The purpose of descriptive text : To describe the characteristics or particular person, thing, or place.

Text Structure :

·         Identification  à Identifies thing, person, place, phenomenon to be described.

·         Description      à Gives the information of particular thing, person, or place being discussed or describes parts, qualities, or characteristics.

We get the purpose from the text above that description is used in all forms of writing to create a vivid impression of a person, place, object or event e.g. to: ·

• Describe a special place and explain why it is special.
• Describe the most important person in your live.
• Describe the animal’s habit in your report.

Descriptive writing or text is usually also used to help writer develop an aspect of their work, e.g. to create a particular mood, atmosphere or describe a place so that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc. To complete our intention to, here are the characteristics based on descriptive writing or text, below;

As a feature, description is a style of writing which can be useful for other variety of purposes as:

• To engage a reader’s attention
• To create characters
• To set a mood or create an atmosphere
• To being writing to life

While in language function, descriptive writing;

• Aims to show rather than tell the reader what something/someone is like
• Relies on precisely chosen vocabulary with carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs.
• Is focused and concentrates only on the aspects that add something to the main purpose of the description.
• Sensory description-what is heard, seen, smelt, felt, tasted.Precise use of adjectives, similes, metaphors to create images/pictures in the mind e.g. their noses were met with the acrid smell of rotting flesh.
• Strong  development of the experience that “put the reader there” focuses on key details, powerful verbs and precise nouns.

Beyond the characteristics stated on, descriptive writing also consists of generic structure in range as:

1. General statement
2. Explanation
3. Closing

The description text has dominant language features as follows:

1. Using Simple Present Tense
2. Using action verbs
3. Using passive voice
4. Using noun phrase
5. Using adverbial phrase
6. Using technical terms
7. Using general and abstract noun
8. Using conjunction of time and cause-effect.

Well guys,
Below are examples of descriptive text :)

Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple compound in Central Java in Indonesia, located approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta.

The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia. It is characterised by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.

It was built around 850 CE by either Rakai Pikatan, king of the second Mataram dynasty, or Balitung Maha Sambu, during the Sanjaya Dynasty. Not long after its construction, the temple was abandoned and began to deteriorate. Reconstruction of the compound began in 1918. The main building was completed in around 1953. Much of the original stonework has been stolen and reused at remote construction sites. A temple will only be rebuilt if at least 75% of the original stones are available, and therefore only the foundation walls of most of the smaller shrines are now visible and with no plans for their reconstruction.

The temple was damaged during the earthquake in Java in 2006. Early photos suggest that although the complex appears to be structurally intact, damage is significant. Large pieces of debris, including carvings, were scattered over the ground. The temple has been closed to the public until damage can be fully assessed. The head of Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency stated that: “it will take months to identify the precise damage”. However, some weeks later in 2006 the site re-opened for visitors. The immediate surroundings of the Hindu temples remain off-limits for safety reasons.

NOUN PHRASE

The noun phrase is a group of words that ends with a noun. It can contain determiners (the, a, this, etc.), adjectives, adverbs, and nouns. It cannot begin with a preposition. Remember that both subjects and complements are generally noun phrases.

Example:

• My coach is happy.
• I like the cars over there.
• The woman who lives there is my aunt.
• Frankenstein is the name of the scientist not the monster.
• I consider Meong my favorite cat.
• Small children often insist that they can do it by themselves.
• To read quickly and accurately is John’s goal.
• Two of my guests have arrived.
• Mr. Jones spoke to Dr. James.
• My friend works with her father.
• Alex is a smart tall white boy.
• It's a beautiful red car.
• Mr. Aldy has just bought an expensive large house.

• My coach is happy.
• I like the cars over there.
• The woman who lives there is my aunt.
• Frankenstein is the name of the scientist not the monster.
• I consider Meong my favorite cat.
• Small children often insist that they can do it by themselves.
• To read quickly and accurately is John’s goal.
• Two of my guests have arrived.
• Mr. Jones spoke to Dr. James.
• My friend works with her father.
• Alex is a smart tall white boy.
• It's a beautiful red car.
• Mr. Aldy has just bought an expensive large house.

No.	Pre-modifiers	EXAMPLES
1	Determiners	a, an, the, one, two, three, a few, some, several, all, this, that, my, your. etc.
2	Adjective (Phrase)	beautiful, big, old, rich, expensive, etc.
3	V-ing	challenging, sleeping, walking, shaking,
4	V-3	hidden, written, expected, baked, boiled
5	Noun	rice, book, birthday, English,

No.	Post-Modifiers	EXAMPLES
6	Prepositional Phrase	(prep+Noun) at, in, on, of, by,
7	V-ing Phrase	(Ving + Object/Adverb)
8	V-3 Phrase	(V-3 + Object/ Adverb)
9	to infinitive (Phrase)	to go, to eat, to study, etc.
10	Adjective Clause	who, whom, that, which, whose + ...........

	Noun Phrase	modifiers	Meaning
1.	a boy	(1+NH)	seorang anak
2.	a naughty boy	(1+2+NH)	anak nakal
3.	a sleeping child	(1+3+NH)	anak yang sedang tidur
4.	singing birds	(3+NH)	burung-burung yang berkicau
5.	a wtitten test	(1+4+NH)	test tertulis
6.	the imported products	(1+4+NH)	produk-produk yang diimpor
7.	a birthday cake	(1+5+NH)	roti ulang tahun
8.	The tree behind the house	(1+NH+6)	Pohon yang berada dibelakang rumah
9.	The people living in poverty	(1+NH+7)	Orang-orang yang hidup dalam kemiskinan
10.	The papers presented at the meeting	(1+NH+8)	Makalah yang dipresentasikan dalam pertemuan itu
11	the book to read	(1+NH+9)	buku untuk dibaca
12.	The man who has 3 wives	(1+NH+10)	Pria yang mempunyai

Simple Future Tense

Simple Future Tense is often called will, because we make the simple future tense with the modal auxiliary will.
The structure of the simple future tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb WILL	+	main verb
		invariable		base
		will		V1

For negative sentences in the simple future tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the simple future tense:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I	will		open	the door.
+	You	will		finish	before me.
-	She	will	not	be	at school tomorrow.
-	We	will	not	leave	yet.
?	Will	you		arrive	on time?
?	Will	they		want	dinner?

2. Going to

(+) S + be + going to + Verb I
(-) S + be + not + goimg to + Verb I
(?) be + S + going to + Verb I?

How do we use the Simple Future Tense?

• No Plan: we use the simple future tense when there is no plan or decision to do something before we speak. We make the decision spontaneously at the time of speaking.

Example:

1. Hold on. I'll get a pen.
2. We will see what we can do to help you.
3. Maybe we'll stay in and watch television tonight
4. I think I'll go to the gym tomorrow.
5. I think I will have a holiday next year.
6. I don't think I'll buy that car.

• Prediction: we often use the simple future tense to make a prediction about the future. Again, there is no firm plan. We are saying what we think will happen.

Example:

1. It will rain tomorrow.
2. People won't go to Jupiter before the 22nd century.
3. Who do you think will get the job?

Note:
That when we have a plan or intention to do something in the future, we usually use other tenses or expressions, such as the present continuous tense or going to.

Time signal:

1. Tomorrow…

• Morning
• Afternoon
• Evening
• Night

2. Next…

• Time
• Week
• Month
• Year
• January

3. Tonight
4. The day after tomorrow
5. Soon
6. Later
7. Two, three more days
8. Two, three days later
9. By and by

Dirrect and Indirrect Speech

 

You can answer the question "What did he/she say?" in two ways:

·        by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)

·        by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).

 

Direct Speech
Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken between inverted commas ("....") and there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being said NOW (for example a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about a previous conversation

Examples:

She says "What time will you be home?"
She said "What time will you be home?"
and I said "I don't know! "
"There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.
John said, "There's an elephant outside the window."

  Here a the backshift of tenses:FROM TO
Simple Present Simple Past
Simple Past
Present Perfect Past Perfect
Past Perfect
Will Would
am/is/are was/were
Was/were
has been Had been
had been

Time Signal: 
Dirrect Speech Indirrect Speech
Now Then
Today That day/that night
Yesterday The day before/The previous day 
Tomorrow The next day/following day
Last week The previous week
Next week The following week
A year A year before

There are three kinds of dirrect and indirrect speech:

1. Statement

• Dirrect speech (Present Tense): The students go to the library once a day
• Indirrect speech (Past Tense): The students went to the library once day
• Dirrect speech (Present Countinous Tense): The students are reading books now
• Indirrect speech (Past Countinous Tense): The students were reading books then
• Dirrect speech (Past Tense): The students borrowed books last week
• Indirrect speech (Past Perfect Tense): The students had borrowed books the previous week
• Dirrect speech (Present Perfect Tense): The students have returned the books
• Indirrect speech (Past Perfect Tense): The students had returned the books
• Dirrect speech (Future Tense): The students will borrow novels tomorrow
• Indirrrect speech (Future Tense): The students would borrow novels the following day
• Dirrect speech: The girls say, "We like reading een magazines."
• Indirrect speech: The girls say that they like reading teen magazines.
• Dirrect speech: Woody says,"I am on my way home."
• Indirrect speech: Woody says that he is on his way home.
• Dirrect speech: Riana says, " I can do this myself."
• Indirrect speech: Riana says that she can do that herself.

2. Question

• Dirrect speech: Peter asked me,"Do you play football?"
• Indirrect speech: Peter asked me whether I played football.
• Dirrect speech: Peter asked me,"When do you play football?"
• Indirrect speech: Peter asked me when I play football.

3. Command

• Dirrect speech: Mother said to me, "Turn off the TV and preapare yourself."
• Inddirect speech: Mother told me to turn off the TV an preapare myself.
• Dirrect speech: Nollan said to me, "Don't go anywhere after tou have done our homework."
• Indirrect speech: Nollan told me not to go anywhere after I had done my homework.

Finite and non Finite Verbs

A finite verb is a verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs. Finite verbs can form independent clauses, which can stand by their own as complete sentences.

For example

·      I walked, they walk, and she walks are finite verbs
* (to) walk is an infinitive.

·      I lived in French.
* "I" is the subject. "Lived" describes what the subject did. "Lived" is a finite verb.

"Finite verbs can be recognized by their form and their position in the sentence. Here are some of the things to look for when you are trying to identify the finite verbs in a sentence:

    1.          Most finite verbs can take an -ed or a -d at the end of the word to indicate time in the past: cough, coughed; celebrate, celebrated. A hundred or so finite verbs do not have these endings.

    2.          Nearly all finite verbs take an -s at the end of the word to indicate the present when the subject of the verb is third-person singular: cough, he coughs; celebrate, she celebrates. The exceptions are auxiliary verbs like can and must. Remember that nouns can also end in -s. Thus the dog races can refer to a spectator sport or to a fast-moving third-person singular dog.

    3.           Finite verbs are often groups of words that include such auxiliary verbs as can, must, have, and be: can be suffering, must eat, will have gone.

Modals In The Past Form

When do we use modals?

1. To talk about someone's ability (or inability) to do something
   Example: "We can find your house without the street plan."
   "She can't have a daughter that old!"
2. To talk about an action that is necessary (or impossible, or not necessary)
   Example: "You must always have your driver's licence when you are driving your car."
   "You needn't carry your passport around with you."
3. To talk about a situation that is possible (or impossible)

Example:"Do be careful with that glass, the baby might knock it over"

Modals in the Past Form

can't have	could	could have	couldn't	couldn't have
didn't need to	had to	may have	may not have	might have
might not have	must have	needn't have	ought not to have	ought to have
should have	shouldn't have	would have	would not

Modals
present	Past
can	could
will	would
shall	should
may	might

1. Could + Verb base

>>      To offer suggestions or possibilities

Example:          

Jason      :  Oh, no! I left my shorts.

Nate       : Don’t worry, Jason. You could borrow my shorts.

Mitchie  : I’m having trouble with English.

Demi : Why don’t you ask Tess? Perhaps she could help you.

>>      To indicate that the ability existed in the past but doesn’t exist now.

Example: 

Mitchie  : Ras, can you climb the coconut tree?

Shane     : Well… I could climb coconut tree when I was so young. But I think I’m too heavy to climb it.

Selena      : Grandpa, what could you do when you were younger?

Grandpa   : When I was younger, I could swim across the big river very well and faster.

>>      To express polite requests

Example:   

*      Could I borrow your pencil (please)?

*      Could you lend me your jacket now?

*      Could you please close the door?

*      Could you pass the salt?

2.    Would + Verb base

>>      For an action that was repeated regularly in the past

Example:          

*      When I was a child, I would visit my grandparents every weekend.

*      On Sundays, when I was a child, we would all get up early and go fishing.

>>      Insert rather into the pattern and use this expression to express preferences

Example:          

Troy     :  What would you rather do in the weekend, go to the party or stay home?

Ryan    :  I would rather go to the party than stay home.

Gabriella  :  Which country would you rather visit?

Sharpay    :  I would rather visit Italia than Somalia.

>>      To express polite requests

Example:          

Nick       :  Would you mind cycling with me, Selena?

Selena    :  No, not at all. It would be nice.

Joey     : Would you please pass the helmet, Mary?

Mary   :  No problem.

3. Should + Verb base

>>      To give definite advice (advisability)

Example:          

Mom      : Putri, you should study tonight. You will have English test tomorrow, won’t you?

Mitchie  : I will, Mom.

Joe       : You should paint your door, Kevin. It looks terrible.

Kevin   : Yes, I know I should.

>>      To express the subject’s obligation or duty:

Example:          

*      You should practice for more than an hour.  (to musical friend)

*      They shouldn’t allow parking here; the street is too narrow.

*      Application should be sent before March 25^th.

4. Might + Verb base

>>      To tell possibilities

Example:          

Nick     :   Where is Joe?

Kevin   :   He might be in the studio with Stella.

 

>>      To express polite requests

Example:          

Demi   : Might I borrow your coat?

Miley   : I’m afraid not. It has been brought by Hannah for weeks and I don’t know when he’ll return it.

Introductory “it”

 

Structure: It + verb + subject complement + infinitive phrase (real subject)

A       : To understand this lesson is easy.

B       : It is easy to understand this lesson.

In this pattern, it has no meaning. It is used only to fill the subject position in the sentence. Thus, it is called introductory “it”.

A and B mean the same thing, but sentence B is more common and useful than A. A was introduce mainly to make the meaning of B easier to understand.

Introductory “it” can fill the position both of the subject and object.

Introductory “it” as a subject:

·      To watch musical programs is pleasant.

It is pleasant to watch musical program.

·      To play football must be fun.

It is fun to play football.

When the subjective is an infinitive phrase

We begin a sentence with it when the real subject is an infinitive phrase. So instead of saying, ‘To accept your advice is difficult’, we say, ‘It is difficult to accept your advice’.

Structure: It + verb + subject complement + infinitive phrase (real subject)

·      It is easy to learn English. >>  (To learn English is easy).

·      It is easy to find fault with others. >>  (To find fault with others is easy).

·      It is difficult to know his motive. >>  (To know his motive is difficult).

·      It is difficult to find a good job during these troubled times.

·      It is dangerous to play with fire.

·      It could be dangerous to drive so fast.

Note :

When we wish to emphasize the infinitive phrase, it may be put at the beginning, especially when it is short.

·      To err is human OR It is human to err.

·      To become a well known writer was his life-long ambition OR It was his lifelong ambition to become a well known writer.

·      To invest all your money in shares is foolish OR It is foolish to invest all your money in shares.

When the subject is a gerund phrase

When the real subject is a phrase that includes a gerund, it is used as a provisional subject to begin the sentence. So instead of saying ‘Your trying to fool us is no good’, we say, ‘It is no good your trying to fool us.’

·      It won’t be any good complaining to the manager. (Complaining to the manager won’t be any good.)

·      It is silly throwing away this opportunity. (Throwing away this opportunity is silly.)

·      Will it be any good my talking to him about it? (Will my talking to him about it be any good?)

·      It is no fun having so many children to look after. (Having so many children to look after is no fun.)

Note that it is possible to change the gerund into an infinitive.

·      It won’t be any good for me to complain to the manager.

·      It is silly (for you) to throw away this opportunity.

·      Will it be any good for me to talk to him about it?

·      Many of these sentences can also be re-written as exclamatory sentences.

·      How silly of you to throw away this opportunity!

When the subject is a clause

When the subject is a clause, the sentence usually begins with it. So instead of saying ‘That he was once a communist is true’, we say, ‘It is true that he was once a communist’.

·      It does not matter whether he comes or not. (Whether he comes or not does not matter.)

·      It is required that he should pay the fine. (That he should pay the fine is required.)

·      It is clear that he overheard our conversation. (That he overheard our conversation is clear.)

·      It is clear that you are not interested in this offer. (That you are not interested in the offer is clear.)

·      It cannot be denied that they tried their best to help him. (That they tried their best to help him cannot be denied. )

·      It doesn’t matter whether we buy it now or later. (Whether we buy it now or later does not matter. )

Introductory it with seem, appear and look

Introductory it is also used with seem, appear and look when the subject is an infinitive phrase, a phrase with a gerund in it or a clause.

·      It looked doubtful whether she would come

·      It seemed strange that she should behave like that.

·      It seems possible that she may quit the job.

·      It appeared unwise to offend him.

·      It does not seem much good going on with the work.

Introductory it as an object

It is sometimes used as the object of the verbs think, feel, deem, count, consider etc.

·      Don’t you think it dangerous to drive so carelessly?

·      I consider it a privilege to have this opportunity of welcoming you.

·      I think it odd that she doesn’t write to me these days.

·      I think it a pity that she could not win.

·      We think it improper that he should be so dictatorial.

·      He made it clear what he wanted.

·      I find it difficult to talk to him.

Introductory it in questions

The introductory it is sometimes used in questions.

·      Who was it that broke the window?

It is Peter who broke the window.

·      Why was it that he stole the bread?

It was because he was poor that he stole the bread.

·      When was it that the manager came?

It was at 10 am that the manager came.