GeneralConceptof TheSimple Past Tense .1 TheUnderstandingof Tense

6 and be 25,15, adding errors, involves:determiner, plural maker ses, -ing, modal,be,possesivemaker, verb,preposition,pronoun, adjective,article,noun, third personsingularverbmaker11,39.So, theconclusionistheabilityinusing simple sentencesof studentsin SMPnegeri2 Pancur Batu isnotgood. 2.2 GeneralConceptof TheSimple Past Tense 2.2.1 TheUnderstandingof Tense Many Learnershaveconsiderabledifficulty withEnglishtensesystem.As with,otherareasofthegrammar,difficultiesmayarisefromthenatureofthesystem itself or fromdifferencebetweenEnglish and thelearners’ mothertongue. AccordingtoLyons’ideathattheterm‘tense’isderiviedfromthelatinword ‘tempus’meaning‘time’.Itmeansthattraditionally thetenseisdefinedintermof time.ItisinlinewithSidneyGreenbaumwhodefinedthetenseasagrammatical category thatisrealizedby verbinflection.Meanwhile,A.SHornbysaidthattense referstoanaction,activity orstatemay occurinpast,presentorfuture.Hence,there are threetensesin language, present, pastand future. Regardingthosedefinitions, the word ‘tense’ standsfor averb formor seriesof verbsused to expressa timerelation. SinceEnglishhasnofutureinflectedformoftheverb,SidneyGreenbaum claimedthatEnglishhastwotense:thepresentandthepast.Thesituationdescribed inthepresent tenseisrelatedassimultaneouswiththemomentofspeaking,the situation describedin thepast asrelates subsequent to the momentof speaking. Here,thewriter concludedthattenseis agrammaticalcategory, typically marked on theverb thatdeicticallyrefersto the timeof the event. 7

2.2.2 TheUnderstandingofSimple PastTense

Englishinsistsonmarking everyfiniteverbgroupforabsolutetense,whether or notthe time orientation would be clear without it. Many other languages, however, often do not require such marking of the verb group where the time locationiseitherunimportantorisclearfromthecontext.Thismay partly explain why somelearnersofEnglishtend,forexample,tousepasttenseswhenwriting narratives. AccordingtoWeiner,thesimplepasttensedescribesanactionorsituation thatbeganand ended in thepast. Inaddition,Hallstatedthatsimplepasttense indicatesapastaction thatoccured atadefinitetimeinthepast,whetherthattimeis statedornot.ItisinlinewithA.JThomsonandA.VMartinetwhodefinedthe simplepasttense astheactioncompletedin thepastaatdefinitetime. Fromthoseseveralstatementabove,the writerconcludedthatthesimplepast tenseis used to express adefiniteeventin thepast.Simplepasttenseis alsoused if the eventhappened completelyin thepasteven the time isnotmentioned.

2.2.3 Definitionof Simple Past Tense

Azar1941:32saysthatthesimplepasttenseisusedtotalkaboutactivities orsituationsthatbeganand ended ataparticulartime in thepaste.g.,yesterday,last night, two daysago, in 1990. AccordingtoManurung2007:107, “Thesimplepast tense isused to express pastactionwhenadefinitepointoftimeinthepastis given,apasthabit,andin conditionalsentence. 8 Woods2010:30saysthatthesimplepasttensetellsaboutwhathappened before thepresenttime. HarligandReynolds1995:114-116haveidentifiedthedifficultiesdealing withtheuseofsimplepasttenseanditsrelationshiptolexicalaspect.Theirstudy indicatesthatnonnativelearnersofEnglishhaveastrongconceptofthepresent tensewhen dealingwith adverbsof frequency.

2.3 Form ofSimple Past Tense