GUDANG BACA

Today's Topic : Paragraph Structure

»» Definition of Paragraph
          Paragraph is a series of closely related sentence discusses one single idea. These sentences adequately develop the central or controlling idea of the paragraph. The central or controlling idea, usually stated in a topic sentence, is necessarily related to the purpose of the whole composition.

The purposes of paragraph are to give information, to explain something, to tell a story and to convince someone that our idea is right.

»» Structures of a Paragraph
          A paragraph has a least three major structural parts : a topic sentence, supporting sentence and a concluding sentence.

📍Topic Sentence
          A topic sentence is a clear statement that gives the main idea. When we want to write a good topic sentence, we need to pay attention to these two hints; first, get the readers attention and second, avoid unnecessary word.

A topic sentence ia a sentence that states the main idea of the paragraph. It should be carefully worded to express a limited main idea. It helps us focus our idea and helps the readers understand the main idea quickly.

A topic sentence doesn't always have to come at the beginning of the paragraph, it can come at the middle or at the end. It is the most important sentence in the paragraph. Usually, it consists of a complete sentence that contains a subject, verb, and usually a complement and express a complete thought.

📍Supporting Sentence
          Supporting sentence is a sentence that gives more information about the topic sentence. They develop the topic sentence and also called development sentences. All the sentences must be related to the topic sentence and explain the topic sentence by giving reasons, illustration, example, fact, statistics and quotation.

There are at least two kinds of the supporting sentence; first, a major support sentence that develop the controlling idea of the paragraph by telling the readers something new or different about the idea and it directly supports the controlling idea by making the idea easy to understood. Second, a minor support sentence that develop the controlling idea. It directly supports it's major support sentence by making it more easily understood.

📍Concluding Sentence
          A conclusion is a judgement based on the evidence and must be logical. The last sentence of a paragraph is concluding sentence. It doesn't add new information to the paragraph, it repeats the main idea or idea using slightly different word. It signals the end of the paragraph and summarizes the importance point briefly.

          There are some steps for building the paragraph. First, selecting the topic. Second, writing a general statement (topic sentence) about the topic. Third jotting down possible details about the topic. Fourth, developing those details into supporting sentence. Fifth, reading the whole paragraph and make whatever changes we fell will improve our writing.

»» Types of Paragraph
          There are some kinds of paragraph. I will tell some of those kinds,
🔖Narrative Paragraph, is one of four basic types of prose which tells a story by relating a series of events in chronological order, to narrative is to tell a story, to tell what happened.
🔖Descriptive Paragraph, is type of writing in which the ideas are arranged on the basic of space or location, such as in the description of a person, a landscape, a building and so on.
🔖Expository Paragraph, is a paragraph that presents a certain amount of information about a subject. In expository paragraph, the writer provides information about a particular subject.
🔖Persuasive Paragraph, is a special type of paragraph that gives reasons. It is also called argumentation, it usually contains a signal of its purpose in the topic sentence. It may also contain word such as, should or ought to, or word that express judgement about a thing or idea. To persuade is to convince someone that a particular opinion or point of view is the right one.

Adjective Clauses
—an adjective clause is a clause that describes a word or a group of words in another clause. Adjective clauses are often part of a complex sentence.

Adjective clauses use that, who, whom, and which to begin the clause :

She's the person who gave me the idea.
or
She's the person that gave me the idea.

In both sentences, the person is described by...

she gave me the idea.

...but use that or who in place of "she."

A complex sentence has at least one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. The subordinate clause may be a noun clause, an adjective clause (relative clause) or an adverb clause. The adjective clause is used to modify a noun. A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples: man, city, book, and courage.

Example :
I met a man who is kind to everybody.
I met a man = an independent clause or a main clause.
who is kind to everbody = a dependent clause = adjective clause.

Adjective clause that require commas are called “non-essential” or “non-restrictive“ or “non-identifying“.

Example :
My brother, who lives in Birmingham, is an engineer.
        This sentence means :
        - My brother is an engineer. He lives in Birmingham.
        - I  only have  one brother.

—Relative Pronouns : who, whom, which, whose. Use for persons :
1. As subject, relative pronouns : who, that.
Example :
I thanked the woman.
She helped me.
= a) I thanked the woman who helped me.
= b) I thanked the woman that helped me.

 In (a): I thanked the woman = an independent clause.
           who helped me = an adjective clause (a dependent clause)
The adjective clause modifies the noun “woman“.

In (a) : who is the subject of the adjective clause.
In (b) : that is the subject of the adjective clause.
(a) and (b) have the same meaning.

who = used for people.
which = used for things.
that = used for both people and things.

—As object, relative pronouns : whom, who, that.
Example :
 A). The man was Mr. Jones.
       I saw him.
= a) The man whom I saw was Mr. Jones.
= b) The man who I saw was Mr. Jones.
= c) The man that I saw was Mr. Jones.

‘WHO “ is usually used instead of WHOM, especially in speaking. WHOM is generally used only in very formal English. Whereas WHO is used in informal English.
WHO (WHOM ) = used for people. “Whom “ is possible instead of who ( for people ) when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause.

Example :
1. The man whom I wanted to see was away on holiday. (I wanted to see him).
You can also use whom with a preposition (to/from/with whom, etc). But, we don’t often use “whom“ In spoken English, we normally prefer who or that (or you can leave them out).

—As  possessive, relative pronoun : whose
Whose and who’s have the same pronounciation, but NOT the same meaning.
Example :
Mr. Hasan went to Australia.
Mr. Hasan’s house is on Jln. Majapahit.
Mr. Hasan whose house is on Jln. Majapahit went to Australia.

I know the man.
His bicycle was stolen.
= I know the man whose bicycle was stolen.

Whose is used to show possession. It carries the same meaning as other possessive pronouns used as adjectives : his, her, its, their, her, our, your, and my. Like possessive adjectives above, whose is connected to a noun. Both whose and the noun it is connected to are placed at the beginning of the adjective clause. Whose can not be omitted. Whose usually modifies “people“, but it may also be used to modify “things“.

—As subject, relative pronoun : which.
Example :
The book is on the table. The book describes prehistoric animals.
= The book, which describes the pre-historic animals, is on the table.

—As Object, relative pronoun : which.
Example :
Tono is reading the book.
The book has a red cover.
= The book, which Tono is reading, has a red cover.

But, in spoken English, we often keep the preposition after the verb in the relative clause. When we do this, we normally use “WHICH.

Example :
Yesterday we visited the City Museum, which I’d never been to before.

—As possessive, relative pronoun : whose (for animals ) ; of which ( for things ).
Example :
The cat was dead.
Its furs are black.
= The cat, whose furs are black, was dead.

WHERE  is used in ajective clause to modify a place ( city, country, room,house,etc).
If WHERE  is used, a preposition is not included in the adjecive clause. If WHERE is not used, the preposition must be included.

Example : The building where he lives is very old.

WHEN is used in an adjective clause to modify a noun of time (year, day, time, century, etc). The use of a preposition in an adjective clause that modifies a noun of time is somewhat different from that in other adjective clause. A preposition is used preceding WHICH  ( like part b). Otherwise, the preposition is omitted.

Example : I’ll never forget the day that I met you.

WHY replaces for which used for reasons.
Example : The reasons for which he came is not very convincing.
    = The reason why he came is not very convincing.

How to find an adjective clause:

1) A dependent clause in a sentence will always contain both a subject and a verb. Make sure that when you find something you think is a clause that it does have a subject and a verb.

2) An adjective clause will begin with a relative pronoun or a relative adverb. Does the clause that you found begin with one of those?

3) Finally, does the clause answer the same types of questions that an adjective answers? Does it tell you which one, what kind, or how many? Does it give you more information about a noun or pronoun that comes before it? If so, then you have found an adjective clause.

• Don't use commas if your clause is essential; i.e., it is required to identify its noun. (This is called a restrictive clause.)
• Do use commas if your clause is just additional information. (This is called a non-restrictive clause.)

Which and that are interchangeable, provided we're talking about which without a comma.

When which starts a restrictive clause (i.e., a clause not offset with commas), you can replace it with that. In fact, Americans will insist you use that instead of which for a restrictive clause. For many, even British, that sounds more natural with a restrictive clause. And, this is something we can use. If all this talk of restrictive and non-restrictive clauses is confusing, try replacing your which with that. If your sentence still sounds good, you almost certainly want which without a comma. This trick works because that can only be used with a restrictive clause, and – whether you consciously know it or not – some language-processing area of your brain does.

The "that substitution" trick also works with who, but be aware that some of your readers might not like that used for people.

Bersuci (bahasa Arab: الطهارة, translit. al-ṭahārah‎) merupakan bagian dari prosesi ibadah umat Islam yang bermakna menyucikan diri yang mencakup secara lahir atau batin, sedangkan menyucikan diri secara batin saja diistilahkan sebagai tazkiyatun nufus. Najis adalah kotor yang menjadi sebab terhalangnya seseorang untuk beribadah kepada Allah. Najis juga dapat berarti jijik atau kotoran. 
(Source Wikipedia) 

Berikut beberapa penjelasan terkait bersuci dan juga najis yang sudah saya rangkum dalam bentuk file, silakan klik disini.

Saya menerima koreksi dari para pembaca. Terima kasih.

Most people are comfortable with the idea of a noun, but they may not feel so confident when it comes to the noun clause. A noun clause is a group of words acting together as a noun. These clauses are always dependent clauses. That is, they do not form a complete sentence.

The best way to familiarize yourself with these types of clauses is to take a look at some sample sentences containing noun clauses at work.

noun clause is a dependent (or subordinate clause) that works as a noun. It can be the subject of a sentence, an object, or a complement. Like all nouns, the purpose of a noun clause is to name a person, place, thing, or idea. Sometimes when we want to name something, a single word won’t do – sometimes we need a group of words to name something. That is why we use noun clauses.

Here is a sentence with two more noun clauses:

I do not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. – Oprah Winfrey

The two noun clauses are: “what the future holds” and “who holds the future”. In both cases, the clauses are doing what nouns can do – acting as direct objects.

You must unlearn what you have learned.

So, what must Luke unlearn? “…what you have learned.” This clause is a noun clause. It is a direct object in this sentence.

Noun clauses are used to name something when a single word isn't enough. Again, they're always going to be dependent clauses and these clauses can't stand alone. If a dependent clause stands alone, it forms a sentence fragment, not a full sentence. While an independent clause can act as a sentence by itself, a dependent clause cannot.

One of the easiest ways to spot a noun clause is to look for these words:
How
That
What
Whatever
When
Where
Whether
Which
Whichever
Who
Whoever
Whom
Whomever
Why

Beyond these keywords, you can also spot a noun clause based on its function within the sentence. Let's take a look at some of the most prominent roles of noun clauses.

Subject of a Verb
A noun clause can act as the subject of a verb. For example:

What Alicia said made her friends cry.
What Megan wrote surprised her family.
How the boy behaved was not very polite.
When there's a verb in the sentence, you must find the subject.

In the first sentence, we can ask, "What made her friends cry?" The answer is "what Alicia said." Therefore, "what Alicia said" is the subject of the verb "made."

In the second sentence, we can ask, "What surprised her family?" The answer is "what Megan wrote."

In the third sentence, we can ask, "What was not very polite?" The answer is "how the boy behaved."

Object of a Verb
In the same vein, noun clauses can also act as the direct object of a verb:

She didn't realize that the directions were wrong.

He didn't know why the stove wasn't working.

They now understand that you should not cheat on a test. Once again, you can use the method of questioning to demonstrate how the noun clause is being used.

In the first sentence, we can ask, "What didn't she realize?" and the answer is "that the directions were wrong." Therefore, "that the directions were wrong" is the object of the verb.

In the second sentence, we can ask, "What didn't he know?" and the answer is "why the stove wasn't working."

In the third sentence, we can ask, "What do they understand?" and the answer is "that you should not cheat on a test."

Subject Complement
A noun clause can also serve as a subject complement. A subject complement will always modify, describe, or complete the subject of a clause.

Carlie's problem was that she didn't practice enough.

Harry's crowning achievement at school was when he became class president.

Darla's excuse for being late was that she forgot to set her alarm.

Do you see what questions these noun clauses answer and how they relate to the subject?

What was Carlie's problem? She didn't practice enough.

What was Harry's crowning achievement? It was when he became class president.

What was Darla's excuse for being late? It was that she forgot to set her alarm.

Without these clauses, the sentences would not be complete thoughts.

Object of a Preposition
Noun clauses also act as objects of a preposition. In the examples below, you'll see the prepositions "of" and "for" in action.

Harry is not the best provider of what Margie needs.

Josephine is not responsible for what Alex decided to do.

Allie is the owner of that blue car parked outside. Again, the best way to understand this concept is by asking the appropriate questions.

In the first sentence, we can ask, "Harry is not the best provider of what?" The answer is "what Margie needs."

In the second sentence, we can ask, "Josephine is not responsible for what?" The answer is "what Alex decided to do."

In the third sentence, we can ask, "Allie is the owner of what?" The answer is "that blue car parked outside."

Each of these sentences could be complete before the addition of the prepositions. However, the prepositions are introduced to provide further detail and the noun clauses act as the objects of these prepositions.

Adjective Complement
Last but not least, a noun clause can also function as an adjective complement, modifying a verb, adjective, or adverb.

Jerry knows why Elaine went to the store.

They're perfectly happy where they live now.

Geoffrey runs so quickly that he can outrun his dog.

The adjective complement is providing more information about the verb, adjective or adverb that precedes it.

In the first sentence, we can ask, "What does Jerry know?" In this case, "know" is the verb being modified. The thing that he knows is "why Elaine went to the store."
In the second sentence.

For example :

I like what I see.
(Like all clauses, a noun clause has a subject and a verb. In this example, the subject of the clause is "I" and the verb is "see.")

I know that patience has its limits.
(In this example, the subject of the clause is "patience" and the verb is "has.")

Definition of "Clause"

A clause has a subject and a verb and functions as one part of speech.
(It follows therefore that a noun clause functions as a noun in a sentence.)

Remember, because a noun clause is a clause, you should be able to find both a subject and a verb. Let’s do a quick review of these two important terms.

1) subject is what the clause or sentence is about. The subject is often (but not always) the thing performing the action of the verb.

Example 1

What Peter loves most about reading mysteries is how the authors leave clues for careful readers.
In this example, the first clause is about Peter, and the second clause is about authors.

2) verb is an action word, or a state-of-being word.

Example 1

Morning time is when I feel most energetic.
In this example, ‘feel’ is the action word in the sentence.

Noun clauses always begin with certain words.
The most common of these words are words that we also use to form questions:

Who
What
Why
Where
When
We can also begin noun clauses with pronouns:

Which
That
Whoever
Whatever
Wherever
Whenever
However, it is essential to understand that just because you see one of these words does not mean that the word is automatically beginning a noun clause. When identifying the type of a given clause, be careful that you look at its function, not just the words. A clause beginning with the same words as a noun clause may have a different function.

Example 1

Where I come from is not important.
The town where I come from is famous for its pizza.
In example (a) we have a noun clause. The function of the clause is to name the subject of the sentence. On the other hand, in example (b) we have an adjective clause. The function here is to describe ‘the town’.

pro·noun
/ˈprōˌnoun/
a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g., I, you) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g., she, it, this) — From Oxford. 

A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns refer to either a noun that has already been mentioned or to a noun that does not need to be named specifically.

The most common pronouns are the personal pronouns, which refer to the person or people speaking or writing (first person), the person or people being spoken to (second person), or other people or things (third person). Like nouns, personal pronouns can function as either the subject of a verb or the object of a verb or preposition: "She likes him, but he loves her." Most of the personal pronouns have different subject and object forms.

A pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more and takes the place of any person, place, animal or thing. Without pronouns, we’d constantly have to repeat nouns, and that would make our speech and writing repetitive, not to mention cumbersome.

Types of Pronouns
Pronouns can be divided into numerous categories including:

1) Indefinite pronouns – those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places, such as someone, anybody, nothing. Notice in the examples below that there is no set position for where an indefinite pronoun will appear in a sentence.

Indefinite pronoun examples:
1. Anyone
2. Somebody
3. Whichever
4. Whoever
5. Other
6. Something
7. Nobody

Examples:

Would anyone like a coffee?
Take whatever you like. Jamie took one cookie and Ben took the other.
Whoever owns this is in big trouble! I want someone to move this now.

Indefinite pronouns can also be used to create sentences that are almost abstract. Examples could include: this, all, such and something.

All was not lost.
Such is life.
Something tells me this  won’t end well.

2) Personal pronouns – those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number. Personal pronouns are always specific and are often used to replace a proper noun (someone’s name) or a collective group of people or things. Personal pronouns have two main groups, one referring to the subject of the sentence and one to the object.

The first is used to replace the subject of the sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they. Notice that you is repeated as you can be singular, addressing one person, or plural, addressing a group of people.

Jack and David are friends. They play basketball together.
I have more money than him
We will be late if you don’t hurry up.

The second group of pronouns replaces the object of the sentence: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them. Consider the sentence again:

We will be late if you don’t hurry up.

In the above example, we is the subject of the sentence, but you is the object. Other examples of pronouns replacing the object:

Peter sang the song to me.
Missing the train will cause us to be late.
She packed them tightly in the suitcase.

3) Reflexive pronouns – those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves. Reflexive pronouns are used to refer back to the subject or clause of a sentence. The list of reflexive pronouns includes: Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Count yourselves
Annie only had herself to blame.
Peter and Paul had baked themselves cakes.

4) Demonstrative pronouns – those used to point to something specific within a sentence. There are only four demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those – but the usage can be a bit tricky at times. This and that are singular, whereas these and those are plural. As you may have noticed, there can be some crossover with indefinite pronouns when using this and that.

I prefer this.
These are beautiful, but those belong to Danny.
Did you see that?

While it can be confusing, this, that, these and those can sometimes be used as demonstrative adjectives. The difference between the two is that a demonstrative pronoun replaces the noun and a demonstrative adjective qualifies the noun.

I prefer this photo. These flowers are beautiful, but those vases belong to Danny. Did you see that rainbow?

It should be clear that this, that, these and those in the example above are not pronouns because they are being used to qualify the noun, but not replace it. A good trick for remembering the difference is that a demonstrative pronoun would still make sense if the word one or ones followed it in the sentence.

I prefer this (one). These (ones) are beautiful. Did you see that (one)? Those (ones) belong to Danny.

5) Possessive pronouns – those designating possession or ownership. Examples include: mine, its, hers, his, yours, ours, theirs, whose. Consider the example:

This cat is mine.
Mine is indicating possession, that the cat belongs to me. 

Incidentally, this in the sentence is not a pronoun but demonstrative adjective as it qualifies the noun cat. You will find that possessive pronouns often follow phrases that contain demonstrative adjectives.

Are these bananas yours?
This money is ours.
Is the fault theirs or yours?

6) Relative pronouns – those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to introduce an adjective (relative) clause. They will usually appear after a noun to help clarify the sentence or give extra information. Examples include: who, which, that, whom, whose.
Consider the following sentence:
The man who stole the car went to jail. The relative pronoun who acts to refer back to the noun man. It acts to open a clause by identifying the man as not just any man, but the one who stole the car.

The table, which sits in the hallway, is used for correspondence.
The car that crashed into the wall was blue.
This is the woman, whose key you found.

7) Interrogative pronouns – those which introduce a question. Examples include: who, whom, whose, what, which. We can usually identify an interrogative pronoun by the fact that they often appear at the beginning of a question.

Who will come to the party?
Which do you prefer?
What do you need?
Whose clothes are on the floor?
Whom did you tell?

Whom and who are often confused, and even native speakers will use them incorrectly. Who will replace the subject of a sentence, whereas whom will replace the direct or indirect object. A good tip for deciding which to use is that you can replace who in the sentence with a personal pronoun and it will still make sense.

Who will come to the party? I will come to the party.

The same system would not work for Whom did you tell? I did you tell.

8) Reciprocal pronouns – those expressing mutual actions or relationship; i.e. one another. There are just two reciprocal pronouns in English: one another and each other. They are mainly used to stop unnecessary repetition in a sentence, but also to reinforce the idea that collective and reciprocal actions are happening to more than one person or thing.

John and Mary gave each other gifts.
Using each other allows us the sentence to be more efficient than: John gave Mary a gift and Mary gave a gift to John.

The countries worked with one another on national security.
In this example, one another works to suggest that the action of working is being reciprocated back and forth by more than one country.

The boxers punched each other
The couple love one another  deeply

9) Intensive pronouns – those ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize their antecedents. These are almost identical to reflexive pronouns, but rather than just referring back to the subject of the sentence they work to reinforce the action. In many cases, the sentence would still make sense without the intensive pronoun.

I will do it myself.
We made this pie ourselves.
A nation speaks for itself  through elections.

Notice how the intensive pronoun is working to emphasize the statement. The sentence would still technically be correct without the intensive pronoun, but it adds some important context to its meaning.

Pronoun Rules
- Subject pronouns may be used to begin sentences. For example: We did a great job.
- Subject pronouns may also be used to rename the subject. For example: It was she who decided we should go to Hawaii.
- Indefinite pronouns don’t have antecedents. They are capable of standing on their own. For example: No one likes the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
- Object pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. These include: you, me, him, her, us, them, and it. For example: David talked to her about the mistake.
- Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not need apostrophes. For example: The cat washed its.



NOTE
• In informal English, most people tend to follow to be verbs with object pronouns like me, her, them. Many English scholars tolerate this distinction between formal and casual English.

Example: It could have been them.

Technically correct: It could have been they.

Example: It is just me at the door.

Technically correct: It is just I at the door.

• Do not combine a subject pronoun and an object pronoun in phrases like her and I or he and me. Whenever and or or links an object pronoun (her, me) and a subject pronoun (he, I), one of those pronouns will always be wrong.

Incorrect: Her and I went home.

Correct: She and I went home. (She went and I went.)