Struktur Toefl - Grammar

Pengertian grammar

Menurut wikipedia adalah “grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics. Linguists do not normally use the term to refer to orthographical rules, although usage books and style guides that call themselves grammars may also refer to spelling and punctuation.” Sedangkan pengertian grammar menurut Oxford  learner’s pocket dictionary adalah : book that describes the rules for forming words and making sentences.

TOEFL merupakan singkatan dari Test Of English as a Foreign Language. TOEFL adalah standardisasi kemampuan bahasa inggris seseorang secara tertulis yang meliputi empat aspek penguasaan: Listening, Writing dan Reading.

Struktur Grammer

A.    Basic Sentences Stucture

In general, there was no significant difference between the structure of English sentences with Indonesian, where a sentence is built upon four main components, namely.

Subject (S) + Verb (V) + Complement (C) + Modifier (M)

Example :

We studied grammar last week

We + studied + grammar + last week

S + V + C + M

1.      SUBJECT

Ø  is the agent of sentence in the active voice

Ø  is thing/person that performs or responsible for the action of a sentence 

Ø  normally precedes the verb

Example :

·         I explain how to study English

·           She listens to my explanation

·         They didn’t understand that languageThe subject can be seen from the question who or what is doing the action of a sentence.

2.      VERB

Verb is the action of a sentence. Verb phrase: auxilaries combination with the main verb.

Example :

·         I am learning English (am = auxilary, learning = main verb)

·          My brother is very clever

·         She has gone home (has = auxilary, gone = main verb)

·         I have been waiting here (have been = auxilary, waiting = main verb)

3.      COMPLEMENT

ü  Usually a noun or noun phrase

ü  usually found after the verb in the active sentence

ü  complement to answer the question what or whom

example :

ü  Sarijon bought a cake yesterday

ü    What did Sarijon buy yesterday?  –> a cake.

ü  He saw Tony at the movie

ü   Whom did he see at the movie? –> Tony

ü   I explain pharmacology to my students

ü  What do I explain to my students? –> pharmacology

4.      MODIFIER

ü  Modifier describes the time, place, or manner of an action or actions

ü  The most common form of the modifier is a propositional phrase (group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun. Preposition = on, out, under, behind, etc

ü  Modifier answer the questions when, where, or how

Example :

ü  John bought a book at a book fair

ü  Where did John buy a book? –> at a book fair

ü  She is driving very fast

ü  How is she driving? –> very fast

ü   I posted my application yesterday

ü   When do I post my application? –> yesterday

example problems :

1)      The Eiffel Tower is a landmark in Paris, France

2)       Young deer is fawns

3)      A dream about falling is scary

4)       Those flowers are beautiful

B.     Parallel Structure

Parallelism means that the words used in a series or group that should have the same form as grammar. When we use words or phrases that are connected by a chain, then it must be the same shape as grammar. Consider the following example:

·         Terry likes swimming and to dive. (False - not parallel)

·          Terry likes swimming and diving. (True - parallel)

·          Terry likes to swim and (to) dive. (True - parallel)

·          I'm taking history, math, and chemical. (False - Chemical not a noun)

·          I'm taking history, math, and chemistry

Example problem :

Identify and correct the mistakes in parallel structure in the following sentences

1.      I swept the yard, weeded the garden and washed the clothes.

2.      James decided to get up early, practice some yoga and eat  healthy foods.

3.      Although I trained hard, practiced every day and listened  to my trainer, I never won a tournament.

4.      I wish he would listen to me, take my advice and stop smoking.

5.      He is an articulate, intelligent and thoughtful  speaker.

C.    Comparative Adjectives

When talking about the two objects, we can compare and see the differences as well similarities between the two objects. Maybe it has the same thing on one side and the difference on the other side. To compare the difference between the two objects we use comparative adjectives. Comparison is only using comparative adjectives to compare between two objects only.

There are two ways to create a comparative adjectives:
1. Adding the suffix-er (short adjectives)
2. Adding more prefix (long adjectives)

Addition of a suffix rule for short adjectives:

ü  Generally only added adjective-er, for example: older, smaller, richer, etc.

ü  If the ending-e, just add r, for example: later, nicer, etc.

ü   If the ending in a consonant-vowel-consonant, the final consonant plus, then plus-er, for example: bigger, hotter, etc.

ü    If the ending-y, then y changed to i then added er, for example: happier, Earlier, busier, heavier, etc.

ü  For long adjectives, the rule only adds more words only on adjectives, for example: expensive to be more expensive, more beautiful to be beautiful, and so on. Some adjectives have irregular shapes, such as good - better, well (healthy) - better, bad - worse, far - farther / further, etc.

Adjectives with two syllables can use-er or more: quiet - quieter / more quiet, clever - cleverer / more clever, narrow - narrower / more narrow, simple - Simpler / more simple. Comparative adjectives are not only used to compare two different objects, but can also be used to compare the same object that points to itself, and the object is not to say, as one example sentence above: I want to have a more powerful computer.

Adjectives with two syllables

If the adjective has two or more syllables, we add more before the adjective. example:

ü  This book is more expensive than that book.

ü   This picture is more beautiful.

However, there are many exceptions to the rule of one / two syllables it.
Some words with 2 syllables have properties similar to words that have 1 syllable.

 Example:

§  This is Easier – True

§  This is more easy - not really

§  This is Simpler – True

§  This is more simple - not true

And some adjectives can use both comparative form. example:

·         Clever - cleverer - more clever: These are all correct

·         Quiet - quieter - more quiet: These are all correct.

No exceptions can be learned through the rules, the best way to learn is to learn it one by one.

Example problems :

1. The Nile river is longer than the Amazon.
2. I’m taller than Yuri but shorter than Miko.
3. They’re more handsome than us, but we’re smarter than them.
4. This book bag is more expensive than that bag.
5. This newspaper is better than that newspaper.

Selain contoh diatas ada juga struktur toefl grammar yang lainnya yaitu :

a)      Passive Voice

Kalimat pasif jelas berbeda dengan kalimat aktif. Kegunaannya pun berbeda dalam bahasa Inggris. Dalam kalimat aktif, subjek lah yang melakukan pekerjaan, sedangkan dalam kalimat pasif, objek lah yang melakukan pekerjaan.

Perubahan kalimat dari aktif menjadi kalimat pasif dapat dilihat sebagai berikut :

            Aktif   : Hendry often helps my mother.

            Pasif    : My mother is often helped by Hendry.

            Aktif   : I sent this letter three days ago.

            Pasif    : This letter was sent by me three days ago.

Kalimat pasif digunakan jika kita ingin memfokuskan kejadiannya, bukan siapa    ataupun apa yang melakukannya.

Contoh            :

            The city was destroyed during the World War II.

            (Kota itu hancur selama Perang Dunia II.)

Kalimat pasif juga digunakan jika kita ingin menghindari suatu objek yang semu seperti somebody/someone.

Contoh :

            The letter has to be sent today.

            (Suratnya harus dikirim hari ini.)

Dalam passive voice kita juga dapat menggunakan “by” jika kita ingin mengatakan siapa atau apa yang melakukan suatu kejadian.

Contoh :

            The fence was broken last week. à tidak diketahui siapa/apa pelakunya.

            The fence was broken by the storm last week. à menjadi diketahui.

b)     Adjective

Adjective merupakan kata sifat yang digunakan untuk menerangkan kata benda. Adjective dapat digunakan di depan benda countable ataupun uncountable.

Contoh :

            expensive bag  à tas mahal

            new Friend      à teman baru

Berikut adalah jenis-jenis adjective :

ü  Qualitative adj      : menerangkan bentuk/kejadian suatu benda.

                                (big, small, tall, etc.)

ü  Distributive adj     : bersifat distributive

                                (every, either, each, etc.)

ü  Possessive adj       : menunjukan kepunyaan.

                                (his, her, my, etc.)

ü  Demonstrative adj : untuk menunjuk suatu benda.

                                (that, this, those, etc.)

ü  Interrogative adj   : untuk menanyakan suatu benda.

                                (which, what, whose)

ü  Quantitative adj    : menerangkan jumlah benda.

                                (many, some, much, etc.)

ü  Colour adj             : menerangkan warna benda.

                                (red, green, yellow, etc.)

Ada juga jenis adjective yang berikutnya, yaitu compound adjective.

Compound Adjective yaitu kata bilangan yang dapat digabungkan dengan kata benda dalam bentuk singular.

Contoh :

a.       Age (usia)

           A fifty years old woman.    à salah

          A fifty year old woman.     à benar

 

b.      Volume (isi)

           He has just bought a ten litres car.  à salah

          He has just bought a ten litre car.    à benar

c.       Length (panjang)

           Fifteen metre house. (not metres)

          Price (harga)

         Sixty dollar camera. (not dollars)

d.      Weight (bobot)

           Ten kilo package. (not kilos)

e.       Are (bidang)

           Twenty acre farm. (not acres)

f.       Time (waktu)

           Two hour meeting. (not hours)

c)      Comparison Degree

Adalah tingkat-tingkat perbandingan yang terdiri dari jenis-jenis berikut :

1)      Positive degree

Menunjukan kesamaan mutu, banyaknya, tingkatan, derajat, antara suatu benda dengan benda lainnya.

Contoh :

                  The girl is as old as my mother.

                  I am as tall as my sister.

2)      Comparative degree

Digunakan jika kita ingin menunjukan secara jelas bahwa terdapat ketidaksamaan perbandingan antara benda yang satu dengan benda lainnya.

Contoh :

                  I’m shorter than my brother.

                  My bag is more expensive than her.

Aturan dalam comparative degree  ini adalah jika kata sifat kurang atau sama 2 suku kata, maka untuk perbandingannya kita menambahkan “er” pada kata sifat tersebut. Tetapi jika kata sifat yang kita gunakan untuk membandingkan adalah lebih dari 2 suku kata, maka kita tambahkan “more” di depan kata sifat tersebut.

3)      Superlative degree

Digunakan untuk membandingkan seseorang atau beda yang melebihi orang-orang atau benda-benda lainnya. (paling)

Contoh :

                  Dave is the tallest in the class.

                  Ellie is the most diligent student.

Aturan dalam superlative degree ini mirip seperti comparative degree. Jika kata yang kita gunakan untuk membandingkan kurang atau sama dengan 2 suku kata, maka kita tambahkan “est” pada kata tersebut. Sedangkan jika lebih dari 2 suku kata maka kita tambahkan “most” di depan kata tersebut.

d)     Adjective Clause

Merupakan anak kalimat yang berfungsi sebagai modifier atau menggantikan kedudukan dari adjective dalam kalimat majemuk.

Contoh :

1.      The boy who studies in Gunadarma University is Doni.

2.      The man whom you met yesterday is my father.

3.      The girl whose dress is white is my sister.

Who, whom, whose, kemudian ada juga which, dan that merupakan relative clauses yang fungsinya adalah melengkapi adjective clause.

Masing-masing relative clauses digunakan sebagai berikut :

Who           : digunakan berhubungan dengan subjek (orang)

Whom        : digunakan berhubungan dengan objek (orang)

Which        : digunakan berhubungan dengan subjek atau objek (benda)

That           : digunakan berhubungan dengan subjek atau objek (benda/orang)

Whose        : digunakan berhubungan dengan kata ganti milik.

e)      The Zero Article

Merupakan kata sandang yang kadang-kadang tidak digunakan dalam bahasa Inggris.

Kata sandang tidak digunakan di depan kata benda plural jika yang dimaksud adalah sesuatu yang bersifat umum.

Contoh :

a)      People       : Doctors are paid better than teacher.

b)      Animals     : Cats don’t like cold weather.

c)       Food          : Carrots are good for eyes.

d)     Places        : Museums are closed on Monday.

Sumber :

·         http://belajar-toefl-online.blogspot.com/2012/12/pengertian-toefl-dan-tujuan-test-toefl.html

·         ishalmorons.blogspot.com/2013/.../materi-grammar-dalam-toefl_3756.ht...‎

·         http://trivenaellenlie.blogspot.com/2012/04/grammar-structure-of-toefl.html