Language Variation Solidarity and Politeness

person indicative in both the present and the past tense. For example are I am, he is, I was, he was, and we were. In other hand, English has three person that are 1 st person, 2 nd person, and 3 rd person. Curme, 1966: 56 Tense is a category to indicate the time of some actions. There are three types of tenses: past, present, and future. For example: I wrote past; I write present; I shall write future. Tense also shows whether the action or a state of being expressed by the verb is or was, or will be complete perfect, or whether the action is or was, or will be incomplete continuous or imperfect. For example: I was writing past continuous or past imperfect. I had written past perfect. Burton, 1982: 133 Table 2. Tenses Form Symbol E.g. Functions 1 Base V Call Drink Put a All the present tenses except 3 rd person singular; Iyouwethey callevery day b Imperative: Call at once c Subjunctive: He demanded that she call and see him. d The bare infinitive: He wants her to call. 2 –s form 3 rd person singular present V-s Calls Drinks Puts 3 rd person singular present tense: Hesheit calls every day 3 Past V-ed 1 Called Drank Put Past tense: He called yesterday 4 –ing participle present participle V-ing Calling Drinking Putting a Progressive aspect be+V-ing: He’s calling in a moment. b In –ing participle clauses: Calling early, I found her at home. 5 –ed participle past participle V-ed 2 Called Drunk Put a Perfective aspect have+V- ed 2 : He has drunk the water. b Passive voice be+V-ed 2 : he is called Jack. c In –ed participle clauses: Called early, he had a quick breakfast. Quirk, 1973:27 The Simple Tenses Table 3. The Simple Tenses Tense Example Meaning Simple Present It snows in Alaska. It expresses events or situations that exist now, existed in the past, and probably will exist in the future. Simple Past It snowed in Alaska. Began and ended in the past. Simple Future It will snow tomorrow. Happen in one particular time in the future. Azar, Betty S. and Stacy A. Hagen, 2009: 2 The Progressive Tenses The form of Progressive Tense is be + -ing Table 4. The Progressive Tenses Present Progressive He is sleeping right now. It has a progress at the present time and probably will be continued. Past Progressive He was sleeping when I arrived. It had a progress at the past time and probably continued. Future Progressive He will be sleeping when we arrive. It will be in progress at a particular time in the future. Azar, Betty S. and Stacy A. Hagen, 2009: 3