Three reasons why we need learning English for Indonesia.
First, Indonesia is surrounded by countries that predominantly use English as their first or second. These countries include Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. This means that geographic factor becomes the first reason why Indonesia needs to learn English. If someday a citizen traveling to one of the countries mentioned above, sufficient knowledge of English will make it easier to communicate with that person for the local citizens.
Secondly, English as a language to be learned for international communication. To be able to communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds and nationalities, English is the main option that is often used in communication. Examples are easily seen in the world of tourism. The tourists who travel in foreign countries commonly use English to communicate with native citizens visited.
Third, English language proficiency will facilitate the people of Indonesia to develop insights into knowledge by providing access to knowledge that exist outside of Indonesia.
Based on the above three reasons, knowledge of English language for the development of an individual in the country of Indonesia to be an inevitable thing. Like it or not, this one being the subject to be learned by everyone Indonesia. Even if you're not sure will get a chance to go abroad, this knowledge is still needed as well. At a minimum, you need not gobsmacked when watching CNN news broadcasts because there is no translation at the bottom of the television screen or confused while reading the manual use of electronic tools that are only printed in English.
I usually woke up at eight o'clock a.m. and went to the Press Center to check the daily schedule of briefings and press conferences. It was usually held by the United Nation officials or disaster mitigation team. It was challenging to visit different refugee camps to find soft stories, human interest stories. After that I went back to the Press Center to cover the press conferences of the day. It was heart breaking when I saw these survivors fight for food and secondhand clothing. Unfortunately as they said, the food and clothing were limited and inadequate. Emerging to glaring, fool noon, it was time to go back to Press Center to write stories and race against time. I was always fearing that the internet would come crushing down. After everything was done, only then I remembered to eat. Most times, I only ate once a day because I always had to rush and again it was difficult to find food. I had to travel quite far. I needed to spend a 30 to 45 minutes by car just to find fresh food.
Mr. Richard’s family was on vacation. They are Mr. and Mrs. Richard with two sons. They went to London. They saw their travel agent and booked their tickets. They went to the British Embassy to get visas to enter Britain. They had booked fourteen days tour. This includes travel and accommodation. They also included tours around London
They boarded a large Boeing flight. The flight was nearly fourteen hours. On the plane the cabin crews were very friendly. They gave them news paper and magazine to read. They gave them food and drink. There was a film for their entertainment. They had a very pleasant flight. They slept part of the way.
On arrival at HeathrowAirport, they had to go to Customs and Immigration. The officers were pleasant. They checked the document carefully but their manners were very polite. Mr. Richard and his family collected their bags and went to London Welcome Desk. They arranged the transfer to a hotel.
The hotel was a well-known four-star hotel. The room had perfect view of the park. The room had its own bathroom and toilet. Instead of keys for the room, they inserted a key-card to open the door. On the third floor, there was a restaurant serving Asian and European food. They had variety of food.
The two week in London went by fast. At the end of the 14-day, they were quite tired but they felt very happy.
There were so many places to see in Bali that my friend decided to join the tours to see as much as possible. My friend stayed in Kuta on arrival. He spent the first three days swimming and surfing on Kuta beach. He visited some tour agents and selected two tours. The first one was to Singaraja, the second was to Ubud.
On the day of the tour, he was ready. My friend and his group drove on through mountains. Singaraja is a city of about 90 thousands people. It is a busy but quiet town. The street are lined with trees and there are many old Dutch houses. Then they returned very late in the evening to Kuta.
The second tour to Ubud was a very different tour. It was not to see the scenery but to see the art and the craft of the island. The first stop was at Batubulan, a center of stone sculpture. There my friend watched young boys were carving away at big blocks of stone. The next stop was Celuk, a center for silversmiths and goldensmiths. After that he stopped a little while for lunch at Sukawati and on to mass. Mass is a tourist center
My friend ten-day-stay ended very quickly beside his two tour, all his day was spent on the beach. He went sailing or surfboarding every day. He was quiet satisfied.
Let me remind you my experience during an earthquake last week. When the earthquake happened, I was on my car. I was driving home from my vocation to Bali.
Suddenly my car lunched to one side, to the left. I thought I got flat tire. I did not know that it was an earthquake. I knew it was an earthquake when I saw some telephone and electricity poles falling down to the ground, like matchsticks.
Then I saw a lot of rocks tumbling across the road. I was trapped by the rock. Even I could not move my car at all. There were rocks everywhere. There was nothing I could do but left the car and walked along way to my house, in the town.
When I reached my town, I was so surprised that there was almost nothing left. The earthquake made a lot of damage to my town. Although nothing was left, I thanked God that nobody was seriously injured.
Maura, who like to be thought of as the most beautiful and powerful queen of Arabia, had many suitors. One by one she discarded them, until her list was reduced to just three sheiks. The three sheiks were all equally young and handsome. They were also rich and strong. It was very hard to decide who would be the best of them.
One evening, Maura disguised herself and went to the camp of the three sheiks. As they were about to have dinner, Maura asked them for something to eat. The first gave her some left over food. The second Sheik gave her some unappetizing camel’s tail. The third sheik, who was called Hakim, offered her some of the most tender and tasty meat. After dinner, the disguised queen left the sheik’s camp.
The following day, the queen invited the three sheiks to dinner at her palace. She ordered her servant to give each one exactly what they had given her the evening before. Hakim, who received a plate of delicious meat, refused to eat it if the other two sheiks could not share it with him.
This Sheik Hakim’s act finally convinced Queen Maura that he was the man for her. “Without question, Hakim is the most generous of you” she announced her choice to the sheiks. “So it is Hakim I will marry”.
The above example of narrative text tells a story which can amuse the reader. Amusing and entertaining are the power of narrative text to attract the reader. Reader will tend to follow the whole story.
As it is said many times that the heart of narrative text is the existence of the complication. It will drive the plot of the story to keep amusing. The existence of conflict inside the Queen Maura is what builds the story keep running. The psychological conflict inside Maura, which she strike against herself, is arousing the readers attention to continue reading the story. They want to know what next will happen, who will be chosen by Queen Maura, in what way she will decide who is the best. Keeping knowing them really entertaining as well increasing the moral value added.
Orientation: the text introduce the Queen Maura and three sheiks in Arabia once time.
Complication: Queen Maura find out that it was very difficult to choose one as the best among them
Resolution: finally Queen Maura has a convincing way to choose one and he is Sheik Hakim
The bomb, in the resort of Kuta, destroyed the Sari Club and a crowded nightspot. Many people have fallen victims to this blast. Many of them were foreign tourists, especially from Australia. They were burner beyond recognition. Some tourist who were at the scene of the blast said there were two explosions around the nightclub. One bomb had exploded outside Paddy’s Bar before a Bar bomb hit the Sari Club which was located some meters away.
Hundred were injured in the explosion and about 220 Australians remain unaccounted for. The U.K. Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said that 33 Britons were among those killed in the Bali attack. The Australian Primer Minister, John Howard, called its borders, saying it had been a problem for a long time.
Lists of missing people have been posted in Bali and official said that it could take days to identity all the victims, some of whom were trapped in the Sari Club by a wall of flames. A notice board at the hospital in Bali includes a section called “Unknown Identity” and detailed list on victims such as : “Young girl in intensive care, 11-14 years old, face burned, income, Causation,” or “Girl in intensive care, about 5 years old, 130 cm, fair skin, Caucasian with reddish brown hair. She has a purplish belly button ring.”
Many embassies, including the British and the American, are advising their people to cancel spending their planned holidays in Indonesia, and all U.S. citizens in the country have been told to leave including diplomats and non-essential government staff.
On Children's Day in 1999, a technology company treated more than 200 underprivileged children to a 'high-tech' experience. They were given training on information technology.
The company wanted to provide opportunities for these children to learn more about the Internet and the latest technology. They wanted to help the less fortunate in the community.
The children had an enjoyable and educational experience that day. They were exposed to the new technology for the first time and they were very interested. The company hoped to conduct many more such training sessions for these children. They fell that the skills the children had would be useful to them when they grew up.
The company was very active in caring for the less fortunate. They even put aside one day a year for their employees to do volunteer work to help the needy. They also donated money to many charitable organisations.
Many people had benefited from their efforts. Many also praised the company for being so generous towards the needy.
In the town of Verona there lived two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. They engaged in a bitter feud. Among the Montagues was Romeo, a hot-blooded young man with an eye for the ladies. One day, Romeo attended the feast of the Capulets', a costume party where he expected to meet his love, Rosaline, a haughty beauty from a well-to-do family. Once there, however, Romeo's eyes felt upon Juliet, and he thought of Rosaline no more.
The vision of Juliet had been invading his every thought. Unable to sleep, Romeo returned late that night to the Juliet's bedroom window. There, he was surprised to find Juliet on the balcony, professing her love for him and wishing that he were not a "Montague", a name behind his own. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo was ready to deny his name and professed his love. The two agreed to meet at nine o-clock the next morning to be married.
Early the next morning, Romeo came to Friar Lawrence begging the friar to marry him to Juliet. The Friar performed the ceremony, praying that the union might someday put an end to the feud between the two families. He advised Romeo kept the marriage a secret for a time.
On the way home, Romeo chanced upon his friend Mercutio arguing with Tybalt, a member of the Capulet clan. That qurreling last caused Merquito died. Romeo was reluctant no longer. He drew his sword and slew Tybalt died. Romeo realized he had made a terrible mistake. Then Friar Lawrence advised Romeo to travel to Mantua until things cool down. He promised to inform Juliet.
In the other hand, Juliet's father had decided the time for her to marry with Paris. Juliet consulted Friar Lawrence and made a plot to take a sleeping potion for Juliet which would simulate death for three days. The plot proceeded according to the plan. Juliet was sleeping in death.
Unfortunately, The Friar's letter failed to reach Romeo. Under the cover of darkness, he broke into Juliet's tomb. Romeo kissed the lips of his Juliet one last time and drank the poison. Meanwhile, the effects of the sleeping potion wear off. Juliet woke up calling for Romeo. She found her love next to her but was lying dead, with a cup of poison in his hand. She tried to kiss the poison from his lips, but failed. Then Juliet put out his dagger and plunged it into her breast. She died
BAWANG Putih lived with her step mother and her step sister, Bawang Merah. Bawang Putih's mother died when she was a baby. Her father remarried another woman and later her step sister was born. Unfortunately, not long after that her father died. Since then, Bawang Putih's life was sad. Her step mother and her step sister treated Bawang Putih badly and always asked her to do all the household chores.
One morning, Bawang Putih was washing some clothes in a river. Accidentally, her mother's clothes were washed away by the river. She was really worried so she walked along the river side to find the clothes. Finally she met an old woman. She said that she kept the clothes and would give them back to Bawang Putih if she helped the old woman do the household chores. Bawang Putih helped her happily. After everything was finished, the old woman returned the clothes. She also gave Bawang Putih a gift. The old woman had two pumpkins, one pumpkin was small and the other one was big. Bawang Putih had to choose one.
Bawang Putih was not a greedy girl. So she took the small one. After thanking the old woman, Bawang Putih then went home. When she arrived home, her step mother and Bawang Merah were angry. They had been waiting for her all day long. Bawang Putih then told about the clothes, the old woman, and the pumpkin. Her mother was really angry so she grabbed the pumpkin and smashed it to the floor. Suddenly they all were surprised. Inside the pumpkin they found jewelries. "Bawang Merah, hurry up. Go to the river and throw my clothes into the water. After that, find the old woman. Remember, you have to take the big pumpkin," the step mother asked Bawang Merah to do exactly the same as Bawang Putih's experience. Bawang Merah immediately went to the river. She threw the clothes and pretended to search them. Not long after that, she met the old woman. Again she asked Bawang Merah to do household chores. She refused and asked the old woman to give her a big pumpkin. The old woman then gave her the big one. Bawang Merah was so happy. She ran very fast. When she arrived home, her mother was impatient. She directly smashed the pumpkin to the floor. They were screaming. There were a lot of snakes inside the pumpkin! They were really scared. They were afraid the snakes would bite them. "Mom, I think God just punished us. We had done bad things to Bawang Putih. And God didn't like that. We have to apologize to Bawang Putih," said Bawang Merah.
Finally both of them realized their mistakes. They apologized and Bawang Putih forgave them. Now the family is not poor anymore. Bawang Putih decided to sell all the jewelries and used the money for their daily lives.
Once upon a time there lived a little, named Snow White. She lived with her aunt and uncle because her parents were died.
One day she heard her aunt and uncle talking about leaving Snow White in the castle because they wanted to go to America and they didn’t have enough money to take Snow White with them.
Snow White didn’t want her uncle and aunt to do this. So she decided to run away. The next morning she run away from home when her aunt and uncle were having breakfast, she run away into the wood.
In the wood she felt very tired and hungry. Then she saw this cottage. She knocked but no one answered so she went inside and felt asleep
Meanwhile seven dwarfs were coming home from work. They went inside. There, they found Snow White woke up. She saw the dwarfs. The dwarfs said; “What is your name?”. Snow White said; “My name is Snow White”. One of the dwarfs said; “If you wish, you may live here with us”. Snow White told the whole story about her. Then Snow white ad the seven dwarfs lived happily ever after.
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Generic Structure Analysis
1. Orientation; introducing specific participants; Snow White
2. Complication; revealing a series of crisis: Snow White’s aunt and uncle would leave her in a castle, Snow White run away, Snow White felt hungry in the wood.
3. Resolution; the crisis is resolve: the dwarfs permitted Snow White lived in their cottage lived happily
Language Feature Analysis
o Using saying verb; answered
o Using thinking verb; decided
o Using action verb; run away
o Using time conjunction; once upon a time, one day
o Using connectives; then, meanwhile
o Using past tense; she heard her uncle
Once upon time, a man had a wonderful parrot. There was no other parrot like it. The parrot could say every word, except one word. The parrot would not say the name of the place where it was born. The name of the place was Catano.
The man felt excited having the smartest parrot but he could not understand why the parrot would not say Catano. The man tried to teach the bird to say Catano however the bird kept not saying the word.
At the first, the man was very nice to the bird but then he got very angry. “You stupid bird!” pointed the man to the parrot. “Why can’t you say the word? Say Catano! Or I will kill you” the man said angrily. Although he tried hard to teach, the parrot would not say it. Then the man got so angry and shouted to the bird over and over; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”. The bird kept not to say the word of Catano.
One day, after he had been trying so many times to make the bird say Catano, the man really got very angry. He could not bear it. He picked the parrot and threw it into the chicken house. There were four old chickens for next dinner “You are as stupid as the chickens. Just stay with them” Said the man angrily. Then he continued to humble; “You know, I will cut the chicken for my meal. Next it will be your turn, I will eat you too, stupid parrot”. After that he left the chicken house.
The next day, the man came back to the chicken house. He opened the door and was very surprised. He could not believe what he saw at the chicken house. There were three death chickens on the floor. At the moment, the parrot was standing proudly and screaming at the last old chicken; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”.
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Notes on Narrative Text
It is important to know that the social function of the narrative text is to inform and entertain. Narrative text will tell the story with amusing way. It provides an esthetic literary experience to the reader. Narrative text is written based on life experience. In literary term, experience is what we do, feel, hear, read, even what we dream.
Narrative text is organized focusing at character oriented. It is build using descriptive familiar language and dialogue. There are some genres of literary text which fit to be classified as the narrative text. Some of them are:
Folktales, it includes fables, legend, myth, or realistic tales
Mysteries, fantasy, science or realistic fiction
Commonly, narrative text is organized by the story of grammar. It will be beginning, middle and end of the story. To build this story grammar, narrative text need plot. This plot will determine the quality of the story. Plot is a series of episodes which holds the reader’ attention while they are reading the story.
Conflict is the main important element of the plot. This conflict among the characters will drive the story progress. In this conflict, readers will be shown how the characters face the problem and how they have ability to handle that problem
Analysis the Generic Structure Orientation: It sets the scene and introduces the participants/characters. In that parrot story, the first paragraph is the orientation where reader finds time and place set up and also the participant as the background of the story. A man and his parrot took place once time. Complication: It explores the conflict in the story. It will show the crisis, rising crisis and climax of the story. In the parrot story, paragraph 2, 3, 4 are describing the complication. Readers will find that the man face a problem of why the parrot can not say Catano. To fix this problem, the man attempted to teach the bird. How hard he tried to teach the bird is the excitement element of the complication. Resolution: It shows the situation which the problems have been resolved. It must be our note that “resolved” means accomplished whether succeed or fail. In the last paragraph of the smartest parrot story, readers see the problem is finished. The parrot could talk the word which the man wanted. The parrot said the word with higher degree than the man taught the word to it. That was the smartest parrot.
The sun shone brightly and the west breeze blew. The kite was flying this way and that way tied to her string.
Suddenly the string snapped. The kite was free. She soared high in the air until she could see far, far away.
The kite followed some parrots who took her to see the rainforests. The air was cool and the kite got wet.
The kite followed some crocodiles who took her to see the rivers. The air was misty and the kite caught a fish.
The kite followed some wallabies who took her to see the deserts. The air was hot and the kite got tired.
So the kite followed the sun who took her back home, right to her string
----------------------------- Note on Narrative Text
The example of Narrative above is taken from Jeany Eather. We see that Narrative will be a narrative if the text include any complication among the characters. Narrative is mainly to tell a story. Telling a story is intended to entertain as well teach certain moral values.
From the narrative example above, we can see the specific generic structure which actually makes this text different from other text types
The first paragraph is setting the scene. This scene set up will include information of who, what, when and where. This is actually what we know as Orientation to introduce the participant in the text, kite and information near it.
The second paragraph is introducing a problem as complication set which is followed by other three paragraphs as series of event.
The last paragraph is the resolution to end the story. Resolution can be good or bad.
I stayed a night at Sakhuwa of Gati VDC because a landslide near Baseri had blocked the road, The next morning, I hopped onto the bus with registration number Ba 2 Kha 4013 that was on the way to Barhabise from Tatopani.
I took a seat by the doorside and remember that there were around 35 passengers, including me. The driver started the bus. A kilometer into the journey, I noticed a ditch on the road.
The driver tried to avert the ditch. Before I could know what was going on, the bus started hurtling towards the Bhotekoshi.
I had given up hope of surviving, but found a ventilator glass broken. I came out of the shattered glass and plunged into the Bhotekoshi.
The river carried me for about 35 kilometers and left me on the shallow surface. I passed out after that. The rescuers took me to a hospital when I regained consciousness.
I heard later that all except four passengers had survived. I have sustained injuries on the face, hands and other body parts. Nonetheless, I feel that surviving was my destiny.
A long time ago, in a small village near the beach in West Sumatra, a woman and her son lived. They were Malin Kundang and her mother. Her mother was a single parent because Malin Kundang's father had passed away when he was a baby. Malin Kundang had to live hard with his mother.
Malin Kundang was a healthy, dilligent, and strong boy. He usually went to sea to catch fish. After getting fish he would bring it to his mother, or sold the caught fish in the town.
One day, when Malin Kundang was sailing, he saw a merchant's ship which was being raided by a small band of pirates. He helped the merchant. With his brave and power, Malin Kundang defeated the pirates. The merchant was so happy and thanked to him. In return the merchant asked Malin Kundang to sail with him. To get a better life, Malin Kundang agreed. He left his mother alone.
Many years later, Malin Kundang became wealthy. He had a huge ship and was helped by many ship crews loading trading goods. Perfectly he had a beautiful wife too. When he was sailing his trading journey, his ship landed on a beach near a small village. The villagers recognized him. The news ran fast in the town; “Malin Kundang has become rich and now he is here”.
An old woman ran to the beach to meet the new rich merchant. She was Malin Kundang’s mother. She wanted to hug him, released her sadness of being lonely after so long time. Unfortunately, when the mother came, Malin Kundang who was in front of his well dressed wife and his ship crews denied meeting that old lonely woman. For three times her mother begged Malin Kundang and for three times he yelled at her. At last Malin Kundang said to her "Enough, old woman! I have never had a mother like you, a dirty and ugly woman!" After that he ordered his crews to set sail. He would leave the old mother again but in that time she was full of both sadness and angriness.
Finally, enraged, she cursed Malin Kundang that he would turn into a stone if he didn't apologize. Malin Kundang just laughed and really set sail. In the quiet sea, suddenly a thunderstorm came. His huge ship was wrecked and it was too late for Malin Kundang to apologize. He was thrown by the wave out of his ship. He fell on a small island. It was really too late for him to avoid his curse. Suddenly, he turned into a stone.
Many believe that a story can teach a society certain moral value. Most stories are build in narrative. Because it is a narrative story, it must consists of complication. That complication, in fact, is the moral value which like to be taught. Orientation; the first paragraph is set to be the story introduction. Reading the orientation, reader will know that the story is characterized with Malin Kundang and his mother. Wes Sumatra is set as the place. Complication; this is the main element of narrative story. From the Malin Kundang myth, we know that there are more than one complication. Many stories are composed with multi complications. They are minor complication and major complication. When Malin Kundang and her mother did life hard, it can be the minor complication. this hard life in the first time was solved by his successful trading as new merchant. However this narrative sotry is more interesting when we see the major complication among the participants- Malin Kundang denied his mother after being successful merchant. In every story, complication must be ended; happy ending or sad one Resolution; this is the end of the story, the sad ending one. Malin Kundang faces his curse of turning into a stone.
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Using adjectives
Narrative and recount in some ways are similar. Both are telling something in the past so narrative and recount usually apply PAST TENSE; whether Simple Past Tense, Simple Past Continuous Tense, or Past Perfect Tense. The ways narrative and recount told are in chronological order using time or place. Commonly narrative text is found in story book; myth, fable, folklore, etc while recount text is found in biography.
The thing that makes narrative and recount different is the structure in which they are constructed. Narrative uses conflicts among the participants whether natural conflict, social conflict or psychological conflict. In some ways narrative text combines all these conflicts. In the contrary, we do not find these conflicts inside recount text. Recount applies series of event as the basic structure
DESCRIPTIVE Purpose: to describe a particular person, place or thing in detail.
Language Features:
1. Using Simple Present Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Using adverb
4. Using special technical terms
REPORT Purpose: to presents information about something, as it is.
Generic Structure
1. General classification
2. Description
Dominant Language Feature
1. Introducing group or general aspect
2. Using conditional logical connection
3. Using Simple Present Tense
EXPLANATION Purpose: To explain the processes involved in the formation or working of natural or socio-cultural phenomena.
Generic Structure:
1. General statement
2. Explanation
3. Closing
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Simple Present Tense
2. Using action verbs
3. Using passive voice
4. Using noun phrase
5. Using adverbial phrase
6. Using technical terms
7. Using general and abstract noun
8. Using conjunction of time and cause-effect.
ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION Purpose: To reveal the readers that something is the important case
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using modals
2. Using action verbs
3. Using thinking verbs
4. Using adverbs
5. Using adjective
6. Using technical terms
7. Using general and abstract noun
8. Using connectives/transition
HORTATORY EXPOSITION Purpose: to persuade the readers that something should or should not be the case or be done
Dominant Language features:
1. Using Simple Present Tense
2. Using modals
3. Using action verbs
4. Using thinking verbs
5. Using adverbs
6. Using adjective
7. Using technical terms
8. Using general and abstract noun
9. Using connectives/transition
Then what is the basic difference between analytical and hortatory exposition. In simple word. Analytical is the answer of "How is/will" while hortatory is the answer of "How should". Analytical exposition will be best to describe "How will student do for his examination? The point is the important thing to do. But for the question" How should student do for his exam?" will be good to be answered with hortatory. It is to convince that the thing should be done
PROCEDURE Purpose: to help readers how to do or make something completely
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Simple Present Tense
2. Using Imperatives sentence
3. Using adverb
4. Using technical terms
DISCUSSION Purpose: to present information and opinions about issues in more one side of an issue (‘For/Pros’ and ‘Against/Cons’)
Generic Structure:
1. Issue
2. Arguments for and against
3. Conclusion
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Simple Present Tense
2. Use of relating verb/to be
3. Using thinking verb
4. Using general and abstract noun
5. Using conjunction/transition
6. Using modality
7. Using adverb of manner
REVIEW Purpose: to critique or evaluate an art work or event for a public audience
Dominant Language Features:
1. Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline
2. Using action verbs
3. Using saying verbs
4. Using adverbs : time, place and manner.
