article

PENGGUNAAN ARTICLE A, AN DAN THE

     Ø  Perbedaan Penggunaan Article A vs AN

Sebagai article, “A” dan “AN” artinya adalah satu. Dalam bahasa Indonesia, kedua article ini dapat diterjemahkan menjadi sebuah/seekor/sehelai dst. Hal ini tergantung dari noun yang mengikutinya. Misalnya :

-          An apple        = sebuah apel

-          A lady            = seorang wanita

-          A tiger           = seekor harimau

-          A leaf             = sehelai daun, dst

Ø  Penggunaan A dan AN

1.         A dan AN hanya dapat diikuti oleh singular nouns (benda tunggal), tetapi tidak pernah secara langsung diikuti oleh uncountable nouns (benda yang tidak dapat dihitung). Olehnya itu, akan INCORRECT jika anda menulis,

-          I need a water (water:uncountable noun)

-          I just ate a bread (bread:uncountable noun)

-          She just heard a bad news about her parents (news:uncountable noun)

Kalimat ini akan menjadi benar jika article A dihilangkan atau jika didepan uncountable noun (i.e. water dan bread) ditambahkan penakar (container) atau pengukur yang berfungsi untuk menyatakan berapa banyak/volume/ukuran dari uncountable nouns tersebut.

-          I need water atau I need a glass of water

-          I just ate bread atau I just ate a big slice of bread

-          She just heard bad news about her parents atau she just heard a piece of bad news about her parents

2.       A dan AN  digunakan untuk mengekspresikan sebuah singular noun secara umum (in general). Contoh :

-          A footballs is usually made of leather (leather=kulit, dalam konteks ini jangan gunakan kata skin. Leather adalah animal skin yang sudah diolah)

-          AN artist should keep a good relationship with fans

3.       A dan AN digunakan untuk merujuk ke sebuah singular noun yang belum pernah disebutkan sebelumnya. Contoh :

-          I met a guy last night

-          My company just build a new skyscraper (skyscraper=gedung pencakar langit)

Ø  Penggunaan Article THE

Ada beberapa rules yang harus anda pahami dalam menggunakan article THE

1.         The umumnya digunakan untuk merujuk noun yang sudah pernah disebutkan sebelumnya. Dengan adanya the, noun yang dimaksud menjadi lebih spesifik. Noun tersebut bisa countable, bisa juga uncountable noun. Jika countable noun, noun tersebut bisa singular, bisa juga plural. Dalam hal ini, the dapat berarti tersebut atau itu, atau kadang-kadang ini. Contoh :

-          I met a guy last night. The guy asked my number and whether I would go out for a date (number=nomor telepon, date=kencan). Dalam kalimat ini, the bisa digantikan dengan that.

-          The water in my well is contaminated (well=sumur, contaminated=terkontaminasi). Dalam kalimat ini, the tidak pantas digantikan dengan that, karena “water” di kalimat ini sudah diterangkan oleh “in my well”. Coba terjemahkan, terasa janggal bukan?

-          Three students didn’t perform well in my exam. The (three) students hadn’t studied hard enough before the exam. Dalam kalimat ini, kata three adalah optional (bisa digunakan, bisa juga dihilangkan), karena maknanya sudah dipahami oleh lawan bicara atau pembaca. Di kalimat ini, the dapat digantikan dengan those/these. Jika anda masih ragu dalam penggunaan those/these, akan lebih aman jika anda menggunakan the.

-          There are many persons named Agnes Monica on Facebook. You will have hard timeto find the Agnes Monica who sings Matahariku.

Sebaliknya, the tidak digunakan jika kita membicarakan uncountable nouns atau plural nouns secara umum (in general). Contoh :

a.        Water needs to be conserved (air perlu dikonservasi/dilindungi)

b.        Sugar is sweet (gula(rasanya)manis)

c.        Durians are very smelly (durian-durian sangat bau/baunya keras)

d.        Lazy students hardly get good grades (murid-murid yang malas hamper tidak pernah mendapt nilai bagus)

2.       Kata seperti breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper (=dinner), school, church, home dan college pada umumnya tidak membutuhkan article. Tetapi jika noun ini dirujuk, barulah article the diperlukan. Contoh :

-          We go to school everyday. Starting next week, however, the school will be buildozed by the government (be buildozed=diratakan dengan tanah dengan menggunakan bulldozer)

-          Jenny and I just finished having lunch at the cafeteria. I thanked her because she paid for the lunch

-          I am very tired. I’d like to go home

3.       Rules yang lain dalam menentukan apakah the digunakan atau tidak, dapat dilihat pada table berikut. Note : the yang digunakan pada nouns di table berikut pada umumnya tidak berarti “tersebut”, olehnya itu, tidak dapat digantikan dengan that.

Gunakan THE untuk	Jangan gunakan THE untuk
Nama samudera,laut,sungai,teluk,plural lakes(nama danau yang terdiri dari 2 danau atau lebih).contoh:the Atlantic Ocean,the Java Sea,the Persian Gulf,the Great Lakes,the Citarum River	Nama danau.contoh:Lake Toba,Lake Batur,Lake Erie.
Nama pegunungan.contoh:the Rocky Mountains,the Andes,the Bukit Barisan.	Nama gunung.contoh:Mount Merapi,Mount Semeru,Mount Kilimanjaro,Mount Everest.
Earth,moon,sun.contoh:the earth,the moon,the sun.	Nama planet (selain bumi),rasi bintang.contoh:Mars,Venus,Orion.
Nama sekolah,universitas,college jika sekolah,universitas,college ditempatkan didepan.contoh:the School of Cooper’s Art,the University of Gajah Mada,the college of Arts and Sciences.	Nama sekolah,universitas,college jika sekolah,universitas,college ditempatkan dibelakang.contoh:Cooper’s Art School,Gadjah Mada University,Sante Fe Community College.
Ordinal number sebelum nouns.contoh:the Second World War,the third chapter.	Cardinal number.contoh:World War Two,Chapter Three.
Nama perang(kecuali perang dunia).contoh:the Korean War,the Crimean War,the Civil War.	Nama Negara jika hanya terdiri dari satu kata.contoh:Indonesia,China,Canada,France.
Nama Negara yang terdiri dari 2 kata atau lebih (kecuali Great Britain).contoh:the United States of America,the Central African Republic.	Nama benua.contoh:Asia,Europe,South America.
Dokumen bersejarah.contoh:the constitution,the Magna Carta.	Nama state/province.contoh:Florida,Ohio,California,Manitoba,Jawa Timur,Sulawesi Utara.
	Nama olahraga.contoh:basketball,football,tennis.
	Noun abstract.contoh:freedom,happiness.
	Bidang ilmu.contoh:mathematics,economics,sociology.
	Nama hari raya.contoh:Christmas,Thanksgiving,Idul Fitri,Independence day.

Contoh           :

1.         Bryan Adams was born in Canada, but he lives in Great Britain. Celine Dion is also a Canadian born singer, but she lives in the United States now.

2.       The Great Lakes consist of five lakes one of which is Lake Ontario.

3.       The earth travels around the sun, and so does Mars.

Sumber                  : www.swarabhaskara.com/parts-of-speech/articles/

EXERCISE 4 : ARTICLES

1.         Jason’s father bought him a bicycle that he had wanted for his birthday.

2.       A  Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship a France to the United States.

3.       Rita is studying an English and a math this semester.

4.       The judge asked witness to well a truth.

5.       Please give me a cup of the coffee with a cream and a sugar.

6.       A big books on the table are for my history class.

7.       No one in a Spanish class knew the correct answer to the Mrs. Perez’s question.

8.       My a car is four years old and is still runs well.

9.       When you go to the store, please buy a bottle of the chocolate milk and a dozen oranges.

10.     There are only a few seats left for a tonight’s musical at the university.

11.       John and Marcy went to the school yesterday and then studied in the library before returning home.

12.     A Lake Erie is one of the five Great Lakes in the North America.

13.     On our trip to the Spain, we crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

14.     A Mount Rushmore is the site of the magnificent tribute to the four great America presidents.

15.     What did you eat for a breakfast this morning?

16.     Louie played a basketball and a baseball at the Boy’s Club this year.

17.     Rita plays a violin and her sister plays a guitar.

18.     While we were in the Alaska, we saw the Eskimo Village.

19.     Phil can’t go to the movies tonight because he has to write an essay.

20.    David attended the Princeton Universty.

21.     Harry has been admitted to the School of Medicine at the midwestren university.

22.    Mel’s grandmother is in the hospital, so we went to visit her the last night.

23.    The political science class is taking a trip to the Soviet Union in the spring.

24.    The Queen Elizabeth II is a monarch of the Great Britain.

25.    The Declaration of Independence was drawn up in 1776.

26.    Scientist hope to send an expedition to a Mars during the 1980s.

27.    Last night there was a bird singing outside my house.

28.    The chair that you are sitting in is broken.

29.    A Civil War was fought in the United States between 1861 and 1865.

30.    The Florida State University is smaller than a University of Florida.

EXERCISE 10 : SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

1.         John, along with twenty friends, are planning a party.

2.       The picture of the soldiers bring back many memories.

3.       The quality of these recordings are not very good.

4.       If the duties of these officers aren’t reduced, there will not be enough time to finish the project.

5.       The effects of cigarette smoking have been proven to be extremely harmful.

6.       The use of credit cards in place of cash has increased rapidly in recent years.

7.       Advertisements on television are becoming more competitive than ever before.

8.       Living expenses in this country, as well as in many others, is at an all-time high.

9.       Mr. Jones, accompanied by several members of the committee, has proposed some changes of the rules.

10.     The level of intoxication varies from subject to subject.

EXERCISE 11 : SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

1.         Neither Bill nor Mary is going to the play tonight.

2.       Anything is better than going to another movie tonight.

3.       Skating is becoming more popular every day.

4.       A number of reporters was at the conference yesterday.

5.       Everybody who has a fever must go home immediately.

6.       Your glasses was on the bureau last night.

7.       There were some people at the meeting last night.

8.       The committee have already reached a decision.

9.       A pair of jeans was in the washing machine this morning.

10.     Each student has answered the first three questions.

11.       Either John or his wife makes breakfast each morning.

12.     After she had perused the material, the secretary decided that everything was in order.

13.     The crowd at the basketball game was wild with excitement.

14.     A pack of wild dogs has frightened all the ducks away.

15.     The jury is trying to reach a decision.

16.     The army has eliminated this section of the training test.

17.     The number of students who have withdrawn from class this quarter are appalling.

18.     There have been too many interruptions in this class.

19.     Every elementary school teacher has to take this examination.

20.    Neither Jill not her parents have seen this movie before.