pembahasan dapat disimpulkan bahwa induk dari frasa nominal kebanyakan adalah kata benda yang dapat dihitung. Definite article muncul sebagai determiner dari frasa nominal, frasa adjektiva sebagai premodifier, dan frasa preposisi sebagai postmodifier.Tipe yang paling sering muncul adalah tipe 1 yaitu frasa nominal yang terdiri dari induk kata saja. Setelah mengetahui tipe yang paling sering muncul, maka panjang rata-rata dari frasa nominal dapat diidentifikasi. Rata rata frasa nominal hanya terdiri dari satu kata. Hal ini dikarenakan gaya penulisan berita yang sederhana. Penggunaan frasa nominal yang sederhana dalam berita olahraga di koran The Jakarta Post membuat pembaca yang kebanyakan adalah orang Indonesia mudah untuk memahami berita tersebut
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the study
Human beings live in a world of language. Whatever they do when they
come together, whether they play, fight or do the dishes, they talk to each other. Human beings use a language as their means to communicate to each other, to
express their thought and emotions (Fromkin, Blair and Collins, 1991: 2)
In this globalization era, people are required to master other language besides their ownlanguage. Freeman in his book An Introduction to Second
Language Acquisition Research, (1991: 1) says,
English, a second language for most of the people of the world, has increasingly become the international language for business and commerce, science and technology and international relationship and diplomacy.
Since English becomes an international language in this globalization era, many people begin to learn it. However, English, like all languages, is full of problems for foreign learners (Swan, 1980: ix). According to Brown, learning a
second language is a long and complex undertaking. Many variables are involved in the acquisition process. Language learning is not a set of easy step that can be
programmed in a quick do-it-yourself kit (1994: 1). Because of that, people require years of study and practice to master English as a foreign language. One of the problems people face in mastering English is the ability to
that many of them are not fully able to understand phrases. There are several types
of English phrases: noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverbial phrases and prepositional phrases. A phrase contains words in a group and has a certain function in sentences.
One type of the English phrases that can be found in almost every sentence is a noun phrase. This is because a sentence usually consists of a verb phrase and a
noun phrase. According to Ronald Wardaugh, a noun phrase is a grammatical construction usually contains a noun as its central constituent (1977: 247). The noun phrase typically functions as subject, object, complement of sentences and as
complement in prepositional phrases (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973: 59). Here are some examples of the noun phrases:
1. My father has bought a very expensive car.
2. The police have arrested the man who married John’s sister. 3. This research requires expensive equipment.
My father, the police, the research, a very expensive car, the man who
married John’s sister, and expensive equipment are all noun phrases. The noun
phrases my father, the police, and this research function as the subjects of the sentences. Whereas, the noun phrases a very expensive car, the man who married John’s sister and expensive equipment function as the objects of the sentences.
According to Leech and Svartvik (1975: 251), in the structure of the noun phrase the noun head can be accompanied by a determiner, a premodifier and a
noun phrase a very expensive car consists of a determiner (a), a premodifier (very
expensive) and a head (car). The noun phrase the man who married John’s sister
consists of a determiner (the), a head (man) and a postmodifier (who married John’s sister). Finally, the noun phrase expensive equipment consists of a
premodifier (expensive) and a head (equipment).
The structures of English noun phrases are different from Indonesian.
Thus, their differences often make learners confused in learning English. The problem here is that learners tend to base their interpretation of English noun phrases on the system and pattern of Indonesian noun phrases. Thus, it will be
difficult then for them if they come to the various forms of English noun phrases. Learners can misinterpret the text easily.
Concerning the statements above, the writer is interested in investigating noun phrases in written sentences found in sport news in The Jakarta Post, especially in its football news. Many people are fond of football. Those football
fans never miss such an outstanding match as The FIFA World Cup which is only held once in four years. Because of that, football news has become headlines news
that attracts a lot of people to know more about the match. This study is intended to identify the elements of noun phrase, the types of noun phrases which mostly occur in the football news and the average length of those noun phrases. The
present study is about the noun phrases in football news in The Jakarta Post newspaper. The findings of this research are expected to help readers to
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background of the study above, the problems of this study were formulated as follows.
1. What are the elements of the noun phrases in the football news in The
Jakarta Post newspaper?
2. What types of noun phrases are mostly used in the football news in The
Jakarta Post newspaper?
3. What is the average length of those noun phrases?
C. Objectives of the study
From the problem formulation above, the objectives of the study are formulated into three parts. First is to identify the elements of noun phrase in the
football news of The Jakarta Post newspaper. After identifying the elements of the noun phrase, the writer tries to identify the types of noun phrase mostly used in the football news of The Jakarta Post newspaper. The last objective of this
study is to identify the average length of those noun phrases.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misunderstanding of terms used in this study, it is
necessary to clarify those important terms as presented below.
A phrase is one or more words that are built around a skeleton consisting of two levels, a phrase level and a word level and act as syntactic unit (O’Grady
for Advanced Learners, a phrase is a small group of words which forms a unit,
either o its own or within a sentence (2001: 1155)
A noun phrase is a grammatical construction usually containing a noun as its central constituent (Wardaugh, 1977: 247). The noun is shown to be the head
of the phrase by its primary stress and syntactically, by the fact that the whole group can be replaced by a simple noun (Archibald, 1958: 157).
Sidney Greenbaum categorizes noun phrases into eight types. The types of the noun phrases are based on the function of the elements such as noun, determiner + noun, premodifier + noun, determiner + premodifier + noun, noun +
postmodifier, determiner + noun + postmodifier, premodifier + noun + postmodifier and determiner + premodifier + noun + postmodifier (1989: 60).
Length is the amount of writing that is contained in it (Collins, 2001: 885). According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, it is a quantity, whether long or short (Webster, 1989: 820).
A newspaper is a publication printed on newsprint, issued at regular and usually closed intervals, esp. daily or weekly and commonly containing news,
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
Chapter II covers three parts: review of related study, review of related
theories and theoretical framework. The first part contains other studies related to the topic. The second part contains the theories that help in accomplishing the
study. The last, theoretical framework explains the contribution of those theories in solving the problem of the study.
A. Review of Related Studies
There have been other researchers who study about noun phrase. Putuningsih, (2000), in her undergraduate thesis entitled The Difference in
Frequency of Noun Phrases in The Jakarta Post and Newsweek tries to find out
what constitutes noun phrase and what is the frequency of noun phrases in The Jakarta Post and Newsweek. She takes the noun phrases in the headlines of The
Jakarta Post and Newsweek as the sample of her observation.
In her analysis, she compares the frequency of the noun phrases in The
Jakarta Post and Newsweek. She finds out that the use of noun phrases in The
Jakarta Post is fewer than in Newsweek. According to Putuningsih, there are two
reasons why The Jakarta Post contains fewer noun phrases than Newsweek. The
first reason is because there is interference from the habit of using noun phrases in Indonesian on The Jakarta Post. The writers of The Jakarta Post are bilinguals,
The second reason is the writers of The Jakarta Post want to make the articles
easily understood by the readers who are mostly Indonesian. English, which is spoken in almost every country as the first or second language will be different according to the country in which it was spoken.
Another researcher, Yudit, (2004), in her undergraduate thesis entitled Noun Phrases in “Hills like white Elephants” and “Indian Camp” Revealing
Ernest Hemingway’s styles tries to find out and to analyze phrases and clauses that
occur as the element of noun phrases. Yudit categorizes the phrases and clauses based on their function in the noun phrase structure. Yudit tries to reveal
Hemingway’s style based on the noun phrases that occur in his two short stories. Yudit finds out that the occurrence of simple noun phrases dominates
Hemingway’s “Hills like white Elephants” and “Indian Camp”. The simple noun phrases occur with determiner, a genitive and an indefinite article. The simple noun phrase also occurs by itself in a bare noun phrase. Meanwhile the complex
noun phrases occur with different types of phrases namely an adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, verb phrase, noun phrase and clauses. Those phrases and
clauses hold certain function in noun phrases structure as an attribute, adjunct or a complement. Another function which is required to occur with the noun phrases is a specifier.
This study differs from the previous studies because it concerns in the elements and types of the noun phrases in football news in The Jakarta Post.
Jakarta Post as the source of the data, the writer deals with it in the study. This
study tries to give an understanding and contribution of noun phrases in usage.
B. Review of Related Theories
This part contains some theories that help in accomplishing the study. The
theories that are applied in this study are theory of noun phrases, the elements of noun phrases, the types of noun phrases and theory of news. Those theories will
be explained in the following section.
1. Theory of Noun Phrase
Flor Aarts and Jan Aarts in their book English Syntactic Structures state
that a phrase is a constituent which can be identified on the basis of the word class membership of its most important constituent. Thus, a noun phrase is a phrase
which has a noun or typically a noun as its most important constituent (1982: 60). Noun phrases can act as the subject, object or complement of a clause or as prepositional complement. It is called a noun phrase because the head is typically
a noun. The head noun can be accompanied by the determiners, for example: a, the, his, and one or more modifiers, either premodifiers or postmodifiers (Leech
and Svartvik, 1975: 251).
The structure of a typical noun phrase may be represented schematically in the following way, where the parentheses indicate elements of the structure that
may be absent (Greenbaum, 1989: 60).
Though the parentheses indicate that the elements can be absent,
determiners are more essential to noun phrase structure than modifier (Leech and Svartvik, 1975: 251). Those elements of the noun phrase will be discussed further in the following section.
2. The Elements of Noun Phrases
From the explanation above, the elements of noun phrase can be seen
clearly. In the structure of the noun phrase, those elements are also realized by other elements as follows.
a. The Head
A head is an obligatory element for noun phrase. It is a minimal requirement for the occurrence of a noun phrase. According to Bas Aarts, all
phrases have something in common, namely the fact that they must minimally contain a Head (1997: 97). The most usual type of a head of a noun phrase is a noun. However, according to Flor Aarts and Jan Aarts, if the noun phrase consists
of a head only, the head must be realized by a count noun, books are getting more and more expensive; an uncountable noun, we are running out of sugar, a
proper noun, Smith is extremely difficult to get on with, and a pronoun, she
never eats meat (1982: 104). According to Jackson, being countable noun means
that for the nouns in those examples the system of number operates. In English,
the number system has two terms namely singular and plural. On the other hand, the system of number for the uncountable nouns does not operate. Uncountable
The head of a noun phrase can also be realized by an adjective phrase
like in the poor, the inevitable (Langacker, 1972: 194). Most commonly adjectives that become the heads of a noun phrase have personal reference for example the wise look to the wiser for advice; the young in spirit enjoy life. These
adjectives have generic and plural reference (Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973: 117).
The head of a noun phrase can also realized by a participle like in the
accused, the dying. The head is also realized by a numeral like in these two, all
three.The last, the head can be realized by a genitive like in I am staying at my aunt’s, the grocer’s is at the corner of the street(Aarts, 1982:104).
b. Determiners
Determiners are words which specify the range of reference of a noun.
Determiners always precede the noun they determine, but they have different positions relative to one another (Leech and Svatvik, 1975: 224-226). According to Aarts (1982: 106) determiners are distinguished into three sub functions namely
predeterminer, central determiner and postdeterminer. Those sub functions will be explained in the following section.
1) Predeterminers
Predeterminers occur before central determiner. The noun head can be predetermined by means of the items all, both, double, half, twice, many, such
and what (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 106). The items all, both, half occur before articles, possessives, or demonstratives like in half an hour, both his last two
2) Central determiners
The central determiner of the noun phrase follows a predeterminer. It can be realized by means of a definite article like in double the amount, an indefinite article like in half a minute, a demonstrative like in both these books,
a possessive pronoun like in all Peter’s clothes, a quantifier like in his many
grievances and wh-determiners like in which university (Leech and Svartvik,
1975: 226). Wh-determiners cannot, as a rule, be preceded by a predeterminer but it still may occur like in half of whose books (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 107).
3) Postdeterminers
Items which must follow determiners but precede adjectives in the premodifier structure include numerals and quantifiers (Quirk and Greenbaum,
1973:65). Postdeterminer is usually realized by cardinal numerals like in some ten passengers. Next element that can realize postdeterminer is ordinal
numerals. They occur only with count nouns and usually precede any cardinal
numbers in the noun phrase like in the first three years in Edinburgh. Finally, the postdeterminer can be realized by means of quantifiers like in his many friends,
what few money.
c. Modifiers
Besides determiners, the head noun can also be accompanied by one or
more modifiers. Modifiers which precede the head are called premodifiers, and those which occur after the noun head are called postmodifiers (Leech and
1) Premodifiers
Premodifiers in a noun phrase are placed after determiners but before the noun which is the head of the phrase (Leech and Svartivk, 1975: 271). In the
structure of the noun phrase the function of a premodifier may be realized by means of an adjective phrase. The choice of an adjective phrase in the structure
of a noun phrase is independent of previous choices from the predeterminer, central determiner or postdeterminer items like in all English poetry, any other
acceptable solution (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 108).
Next, the function of premodifier may be realized by means of a noun phrase like in church bazaar, sports review. It is common for the noun phrase
head to be premodified by a noun phrase which, in turn, is premodified by another noun phrase. Consider for example: Cambridge University Press, London street
guide. It is also possible for the noun phrase head to be premodified by
coordinated nouns like in cheese and cucumber sandwiches, the Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Show (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 111).
The third, the noun phrase head may be premodified by a classifying
genitive like in a doctor’s degree, a men’s shop (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 111). However, this classifying genitive is different from the specifying genitive
functioning as a central determiner. The word preceding the specifying genitive qualifies the genitive, not the head noun. On the other hand, it is the head noun
those men’s wives that men’s shop
The demonstrative those preceding a specifying genitive qualifies the genitive men’s, not the head wives. On the other hand, it is the head shop which is
qualified when the genitive men’s is classifying (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 112). Next, the noun phrase head can be premodified by an adverb phrase like in the then chairman, an away game, the above photo, the upstairs neighbor.
Then and above are probably the most common adverb phrases used as
premodifier (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973: 129). Leech and Svartivk, state that a
few degree words can modify noun phrases. They include quite, rather, such, and what. The noun phrase is normally indefinite, and the adverb precedes any
determiners like in he told such a funny story and what a fool he is! (1975: 203).
In the structure of the noun phrase, premodifier can be realized by means of a participle (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973: 395). Either present or past
participle can premodify the noun head like in his crumbling cottage and his
completed cottage.
In addition, there are modifiers which consist of more than one word but
which make up syntactic construction rather than a compound word. They are usually hyphenated when they premodify like in a ready-to-wear suit, which
2) Postmodifiers
The noun head can be accompanied by some modifiers. The modifiers which follow the noun head are called postmodifier (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973: 251). In the structure of the noun phrase the function of postmodifier may be
realize by means of an adjective phrase like in the information available. The occurrence of the adjective phrase as the postmodification also can be seen as a
temporary status (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973: 377). Thus the noun phrase the information available would be understood as having reference only to a specific
time. According to Leech and Svartvik (1973: 194) in certain cases,
postmodifying adjective can usually be regarded as a reduced relative clause like
in the people present (the people who were present), the easiest solution
conceivable (the easiest solution which is conceivable).
Next element that can realize the postmodifier is an adverb phrase. Some adverbs denoting time or place postmodify nouns like in the meeting yesterday,
his journey home. Leech and Svartivk state that the use of adverbs as postmodifer
is more restricted than the use of other postmodifier. The adverbs used as
postmodifying such as home, yesterday, tomorrow, before, ahead, below and outside (1973: 203 & 271).
The most common type of postmodifiers in English is a prepositional
phrase like in the trees in the park, the path along the canal. A prepositional can often be expanded to relative clause like in Is this the road to Paris? that can be
The next element that can postmodify the noun head is a finite clause like
in the news that he had been fired, the problem how this could be solved. According to Aarts and Aarts, the finite clause function as postmodifier is introduced by temporal conjuction such as before, after, since, and until (1982:
117). The examples of the noun phrase postmodified by those kind of finite clause are the days before he died, the time since he has been chairman.
Next, postmodification of the head can be realized by a non-finite clause. Three types of non-finite clause can occur in postmodification namely infinitive clause like in he is the man to talk to, -ing participle like in I received letter
asking me to return to England, and –ed participle clause like in the general impression given by this book is favorable. According to Leech and Svartivk, non
finite clauses that premodify the head noun are equivalent to reduced relative clauses (1975: 268).
The last element that can postmodify the noun head is a noun phrase like
in girls your age, a rock that shape, and a car that color. However, according to Aarts and Aarts, posmodification by means of noun phrase is rare (1982: 115).
3. Theory of the Types of Noun Phrases
In the structure of a noun phrase, Aarts and Aarts distinguish three elements namely head, determiner and modifier (1982: 104). From the element of
the noun phrases, Greenbaum (1989: 60) states eight possible structure of the noun phrases, as follows.
No Types of noun phrases Examples
2. Determiner + Noun those books 3. Premodifier + Noun history books 4. Determiner + Premodifier + Noun some long books
5. Noun + Postmodifier books about Canada
6. Determiner + Noun + Postmodifier some books on astronomy 7. Premodifier + Noun + Postmodifier popular books on psychology
8. Det + Premodifier + Noun + Postmodifier some popular books on astronomy
The above table shows the types of the noun phrase. However, according to Leech and Svartvik (1975: 272), the noun head can be accompanied by more
than one premodifier like in the American spring medical conference and a world political problem. Those two examples belong to the fourth type, Determiner + Premodifier + Noun. The noun phrases consists of determiners (the, a),
premodifiers (American spring medical, world political) and nouns (conference,
problem). Though those noun phrases belong to the same group but they have
different length, for example the noun phrase the American spring medical conference consists of five words, while the noun phrase a world political
problem consists of four words.
4. The Nature of News
a. Theory of News
To some extent it still stands today, because news is often the recount of
something rare or out of ordinary (Metzler, 1986: 21).
According to Reah, news is a late Middle English word that means tiding, new information of recent events. It is an information about recent events that are
of interest to a sufficiently large group or that may affect the life of sufficiently large group (2002: 4). Whereas, according to Metzler news is a prompt, “bottom
line” recounting of factual information about events, situations and ideas (including opinion and interpretations) calculated to interest an audience and help people cope with themselves and their environment (1986: 23).
Talking about news can not be separated from newspaper. Newspaper has made itself an important place in people’s life. One of the major functions of the
newspaper is to serve as the eyes of its readers, focusing attention on the interesting, important and thrilling events of the day. As what Reddick says:
We want to go to a football game but have to work. As soon as the game is over, we buy a sports edition and thrill to the account of the game. We could not go, but someone saw the game for us and told us about it- the sports writer (1941: 6).
b. The Language of News
The language of news today is the product of centuries of linguistic
evolution. It is not a ‘natural’ form of writing. It is particular discourse with its own rhythms, tones, words and phrases (Keble, 2001: 81).
According to Miller in Mott’s book entitled New Survey of Journalism, the
style of the news writing must observe five principles (1958: 50). First is correctness. Correctness of news style is essential to clarity and understand the
language of the ancient. When the correctness of the conventional set of symbols
is violated, its meaning is uncertain. The reader will not understand the news. Correctness of news-writing style implies not only accuracy in grammar, spelling and diction but also conformity to canons of good tastes as well.
Second is simplicity. This necessity for simplicity touches every element of the news story such as word, sentence and paragraph. The short and well
known words are preferred than the longer words. Sentences in news are compact, definite in structure and moderate in length. Sentences go directly to the points. According to Keble, the sense of news values has to be sharp and that only comes
with practice. “KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) and TELL” could be the journalist’s motto. Complex sentences overloaded with long subordinate clauses
should be avoided. Short, precise sentences are best (2001: 81). The news writer’s sentences are, on the average, shorter than those employed in literary publications, text and reference works. Many newspapers currently are asking reporters for
sentence lengths of less than twenty words. Studies have revealed that sentences of greater length increase the difficulty of reading for the large number of readers
who had little education. There is a need of brevity in news story paragraph. The news paragraph rarely should exceed a maximum of six standard type written lines (approximately twelve lines of newspaper body type). As this maximum is
passed, ease of reading is sacrificed. News shall be told plainly with no obvious straining for effects. Sports writers seem particularly susceptible to this frailty of
SOLDIERS’ FIELD, CHICAGO, Nov. 16- Football of a magnificent stature, comparable in every way to the headline position which the game occupied in national affairs was played in this uncompleted, murk filled bowl, laying within earshot of the lapping waters of Lake Michigan here this afternoon.
California, trained and schooled in the sun kissed climate of the Pacific Coast, rode 2500 miles from the shadows of the Sierra Madre mountains to meet an eleven coached by the vital Viking of America’s greatest sport (Mott, 1958: 51).
Third is conciseness. Desired brevity is attained not by omission of details
but by tight phrasing, packing fact upon fact. According to Keble, many factors lie behind the creation of the concise news language. Every reported word involves a
cost. Economic language helps provide economies in production. Speed is the essence of newspapers. Sentence structure and page design are influenced by the
need to help readers move through the newspaper quickly (2001: 82). Most wordy stories are the result of lazy writing. The reporter fails to take time to write briefly. There are some ways to construct the conciseness of style such as; the omission of
unnecessary articles like in a fire which started at 7 A. M., which is better to be written as in fire which started at 7 A. M. Second is by using a direct statement like in changes which are going to affect tomorrow’s newspaper, which is better
to be written as in changes affecting tomorrow’s newspaper (Mott, 1958: 53). Fourth is objectivity. This quality in style is a reflection of the writer’s
point of view. The journalistic ideal of fair play demands not only that the reporter shall tell both sides of the story but also that the phrasing of his account shall not be colored by his opinion. According to Miller (Mott, 1958: 53), direct expression
writer’s bias should be avoided as well for example in reporting testimony of a
witness, to write that “she admitted” or conceded a fact has implications far different from the uncolored tag, “the witness said”.
Fifth is interest. Miller says that interest must always be present in news
(Mott, 1958: 53). The news writer always puts his best foot forward in his effort to maintain reader-interest. Word choice and the organization of sentence and
paragraph must be determined in view of the ever-present. There are some ways to make the news interesting. The first is the use of vigorous diction like in an accident occurred at Main and Second streets when…, which is better to be
written as in a loaded school bus and a 10-ton truck collided…. The second is the variety of paragraph length. Although news writing must be simple, its sentences
should not be uniformly simple. Variety in paragraph length gives the news a more interesting appearance. The last is the variety of both length and structure in sentences. If the beginning of a sentence is not interesting, readers will not take
time to read the news. Miller gives the example as follows. An author writes the beginning of a sentence like in With 2000 spectators in the stands, Skeet’s Motors
defeated the Home Bakers 5 to 3 today to win the Industrial league championship.
The sentence is not interesting for the readers. It is better to write Skeet’s Motors
won the Industrial league championship today, defeating the Home Bakers 5 to 3
C. Theoretical Framework
This part explains the contribution of the theories in solving the problems
formulated in this study. Those related theories will be used as a foundation and a guideline for the writer to analyze the object of the study.
In order to gain a deep knowledge about a noun phrase, the elements that
realize the occurrence of a noun phrase must be mastered first. Thus, the writer put the theory of noun phrases and elements of noun phrases. Those theories
discuss the elements that are possible to realize the occurrence of a noun phrase. Those theories will be helpful to recognize the elements constitute the noun phrase. By doing so, the first problem of this study can be solved.
The writer also put the theory of the types of noun phrases. The theory may give contribution to solve the second problem. This theory discusses eight possible types of noun phrases. The types of the noun phrases are classified based
on the function of the elements constitute the noun phrases. The writer will use the theory to classify the noun phrases into their types. By classifying those noun
phrases, the writer can find out the types of those noun phrases which mostly occur in the sport news. Basically, this theory can help the writer to solve both the second and third problems of this study. After finding out the most common type
of the noun phrases occurs in the football news, the writer will be able to recognize the average length of those noun phrases.
Besides those theories, the writer also has some theory of news. Those theories discuss the nature and the language of the news. Those theories may have contribution to support the finding of the second and third problems since they
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains a discussion of the procedures of the study to gain the objectives. This chapter covers three parts: the object of the study, the population and sampling, and method of the study. The third part discusses not
only the method of the study but also the data collection and data analysis.
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is the noun phrases that occur in the football news in certain pages in The Jakarta Post published during the FIFA World Cup 2006. According to Leech and Svartvik, a noun phrase can act as subject, object or
complement of a clause or as prepositional complement. In the structure of the noun phrase, the noun head can be accompanied by a determiner, a premodifier and a postmodifier (1975: 251). A noun phrase can be found in almost every
sentence. This is because a sentence usually consists of a verb phrase and a noun phrase.
In this study, the writer discusses the noun phrases which occur in football news. The writer chooses the football news because football is one branch of sport that commands a large following of enthusiastic and even rabid fans. The writer
chooses 5 articles issued from June until July 2006. It was when the FIFA World Cup was held. Many people were waiting for the great event that only held once
B. Population and Sampling of the Study
According to Spiegel, population is the entire group of individuals or
objects (1961: 1). It is any group of individuals that have one or more characteristics in common that are of interest to the researcher (Best, 1986: 11). In this study, the writer takes the noun phrases in the football news in The Jakarta
Post as the population. The Jakarta Post is chosen because the language used is
the standard one. Best states that some populations are so large that it will be
impractical and time consuming to observe the whole population to gain the objectives of a certain research (Best, 1986: 11).
As mentioned above, it will be time consuming to observe the whole
population. Fortunately, instead of taking the whole population, the researcher can take a sample of the population. According to Best, sample is a small proportion of a population selected for observation and analysis. By observing the
characteristics of the sample, one can make certain inferences about the characteristics of the population from which it is drawn (1986: 12). Referring to
the previous explanation, the writer limits the articles as the sample of the study. The sample of this study is 5 football news taken from 5 editions of The Jakarta Post. Those football news are issued on 11, 18, 25 June, 2 and 9 July 2006. Those
football news are published on Sunday. The writer chooses the Sunday edition because on Sunday people have more leisure time to read their favorite news. The
students or others with restricted time and resources (http:/www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~kate/gmcweb/s8.htm)
C. Data Collection and Processing Activities
The primary data of this study was the noun phrases which occurred in the football news. The football news was collected from The Jakarta Post issued from
June until July 2006.
There were several steps in the collecting the data. First the writer chooses
the population and the samples that will be used as the data resources. In this study, the population is The Jakarta Post. The samples are football news in The Jakarta Post issued from June until July 2006. The second step is collecting all
noun phrases that occur in the 5 football news in The Jakarta Post. After that, the writer identifies the elements that constitute the noun phrases. Then, the writer classified the noun phrases according to their types. The next step was to count the
number of the noun phrase according to their types. By doing so, the most common type of the noun phrase could be identified. At last, the writer put the
data into a table that helped the writer to analyze effectively.
D. Data Analysis
The method employed in this study was a descriptive research. According
to Seliger and Shohamy, a descriptive research involved a collection of techniques used to specify, describe naturally occurring phenomena without experimental
In analyzing the data, there were several steps that are applied based on the research problem. As stated in Chapter I, the first problem dealt with the elements
of the noun phrases. Here, the writer did a library research to gain knowledge on the theories of noun phrases from some books. The first step, the writer collected the noun phrases occurred in the football news in The Jakarta Post. Next, the
writer identified the element that constituted the phrases. In this step, the writer used some theory of noun phrases as a base.
The next step was dealing with the second problem of the study, that was, identifying the most common type of noun phrase occurred in the football news. In the second step, the writer classified the noun phrases into their types. The
theory used was Greenbaum’s theory of the types of the noun phrase.
The next step dealt with the last problem of the study. The head of the noun phrase could have one or more premodifier (Leech and Svartvik, 1975: 272).
Because of that, some noun phrase might belong to the same type but they had different length. After identifying the types of those noun phrases, the writer
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter covers the discussion to answer the problem formulated in Chapter I. The first part discusses the elements of noun phrases that occur in
football news in The Jakarta Post. The second part discusses the types of noun phrases that mostly occur in the football news. The third part discusses the
average length of those noun phrases.
A. The Elements of Noun Phrases
A noun phrase is a phrase which has a noun or typically a noun as its most
important constituent (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 60). Many noun phrases in the football news in The Jakarta Post used as the data appear without other phrases. Those noun phrases are realized by the occurrence of proper noun; England,
Gammara, countable noun; spells, tears and uncountable noun; control. Besides,
many nouns also take various phrases in their occurrence to realize some
elements, namely determiner, premodifier and postmodifier.
The determiners of those noun phrases occurring in the article are mostly realized by a definite article, for example the most important thing, and the fastest
keeper substitution in World Cup history. Many premodifiers are realized by the
occurrence of adjective phrases like in a hot afternoon at the Waldstation, a good
start. Prepositional phrases occur to realize the postmodifier of the noun head like
example the fan parks, the 64-match tournaments. The following is the table of elements that realize the head, determiner, premodifier and postmodifier of the
noun phrases.
Table 1. The Elements of Noun Phrases
Deter-From the table above, it can be seen clearly that the elements occured to construct a noun phrase. The elements occur to realize the head, determiner,
premodifer and postmodifer of a noun phrase. Actually, there are other elements that can realize the head, determiner, premodifer and postmodifer of a noun phrase but do not occur in the observed data. For example, there is no occurrence
of all, both, wh- determiner to realize the determiner of a noun phrase; a
classifying genitive to realize the premodifier of a noun phrase; and an adverb
phrase to realize the postmodifer of a noun phrase.
1. Head
The head is the most dominant member which characterizes the noun
phrase. It is the minimal requirement for the occurrence of a noun phrase. The previous table shows five elements that realize the head. The heads of the noun phrases are mostly realized by the occurrence of a countable noun, that is 273
(27, 91 %). The examples are as follow. 1. officials
2. major clashes 3. the tournament 4. the country
5. some 1,5 million foreign fans
According to Jackson, being countable means that for the nouns in those examples the system of number operates. In English, the number system has two
terms namely singular and plural (1990: 37). In example 3 and 4, the nouns tournament and country are in the singular form since they refer to one individual
than one thing. Jackson (1990: 37) added that the plural form is marked, usually by an inflectional suffix written –s like in officials, fans or –es like in clashes.
The second frequent one is the occurrence of a proper noun to realize the head of the noun phrase like in.
6. Eriksson 7. Michael Owen 8. Paraguay 9. Friday 10.FIFA
Proper nouns have a unique reference, that is they refer to one particular person, country, town, and so on. They occur in singular and normally take no
determiner (Aarts and Aarts, 1982: 226). The proper nouns Eriksson and Michael Owen refer to a particular person whom the readers have already known. The
proper noun Paraguay refers to a particular country while the proper noun FIFA
refers to a particular event which is very well-known among the readers. Meanwhile, the author uses the proper noun Friday to refer to a particular day.
Thirdly, the other kind of element that is most frequently used is an uncountable noun. It has 57 (5, 83 %) number of occurrences. The following are
the examples.
11.their luck 12.control
13.Germany’s opening victory in Munich 14.drunken behavior
15.Portugal’s progress
Unlike the countable nouns, the system of number for the noun luck, control,
victory, behavior and progress does not operate. Those noun head refers to
and cannot occur in plural form (Jackson, 1990: 37). Therefore, there is no *a control or *lucks.
The fourth element occurring as the head of the noun phrase is a numeral with 6 (0, 61 %) number of occurrences. The following are examples.
16.the last eight 17.the second 18.the 62nd
19.its thousand of fans 20.the 65th
There are two sets of numerals namely cardinal and ordinal number. In those examples, the cardinal numbers eight, thousand and the ordinal numbers second,
62nd, 65th are the head of the noun phrases. According to Leech and Svartvik, the ordinals are normally preceded by a determiner, usually the definite article like in
the second, the 62nd and the 65th.
The last element occurred as the head of the noun phrase is an adjective phrase. The writer only found two examples in the observed data, as follows.
21.the left
22.the best of the action
A noun phrase is a grammatical construction usually contains a noun as its constituent (Wardaugh, 1977: 247). However, in fact some noun phrases do not
consist of the noun at all, for example the rich. The head of the noun phrase can also be realized by an adjective phrase (Langacker, 1972: 194). Most commonly
In the observed data, there are only two noun phrases which have adjective phrase as the main constituents. The heads of the noun phrases 21 and 22 are
realized by adjective phrases left and best. According to Aarts and Aarts, if the head is realized by an adjective phrase, the noun phrase is usually introduced by definite article the, like in the left and the best of the action (1982: 104).
2. DETERMINERS
Leech and Svartvik specifically noted that determiners are words which
specify the range of reference of a noun in various ways (1975: 225). There are some elements occurred to realize the determiner of a noun phrase as follows.
In this study, the most frequent determiner is an article, especially a
definite article. Here are the examples of articles as determiners.
23.the danger zone 24.the World Cup 25.a penalty 26.a superb start
27.an ill-tempered first period
The head selects the definite article as the determiner because the identity of the object has been mentioned earlier. The noun head zone and World Cup in the examples above, select the definite article the as a determiner. The occurrence
of the indicates that the noun zone and the proper noun World Cup are already mentioned earlier.
The second element occured as the determiner of the noun phrase is an
indefinite article. In example 25-26, the head is penalty and start which occur with the indefinite article a. The last example selects the indefinite article an as a
an is simply on the sound that they are followed. The indefinite article a occurs
before a consonant sound and an occurs before a vowel sound (Aarts and Aarts,
1982: 46).
The third frequent element that occurs as a determiner is a possessive pronoun. The occurrence of a possessive pronoun gives specific information
about the head, like in. 28.his pierce shot
29.his third goal of the tournament 30.their opening game
31.Portugal’s second goal
The noun phrases in 28-29 select the possessive pronoun his as a determiner of the noun head. The possessive pronoun his shows gender
distinction. In example 28 and 29, the possessive pronoun his indicates that the pierce shot and the third goal belongs to a man not a woman. Next, the noun
phrase in 30 shows that the head goal selects the possessive pronoun Portugal’s as a determiner. It indicates that the second goal is the Portugal’s and does not belong to other teams.
Next, the occurrence of a cardinal and ordinal number, especially a cardinal number realizes the determiner of a noun phrase like in:
32.three points 33.four minutes 34.250,000 police 35.the first round 36.the first 12 minutes
. In example 32-34, the noun heads are preceded by cardinal numbers. The noun head points is preceded by a cardinal number three. The noun head minutes
250,000 is selected as the determiner of the noun head police. The cardinal
number gives additional information about the amount of the noun head.
The ordinals are normally preceded by another determiner, usually by the definite article (Leech and Svartvik, 1975: 320). In the noun phrase 35 and 36, it can be seen that the noun heads round and minutes are preceded by the definite
article the. An ordinal number occurs only with count nouns and usually precedes any cardinal number in the noun phrase like in example 36. The ordinal number
first occurs with count noun minutes. The ordinal number first also precedes the
cardinal number 12.
The next element occurring as a determiner of the noun phrase is a
quantifier like in the following examples.
37.several crunching tackles by both sides 38.some 1,5 million foreign fans
39.some bad-tempered exchanges 40.some heavy challenges
41.more anxious moment
Quantifiers can occur as a head or a determiner of noun phrase. Some quantifiers can function both as the head of a noun phrase and a determiner. The examples are some, any, each, both, most, enough, and several. In the examples
37-41, the quantifiers occurred as the determiner of the noun phrase, not as the head. The quantifiers more, some, several precede the noun head tackles, fans,
exchanges, challenges, moments. They occur to indicate the quantity or amount of
The last element occurring as a determiner in the structure of the noun phrase is a demonstrative. There is only one example, as follows.
42.these kinds of temperatures, covering the grass.
A demonstrative can function both as a pronoun and a determiner. In the example above, the demonstrative these function as a determiner. It precedes the noun head kind. The use of the demonstrative these indicates that the object is not
singular, but plural. These also identifies that the object is near to the speaker (Leech and Svartvik, 1975: 58). The author points to the kind of temperatures
which is covering the grass which had been mentioned earlier.
3. PREMODIFIERS
Premodifier in a noun phrase are placed after determiners but before the
noun which is the head of the phrase (Leech and Svartvik, 1975: 271). There are the following types of premodifiers that occur in this study.
The first phrase which functions as a premodifier is an adjective phrase.
It is the most frequent form. The following are the examples: 43.the most important thing
44.the first real hot,hot day 45.the late challenge on Larsson. 46.two yellow card
The adjective phrase important gives specific information about the head thing. It is not the common thing but the important one. The occurrence of the
form most. The noun phrase 44 takes two adjective phrases real and hot to premodify the noun head day. The adjective phrase hot is written twice to
emphasize what is really referred by the author. The use of repeated adjectives convinces the reader that the day the author referred is really hot. Next, the adjective phrase late is taken by the noun head challenge as a premodifier. It
indicates that the challenge is not the early one but the late one. In the noun phrase 46, the adjective phrase yellow occurs to denote the color of the noun head card. It
gives the detail information about the card by giving the information about the color. Thus, the reader will recognize that the card the author referring is the yellow one, not the red one.
Second, the premodifier position is also filled by a noun phrase. Its occurrence as a premodifier is optional. However, it contributes more to the text by giving the specific information. Here are the examples.
47.a penalty shootout
48.goal keeper Ebrahim Mirzapour 49.the danger zone
50.the ticket control system
51.20 English, German and Polish soccer fans
In the noun phrase 47, the head shootout takes the noun phrase penalty as its
premodifier. Penalty gives the specific information about the shootout. The noun phrase spot occurred to premodify the noun head kick. In example 48, the noun
phrase takes a noun phrase goal to premodify the noun head keeper, while the noun phrase 49 takes a noun phrase danger to premodify the noun head zone.
The next two examples (50-51) take two noun phrases to premodify the noun
premodify the noun head. Those premodifiers restrict the noun head. It shows that the author only refers to the ticket control system not the other system. Next, in
example 51, the noun head fans take two noun phrases English, German and
Polish and soccer. The noun head fans becomes more specific with the
occurrence of those noun phrases as the premodifier.
Thirdly, a participle, both –ing and –ed participle become the premodifiers of the noun head. Here are the examples.
52.their opening game 53.a deflected drive 54.an injured leg
55.a rousing version of “Rule, Britania!”
Noun phrases 52 and 55 take the –ing participle opening and rousing as the
premodifiers of the noun heads. The –ing participle rousing in example 55 gives additional information about the head version. It emphasizes that the version of
“Rule Britana” is the one which can rouse the spirit of the player, while the noun
phrase 53 and 54 take the – ed participle deflected and injured as the premodifier of the noun heads. The head becomes more specific with the presence of a
participle as a premodifier. The occurrence of the participle injured as the premodifier of the head leg gives the information about the condition of the legs.
The participles give the specific and additional information about the head.
4. POSTMODIFIERS
In football news in The Jakarta Post, there are three elements realize the
The most frequent element that realizes the postmodifier is a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases are by far the most common type of postmodifier in
English. It gives more information about the head like in
56.central midfield where the Swedes were mostly outnumbered 57.preparation for Sunday’s World Cup final
58.a great chance for Portugal in the 78th 59.storms in Berlin on Friday
The noun phrase in example 56 takes a prepositional phrase as its postmodifier. The noun head midfield is postmodified by a prepositional phrase
where the Swedes were mostly outnumbered. It gives additional information about
the noun head midfield. The midfield the author referred is the one where the Swedes were mostly outnumbered, not the other midfield. In example 57, the
prepositional phrase restricts the noun head preparation. It indicates that the preparation is the one for Sunday’s World Cup final, not the preparation for the
other events.
The noun phrase 58 takes two prepositional phrases to postmodify the noun head chance. It restricts the head chance. The first prepositional phrase gives
information that the chance is the one which belongs to Portugal and not for other team. The second prepositional phrase is in the 78th. It tells about the time when
the chance happens. Therefore, those prepositional phrases give the specific and additional information about the head chance.
Next, the head of the noun phrase in 59 is storms. It also takes two
The storms are the ones which happen in Berlin. The second prepositional phrase is on Friday. It postmodifies the noun head. It tells about the time when the
storms happen. Thus, those prepositional phrases occurred to give specific information about the place and the time when the storms happen.
Second, a finite clause can occur as a postmodifier of the noun head as
follows:
60.a thrilling contest that broke the record for goals in The World Cup openers
61.England which had lost two and drawn one of the opening in its last three tournaments
62.Deco whose first time shot sailed into right corner
63.the booming free kick in the 83rd that Ricardo blocked with a dive
The occurrence of the finite clause that broke the record for goals in The
World Cup openers limits the head contest. It emphasizes that the contest is the
one that broke the record for goals in The World Cup openers not the other
contest. Next, the noun head England is postmodified by a finite clause which had lost two and drawn one of the opening in its last three tournaments. It gives
detailed information about the head. In the example 62, the head Deco is
postmodified by the finite clause whose first time shot sailed into right corner. The finite clause gives additional information about the head. The author only
refers to a person named Deco whose first time shot sailed into right corner. In the example 63, the noun head kick takes a finite clause as the postmodifier. The finite clause that Ricardo blocked with a dive occurs after a prepositional phrase
to give specific information about the head kick.
A non-finite clause that occurs as a postmodifier of the noun phrase is the
64.Germany, performing with great power and belief and backed by extraordinary support
65.The Germans, buoyed by their two-goal blitz
66.the German fans, heavily outnumbering the Swedes in a 66,000 sell out crowd at the Allianz area.
The example 64 takes an –ing participle performing with great power and
belief and backed by extraordinary support as a postmodifier to give additional
information about the head. The author only refers to the Germany team which performs with great power and backed by extraordinary support. The non-finite
clause describes the action of the noun head. The noun phrase 66 also takes an – ing participle as a postmodifer of the noun head. The –ing participle heavily
outnumbering the Swedes in a 66,000 sell out crowd at the Allianz area gives
additional information about the head fans. The noun phrase 65 takes an –ed participle buoyed by their two-goal blitz to postmodify the head Germans. The –
ed participle clarifies that the head Germans buoyed because of the two-goal blitz they made.
B. The Types of Noun Phrases
In the structure of a noun phrase, there are three elements namely head, determiner and modifier. The occurrence of those elements can be used to
construct a noun phrase. According to Greenbaum, there are eight possible structures of the noun phrases, as follows; Head, Determiner + Head,
Premodifier + Head, Determiner + Premodifier + Head, Head +
Postmodifier, Determiner + Head + Postmodifier, Premodifier + Noun +
60). The following is the table showing the number of each type of the noun phrases occur in the football news.
Table 2. The Types of Noun phrase
No Type of Noun Phrases Number %
1. Head 138 30,60
2. Determiner + Head 125 27,72
3. Premodifier + Head 25 5,54
4. Determiner + Premodifier + Head 74 16,41
5. Head + Postmodifier 12 2,66
6. Determiner + Head + Postmodifier 42 9,31 7. Premodifier + Head + Postmodifier 1 0,22 8. Determiner + Premodifier + Head + Postmodifier 34 7,54
TOTAL 451 100
From the table above, it could be seen that the noun phrase structure type 1
(Head) has the highest frequency in its occurrence. Type 2 (Determiner + Head) has 125 numbers of occurrence. It is followed by type 4 (Determiner + Head +
Postmodifier) with 74 numbers of occurrence. Next, type 6 (Determiner + Head + Postmodifier) has 42 numbers of occurrence followed by type 8 (Determiner + Premodifier + Head + Postmodifier) with 34 numbers of occurrence. Afterwards,
type 3 (Premodifier + Head) occurs with 25 of occurrence, followed by type 5 (Head + Postmodifier) with 12 numbers of occurrence. The last one is type 7
