RAINBOW 4 (1) (2015)

Rainbow: Journal of Literature,

Linguistics and Cultural Studies

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/rainbow

SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF MARK TWAIN’S ABOUT BARBERS ON

LEECH’S METHOD

Dinuk Putri Wulandari

Jurusan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni,Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia

Info Artikel

________________
Sejarah Artikel:

Diterima Juni 2015

Disetujui Juli 2015

Dipublikasikan Agustus

2015

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Keywords:

parse, sentence structure,

syntax

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Abstract
___________________________________________________________________
This final project discusses the syntactic analysis of Mark Twain’s About Barbers on Leech’s Method which

focusses on its sentence structure and sentence construction. The problems in this study are: how every sentence

of Mark Twain’s About Barbers is analyzed syntactically, what the types of sentence structures are used in

About Barbers story, what the most dominant type of sentence structures is used in About Barbers story. The

objectives of the study are to have a closer look to the elements of syntactical units, to construct of the sentences

of About Barbers story, to show and to explain types of the sentence structures used in About Barbers story, to

reckon the frequency of types of sentence structures found in About Barbers story and their degree in percent.

The sources of the data in this study are the script of the short story. The data taken from the script are in the

forms of phrases, sentences, and dialogues. In collecting the data, I used some steps like reading, identifying,

inventorying, classifying, and reporting. In analyzing the data, I identified every sentence by parsing analysis

with labelling and then counted the percentage of every sentence to get information the most dominant of

sentence structure types used in the story. The result shows that compound sentence structure dominates the

short story with the amount of frequency 24 in number. Then, compound-complex sentence structure follows it

with 16 sentences. The percentage of simple sentence structure is 15%. Complex sentence structure are 18%.

Compound-complex sentence is 27% and the last compound sentence structure is 40%. With regards to the

previous results, it can be concluded that this text is dominated by compound sentences. Compound sentence

contains more than one meaning to be interpreted, so it is a little bit complicated to catch the meaning for

English young learners. The result of this study will help students in understanding the compositions of

sentences and how the sentence constructed. Besides, it can help English teachers to consider if this work is

understandable or suitable for the students.

 Alamat korespondensi:

Gedung B3 Lantai 1 FBS Unnes

Kampus Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229

E-mail: dynukpu3@gmail.com

ISSN 2252-6463

Dinuk Putri Wulandari / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 4 (1) (2015)

INTRODUCTION

In human being community, people use

language to conduct social interaction.

Language is very important for human life. We

cannot imagine how the world would be without

language. Language is a way to communicate,

share ideas and express feelings. Language is not

only used for daily conversation, but also used in

education, research and science, either in spoken

or written. There are various ways to present

language, such as spoken, written, and body

language. Written languages use symbols to

build words. The entire set of words is the

language‟s vocabulary. The ways in which the

words can be meaningfully combined is defined

by the language‟s syntax and grammar.

Syntax is a part of grammar. Syntactic

grammar can also be said that it discusses the

relationship between words in the speech. The

study of syntax includes of the phrases, clauses,

and sentences. Syntactic function is as a subject,

predicate, object, information and

complementary.

Accordingly, we have to study syntax

because it has a great role in any language and

its product, in this case in written form, for

example short story which is read by all

language users. Hence, syntax is one of basic

elements for making up the composition to every

language that the users will master if they want

to express their idea within spoken or written.

There are some definition of syntax. The

first definition is taken from Oxford Advanced

Learners Dictionary of English (1995:1212)

which states that syntax is the arrangement of

words into phrases and of phrases into

sentences. It means that the arrangement from

words into phrases until become a simple

sentence or complex sentence.

According to Soelistia (2007:45) in his

handout of style and structure literature,

understanding syntax means knowing what the

author does with word order, sentence variety,

and rhythm. Syntax refers to the way words and

phrases are arranged to form phrases and

sentence. Syntax means sentence structure.

Leech and Short (1981:159) in their book

Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English

Fictional Prose which state that when we want to

analyze a writer„s sentence structure, we should

look at the sentences and see how they are

constructed. That is because by looking at the

sentences and seeing how they are constructed,

we will know how complex the sentences are.

From some definitions above, we can

conclude that syntax is a branch of linguistics

which talks about structure of sentences, clauses,

and phrases.

One of the factors of an author being a

good author is the use of syntax in his work. The

arrangement of words will determine readers to

choose the most preferable and suitable work for

each of them according to their favor, interest

and reading ability.

Samuel Langhorne Clemes, better known

by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American

author and humorist. He is noted for his novels

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called “The

Great American Novel” and The Adventures of

Tom Sawyer and many kinds of short story.

People are still favoring his works. We must pay

attention to the author‟s methods of linguistics

study in reading a literary works because it is a

technical knowledge in literature.

In this final project, I am interested in

analyzing one of short stories About Barbers by

Mark Twain, especially syntactical analysis

because it is very interesting and close to our life.

DISCUSSION

1. Syntactic Analysis of About Barbers Story

Languages have rules. The rules of

language are called grammar. The reason for

these rules is that a person needs be able to speak

indeterminately large number of sentences in a

lifetime. The effort would be impossible great if

every sentence had to be studied separately.

By studying the rules forconnecting words

it is possible to analyze an infinite number of

sentences, all of which are meant for people who

know the syntax. Thus it is possible to analyze

many sentences that I have never read before. A

finite number of rules facilitates an infinite

Dinuk Putri Wulandari / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 4 (1) (2015)

number of sentences that can be simultaneously

understood by both the researcher and the

reader.

To acquire kinds of syntactic role, we

need to analyze the sentences that we meet in

the short story thoroughly. The term Syntax

analysis is simply changed into parse and

parsing by the searching machine in internet.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the

English language defines, parse is to break (a

sentence) down into its component parts of

speech with an explanation of the form,

function, and syntactical relationship of each

part; to describe (a word) by stating its part of

speech, form, and syntactical relationship in a

sentence.

There are 60 sentences and only 12

sentences taken as examples which are

considered representative to answer question

number one. These sentences are taken because

all elements of syntactic role can be found in

these sentences. The following is the analysis of

each data.

a. Simple sentences

- Sentence number 4

I got shaved this morning as usual.

[S P A A]

This is a simple sentence that represents

direct sentence containing a relative clause.

- Sentence number 9

I watched the probabilities with strong interest.

[S P O A]

It is a simple sentence because it consists

of one independent clause.

- Sentence number 19

At last my turn came.

[A S P]

It is a simple sentence because it

consistsof one independent clause.b. Compound

sentences

- Sentence number 14

I stayed out fifteen minutes, and then went

back, hoping for better luck.

[S P A] + [P A A ]

[P A]

It is a compound sentence. It has three

independent clauses that are joined with comma

and coordinating conjunction. It represents

indirect subordinate clause containing a

comparative clause.

- Sentence number 20

A voice said "Next!" and I surrendered to --

No. 2, of course.

[A S P] + [S A]

[S P]

The sentence above consists of two

independent clauses. It represents direct

subordinate clause containing noun clause.

- Sentence number 37

Now he began to shave, digging his fingers into

my countenance to stretch the skin and bundling and

tumbling my head this way and that as convenience in

shaving demanded.

[S P A] + [P O A A] + [P O] + [cj P A]

We can find four independent clausesthat

are joined with comma and coordinating

conjunction. It represents direct subordinate

clause containing a number of clause, they are

adverbial and prepositional clause. Because of

that, this sentence called compound sentence.

c. Complex Sentences

- Sentence number 5

A man approached the door from Jones Street

as I approached it from Main -- a thing that always

happens.

[S P O A ] + [S cj A P]

[S P O A]

It is a complex sentence. It represents

direct subordinate clause and containing of

prepositional clause.

- Sentence number 26

I said I did not want it trimmed.

[S P A ]

[S P O A]

There is only one independent clause in

the sentence above. It represents indirect

subordinate clause containing an adverbial

clause.

- Sentence number 42

He immediately sharpened his razor -- he

might have done it before.

[S A P O] + [S P O A]

There are two independent clauses in the

sentence above, and also represents direct

subordinate clause containing a number of

Dinuk Putri Wulandari / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 4 (1) (2015)

clauses, they are adverbial, noun and

prepositional clause.

d. Compound complex sentences

- Sentence number 6

I hurried up, but it was of no use; he entered

the door one little step ahead of me, and I followed in

on his heels and saw him take the only vacant chair,

the one presided over by the best barber.

[S P cj S P A] + [S P O] + [cj S P A cj P O

]

[S P

It is a compound-complex sentence. It has

two independent clauses and represents three

subordinate clauses.They are noun clause,

adverbial clause and prepositional clause.

- Sentence number 29

He yearned over it reflectively a moment, and

then asked with a disparaging manner, who cut it? I

came back at him promptly with a "You did!" I had

him there.

[S P O A A] + [A P A] + [S P O] + [S P A

A ] + [S P O A]

[S P]

The sentence above indicates a

compound-complex sentence. It has five

independent clauses that are joined with comma

and coordinating conjunction. It represents

indirect subordinate clause and containing

prepositional clause.

- Sentence number 47

Next he poked bay ruin into the cut place with

his towel, then choked the wound with powdered

starch, then soaked it with bay rum again, and would

have gone on soaking and powdering it forevermore,

no doubt, if I had not rebelled and begged off.

[S P O A] + [A P O A] + [P A P O A A

]

A P O A A ]

[cj S P P]

It is a compound complex sentence which

has three independent clauses. It represents

indirect subordinate clause containing an

adverbial clause.

The representative data above, it is

obvious now that the elements of syntactical role

in the short story revealed. Next is the

summarization of the founding. The elements of

the Function Class are: S, P, A, O, C, Cj.

2. Types of Sentence Structures Used in About

Barbers Story

Martin and Ohmann (1962:177) declare

that:

A simple sentence contains one

independent clause. A complex sentence

contains one independent clause and one or

more dependent clauses. A compound sentence

contains two or more independent clauses and

no dependent clause. A compound complex

sentence contains two or more independent

clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

The following is the representative data

taken from the data which are already presented

on previous problem statement. The data is

shrunk into four sentences which are considered

to represent the overall analyzed data which can

be seen on Appendices.

1. Simple sentence

- Sentence number 2

These never change.

[S A P]

This is a simple sentence and shows an

adverbial clause.

2. Compound sentence

- Sentence number 14

I stayed out fifteen minutes, and then went

back, hoping for better luck.

[S P A] + [P A A ]

[P A]

It is a compound sentence. It has three

independent clauses that are joined with comma

and coordinating conjunction. It represents

indirect subordinate clause containing a

comparative clause.

3. Complex sentence

- Sentence number 27

He explored again and said it was pretty long

for the present style -- better have a little taken off; it

needed it behind especially.

[S P A ] + [A P O] + [S P O A

Dinuk Putri Wulandari / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 4 (1) (2015)

[P O C A]

There are three independent clauses and

two subordinate clauses, they are comparative

and adverbial clause in the sentence above. We

can call complex sentence. It represents indirect

subordinate clause.

4. Compound-complex sentence

- Sentence number 57

He returned to business after the miscarriage of

this last enterprise, sprinkled me all over, legs and all,

greased my hair in defiance of my protest against it,

rubbed and scrubbed a good deal of it out by the roots,

and combed and brushed the rest, parting it behind,

and plastering the eternal inverted arch of hair down

on my forehead, and then, while combing my scant

eyebrows and defiling them with pomade, strung out

an account of the achievements of a six-ounce black-

and-tan terrier of his till I heard the whistles blow for

noon, and knew I was five minutes too late for the

train.

[S P A ] + [P O A ] + [P P

O A] + [P P O ] +

[S A] [P O A A]

[P O A ]

[P O A]

[A P O ] + [P O A A

]

[cj P O A] [cj S P O A

A ]

[P S P A A]

It is a compound complex sentence. It

consists of six independent clauses that are

joined with comma and coordinating

conjunction and two subordinate clauses they

are direct and indirect subordinate clause,

containing adverbial and relative clause.

3. The Most Dominant Type of Sentence

Structures Used in About Barbers Story

The result of the sentence structure

analysis can be seen in the following table. The

formula to count the percentage is:

Frequency X 100%

The number of overall sentences

For the whole analysis, it can be seen on

Appendices.

From the table above, it can be seen that

there are 60 sentences composed in Mark

Twain‟s About Barbes. The table shows that

compound sentence structure dominates the

short story with the amount of frequency 24 in

number. It means that 24 sentences have two or

more independent clause. The clauses are joined

by a coordinating conjunction (with or without

comma), a correlative conjunction (with or

without comma), a semicolon that functions as a

conjunction, a colon instead of a semicolon

between two sentences when the second

sentence explains or illustrates the first sentence

and no coordinating conjunction is being used to

connect the sentences, or a conjunctive adverb

preceded by a semicolon. A conjunction can be

used to make a compound sentence.

Conjunction are words such as for, and, nor,

but, or, yet, so (the first letters of which spell

„fanboys‟). The coordinators found in the text

are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. The use of a

comma to separate two independent clauses

without the addition of an appropriate

conjunction is called a comma splice and is

generally considered an error (when used in the

English language).

Types of Sentence

Structure

Found in Data Number

Frequency

Percentage

1. Simple sentence 2, 4, 7, 9, 19, 21,51, 53, 55 9 15%

2. Compound sentence 1, 14, 15, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 30,

32, 36, 37, 38, 40, 43, 45, 46,

48, 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, 59

24 40%

3. Complex sentence 3, 5, 10, 11, 16, 26, 27, 28, 42,

50, 60

11 18%

4. Compound-complex

sentence

6, 8, 12, 13, 17, 22, 29, 31, 33

34, 35, 39, 41, 44, 47, 57

16 27%

Dinuk Putri Wulandari / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 4 (1) (2015)

Then, compound-complex sentence

structure follows it with 16 sentences. A

complex sentence has one or more dependent

clauses (also called subordinate clauses). Since a

dependent clause cannot stand on its own as a

sentence, complex sentence must also have at

least one independent clause. A sentence with

two or more independent clauses plus one or

more dependent clauses is called compound-

complex or complex-compound. A clause with a

subject and a verb, dependent clause and

adverbial function, specifying time, place, or

mannner is called adverbial clause.

Simple sentence structure has 9 sentences.

A simple sentence structure contains one

independent clause and no dependent clauses.

This simple sentence has one independent clause

which contains one subject. The predicate is a

verb phrase that consists of more than one word.

Simple sentence is followed by complex

sentence that has 11 sentences. A complex

sentence has at least one independent clause and

one or more dependent clauses. Dependent

clauses cannot be sentences on their own. They

depend on an independent clause to support

them. The independent clause in a complex

sentence carries the main meaning, but either

clause may come first. When the dependent

clause comes first, it is always followed by

comma.

The table also presents the percentage of

each sentence structure. Simple sentence

structure has percentage 15%. It is followed by

complex sentence structure that is 18%.

Compound-complex structure is 27% and the

last compound sentence structure is 40%. The

word compound means that something is made

up of two or more elements, so it makes sense

that these sentences express two or more main

ideas. It is little bit complicated to catch the

meaning. It can be seen in sentence number 15

and sentence number 20.

Each sentence will be explained here:

Sentence number 15

Of course all the chairs were occupied now, and

four men sat waiting, silent, unsociable, distraught,

and looking bored, as men always do who are waiting

their turn in a barber's shop.

[A S P A] + [S P A A A] + [S A P] + [S

]

[S P O A]

It is a compound sentence. It has four

independent clauses. It represents indirect

subordinate clause containing a comparative

clause.

Sentence number 20

A voice said "Next!" and I surrendered to --

No. 2, of course.

[A S P] + [S A]

[S P]

The sentence above consists of two

independent clauses. It represents direct

subordinate clause containing noun clause.

We can also find the most complex

sentence from the table above. It is found in

sentence number 16 because there are four

independent clauses, two subordinate clauses. It

represents indirect subordinate clause containing

a comparative clause and prepositional clause.

The sentence as follows:

Then I read the greasy names on the private

bayrum bottles; read the names and noted the numbers

on the private shaving-cups in the pigeonholes; studied

the stained and damaged cheap prints on the walls, of

battles, early Presidents, and voluptuous recumbent

sultanas, and the tiresome and everlasting young girl

putting her grandfather's spectacles on; execrated in

my heart the cheerful canary and the distracting parrot

that few barbers' shops are without.

CONCLUSION

About Barbers, a short story by Mark

Twainis dominated by compound sentence

structure with the frequency 24 in number.

Then, compound-complex sentence structure

follows it with 16 sentences. Simple sentence

structures has frequency 9 sentences and 15% in

percentage. Complex sentence structure is 18%.

Compound-complex sentence is 27% and the

last compound sentence structure is 40%.

Compound sentence structure dominates

the short story with the amount of frequency 24

in number. It means that 24 sentences have at

least one independent clause and one or more

Dinuk Putri Wulandari / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 4 (1) (2015)

subordinate clause. Compound-complex

sentence structure follows it with 16 sentences.

Complex sentence structure has 11 sentences. It

has one or more dependent clauses (also called

subordinate clauses). Since a dependent clause

cannot stand on its own as a sentence, complex

sentences must also have at least one

independent clause. Then, Simple sentence

structure has 9 sentences. A simple sentence

structure contains one independent clause and

no dependent clauses. This simple sentence has

one independent clause which contains one

subject.

This text is recommended for students in

Advanced Level (High School students or

above) because it is dominated by compound

sentence. Compound sentence has two or more

independent clauses making statements,

questions, or commands, while complex has

only one main clause. Compound sentence

contains more than one meaning to be

interpreted. It is little bit complicated to catch

the meaning. It can be seen in sentence number

15 and sentence number 20 where there are two

independent clauses found in those sentences

joined by comma and coordinating conjunction.

I hope the result of this study will help

students in understanding the compositions of

sentences and how the sentence constructed.

Besides, it can help English teachers to consider

if this work is readable and understandable for

their students.

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Literature in the Cambridge Encyclopedia

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Inc.

Freeborn, D. 1996. Style: Text Analysis and

Linguistic Criticism. Great Britain:

Anathong Rowe Ltd.

Gerot, L and P. Wignell. 1995. Making Sense of

Functional Grammar. Australia: Great

Stable AEE.

Hornby. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s

Dictionary. Oxford: University Press.

Leech, Deuchar, and Hoogenraad. 1982. English

Grammar for Today. London: MacMillan

Education Ltd.

Leech, G. and Michael H. Short. 1981. Style in

Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to

English Fictional Prose. Newyork:

Longman.

Mifflin, Houghton. 1984. Grammar and

Composition. USA: Houghton Mifflin

Company.

Soelistia, Prof. 2007. Handout of Style and

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Semarang.