Walking Is A Sport

Sport helps us to become strong and healthy. There are many kinds of sport: walking, running, hunting, cycling, swimming, and so on. It is not important what kinds of sport we are going to do as long as we are strong enough to do it.

Healthy people should exercise regularly, no matter how old they are.

The simplest and the best sport is walking. It is also the cheapest one, because we do not need money to do it. A long walk in the evening may help us sleep more than any medicine.

But people today do not like walking. They prever to drive a car, Though they are not in a hurry or travelling a long distance. This kind of “disease” comes from our laziness.

Our Forests

Indonesia has some of the richest forrest in the world. The total area of forested land is approximately 120 million hectares.

These forests have existed for million of years and they have munch to offer us. They are important for their products, such as timber, rattan, resin, etc. They are also important for keeping the soil fertile. The leaves of the forest trees fall to the ground and become humus is fertilizerfor the soil. The roots  of the trees prevent the soil from being washed away by the rain.

Some year a go the forest in Indonesia looked from the air like unbroken carpet of green. Today they are a lot of bare patches where trees  have been cut down and cleared for farms and mines and settlements. In some areas the destruction is continuing at a very rapid rate. If we do not stop this, our forest will be gone by the end of this century.

Our government realize this and has taken some steps to prevent the destruction. Some regulations have been issued to protect the forest. In addition, reforestasion project are being carried out.the projects are as important as other big development projects. It is our duty as good citizens to help the government carry out these programmes successfully.

Rafflesia Arnoldi

The vast archipelago and the great numberof islands has made Indonesia the home of  a large variety of plant life. The Indonesian flora ranges from the tiny orchid to the giant rafflesia plant. No wonder many botanists are curious to study these plants.

The rafflesia arnoldi is the biggest flower in the world. It is unusual because of its large size. It has a flower almost a metre in diameter and 1.40 meters in height.

“Rafflesia” is derived from the name of  the British Governor General, Sir Thomas Stanford Rafles, who once governed and built  the Botanical Gardensin Bogor. Though it is called Rafflesia after Raffles, the man who discovered the plant was Beccary, an Italian botanist who visited Sumatera in 1928.

Rafflesia consists of two part: the stick-like part which grows in the middle and the petals around and below it.

The rafflesia plant begin to flower in its tenth year. It blooms three or four times a year. Before it begins to flower, the leaves and the stem become dry and look dead, but the main root in the ground is still alive.

While the flower is blossoming, it has very unpleasant smell which attract insect, especially green flies. They seem eager to explore the flower. But if the flies touch the bottom part of stick, like centre, they die.

Active & Passive Sentences

Active Sentences

In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.

[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]

Examples:

Passive Sentences

In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.

[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

Examples:

Examples Of Articles Containing A Passive Sentences

Mapping the chemical sequences for human DNA -- the chemical "letters" that make up the recipe of human life -- is a breakthrough that is expected to revolutionize the practice of medicine by paving the way for new drugs and medical therapies.

Ninety-nine percent of the human genome has been sequenced and 3.21 billion letters of genetic code have been assembled by Celera.

In the final step, each gene and its function must be identified. Scientists will look for the genetic variations in people -- variations that could be the cause of countless diseases.

That step is expected to take several years to complete. However, scientists said doctors one day would be able to study a person's genetic profile, determine his susceptibility to various diseases, and design a course of treatment to prevent illness.

Despite the potential for medical advancements, many Americans are divided over the implications of the genome project.

Source :

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html

http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/passiveart.html

Subject - Verb Agreement

Although you are probably already familiar with basic subject - verb agreement, this chapter begins with a quick review of basic agreement rules.
Subjects and verbs must agree with one another in number (singular or plural).  Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular, if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.
This handout gives you several guidelines to help your subjects and verbs agree.

1.    Two singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb.
Example:
My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.

2.    Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor require a singular verb as in Rule 1.
Examples:
Neither Juan nor Carmen is available.
Either Kiana or Casey is helping today with stage decorations.

3.    When I is one of the two subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor, put it second and follow it with the singular verb am.
Example:
Neither she nor I am going to the festival.

4.    When a singular subject is connected by or or nor to a plural subject, put the plural subject last and use a plural verb.
Example:
The serving bowl or the plates go on that shelf.

5.    When a singular and plural subject are connected by either/or or neither/nor, put the plural subject last and use a plural verb.
Example:
Neither Jenny nor the others are available.

6.    As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.
Example:
A car and a bike are my means of transportation.

7.    Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, or not. Ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb.
Examples:
The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly.
Excitement, as well as nervousness, is the cause of her shaking.

8.    The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody are singular and require singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.
Examples:
Each of these hot dogs is juicy.
Everybody knows Mr. Jones.

9.    With words that indicate portions—percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder, and so forth —look at the noun in your of phrase (object of the preposition) to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the preposition is plural, use a plural verb.
Examples:
Fifty percent of the pie has disappeared.
Pie is the object of the preposition of.
Fifty percent of the pies have disappeared.
Pies is the object of the preposition.
One-third of the city is unemployed.
One-third of the people are unemployed.
•    NOTE: Hyphenate all spelled-out fractions.
All of the pie is gone.
All of the pies are gone.
Some of the pie is missing.
Some of the pies are missing.
None of the garbage was picked up.
None of the sentences were punctuated correctly.
Of all her books, none have sold as well as the first one.
•    NOTE: Apparently, the SAT testing service considers none as a singular word only. However, according to Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, "Clearly none has been both singular and plural since Old English and still is. The notion that it is singular only is a myth of unknown origin that appears to have arisen in the 19th century. If in context it seems like a singular to you, use a singular verb; if it seems like a plural, use a plural verb. Both are acceptable beyond serious criticism".

10.    The expression the number is followed by a singular verb while the expression a number is followed by a plural verb.
Examples:
The number of people we need to hire is thirteen.
A number of people have written in about this subject.

11.    When either and neither are subjects, they always take singular verbs.
Examples:
Neither of them is available to speak right now.
Either of us is capable of doing the job.

12.    The words here and there have generally been labeled as adverbs even though they indicate place. In sentences beginning with here or there, the subject follows the verb.
Examples:
There are four hurdles to jump.
There is a high hurdle to jump.

13.    Use a singular verb with sums of money or periods of time.
Examples:
Ten dollars is a high price to pay.
Five years is the maximum sentence for that offense.

14.    Sometimes the pronoun who, that, or which is the subject of a verb in the middle of the sentence. The pronouns who, that, and which become singular or plural according to the noun directly in front of them. So, if that noun is singular, use a singular verb. If it is plural, use a plural verb.
Examples:
Salma is the scientist who writes/write the reports.
The word in front of who is scientist, which is singular. Therefore, use the singular verb writes.
He is one of the men who does/do the work.
The word in front of who is men, which is plural. Therefore, use the plural verb do.

15.    Collective nouns such as team and staff may be either singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence.
Examples:
The staff is in a meeting.
Staff is acting as a unit here.
The staff are in disagreement about the findings.
The staff are acting as separate individuals in this example.
The sentence would read even better as:
The staff members are in disagreement about the findings



Sumber  :
    http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp
    http://www.towson.edu/ows/sub-verb.htm
    http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/1/