Sekilas Tentang Sentence
Sebelum membahas sentence variety, ada baiknya kita review sejenak pengertian sentence (kalimat). Sentence adalah kelompok kata yang terdiri dari subject dan predicate. Subject mungkin tidak disebutkan jika dianggap sudah dimengerti (elliptical construction). Predicate dapat berupa bermacam-macam part of speech. Kombinasi subject dan beragam predicate menghasilkan berbagai sentence pattern (pola kalimat).
Pengertian Sentence Variety
Sentence variety berarti menggunakan bermacam-macam sentence pattern (pola kalimat), length (panjang), dan rhythm (irama). Terlalu banyak kalimat dengan struktur dan panjang yang sama akan terasa monoton bagi pembaca. Kalimat panjang baik untuk menggabungkan banyak informasi, sedangkan kalimat pendek dapat memaksimalkan poin-poin penting. Dengan demikian, sentence variety baik untuk membuat tulisan menjadi tidak membosankan sekaligus memberi penekanan terhadap suatu informasi secara tepat.
Lihat juga:
Beberapa Cara Menggunakan Sentence Variety
- Mengombinasikan kalimat: jangan hanya menggunakan simple sentence yang pendek, melainkan juga compound, complex, dan compound-complex sentence. Gunakan juga transition (adverbial conjunction).
Contoh Sentence Variety
I steamed a potato. I chopped it. I sprinkled a little salt and pepper on it.
Revisi Sentence Variety:I steamed a potato, and then I chopped it. After that, I sprinkled a little salt and papper on it. |
- Memulai kalimat dengan adverb atau prepositional phrase: Jika kita memulai kalimat dengan kata yang sama seperti: the, it, this, I, tulisan akan membosankan pembaca.
Contoh Sentence Variety
1 | We went to the wedding reception. We met our old school friend.
Revisi Sentence Variety:We went to the wedding reception. Luckily, we met our old school friend. |
2 | You look confident. You couldn’t look people in the eye.
Revisi Sentence Variety:You look confident. In the past, you couldn’t look people in the eye. |
- Menghubungkan antar ide (kalimat) dengan -ing verb form (present participle), -ed verb form (past participle) jika subject-nya sama.
Contoh Sentence Variety
1 | Ana is so kind. She has many friends.
Revisi Sentence Variety:Being so kind, Ana has many friends. |
2 | Romi was interested in math. He won the International Mathematical Olimpiad last year.
Revisi Sentence Variety:Interested in Math, Romi won the International Mathematical Olimpiad last year. |
- Menghubungkan ide dengan appositive atau relative clause (menggunakan relative pronoun: who, that, which, etc) jika subject-nya sama.
Contoh Sentence Variety
Vera sent me a delicious rainbow cake yesterday. She is a talented baker. (Vera mengirimi saya bolu pelangi yang lezat kemarin. Dia tukang kue yang berbakat.) Revisi Sentence Variety:
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Related Posts:
- Descriptive Paragraph
- Narrative Paragraph
- Concluding Sentences (Paragraph)
- Controlling Idea (Paragraph)
- Supporting Sentence (Paragraph)
- Topic Sentence (Paragraph)
- Procedure Text Bahasa Inggris
- Eliminating Unnecessary To Be Verbs (Metode dan Contoh)
- Pengertian dan Cara Menghindari Primer Style
References:
- What is Sentence Variety? http://www.blinn.edu/humanities/writingroom/Sentence%20Variety%20WR.ppt. Accessed on March 23, 2013.
- Sentence Variety. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sentences.htm. Accessed on March 23, 2013.
- Strategies for Variation. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/573/01/. Accessed on March 23, 2013.
- Sentence Variety. http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/Sentence-Variety-term.htm. Accessed on March 23, 2013.
- Adverbial Clauses. http://fd.valenciacollege.edu/file/jbritton/Reducing%20Adverbial%20Clauses.pptx. Accessed on March 23, 2013.