Intensive Reading book review by Otong Setiawan Djuharie

Book Review
Book Title: Intensive Reading
Writer: Otong Setiawan Djuharie
Publisher: Yrama Widya
Year of Publication: 2019
Book Thickness: 216 pages

   This book, Intensive Reading, was created to provide directions, ways, and tips to immediately understand words, phrases, sentences, and all the symbols contained in a text.

   I will review the contents of this book. Before doing so, it is important to understand what comprehension means. Understanding a written text involves efficiently extracting the necessary information from it. Several factors to consider in reading include what we read (novels, plays, poems, newspapers, recipes, etc.), why we read (for pleasure or information), and how we read (skimming, scanning, extensive reading, and intensive reading). Two types of exercises can be used to develop writing skills: analyzing the structure of discourse and analyzing its content. 

   The first concept we will explore after understanding comprehension is word roots. In brief, English words are formed from a combination of different word types originating from Old English, Greek, and Latin. These include prefixes, suffixes, and affixes. Prefixes typically change the meaning of base words. There are five types of prefixes: those that negate the base word, those related to time, those related to quantity, those related to place, and various other prefixes. 

   Next, we will discuss word reference. While we often repeat a word multiple times, word references use shorter terms that refer back to previously mentioned concepts, such as it, she, he, that, this, they, and one. After understanding word references, we will move on to phrases. 

   What is a phrase? Phrases are groups of words with a specific structure within the sentence system and are typically used to convey information. There are several types of phrases, including Noun Phrases (NP), Verb Phrases (VP), Adjective Phrases (AP), Adverbial Phrases (AdvP), and Prepositional Phrases (PP), among others. 

   A Noun Phrase is divided into two types: Left-Handed Noun Phrases and Right-Handed Noun Phrases. A Left-Handed NP places the noun at the end of the phrase, preceded by a qualifier, while a Right-Handed NP positions the noun at the beginning of the phrase. 

   A Verb Phrase consists of a verb along with an auxiliary. There are two types of Verb Phrases: Auxiliary + Verb and Verb + Verb. 

   We will now move on to grammatical meaning. This topic is quite extensive, particularly when it comes to differentiating between adjectives and adverbs. 

   Next, we will discuss questions, or interrogatives, which can be divided into three categories:
1. Interrogatives without WH Questions.
2. Interrogatives with WH Questions (who, whom, whose, what, which, why, when, where, and how). Note that 'how' can be further categorized into several types, including how much/many, how far, how often, how many times, how long, and how soon.
3. Embedded Questions, or indirect questions.
Finally, we will cover Relative Pronouns or Adjective Clauses. The words that can function as relative pronouns include who, whom, whose, which, and that. 

   After covering grammar, we will delve into understanding sentence patterns. To grasp the information in an English text, it’s insufficient to know the meaning of each word. What else must be understood? There are five elements of a sentence, summarized as SVOAC: Subject, Verb, Object, Adverb, and Complement. 

   For simple declarative sentence patterns, there are seven structures: SV (subject, verb), SVO (subject, verb, object), SVC (subject, verb, complement), SVA (subject, verb, adverb), SVOO (subject, verb, object 1, object 2), SVOC (subject, verb, object, complement), and SVOA (subject, verb, object, adverb). 

   Next, we will explore the meaning of punctuation. Punctuation plays a crucial role in a sentence; without it, reading can become uncomfortable, right? Therefore, punctuation is essential. Some common punctuation marks include the period, comma, question mark, exclamation mark, colon, semicolon, hyphen, parentheses, dash, and apostrophe. 

   Finally, we will understand the meaning of cohesion markers. The key point is that sentences in a text cannot stand alone; each sentence is connected to the one that precedes it and the one that follows. The relationships between sentences create coherence, which is essential for clarity and flow in writing. 

This concludes the review of Mr Otong Setiawan Djuharie's Intensive Reading book. To learn more, you can purchase the book at Gramedia or through online stores.