A STUDY ON THE COMMON AND COMPOUND NOUNS USED BY THE INDONESIAN AND NON-INDONESIAN WRITERS IN THE OPINION COLUMN OF THE JAKARTA POST A THESIS

  

A STUDY ON THE COMMON AND COMPOUND NOUNS

USED BY THE INDONESIAN AND NON-INDONESIAN WRITERS

  

IN THE OPINION COLUMN OF THE JAKARTA POST

A THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By

E. Putri Swastikasari

  Student Number: 041214123

  

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  

A STUDY ON THE COMMON AND COMPOUND NOUNS

USED BY THE INDONESIAN AND NON-INDONESIAN WRITERS

  

IN THE OPINION COLUMN OF THE JAKARTA POST

A THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By

  E. Putri Swastikasari Student Number: 041214123

  

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

  I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

  Yogyakarta, 18 June 2009 The Writer

  E. Putri Swastikasari 041214123

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

  Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : E. Putri Swastikasari Nomor Mahasiswa : 041214123

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  A STUDY ON THE COMMON AND COMPOUND NOUNS USED BY THE INDONESIAN AND NON-INDONESIAN WRITERS

  IN THE OPINION COLUMN OF THE JAKARTA POST beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta, Pada tanggal: 22 Juli 2009 Yang menyatakan (E. Putri Swastikasari)

  

ABSTRACT

Swastikasari, E. Putri . 2009. A Study on the Common and Compound Nouns

Used by the Indonesian and Non-Indonesian Writers in the Opinion Column of

The Jakarta Post. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program,

  Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education. Sanata Dharma University.

  The precise use of nouns in writing an opinion in a public newspaper might result in a better understanding for the readers. The use of noun in the opinion would help the readers to understand the topic of the opinion. Therefore, the writer of an opinion article should be able to choose and use the appropriate nouns based on the topic in order to make the opinion more understandable.

  This research was intended to provide information about the frequency, types, forms, and markers of common and compound nouns used by an Indonesian writer and a non-Indonesian writer in the Opinion column of The Jakarta Post from September - October 2007.

  This research was a document analysis which used qualitative approach to analyze the data. The reason for using qualitative approach was that the data were analyzed in the form of descriptive information. Otherwise, descriptive statistical data were only used for the data presentation.

  The sources of data were the two opinion articles about Global Warming written in The Jakarta Post’s opinion column. The data were the selected nouns taken from those two opinion articles. The nouns were selected based on Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms (2003). The frequency of the selected nouns within every opinion article was compared with Collins-Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2001). Then, the types, forms, and markers of these nouns were analyzed based on the theories from two grammar books. The result of the analysis was the description on frequency, types, forms, and markers of common and compound nouns used by both Indonesian and non- Indonesian writers as the precise use of nouns in their opinion articles.

  Overall, this research provided a conclusion that both Indonesian and non- Indonesian writers used more compound nouns in their opinion articles about Global Warming. It meant that compound nouns could be considered as more frequently used for articles with scientific topics. The Indonesian opinion article used more varieties of nouns choice but did not use sentences with complete noun markers sufficiently. On the other hand, the non-Indonesian opinion article did not use more varieties of nouns choice but used more sentences with complete noun markers.

  

ABSTRAK

Swastikasari, E. Putri . 2009. A Preliminary Study on the Common and

Compound Nouns Used by the Indonesian and Non-Indonesian Writers in the

Opinion Column of The Jakarta Post. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan

  Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan. Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Penggunaan kata benda yang tepat dalam penulisan sebuah opini di suatu surat kabar umum dapat menghasilkan suatu pemahaman yang lebih baik bagi pembaca. Penggunaan kata benda yang tepat dalam opini akan membantu pembaca untuk memahami topik opini tersebut. Oleh karena itu, penulis artikel opini sebaiknya mampu memilih dan menggunakan kata benda yang sesuai berdasarkan topik sehingga opini tersebut dapat lebih dipahami.

  Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk memberikan informasi tentang frekuensi, tipe, bentuk, dan penanda dari kata benda umum dan gabungan yang digunakan oleh seorang penulis Indonesia dan seorang penulis non-Indonesia di kolom Opini dalam The Jakarta Post dari bulan September-Oktober 2007.

  Penelitian ini merupakan sebuah analisis dokumen yang menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif untuk menganalisa data. Alasan untuk menggunakan pedekatan kualitatif ini adalah bahwa data dianalisa dalam bentuk informasi deskripsi. Selain itu, data statistik deskriptif hanya digunakan untuk presentasi data.

  Sumber data adalah dua artikel opini tentang Pemanasan Global di The

  

Jakarta Post . Data adalah kata benda yang telah diseleksi dari dua artikel opini

  tersebut. Kata benda diseleksi berdasarkan Dictionary of Scientific and Technical

  

Terms . Frekuensi dari kata benda yang telah diseleksi yang didapat dari dalam

  artikel opini tersebut dibandingkan dengan Collins-Cobuild English Dictionary Kemudian tipe, bentuk, dan penanda dari semua kata for Advanced Learners. benda tersebut dianalisa berdasarkan teori-teori dari dua buku tentang tata bahasa. Hasil dari analisa tersebut adalah berupa deskripsi tentang frekuensi, tipe, bentuk, dan penanda dari kata benda umum dan gabungan yang digunakan oleh kedua penulis Indonesia dan penulis non-Indonesia sebagai kata benda yang tepat dalam artikel opini mereka.

  Secara keseluruhan, penelitian ini memberi kesimpulan bahwa kedua penulis Indonesia dan penulis non-Indonesia menggunakan kata benda gabungan lebih banyak dalam artikel opini mereka tentang Pemanasan Global. Hal ini berarti kata benda gabungan dapat dianggap lebih banyak digunakan untuk artikel dengan topik ilmiah. Artikel opini Indonesia menggunakan lebih banyak variasi dalam pilihan kata benda tetapi tidak mempunyai cukup banyak kalimat-kalimat yang dilengkapi dengan penanda kata benda. Di sisi lain, artikel opini non- Indonesia tidak memiliki banyak variasi pilihan kata benda tetapi menggunakan lebih banyak kalimat-kalimat yang dilengkapi dengan penanda kata benda.

  Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

  (Walt Disney) I dedicate this thesis to: < My beloved parents, Bapak A. Mulyono and Ibu Trining T. < My lovely grandma, Ibu Tugiyarti <

  My brothers and sister-in-law, Agung, Radhita, and Diana

< My dearest partner, Yessiko Yolanda Dwipunopanen, S.T.

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I would like to address my first and greatest gratitude to Jesus Christ for His blessings to be my biggest strength in the weariness during the completion of this thesis. Without Him I might not keep on fighting in finishing this thesis.

  I address my deepest gratefulness to Dr. Retno Muljani, M.Pd., as my major sponsor for her assistance in guiding me through many confusing process of this work. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for her patience to be the listener and advisor on my complaints and problems. I deeply thank her for the willingness to spare time in giving me precious criticism, advices, and many corrections on my work even during her busy days.

  I would like also to extend my deepest thankfulness to all of PBI’s lecturers for all shared knowledge and intellectual experiences and secretary staff for openhandedly giving me their time in preparing all administration data.

  I address my indisputable thanks to my father, A. Mulyono for giving a sincere love, patience, and support, and especially to my mother, V.C. Trining Tintri, S.Pd., M.Hum., who has been a tough, responsible, and inspirational woman that I ever have. I acknowledge profound gratitude for her hard works in paying my tuition fee and trust to make me achieve my degree on time. Genuine thank is also given to masAgung for his helps during the computation problems.

  My deep appreciation goes to masDhita, and his wife, mbak Diana, for keeping my spirit on with their warm and open-minded reception, encouraging me to have positive thinking and being my reason to keep moving forward.

  I am grateful to thank all friends in PBI for all great shared moments during my study. Special thanks are given to Mira, Dewi, and Hana for memorable friendship, MOSS group especially Festy and Kenyar, for giving such a combination of mutual friendship and partnership experiences. I also express my thankfulness to “Everyday is Sunday” crew, and respectable people in KBI for giving me such an experience about teamwork and working world.

  I specially thank Yessiko Yolanda Dwipunopanen, S.T., for being the apple of my eye and the biggest motivation to finish this work sooner. I am indebted to have such a partner who has given me not only support, understanding, and encouragement but also quarrels and hesitancy. I thank him for making me struggle and believe that something difficult is not impossible to conquer. Without him, I might not have the strength to pass my difficult times.

  I also thank my boarding house friends, mbak Nana “Cimot”, Intan “Chorz”, and Rintan “Jimhin”, to be my companions in my daily routine and shoulders to cry on. I shall always miss every chat and cheerful moment we have shared together.

  Finally, I would like also to show my sincere appreciation and thankfulness to everyone who has been involved in my effort to finish my work. At last, I realize that this research still has many weaknesses. So, I will openly receive any suggestions and criticisms to improve this thesis. Hopefully, this research can be useful for all the readers who are involved in the educational field.

  E. Putri Swastikasari

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Page TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………. i APPROVAL PAGES ……………………………………………………… ii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY …………………………….. iv ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………… vi

  

ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………………… vii

  DEDICATION PAGE ……………………………………………………… viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………….. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………... xi LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………. xiii LIST OF FIGURE …………………………….…………………………… xv LIST OF APPENDICES …………………………………………………… xvi

  CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A.

  1 Research Background ………………………………….

  B.

  5 Problem Formulation ………………………………….

  C.

  5 Problem Limitation …………………………………… D.

  6 Research Objectives …………………………………… E.

  7 Research Benefits ……………………………………..

  F.

  8 Definition of Terms ……………………………………

  CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A.

  11 Theoretical Description ………………………………..

  1. Nouns ……………….……………………………... 11 a.

  Types …………………………………………... 12 b.

  Forms ………………………………………….. 14 c. Markers ………………………………………… 15 2. Opinion Column in The Jakarta Post ……..……… 16 3.

  19 Global Warming Topic …………………………... Page 4. Related Sources ……………………………………

  20 a. English Grammar Books ……………………….

  20 b. Dictionaries ……………………………………. 21 B.

  Theoretical Framework ………………………………..

  23 CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A.

  Research Method ………………………………………

  26 B. Research Sources of Data ……………………………...

  27 C. Research Instruments ………………………………….

  27 D. Data Gathering Technique ……………………………..

  28 E. Data Analysis Technique ………………………………

  29 F. Research Procedure …………………………………….

  31 CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A.

  Data Presentation ………………………………………

  33 B. Data Analysis …………………………………………..

  53 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A.

  Conclusions …………………………………………… 66 B. Suggestions ……………………………………………. 68 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………..

  70 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………….. 73

  LIST OF TABLES

  4.5 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 3 Nouns used by the Indonesian Writer …………………………………………………….

  4.10 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 1 Nouns used by the non- Indonesian Writer ……………………………………………….…....

  Writer ……………………………………………………………….. 47

  4.9 The Frequency 2, 3, 4, and ≥ 5 Nouns used by the non-Indonesian

  46

  43 4.8 The Frequency 1 Nouns used by the non-Indonesian Writer ………..

  4.7 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency ≥5 Nouns used by the Indonesian Writer …………………………………………………...

  42

  4.6 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 4 Nouns used by the Indonesian Writer ……………………………………………..…….

  41

  40

  Table Page 2.1 Conceptual Framework ……………………………………………..

  4.4 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 2 Nouns used by the Indonesian Writer ………………………………………………….

  38

  4.3 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 1 Nouns used by the Indonesian Writer ……………………………………………………

  36

  4.2 The Frequency 2, 3, 4, and ≥ 5 Nouns used by the Indonesian Writer

  35

  29 4.1 The Frequency 1 Nouns used by the Indonesian Writer …………….

  29 3.2 Table of Noun Type, Form, and Marker ……………………………..

  3.1 Table of Noun Frequency ……………………………………………

  25

  48 Table Page

  4.11 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 2 Nouns used by the non- Indonesian Writer ………………………………..………………..

  50

  4.12 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 3 Nouns used by the non- Indonesian Writer ………………………………..………………….

  51

  4.13 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency 4 Nouns used by the non- Indonesian Writer …………………………………………………….

  52

  4.14 The Type, Form, and Marker of Frequency ≥5 Nouns used by the non- Indonesian Writer ………………………………………….………..

  52

  LIST OF FIGURE

  Figure Page

  3.1 The Five-Step Research Procedure ……………………………………

  32

LIST OF APPENDICES

  Page Appendix 1 Permission Letter …………………………………………...

  74 Appendix 2 Copy of the Two Opinion Articles as the Data Sources in the Research …………………………………………………….

  75 Appendix 3 Copy of Collins-Cobuild English Dictionary Pages ………..

  84 Appendix

  4 Copy of McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms Pages ……………………………………..

  86 Appendix 5 The Summary of Data Analysis ……………………………

  90

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter is divided into six parts. The parts are the research

  background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.

A. Research Background

  People use language to communicate and context is considered important in interpreting the language. People use language to convey meaning of their thought or opinion within a context. Therefore, it is important to study “how people use language within a context and why they use language in particular ways.” (McManis, et al., 1987: 197)

  One way to express our opinions is through writing. To be good in writing one needs to master the ability to choose diction as stated by Memering and O’Hare (1982: 320) that “Searching for the right word, the one that is most specific for your meaning, is one mark of a skilled writer.” It can be said that a writer can be good in conveying his opinion in a particular topic if he can also choose the right words to use. Thus, the choice of the right words within a particular topic will also indicate whether a writer of newspapers is good in composing within a particular context or not.

  In communication, there is a message being expressed and there are at least two parties involved. In oral communication, the speaker expresses his message to the listeners, while in written communication, the writer expresses his message to the readers. As the message sender, the speaker or the writer expresses his message with a particular meaning that has to be received by the listeners or the readers. In reality, sometimes, the listeners or the readers do not get the precise meaning of the message as the speaker or the writer meant to give. Generally, it can happen naturally in both oral and written communications.

  The difference of those both modes of communication is the capacity of the message sender to meet the message receiver directly or not. In oral communication, the listeners can meet the speaker right away so that any unclear messages can be known and clarified right after being uttered. So, if the speaker knows that his message is not understood well by the listeners, he can directly recreate clearer or more understandable sentences until his listeners get the exact meaning of his message. Otherwise, the listeners can also ask the speaker directly about some unclear sentences.

  In written communication, the readers will not have a chance to ask the writer of newspapers directly or face to face about unclear words or sentences. In the process of expressing his message, a writer of newspapers has a full authorization until it becomes a final composition. Then, the process of message receiving happens when anyone reads it. The process of writing and reading happens at different time and places. Thus, the writer of newspapers seldom knows whether his readers understand his message or not. In addition, the readers are also hard to have any chance to meet and ask the writer of newspapers about any unclear sentences unlike direct or oral communication.

  Any writer of newspapers who is aware of the limitation of his readers to meet him will be more careful in creating sentences so that readers can understand his message easily and correctly. A writer of newspapers realizes that his writing can be read by anyone with any intellectual background so the choice of words should be a priority for a writer of newspapers. Northern Star newspaper in its article entitled News Writing Tips states that one of the ten guidelines to clearer writing is to choose the precise use of word (www.star.niu.edu/nina/highschool/write). To choose the precise use of words for a composition, a writer of newspapers starts with a context, as stated by Northern Star that in the first five paragraphs, articles in newspapers should be started with context. Before writing anything, a writer of newspapers articles should know his point that leads the whole text. Context is one of common problems in leads that involves the reader, showed clear, immediate significance.” (www.star.niu.edu/nina/highschool/write.html)

  A context helps the writer of newspapers to create a topic for his composition. Then, this topic will guide the writer of newspapers to choose the suitable words in order to make a comprehensive composition. Later, this composition must also suit with the message that the writer of newspapers wants to express. The importance of having precise use of words in a composition can indicate whether that composition is comprehensive or not. Moreover, the right words can also help the reader understand the message of the writer of newspapers in the correct meaning as intended by him.

  Before discussing the important points of the precise use of words in a composition, it is useful to consider the study on nouns. The study focuses on the significance of a noun as one of the parts of speech in relation with their role in a sentence. Thus, this study discusses especially on the importance of the precise use of nouns in a composition within a certain topic. Furthermore, the researcher also considered particular types of nouns, composition, and topic.

  There are varieties of classification and categories of words into parts of speech. In particular, this study will begin with nouns as one of the parts of speech in English sentences. Even in both English simple and complex sentences, noun is considered to be one of the important parts of speech. Frank (1972: 6) states that “The noun is one of the most important parts of speech. In addition, it may function as the chief or “head” word in many structures of modification.” It is already stated that noun is important because its presence can create major role in sentence structures. Memering and O’Hare (1982: 320) also state that “Nouns can powerfully influence your writing.”, so nouns can also function as an essential indicator for a good writing.

  Thus, it is necessary to carry out a study on the use of noun in a writing. However, the nouns to analyze need to be classified in order to limit the focus of the study. According to nouns classification by Curme (1947: 11-12), there are two main categories of nouns, common and compound nouns. In addition, these types are likely to be widely used and have a large amount of examples or diction lists that can be found in the studied texts.

  In short, this study aims to help English learners to give detailed interpretation on how an Indonesian writer and a non-Indonesian writer having precise use of nouns in their opinion articles within a similar particular context.

B. Problem Formulation

  This study is intended to answer the following problems: 1. What is the frequency of the common and compound nouns used by the

  Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of The

  Jakarta Post from September - October 2007? 2.

  What are the common and compound nouns types used by the Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of The Jakarta Post from September - October 2007? 3. What are the forms of common and compound nouns used by the Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of The Jakarta Post from September - October 2007? 4. What are the markers of common and compound nouns used by the

  Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of The

  Jakarta Post

  from September - October 2007? C.

   Problem Limitation

  Due to limited time and budget, the researcher decided to limit the study on nouns only into two types, common and compound nouns. Common and compound nouns are considered to be the most commonly used in a composition (Frank, 1972: 6).

  The nouns analyzed in this study are the nouns used in two opinion articles written by an Indonesian writer and a non-Indonesian writer. The nouns used by two different writers were compared and analyzed.

  This research uses opinion articles of a newspaper as the source of data. The consideration is that they are considered as one’s original writing and published publicly. The researcher decided to take the opinion articles of The

  

Jakarta Post because this daily newspaper is available for both Indonesian and

non-Indonesian people.

  Besides, the choice of the opinion article was also based on Global Warming topic. In order to get reliable opinion articles on Global Warming topic, the researcher decided to take them from the period before the Global Warming Convention in Bali which was held on December 2007. Considering the months that produced more opinion articles on Global Warming, the researcher decided to choose period September and October 2007.

D. Research Objectives

  In accordance with the research problems formulated previously, the research objectives of the study are:

  1. To provide information about the frequency of the common and compound nouns used by the Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of The Jakarta Post from September - October 2007.

  2. To provide information about the common and compound nouns types used by the Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of

  The Jakarta Post from September - October 2007.

  3. To provide information about the forms of common and compound nouns used by the Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of The Jakarta Post from September - October 2007.

  4. To provide information about the markers of common and compound nouns used by the Indonesian and the non-Indonesian writers in the Opinion column of The Jakarta Post from September - October 2007.

E. Research Benefits

  This study can be viewed as a basic research on nouns. This study focuses on two types of nouns, particularly common and compound nouns, that are used in the opinion articles written in a newspaper.

  This study is expected to provide beneficial information for people in improving their written English. The study tries to help people to realize the importance of the precise use of nouns in a written work. Hopefully, this study can help English writers, English teachers, and other English researchers.

  The benefit of this study for English writers is to provide useful representation of the use the nouns in a newspaper’s opinion articles within a particular scientific topic like Global Warming. Therefore, this study can raise the writers’ awareness to choose and have the precise use of nouns more carefully in their opinion articles.

  The study is also intended to help English teachers in better view of the importance of deciding the appropriate nouns in relevance with the context when their students write an opinion. So, the teachers can explain better about the word choice especially nouns and minimize their students’ confusion.

  Meanwhile, for future researchers, this study of common and compound nouns will give a description and explanation of the analysis about nouns. This description, then, can probably become a reference and encourage them to conduct more thorough research of the similar topic.

F. Definition of Terms

  In order to avoid ambiguity, the researcher explains the terms which will be used throughout the study:

  1. Common Noun As suggested by Curme (1947: 11), “a common noun is a name that can be applied to any one of a class of living beings or lifeless things.” In this study, a common noun is defined as any noun that is not representing unique entities and consists of only one single word in the opinion articles. The examples of common nouns are climate, air, and technologies.

  2. Compound Noun According to Frank (1972: 7), the term compound refers to a group of words. Meanwhile, a compound noun in this research means any noun found in the opinion articles that consists of two or more words (either noun or not) joined together into one lexical unit, either with or without a hyphen. The words like

  power plants, global warming and farmland are included in this noun type. In addition, terms number 1 and 2 belong to the types of nouns.

  3. Opinion Column in The Jakarta Post Opinion column in newspaper is a “particular section of the newspaper for columns, illustrations, and letters that express opinion, clearly separating factual reporting from these less objective features.” (www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4184) Moreover, an opinion column in this study refers to a column that consists of pages provided by The Jakarta Post’s editor for editors themselves and readers to express their personal opinions about some popular issues or news.

  4. Frequency The definition of frequency according to the internet article is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time.

  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency) Frequency in this study refers to the number of occurrences of nouns on the opinions and on the dictionary.

  5. Type This word can be defined as a class or group of things that have characteristics in common (Hornby, 1995: 1290). In this study, type means the classification of nouns that shares similar characteristics. The examples of noun type are common, compound, proper, collective, abstract, concrete, countable, and uncountable.

  6. Form According to Hornby (1995: 463), form is the particular way in which something appears. Meanwhile, in this study, form can be meant as how the appearance of the nouns in the sentences. The samples of the form in this study are singular and plural.

7. Marker

  Marker can be defined as a structure word that signals the part of speech of a word following it (Frank, 1972: 18). In this study, marker means a word, position or function that indicates whether a word is noun or not. The examples of word marker are all determiners and prepositions. Meanwhile, markers based on position are placed before verb phrase, after the subject and the verb phrase, after the subject, after the verb phrase, and after the object. Besides, markers based on function are as a subject, an object, a subject complement, an object complement, and a complement. In order to simplify the definitions, as suggested by Frank (1972: xvi) through her term “structural characteristics”, in this study the terms number 4, 5, 6, and 7 are labelled structural features

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter consists of two parts, namely, theoretical description and

  theoretical framework. The theoretical description discusses the related literature used in this study. The theoretical framework presents the main theories applied in conducting this study.

A. Theoretical Description

  The theoretical description discusses, firstly, theories of nouns which are related to noun types, forms, and markers. Secondly, it discusses the opinion column in The Jakarta Post. Thirdly, it discusses Global Warming topic. Fourthly, it discusses some related sources which are two English grammar books and two dictionaries.

1. Nouns

  Noun can be considered as one of the most important part of speech, because it is most widely used in a sentence and considered as the main word of a sentence.

  As defined by Frank (1972: 6): “… it may function as the chief or “head” word in many structures of modification.” According to Frank (1972: 6-19), the explanation about nouns is divided into five main topics. They are types, function, position, form, and markers of nouns.

  Meanwhile, Curme (1947: 11-13) suggests the definition and classification of nouns involving common, proper nouns, compound and derivative nouns.

a. Types

  This section discusses the classification, the definition, and the examples of nouns types as suggested by Frank and Curme.

  As suggested by Frank (1972: 6-19), nouns types are classified into two kinds. They are meaning-based and form-based classifications. Meaning-based classification consists of four noun types. They are proper nouns, concrete or abstract nouns, countable or noncountable nouns, and collective nouns. Meanwhile form- based classification consists of one noun type, noun compounds.

  Meanwhile, the classification of nouns types according to Curme (1947: 11- 13) consists of two main types, which are common and proper nouns. Here, common nouns involve formless mass nouns, collective nouns, abstract nouns, and concrete nouns. Compound nouns are not classified as the nouns types but as one of the nouns forms.

  The similarities on two English grammar books by Frank and Curme are that common nouns involve all other nouns types except proper nouns and that compounds nouns are treated as a form-based noun type.

  The definition of common nouns based on Frank (1972: 6) is “all other nouns” that are not classified as proper nouns. Meanwhile, Curme (1947: 11) suggests the definition of common nouns as a name that can be applied to any one of a class of living beings or lifeless things.

  Meanwhile, the term compound nouns in accordance with Frank’s book (1972: 7) means “a group of words” (two or more) which “are joined together into one vocabulary unit that functions as a single part of speech. Likewise, Curme (1947: 12) defines compound nouns as “a group of two or more nouns that often forms a unit, a compound” in the case of both common and proper nouns.

  Based on Frank (1972: 6-7), the definition of a concrete noun is “a word for a physical object that can be perceived by the senses”, while an abstract noun is “ a word for a concept”. Frank also defines a countable noun as a word that can be pluralized by the adding of -s, while a noncountable noun as a word that is not used in plural. Moreover, as suggested by Frank, a collective noun means “a word for a group of people, animals or objects considered as a single unit.

  The examples of common nouns are finger, climate, book. In addition, according to Quirk et al. (1972: 1019), orthographically, compound nouns can be written in the solid form (e.g. sidewalk), hyphenated (e.g. man-made), or open form (e.g. teaching aid). Meanwhile, concrete nouns are words like pencil, ruler and abstract nouns are words like love, truth, faith. The samples of countable nouns are books, pencils, rulers and the sample of noncountable nouns are tea, steel. Furthermore, examples of collective nouns are government, environment, majority, faculty, enemy.

b. Forms

  This section consists of the three main classifications of nouns forms based on Frank and Curme. The classification of nouns forms are inflectional, plural inflectional, possessive inflectional, and derivational nouns.

  1) Inflectional

  Based on Frank (1972: 12), nouns in many European languages may be inflected, that is, changed in form, for certain grammatical properties.

  Usually these changes are created through particular endings. Inflectional forms of nouns may show gender (e.g. maid-maiden, brother-sister), case (e.g. The teacher sits. The teachers sit.), and number (e.g. potato-potatoes, wife-wives).

  2) Plural Inflectional

  Frank (1972: 13) states that the general rule for writing the plural of English nouns can be done by simply adding -s to the singular form (e.g. girl- girls, grape-grapes).

  3) Possessive Inflectional

  Meanwhile, a singular noun can be changed to possessive form by the adding of -s (e.g. one girl's mother).

  4) Derivational Nouns

  Frank (1972: 15) assures that only nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs have derivational forms. These forms may express some degree of lexical meaning, or they may be little more than part-of-speech indicators.

  Besides, Curme (1947: 12) suggests that derivative nouns are similar to compound nouns in which they are formed by adding an adjective to a common or proper noun or a suffix to a verb. The suffixes are –ness, -ship, -

  dom, -th, -er, -ing, -ess

  and also other endings such as –kin, -ling, -ette, -lett,

• -ie, -y . The examples of the nouns are relationship, warmth, heiress, kitchenette.

c. Markers

  As explained by Frank (1972: 18-19), a marker is a structure word that signals the part of speech of a word following it. There are two markers that can be used to identify whether a word is a noun or not. The markers are determiners and prepositions.

  1) Determiners

  Frank states that there are five kinds of determiners. The determiners are articles that are divided into indefinite articles -a, -an (e.g. a pen, an employer) and definite articles the (e.g. the Earth), possessive a) (e.g. my lecturer, Mary's book), demonstratives (e.g. this research, those books), numbers (e.g. six representatives, the seventh convention), words of indefinite quantity a) (e.g. some farmers, more forests).

  2) Prepositions

  The examples of prepositions are in, from, to, out, of, on behalf of, at, after (e.g. in Bali, after the meeting). In addition, Frank also writes that descriptive adjectives may indicate the nouns that follow them (e.g. the beautiful dress, a long composition).

  According to Close (1975: 107), typical nouns endings can also indicate a noun. They are -er, -or, -ar, -ant, -ist, -age, -al, -ance, -ery, -ment, -sion, -tion, -

  ure, -ence, -ity, -ness, and -th.

  In addition, Quirk et al. (1972: 348) states that noun as a subject “occurs before the verb phrase in declarative clauses and after the operator in question clauses”. Noun as an object is usually place after the subject and the verb phrase, while noun as a complement written after the subject, verb phrase, and object.