are classified into ten types. There are 1 Noun, 2 Verb, 3 Adjective, 4 Adverb, 5 Pronoun, 6 Preposition, 7 Article, 8 Numeral, 9 Conjunction,
and 10 Interjection. Besides, the adherents of Modern Grammar are classified the English words into four classes, as follows:
Class I: Noun Class II: Verb
Class III: Adjective Class IV: Function Words
15
Both of the classifications above are the same in particular because function words in Modern Grammar include type of words number 4 to 10 in
Traditional Grammar. This can be understand because adverb has the function to indicate other words verb or adjective; pronoun has to replace noun; article
serves to describe noun; numeral has the function to indicate the number of objects; conjunction has a function to connect two words, two phrases, two or
more sentences; and interjection serves as a means of speaking to exclaim.
2. Phrase
The word phrases have some equivalent name, i.e. cluster and group. From these words, there are popular three terms: noun cluster, verbal phrase, and
preposition group. 1.
Noun Clusters Noun clusters usually begin with a, an, or the followed by a noun
and its cluster of modifying words. They appear, usually, just before or just after a
15
Ibid. p.10-11.
noun, which they are renaming. They are closely related to relative clauses, but they do not have relative pronouns like who or which at the beginning, and
they do not have verbs. Here are a few more examples:
Table 2.1 Noun Phrase
Modifier Noun Headword Noun
1. A
2. A good
3. The
4. Five good
5. Some
6. Flower
7. Chicken
Student lawyer
teacher architect
engineers garden
farm
2. Preposition Group
Preposition group is a group consisting of noun noun cluster which is followed by preposition and often describing noun cluster. There are two kinds
form of preposition, namely simple preposition and compound preposition. While the relative clause is always preceded by the conjunction who, which, or that. The
following examples will describe the preposition group.
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Table 2.2 Preposition Group
Modifiers Headword
Prep. + Noun Cluster The
The sweeping The architectural
members changes
illustrations of the European group
in transportation on bas-reliefs
16
Ibid, p.10-22.
From the examples above, the writer concludes that when people translate noun cluster, they must start from headword then translating it modifier.
3. Sentences
According to Howard Jackson, Sentences may be viewed essentially as the combination of nouns and verbs. More precisely, a sentence may be viewed as the
combination of a verb with one or more nouns. We mentioned earlier that nouns refer to the things of our experience persons, objects, ideas, feelings, etc, and
the verbs refer to events; including actions, process and states. Sentences, then, are concerned with the myriad ways in which the things of experience are
involved in the events of experience, or rather with the myriad ways in which we are able to talk about them.
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Consider the following sentences of English: 1. Monkey eats banana.
2. The committee has awarded the novelist first prize. 3. The heckler argued with the speaker about his idea.
4. The children played in the garden after tea. The first of these sentences contains just one verb and two nouns: the verb
refers to an „action’, and the nouns to the „things’ involved in the action. In the second sentence, the structure still essentially comprises a verb and nouns award,
committee, novelist, and prize: the additional words are dependent on or modify these main items. Similarly, in the third sentence, where the verb and nouns are
a rgue, heckler, speaker, ideas; except that here, beside „modifying’ words like the
17
Howard Jackson 1985, op.cit. 54
and his, there are also „relational’ words prepositions like with and about. The fourth sentence in which the verb and nouns are play, children, garden, tea also
has prepositions in, after in addition to modifiers, but here the prepositions have a spatial and temporal reference respectively, and are substitutable. The function
of the prepositions in No 4 is thus different from that of the preposition in No 3; you can only argue with somebody about something; but you can play in, on,
outside, etc somewhere, after, before, at, etc, some point in time. Nevertheless, the basic point remains; sentences are essentially structures comprising a verb and a
number of nouns.
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From the statement above, the writer concludes that sentences have many characteristics and can be modified by two or more nouns, adding adverbs and
prepositions to make sentences beautifully. In this case, the verb and noun play a very important role in forming a sentence. Without a verb and a noun, a sentence
cannot be called a sentence. For example, Before eating and The members of the European group. These examples cannot meet the prerequisites of a sentence
because at the first example, there is no proper noun; there are only adverbs before and a verb eating. While in the second example, although there are two
nouns The members and the European group cannot be called a sentence because it has no verb.
A. Sentence Patterns
