Singular first person I am
Plural first person w e are
Singular second person you are
Singular t hird person she,he,It is Plural t hird person t hey
are Therefore, subjebt a composit ion uses t o be “ is” .
In t erms of t he purposes, sent ence can be divided int o four t ypes; declarat ive, imperat ive, int errogat ive, and exclamat ory sent ence. In t his
occasion t here w ill be only explaind declarat ive, cont aining affirmat ive, negat ive sent ence, and int errogat ive sent ence.
A. Affirmative Sentence
Subject To Be
Past participle
Object Complement
The book Is
read by M arina
every night The glasses
Are w ashed
by my sist er every morning
B. Negative Sentence
Subject To be
Not Past Part iciple
Object Complement
The book
Is not
read by M arina
every night
The glasses
Are not
w ashed by my sist er
every morning
C. Interrogative Sentence
To be Subject
Past Part iciple Object
Complement Is
t he book read
by M arina every night ?
Are Glasses
w ashed by my sist er
every morning?
E. Simple Past
a. The Understanding of Simple Past Tense
The simple past is concerned wit h specific event s w hich happened at a cert ain t ime in t he past , and it s principle use is t herefore in st ories and report s.
Specific indicat ions for use of t his t ense are reference t ime adverbial, like yest erday, last w eek, some t ime ago, and years, e.g. in 1888.
Some grammarians define t he simple past t ense, so t here is several definit ions of it . According t o Wishon 1980:195, simple past t ense is t ense
t hat is used t o report a st at e or act ivit y w hich can be ascribed t o a definit e past t ime.
36
36
Betty Azar, op.,cit. P.5
On t he ot her hand W.D. Bald. D.J. Cobb and A. Schw arz in t heir book “ Act ive Grammar” , t he simple past is concerned w it h specific event s w hich
happened at a cert ain t ime in t he past .
37
From t he various definit ions above w e conclude t hat t he simple past t ense is a f orm t hat indicat es an act ivit y or sit uat ions before now or in t he
past or at one part icular t ime in t he past . This happened, it began and ended in t he past and t ime signal are yest erday, t his morning, t w o days ago, last w eek,
et c.
b. Form of the simple past:
In English, a main or lexical verb is any w ord t hat can be conjugat ed, i.e., t hat can add t he morphemes ing , ed , and e s t o mark, respect ively,
present part iciple, past t ense past part iciple and t hird person singular present t ense.
English verbs are divided int o t w o classes; t hey are regular form and irregular form. These classificat ions come from t he w ay t he verb forms it s
simple past and past part iciple. The form of simple past is:
Subject + Verb+ed Irregular verb + Object Example:
They w ent t o Bali last w eek They didn’t go t o Bali last w eek
Did t hey go t o Bali last w eek?
c. Use of the simple past:
37
W-D.Bald, D.J. Cobb and A. Scwarz, Active Grammar England: Longman House, 1987, P.52
1. Complet e act ion in t he past Use t he simple past t o express t he idea t hat an act ion st art ed and finished
at a specific t ime in t he past . Somet ime t he speaker may not act ually ment ion t he specific t ime, but t hey do have one specific t ime in mind.
Examples: I saw movie yest erday.
I didn’t see a play yest erday 2. A series a complet ed act ion
We use t he simple past t o list a series of complet ed act ion in t he past . These act ions happen, 1
st
, 2
nd
, 3
rd
, and 4t h and so on. Example:
I finished w ork, w alked t o t he beach and found a nice place t o sw im. He arrived from t he airport at 8:00, checked int o t he hot el at 9:00, and met t he
ot hers at 10:00 3. Durat ion in Past
The simple past can be used w it h a durat ion w hich st art s and st ops in t he past . Durat ion in a longer act ion is of t en indicat ed by expressions such as:
for t w o years, for five minut es, all day, all year, et c. Examples:
I lived in Brazil for t w o years Shauna st udied Japanese for five years
4. Habit s in t he Past
The simple past can also be used t o describe a habit w hich st opped in t he past . It can have t he same meaning as “ used t o” . To make it clear t hat were
are t alking about a habit , w e oft en add expressions such as: alw ays, oft en, usually, never, w hen I w as a child, w hen I w as younger, et c.
Examples: I st udied French w hen I w as a child
He played t he violin 5. Past fact s or generalizat ions
The simple past can also be used t o describe past fact s or generalizat ions w hich are no longer t rue. As in USE 4 above, t his use of t he simple past is quit e
similar t o t he expression “ used t o” . Example:
She w as shy as a child, but now she is very out going. He didn’t like t omat oes before.
5
d. The Passive Voice of simple Past tense
To form t he passive voice of t he simple past t ense use, w as and w ere + Past part iciple. The passive voice subject det ermines, w het her t he verb be is
singular and plural.
Simple Active
Passive
Past You drank a coffee
A coffee w as drunk by you
5
http:www.englishpage.comverbpagesimplepast.html
Tense They built fences
Fences w ere built by t hem
Here t here will be a classificat ion of sent ence as an example acording t o it s w ord composit ion
The Sent ence : You read
a magazine Subject
Verb Object
Analysis : The sent ence has subject you, verb read and object a magazine it may become passive and is is show n as follow :
The Sent ence : A magazine w as read by you Subject
To be + V3 by object Analysis : Subject in passive sent ence a magazine is derived from object of
act ive sent ence as show n above, and object in passive is t aken from subject of act ive sent ence. Object may be involved or not . It is
based on t he purpose w het her t he original doer is import ant or not t o be know n.Furt hermore as it has been demonst rat ed, t he
t ransformat ion of verb belongs t o passive simple past t ense, it is recognized t hat t he formula is subject + t o be w as, w ere+Past
part iciple+by agent . To be is decided by subject w het her it is singular first person I, plural first personw e, singilar second
person you, singular t hird person she.he,it , or plural second person t hey, Subject a magazine is singular first person.
According t o t he purposes, sent ence can be divided int o four t ypes; declarat ive, imperat ive, int errogat ive, and exclamat ory sent ence. In t his
occasion t here w ill be only an explainnat ions on declarat ive, t hat cont ains of affirmat ive, negat ive sent ence, and int errogat ive sent ence.
D. Affirmative Sentence
