Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
AGUSTINA KUSUMAWATY
Student number: 024214082
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2008
DON’T quit when the goings get tough,
and we will have nothing to regret
for the rest of our lives
Dedicated to
my beloved parents , my big sister and brother,
their faith in me taught me to have faith in myself
researcher. So many people have been involved by giving their advice, criticism, information, and help. Thus, in this acknowledgment page I would like to say my thanks to those who have given me help and support.
My thanks are due to my advisor, Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A., for the advice, the knowledge and also the guidance he has given me during the making of the thesis. I’m also grateful to my Co-advisorDra. B. Ria Lestari M.S. who has spent her time reading and giving her idea on this thesis.
My deep gratitude is dedicated to my beloved parents for the endless love and support. Their faith in me taught me to have faith in myself. I’d further like to thank my sister Teteh, my brother Aa’, my brother-in-law Oh Deqi, and my sister-in-law Mbak Wulan for the advice and guidance. Their wise view has given me the courage I need.
Many thanks to my best friend Nana, Bapak, Ibu, Mbak Indri for the warm welcome and hospitality whenever I stay in their comfortable residence for days. I also thank to Itoy, Mbak Iis, Riris, and Risti for their time and support that helped me ease those boredom feelings.
I would say my thanks to Cinta, Diah, Nunung, CT, Alfina, and the rest of The Matchmaker members with whom I have shared the smile, the laughter, and the annoyance during the college days. My thank to Daniel, Lira and Dina for sharing their deepest secrets and those hilarious moments during the KKN time.
patience to understand the annoyance I have caused. Not to forget, my thank to Rhomex for giving me all the feeling in my heart, and his willingness to accompany me everywhere I go.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all the people and institution who have given me all the helps and the properties I need to complete this study.
Agustina Kusumawaty
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ... 61 BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 64 APPENDICES ... 66
This study discusses noun premodification found in Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars. This study is chosen because many long sentences are still a little difficult to understand due to the modifications of the basic elements of the sentences. English noun modifications are much used in the sentence and they dominate the structure of the sentences. One of the easiest ways to study noun premodification is by analyzing some English reading books, such as novels. One of the authors who is famous for the simple language structure is Lois Lowry. In Number the Stars, Lowry uses simple language that enables the readers to learn noun premodification.
There are three problems found: the forms, the proportion, and the reasons of occurrence of noun premodification in Lowry’s Number the Stars. From those three problems, the objectives of this study are to find out the forms, the proportion, and the reasons why certain forms of noun premodification in Lowry’s Number the Stars have the highest and lowest frequency in their occurrences.
The theories used in the analysis are taken from Jackson and Quirk’s theories on the elements and types of noun premodification. From these theories, the researcher concludes that there are five elements and two types of noun premodification. The five elements of noun premodification are determiners, adjectives, nouns, participles, and adverbs. Meanwhile, single and multiple premodifications are the two types of noun premodification.
The data are derived from Lowry’s Number the Stars. The researcher finds 1041 noun premodifications in the novel. From these data, there are 15 forms of noun premodification found in the novel: 1) Determiner + Noun, 2) Adjective + Noun, 3) Noun + Noun, 4) Participle + Noun, 5) Determiner + Determiner + Noun, 6) Determiner + Adjective + Noun, 7) Determiner + Noun + Noun, 8) Determiner + Participle + Noun, 9) Determiner + Determiner + Adjective + Noun, 10) Determiner + Adjective + Adjective + Noun, 11) Determiner + Adjective + Noun + Noun, 12) Determiner + Adjective + Participle + Noun, 13) Determiner + Noun + Noun + Noun, 14) Determiner + Participle + Noun + noun, and 15) Determiner + Participle + Adjective + Noun. These forms have different frequencies of occurrence. The most frequent form of noun premodification used in Number the Stars is the form of Determiner + Noun, with 580 numbers of occurrences. This form occurs frequently in the novel because it is the simplest and most common form in noun premodification that enables the readers to understand the meaning without any difficulties. Meanwhile, the forms of Determiner + Noun + Noun + Noun, Determiner + Participle + Noun + Noun, and Determiner + Participle + Adjective + Noun only occur one time. These forms have the lowest frequency in their occurrences because they are complex which make the readers think deeper to understand the meaning.
Studi ini membahas tentang modifikasi di awal kata benda yang terdapat di dalam Number the Stars karya Lois Lowry. Peneliti memilih studi ini karena banyak kalimat panjang masih sedikit sulit untuk dipahami yang disebabkan oleh modifikasi unsur-unsur dasar dari kalimat. Modifikasi kata benda dalam bahasa Inggris banyak digunakan dalam kalimat dan mendominasi susunan kalimat. Salah satu cara termudah untuk mempelajari modifikasi di awal kata benda adalah dengan menganalisis buku-buku bacaan berbahasa Inggris seperti novel. Salah satu pengarang yang terkenal karena kesederhanaan susunan bahasa yang digunakan adalah Lois Lowry. Dalam novel Number the Stars, Lois Lowry menggunakan bahasa yang sederhana sehingga dapat mempermudah para pembaca untuk mempelajari modifikasi di awal kata benda.
Peneliti telah menetapkan tiga permasalahan, yaitu: bentuk-bentuk modifikasi di awal kata benda, perbandingan dari bentuk-bentuk modifikasi di awal kata benda tesebut, dan alasan-alasan kemunculan modifikasi di awal kata benda yang ditemukan di dalam Number the Stars. Dari ketiga permasalahan tersebut, manfaat dari studi ini adalah untuk menemukan bentuk-bentuk, perbandingan, dan alasan mengapa bentuk-bentuk modifikasi di awal kata benda tertentu yang terdapat di dalam novel memiliki frekwensi tertinggi dan terendah.
Teori-teori yang digunakan di dalam analisis diambil dari teori-teori Jackson dan Quirk tentang unsur-unsur dan tipe-tipe modifikasi di awal kata benda. Dari teori-teori tersebut, peneliti menyimpulkan bahwa terdapat lima unsur dan dua tipe modifikasi di awal kata benda. Kelima unsur modifikasi di awal kata benda adalah kata penentu, kata sifat, kata benda, kata partisip, dan kata keterangan. Sedangkan singgel dan multi modifikasi di awal kata benda adalah kedua tipe modifikasi di awal kata benda.
Data-data di dalam studi ini diambil dari novel Number the Stars karya Lois Lowry. Peneliti menemukan 1041 modifikasi di awal kata benda di dalam novel tersebut. Dari data-data tersebut terdapat 15 bentuk modifikasi di awal kata benda, yaitu: 1) Kata penentu + Kata benda, 2) Kata sifat + Kata benda, 3) Kata benda + Kata benda, 4) Kata partisip + Kata benda, 5) Kata penentu + Kata penentu + Kata benda, 6) Kata penentu + Kata sifat + Kata benda, 7) Kata penentu + Kata benda + Kata benda, 8) Kata penentu + Kata partisip + Kata benda, 9) Kata penentu + Kata penentu + Kata sifat + Kata benda, 10) Kata penentu + Kata sifat + Kata sifat + Kata benda, 11) Kata penentu + Kata sifat + Kata benda + Kata benda, 12) Kata penentu + Kata sifat + Kata partisip + Kata benda, 13) Kata penentu + Kata benda + Kata benda + Kata benda, 14) Kata penentu + Kata partisip + Kata benda + Kata benda, dan 15) Kata penentu + Kata partisip + Kata sifat + Kata benda. Bentuk-bentuk tersebut memilki frekwensi yang berbeda-beda. Bentuk modifikasi di awal kata benda yang paling sering digunakan di Number the Stars adalah Kata penentu + Kata benda, dengan jumlah 580. Bentuk tersebut
partisip + Kata sifat + Kata benda hanya muncul satu kali. Bentuk-bentuk tersebut memiliki frekwensi terendah karena merupakan bentuk modifikasi di awal kata benda yang kompleks sehingga membuat para pembaca berpikir lebih dalam untuk dapat memahami artinya.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
This thesis is a study of the English noun premodification. The researcher
finds it necessary because many long sentences are still a little difficult to
understand due to the modifications of the basic elements of the sentences. The
English noun modifications are much used in the sentence, and they dominate the
structure of the sentences. One of the easiest ways to study noun modification,
especially noun premodification is by analyzing some English reading books, such
as novels.
In this thesis, the researcher chooses Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars (1989) with some considerations. Lowry’s Number the Stars is a simple yet poignant novel about a young girl’s contribution to the resistance movement in
Denmark during World War II. Lowry is said to be a favorite of both children and
young adults. Most of her novels use a simple language, and so is in Number the Stars.
In Number the Stars, Lowry uses direct speech, for instance; “I’ll race you to the corner, Ellen!” (Lowry, 198: 1). Lowry also uses figurative language, such
as simile and personification. Simile can be seen in “Can’t we just walk, like
civilized people?” (Lowry, 1989: 1). In like civilized people, it is considered as figurative language of simile for it uses a specific word or phrase like.Meanwhile, personification can be seen in “……… as the days grew slightly shorter and
thefirst leaves began to fall from the trees, …………..”(Lowry, 1989: 18). This is
considered as personification since the phrase as the days grew slightly shorter uses the verb grew, a verb that distinct human qualities.
Seen from the simple language used in the novel, the readers, especially
children and young adults in a wide variety of reading readiness are able to use
this text as a learning tool, both for the message and the language employed. Since
to learn making a sentence, at least we should know about noun modification to
prevent mistakes, for instance a mistake in forming noun modification in the right
order. Hence, Lowry’s language simplicity enables the readers to learn noun
modification especially noun premodification for it is better and easier to observe
English reading books that use simple language.
For these reasons, the researcher believes that observing Lowry’s Number the Stars is worth doing, since it will help our study on noun premodification in terms of form and the realization within sentences.
B. Problem Formulation
From the background of the study above, the problems to be formulated
are as follows:
1. What forms of noun premodification found in Lowry’s Number the Stars? 2. What is the proportion of the forms of noun premodification in Lowry’s
Number the Stars?
3. What are the reasons of occurrence of noun premodification in Lowry’s
C. Objectives of the Study
This study is aimed to answer the three problems formulated above: to
identify the forms of noun premodification, to find out the proportion of noun
premodification, and to find the reasons of occurrenceof noun premodification in
Lowry’s Number the Stars.
The study in this thesis is hoped to give a clearer description of the various
English structures of noun premodification in terms of form and the realization
within sentences. It is less possible for all the forms of noun premodification
found in Number the Stars to be analyzed. For that reason, there are only some of the data that will be analyzed in this study.
It is expected that this study will be beneficial in two aspects, theoretical
and practical. From the point of view linguistics theory, our understanding of the
syntactic structure in general and noun premodification in particular will improve.
And it might increase our motivation to read English readings books, such as
novels, for many people assume that English is a difficult language, especially to
understand the meaning of noun premodification in a sentence. Thus, the
researcher also hopes that this study will be able to change this assumption. From
the practical point of view, we will be able to arrange and place the words which
form a noun premodification.
D. Definition of Terms
For the sake of clarity as well as to avoid misunderstandings, it is
books related to the study and dictionaries. The terms to be defined are noun,
modification, premodification, and noun premodification.
When we speak or write, we speak about things we have in our minds, and
we say things about them. We have found it convenient to attach labels to some of
the infinity of things; these labels we call nouns (Conner, 1968: 2). According to
Jackson in Analyzing English, a noun refers to a “thing” in the broadest sense, whether objects such as table, activities as hammering, feelings as in hatred, and idea like eternity, as well as people and places (Jackson, 1982: 61). Meanwhile, Close in a Reference Grammar for students of English states that a noun is a word that we can use at certain points in the structure of sentence. Thus, work is a noun
if it fills the gap in He always did his __ perfectly. It is a verb if it fills the gap in His brothers__ in a factory (Close, 1975: 3).
According to Hurford in Grammar, a Student’s Guide, modification is the relationship between the head and its modifier(s) (Hurford, 1994:129). On the
other hand, Richards in Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics says that modification is a word or group of words which gives further information
(modifies) about another word or group of words (the head) (Richards, 1985:
181).
A noun that functions as the head of a phrase, either it stands by itself or is
modified by a modifier, forms a larger meaningful expression called a noun
phrase. Noun phrases are traditionally thought of as consisting minimally of a
head noun, together with any number of noun phrase modifiers (Asher and
The most common head in a noun phrase is a noun. However, the head of
a noun phrase may be a pronoun. In this case, a premodification will never appear,
though postmodification may occasionally be found (Jackson, 1982: 66).
The noun phrase in English is composed potentially of three parts. The
central part of the noun phrase, the head, is obligatory: it is the minimal
requirement for the occurrence of a noun phrase. The other two parts, a
premodification and postmodification are optionally occurring (Jackson, 1982:
66). The premodification, which comprises all the items placed before the noun
head, as in tall in the phrase the tall girl. The adjective pretty here premodifies the noun head girl. While the postmodification is all the items placed after the noun head, for instance: by the wall in the phrase chair by the wall. The prepositional phrase by the wall postmodifies the noun head chair (Quirk and Greenbum, 1990:364).
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that a noun
premodification is a modification of a word or group of words occurring before or
preceding the head of a noun phrase which gives further information about a noun
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
The second chapter is conducted by discussing three parts. First, the
review of the related studies; second, the review of the related theories and the
third will review the theoretical framework.
Review of the related studies contains the review on what others have
done connected with the study on noun premodification. Review of the related
theories contains some theories taken from some sources which will be useful to
answer the problems, while the theoretical framework contains the role of the
theories mentioned in the review of related theories to solve the problems.
A. Review of Related Studies
To support the study, especially to conduct the analysis, there are some
studies observed. After reading some studies, the researcher found two studies
related to this thesis. The first study discusses the theory of a noun modification in
general. And the second discusses a noun phrase and its role in reflecting Ernest
Hemingway’s styles in writing his short stories. The review of some studies
mentioned is as follow.
1. P. Garanim Purba’s Noun Modifications of the English Language
In his thesis, Purba discusses noun modification in general, starting from
the definition of noun modification itself, its types, the position and arrangement
of the modifiers, the way to break down and build up constructions of nouns with
modifiers according to IC analysis, the stress patterns of constructions of
modification, and the structural meanings of the modification in structures of
modification with noun as the head.
There are three terms related to noun modification that Purba states in his
thesis, they are the definitions of a modifier, a noun, and a noun modifier. A
modifier is the component part in a structure of modification which is not the
head. A noun is a word belonging to a class of lexical words marked by their
appearance following certain determiners; by their two inflections; by certain
derivational suffixes; by their appearance in certain positions; and sometimes by
super fixes of stress. While a noun modifier is the component part which is not the
head in a structure of modification whose head is a noun.
According to Purba, there are nine types of modifiers in noun
modifications, namely: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases,
relative clauses, appositives, adjectival phrase compounds, and determiners.
statement, people below; prepositional phrases as in kingdom of Denmark. Relative clause as modifiers are divided into two; defining clause as in man who came late; and non-defining clause as in Peter, who came first. In appositive clause, “that” can never be omitted as in fact that Bob is rich. The examples of adjectival phrase compounds are; go-ahead signal, up-to-date dictionary. Determiners as modifiers are divided into three types: articles, possessives, and
demonstratives.
The order of noun modification is determined by the position of where the
modifier is placed. Purba states that there are two ways to place modifiers in noun
modifications; it is either before or after the head. For examples, if one of the
modifiers is a noun derived from a verb which is also called “gerund”, it usually
appears immediately before the head, such as bathing in linen bathing costume. On the other hand, when one of the modifiers is a noun in the possessive, it
always occurs in the farthest position from the head, such as Bob’s in Bob’s student number.
Purba also discuses the meanings of modification in structures of
modification with noun as head. For examples, if the modifiers are nouns the
2. Yudit’s The Noun Phrases Revealing Hemingway’s Style: A Stylistic Approach and The Structure of the Noun Phrases in Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and “Indian Camps”
In her first article, Yudit discusses the noun phrases in revealing
Hemingway’s style. She describes how the elements of the noun phrases and their
functions have a crucial role in revealing Hemingway’s style: simplicity,
directness, and emotional understatement. The simplicity of the noun phrases is
proven by the domination of the minimal noun phrase in Hemingway’s texts, such
as cigars and the kitchen. These noun phrases are common noun phrases and daily used. In addition, they also have a simple structure and a simple meaning.
Hemingway uses simple but appropriate words to simplify the story without
ignoring the deep meaning of his story. The directness is seen by the occurrence
of adjuncts and attributes dominating the noun phrases in the text, such as the lake shore. In this noun phrase, the head shore is restricted by the occurrence of the attribute lake. Thus, Hemingway will not misdirect his readers understanding of the object. He only refers to ‘the shore that belongs to the lake’. And the
emotional understatement is proven by the occurrence of noun phrases arousing
readers’ emotions. An emotional understatement is the feeling of the characters
In her second article, Yudit discusses the elements of noun phrases and
their functions to find out the structure of the noun phrases in Hemingway’s two
short stories. These elements, which include a head, complement, attribute,
adjunct, and specifier, have certain functions in their occurrences within noun
phrases. They are a complement which is semantically needed by a head to
accomplish the meaning of the head as in need of that, an attribute which comes before the head as in white elephants, an adjunct which comes after the head as in anyone else, and a specifier which is used to denote a grammatical function as in his beer. Yudit finds out that the structure of the noun phrases in the two stories are in simple and complex forms. However, the simple noun phrases dominate the
two stories, as in the bar. Meanwhile,complex noun phrases occur with all types of phrase: a prepositional phrase as in the side of the station, an adjective phrase as in a great man, a noun phrase as in bamboo beads, a verb phrase as in the felt pads, an adverb phrase as in three days before, and with a clause as in a cake of soap he had brought from the camp. Yudit also provides tree diagrams to describe the structure of the noun phrases found in the two short stories. The tree
diagram below shows the structure of the noun phrase quick choppy strokes.
NP
N’
AP N’
quick
AP N’
choppy N’
From the review of those studies, it can be seen that thefirst study written
by Purba discusses the theory of noun modification in general. He explains the
general knowledge of noun modification along with its structural meanings.
Meanwhile, the second study written by Yudit analyzes noun phrases in Ernest
Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants and Indian Camps to reveal his style and to find the structure of the noun phrases. Thus, the researcher’s A Study on Noun Premodification in Lowry’s Number the Stars will be different from them. This study focuses only on noun premodification, to find out the forms, the
percentage, and the reasons why certain forms of noun premodification in
Lowry’s Number the Stars have the highest and lowest frequency in their occurrences.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. The elements of a noun premodification
All elements that modify the head of a noun phrase are called modifiers.
Modifiers may be single words or may themselves be phrases. However, a noun
phrase may consist of a noun itself without any other elements, as in cars. This kind of noun phrase is not analyzed in this thesis for there are no other elements
preceding the head. Thus, the noun phrases to be analyzed in this thesis are those
that have modifiers occurring before the head, as in the book and expensive cars.
There are four constituent parts in describing noun phrases, namely: the
head, the determinatives, the premodification, and the postmodification. The
occurrence of the head is obligatory; it is the minimal requirement for the
occurrence of a noun phrase (Jackson, 1982: 66). The determinatives include
predeterminers, central determiners, and postdeterminers. The premodification
comprises all items placed before the head other than determinatives notably
adjectives or adjective phrases, and nouns. And last, the postmodification
comprises all the items placed after the head notably prepositional phrases,
non-finite clauses, and relative clauses (Quirk, Greenbum, Leech, and Svartvik, 1985:
1238).
Another linguist, Howard Jackson (1982: 66), says that there are three
parts in English noun phrase. The central part of the noun phrase, the head, is
obligatory: it is the minimal requirement or the occurrence of a noun phrase. The
other two parts are optionally occurring. Since this thesis is a study of noun
premodification, the writer will only discuss the noun premodification as one of
the parts in a noun phrase and its occurrence in Lowry’s Number the Star.
Basically, there are three major modifiers in the premodification of a noun
phrase: a determiner, an adjective, and a noun. However, some linguists
categorize the premodifier into larger categories. In English Syntactic Structures, Flor and Jan Aarts states that in the structure of the noun phrase, the function
Another linguist,HowardJackson states that the premodification in a noun phrase
consists of a number of words classes or sub-classes in a specific order:
identifier-numeral/quantifier-adjective-noun modifier, as for example in the noun phrase
these five charming country cottages (Jackson, 1982: 67). On the other hand, Quirk and Greenbum, et al categorize the premodifying items into six categories,
namely: adjective as in her delightful family, participle as in the missing report, noun as in city traffic, -s genitive as in his fisherman’s cottage, adverb and other phrases as in round-the-clock service, and sentence as in I don’t know how many
people. (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 1322).
Jackson’s identifier and numeral/quantifier as premodifying items which
include definite the and indefinite a/an articles; demonstratives this, that, these, and those; ordinal and cardinal numerals first, second, one, two, etc; and quantifiers some, many, several, much, etc, function as determiners.
Aarts and Aarts, and Quirk’s -s genitiveas one of the premodifying itemis also included in a determiner, for it can be considered to be substituting for a
possessive identifier (my, your, etc). While a sentence premodifier in a noun phrase is similar to an adverb phrase. The further explanation will be elaborated
below.
a. A determiner
Determiners are a class of words that are used with nouns and have the
function of defining the reference of the noun in some way (Jackson, 1982: 64).
other, they occur one instead of another. That is, the sets of items are ’closed’ in
the sense that they are only exceptionally extended by the creation of additional
members (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 71).
There are three classes of determiners: predeterminers such as half, all, double; central determiner such as articles; and postdeterminers such as cardinal and ordinal numerals. These classes have been set up on the basis of their
position in the noun phrase in relation to each other. Thus, we only find the order
of predeterminers + central determiners + postdeterminers, as in all the five boys (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 253). The further explanation of the three classes
of determiners are as follows.
1. Predeterminers
Predeterminersinclude the quantifiers such as some, many, several, much, no, few, little, every, each, most, any, whole, etc. Quantifiers have the general function of indicating the quantity of elements referred to by the noun phrases
(Asher and Simpson, 1982: 2850). There are some predeterminers that can occur
before certain central determiners: all, both, half as in all (the girls), both those cars, and half an hour; the multipliers double, twice, three times, etc as in double the sum, twice my salary; the fractions one-third, one-fifth, etc as in one-third the time; and such, what as in Sucha surprise!,Whata fine day! (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 257-258).
2. Central determiners
its, my, his, your, our, their, Mary’s, Tom’s, etc. Here are some of the examples: its cover, your house, Mary’s father, and Tom’s car. The last two examples be considered to be substituting for a possessive identifier (my, your, etc). Thus, Mary’s father and Tom’s car can be substituted into her father and his car.
However, an -s genitive as a determiner is not analyzed in this thesis because its internal structure is just like other noun phrases but with different case,
3. Postdeterminers
Postdeterminers include cardinal one, two, three, etc and ordinal first, second, next, last, (an)other, etc numerals. They follow predeterminers or central determiners, but they precede any adjectives and other premodifying items (Quirk,
Greenbum, et al, 1985: 261). This can be seen in the first day, her three beautiful daughters.
b. An adjective
An adjective is a word typically used to modify a noun, and describes
some characteristics of the thing referred to by the noun, such as its shape, color,
age, value, size, origin or the impression it gives. Most adjectives can go before or
precede the noun head. Adjectives which can go in this position are called
attributive adjectives (Hurford, 1994:8-9).
According to Flor and Jan Aarts, there are seven types of adjectives,
namely: adjectives denoting nationality such as English, Dutch, etc; adjectives denoting substance such as silk, wooden, etc; adjectives denoting color such as red, green, etc; adjectives denoting age such as old, young, etc; adjectives denoting shape such as round, rectangular, etc; adjectives denoting size such as large, huge, etc; adjectives denoting properties other than those mentioned before such as expensive, gay, fine, etc (Aarts and Aarts, 1982; 108-109).
The premodifying adjectives appear between the determiner (including
Attributive adjectives can take comparative and superlative forms. Regular
comparison may be expressed by adding the endings -er and -est to the adjectives (Leech and Svartvik, 1975: 193) as in the kindest people, a brighter day, a higher place, and the largest city.
A small group of highly frequent adjectives have irregular comparison
(Leech and Svartvik, 1975: 218), as in:
1. good better best 2. bad worse worst
3. far further/farther furthest/farthest
c. A noun
The head of a noun phrase can be premodified by another noun. Noun
modifier + noun head constructions are often the first stage in the formation of
compound noun (Jackson, 1982: 68), as in flycatcher (fly + catcher), armchair (arm + chair), and dishcloth (dish + cloth). Thus, a compound noun is considered as one noun.
In many cases, noun premodifiers appear to be reduced-explicitness
Attention must be drawn to two important features in noun
premodifications (Quirk and Greenbum, 1990: 388).
1. Plural nouns usually become singular, even those that otherwise have no
singular form, as in the legs of trousers (the trouser leg). But while singularization is normal it is by no means universal (arms race), especially with noun premodification that is hardening into a fixed phrase or compound
(the promotions committee).
2. According to the relationship between the two nouns, the accent will fall on
the premodifier or the head, such as; an iron ‘rod, a ‘war story.
d. A participle
A participle can also function as a premodifier in a noun phrase.There are
two types of participle, namely: present participle or -ing participle, and past participle or -ed participle. English participle is added to the base verb.
English present participles are all formed by adding the suffix -ing to the base form of the verb. The possibility of modification by a present participle
depends on the potentiality of the participle to indicate a permanent or
characteristic feature (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 1325).
Meanwhile, English past participles are formed in various ways. The most
however, the -ed participle is not interpreted as passive, as in the escaped prisoner means the prisoner who has escaped (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 413).
e. An adverb
There are very few adverbs that can premodify nouns. An adverb phrase
which consists of a head only can modify a noun, as in the then chairman, an
away game, an up train, and a through road (Arts and Arts, 1982: 112).
However, adverbs are mostly used to modify adjective or verbs. In addition, most
adverbs function as adjectives when they occur before a noun.
Some adverbs occasionally occur within a noun phrase, not modifying the
noun phrase itself, but related to modifying the adjective phrase. This can be seen
in the extremely dangerous journey. The adverb extremely does not premodify the noun journey, but it premodifies the adjective dangerous instead. Thus, this kind of noun phrases found in the novel will not be analyzed in this thesis.
f. A sentence
Thehead of a noun phrase can be premodified by a sentence, as inI visited his pop-down-for-the-weekend cottage. However, a sentence premodifier is not commonly used in a noun phrase. This can be interpreted either as a sentence
premodifier or as an object in an embedded noun clause (Quirk and Greenbum,
1990: 384). In addition, a sentence premodifier in a noun phrase is said to be
In the noun phrase his pop-down-for-the-weekend cottage, the premodifier pop-down-for-the-weekend is not a sentence, for a sentence consists at least a subject and a verb.Thus, a sentence premodifier is not analyzed in this thesis.
2. The types of a noun premodification
When there is only one modification preceding the head of a noun phrase,
it is called a single premodification, as in a bird, where the noun head bird is premodified by the indefinite article a, and young girls, where the noun head girls is premodified by the adjective young. On the other hand, when there are more
than one modification preceding the head of a noun phrase, it is called multiple
premodification, as in the beautiful little girl, where the noun head girl is premodified by the definite article the and the adjectives little and beautiful.
However, Quirk categorizes multiple premodification into three categories.
According to him, multiple premodification arises through any or all three
conditions; more than one modification may be related to a single head with no
grammatical limit to the number of premodifiers, a modification may also apply to
more than one head, and multiple modification occur when the head of the
premodifying item is itself premodified by another pre-modifier (Quirk,
Greenbum, and Leech, 1972: 916-918).
More than one modification may be related to a single head with no
noun phrase is different from his brilliant last book, which is analyzed as: his book→his last book→his [brilliant (last book)]. This means that ‘his last book was brilliant’ without commitment to whether any of his other books are. A
modification may also apply to more than one head, as in the new table and chairs. This noun phrase originally consists of two noun phrases: the new table and the new chairs. The last multiple modification occur when the head of the premodifying item is itself premodified by another premodifier, as in these nasty women’s clothing. The -s genitive women’s is itself premodified by the definite article these and adjective nasty (Quirk, Greenbum, and Leech, 1972: 916-918).
Quirk’s theory on the last type of multiple premodification is strengthened
by Jackson’s. He states that this delightful old gentleman’s scruffy bowler hat is analyzed as: noun phrase genitive this delightful old gentleman’s, adjective scruffy, noun modifier bowler, and head noun hat. The noun phrase genitive may be considered to be substituting for a possessive identifier (my, your, etc) in the noun phrase in which it occurs as a pre-modifier. This means the phrase above can
be changed into his scruffy bowler hat (Jackson, 1982: 68).
The noun premodification with multiple heads and modified modifier are
not analyzed in this thesis because their internal structure is just like other noun
phrases but with a different case. A noun premodification with multiple heads is
basically combined together from two phrases. Meanwhile, a premodification with
modified modifier is basically a noun phrase appearing in the premodification of
C. Theoretical Framework
To answer the first problem about the forms of noun premodification
found in Number the Stars, the researcher combines Jackson and Quirk’s theory on noun premodification.Jackson states thatthe premodification in a noun phrase
consists of a number of words classes or sub-classes in a specific order:
identifier-numeral/quantifier-adjective-noun modifier (Jackson, 1982: 67). Meanwhile,
Quirk categorizes the premodifying items into six categories, namely: adjective,
participle, noun, -s genitive, adverb, and sentence (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 1322). Since Jackson’s identifier and numeral/quantifier are included in
determiners as one of the premodifiers, and Quirk’s sentence premodifier is
similar to an adverb phrase,the researcher decides to categorize the premodifying
items into five categories: a determiner, an adjective, a noun, a participle, and an
adverb.Thus, to be able to answer the first problem, we must at first classify noun
premodification based on its modifier to find out the forms of noun
premodification in Number the Stars.
Problem number two which examines the proportion of noun
premodification will be answered after the researcher has classified and analyzed
the forms of noun premodification. In this part, the researcher will provide the
table to see the frequency of each form of noun premodification used in the novel.
After presenting the table of frequency, the researcher will try to find out the
reasons why certain forms of noun premodification in the novel have the highest
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. The Object of the Study
The object of the study in this thesis is noun premodifications which occur
in Lois Lowry’s novel entitled Number the Stars. Therefore, the data of the study is the novel used.
Number the Stars is a story about a young girl’s contribution to the resistance movement in Denmark during World War II. Annemarie Johansen, a
10-year-old girl living in Copenhagen, is faced with the knowledge that the Nazis
are beginning to relocate the Jews in the city. Ellen Rosen, a neighbor and
classmate of Annemarie’s, is Jewish. Through a series of small acts of bravery,
Annemarie and her family help the Rosens escape into neighboring Sweden, in a
boat with a false bottom, operated by Annemarie’s Uncle Henrik. Annemarie is
called upon to ensure the Jews’ safe passage when she has to deliver a package to
Henrik, in the dark, because her mother has broken her ankle and can not walk.
Annemarie successfully delivers the package, and only later learns what could
have happened if she had not been able to dodge the soldiers who stop her in the
woods. Once the war is over, Annemarie’s parents tell her that her older sister,
Lise, was part of the resistance movement and was killed for it. Annemarie
realizes that she too, has helped Jews escape and feels proud to know and be
friends with Ellen, even though she does not know if she will ever see her best
friend again. At the end of the book, Annemarie decides to wear Ellen’s Star of
David as a sign of her friendship, until Ellen returns and can wear it herself.
Lowry’s Number the Stars is an interesting novel for it can arouse readers’ emotion. This novel uses a simple language that can be easily understood by its
readers. It consists of simple sentences which are built by noun modification as
their elements. This fact has aroused the researcher’s interest to get a deeper
knowledge on noun modification, especially on noun premodification.
B. Sampling
An object is needed in a research. In performing a research, a researcher
has two options: population and sampling. Population refers to a group of
aggregate people, objects, or events. Meanwhile, sample is a collection of some
elements in a population (Deauna, 1996: 2-3).
After reading and gathering the data, the researcher finds 1041 noun
premodifications in Lowry’s Number the Stars. Since the data are in a wide range, it is impossible to analyze all of them. For this reason, the researcher applies the
random sampling research. Thus, there are only some of the data to be analyzed in
this study. The samples are chosen randomly in a hope that they could be the
representatives of the whole population. To choose the samples, the researcher
takes some steps. First, the researcher decides to take only 20% of the whole noun
premodifications found in Number the Stars. Since the researcher found 1041 noun premodifications in the novel, so it means that there are 208 data taken as
it is necessary to divide 208 by 15 to find how many examples to be analyzed in
each form of noun premodification. The result is that there are 14 examples in
each form of noun premodification. The next step is to divide the amount of each
form of noun premodification by 14 to find the least common multiple. For
example, there are 580 premodifications by determiner only, it means that 580 must be divided by 13, and 41 is the result. Thus, the samples of premodification
by determiners are the samples number 41,82,123, 164,205, 246,287,328,369,
410,451,492,533, and574.
There are various amounts of each form of noun premodification found in
the novel. Not all forms have large amount as noun premodification by determiner
do. In this case, the forms of noun premodification that have less than 14 numbers,
the samples must be all chosen. For example, there are only 2 numbers of noun
premodification by two determiners and an adjective, this means that the samples
are the two of it. For this reason, the data taken as the examples will be less than it
is expected. This also means that the data taken as the examples will be less than
208 noun premodifications.
C. Data Collection
In collecting the data, the first step is to collect and write down all the
sentences which contain noun premodification. After gathering the data, the
researcher finds 1041 noun premodifications in the novel. Further, the researcher
identifies and classifies the data according to the forms of noun premodification.
how many times they occur in the novel. The total sum of each form is also given.
From this step, the researcher is able to determine the frequency of occurrence of
noun premodification. Afterwards, it can be seen which forms of noun
premodification that have the highest and lowest frequencies. Finally, the
researcher will try to figure out the reasons of their occurrences in the novel.
D. Data Analysis
There are some steps taken to answer the first problem, which is to find the
forms of noun premodification in Number the Stars. The first thing to do is to get a deeper knowledge on the elements and the types of noun premodification.
Theories on the elements and the types of noun premodification are to be applied
in this part. These theories contribute the researcher to understand that
determiners, adjectives, nouns, participles, and adverbs are the elements that can
function as premodifiers of noun premodification; and that a single and multiple
premodifications are the two types of noun premodification. The next step is by
looking for noun premodifications in the novel. Finally, as the last step to answer
the first problem, the researcher will classify the noun premodifications found in
the novel according to their forms into the same group. The researcher will
present and analyze each form of noun premodification found in the novel.
By classifying the noun premodifications found in the novel according to
their forms into the same group, the researcher will be able to know the amount of
each form. Afterwards, the researcher will provide the table to show the
After knowing the frequencies of each form of noun premodification used
in the novel, the researcher will be able to identify out what forms of noun
premodification that have the highest and the lowest frequencies. Afterwards, the
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter covers findings, the analysis and the discussions that are
related to the study in order to answer the three problems formulated in chapter I.
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is the analysis of the forms
of noun premodification that occur in Lowry’s Number the Stars. The second part deals with the proportion of noun premodifications found in the novel. And the
last part discusses the reasons of occurrence of noun premodification in the novel.
A. The Forms of Noun Premodification
A noun premodification is a modification of a word or group of words
occurring before or preceding the head of a noun phrase which gives further
information about a noun or modifies a noun. Modification, however, is just one
of the ways in which meaningful elements are combined to form larger
meaningful expressions. There are five premodifying items in a noun
premodification, namely: determiner, adjective, noun, participle, and adverb.
There are two types of noun premodification, namely: single and multiple
premodifications. A single noun premodification means that there is only one
modifier preceding the head of a noun phrase, such as a bird, beautiful girls, and
mathematics books. Meanwhile, multiple premodification means that there are
more than one modifier preceding the head of a noun phrase, such as a wonderful
palace, a birthday celebration, and a long deep breath. Both single and multiple premodifications are found in Lowry’s Number the Stars.
After collecting the data, the researcher finds 1041 noun premodifications.
This includes660 single premodifications and 381multiple premodifications. The
table below shows the 15 forms of noun premodification found in Number the Stars. The arrangement of these forms is based on the types of noun premodification. Number (1-4) is included in a single premodification, and
number (5-15) is included in multiple premodifications.
Table 1
Forms of Noun Premodification
NO. Noun Premodification Example Occurrences Percentage
1. Determiner + Noun the shopkeeper 580 55,71% 2. Adjective + Noun heavy footsteps 47 4,51%
3. Noun + Noun fairy tales 18 1,73%
4. Participle + Noun spilled milk 15 1,44% 5. Determiner + Determiner +
Noun
8. Determiner + Participle +
Noun
her remembered life
45 4,32%
9. Determiner + Determiner +
Adjective + Noun
the two older girls
2 0,20%
10. Determiner + Adjective +
Adjective + Noun
a big yellow cupcake
22 2,11%
11. Determiner + Adjective +
Noun + Noun
the dim
September night
12 1,15%
Participle + Noun numbered ground 13. Determiner + Noun +
Noun + Noun
the family photograph album
1 0,10%
14. Determiner + Participle +
Adjective + Noun
the folded white cloth
1 0,10%
15. Determiner + Participle +
Noun + Noun
the flowered cotton napkin
1 0,10%
Total 1041 99,99%
It can be seen from the table that the form of a determiner premodifying
the noun head has the largest amount in Number the Stars. The second largest amount of the noun phrase is the noun head premodified by a determiner and an
adjective. And the third one is the noun head premodified by a determiner and a
noun.
As it has been mentioned in chapter 3, there will be 20% of the data taken
as the examples. This means, there are 208 data to be analyzed. Since there are 15
formsof noun premodification found in Number the Stars, 208 must be divided by 15 to find out how many examples to be analyzed for each form of noun
premodification. This means each form of noun premodification is supposed to
have 14 examples to be analyzed. And to find which numbers to be taken as the
examples, the amount of each form must be divided by 14. However, some of
these forms have less than 14 numbers of noun premodifications. Thus, the data to
Most of noun phrases used by Lowry in Number the Stars are in the form of a single premodification. The analysis of the forms of noun premodification
found in Number the Stars is as follows.
1. A single Premodification
When there is only one modification preceding the head of a noun phrase,
it is called a single premodification. The elements of noun premodification, such
as a determiner, an adjective, a noun, and a participle are found in Lowry’s
Number the Stars, while an adverb is not. This is because most of adverbs are used to modify adjectives or verbs. When they appear before the head of a noun
phrase they are considered as adjectives. Thus, there are only four forms of single
premodification found in the novel. From 1041 noun premodifications, there are
660 single premodifications. The analysis of single premodification found in
Lowry’s Number the Stars is as follows.
a. Determiner + Noun
Determiners are a class of words that are used with nouns and have the
function of defining the reference of the noun in some way (Jackson, 1982: 64).
There are three classes of determiners: predeterminers such as the quantifiers, the
multipliers, and the fractions; central determiner such as articles, the
demonstratives, and the genitives; and postdeterminers such as cardinal and
The most frequent form of noun premodification used in Number the Stars is the noun phrase premodified by a determiner. The definite article the, is mostly used to premodify the head of noun phrases in Number the Stars. And it dominates the form of noun premodification by a determiner.
The definite article the is used to mark the phrase it introduces as definite, as referring to something which can be identified uniquely in the contextual or
general knowledge shared by speaker and hearer, such as a person the girl, a group of people the firemen, an object the lamp, a group of objects the roses, an abstraction the plan, a group of abstractions the fears, etc (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 265-266).
The form of a determiner premodifying the noun head dominates the
structure of noun phrases and has the largest amount with 580 numbers of
occurrences. Thus, the examples taken as the examples are number 41, 82, 123,
164,205,246,287,328,369,410,451,492,533, and574. Here are the examples:
every corner, the queen, the Johansens, the table, Scarlett’s daughter, their New Year, the officer, any deer, their shoes, the stars, these people, the cabin, no meat and two boats.
cabin is a small room on a ship to live or sleep. In addition, this noun phrase is used to indicate the place where the Jews hide to avoid the German soldiers in
order to be able to escape to another country. This can be seen in:
“We got there quite quickly, even though it was still so dark and it was difficult for the Rosens, not knowing the path. Henrik was there waiting, on the boat, and he took them aboard and down below so quickly to the cabin that they were invisible in an instant. He said the others were already there; Peter got them there safely, too” (Number the Stars, 1989: 101-102).
In the noun phrase the stars, the readers will be easy to imagine the object because it is a worldwide knowledge. And last, the officer has a specific reference; it is a person that has a position of authority in the armed forces. The officer is different from the soldiers in terms of its position and duty. This is shown in the novel that
the soldiers guard every corner of the street in Copenhagen, while the officers do not.
In addition to the function of the definite article the to mark common nouns as definite, it is also used to refer the same noun that has been mentioned
earlier, as in:
“And a queen,” whispered Kirsti. “Don’t forget the queen.” (Number the Stars, 1989: 11).
By using the definite article the to premodify common nouns, the readers, especially children and young adults, are able to understand the meaning of the
noun phrases in specific and the text in general without any great efforts.
The definite article the may also have the function tomark proper nounsas definite. This can be seen in the Johansens that Lowry uses in Number the Stars. When the definite article the premodifies a plural surname, such as Johansens, the meaning is ‘the family called Johansens’. In Number the Stars, this noun phrase refers to main character’s family in the novel which includes Annemarie, her
parents, and her little sister, Kirsti.
The noun head also takes the demonstrative these as in these people. The appearance of the demonstrative these shows that both speaker and listener share the same knowledge about the head people. In Number the Stars, this noun phrase refers to some Jewish people gathered in Henrik’s house.
The genitives premodifying noun phrases also occur in the novel in large
amounts. The genitives have the function to express possession. The presence of
genitives gives the readers specific information that the noun heads belong to
someone or something. Here are some of the examples found in the novel: their New Year, their shoes,and Scarlett’s daughter.
“But, Mama,” Annemarie said, in dismay, “it’s their New Year. They were going to have a celebration at home! Ellen told me that her mother managed to get a chicken someplace, and she was going to roast it—their first roast chicken in a year or more!” (Number the Stars, 1989: 34).
In their shoes, the genitive possessive their premodifying a common noun shoes has the meaning ‘the shoes belonging to them’. The genitive their itself refers to the main character in the story, Annemarie, and her friend, Ellen. This can be seen
in:
“Annemarie, Ellen!” Mama’s voice came across the meadow. The girls looked round, and saw her waving to them. They turned, picked up their shoes, and began walking toward the house (Number the Stars, 1989: 62-63).
And the noun phrase Scarlett’s daughter has the meaning ‘Scarlett has a daughter’. The -s genitive Scarlett’s premodifying the noun head daughter, can be changed into her daughter. And this noun phrase refers to Bonnie, a character in Gone With The Wind in which Annemarie, Ellen, and Kirsti play with their paper dolls. This can be seen in:
“We’re playing Gone With The Wind. Melanie and Scarlett are going to the ball. You can be Bonnie. She’s Scarlett’s daughter.” (Number the Stars, 1989: 30).
Quantifiers are also found in Number the Stars as premodifiers of noun phrases. Quantifiers have the general function of indicating the quantity of
elements referred to by the noun phrases (Asher and Simpson, 1982: 2850). Here
are the examples of noun phrases premodified by quantifiers found in the novel:
Germans soldiers, who can be found everywhere in Copenhagen. While in no meat, the quantifier no indicates negative meaning, referring to the object meat. And the quantifier any is often used to indicate negative meaning as well. This is strengthened by Kirsti’s statement:
Kirsti wriggled to her knees and peered through the window. “I don’t see any deer!” she complained (Number the Stars, 1989: 54).
Cardinal numerals are also used in the novel as premodifiers of noun
phrases, as in two boats. Cardinal numerals have the general function of indicating the amount of the noun head. Cardinal numeral two premodifying the noun head boats are used to tell the readers how many boats the German soldiers and dogs search to find the Jews who try to escape to another country, as seen in:
Uncle Henrik nodded. “The dogs are trained to sniff about and find where people are hidden. It happened just yesterday on two boats. Those damn dogs, they go right through dead fish to the human scent.” (Number the Stars, 1989: 125).
The form of a determiner premodifying the noun head is frequently used in
Number the Stars because this form is the simplest and most common form in a noun premodification. This also enables the readers to understand the text easily.
b. Adjective + Noun
An adjective is a word typically used to modify a noun, and describes
some characteristics of the thing referred to by the noun, such as its shape, color,
age, value, size, origin or the impression it gives. Most adjectives can go before or
precede the noun head. Adjectives which can go in this position are called
According to Flor and Jan Aarts, there are seven types of adjectives,
namely: adjectives denoting nationality such as English, Dutch, etc, adjectives denoting substance such as silk, etc, adjectives denoting color such as red, green, etc, adjectives denoting age such as old, young, etc, adjectives denoting shape such as round, rectangular, etc, adjectives denoting size such as large, huge, etc, and adjectives denoting characteristics other than those mentioned before such as
expensive, gay, fine, etc (Aarts and Aarts, 1982; 108-109).
There are 47 numbers of this form found in Number the Stars, and the examples to be analyzed are number 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39
and 42. Here are the examples: Danish people, German soldiers, Jewish people, green shoes, heavy footsteps, different ways, dark clothing, wonderful flowers, happier times, heavy coats, clean sheets, courageous people, wet whiskers, and early bedtime.
In noun phrases Danish people, German soldiers, and Jewish people, the noun heads are premodified by adjectives referring to the people of a nationality
or a cultural community. In Number the Stars, the setting of the story takes place in Denmark. Thus, the adjective Danish refers to the people of Denmark who are being conquered by the Germans. The adjective German refers to the outsiders who are taking controls in Denmark. And last, the adjective Jewish shows people in Denmark who believe in a traditional religion. These people are in a run
because the Germans try to relocate them.
shoes in the first noun phrase is restricted. On the other hand, Lowry also uses this phrase to strengthen the restricted economic condition in Denmark during the
German occupation. The noun head shoes meant here are made of fish skin and green in color. Leather is a rare thing to find to make shoes. However, people of
Denmark have found a way to make shoes out of fish skin. As Annemarie’s
mother states in the quotation below:
“You know there’s no leather anymore,” Mama explained. “But they’ve found a way to make shoes out of fish skin, I don’t think these are too ugly” (Number the Stars, 1989: 28).
And in the second noun phrase dark clothing, the head clothing is restricted by the adjective dark, a color that is close to black. The presence of the adjective dark indicates that ‘the clothing that is dark’.
There are some adjectives denoting characteristic other than nationality
Adjectives can take comparative and superlative forms, as in happier times. Annemarie compares the times when her sister was still alive and the times after she passed away.
They had talked about Lise, remembering happier times (Number the Stars, 1989: 80).
A noun phrase is restricted when the head is premodified by an adjective.
The adjective used to premodify the head will give specific information to the
head. Thus, it will be easier for the readers to understand the meaning.
c. Noun + Noun
A noun can also function as a premodifier in a noun modification. A noun
premodifier also gives specific information about the noun head. In many cases,
noun premodifiers appear to be reduced-explicitness relation with prepositional
postmodifiers (Quirk and Greenbum, 1990: 387).
There are 18 numbers of this form found in Number the Stars. Thus the examples to be analyzed are number 1 to 14, as in fairy tales, rubber tires, paper dolls, school dramatics, Friday evenings, May evening, Kronborg Castle, ghost stories, heart buttons, Tivoli Gardens, bird songs, bread crumbs, summer afternoons and city people.
means ‘crumbs of bread’; summer afternoons means ‘afternoons in summer’; and city people means ‘people in the city’.
In some cases, however, noun premodifiers do not have prepositional
phrase analogues, but a clause instead, as in heart buttons means ‘buttons that have heart shape’, Kronborg Castle means ‘Castle called Kronborg’, Tivoli Gardens means ‘Gardens called Tivoli’, rubber tires means ‘tires made of rubber’, and paper dolls means‘dolls made of paper’.
A noun head is restricted when it is premodified by another noun. By
giving further information to the noun head, the readers will be able to understand
the whole context of the noun phrases.
d. Participle + Noun
A participle is a form of adverb used like an adjective (Hurford, 1994:
195). English participle is added to the base verb. Two types of participle are the
present participle or -ing participle, and the past participle or -ed participle. English present participles are all formed by adding the suffix -ing to the base form of the verb. In particular, present participles, especially of intransitive verbs,
can often be used as adjectives, modifying a following noun (Hurford, 1994: 195).
English past participles are formed in various ways. The most regular way is to
add a suffix -ed or -d to the verb, another method is to add the suffix –en to some verbs (Hurford, 1994: 158). English past participle also takes use on a use like that
Past participles usually have a passive meaning, as in lost property means ‘property that has been lost’. In some cases, however, the -ed participle is not interpreted as passive, as in the escaped prisoner means ‘the prisoner who has escaped’ (Quirk, Greenbum, et al, 1985: 413).
There are 15 of this forms found in the novel. Thus the examples to be
analyzed are number 1 to 14, as in civilized people, stooped shoulders, imagined mice, scattering dust, flying insects, dried flowers, spilled milk, lighted candles, folded blankets, shimmering herring, trained dogs, threatening stuffs, wooden wheels, and golden thrones.
In civilized people, stooped shoulders, imagined mice, dried flowers, spilled milk, lighted candles, folded blankets, and trained dogs, the noun heads are premodified by -ed participles. As it has been mentioned before, past participles usually have a passive meaning. Thus, civilized people means ‘people that have been civilized’, stooped shoulders means ‘shoulders that have been stooped’, imagined mice means ‘mice that have been imagined’, spilled milk means ‘milk that has been spilled’, lighted candles means ‘candles that have been lighted’, folded blankets means ‘blankets that have been folded’, and trained dogs means ‘dogs that have been trained’. In some cases, however, the -ed participle is not interpreted as passive, as in dried flowers means ‘flowers that have dried’.
means ‘herring that is shimmering’, and threatening stuffs means ‘stuffs that are threatening’.
The noun head may also take the -en participle as its premodifier, as in wooden wheels and golden thrones. The adjectives wooden and golden have contrast references, both on the meaning and value. Wooden means ‘made of wood’, which is less valuable than gold. Thus, wooden wheels means ‘wheels that are made of wood’. And the noun phrase wooden wheels itself shows the economic condition in Denmark during the World War II. From the quotation
below, it can be seen that Denmark is in a restricted economic condition due to the
German occupation, as stated in:
His bicycle had wooden wheels, now that rubber tires weren’t available, and it creaked and clattered on the street (Number the Stars, 1989: 20).
Meanwhile, golden means ‘made of gold’, which is a valuable metal. Thus, golden thrones means ‘thrones that are made of gold’. This noun phrase will directly give the readers an image of a royal family who obviously has a higher status than an
ordinary people. In the quotation below, a king in a fairy tale is described to have
full power and luxurious life.
He was not like fairy tale kings, who seemed to stand on balconies giving orders to subjects, or who sat on golden thrones demanding to be entertained and looking for suitable husband for their daughters (Number the Stars, 1989: 12).
A participle premodifier restricts the head of a noun phrase. It gives
specific information about the noun head, so that the readers are able to
