Friday, April 2, 2010

The correct usage of 'kata bilangan'

Kata bilangan or counting words are tricky in their usage. However, if you follow the rules below, you should be able to use them correctly.

Group 1 Kata Bilangan needs no penjodoh bilangan.
These include Semua (All), Kesemua (All), Para (All, for respectable people), Segala (All, for things or matter), Sesetengah (Some), Segelintir (A small number of, for people), banyak (A lot of or many), Sebahagian (part of, for uncountable nouns), setiap or tiap-tiap (every), sekalian (all, for people). Look at their usage in the sentences given below.
a) Semua pelajar dikehendaki memakai uniform semasa berada di sekolah. [All students are require to wear uniform when they are in school.]
b) Kesemua ayam ini akan disembelih untuk kenduri. [All these chickens will be slaughtered for a feast.]
c) Para pemimpin hendaklah menunjukkan teladan yang baik. [All leaders should set good examples.]
d) Segala rancangan dapat dilaksanakannya dengan berjaya. [All his plans could be executed successfully.]
e) Sesetengah kanak-kanak tidak suka makan buah durian. [Some children do not like to eat durians.]
f) Segelintir murid di sekolah itu lemah dalam Matematik. [A small number of pupils in the school are weak in Mathematics.]
g) Banyak barang yang dijual di kedai itu. [Banyak things are sold in the shop.]
h) Sebahagian getah dari Malaysia dieksport ke negara Jepun. [Part of the rubber from Malaysia is exported to Japan.]
i) Setiap peserta diberi sehelai baju-T. (Every participant was given a T-shirt.]

Group 2 Kata Bilangan has penjodoh bilangan or no penjodoh bilangan depending on the noun that follows it.
a) If it is followed by a concrete noun, then penjodoh bilangan is needed.
(i) Dua orang pelajar sedang membaca buku di perpustakaan itu. [Dua students are reading books in the library.]
(ii) Kedua-dua buah buku ini dikarang oleh Shahnon Ahmad. [These three books were written by Shahnon Ahmad.]
(iii) Beberapa batang jalan di bandar ditenggelami air bah. [Some roads in town were flooded.]
(iv) Berpuluh-puluh biji buah durian dijual oleh Pak Ali. [Hundreds of durians were sold by Pak Ali.]
[Note that dua can be replaced with tiga, empat, seratus, seribu or sejuta; kedua-dua can be substituted by ketiga-tiga, kelima-lima and so on; berpuluh-puluh can be replaced with beratus-ratus, beribu-ribu and so on]

b) If it is followed by an abstract noun, the no penjodoh bilangan is needed.
(i) Tiga hal ini akan kami bincangkan nanti. [These these matters will be discussed by us afterwards.]
(ii) Keempat-empat cadangan ini dikemukakan oleh Ai. [These four suggestions were put forward by Ali.]
(iii) Beberapa isu ditimbulkan dalam mesyuarat itu. [Several issues were raised in the meeting.]
(iv) Beribu-ribu kematian bayi berlaku di negara-negara membangun setiap hari. [Thousands of deaths of babies occurred in developing countries every day.]