Grade : 10th grader of Senior High School
Subject : English
Competence : Reading
Hi guys, do you
like reading news on a newspaper or internet? What can you get from them? Now,
I'm going to explain about news item text briefly. Have a read!
1. Know-It-First
A. The Purpose
The purpose of
news item is to inform the readers, listeners, or viewers about events of the
day which are considered newsworthy or important.
B. The Generic
Structure:
• Newsworthy (s)
: recount the event in summary form.
• Background
event (s) : elaborate what happened, to whom, in what circumstances.
• Sources :
comments by participants in, witness to and authorities expert on the events.
C. Significant
Lexicogrammatical Features:
• Short,
telegraphic information about story capture headline: A news item text should deliver and focus in
core information related to the headline.
• Use of
material processes to retell the event: It consists of action verbs such as do,
watch, sink, etc.
• Use of
projecting verbal processes in sources stage: A news item text should have
authentic sources. It uses projecting verbal processes. For example: Allan said
the robbery happened in the early morning.
• Focus on
circumstances. It focuses on the circumstances of the events.
Here it is an
example of news item text:
Brave Boy Found
Alive After Two Days at Sea
Newsworthy (s) :
Feeling no fear,
a five-year-old boy spent two days floating at sea on a mattress in a bid to
survive from the effects of the tsunami that killed thousands of people from
his town and was reunited with his family on Thursday.
He cried as he
rushed to his parents, older brother and younger sister at a refugee camp in
Meulaboh, his hometown of 40,000 people in Aceh that was one of the hardest hit
in Sunday’s disaster.
Background event
(s)
Wira later
calmly recounted to reporters the amazing events that brought him back to his
family, a rare tale of happiness in the devastated province on the island of
Sumatra that has seen nearly 80,000 people killed by the flooding.
Nursing only a
gash to his left leg, Wira said he was playing with his brother and sister near
his home when the waters rushed through.
According to
Antara news agency, Wira said he held on to various floating pieces of wood
while being swept away.
“I was not
afraid because I am used to the sea.” Wira said while massaging his wounded
leg.
“As I was still
holding to a door, the mattress came by so I decided to climb on it. I was not
afraid, but I was cold.”
Wira said he
spent two days out at sea until he was found by fisherman on the look out for
bodies off coast of Meulaboh. –AFP
2. Let's
practice!
Read the text
carefully in order to be able to answer the question related to the text:
Tornado Wreaks
Havoc in Semarang
(Residents
assess the damage after a tornado damages 150 houses in the district of
Tembalag in Semarang, Central Java late on Saturday afternoon.
Three people
were injured and at least five of the houses in the Sendangguwo and Tandang
neighborhoods were destroyed, while many others were seriously damaged as the
tornado ripped off their roofs. Thoirin aka Jayeng, 40, a resident whose house
was leveled at the Sendang Asri housing complex, said the winds hit about 4
p.m.
“I saw this
black wind coming and becoming pointed into a funnel. It suddenly approached
and hit my house,” he said.
Tohirin’s wife,
two children and mother-in law were in the kitchen at the time when the tornado
known locally as “Ulur-ulur” passed over their home, destroying the guest and
bedrooms.
“It was as if
the wind had lifted my home up,” Thoirin said.
The disaster
also destroyed the walls of four neighboring houses.
Many other homes
in the area lost their roofs and residents and neighbors had started rebuilding
on Sunday.
Tembalang
district head Dayat said the tornado also damaged a small mosque and felled
power lines and about 50 trees. His office was still collecting data on the
damage, he said.
Villagers said
the tornado was the worst to hit the district in living memory.
Semarang Mayor
Sukawi Sutarip and his wife, Sinto Sukawi, visited the scene on Sunday,
accompanied by senior officials.
“We will provide
the victims with assistance immediately,” the mayoral spokesman Achyani said.
Taken from The
Jakarta Post, December 20, 2004)
Now, after
reading the text above, finish the short quiz below.
Jangan lupa follow instagramku @higuanief yay
• Use of
projecting verbal processes in sources stage: A news item text should have
authentic sources. It uses projecting verbal processes. For example: Allan said
the robbery happened in the early morning.
(Residents
assess the damage after a tornado damages 150 houses in the district of
Tembalag in Semarang, Central Java late on Saturday afternoon.
