27 people, and the neutral meaning may refer to singular of generic meaning for
people. Si in example42 referred to one people, yet si in example 43 refers to all poor people in the world. In other words, si in example 42 has singular
meaning, yet in example 43 has generic meaning.
c. Pronomina Penunjuk
Besides articles, Indonesian language also has pronomina penunjuk which has almost the same function as articles in English grammar. Pronomina penunjuk
basically refers to something which both the speaker and the listener know, yet pronominal penunjuk depends on the distance between the speaker and the thing
refered, not the countability. Pronomina penunjuk in Indonesian language are ini, itu, and anu. In English grammar, pronomina penunjuk is called demonstratives
pronoun. Moeliono and Dardjowidjojo 1988 explained each word of pronomina penunjuk.
Table 2.11: Pronomina Penunjuk
No Pronomina
Penunjuk Functions
Examples 1.
Ini
To point something which is close to the spaker of writer
44 Pohon ini ditanam olehku. 2.
Itu
To point something which is far from the speaker
45 Pohon itu ditanam olehku. 3.
Anu
To refer to something that the speaker forgets or do not
want to mention it 46 Anu menyebabkan
penyakit kulit.
There are three kinds of pronomina penunjuk: ini, itu, anu. Ini is to point something which is close to the speaker. On the other hand, itu is to point
something which is far from the speaker. In the example 44, the tree is close
28 from the speaker, yet in example 45, the tree is far from the speaker. Meanwhile,
example 46 shows that the speaker forgets what is used to cure skin disease.
B. Theoretical Framework
Articles, the main subject of this study, are classified as determiners of nouns. In order to find out students’ mastery of articles, first the researcher needs to classify
different types and the rules of using articles. Basically, there are three articles in English grammar: a, an, and, the, yet this research utilizes one more article,Ø. Ø
symbolizes zero article or the condition when a noun does not need any article. The symbol is suggested by Azhar 1997 to help the students visualize the
condition of no article, especially for the beginners. Articles are used together with several categories of nouns divided based on a its countability, including:
singular count nouns, plural count nouns, and noncount nouns, and b its reference, including: definite nouns, indefinite nouns, and generic nouns.
Understanding the types and the use of articles is necessary, especially when formulating the test criteria for measuring students’ mastery of articles.
Although they are not exactly the same, Indonesian people may translate as several Indonesian words. A andan are usually translated as seekor, sebuah, or
other se- words which indicating singularity of noun. Meanwhile, they may translate the as tersebut or use it for noun clause with yang. However, one of the
weaknesses of this research is not to use the word tersebut in translation section.
