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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Simple Past Tense
1. The Understanding of Past Tense
The simple past expresses action carried out prior to the time of speaking: last night we ate dinner in the Italian restaurant
. The simple past tense frequently occurs with expression that indicate a specific point in time when action was carried out,
such us yesterday, a week ago, last Monday, at flour o’clock, in the morning, on
Tuesday, and so on.
1
Biber and friends in Grammar of Spoken and Written English stated that past tense most commonly refers to past time via some past points of references,
especially in fictional narrative description, where the use of the past tense to describe imaginary past happening is well-established invention.
2
Finally, it can be concluded that the simple past refers to an activity that occurs in the past without indicating connection with the present. It is commonly
accompanied or followed by time expression that indicate past time such us yesterday, a week ago, last Monday, at flour o‟clock, in the morning, on Tuesday, and
so on.
2. The Form of Simple Past Tense
The simple past or past simple, sometimes called the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it
also has some other uses. Regular English verbs form the simple past in -ed; however there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms.
1
Ron Cowan. The Teacher’s Grammar of English New York: Cambridge University Press,
2008 p. 359.
2
Douglas Biber and friends. Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Edinburg: Longman, 1999, p. 456.
Meanwhile Evelyn and and Robert said that almost all verbs, form their past tense by adding the suffix
–ed. These verbs are called regular verbs. Some verbs, however, do not follow this pattern. These verbs a0re called irregular verbs. Some
examples of irregular verbs are: see past tense saw, write past tense wrote, and hit past tense to describe imaginary hit.
3
Very often the simple past ends in –ed: I enjoyed the party last night, the
police stopped me on my way home last night . But many important verbs are
irregular. This means that the simple past does not end in –ed:
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Leave left Go went
According to Murphy and friends in Grammar in Use, the past of verb be am, is, are is waswere:
Ihesheit was weyouthey were
I was angry they were late In simple past questions and negatives we use diddidn‟t + the base form
doopen, etc: It rained Did it rain? It didn‟t rain
Meanwhile as Lado stated in Practical Complete English Grammar, the structures of simple past are below:
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Positive. Structure: Subject + verb 2
For example: a. My brother watched a football match last night
3
Evelyn P Alternberg, Robert M. Vago. English Grammar: Understanding the Basics. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 157-158
4
Raymond Murphy, RoannAliman. Grammar in Use. New York: Cambridge Univrsity, Press, p. 22
5
M.J Lado. A Practical Complete English Grammar. Jakarta: TitikTerang, 2004, pp. 6 –7.
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