Background of the Study

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Language is the most important thing in making interactions with other people in all parts of the world. People can communicate with others either spoken or written language by making statements, explaining report, and expressing ideas. Without language, people will have never been able to have a relation with others. Winston and Rinehart 1993:21say that language is the same no matter what system of writing may be used to record it, just as a person is the same no matter how you take his picture; the most of the languages that are spoken today has been applied either in relatively recent times or not to all. Yet another definition sees language as a system of communication that enables humans to exchange verbal or symbolic utterances. This definition stresses the social functions of language and the fact that humans use it to express themselves and to manipulate objects in their environment. Functional theories of grammar explain grammatical structures by their communicative functions, and understand the grammatical structures of language to be the result of an adaptive process by which grammar was tailored to serve the communicative needs of its users. A clause is included in English grammar. Generally, a clause is a group of words containing a subject and a verb. It may be either a sentence, an independent clause or a sentence-like construction within another sentence, a dependent clause. If a clause can stand alone as a sentence it is an independent 2 clause. Some clauses, however, cannot stand alone as sentences: in this case, they are dependent clauses or subordinate clauses. Clauses can take the place of different parts of speech. Similarly, an adjective clause can take the place of an adjective. Adjective clauses have a subject and a verb or predicate. They will start with a relative pronoun, like: that, who, whom, whose, or which, or a relative adverb, like why, where, or when. Adjective clauses function as an adjective and modify nouns and pronouns. They are also called relative clauses. Just as the other dependent clauses, the adjective clause does not express a complete thought. It does not need commas separating it from the rest of the sentence if it has essential information in it; that is if you need the information it provides. If it gives additional information, then you use commas. A good way to test for this is to leave out the clause, read the sentence, and see if the meaning of the two sentences is different. Many people are fairly comfortable with the idea of adjectives, but they might not feel so confident when it comes to the idea of an adjective clause. Adjective clauses come in a variety of forms; therefore, breaking down the study into its basic components is essential to the proper learning of the form. Using adjective clauses in everyday speech is a fairly common practice, as adjective clauses add often crucial information to sentences. However, learning to differentiate between the various types can be difficult. If a person is in a positionwhere he or she has to decide which form the adjective clause is taking, the person should consider the options carefully, and consult a grammar guide. 3 The writer chooses the novel named Another Piece of My Heart because it contains a lot of adjective clauses. The writer wants to know what the dominant of adjective clause found in the novel is.

1.2 Problem of the Study