How to Read and Write English

The Present Continuous Tense

2010-05-21T14:27:00.004+07:00

Study the sentences below:

I am sitting under a palm tree.

Tika and Lusi are walking on the sand.

She is busy taking pictures.

The Pattern :

(a) The Positives:

Subject	be	Verb + ing	Object
I	am	studying	English.
You	are	swimming.
John (He)	is	running.
Tia (She)	is	singing	a song.
The bird (It)	is	flying.
We	are	reading.
The children (They)	are	playing	football.

(b) The Negatives: Subject + be + not + verb + ing

Examples :

I am not walking on the sand.

Tika is not taking pictures.

Lusi and I are not swimming.

(c) The Interrogatives: Be + subject + verb + ing?

Examples :

Am I disturbing you?

Is she watching television?

Are you coming with us?

What is the baby doing?

.............................................................

What is the woman doing?

.......................................................

What is the man doing?

..................................................

Reports

2010-05-20T10:47:00.000+07:00

Whales

Whales are sea-living mammals.

They therefore breathe air but cannot survive on land. Some species are very large indeed and the blue whale, which can exceed 30m in length, is the largest animal to have lived on earth. Superficially, the whale looks rather like a fish, but there are important differences in its external structure: its tail consists of a pair of broad, flat, horizontal paddles (the tail of a fish is vertical) and it has a single nostril on top of its large, broad head. The skin is smooth and shiny and beneath it lies a layer of fat (blubber). This is up to 30 cm in thickness and serves to concerve heat and body fluids.

Generic Structure	Whales
General classification	Whales are sea-living mammals.
Description (behaviours, qualities, parts)	They therefore breathe air but cannot survive on land. Some species are very large indeed and the blue whale, which can exceed 30m in length, is the largest animal to have lived on earth. Superficially, the whale looks rather like a fish, but there are important differences in its external structure: its tail consists of a pair of broad, flat, horizontal paddles (the tail of a fish is vertical) and it has a single nostril on top of its large, broad head. The skin is smooth and shiny and beneath it lies a layer of fat (blubber). This is up to 30 cm in thickness and serves to concerve heat and body fluids.

Lost Notice

2010-05-18T12:14:00.004+07:00

DOG LOST

Brown male dog, named Bobo, lost on Sunday, 2
January at Simpang Lima.

If you find this dog, please call 0248448082

(Reward will be given)

Greeting Card Examples

2010-05-15T20:52:00.000+07:00

6/8/2006

Dear Aunty,

Thank you very much for the bag. It’s very cute. I like the model.

And I love the colurs, too.

With love,

Ella

15 August 2007

Dear Uncle Sam,

Thank you very much for the dictionaries you sent me. They are

useful for my hobby. They give me ideas for what to paint.

Yours,

Adit

Greeting Card

2010-05-14T11:24:00.000+07:00

People often write cards to congratulate. Here are some examples!

Dear Lisa,

Congratulations on your winning the first prize of the English debate

competition. I learned about it from your Mom.

Love,

Ella

Invitation Card

2010-05-04T04:30:00.000+07:00

Birthday Card

2010-05-03T04:10:00.000+07:00

Name Card

2010-05-02T21:31:00.000+07:00

Personal information form

Surname : Suhandoko

First name : Gati

Age : 12 years old

Date of birth : 4 June 1996

Nationality : Indonesian.

Address : Jalan Sumatera 33, Semarang.

Phone number : 563640.

What is Postcard?

2010-05-01T13:36:00.000+07:00

A postcard is a card for sending messages by post with an envelope.
Postcards often have a picture or photograph on one side.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Hornby, 2002)

Here is an example of a postcard:

                                                                       Kuta, March 20, 2008

Dear Sari,
        I arrived in Bali 2 days ago. It is a wonderful place. The beaches are
nice. The hotel is right on the beach. I toured the island yesterday and
brought some souvenirs for friends in Surabaya. I’ll be back on Sunday.
Well, that’s all for now.
Regards for your family.
                                                                       Love,
                                                                       Risma

Shopping List

2010-04-28T08:47:00.000+07:00

Shopping List

2010-04-27T08:42:00.000+07:00

Congratulation Card

2010-04-26T04:35:00.000+07:00

An Example of Report Text

2010-04-21T19:01:00.000+07:00

Here is an example of Report Text. Please, analyze the generic structure.

Generic Structure	Computer
General classification	Computers are machines that handle information automatically. They can perform calculations and process data. Computers can work with number to solve problems in a few seconds. Computers can remember a great deal of information and make practically no mistakes. That is why computers are widely used in places such as banks, offices and companies.
Description of How computer work Description of computer parts and their functions	Computers work like calculators. But most calculations can do only one thing at time. We tell them what to do by pressing various buttons. To do the same work, we can give a series of instructions to a computer. We call this is a computer program. If we step up a program, the computer can provide other information, such as a list, numbers, letters, words or even graphs or pictures. Once we provide a program, the computer can do all this work automatically without further help or instruction. A computer stores and handles numbers. The numbers may be mathematicall formulas or columns figures. The numbers may be codes that stand for letters of the alphabet, words or instructions to the computer. All computers have three basic parts: 1. input and output units (I/O). The input unit takes in the information and instructions, and the output unit gives the results. 2. A central processing unit (CPU). This unit does the work of computing. 3. A memory. It stores or remembers the informations and instructions that the CPU needs to do the work. I/O. One of them is video-terminal. The video terminal has a typewriter like keyboards and screen like television screen. We can see the output of the computer on the screen. If we need a permanent record of a computer’s output, a printer will make it. And if the computer’s main memory can not hold enough information, magnetic disk or tapes can be used for this purpose. The computer then can turn the information stored on the disks or tapes into numbers or letters.

Report Text

2010-04-20T10:29:00.000+07:00

Report text functions to provide factual information about general characteristics of a certain thing, living or non-living thing. Information Reports classify and describe the phenomena of our world. This text is different from Descriptive text, which functions to give detail informations about a certain thing but not for generalizing it. This kind of text is used almost in every subject at school, so the competence to make or to understand this kind of text is an important part to develop the literate competence of the students at school. As the result, the teaching of this text does not only influence on the English literate development at school but also in other languages, even in their mother language.

The generic structure of a Report text is :

General Classification : tells what the phenomenon under discussion is.
Description : tells what the phenomenon under discussion is like in terms of - parts (and their functions)

- qualities

- habits or behaviours, if living; uses, if non-natural

Procedure Text

2010-04-13T19:06:00.000+07:00

Let’s make a birthday card. Here is the paper for you to share. You can choose different colours.

We will make the card first, then the envelope.

Let’s start. Cut the paper.

You can draw a picture on it.

What picture do you like? A candle, balloon, or a flower

Next, we are going to make the envelope.

Take another piece of paper, and then fold.

Finished? Show me your envelope, please.

Then put some glue on your envelope.

Press it. Finish.

Procedure Text

2010-04-12T19:29:00.005+07:00

Procedure Text

A procedure text generally has a generic structure as follows :

Title,
Classification or Definition
Description of Features in order of importance,
List of Materials (optional), and
Series of steps sequenced in logical order

Some sociocultural functions of Procedure text are to give instructions, to give cautions, and to tell time sequences. For instructions and cautions, the language features which are often used are imperative verbs, while sequencers like first, next, then and finally are often used for the time sequences. Sometimes procedure text is also provided with diagrams, flow charts, or ilustrations.

Here is an example of Procedure text, please pay attention to its generic structure.

Text organisation		Language features
Goal	Making a Kite
Materials	Things You Need 3 pieces of cane (2x60 cm; 1x80 cm) Thread Large sheet of strong paper (e.g. tissue) Soft pencil Scissors Paint and paint brush Glue Stong string	Precise information how long? how many? what type? what type?
Steps	What to do The Frame 1. dampen cane to make flexible 2. Carefully, bend cane to desired shape then tie securely with thread. The Covering 3. Lay frame on sheet of paper 4. Trace around frame with pencil 5. Cut covering approx. 1 cm larger than outline. 6. Paint bird on covering (e.g. owl) 7. When paint is dry, place frame on linking word painted side. Now fold edges of covering over the frame carefully, and glue them down. The Bridle 8. Cut 3 pieces of string, each 20 cm long. 9. Secure one end of each string tightly to frame at the shoulders and tail of the bird. Then tie the other ends in a knot.	Commands details How? With what? where? action verbs

An Example of Recount Text

2010-03-20T05:40:00.008+07:00

Here is an example of Narrative Text. Please, analyze the generic structure.

This is a letter of an elementary student for her grandparents.

Generic Structure

Orientation

Dear Granpa and Grandma,

Yesterday at my school we had an International Day. We had performances, food stalls, displays, raffle ticket draw, and some of us were dressed in costumes.

Event 1

Event 2

Event 3

Event 4

Event 5

We started our day off with performances but the one I liked best was the one from fourth grade. We played games. The performance I was in was Lambada.

Straight after our performances we had our lunch. There were food stalls. They came from Australia, Asia, Arab, and Greece.

Everyone had a job. These people were from sixth grade. I did my job after I had lunch. My job was to sell Intenational Day Books.

We had displyas in the hall. These displays were good but I didn’t get to see them. They displays came from a lot of countries.

There were also a Trash and Treasure stall where they sold toys. The school got these things by asking the children to bring them in.

Resolution

Although I didn’t win anything, International Day was still fun.

Love from Sue

Announcement

2010-03-11T19:52:00.000+07:00

Announcement

Join the extracurricular programms at school.

Feel free to choose your favourite program.

Don’t miss out. Enjoy yourself.

Head of OSIS

Announcement

2010-03-10T19:49:00.000+07:00

Good morning, class.

Join our choir rehearsal every Saturday at 12.30 in the school hall.

All are invited.

Thank you

Spoken Note

2010-03-06T13:21:00.000+07:00

Morning class. Listen.
Time for the test.
Prepare a piece of paper.
Write your name on the top of the paper.
Remember. Don’t make any noise.

What is note?

2010-03-05T09:11:00.000+07:00

A note is a short informal written message.

(Oxford Concise Dictionary 10th Edition)

Here is an example of note :

Shirley,

I won’t be home until late.

Grandpa is in the hospital.

Lunch is on the table. Help yourself.

Wash the dishes.

Water the plants in the front garden.

Thanks

Mom

Narrative Text

2010-02-26T09:42:00.000+07:00

The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk

A Mouse who always lived on the land, by an unlucky chance, formed an intimate acquaintance with a Frog, who lived, for the most part, in the water.

One day, the Frog was intent on mischief. He tied the foot of the Mouse tightly to his own. Thus joined together, the Frog led his friend the Mouse to the meadow where they usually searched for food.
After this, he gradually led him towards the pond in which he lived, until reaching the banks of the water, he suddenly jumped in, dragging the Mouse with him.

The Frog enjoyed the water amazingly, and swam croaking about, as if he had done a good deed. The unhappy Mouse was soon sputtered and drowned in the water, and his poor dead body floating about on the surface.
A Hawk observed the foating Mouse from the sky, and dove down and grabbed it with his talons, carrying it back to his nest. The Frog, being still fastened to the leg of the Mouse, was also carried off a prisoner, and was eaten by the Hawk.

"Choose your allies carefully"

Narrative Text

2010-02-24T18:55:00.000+07:00

Principally, to tell a story means to make other people “enjoy, listen to, and think” the things we tell about. According to Derewianka (1990), the main goal of telling a story is to entertain, to get and to pay the attention of the readers or the listeners for what we tell them. However, telling a story can also have a function to educate or to inform, to express the author’s reflection about his experiences, and the last but not at least is to arouse the readers imagination.In our daily activities, we often tell something to our friends or our family, don’t we? We tell good news at our school or in our neighborhood, we also read or listen to news or story from others, we tell everything to friends, family and our relatives.

There are some kinds of narrative text. Narrative text is usually imaginative, but sometimes can be factual (really happened). Those belong to narrative text among others are fairy stories, mysteries, science fictions, romaines, horrors etc.

How is narrative text composed? Or what is the generic structure of Narrative text? Generally, a Narrative starts with Orientation, where the writer describes “the world” of his story. In this phase, the readers are acquainted to the characters or the participants of the story, and sometimes they are informed where and when the story took place. An atmosphere is created to make the readers curious to follow the story. Orientation can be shortly written, or can also be some pages of length.

In the middle of a narrative there will be a complication or a problem. Complication will make the story more interesting to enjoy, because on this phase the characters will face some handicaps to achieve their goals. Complication reflects reality life, and it makes the readers sure that there are always resolutions for any problems.

A good narrative gives a resolution for the complication. The resolution will finish the complication, even though there are also stories which let the readers think about the end of the stories or how the stories are resolved.

So we can conclude that the generic structure of a narrative text is :
• Orientation (the beginning or introduction) introduces main characters, setting and time.
• Complication ( middle ): the problem happens among the characters.
• Resolution (ending) : the problem is resolved.
A narrative text usually has moral value.

Based on the significant lexical grammatical, here are the characteristics of Narrative text :

• A specific participant, sometimes can be individual
• Uses many action verb (material processes) and also verbal and mental processes
• Often uses past tense
• Uses many linking words related to time
• Uses dialogues so the tense can be possibly changed
• Descriptive language is used to create imagination in the mind of the readers

• Can be written as the first person (I), or the third person (He, She, They). The use of the singular second person (you) is often used in the story of “choose-your-own-adventure”.

Cultural Notes

2010-02-08T16:40:00.000+07:00

1. About meals in Britain. The main meal of the day for most British people is the evening meal. Seven out of ten families with chidren sit down at a table for their weekday evening meal. What about Indonesian people? Which meal is the main meal of the day?

2. The U.S. government have strict rules about what things you can throw into the garbage and what things you cannot. People who break the rules have to pay large fines. What about in Indonesia?

Simple Sentence Using Be (Present)

2010-02-07T04:21:00.000+07:00

I am busy.

You are tired.

She is sad.

No	Subject Pronoun	Be (am, is, are)	Adjective
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.	I You He She It We They	am are is is is are are	busy tired sad diligent big happy kind

Make your own sentences using S + be!

Pronoun

2010-02-06T20:42:00.000+07:00

PRONOUN

	Subject Pronoun	Object Pronoun	Possessive Adjective	Possessive Pronoun	Reflexive
	... did it.	Show...	...book	It is ...	Hurt...
Sing.	I you he she it	me you him her it	my your his her its	mine yours his hers	myself yorself himself herself itself
Plural	we you they	us you them	our your their	ours yours theirs	ourselves yourselves themselves

Cultural Notes

2010-02-05T10:49:00.000+07:00

In the U.S. culture, people keep pets, such as dogs on leashed. Dogs should not be left wander. There is a strict rule on keeping dogs. What about in Indonesia. Is there a strict rule on keeping dogs? What animals are kept as pets in Indonesia?

Recount Text

2010-02-02T20:21:00.005+07:00

The social function of Recount text is to retell past event or something which happened in the past. The purpose of this text can be only to inform or even just to entertain. Derewianka (1990) identified three types of Recount text, namely Personal Recount, Factual Recount, and Imaginative Recount. Personal Recount exposes an event in which the writer or the author got involved or acted in the event himself. Belong to this type among others are daily funny incidents, entries of a diary, etc. Factual Recount is a note of an event, such as scientific experiment report, police report, newspaper report, history explanation, etc. Imaginative Recount is an unreal event or story, like reading texts for language lesson, a story about a life of a slave, etc. Hardy and Kalrwein (1990) divided two kinds of Recount, namely Personal Recount and Historical Recount.

GENERIC (SCHEMATIC) STRUCTURE

Recount text usually has three main parts, they are :

Orientation

identify a person or thing acted or got involved in the event, including the time, a certain place, the situation, etc.

Series of Events

ordered in a chronological sequence.

Re-orientation

not always (optional), it contains personal comments

Pay close attention to Derewianka Explanation below :

The focus is on a sequence of events, all of which relate to a particular occasion.

The Recount generally begins with an

Orientation

Giving the reader/listener the background information needeed to understand the text. (i.e., who was involved, where it happened, when it happened).

Then, the Recount unfolds with a

Series of events

ordered in a chronological sequence.

At various stages there may be some personal comment on the incident (e.g., We had a wonderful time).

An Example of Narrative Text

2010-01-25T17:05:00.013+07:00

Text organisation		Language features
Orientation	John slumped in the armchair, his arms crossed and his face with with a gloomy frown. He was a new kid in town, but no-one knew he was even there. John didn’t like anybody and they didn’t like him. All day he sat in the armchair, staring out the window.	who? where? mental process action verb
Complication	Through the window he saw a gigantic hollow tree in vacant lot. The tree seemed to call him. He stood slowly up, then started to walk towards the tree. Its branches were very thin and its roots dug into the ground like claws. The tree had thorns all over it. John tried to turn away from the tree but he couldn’t. A mysterious force was pulling him into the hollow.	linking words specific participants
Resolution	John never reappeared ... but no-one noticed or cared.

(Adapted from Derewianka, 1990)

How To Read and Write English

Descriptive Text

2010-01-22T09:20:00.000+07:00

Read the text below and answer the questions.

Dina is my classmate. She is thirteen years old. She is tall. Her hair is long. She is not fat.

She is very helpful to her friens. Her friends often ask for her helps to solve math problems.

All her friends and teachers like her.

She likes reading stories, cycling and playing badminton.

Questions

1. Who is Dina? .........................................

2. Do her friends like her?....................................

3. How old is she? ........................................

4. How does she look? .........................................

5. What colour is her hair? .........................................

6. Is her hair long? .........................................

7. Is she fat? .........................................

An Example of Descriptive Text

2010-01-21T22:12:00.001+07:00

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Generic Structure

Definition and time

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was a man-made structure that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Hanging Gardens originated in approximately 605 B.C.

Description of purpose

Babylon, the capital of Babylonia, was built between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, where modern Baghdad, in Iraq, stands today. King Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens for his wife, Amytis, who was the Princess of the Medes.

Description of features

and their use

The Hanging Gardens was built on arches overlooking the city walls. The lowest terrace was twenty-four metres off the ground and each succeeding terrace was three metres higher. There were about six terraces, so that the topmost terrace was forty metres off the ground.

Description of physical

Features (appearance)

The first stage of the building was a series of brick archways that were the same height as the city walls. Underneath them lay a shaded courtyard. On top of these arches, the Babylonians built long brick terraces in rows. These terraces were lined with lead, to hold the water, then covered with thick layers of fertile soil. Many exotic plants and trees were planted. Each of flower-bed was the size of a tennis court and the area of each terrace was thirty metres long by five metres long by five metres wide.

Descriptive Text

2010-01-20T17:31:00.001+07:00

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

The aim of descriptive text is basically to give information. The social context of this text is to describe a specific thing, animal, or human being ( certain thing, our pets or someone we know well), it is different from report text which describes something in general ( for example a specific of animal species, an architect of certain era, and so on).

We use the descriptive text to describe a particular person, place or thing. It focuses on specific participants. The description includes parts, qualities and characteristics.

The relation between the writer/the author and the readers in a descriptive text is as the authority and the unknown readers/listeners. The medium of a written descriptive text can be an encyclopedia, scientific magazines, text books, and history texts.
The generic structure of a descriptive text is as follows :
• Classification or Definition
• Description of features in order of importance.

The vocabularies often used in a descriptive text are the words which are related to names of places : locations, destinations, the functions, the appearances and the evidences if needed (for building). For animals, the words are used to describe the classification, the physical appearances, habitats, behaviour, life cycles, and the function. The language is neutral or objective.

Descriptive Text often uses the form of be : present or past and one of have form. The present tense is often used in this kind of text, but sometimes we can also use the past tense to describe a certain thing which is extinct or not available nowadays. The passive form is also often used here.

The language functions, the grammar and also the words which are often used in a descriptive text are :

• Defining : a/the .......was a .....
• Describing features (properties) : adjectives
• Expressing cause and effect : because, so, as a result

Descriptive text is often equipped with photos, diagrams, maps and so on.

Kinds Of Text

2010-01-19T16:46:00.006+07:00

Hello everybody. It is my pleasure to be able to write something for you. In this blog I would like to motivate you to be fond of reading and writing in English. I realize that there are still many students complaining about their English competence. They still get difficulties to understand English texts and to express their ideas in English even though they have started studying English from elementary school. They still can't read and write well.

OK don't worry! Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Just write what you want to write. Express your ideas in English. I will read your writing and you can consult me anything. There must be something valuable in your sentence. I'd appreciate it. We can study together.

Through this blog I want to share my experiences and my knowledge for you. I will give you examples of kinds of text and some short functional texts which are very useful to master.

Genre or Kinds of Text which are very familiar with students are :
1. Descriptive
2. Narrative
3. Recount
4. Procedure
5. Report
We will discuss each of the text above, analyze the generic structure of the text, the grammar or the structure of the sentence used in the text and more. I will also give some questions related to the text for you. And there will be some exercises of grammar concerning with the text for you to complete.

Please feel free to ask your questions, give your opinion or consult your difficulties. I will try to help your problem. You can give your comment in English or in Indonesian.

I hope this will be useful especially for students of elementary and secondary schools.

You may give me respond or criticize for the shake of our English improvement.I also a human being. It is normal if I make mistakes sometime but please remind me if do something wrong. I'm sure you can perfect your English.

Come on everybody! Express your idea in English. Don't be afraid of making mistakes in the structure or the grammar of your sentence. I will try to help you. Let's start from the simple and easy sentences.

Good luck.