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THE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF RELATIVE CLAUSE WITH REFERENCE TO JOHN GREEN’S NOVEL

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Ni Luh Putu Benedetta Permata Sari

English Department Non Regular Program Faculty of Letters and Culture

Udayana University

Abstrak

Makalah ini berjudul “The Syntactic Structure of Relative Clause With Reference to John Green’s Novel “The Fault in Our Stars”. Ada dua tujuan dari penulisan yaitu, pertama adalah unutuk memaparkan jenis-jenis klausa relatif yang terdapat dalam novel. Yang kedua adalah bertujuan untuk menganalisis struktur sintaksis dari klausa relatif yang terdapat dalam kalimat-kalimat dari novel. Data diambil dari novel yang berjudul “The Fault in Our Stars”. Novel ini diterbitkan pada bulan Januari 2012 di New York. Teori-teori yang digunakan dalam menganalisis tulisan ini yaitu, pertama adalah teori yang diusulkan oleh Chomsky (1971) yang mengusulkan struktur sintaksis seperti deep structure dan surface structure. Teori kedua diusulkan oleh Quirk (1985) yang mengusulkan jenis-jenis klausa relatif yaitu klausa relatif restrictive dan klausa relative non-restrictive. Hasil penulisan ini menunjukkan bahwa struktur sintaksis yang diusulkan oleh Chomsky (1971) yang digunakan pada beberapa kalimat-kalimat dalam novel ini adalah surface structure. Selain itu hasil juga menunjukkan jenis-jenis klausa relative yang diusulkan oleh Quirk (1985) yang terdapat pada novel ini adalah klausa relatif restrictive dan klausa relatif non-restrictive. Mereka adalah struktur sintaksis dan jenis-jenis klausa relatif yang ditemukan dalam beberapa kalimat-kalimat pada novel ini.

Kata kunci: Sintaksis, Struktur Sintaksis, Klausa Relatif

  • 1.    Background

Syntax is the study of the arrangement of words into phrases and sentences. To consider the words of a language to be its signs, then its syntax is the rules which put signs together to make statements, ask questions, and produce other utterances. Syntax incorporates the grammar of phrases, clauses, and sentences. Producing and uttering sentences is an important part of how to make sense of our world.

A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (period), a question mark, or an exclamation mark. It has to meet the requirements for a sentence such as being able to stand by itself, and making sense. A simple sentence structure consists of one independent clause (a group of words that can stand by itself) that contains a subject and a verb. A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. Sentences containing adjective clauses (or dependent clauses) are also complex because they contain an independent clause and a dependent clause.

Relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, mostly a noun. A relative clause will begin with a relative pronoun such as who, whom, whose, which, or that] or a relative adverb [when, where, or why]. This study analyzed the syntactic structure and the kinds of relative clause in this “The Fault in Our Stars” novel.

  • 2.    Problems of Study

The problems discussed in this study are as follows:

  • 1.    What kinds of relative clause are found in the novel entitled “The

Fault in Our Stars” by John Green?

  • 2.    How are the syntactic structures of relative clause in the John Green’s

novel “The Fault in Our Stars”?

  • 3.    Research Method

This section shows the method to solve the problems. There are three points of discussion, they are: Data source, Method and Technique of Collecting Data, Method and Technique of Analyzing Data.

  • 4.    The analysis of Relative Clause

The analysis is focused on the syntactic structure of relative clause that can be found in the novel and the theory is proposed by Chomsky (1971) and also Quirk (1985) as a supporting theory to analyze the kinds of relative clause.

  • 4.1    The analysis of syntactic structure by Chomsky (1971)

Deep Structure : means the meaning of the clause itself.

Example : There is a kid who has hardly left the waiting room

S


NP


VP


N


V


NP


S’


There


is


Δ


a kid rel.pro S


who NP


VP


a kid perf Adv.M V


NP


has hardly left


the waiting room


The structure of the sentence above could be:

S ÷ NP - VP

NP ÷ N

VP1 ÷ V - NP - S’

S’ ÷ rel.pro - S”

S” ÷ NP - VP2

VP2 ÷ perf - Adv.M - V - NP

From the example above, the structure of the sentence was deep structure in tree diagram. The noun phrase a kid was written twice to show the relative pronoun who explained noun phrase a kid.

Surface Structure : means the form of phrase or clause itself.

I looked over at Augustus, [who was staring out] the window. (Green, 2012 : 155)

S

P

N


V


PP


S’


I looked adv P NP rel.pro S”

over   at N


who VP


PP


Augustus


aux V


P


NP


was staring


out


art N


the window

The structure of the sentence above could be:

S ÷ NP - VP

NP ÷ N

VP1 ÷ V - PP - S’

S’ ÷ rel.pro - S”

S” ÷ VP2 - PP

VP2 ÷ aux - V

PP ÷ P - NP

In the sentence above, the structure of the sentence was surface structure in which the antecedent disappeared.

  • 4.2    The analysis of kinds of relative clause by Quirk (1985)

Restrictive relative clause : describes the preceding noun in such a way to distinguish it from other nouns of the same class and provides information of the antecedent in order to make it define.

  • -    Who : My third best friend was an author who did not know I existed

  • -  Whom : We remember in our hearts those whom we knew and loved

  • -  Whose : I’m going over to see a boy whose connection to the sense of sight

itself is tenuous

  • -    Which : I refuse to pity you in the manner to which you are well accustomed

Non-restrictive relative clause : provides extra information that could be left out without affecting the meaning or structure of the sentence.

  • -    My Regular Doctor Jim, who agreed that I was veritably swimming in a paralyzing.

  • -    There are books like an imperial affliction, which you can’t tell people about.

  • -    I looked over at Augustus, who was staring out the window.

  • 5.    Conclusion

The topic of this study discussed the syntactic structure and the kinds of relative clause in the novel of The Fault in Our Stars. The syntactic structure proposed by Chomsky (1971) was found in The Fault in Our Stars novel were : Deep Structure and Surface Structure. The kinds of relative clause proposed by Quirk (1985) was found in The Fault in Our Stars were : Restrictive Relative Clause and Non-restrictive Relative Clause.

7. Bibliography

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Celce-Murcia, M. & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL teacher's course. (2nd ed.) Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Chomsky, Noam. 1971. Syntactic Structure. Netherlands: Mounton & Co

Eastwood, John. 2008. Oxford Learner’s Pocket Grammar. Oxford University Press.

Green, John. 2012. The Fault in Our Stars. USA : An Imprint of Penguin Group Inc.

Mak, W. M., Vonk, W., & Schriefers, H. (2006). Animacy in processing relative clause: The hikers that rocks crush. Journal of Memory and Language, 54 (4), 466-490.

Matthews. 1982:1 cited in Valin, JR, Robert D. Van, and Randy J. LaPolla. 1997. Syntax: Structure, Meaning, and Function. Cambridge.

Pratiwi, Ni Wayan Eka. 2009. Syntactic Structure of Relative Clause in the Novel entitled “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway”. Denpasar : Udayana University.

Putrini, Desak Ketut Alit. 2011. Syntactic Structure of Prepositional Phrase in Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel “Eat Pray Love”. Denpasar: Udayana University.

Quirk, Randolph et.al.1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.

Quirk, Randolph. 1973. A University English Grammar. London.

Simmons, Robin L., 1997. The Relative Clause. E-book learning.

Utama, Rangdu Choks Saddaya. 2012. The Syntactic Function of the Relative Clause with reference to “The Language of Love” by Gary Smalley and John Trente Ph. D. Denpasar: Udayana University.

Valin, JR, Robert D. Van, and Randy J. LaPolla. 1997. Syntax: Structure, Meaning, and Function. Cambridge.