The v-ing form in English

Obama to defy Republicans with immigration speech

            President Barack Obama is ordering far-reaching changes to the U.S. immigration system that will protect nearly 5 million people from deportation, testing the limits of his presidential powers and inviting a showdown with newly emboldened Republicans.

            Republicans were united in opposing Obama's move but divided on how to respond. Lawmakers have raised options including lawsuits, a government shutdown and even impeachment. Party leaders are seeking to avoid a government shutdown, say such moves could backfire and anger voters ahead of the next presidential election in two years. Republicans are in a bind over immigration: the U.S. electorate is becoming more diverse, especially more Hispanic. Republican leaders have said the party risks its long-term future if it does not act to solve America's immigration problems. But many in the party's conservative base oppose any reform that includes a path to citizenship for those who enter the country illegally.

            The White House says the president is exercising his executive authority to tackle immigration reform unilaterally, as Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush did before him. "What I'm going to be laying out is the things that I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system better," Obama said in a video the White House posted on Facebook.

            The president's broadest decree was expected to apply to about 4.1 million parents who are in America illegally but whose children are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. If the parents have been in the U.S. for at least five years, they could apply for protection from deportation and then for work permits, according to people briefed in advance on the president's actions. Obama was also expected to broaden a 2012 directive that deferred deportation for some young immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally. Obama will expand eligibility to people who arrived in the U.S. as minors before 2010, instead of the current cutoff of 2007, and will lift the requirement that applicants be under 31 to be eligible. The expansion is expected to affect about 300,000 people.

            Despite the sweeping scope of the president's actions, more than half of the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally will be granted no specific protections. However, Obama's orders aim to decrease the likelihood that many of them will be deported by ordering the Department of Homeland Security to focus its enforcement on those who have criminal histories or who recently crossed the border.

            People briefed on the plan discussed the details on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to do so by name ahead of Obama's address. The president's decision to act on his own follows months of partisan rancor in Washington over more comprehensive legislation. While the Senate passed a bill last year that would have allowed nearly everyone in the U.S. illegally to pursue a pathway to citizenship, the Republican-led House of Representatives never took up the measure.

            Now that Obama is acting on his own, some on the right are pushing to use must-pass spending legislation to try to stop Obama's effort. One lawmaker has raised the specter of impeachment. Some immigrant advocates, meanwhile, worried that even though Obama's actions would make millions eligible for work permits, not all would participate out of fear that Republicans or a new president would reverse the executive orders.

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/21/obama-defy-republicans-with-immigration-speech.html

Discussion      :

1. In paragraph 1, first sentence :

President Barack Obama is ordering far-reaching changes to the U.S. immigration system that will protect nearly 5 million people from deportation, testing the limits of his presidential powers and inviting a showdown with newly emboldened Republicans.

Analysis           :

The -ing form of “ordering” functions as a verb. It is the main verb in the sentence that expresses an action. The sentence uses present progressive tense with pattern : Subject (President Barack Obama) + to be (is) + v-ing (ordering).

The -ing form of “reaching” functions as noun. “far-running” is a noun phrase. “far” is an adjective that has a function to modify noun “reaching”. 

The -ing form of “testing” and “inviting” functions as noun. They are gerund. As we know that gerund has the same function as a noun although it looks like a verb. 

2. In paragraph 2, third and fourth sentence :

Party leaders are seeking to avoid a government shutdown…

…the U.S. electorate is becoming more diverse…

Analysis :

The -ing form of “seeking” and “becoming” functions as a verb. They are the main verb in the sentence that expresses an action. The sentence uses present progressive tense with pattern : Subject + to be + v-ing.

3. In paragraph 3, first and third sentence :

...the president is exercising his executive authority…

"What I'm going to be laying out is the things that I can do…

Analysis :

The -ing form of “exercising” functions as a verb. It is the main verb in the sentence that expresses an action. The sentence uses present progressive tense with pattern : Subject (the president) + to be (is) + v-ing (exercising).

The -ing form of “I’m going to” functions as auxiliary verb. It expresses that something is a plan. It expresses the idea that a person intends to do something in the future. The pattern is Subject (I) + to be (am) + going to + verb (be).

The -ing form of “laying” functions as noun. It is a gerund. As we know that gerund has the same function as a noun although it looks like a verb. 

4. In paragraph 5, first and second sentence :

Despite the sweeping scope of the president's actions, more than half of the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S…

…many of them will be deported by ordering the Department of Homeland Security…

Analysis :

The -ing form of “sweeping” functions as an adjective. In the sentence above, “sweeping” is a present participle which is used as an adjective. “sweeping scope” is a noun phrase. In this case, “sweeping” functions as adjective that modifies noun “scope”. 

The –ing form of “living” has a function as an adjective. Living in here is an participle which is used to modify the entire sentence after it. We can not say that “living” is a verb because there is no to be before it. 

The -ing form of “ordering” functions as noun. It is a gerund. By + a gerund is used to express how something done. In English grammar, if there is a preposition, we need to use a gerund or a noun after it.  Therefore, there is a gerund “ordering” after the preposition “by”.

5. In paragraph 7, first paragraph :

Now that Obama is acting on his own, some on the right are pushing to use must-pass spending legislation…

Analysis :

The -ing form of “acting” functions as a verb. It is the main verb in the sentence that expresses an action. The sentence uses present progressive tense with pattern : Subject (Obama) + to be (is) + v-ing (acting).

The -ing form of “spending” functions as noun. “spending legislation” is a noun phrase.

Name   :  Mia Rusliana

NPM   :  14611454

Class    :  4SA04

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Direct Speech vs Indirect Speech

Indonesian Teachers Need More Training

            Teachers reveal that the real problem in Indonesian education is the poor quality of the country’s teachers. This is because teachers, mainly those in elementary schools, rarely participate in training to update their skills and knowledge. Retno Listiyarti of the Indonesian Teachers Union Federation ( FSGI ) said the government should schedule a longer preparation period before implementing curriculum 2013.

            Both England and Singapore, she said, spent three years in preparing, doing trial runs and evaluating their new curriculums before applying them. “I heard that the government plans to create 40.000 national instructors in a limited time period. How can that be possible ? How can that run well? Even UNICEF ( United Nations Children’s Fund ) spent five years creating 10.000 similar teachers in Indonesia,” she said.

            Retno cited Education and Culture Ministry data that showed that 62 percent of elemtary school teachers nationwide had not undertaken any training at all, including those teachers who were about to retire. “By way of comparison, a teacher in Singapore is obliged to take 100 hours of training per year,” said Retno. Amid such conditions, Retno, who is also a high school teacher in Jakarta, said that she considered the government’s plan to implement the new curriculum an impossible mission. “The new curriculum applies a ‘thematic and intergrated’ approach, which we already have in the current curriculum [ implemented in 2006 ].

            The concept is not working in the country, especially in remote areas, because teachers there don’t have the skills or supporting materials to adopt such an approach,” she said, adding that the new curriculum would become yet another of the ministry’s paper tigers. “The upcoming curriculum is going to be another document on the shelf, and it won’t be perfectly implemented across the country.”

            Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh said that around 49.000 teachers from 30 percent of the 148.000 elementary schools nationwide would be participating in a national training on how to implement the new curriculum, according to reports by Antara News Agency. The training, which will total 52 hours, comprises 33 hours of face-to-face sessions and 19 hours of mentoring sessions. Deputy Education and Culture Minister for Education Musliar Kasim said that his team had been working on producing teachers’ guidance books, which underwent a massive print run on March 17.

            Itje Chodidjah believes the government must be very careful in its selection of trainers, should it insist on implementing the new curriculum within the next four months. “Let’s just say that the implementation is a done deal. The next important thing is for the government to select master trainers in this limited time,” she said. The government, said Itje, has to be certain that it can find highly qualified national instructors who really understand how to impart the new curriculum’s concept to the master trainers.

            “Furthermore, the government must also ensure that the master trainers have the ability to swap concept language with functional language when they deliver the curriculum concept to teachers who have varying levels of ability,” she explained.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/03/24/indonesian-teachers-need-more-training.html

1. Statement

a.       “I heard that the government plans to create 40.000 national instructors in a limited time period”, said Retno Listiyarti.

Indirect Speech    : Retno said that she had heard that the government plans to create 40.000 national instructors in a limited time period.

Explanation         : If a sentence is directly expressed in terms of Direct Speech statement, so it must be changed into the form of statement in indirect speech. Past tense in direct speech is changed into past perfect in indirect speech.

b.      “A teacher in Singapore is obliged to take 100 hours of training per year”, she said.

Indirect Speech    : She said that a teacher in Singapore was obliged to take 100 hours of training per year.

Explanation         : Present tense in direct speech is changed into past tense in indirect speech.

2. Question

a.       “How can that be possible?”

Indirect Speech    :  She wanted to know how that could be possible.

Explanation         : Interrogative sentence in indirect speech changes become affirmative sentence and question mark (?) doesn’t use again. If reporting verb which is used “say”, “say” changes to ask, inquire, wonder, or want to know in indirect speech. The question word “how” still is used in indirect and it fixed in the middle of sentence then it followed by affirmative sentence. The present tense is changed into past tense.

b.      “How can that run well?”

Indirect Speech    : She wanted to know how that could run well.

Explanation         : Interrogative sentence in indirect speech changes become affirmative sentence and question mark (?) doesn’t use again. If reporting verb which is used “say”, “say” changes to ask, inquire, wonder, or want to know in indirect speech. The question word “how” still is used in indirect and it fixed in the middle of sentence then it followed by affirmative sentence. The present tense is changed into past tense.

3. Imperative

a.       She said, “Let’s just say that the implementation is a done deal.”

Indirect Speech        : She suggested saying that the implementation is a done deal.

Explanation         : “Let’s” normally is used to indicate a suggestion and in indirect speech “let’s” is changed into “suggest”. In indirect, imperative is changed into infinitive sentence. The verb is changed into gerund.

b.      She said, “Don’t leave me alone”

Indirect Speech    : He asked not to leave him alone.

Explanation         : If reporting verb which is used “say”, “say” changes to ask, tell, and wonder in indirect speech. To make an infinitive negative, put not in front of infinitive.

Nama    : Mia Rusliana

Kelas     : 4 SA 04

NPM      : 14611454

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