This document discusses understanding sentence patterns and punctuation. It covers identifying the key parts of a sentence like the subject and predicate. It also discusses recognizing complete sentences and locating details in sentences. Different punctuation like commas, semicolons, colons, and dashes are explained. Context clues for determining word meanings like definition, example, cause and effect, contrast and inference are also summarized. Finally, it discusses reading sentences that combine or relate ideas.

1. Understanding sentence
patterns
By
syarif hidayat
IV.A.ENGLISH

2. punctuation
• The comma
– The introductory use
• Used to separate introductory, beginning or opening
parts of the sentence
– Before the war began, American colonist had already been
rebelling in several years
– The parenthetical use
• Can be used to separate additional information from
the main part of the sentence
– Hypochondria, excessive worry over one’s health, is
common among senior citizens.

3. – The serial use
• Can be used to separate several items presented
in a list, or series.
– There are four components of communicative
competence namely , grammatical competence,
sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence,
and strategic competence.
– The related use
• Can be used to join two closely related and
complete ideas within a single sentence
• The comma must be used with conjunction and,
nor, but, for
– we as instructors cannot be held responsible for the
differences in ability that students bring in the classroom,
but we are responsible for motivating our students and
for making sure that they are involved in learning.

4. • The semicolon
– The semicolon separates two very closely
related ideas of first and second sentence
• As language teachers, most of us have had the
experience that we have in our classes some
students who are an absolutely joy to teach; they
progress quickly, they present no problem; they
seem pick up the new language with amazing
ease; they almost always seem to be a jump
ahead of us.
• Children who view a lot of tv can concentrate on a
subject for only fifteen two twenty minutes; they
can pay attention only for the amount of time
between t.v commercials.

5. • The colon
– Used to introduce a list of thing, statement,
explanation or example of previous material
and quotation
– Also serve as a marker indicating that the
sentence’s core parts precede the colon
• The ingredients are as follow: eggs, sugar, flour,
butter, salt, and milk.
• Perhaps 85 percent of an actor’s work is looking
for work: you have to send out letters, meet people
who might be able to offer you work, and so on.
• Strategies can be categorized under three broad
process types: hypothesis formation, hypothesis
testing, and automatisation.

6. • The dash
– Used to separate unessential or parenthetical
elements from the core parts of sentence
– Also helps readers in separating core parts
from supporting information.
• The three examples we have outlined thus far –
pupil age, educational framework, stage of
proficiency – are of roughly the same kind, and
they seem to be allied to other.

7. Context clues
• Context clues help the readers to figure out
the meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Type of context clues:
– As definition, example, cause and effect,
contrast, restatement, and modifier.

8. Definition clues
• Many writes define a word, directly and indirectly,
immediately following its use. the writer may define a word
directly by giving a brief definition or providing a synonym by
using such as words and phrase as means, is, are, refers to,
can be defined as, can be called, and are called
• Indirect definitions usually follow the word and are set off by
commas, parentheses, or dashes.
– Learning is an active process of translating knowledge, insights, and
skill into behavior
– Induction refers to the process of reasoning from the known to the
unknown.
– Hypochondria, excessive worry over one’s health, is common among
senior citizens.
– Some stores offer loss leaders (products on which the stores lose
money) to gain the new customers.
– Probability – the likelihood that an event will occur – is important in
the field of statistics.

9. Example clues
• Writers often include example that help to
explain or clarify a word by using for instance,
such as, like, etc.
– Toxic material, such as arsenic, asbestos,
pesticides, and lead, can cause bodily damage.
– Unconditioned response, including heartbeat,
blinking, and breathing, occur naturally in all
humans.
– The biological base relates to physical
characteristics, for example the color of the skin,
shape of the eyes, nose, mouth, etc

10. Cause and effect
• The writer uses cause and effect relationship to
help the readers figure out the meaning of
unknown word
• The signal words might be one of the these
expressions : because, consequently, so, due to,
as a result, etc
– Mary’s eyes had been sore for almost a week, so her
mother decided to take her to an occultist for a
treatment.
– Computer is very expensive, so we cannot affort to buy
it.
– The first multiword utterances are not easy to identify,
because they are difficult to distinguish from sequences
of single-word u

11. Contrast clues
• The writer sometime possible to determine
the meaning of an unknown word from a
word or phrase in the context that has an
opposite meaning.
– One of the dinner guests succumbed to the
temptation to have a second piece of cake, but
the other resisted.
– During the ceremony, the graduates were quite,
but afterward they became boisterous.
– I am certain that the hotel will hold our
reservation, but if you are dubious, call to make
sure.

12. Inference clues
• The reader can figure out the meaning of the
unknown word by using logic and reasoning
skills
– Bob is quite versatile; he is a good student, a top
athlete, and excellent car mechanic, and a
gourmet cook
– An unscrupulous shop owner tried to sell as an
antique a glass vase that had been made last
year.
– The wallabies at the zoo looked like kangaroos

13. restatement
• The writer sometimes repeats the unfamiliar word
by using some other words that are familiar to the
readers by using the following expression as signal:
or, in other words, that is to say, that is, etc.
• the writer sometimes uses the following marks to
signal what the writer repeats: commas,
parenthesis, and dashes.
– The instructors also teach the culture (the ideas and
beliefs of society)
– Students memorize information; in other words, they
learn and remember basic rule and facts.
– An awareness of body language – the subtle messages
conveyed by posture, hand movement, eyes, smile – is
one among the many avenues to improve communication
by adult.

14. modifier
• The writer may explain an unknown word by
using a phrase or a clause after it. The
phrase or the clause modifies the word.
– They have city manager, who run all the service
departments of the government and takes charge
of buying, for the city.
– An illiterate person, being unable to read or write,
is often cited.
– Single-letter consonant spelling are virtually
invariant – each letter stands for a single sound.

15. Understanding sentences
• A sentence is commonly defined as a group
of words that express a complete thought or
idea.
• A sentence must be about one thing – the
subject; and some action that happens in
relation to the subject – predicate.
• To read a sentence effectively, it is necessary
to develop the ability to recognize the
structure of a sentence as well as to identify
the core part which convey the essential
meaning of the sentence.

16. Recognize complete sentences
• Incomplete sentence only give a reader only
partial information
– Slipped off the side of the road into the ditch
during a winter storm.
– The tractor-trailer slipped off the side of the road
into the ditch during a winter storm
• A complete sentence thought is one that
supplies enough information to give you (a
reader) the full meaning being expressed by
the writer.

17. Identifying key ideas/core parts
• To read and understand a sentence, you should be able to
quickly identify
• Every sentence expresses at least one key idea, or basic
message and it made up of two parts, a simple subject and a
simple predicate
• The simple subject, usually a noun, identifies the person or
object
• The simple predicate is verb, which tells what the person or
object is doing or has done
• Example: - the average American drank six gallons of
beer last years
- the most beautiful girl in the world stands
beside me
- intelligence, as measured by IQ, depends
on the kind of test given, the skill of the
examiner, and the cooperation of the subject.

18. Locating details
• After identify the key idea, the next step
understanding a sentence is to see how the details
effect its meaning
• Detail is the additional information of key idea or
basic message, usually they answer such questions
about the subject or predicate as what, where,
which, when, how, or why.
• As you read a sentence, be sure to notice how the
details change, limit, or add to the meaning of the
key idea.
• Example:
– Sam drove his car to toronto last week
– Last night I read with interest a magazine article on sailing

19. Reading sentences that combine ideas
• Many sentences express more than one key idea.
• This is done for one of three reasons:
– To clarify the ideas
– To emphasize their connection
– to show that they are of equal importance
• Often you can spot combined ideas by the punctuation in the
sentence. Two complete ideas can be combined by
– Using a semicolon
• Example : some students hate math; other enjoy it.
television is entertaining; it can also be educational
– Using a comma followed by a conjunction (and, but, or, nor, so, for,
yet)
• Example : John expect a good grade, but he received a D.
My writing instructor assigns a lot of work, and she is very
particular about how it is done.
Data processing is my major, so I have to take several math
courses.

20. Reading sentences that relate ideas
• Often a writer expands a sentence by adding
a related but less important idea
• This related idea has its own noun and verb,
but it express and incomplete though and
cannot stand by itself and cannot stand by
itself.
• Example:
– Because Hal forgot to buy the newspaper, he
couldn’t check the want ads for used cars.
– I did my math homework while I waited for the
bus

21. Understanding paragraphs
• A paragraph is a group of related sentences about a
single topic or as a group of related ideas
• Paragraph has four essential parts:
– Topic
– Main idea
– Detail
– Transitions.
• The first thing need to know is what the paragraph is
about (the topic)
• To understand each of the sentences and what they
are saying.
• See how the sentences relate to one another
• To consider what all the sentences, taken together,
mean.

22. 1. the topic
• The one thing the whole paragraph is about
• To identify the topic of a paragraph, ask the question:
“who or what is the paragraph about?”
1. The main idea
• The point that the whole paragraph makes
• The most general statement the writer makes about the
topic
1. Details or supporting details
• The sentences that explain the main idea
1. Transition
• The words or phrase connects the ideas of sentences

23. Identifying the topic
• What is the topic?
– The one thing a paragraph is about
– Every sentence in the paragraph discusses or explains
this topic
• One of the largest components of debt is the mortgage, the debt
owed on real estate. In speaking of the mortgage market it is
important to distinguish between real estate mortgage and
mortgages as a type of security for a debt obligation. In one
sense, one mortgage a car to secure a car loan. Anytime an
asset is pledged to secure a loan, a mortgage is created. Since
real estate loans are so typically secured by a pledge of real
estate, such loans are themselves called mortgages. Mortgage
borrowing exceeds the combined borrowing of corporations and
municipalities by a wide margin

24. Finding the main idea
• The sentence that most clearly states
main idea is called the topic sentence
• A question that will guide a reader in
finding the main idea is “what is the author
saying about the topic”

25. The topic sentence
• Topic sentence first
– The location is at the beginning of the paragraph
– May appear as the very first sentence or after
introductory or transitional sentence (one that
connects to the previous paragraph)

26. – Example :
• Communication is essential to any kind of social system.
Even the apparently solitary male orangutan starts the day
with a booming cry that tells other orangutans where he is.
Sounds of this kind are common among the primates and
many other mammals. Where primates live in social groups,
communication is much more complicated. The animals must
judge other’ emotion, which are conveyed by gestures and
sounds. Bluffing is very important, and all the apes have
biological structures adapted for bluffing. Gorillas, for
example, pound their chests, hoot, and through objects. In
orangutans there are very large sacs connected with the
larynx, and around the shoulders stands up. This has the
effect of making the creature look two or three times its
normal size, and being subject to a sudden bluff of this kind
can be a scary experience.

27. • Topic sentence last
– It is expressed in the second-to-last sentence,
with the last sentence functioning as a
restatement or as a transition to connect the
paragraph with what follow
– When the topic sentence occurs last, you can
expect the writer to build a structure of ideas and
offer the topic sentence as a concluding
statement
– Commonly used in argumentative or persuasive
writing

28. • Example
– We can measure the radioactivity of plants and animals
today and compare this with the radioactivity of ancient
organic matter. If we extract a small, but precise, quantity
f carbon from an ancient wooden ax handle, for example,
and find it has one-half as much radioactivity as an equal
quantity of carbon extracted from a living tree, made from
a log that died 5730 years ago. In this way, we can probe
into the past as much as 50,000 years to find out such
things as the age of ancient civilizations or the time of the
ice ages that covered the earth
• in this paragraph begins by explaining that radio activity of plants
and animal can measured and can be compared with older
organic matter
• Uses an example describing how the radioactivity of an ancient
ax handle can be measured and how its age can be determined
• In the last sentence the author states the main idea.

29. • Topic sentence in the middle
– In the middle of paragraph
– The topic sentence splits the paragraph into two
parts:
• Sentences preceding the topic sentence lead up to or
introduce the main idea. The preceding sentences
may function as a transition, connecting the idea to be
expressed in the paragraph with ideas in previous
paragraph.
• Sentence follow the topic sentence usually explain,
describe, or provide further information about the
main idea.

30. • Economic have devoted much effort to finding ways
of stabilizing the economy. We even have an act of
congress—the employment act of 1946—which
states that the federal government has the
responsibility to promote maximum employment,
production, and purchasing power. Reading these
words in the 1970s and 1980s you will certainly be
aware that our economists and our government
haven’t solved the problem of providing jobs and
goods at stable prices. You probably know people
who have been unemployed for long periods of time
—perhaps even to the point of thinking that they will
never find jobs again. You’ve also seen the prices of
goods you buy increase faster than the money to
pay for them. And you’ve heard tv newscasters say
thing like," this has been one of the auto industry’s
worst year. Sales of new cars were 2 million less
than in 1972.”

31. • Topic sentence first and last
– In the beginning and again at the end of
paragraph
– Often used for emphasis or clarification
– Writer wants emphasize an important idea, he
or she may repeat it at the end of paragraph
or to restate another way in order to ensure
that the reader understand it

32. • The study of prehistoric humans is, of necessity,
the study of their fossils remains. To begin to
understand who our ancestors were and what they were
like, we must able to interpret the fragments of them that
are coming to the surface in increasing numbers. Given
fairly reliable methods to determine their age, we can now
turn with more confidence to primate fossils for an answer
to the all-important question: how do we tell monkeys, apes,
and humans apart? For present-day species this is no
problem: all have evolved sufficiently so common ancestor.
The farther back we go in time, the more similar their fossils
begin to look. There finally comes a point when they are
indistinguishable. The construction of primate fossil
family tree is essential if we are ever going to
discover the line of descent from early hominid to
modern human

33. Major and minor supporting details
• There are potential disadvantages to group therapy.
Many psychologists feel that the interactions in group
situations are too superficial to be of much benefit. A patient
with deep-seated conflicts may be better treated by a
psychotherapists in individual therapy; the therapist can
exert consistent pressure, refusing to let the patient avoid
the crucial issues, and she or he can control the therapeutic
environment more effectively. Another criticism of groups is
that they are too powerful. If the group starts to focus on one
individual’s defense mechanism—which are used for
reason, remember—that individual might break down. If not
trained therapist is present—which is often the case in
encounter groups—the result can be disastrous.
– Major detail : directly explain and support the main idea.