3. The Language Features of Narrative text
According to Mark and Kathy Anderson, narrative usually includes the following grammatical features, such as:
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a. Nouns that identify the specific characters and places in the story. b. Adjectives that provides accurate description of the characters and setting.
c. Verbs that show the actions that occur in the story. d. Time words that connect events, telling when they occurred.
Meanwhile, according to Knapp and Watkins, there are six types of grammatical features of narrating:
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a. When sequencing people and events in time and space, narrating typically use action verbs and temporal connectives.
- Action verb, it is a verb that describes an action that persons, animals, or things can do. For example:
One day, the boy went to the forest. He saw a lion trapped in the rope. He went
slowly over the lion. When he got closer to the lion, the lion asked
him to help him from the trap. - Temporal connective, it tells us about the time in sequences or tells which
events occur firstly and which events come next. For example:
Then , the boy tried to cut the rope by hand. After the rope had been cut,
the lion thanked to the boy. Finally, they became friends.
b. Recounts and stories are typically written in the past tense unless quoting direct speech. For example:
An owl was puzzled by this and went to ask the nightingale what the reason
was. “When I was captured,” explained the nightingale, “it was day and I was singing. In this way I learnt to be more carefully and to sing only at
night.” c. In action sequences, mainly action verbs are used. For example:
Bells were ringing, sirens screeching and people were running everywhere. d. Narratives often use action verbs metaphorically to create effective images.
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Ibid., p. 3.
35
Peter Knapp and Megan Watkins, op. cit., pp. 221 —222.
It was a terrible argument. Words were flying everywhere.
e. Narratives often use rhythm and repetition to create particular effects. Running. Running. The boy went running passing through the forest, leaving
his house faraway behind. f.
Play with sentence structure is another common feature of narratives. Often sentences comprising one word or a short phrase are used to create poignant
effects; for example, Anger, Silence. As the vengeful brother prowls the streets.
Rose slowly opened the old wooden door. Dark. There was nothing but black. The language features play significant role to assist in getting the meaning
of a story. For instance, through past tense appeared, it tells the readers exactly as a major feature of a story used. Next, the use of conjunction is relatively necessary
to describe the characters and setting. Hence, all of the language features are conveyed to construct the story more alive.
B. Question Generation Strategy
1. The Understanding of Question Generation Strategy
As stated above, one of important thing in good reading is know what the purposes of reading. As Sutarsyah said that reading purposes is one important
factor that affecting reading comprehension.
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Before reading, the readers should have a purpose with their reading; what for and what they want to find. These
purposes should come from their own intention and not from others. Readers behave like this when their purposes of reading comes from other
people in this case is teachers. In reading, they only pronounce the words, finish the assignment, and rarely come away with a thorough understanding. It is a waste
of time; they have not constructed meaning and cannot use the information.
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Good readers have a purpose in reading and use their experiences and background knowledge to understand the text. A reader cannot be said
comprehending a text unless he or she makes connections and is able to activate
36
Cucu Sutarsyah, op. cit., p. 37.
37
Chris Tovani, op. cit., p. 24.
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