a.

Reading Comprehension

Rice

Since ancient times, rice has been the most commonly used food grain for the majority of
people in the world. A member of the grass family, Graminae, rice (Oriza sativa) can be grown
successfully under climatic condition ranging from tropical to temperate. Properly cultivated, rice
produces higher yields than any other grain with the exception of corn, and although the total area
planted in rice is far smaller that that devoted to wheat (the world total is about one-third less), the
rice crop feeds a far greater proportion of the world’s population.

In contrast to wheat and corn, only a small percentage of the total rice crop enters
international trade. Not quite 4% of the total worldwide becomes an export commodity, although
the United States exports approximately 45% of its total production. Limited international trade in
rice has prevented the establishment of large, active trading centres like those for marketing cereal
grains, and formulation of official grain standards for rice has been slow to develop.

During the past quarter of a century, rice-breeding programs have been initiated in several
countries. Resistance to diseases and insects was the major objective of the earlier research, but
hybrid programs have dominated recently. High-yielding dwarf plants that can withstand deep
water and that respond to fertilisers have been developed. Improved grain quality and higher
protein levels have been added objectives of new programs designed to improve nutrition.

Exercise 3. State whether the statement is true, false or not given, based on the information of the
text!

1. Rice has been eaten since ancient times

2. Rice is a member of the grass family

3. Rice can only be grown in tropical climates

4. Some people eat rice three times a day

5. Rice feeds more people than wheat

6. most rice is traded internationally

7. Thailand is a major exporter of rice

8. Rice breeding programs are concentrated in one country

b. Grammar Focus
a. NOUN PHRASE

Noun Phrase is also commonly called Noun Group or Nominal Group. It is a group of words with
noun as the focal point. The pattern of Noun Phrase is:

PREMODIFIER HEAD (THING) POSTMODIFIER

PREMODIFIER

Pre-modifier is modifier coming before the thing. Pre-modifier can be in the form of:

1. Determiners
Examples of determiners are:
- Articles: a, an, the
- Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
- Possessives: my, your, his, Marry’s, the girl’s, etc.
- Quantifiers: all, another, any, both, each, either, enough, every, some, little, many, etc.
- Cardinals: one, two, ...
- Ordinals: first, second, ...
2. Describers
Descrbers are adjectives that serve the functions of describing more precisely. When there
are more than one adjective in a Noun Phrase, the adjectives must be arranged successively
on the following order:
- Quality: good, kind, beautiful, smart, fair, etc
- Size: big, large, wide, small, tiny, etc.
- Shape: round, circular, square, triangle, etc.
- Colour: red, yellow, grey, white, etc.
- Origin: javanese, balinese, american, british, etc.
- Material: wooden, gold, plastic, leather, etc.
 3. Classifier
Classifiers function to categorize a participant by allocating it to a particular class or
subclass. Another term for it referring similar meaning is “Qualifier”. Classifier or
qualifier must be placed right before the thing. Classifers can be distinguished from
describers in that it is not possible to insert the word “very” before classifiers.
Example: the tennis match the long match
Classifier Describer
There is “very long match”, there is no “very tennis match”
4. Head/ Thing
Head/ thing can be nouns or pronoun. They are classes of words which may represent a
single participant, a group or class of participants, or a number of participants.
- Single Participant: He works in a petrol company
- Class of Participant: People need money
- A number of Participants: We don’t like that design

POSTMODIFIER

Postmodifiier is modifier coming after the thing. It comes in the form of Embedded phrase or
Embedded clause.

- Embedded Phrase: The woman with thick glasses

- Embedded Clause: The woman who wears thick glasses

The pattern of Noun Phrase can be summarized in such a way:

NOUN PHRASE
Those Three Beautiful Girls with high who won the
heels contest last week
Deter- Deter- Describer Thing Embedded embedded clause
miner miner phrase
Pre-modifier Head Post-modifier
Note: - A noun phrase does not necessarily have all the elements (determiner, describer, embedded
phrase, embedded clause) in it. It does not always have post-modifier. The basic form of a noun
phrase can be in the form of describer and thing, or determiner and thing.

Example:
Determiner Describer Thing/ Head
Some New Approaches
Fiveteen Weeks
Consumer’s most favorite Product
Fixed Price
A spectacular new Movie

Exercise 1. Recognise at least 3 Noun Phrases from the (paragraph 2 and 3) and underline each
element of the Noun Phrase!