CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of Background of the research, the research question, the

objective of the research, the significance of the research (theoretically and

practically), and the scope of the research.

1.1 Background of the research

As we know that language is a communication tool that people used to

communicate and interact with other people. Language has structure and the

succeeding sections provide an overview of this structure: the modes (speech,

writing, signs) in which language is transmitted and the conventions (both

linguistics and social) for how sounds, words, sentences, and text are

structured. Language is also called as linguistic. According to Leech (1983: 21-

4) stated that in studying about linguistic structure, whether it is spoken,

written, or signed, every language has structure, which can be described.

Based on the linguistic structure, there are four levels in a language. They

are phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics (Yule, 1998). In order to

know certain structure of sentences, we need to study more not only on

sentences but also syntax. Syntax is one aspect how language works, how

sentences are structured (Carnie, 2002: 3). Syntax is basically the structure of

sentence. According to Srijono (2001: 63) stated that syntax may be roughly

defined as the principles of arrangement of the constructive (words) into larger

1
constructions of various kinds. It means that a learners’ ability to create and

understand the sentences, including sentences they never heard before.

A sentence is a group of words which is a grammatically complete

statement. A sentence is also a basically a group of words that are tied together

and convey an idea, description, and event (Miller, 2002: 76).Every sentence

must contain a subject and a verb. There are many kinds of sentence; it can be

generated to be verbal, nominal, declarative, imperative, interrogative,

exclamatory, simple, complex, compound, and compound-complex sentence.

In analyzing the sentences, there is a wayto formulate the sentence, by

usingtree diagram in order to know the basic meaning of the words in a

sentence. According to Bornstein (1977: 39) said that “a tree diagram shows

the hierarchical structure of the sentence”. Tree diagram also provides a precise

means of defining syntactical relation.

English syntax has been already taught in University of Muhammadiyah

SORONG especially at English course of Faculty of Teacher and Education

since the 5th semester. So, the researcher just focuses on students’ ability in

analyzing sentence by using tree diagram. The sentence is the topic of

discussion because it can be found many aspects of language either in written

and oral communication. Besides, there are some learners who are still

confused about how to analyze the sentence by using tree diagram in syntax

course.According to the explanation above, the researcher is interested in how

the students analyzing the sentence by using tree diagram because there are

2
 many students of University of MuhammadiyahSorong, especially the students

from English Department who have already learnt about syntax still do not

know how to analyzethe sentence by using tree diagram. Therefore, the

researcher choosesthis title “StudentL,s’ Ability in Analyzing the Sentence by

Using Tree Diagram”.

1.2 The Research Question

Based on the background of the research above, the researcher attempts to

answer this following research question:

How the students analyze the sentences by using tree diagram at University of

MuhammadiyahSorong?

1.3 Objective of the research

The objective of this research is to know the students’ ability in analyzing

the sentences by using tree diagram at University of MuhammadiyahSorong.

1.4 Significance of the research

By conducting this research, the researcher hopes that this research will

give the benefits both theoretically and practically:

1) Theoretically

This research will enhance the study of syntax, especially concerning in

the learning concept, types, and the structure of the sentences.

3
 2) Practically

This research will be useful for English Department students who are

interested in studying syntax. So, they can use this research as the reference

for their analysis.

1.5 The scope of the research

In this research, it deals with English Syntax. This research focuses on the

students’ ability in analyzing the sentence by using tree diagram of University

of MuhammadiyahSorong. The researcher will take some students who have

already learnt about English Syntax and look in how the students analyze the

sentence by using tree diagram.

4
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

On this chapter, the researcher would like to discuss about some previous

studies and some pertinent ideas.

2.1 The previous studies

There are some previous studies that relate to the researcher’s topic.

The First, a research is conducted by Winarsih (2011), in her research A

Syntactic Analysis of English Simple Sentence in Wuthering Heights by

Emily Bronte. The objective of her research is aimed to identify the patterns

of syntactic structure of English simple sentence and to describe the

syntactical constructions of the simple sentence used in Wuthering Heights

by Emily Bronte. The type of this research is qualitative method. The data

source of her research is Wuthering Heights. The method of collecting data

in her research is documentation. The techniques of analyzing data are

identifying the patterns of syntactic structure and syntactical constructions

of simple sentence by structural approach. The results show that there are

some patterns of syntactical constructions of simple sentence in Wuthering

Heights.

The second is a research that is conducted by Yun Friska Irene

Ginting (2009), her research’s title is An Analysis of Sentence Structure in

Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire. The objective of her

research is to identify the sentence structure using syntactical in Tennessee

5
William Streetcar Named Desire. The method on her research is qualitative

descriptive method. The technique of collecting data is purposive sampling

method. On her research, she concludes that there are 373 sentences in

play; it consists of 54, 96% of 205 simple sentences, 29, 69% of 107

complex sentences, 9, 38% of 35 compound sentences, 6, and 97% of 26

compound - complex sentences.

The third is a research from IchwanPurwata (2008), his research’s

title is A Syntactical Analysis on Sentence Patterns Used in Westlife’s Song

Lyrics. The objective of his research is to analyze the sentences into each of

content of the sentence in order to have a deep understanding in syntax.

This research employs descriptive qualitative method. The steps in

collecting data are reading the lyrics of song, listening to the cassette, and

selecting the song as the sample and writing down three lyrics of the

selected song. In his research, he concludes that there are seventeen kinds

of sentences patterns. Through discussion, the researcher also finds that the

sentence patterns of westlife’s songs consist of noun phrase plus verb

phrase, conjunction plus noun phrase plus verb phrase, adverb of place plus

noun phrase plus verb phrase.

The fourth is a research that is conducted by DefiAnggraini(2012),

on her research’s title is A Syntactical Analysis in The English Song Lyrics

of “Thank You Allah” Album by Maher Zain. The objectives of her

research are aimed at knowing the types of sentences and syntactical rules

in the English song lyrics of “thank you Allah” album by Maher Zain. Her

6
research is a descriptive qualitative method. The techniques of collecting

data are searching and collecting one album of Maher Zain song lyrics,

listening and comparing the songs’ lyrics to get the authentic data sources.

The result of the analysis of types of sentence in the English song lyrics of

Thank You Allah album by Maher Zain shows that there are 144

declarative sentences, 15 interrogative sentences, 1 exclamatory sentence,

and 23 imperative sentences. Almost sentences used in the song lyrics are

declarative sentences. So, the sentences used in the song lyrics state a

statement and give the information to the listeners about the truth. On her

conclusion, she concludes that the English song lyrics have many single

nouns that have function as subject, direct object or indirect object of the

sentences.

The fifth is a research that conducted by Nina Afrida (2016), her

research’s title is Students’ ability in Transforming A Sentence; Deep and

Surface Structure. The objective of her research is aimed at exploring

students’ difficulties in determining deep and surface structure of sentence.

This research uses quantitative descriptive as a research design. Techniques

of collecting data are used test and questionnaire in her research. This

research reveals that the most of the students cannot transform deep

structure into surface structure. Her research also shows that English

education department students find much difficulty in determining the

labeling of the words in surface structure, for they cannot classify the class

of words in the surface structure.

7
 There are some similarities and differences between the previous

studies and the researcher’s research; the similarities of the researches

above with the researcher’s topic are about using same description

qualitative method and also same in analyzing the sentence. The differences

are the technique of collecting data, the source of data, the participants, and

the analysis of data.

2.2 Some Pertinent ideas

2.2.1 Syntax

Historically, the term “syntax” means arranging together (from the

word; syn means ‘together’ and taxis means ‘an arrangement’) and the

name given to the part of grammar which treat the ways in which words are

arranged in sentence and the function of when they perform (Onion, 1971:

23). According to Onion, Matthews (1981: 1) said that “the term of syntax

is from ancient Greeks ‘syntaxes’, a verbal noun which literally means

“arrangement” or “setting out together” words into phrases, or clauses and

phrases or clauses into sentences.

Similarly, according to Later Latif (1995: 23) said that “a phrase or a

sentence is always made by from the words arranged by the particular

rules”. There more we must know exactly the classification of words being

used “the connection of meaning within sentences are shown by the order

of words”. By knowing the classification of words, we can properly arrange

the sentence that can show us the meaning of arrangement.

8
 Besides that, there are some theories thatrelated to syntax. According to

Home Library Dictionary, syntax is the study of rule where by words or

others elements of structure are combined to form grammatical sentences.

Besides that, according to Webster’s New College Dictionary (1975),

syntax is the way in which words are put together to form phrase, clauses,

or sentence. Then, based on Dwight (1975: 171), said that “syntax studies

the organization of words into phrases and phrases into sentences.

Based on the theories above, it can be concluded that syntax is the

grammatical arrangement from words, phrases, into sentences in order to be

concerned with sentence structure.

2.2.2 Sentence

2.2.2.1 Definition of sentence

Sentence is made up of two parts, subject and predicate. According

to Dwight (1975: 156) stated that the traditional definition of sentence

is the minimum part of language that expresses a complete thought and

certainty some sense of completeness is essential to it. Sentence also

has deep structure and surface structure. A deep structure represents the

meaning, and surface structure represents the sound. In sentences, there

are differences between deep and surface structure. The surface

structure is about its grammatical form, while deep structure is

understood of its meaning. According to Ann (2004: 1), a sentence in

standard written Standard English has certain essential requirements:

9
  Each new sentence starts with capital letter.

 A sentence must end with a period, a question mark, or an

exclamation mark.

 A sentence must contain a subject that stated once.

 A sentence must have one independent idea

All of the issues above mention that in the focus of attention of

linguistic deals with syntax, where in order to analyze sentence

structure, specific methods, and symbols had to be introduced.

2.2.2.2 The kinds of sentence

According to Bornstein (1997: 39) stated that sentence is

considered as the basis of the syntactical system. Sentence is a

group of words that is a complete thought containing both a subject

and a verb. There are four kinds of sentence:

a. A simple sentence

It contains only a predicate (a group of words having a

subject and a verb).

Example : I go to school

b. Compound sentence

It contains two or more predication connected by

conjunction.

10
 Example: this is my book and that is yours.

c. Complex sentence

It contains one or more predication called

independent or main predication.

Example: that is a book which I bought

d. Compound complex sentence

It is a sentence that contains two or more

independent clauses. Sentence may take a form of statement,

question, request, or exclamation.

Example: he doesn’t go to Surabaya very much but he has to

get there because his family wants to go there.

According to Bornstein (1997: 52) defined that “a sentence must

have a noun phrase and a verb phrase”:

a) Noun phrase

NP is a group of words whose elements are head and

modifier and It functions as a noun or pronoun. According to

Bornstein, NP can be the form of following:

- NP : table, chair

- NP : I, you, he.

- Etc.

11
 b) Verb phrase

VB is a group of words whose the elements are modifier and

head and it functions as a verb. Several option also are

available in writing derivation verb phrase.

So, it can be concluded that sentence is the basis of syntactic system

which consists of a group of words that containing a subject and a verb

in order to express a main idea.

2.2.3 Tree Diagram

According to Bornstein (1977: 39), he stated that a tree diagram

shows that the hierarchical structure of the sentence. The sentence is

considered the basic of syntactic system. Instead of beginning with

actual sentences. The rule should be interpreted as an instruction to

rewrite or expand the symbols of on the left arrows as the sequence of

the right. Based on Bornstein (1997: 44), he stated that Tree provides a

precise means of defining syntactic relation. Tree diagram also shows

which words are constituents of sentence.

Tree diagram is also called as syntax tree diagram. According to

Wayne (2009) defined that “syntax is an important part of language and

is usually difficult to grasp”. A syntax tree diagram is also used to

understand a type of sentence in a language. Interestingly, the fact is

that syntax tree diagram can help you understand grammatical structure

of a sentence in a better way and easy way.

12
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher will discuss about some components of the

research plans; research method and design, data of the research, population and

sample, research instrument, technique of data collection, technique of data

analysis.

3.1 Research Method

In this research, qualitative method is used. According to Sprinthall

and Schemutte (1991:100), a qualitative method is described as an

approach used to collect the data systematically. This research is a

descriptive research.

3.2 Research Design

A descriptive research is used in this research which means that the

research is based on characteristics of phenomena and the data will be

analyzed using the description, not number. According to Wiersman (1991:

41) stated that “qualitative research relies heavily on narrative description”.

It means that the researcher only intends to describe the data obtained as

they are found in the fields.

13
3.3 Setting of The Research

3.3.1 Place

This research will be conducted in MuhammadiyahSorong

University. This university is where the researcher wants to know the

students ability in analyzing the sentence using tree diagram because

English syntax has been taught in this university and still some of them

do not know how to analyze the sentence.

The researcher will focus on the students who have already lear nt

about English syntax because that is where the researcher wants to find

out about the students’ ability in analyzing sentence using tree diagram.

3.3.2 Time

This research will be conducted by the researcher maximal for two

months in collecting the data the researcher needs from the students. It

takes more time in order to get the data that valid.

3.4 The Participants of The Research

The researcher will choose the participants using the purposive

sampling technique. According to Lewis et al. (2012) stated that

“Purposive sampling (also known as judgment, selective or subjective

sampling) is a sampling technique in which researcher relies on his or

14
 her own judgment when choosing members of population to participate

in the study”. So, the researcher will choose the participants from the

students who have already learnt about English syntax, because the

students who learnt it are still confused in analyzing sentence using tree

diagram. It is a reason why the researcher wants to those students as the

participants.

3.5 Research Instrument

In this research, the researcher uses the test as the instrument for

collecting the data from the students. According to English Oxford

Dictionaries, a test is a procedure intended to establish the quality,

performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken

into widespread use.

Then, The researcher will use the purposive sampling for collecting

the data. According to Bungin (2001: 108) stated “teknik sampling

inidigunakanberdasarkanpengetahuan yang jeliterhadappopulasi, makna

unit-unit yang dianggap “kunci” diambilsebagai sample penelitian”.

3.6 Technique of data collection

In collecting the data, the researcher uses the test to collect the data

that the researcher needs. The researcher will give the test that is

already prepared in the papers, but the researcher just gives it to the

students that qualified. And then, the students will be going to

15
 formulate the sentenceusing tree diagram in the papers. After that, the

researcher will collect the papers, and will use the data that has been

collected to be analyzed.

3.7 Technique of Data Analysis

According to Moleong (2008: 2), he argues that qualitative research

is a research that focuses on the exposure of sentences, making it more

capable understanding the complex human condition of psychology that

are not enough if only measured by using scale only. And then, based

on Sugiyono (2010: 246), he stated that “activity in qualitative data

analysis is done interactively and continuously until it’s done.

So, after gathering then data from the fields, the researcher will be

going to analyze it in order to get the results from the test that has been

given to the students in the university.

16
 REFERENCES

Afrida, Nina (2016). Students Ability In Transforming A Sentence; Deep And

Surface Structure. Vol Ii No 2 Tahun 2016. January 25, 2017. Institut Agama

Islam NegeriLangsa. Retrieved June 5, 2017, From

Http;//Www.Jurnal.Iainlangsa.Ac.Id/Index.Php/Jl3t/Article/View/14

Anggraini, Devi (2012). A Syntactical Analysis In The English Song Lyrics Of

“Thanks You Allah” By Maher Zain. University OfMuria Kudus.

Retreived June 9, 2017, From Http://Eprints.Umk.Ac.Id/Id/Eprint/1214

Purwata, Ichwan (2008). A Syntactical Analysis On Patterns Used InWestlife’s

Song Lyric. University IslmNegeri Malang. Retrieved June 15, 2017, From

Http://Etheses.Uin-Malang.Ac.Id/Id/Eprint/4752

Winarsih (2011). A Syntactic Analysis Of English Simple Sentence In Wuthering

Heights By Emily Bronte. Muhammadiyah University Of Surakarta.

Retrieved June 13, 2017, From

Https://Www.Google.Co.Id/Www.Researchgate.Net/Publication/277795534

A Syntactic Analysis Of English Simple Sentence In Wuthering Heights By

Emily Bronte/Amp

Yun Friska Irene Ginting (2009). An Analysis Of Sentence Structure In Tennessee

Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire; 2009-06-15. University Of Sumatera

Utara. Retrieved June 10, 2017, From

Https://Repository.Usu.Ac.Id/Handle/123456789/13415

17