NARRATIVE TEXT; A Farmer and A Box

This is another example of narrative text. If you want to know what narrative and how it is structure, read what is a narrative text? A narrative text is narrating, telling a story. Its purpose is amusing the reader with a story. Let's see the following example of narrative text.

Narrative Story in a Farmer and a Box 
Once time, there was a poor farmer. He lived with his wife. One day, he dug up his field and found a big box. He then kept it in their house.
One sunny morning, his wife dropped an apple in the box. Suddenly, the box begun filled with apples. No matter how many apples were taken out,  more apples took place in the box.
One day, the framer dropped a gold coin into that box. At once, apples disappeared and the box begun filled up with gold coins. Soon the farmer became rich.
Having heard that his son got rich, the framer's father visited the couple. His father was not very strong. He could not go out to work anymore. So the farmer asked his old father to help him take the gold coins out of the box.
His father worked hard, took the gold coins out of the box. When he told that he was very tired and wanted to have a rest, the farmer shouted at him; "Why are you so lazy? Why can't you work harder?. The old man said nothing and continued to work. Suddenly the old man fell into the box, he died.  At once the gold coins disappeared and the box begun filled up with dead men.
The framer had to pull out and burried. To do this, the farmer had to spend all the money which he had collected before. When he had used up all his money, the box broke. The farmer  was just as poor as before.

Narrative in Love Story "Naruto and Hinata"

Naruto was walking alone in the Konoha village, he saw Hinata and waved to her. Fortunately
Hinata turned around and walked over to him.

"Hey, Hinata, would you like to take a walk with me?" Naruto asked smilingly but Hinata blushed and looked down, quiet for a second.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Naruto ask looking at her.
"Oh! Um nothing Naruto kun. I... I love to.. walk with with you." Hinata said shyly.

Naruto placed his hands behind his head and smiled. Hinata walked by him as the two were silent for a moment. "Hinata, why are you so quiet all the time?" Naruto broke the silent.
Hinata didnt answer, then hesitated, "....I.... I've... always... been... that way." She said softly.
"I see. You need to talk more-- how am I supposed to know more about you, if you don't talk. You're always acting weird around me." Naruto pointed out.
Hinata looked at him shyly then looked down looking ashamed. "S.......sorry. I--"
"Hm?" Naruto replied not opening his mouth.
"I..... I l--li.....like y.. you!" She said finally committing her feelings. Her face blushed a deep red.

Naruto stopped walking. He didn't know what to say. Silence took ove the moment.
Tears filled in Hinata's eyes "S-sorry!" She said in a quiet tone as she took off running, ashamed. Tears flew from her eyes as she ran passed.

Naruto ran after her. But Hinata ran fast. Suddenly She tripped on a tree stump. Her face implanted in the dirt, as her hands clenched the grass and dirt. She sobbed quietly.

Naruto finally caught up to her. He crouched down, placed his hand, shaking on Hinatas shoulder. "Hinata... do... do you really like me?" He asked in his quiet tone.
Under her muffled crying voice, Hinata answered, "y...yes..."
Naruto didn't answer for a moment, then he replied, "Well... I have...feelings for you too.... I like you, Hinata"

Note: This example of narrative text in love story of Naruto and Hinata is arranged from: quizilla.teennick.com/stories/4743668/hinata-and-naruto-mini-story

Test TOEFL

Contoh Soal Toefl

TOEFL begitu pentingnya sampai-sampai banyak buku diterbitkan untuk membahas masalah ini. Tidak hanya itu, banyak juga kursus-kursus persiapan TOEFL yang diselenggarakan. Bahkan ada juga yang melayani secara online. Semuanya tentu membutuhkan uang yang tidak sedikit. Bagaimana untuk kawan-kawan yang keuangannya bisa dibilang kurang.? tenang, saya akan memberikan solusi kepada kawan kawan.

Pada postingan kali ini saya akan membahas tentang TOEFL, bukan mengajari anda agar mendapat nilai TOEFL yang bagus, tetapi hanya memberikan Contoh Soal TOEFLnya saja. Bagaimana bentuk Soal latihan Toefl yang akan saya share ini.?? Seperti biasanya, Listening, Structure and Written Expressions, dan Reading Comprehension. Setiap bagian memiliki alokasi waktu pengerjaan tersendiri. Jadi, tidak diperbolehkan mengerjakan bagian lain ketika sedang berada pada alokasi untuk mengerjakan bagian tertentu.

Langsung saja yah save contoh soal toefl dan pembahasannya dibawah ini ke komputer/laptop Anda:

Comparative Adjectives

Comparative adjectives are used when describing the differences between ONLY two items.

For example, take the two words: orangutan and rhinoceros

• Rhinoceros is a longer word than orangutan; or

• Orangutan is a shorter word than rhinoceros.

Comparative adjectives, used to describe only two items, can be used to describe groups of items as long as there are only two groups.

For example:

• Their swim team was faster than our swim team.

Comparative Adjective Suffixes

With one syllable adjectives and sometimes two syllable adjectives, especially those ending in "y", we add the suffix "er". When the adjective is multi-syllabic we sometimes use the the terms "more" or "less" to describe the comparison. Never use both "er" and "more" or "less". E.g., The meal was more better than last night. This is INCORRECT.

For example:

• big, bigger
• happy, happier
• obnoxious, more obnoxious
• careful, less careful

Note:

• When the adjective ends in "e" just add an "r". (E.g., late, later)
• When the adjective has a consonant, vowel, consonant ending, double the ending letter and add "er". (E.g., red, redder)

• When the adjective ends in a "y", change the "y" to "i" and add "er". (E.g., early, earlier)

Remember: There are always irregular forms that don't follow these rules. E.g., good, better; bad, worse; little, less.

Superlative Adjectives

Superlative adjectives are used when describing three items or more. Superlative adjectives are never used with two items. They are used to express the highest degree of the item you are expressing in comparison to the other items. They are the most extreme in the group of items.

For example, take the three words: orangutan, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus

• Hippopotamus is the longest word; or
• Orangutan is the shortest word.

Superlative Adjective Suffixes

With one syllable adjectives and sometimes two syllable adjectives, especially those ending in "y", we add the suffix "est". When the adjective is multi-syllabic we sometimes use the the terms "most" or "least" to describe the comparison. Never use both "est" and "most" or "least".

For example:

• big, bigger, biggest
• happy, happier, happiest
• obnoxious, more obnoxious, most obnoxious

• careful, less careful, least careful

Note:

• When the adjective ends in "e" just add an "st". (E.g., late, later, latest)
• When the adjective has a consonant, vowel, consonant ending, double the ending letter and add "est". (E.g., red, redder, reddest)
• When the adjective ends in a "y", change the "y" to "i" and add "est". (E.g., early, earlier, earliest)

Again, remember: There are always irregular forms that don't follow these rules. E.g., good, better, best; bad, worse, worst; little, less, least.

Relative Pronoun

Definition: We use the relative pronouns to refer to a noun mentioned before and of which we are adding more information. They are used to join two or more sentences and forming in that way what we call "relative sentences". Relative pronouns Who, Whom, That, Which whoever, whomever, whichever For example: People who speak two languages are called bilingual. * In this example, the relative "who" introduces the relative sentence "speak two languages" that describes or gives more information about the noun "people". Relative pronouns: Subject or Object As the relative pronouns relate to another noun preceding it in the sentence, they connect a dependent clause to an antecedent (a noun that precedes the pronoun.) Therefore, relative pronouns acts as the subject or object of the dependent clause. For example: The chef who won the competition studied in Paris. * Here, "who" relates back to (or is relative to) the noun "Chef". "Who" also acts as the subject of the dependent clause and the verb "won". => The dependent clause: who won the competition. => The independent clause: The chef studied in Paris. The shirt that Carl bought has a stain on the pocket. * Here, "that" relates back to (or is relative to) the noun "shirt". "That" is also the object of the verb "bought". => The dependent clause is: that Carl bought. => The independent clause: The shirt has a stain on the pocket. Referring to people: Who, Whom, Whoever, Whomever These pronouns take a different case depending on whether the relative pronoun is a subject or an object in the dependent clause. 1.    Subjective case Use the subjective case when these relative pronouns are the subject (initiating the action) of the dependent clause: Who, Whoever For example: §  Negotiations were not going smoothly between the two leaders, who made no bones about not liking each other. * "Who" relates back to the noun "leaders" and is the subject of the dependent clause and the verb "made". §  Most workers, whoever was not employed by the auto manufacturer, toiled at one of the millions of little minnow companies. * "Whoever" relates back to the noun "workers" and is the subject of the dependent clause and the verb "was employed". 2.    Objective case Use the objective case when these relative pronouns are the object (receiving the action) of the dependent clause: Whom, Whomever For example: §  This is the approach taken by journalists, whom some consider to be objective. * "Whom" relates back to the noun "journalists" and is the object of the verb "consider". The subject of the dependent clause is "some". §  The three representatives, whomever the committee chooses, should be at the meeting tomorrow. * "Whomever" relates back to the noun representatives and is the object of the verb "chooses". The subject of the dependent clause is "Committee". Referring to a place, thing or idea: Which, That When using relative pronouns for places, things or ideas, rather than determining case, the writer must decide whether the information in the dependent clause is essential to the meaning of the independent clause or simply additional information. When information is critical to the understanding of the main clause, use That as the appropriate relative pronoun and do not set the information off by commas. For example: Russian generals have delivered a message that is difficult to ignore. * "That" relates back to the noun "message" and is necessary for the reader to know what "message" the sentence is about. There is another factor that obviously boosts the reputation of both of these men. * "That" relates back to the noun "factor" and is necessary for the reader to know what "factor" the sentence is about. When information is not critical to the understanding of the main clause, use "Which" as the appropriate relative pronoun and set the information off by commas. For example: The toughest intramural fight of all for Clinton was the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he undertook a full year before the 1994 election. * "Which" relates back to the noun "agreement" and the information following it is not necessary for the reader to know what "agreement" the sentence is about. Clinton refused to head toward the center on affirmative action and abortion,which are the two most sacred issues to the traditional liberal wing of the party. * "Wich" relates back to the noun "affirmative action and abortion" and the information following it is not necessary for the reader to know what "affirmative action and abortion" the sentence is about. When referring to more than one place, thing or idea use these relative pronouns:Whatever, Whichever For example: The three approaches, whichever works is fine, produce a more ambiguous picture of a man. * "Whichever" relates to the noun "approaches" and the information contained within the commas is additional, not critical information. Any excessive profits, whatever exceeded accepted limits, would attract the notice of representatives. * "Whatever" relates to the noun "profits" and the information contained within the commas is additional, not critical information.

Reading strategies: scanning, skimming and intensive reading

You will probably be aware that you are already skilled in using different reading strategies for different purposes in your daily life. You may feel less confident about doing this in your academic studies: maybe you read everything too thoroughly. Or perhaps you have become too confident and have discovered from the feedback from your tutor or supervisor that you do not read key texts thoroughly enough. It is important to match your reading strategy to the reading purpose.

Consider whether you ever read for these purposes and what reading strategy you tend to use:

Reading purpose	Example from daily life	Example from academic work
1.  look for specific information when you know how to locate it by following a procedure	·    look up the meaning of a word in a dictionary	·    look for a particular reference in a reference list of an article
2.  search for specific information that may be somewhere a text	·    check particular details of an incident reported in a newspaper article	·    check what research methods the authors of a research report article used
3.  look quickly through a text to see what it is about before deciding to read it	·    see whether a magazine article will be worth reading	·    see whether an academic article is going to be relevant for your task
4.  read quickly through a text to gain an overview of its content	·    read through a new recipe	·    read a front-line text which is relevant but not central to your task
5.  read through an easy text where it is not important to remember all that you’ve read	·    read a novel	·    read a textbook chapter to revise a subject that you know well
6.  read a text thoroughly to understand and remember what you’ve read	·    read the instructions for booking and paying for a journey on-line	·    read a front-line text whose content is central to your task

You may find it useful to think in terms of three main reading strategies:

·    scanning - looking through a text to find keywords and phrases that are likely to indicate the specific information that you are seeking, then reading just this piece of the text (situations 1 and 2 above)

·    skimming - reading just those parts of a text that are most likely to indicate what the authors are talking about at different points in order to gain an overview of the content (situations 3 and 4)

·    intensive reading - reading through every word of a text from beginning to end (situations 5 and 6)

For many reading purposes in academic work you may have noticed that you use more than one strategy in sequence. For a particular text that turns out to be centrally important for your reading purpose, the sequence might be:

·    scan the title and abstract to see whether the text is likely to be at all relevant

·    scan through parts of the content to see whether particular details in the text confirm that it will be relevant

·    skim the text to gain an overview of its content and confirm how centrally relevant it is

·    intensively read the whole text since it clearly is centrally relevant, so as to understand and evaluate its content in depth

A secret of efficient reading, that will soon become automatic if you consciously do it for every text, is to check how well the reading strategy you are going to use next fits your reading purpose.

·    Check your reading purpose and then use scanning, skimming or intensive reading - either on their own or in sequence - as required to achieve this purpose.

There are many textbooks and websites that offer general guidance on reading strategies. Some include practical exercises to help you improve your skills. If search with your website browser using keywords such as ‘skim read’ or ‘scan skim’ will lead you to plenty of sites.

Gerunds

Gerund adalah kata benda yang berasal dari kata kerja ditambah –ing, misalnyaswimming, eating, fishing, shopping, dancing, dan singing. Bila diperhatikan, gerundmempunyai bentuk yang sama dengan present participle, bedanya gerund berfungsi sebagai kata benda, sedangkan present participle sebagai kata sifat yang menerangkan kata benda.

Dalam kalimat, gerund berfungsi sebagai:
a. subjek (subject)
b. pelengkap subjek (subjective complement)
c. objek langsung (direct object)
d. objek preposisi (object of preposition)
e. aposisi (appositive)


Subject
Gerund sebagai subjek pokok kalimat, contoh:
- Swimming is good service.
- Your singing is very beautiful.
- Studying needs time and patience.
- Playing tennis is fun.
- Reading English is easier than speaking it.

Subjective Complement
Gerund sebagai pelengkap subjek dalam kalimat biasanya selalu didahului to be yang terletak di antara subject dan subjective complement, contoh:
- My favorite sport is running.
- My favorite activity is reading.

Direct Object
Gerund sebagai objek langsung dalam kalimat, contoh:
- I enjoy dancing.
- She likes dancing.
- Thank you for your coming.
- I hate arguing.

Object of Preposition
Gerund sebagai objek preposisi yang terletak setelah preposisi. Preposisi yang sering dipakai adalah of, on, no, with, without, at for, after, before, because of, to, like, about, for, by, in.
Contoh:
- He is tired of gambling.
- I am fond of eating bakso.
- He insisted on seeing her.
- I have no objection to hearing your story.
- You will not be clever without studying.
- They are good at telling funny stories.
- In sleeping I met you in the park.

Appositive
Gerund sebagai aposisi atau penegas dalam kalimat, contoh:
- My hobby, fishing, is interesting.
- I do not like quarrelling, a useless job.
My hobby is fishing dan fishing is interesting diletakkan bersebelahan dalam sebuah kalimat sebagai appositive (fishing adalah aposisi dari my hobby), begitu juga contoh kalimat dibawahnya.

GERUND is the “continuous form of a verb”.

Read this sentence.

. Smoking is prohibited here.

The word “smoking” is formed from the verb smoke by adding –ing.

You can see that here in this sentence, the word “smoking” does the function of a subject (Noun). So, it is a Verb-Noun.

That is called Gerund.

On many occasions the “continuous form of the verb” can be used as a noun.

“Smoke” is the simple present-tense form.

“Smoked” is the past-tense form of the verb “smoke”.

“Smoking” is the continuous form of the verb “smoke”.

Those continuous forms of many verbs can be used as nouns.

Those nouns are called “verbal nouns”.

“GERUND” is one of the two verbal nouns.

The other verbal noun is “Infinitive”.

We have seen the “Infinitive” in another section.

Let us see “Gerund” now.

A gerund is that form of the verb which ends in –ing and has the force of a noun and a verb. 

1. A gerund is used as the subject of a verb.

Examples:

• Smoking is prohibited here.

• Reading improves your knowledge.

• Running behind a running-car is dangerous.

• Walking alone is what he likes the most.

• Buying vegetables in that market is a difficult affair.

• Following others is not advisable.

You can easily see that the subjects in all these sentences are in gerund forms.

2. A gerund is used as an object of a verb.

Examples:

• Begin reading the book.

• I like going for a walk.

• They prefer buying online rather offline.

3. Object of a preposition.

Examples:

• My neighbor is good at breeding dogs.

• I am fond of eating sweets.

• Before entering the room, please remove your foot-wear.

4. Complement of a verb.

Examples:

• What I detest the most is drinking alcohol.

• Seeing is not believing.