The Quality of Clause Complexes in Articles Abstracts Written by Semarang State University Graduate Students

Abstract

Clause complexes tend to be difficult for foreign language learners to master. However, they hardly avoid using them in article abstracts as their use of them can be one of the ways to shorten the abstract which should usually consist of only a paragraph of 250 words. The approach used in this study is qualitative with the theories of clause complexes introduced by Halliday (1994) as the instrument of the study, particularly taxis (the system of interdependency), logico-semantic relations, and the realization of them. The results of this study prove that there are only some problems found in the clause complexes used by the graduate students. This implies that their competence in making use of clause complexes in their abstracts is considerably good.