The Analysis of -ing Forms

The –ing form can be used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb. In this case, I try to find out and analyze the -ing forms in an article which is entitled History Community Celebrates 11 Years with Website Launch. The analysis contains whether the -ing forms in the article functioning as noun, adjective, or verb. The analysis of -ing forms will be discussed below:

 History Community Celebrates

11 Years with Website Launch

The Indonesian History Community (KHI), a group of young people who popularize history through a series of interesting programs, is celebrating its 11th anniversary by launching a new website, komunitashistoria.com. Consequently, KHI has begun to digitize its archives. KHI founder Asep Kambali said the group’s purpose was to educate society, particularly youths. By digitizing the historical data and uploading it, he hoped current and subsequent generations could learn more about Indonesian history.

“Right now, people rarely use paper to read or save data, they tend to use electronic devices such as computers and phones,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that for that reason, this year the KHI had started a campaign to digitize historical data such as analog movies and articles. He said the KHI had also invited around 23,500 members to move their activities and conversation in the KHI’s long-running mailing list to the new website.

KHI was also digitizing the data because it wanted to have a better way to approach youths who were more familiar with the digital age, he said. Asep had concerns that the youth in Indonesia did not know the country’s history very well. “This is an era of media convergence. The process of history learning must adapt with [this], otherwise people in Indonesia will forget their own history,” he said. The KHI is a nonprofit independent organization and was established on March 22, 2003, in Jakarta. It is a community for youths who want to learn about Indonesian history. 

Asep said to make the community sustainable, he had also established a legal business institution, PT Komunitas Historia Indonesia, where youths who had a degree in history could make a living. The move was part of the KHI’s effort to encourage the younger generation to believe it could earn a living by learning history, he added.

Nadya, a KHI member, said after joining the community, she learned many things and found that the process was fun. “Learning history in school should be done via KHI’s way,” she told the Post, adding that the KHI promoted interesting topics in history and delivered them in interesting ways. At the anniversary, Asep explained KHI’s programs in 2014, one of which was a cooperation with the Post, which will hold the second Museum Week from May 13 to 18 in conjunction with International Museum Day.

Riyadi Suparno, executive director of the Post, said at the KHI’s anniversary that Museum Week aimed to promote museums. “The exhibition aims to promote and increase people’s awareness of museums, in the hope it can trigger a movement that can make museums become better [and interesting] places to visit,” said Riyadi. Last year, the week took place over six days from Aug. 27 to Sept. 1 at Senayan City mall. In the event, 13 museums in Jakarta, including the Bank Indonesia Museum, the Maritime Museum, the National Museum, the Harry Darsono Museum, the Basoeki Abdullah Museum, the Asmat Museum in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) and the Textile Museum, showcased their collections. (ask)

Source : Jakarta Post newspaper, Page 10 ‖ Tuesday, March 25, 2014.

DISCUSSION

a)         In paragraph 1, first sentence:

The Indonesian History Community (KHI), a group of young people who popularize history through a series of interesting programs, is celebrating its 11th anniversary by launching a new website, komunitashistoria.com.

Analysis:

The -ing form of “interesting” functions as an adjective. Although the –ing form “interesting” is preceded by preposition “of”, it does not mean that “interesting” has a function as noun or a gerund. However in the sentence above, “interesting” is a present participle which is used as an adjective. “Interesting program” is a noun phrase. The head is “program” and  “interesting” is modifier. In this case, “interesting” functions as adjective that modifies noun “program”. 

The -ing form of “celebrating” functions as verb. If we read the whole of first sentence in the paragraph one, we can obviously determine that the main verb in the sentence is “is celebrating”. The sentence uses present progressive tense because it has sentence pattern: Subject (KHI ) + to be (is) + v-ing (celebrating)+Object. Hence, the -ing form of “celebrating” functions as verb, and it expresses an action. "a group of young people who popularize history through a series of interesting programs" is appositive which is used to give more information about the subject "KHI".

The -ing form of “launching” functions as noun. The –ing form in the word “launching” is a gerund. As we know that gerund has the same function as a noun although it looks like a verb. One of the rules in English grammar is if there is a preposition, we need to use a gerund or a noun after it.  Therefore, we can see that there is a gerund “launching” after the preposition “by”.

 b)        In paragraph 2, last sentence:

He said the KHI had also invited around 23,500 members to move their activities and conversation in the KHI’s long running mailing list to the new website.

Analysis:

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

The -ing form of  “mailing” has a function as noun. “mailing” is a gerund in compound noun “mailing list”, and gerund has the same function as noun. Besides, there is a preposition “in” before “the KHI’s long-running mailing list”. It means that we have to use a noun or gerund after the preposition. 

c)         In paragraph 3, first sentence:

KHI was also digitizing the data because it wanted to have a better way to approach youths.

Analysis:

The –ing form “digitizing” has a function as a verb because it expresses an action. There is a to be (i.e. was) that precedes the v-ing “digitizing”. Hence, the independent clause above uses past continuous tense with the sentence pattern: Subject (KHI) + to be (was) + v-ing (digitizing)+object (the data).

 d)        In paragraph 4, first sentence:

Asep said to make the community sustainable, he had also established a legal business institution, PT Komunitas Historia Indonesia, where youths who had a degree in history could make a living.

 Analysis:

 The –ing form of “living” has a function as a noun. “a living” is a noun phrase. The article “a” is determiner that expresses the reference of a noun “living”.

  e)        In paragraph 5, first sentence:

Nadya, a KHI member, said after joining the community, she learned many things and found that the process was fun.

Analysis:

The -ing form of “joining” functions as a noun. After in the sentence above is a preposition, not a conjunction because there is no "subject + to be" before the v-ing “joining”.  Therefore, the v-ing "joining" is a gerund that located after the preposition “after”.

f)         In paragraph 5, second sentence:

“Learning history in school should be done via KHI’s way,” she told the Post, adding that the KHI promoted interesting topics in history and delivered them in interesting ways.

Analysis:

The -ing form of “learning” functions as noun. “Learning” is a gerund that functions as a subject in the sentence above.

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

The –ing form of “interesting” functions as adjective. It is a present participle which is used as an adjective. In the “interesting topics”, the –ing form “interesting” modifies noun “topics” and in the “interesting ways”, “interesting” has a function to modify noun “ways”.

g)         In last paragraph, last sentence:

In the event, 13 museums in Jakarta, including the Bank Indonesia Museum, the Maritime Museum, the National Museum, the Harry Darsono Museum, the Basoeki Abdullah Museum, the Asmat Museum in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) and the Textile Museum, showcased their collections.

Analysis:

The -ing form “including” has a function as a preposition. The –ing form usually has a function as noun, adjective, or verb, but the -ing form “including” has a function as preposition. In the sentence above, “including” contains as part of the 13 museums that being considered.

 

 

The Analysis of Direct and Indirect Speech

I try to find out and analyze the direct and indirect speech in the two articles which are entitled TEPCO shareholders demand end to N-power and Policy pragmatist. The analysis consists of the change of direct speech into indirect speech. It is classified into three forms of speeches. They are statement, question, and imperative. The analysis of direct and indirect speech will be discussed below:

The first article:

TEPCO shareholders demand end to N-power

Furious shareholders in the company that runs Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power station joined campaigners on Thursday to demand the permanent closure of the utility's atomic plants, as it held its annual meeting. Dozens of demonstrators with loudspeakers and banners said Tokyo Electric Power Co must act to avoid a repetition of the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, where three reactors went into meltdown after Japan's huge earthquake-sparked tsunami.

Japan shut down all 48 of its reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the country's worst nuclear crisis in a generation. The government and electricity companies, including TEPCO, would like to fire some of them up again - but public unease has so far prevented that, as has a new, more-effective watchdog.

There was pushing and shoving between security guards and demonstrators as they tried to approach TEPCO shareholders going into the annual meeting in Tokyo. Activists from conservation group Greenpeace wore full protective suits and industrial face masks to remind shareholders what evacuated families who lived near Fukushima must wear if they go back to check on their homes.

Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of the town of Futaba, where the crippled plant is located, lashed out at supporters of nuclear power, including TEPCO's management. "Why don't you get exposed to radiation yourself? Why don't you lose your homeland?" he asked as shareholders filed into Tokyo International Forum for the meeting. His town remains evacuated because of elevated levels of radiation, amid expectations that it will be decades before it is safe to return, if ever.

Idogawa - who bought TEPCO shares last year in a bid to influence the company's decisions - said the firm has been slow to offer compensation to those who lost homes, jobs, farms and their communities, and what they have offered has been inadequate. "You don't pay enough compensation and don't take responsibility. I can't forgive you!" he said.

The sentiment was echoed during the meeting by fellow shareholders whose communities host other nuclear plants. A woman from Niigata prefecture - where TEPCO hopes to restart reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the world's largest nuclear plant - also urged the company to put an end to its nuclear operations.

"Are we going to make the same mistake that we had in Fukushima, also in Niigata?" she said. "Fellow shareholders, please support this proposal of scrapping the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant ... and revitalizing the site with plans for renewable energy," she said.

TEPCO has argued that restarting selected reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the key to ensuring the company's survival as it battles huge costs. The calls for an end to nuclear power were rejected on Thursday by TEPCO and a majority of its shareholders - which include a government-backed fund designed to rescue it, which holds 54.74 percent of outstanding stock. The government has poured billions of dollars into TEPCO to keep afloat the company that supplies electricity to Tokyo and its surrounding area.

The second article:

Policy Pragmatist

Few get excited as Narongchai Akrasanee about new e-mails coming in. As his smartphone buzzes across the coffee table, he politely asks, “Can I reply to a message quickly?”

His enthusiasm for this brief interruption is soon explained, “I’ve been invited to Peru to give a speech on Southeast Asia. How nice!” he says. A frequent globe-trotter and conference speaker, Narongchai, 69, is currently chairman of MFC Asset Management, Thailand’s oldest mutual fund management company. However, he is best known as a versatile economic heavyweight.

The former commerce minister was involved in Thailand’s economic policies throughout the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. To date, Narongchai has also been an economist, professor, businessman, trade diplomat and adviser to various prime ministers and consultant to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He also cofounded the Thailand Development Research Institute, a leading policy think tank. But behind this variety of roles, there has been a consistency in theme. “I have shifted in my career in terms of who pays my salary,” he tells China Daily Asia Weekly. “But in terms of what I am doing, it’s the same. It’s all related to public policy.” 

Narongchai has been forging an impressive career path from a young age. At 29, he was the dean of the economics faculty at the prestigious Thammasat University in Bangkok and adviser to the Thai prime minister. 

Born into a family of civil servants in Bangkok, Narongchai grew up at a time when elite education was not usually affordable to students outside of the upper class. But thanks to scholarships, he was able to finance his education at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, then in Western Australia. A third scholarship, from the US-based Rockefeller Foundation, enabled him to complete a doctoral degree at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

A move into politics from academia placed Narongchai center stage during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. He was Thailand’s commerce minister, and advocated a free market economy and a flexible exchange rate.

Sitting in a coffee shop at the Island Shangri-La hotel in Hong Kong, Narongchai recalls the turbulence of those years. “When you float the currency, it has to be the right timing,” he says. But time was not on his side. The Thai central bank was forced to float the baht in 1997 due to a shortage of foreign reserves needed to continue its peg with the US dollar. “We were waiting for a calm sea to float the baht but it never came. We were floating the baht by default,” he says. “This is my regret in life.”

After the collapse of the baht, the crisis quickly spread and gripped much of Asia. But, in fact, signs of the crisis had been building as early as 1994. Thailand was in debt and its economy vulnerable to speculative attacks. 

It was at another hotel in Hong Kong, the Conrad, where an incident happened that underlines the fault lines in the Thai economy in the years before the crash. Narongchai at the time was chairman of the now-defunct General Finance, a Thai conglomerate with investments in property and securities.

He recalls that the glassy building was where he signed an agreement with a syndicated lender for a loan of $150 million — double the amount that his company had asked for. With the benefit of hindsight, he realizes that some obvious questions should have been asked. “Why did they offer money so easily? We should have been suspicious,” he says. 

It was a painful lesson. “This is what students learn in introduction to accounting 101 about balance sheets and indebtedness,” he says, “but people make mistakes.” Narongchai uses the phrase the “asymmetry of money” to describe how even highly trained economists can make errors.

“When you give money away, you feel bad. When people give you money, you feel good. When you are human beings, it’s difficult to be mindful about it.” But Narongchai has chosen to make the best out of the lessons learned and share his knowledge about hedging against a future crisis. His advice for regulators across the region is: Don’t get too much into debt.

“I warn people seriously we must manage our current debt position and current ratio very well,” he says. “When you don’t have liquidity in times of crisis, you are going to hurt badly. That high cost will kill you. You may not die right away, but slowly you’ll die.”

Thailand is undergoing a different type of turmoil today with ongoing anti-government protests. Narongchai believes the most pressing issue is to bring relief to the country’s rice farmers. “Farmers have very little savings,” he says. “We should do whatever it takes to save them.”

Since October, thousands of farmers have not been paid by the caretaker government led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for rice submitted to the pledging scheme. “It’s a government (promise), not a tissue paper you clean your mouth with and throw away. In order not to let this happen again, we might need to scrap the scheme,” he says, stressing the need for Thai rice to remain competitive.

Narongchai’s interests are not limited to domestic affairs. He was a pioneer in pushing for free trade negotiations within ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation).

His years of hard work eventually translated into the ASEAN free trade area in 1992 and tariff reductions. “That was probably my major achievement,” he says. Moving forward, Narongchai believes the “China factor” is indispensable to the region’s prosperity. “China is so important for ASEAN, particularly for Thailand,” he adds.

Currently, business relations between China and Thailand are largely limited to trade and tourism. “We will move on to investments in infrastructure, which China is really good at,” he says. Narongchai has no plans to retire. “I am doing what I enjoy,” he says. “That’s why I can’t differentiate between work and leisure.”

In recent years, he has turned to the circuit of international conferences. He brings along history and philosophy books with him even on vacations. “Is reading a way to stay away from work or part of work? It depends on what you think,” he says.

He got into the habit of reading extensively about every topic he addresses in public speeches. “You can never learn enough no matter how much you read,” he says. Narongchai’s schedule is currently fully packed with business luncheons, company meetings and speaking engagements.

“When I say yes to something, I am committed to it. That is my style,” he says. But living a hectic life is by no means a sacrifice of work-life balance. “I am busy, but for the same reason I cannot fail in terms of health,” says Narongchai, a father of two with four grandchildren.

He has a routine that ensures he has time for exercise. For 40 years, he has walked 4 kilometers in 45 minutes every morning, followed by a slow breakfast and time to read the news before getting to work at 10am.

When asked if he regarded himself as successful, Narongchai answers with a smile, saying: “I first define success in terms of whether I can be financially and physically independent. “Secondly, it’s (the ability) to inspire. You don’t have to work very hard by then. They do it without you telling them.”

Narongchai is clearly working toward the latter. Attending an APEC event in Singapore is next on his schedule, followed by a trip to India to lecture a group of directors. “Don’t be surprised to see me again in Hong Kong in about a week’s time,” he jokes.

Source:

China Daily Asia Weekly newspaper, Page 32 ‖ Friday, March 21^st 2014.

http://www.chinadailyasia.com/news/2014-06/27/content_15144634.html

 I.     STATEMENT

a)    Direct speech:

In the first article; Paragraph 5, Line 3:

"You don't pay enough compensation and don't take responsibility. I can't forgive you!" he said.

       Indirect speech:

  He said that they didn’t pay enough compensation and didn’t take responsibility. He couldn’t forgive them!

Analysis: 

Because the reporting verb is in the past tense (i.e. said), we have to change the tense which is used in the direct speech. The two statements in the direct speech above use simple present tense. Hence, in the indirect speech, we have to change the simple present tense into the simple past tense. In this case, we have to change don’t pay into didn’t pay and also can’t forgive into couldn’t forgive.

In order to keep the same meaning of the sentence in the reported speech, we have to change the pronoun which is used in the direct speech. In the first statement, if I read the whole sentence in the fifth paragraph, I assumed that “You” in the reported statement relates to TEPCO shareholders. Hence, we have to change the second person plural “You” to the third person plural “They.” Whilst in the second statement, we have to change the pronoun “I” to “He” because the reporting statement uses the pronoun “he.” Then, we have to change the pronoun “you” to “them” because “you” is used as object in the second statement that relates to TEPCO shareholders.

When we would like to change the direct speech into indirect speech, we have to put the speaker’s words into a sentence without quotation mark. We can use the word “that” to introduce the reported speech. However, “that” can be omitted because it is optional.

b)    Direct speech:

In the second article; Paragraph 3, Line 6:

“I have shifted in my career in terms of who pays my salary,” he tells China Daily Asia Weekly.

       Indirect speech:

       He tells China Daily Asia Weekly that he has shifted in his career in terms of who pays his salary.

Analysis:

The reporting verb in the direct speech above uses simple present tense (i.e. says). It means that we do not need to change the tense which is used in the indirect speech. The reported statement in the direct speech above uses present perfect tense, so we still use the present perfect tense in the indirect speech. However, we have to keep changing the pronoun which is used in the direct speech in order to keep the same meaning of the sentence in the indirect speech. The reporting statement in the direct speech uses pronoun “he.” Hence, we have to change the pronoun “I” to “He” and  “my” to “his.” Because the pronoun “I” has been changed to “He”, we also have to change the verb which is used, that is, have shifted into has shifted.

In the indirect speech, we can use either ‘say’ or ‘tell’. The meaning is the same, but the grammar is different. If we use ‘tell’, we need the object, but we cannot use the object if we use ‘say’. Because I use ‘tells’ as the introductory verb in the indirect speech, so I have to keep writing China Daily Asia Weekly as the object after the verb ‘tells’. We can use the word ‘that’ (optional) to introduce the reported speech, and without using quotation marks.

II.   QUESTION

a)    Direct speech:

In the first article; Paragraph 7, Line 1:

"Are we going to make the same mistake that we had in Fukushima, also in Niigata?" she said.

       Indirect speech:

She wondered whether they were going to make the same mistake that they had had in Fukushima, also in Niigata.

       Analysis:

To change yes/no question to a noun clause in indirect speech, we introduce the noun clause with if or whether. Yes/no question can be reported by using ask, want to know, wonder, and inquire. In this case, I use the word ‘wonder’. Because the reporting verb is in the past tense ‘said’, so we also have to use the past tense‘wondered’ in the reported speech. The direct question is in the simple future tense (be going to), so we need to change into the past future. Then, we have to change the question form ‘Are we going to’ by inverting the subject and the verb, and it becomes ‘they were going to’. Besides, there is a change of the tense which is used in that-clause, that is, the simple past tense into past perfect tense. We have to change the verb had into had had. 

The change of pronoun is required when we would like to change the direct speech into indirect speech. In this case, we have to change the pronoun’ we’ to ‘they’. In addition, the final punctuation mark (question mark) must be changed to a full stop (period) in the indirect speech.

b)    Direct speech:

In the second article; Paragraph 10, Line 4:

              “Why did they offer money so easily?,” he says.

       Indirect speech:

              He wants to know why they offered money so easily.

       Analysis:

There is no change of tense when the reporting verb uses simple present tense (i.e. says). The direct question in the direct speech uses simple past tense, so we still use the simple past tense in the indirect speech. I use want to know to introduce the reported statement in the indirect speech, so they become He wants to know (in the present tense). Then, when we convert a direct question to an indirect one, the subject and verb have to be inverted. In this case, ‘Why did they’ become ‘why they offered’.

Because the direct question above uses Wh-question, we do not need to use if/whether, but we keep using ‘why’ to introduce the noun clause. In this case, there is no change of pronoun ‘they’ in the indirect speech. Then, we have to change the question mark to a full stop (period) in the indirect speech.

III.  IMPERATIVE

a)      Direct speech: 

In the first article; paragraph 7, second sentence:

  "Fellow shareholders, please support this proposal of scrapping the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant ... and revitalizing the site with plans for renewable energy," she said.

       Indirect speech:

She asked fellow shareholders to support that proposal of scrapping the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant ... and revitalizing the site with plans for renewable energy.

      

       Analysis:

I use the verb ‘ask’ as the introductory verb in the indirect speech. Because the reporting verb in the direct speech uses simple past tense, so we have to use ‘asked’ as the introductory verb in the indirect speech. If I read the direct imperative above, I assumed that the request is addressed to fellow shareholders. Hence, I use fellow shareholders as the object after the intoductory verb asked. The direct speech above uses affirmative imperative, so we have to use to + infinitive in the indirect speech. Please support becomes to support. Then, we have to change the demostrative ‘this’ to ‘that’.

b)    Direct speech:

In the second article; the last paragraph, line 3:

              “Don’t be surprised to see me again in Hong Kong in about a week’s time,” he jokes.

       Indirect speech:

He asks not to be surprised to see him again in Hong Kong in about a week’s time.

       Analysis:

Because the reporting verb in the direct speech uses simple present tense (i.e. jokes), we also have to use the simple present tense in the introductory verb of the indirect speech. In this case, I use ‘asks’ as the introductory verb, but it is optional. We can use other verbs such as advise, ask, encourage, invite, order, tell, etc. The direct speech above is in negative imperative, so we use not to + infinitive (without to). Then, we have to change the object pronoun ‘me’ to ‘him’ because the reporting clause in the direct speech uses subject pronoun ‘he’. In the indirect speech, the pronoun object (e.g., me) can be omitted after ask.