The Importance of English Syntax

Syntax is the grammatical tool that deals with how sentences are put together and the relationship between words.  It is a very methodical and logical sequence, ensuring that sentences are put together using subject, verb and object in which the words in the sentence all have agreement, so that the correct forms of words are used.

Without syntax to structure the language, it would simply be a string of words that makes no sense.

Take a look at the correct syntax below. 

“The girl likes to read novels”.  

This follows the syntax of subject, verb, object and agreement.  

Without syntax, we could simply write, 

“Novels like to eat the girl”.  

These are the same words, but they have a totally different meaning.  In fact, we have a clue that something in that sentence is not right. The correct writing of that concept would be ‘Novels like to read the girl."  

“Novels like” is not a correct syntax, so it highlights that something is wrong.  Moreover, there can be no agreement in this sentence, because sweets are actually an inanimate object, they cannot ‘perform’ a verb.

Even if you don’t think that you understand syntax and its rules, simply reading 

“Sweets loves to eat the boy” should trigger some alarm bells that all is not well and that there is something wrong. So people can understand syntax even if they don’t think they do.

What about you?

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"How Are You?" English Game

This is a listening English game you can play as to understand the usage of the appropriate word dealing with expression.

How are you

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Personal Adjectives: Adjectives Used to Describe People

Personal adjectives are the adjectives we use to describe a person and their character or personality. Everybody is an individual whose different personalities. One of us may be kind and like to help other people, while another one may be lazy and prefer to sleep rather than work.

Personal adjectives answer the question: "What is she like?"

Look at these example sentences using the personality adjective "well-behaved":

Andriani is well-behaved. Andriani seems well-behaved.

Andriani has a well-behaved character.

She is a well-behaved person. I like well-behaved women.

I wish you were as well-behaved as John. If you were more well-behaved I might marry you.

List of Personal Adjectives

Read through the following list to find the right personal adjective or adjective phrase to describe the person you are thinking of:

Positive Personal Adjectives

A-E Personal Adjectives	A-P Personal Adjectives	P-Z Personal Adjectives
adaptable adorable agreeable alert alluring ambitious amused boundless brave bright calm capable charming cheerful coherent comfortable confident cooperative courageous credible cultured dashing dazzling debonair decisive decorous delightful detailed determined diligent discreet dynamic eager efficient elated eminent enchanting encouraging endurable energetic entertaining enthusiastic excellent excited exclusive	exuberant fabulous fair faithful fantastic fearless fine frank friendly funny generous gentle glorious good happy harmonious helpful hilarious honorable impartial industrious instinctive jolly joyous kind kind-hearted knowledgeable level likeable lively lovely loving lucky mature modern nice obedient painstaking peaceful perfect placid plausible pleasant pleasant plucky	productive protective proud punctual quiet receptive reflective relieved resolute responsible rhetorical righteous romantic sedate seemly selective self-assured sensitive shrewd silly sincere skilful smiling splendid steadfast stimulating successful succinct talented thoughtful thrifty tough trustworthy unbiased unusual upbeat vigorous vivacious warm willing wise witty wonderful zany zealous

Negative Personal Adjectives

A-F Personal Adjectives	F-R Personal Adjectives	R-Z Personal Adjecitves
abrasive abrupt abusive afraid aloof ambiguous angry annoyed anxious arrogant ashamed awful bad belligerent bewildered boorish bored boring callous careless clumsy combative confused cowardly crazy creepy cruel cynical dangerous deceitful defeated defective defiant demonic depressed deranged disagreeable disillusioned disturbed domineering draconian embarrassed envious erratic evasive evil faded fanatical	fierce filthy finicky flashy flippant foolish forgetful frantic fretful frightened furtive greedy grieving grouchy gruesome grumpy guarded gullible helpless hesitant homeless horrible hungry hurt ignorant ill irresolute jealous jittery lacking lazy lonely malicious materialistic mean mysterious naive nasty naughty nervous noisy obnoxious outrageous panicky pathetic possessive quarrelsome repulsive	ruthless sad scary secretive selfish silly slow sneaky snobbish sore spendthrift squeamish stingy strange sulky tacky tense terrible testy thick-skinned thoughtless threatening tight timid tired tiresome troubled truculent typical undesirable unsuitable unsure upset uptight vague vengeful venomous volatile voracious vulgar wary wasteful weak weary wicked worried worthless wretched

Exercise

Choose the right one from the brackets!

1. Don't worry about her. She will be on time. She is very (nice, rude, punctual). 
2. Catherine is  (nice, double-faced, dependable) and cannot be trusted. She has two faces designed for use. 
3. The girl is (mean, double-faced dependable). She always keeps her promises and I can rely on her. 
4. Santy is very (mean, dependable, punctual). She never pays for her share of things. 
5. John isn't polite and he often offends people. I don't like him because he is (nice, punctual, rude). 
6. This number is associated with bad luck in my country.The people who live there are (cruel, rude, superstitious). 
7. My girlfriend is only concerned with fulfilling her own needs. She is (double-faced, selfish, superstitious). 
8. My friend is a really (nice, cruel, selfish)  person. He is so friendly and kind. 
9. He killed this dog in cold blood. I don't like such  (cruel, dependable, active) people. 
10. My son is  (cruel, active, nice) because he likes doing sports. 

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Smple Present Tenses and Their Usage

The present tenses in English are used:

• to talk about the present
• to talk about the future
• to talk about the past when we are telling a story in spoken English or when we are summarizing a book, film, play etc.

There are four present tense forms in English:

Present simple                     : I Study

Present continuous              : I am studying

Present perfect                     : I have studied

Present perfect continuous  : I have been studying

We use these forms:

To talk about something happens at the present:

He attends to Semarang State University. He has attended there for two years now.

He is attending at Semarang State University. He has been attending there for three months now.

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia.

All of those things are now happening, aren't they?

To talk about the future:

The next train leaves this evening at 7.30 a.m.

She’ll call you when she gets home.

Linda is visiting her parents in Semarang this afternoon.

I’ll accompany you as soon as I have finished my home assignment.

You will be relaxed out after you have been taking a rest all night.

We can use the present tenses to talk about the past...

Exercise:

What times are these present tense verbs referring to: past, present, or future?

1. I have to go. The flight to Singapore leaves at 2.30 p.m

a. past

b. present

c. future

2. Are we going out this evening?

a. past

b. present

c. future

3. So, I say to him, "What's your game, dear?"

a. past

b. present

c. future

4. He's having a problem with the motorcycle again.

a. past

b. present

c. future

5. Lintang plays ex-boxer standing up to the corrupt boss.

a. past

b. present

c. future

6. I am having a party at the weekend. Would you join?

a. past

b. present

c. future

7. I'd like to see her face when she gets the office.

a. past

b. present

c. future

8. Andrean handles the character with his customary skills

a. present

b. past

c. future

9. When I have finished the job, we can play around

a. past

b. present

c. future

10. You look so sad. Anything makes you upset?. 

a. past

b. present

c. future

What are your answers?

. 

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The 61st TEFLIN International Conference 2014

Indonesia, the 4th most populated country in the world as well as a developing country, needs more high level competence people on their professions. In improving both skills and competence of those people, they have to master English well as the international means of communications. Besides, English is the main source of language for any aspects of life, including scientific aspects. 

English in Indonesia has not been the second language yet. English is still a foreign language. Most Indonesian people have less understanding and mastery of English. Therefore, more English teachers are prepared well as to deliver their knowledge of English and teach the students. 

In order to be efficiently and effectively teach the students, Indonesian English teachers need more training and supports as to provide the best teaching and learning process toward their students. Therefore, TEFLIN (The Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia) was founded 61 years ago. This association consists of the English teachers throughout Indonesia. They have annual agenda, i.e. TEFLIN Internartional Conference as to improve and knowledge of their members. 

2014 is the 61st TEFLIN International Conference. It will be held on October 7-9, 2014 at Sebelas Maret University (UNS), Sol, Central Java Indonesia. This annual conference provides a scholarly forum bringing together policy makers and language consultants who have been involved in innovation and change in language policy and planning, English teachers and practitioners engaging in pedagogical innovation and change in the landscape of ELT, and researchers who have been investigating best ELT practices.

The main goal of the conference is to raise a critical issue on what implications English language curriculum development has for innovations in language policy and planning, pedagogical practice, and teacher professional development. 

The 61st TEFLIN International Conference theme is "English Language Curriculum Development: Implications for Innovations in Language Policy and Planning, Pedagogical Practices, and Teacher Professional Development".

For more info, you could visit the website www.teflin2014.org

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Narrative Text As A Means of Entertaining People

According to Wikipedia, a narrative (or play) is any account of connected events, presented to a reader or listener in a sequence of written or spoken words, or in a sequence of (moving) pictures. Dealing with text, it has more specific definition: a text to entertain the reader or listener.

The purpose of narrative text

Narrative text is aimed at entertaining, gaining, and holding a readers' interest. However narratives can also be written to teach or inform, to change attitudes/social opinions, for example soap operas and television dramas that are used to raise topical issues. A narrative sequences people/characters in time and place. It is different with recounts in that through the sequencing, the stories set up one or more problems, which must eventually find a way to be resolved.

Types of narratives

There are many types of narrative; they can be imaginary, factual or a combination of both. Some types of them are: fairy stories, mysteries, science fiction, romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, personal experience.

The features of the text 

Below are the features of this kind of text:

• Characters with defined personalities/identities.
• Dialogue often included - tense may change to the present or the future.
• Descriptive language to create images in the reader's mind and enhance the story.
• Generic Structure of Narrative Text

Generic structure in a text is a series of components building a text. The generic structure of narrative:

• Orientation: (Or it is the introduction) in which the characters, setting and time of the story established. This part of structure usually answers who? when? where? For example: The beast was looking for his friends next to the forest last night.
• Complication or problem: It is where the problem developed or arised. It usually involves the main character(s) (often mirroring the complications in real life).
• Resolution: There needs to be a resolution of the complication. It is here the problem is solved (over). The complication may be resolved for better or worse/happily or unhappily. Sometimes there are a number of complications that have to be resolved. 

In helping you as to write narrative text, you could use this pattern:

• Plot: It introduce what is going to happen?
• Setting: Where will the story take place? When will the story take place?
• Characterization: Who are the main characters? What do they look like?
• Structure: How will the story begin? What will be the problem? How is the problem going to be resolved?
• Theme: What is the theme / message the writer is attempting to communicate?

Language Features 

Language features are the diction, tenses, and some other aspects of language used. The language features of the narrative text are as follow:

• Action verbs: They provide interest to the writing. For example, instead of "The old woman was in her way", try this one "The old woman barred her path". Instead of "She laughed" try "She cackled."
• Written in the first person (I, we) or the third person (he, she, they).
• Usually past tense.
• Connectives, linking words to do with time.
• Specific nouns: Strong nouns have more specific meanings, for instance, oak as opposed to tree.
• Active nouns: Make nouns actually do something, such as this: "It was raining" could become "Rain splashed down" or "There was a large cabinet in the lounge" could become "A large cabinet seemed to fill the lounge."
• Careful use of adjectives and adverbs: Writing needs judicious use of adjectives and adverbs to bring it alive, qualify the action and provide description and information for the reader.
• Use of the senses: Where appropriate, the senses can be used to describe and develop the experiences, setting and character: What does it smell like?; What can be heard?; What can be seen - details?; What does it taste like?; What does it feel like?

Well, if you have understood the concept of a narrative text, could you find one as your own example? You could, of course.

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5 Ways of Mastering English Well

Many people, especially those who are from non-English speaking country usually have the same questions: "How can I master English well?" or "How to be an Good English speaker?" This is not such a cliche question actually, it is more than simply questioning how. 

Ways of Learning English - image by: irock.web.id

English as the most widely spoken language in the world and also has been becoming a second language for many individuals, is almost a must for all people all around the globe. In fact, mastering English is far from simple. Becoming proficient needs process, requires an investment of time, and needs more patience, using a few simple tips.

Here are the 5 simple ways of mastering English well.

Reading and writing

The best way to get on top of the English language is to read regularly. Whether that involves curling up with a good novel, grabbing the daily newspaper or reading magazines (preferably reputable ones such as Time or National Geographic) is totally up to you. As long as you’re regularly absorbing new words and language, your English is guaranteed to improve. In addition, you'd better trying doing some writing of your own; keep an online blog, submit articles to journals and websites or maybe have a crack at penning a novel. It is okay for no one reads your work, but what you have done allows you to have such a great experience with language as well as improve your vocabularies and syntax.

Taking part in conversation

Taking a part in a conversation, in some extent, is an ashamed activity for non native English speaker. But bear in mind, by doing this activity, it is almost a must particularly for those who speak English as a second language. You may have mastered the theoretical side of learning English, still the fact is all types of English have their own variations, rules and accents which only emerge when being spoken. By engaging in conversation with English speakers at every opportunity, you’ll begin to be aware of these rules, and you’ll also be able to put your own learning into daily practice.

Playing word games

Have you taken a look at a child playing words in your own language? Do they master the language already? No, they don't for sure. But why those who are close to the kid provide them this kind of game? Yes, they want the kid understand and enrich as well as open their minds and thought as to understand the meaning and the discourse of the words played.

Participating in a word game is one of the most fun ways of mastering the English language. The best kind of this is the crossword; try completing the ones supplied in the daily newspaper, or grab a crossword book if you want to try more. Crosswords help you to improve language comprehension, critical thinking skills and overall vocabulary. Another example good word game to participate in is Scrabble. There are some websites where people can play against others all around the world, and the social networking website Facebook also has its own Scrabble application which is super popular. Additionally, if you are an iPhone user, try adding the “Words with Friends” App. This application is similar to Scrabble that allows you to improve your English while socializing with your friends.

Going to English courses

Learning English is a surefire way to improve your English skills. Whether it’s participating in a general course aimed at improving your overall English, or more targeted courses such as those aimed at preparing your for academic purposes or passing a citizenship test, attending an English school allows you to learn the language in a safe and friendly environment alongside other individuals who are also looking to improve their language and literacy.

Using references

Don’t be afraid to carry a small dictionary or thesaurus around with you at all times. A dictionary allows you to look up the meaning of any word you’re unsure about, while a thesaurus will help you find strong alternatives to words if you feel your language is getting a little repetitive. Additionally, there are many dictionaries and thesauruses online, so if you have access to the internet — perhaps via your smartphone — go ahead and look up that word you’re a little unsure about.

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