The Understanding of Simple Past Tense The Form of Simple Past Tense

3. The Usage of Passive Voice

Miranda Broukal and Inggrid Wisniseswka mention some of the usage of passive voice as follows 7 : a. The passive voice is used when the agent is not known or unimportant. b. The passive voice uses by + an agent, it usually because subject of the sentence is more important than the agent, but we want to express them both. c. The passive voice is used to make a sentence more impersonal, in situation involving rules, instructions, announcements, advertisement, or processes. d. The passive voice is used when the agent is obvious from the meaning of the sentence. In another source, Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman classified the circumtances under passive as following 8 : a. When the agent is obvious and, therefore, not expressed e.g., Grapes are grown in the Nappa valley. b. When the writer wants to sound objective e.g., It is assumedbelived that this was among the most significant policy decisions of decade. c. When the writer wishes to retain the same grammatical subject in successive clauses e.g., Rene Arrendo beat lonny smith, but he was beaten by gato garcia d. When the theme is shared information, but the agent is new e.g., What a beautiful picture Isn’t it? It was painted by one of my students.

B. The Simple Past Tense

1. The Understanding of Simple Past Tense

Many experts have explained about simple past tense. One of them is from Patricia K. Werner, that the simple past tense is used to talk about action or situation in the past. 9 7 Ibid., p.214-215 8 Celce-Murcia and Hilles, Technique And Resources In Teaching Grammar, New York, Madison Avenue: Oxfort University Press, 1998, p.25-26 9 Werner, op.cit. 2002, p. 114 Another assumption come from Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk that the simple past tense is used to refer a situation set a definite time in the past. a. The event past is used with dynamic verb sense to refer to a single definite event in the past. The event may take place over an extended period the normans invaded england in 1066 or at a point of time the plane left at 9.a.m.. b. The habitual past is used with dynamic verb sense to refer to past events that repaetedly occur: we spent our holidays in spain when we were children. c. The state past is used wiith stative verb sense to refer to a single unbroken state of affairs in the past: i once liked reading novels”. 10 In brief, the simple past is the tense that describes events, actions, or situations occurred as habitual action in the past or the action that continuing happened in the past.

2. The Form of Simple Past Tense

Using the simple past tense is to talk about completed past events and activities. Table 2.5 The Form of Simple Past Tense. Form Examples Notes Affirmative He helped her paint her kitchen. I stayed up late last night. We listened to music after dinner. The children played games in the living room. All regular verbs take an-ed ending in the past tense. This form is used for all subject,both singular and plural. Negative Her roomate didn’t like that restaurant. For negative past tense verbs, use did notbefore 10 Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph quirk, A Student’s Grammar of the English Language, London: Pearson Education Limited Press, 1990, p.50 We didn’t order a pizza last night. My family didn’t own a computer until recently. I didn’t live in dorm last year. the simple form of the main verb. The contraction for did not is didn’t. Yesno question and short answer Simple past tense yesno question include didn’t before the subject. Note that the main verb in the question is in the simple form. There is no final –ed ending in the question form. Table 2.6 The YesNo Question Short Answers of Simple Past Tense Form Example Possible Answer Affirmative Negative Affirmative Question - Did your mother cook last night? - Did you move to a new apartment? - Did the neighbors visit last night? - Yes, she did. - Yes, i did. - Yes they did. - No, she didn’t. - No, i didn’t. - No, they didn’t. Negative Question - Didn’t she rent a video last night? - Didn’t he call you at home? - Didn’t they paint their house a few years ago? - Yes, she did. - Yes, i did. - Yes, they did. - No, she didn’t. - No, i didn’t. - No, they did’t. 11 11 Elaine Kirn, Interaction I Grammar, New York: McGrill-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002, 4 th , p.111 Based on that explanation, the forms of simple past tense are divided int o affirmative, negative, and interrogative. The ‘to be’ of simple past tense are ‘was and were’ and the verb ‘did or preterit verb’.

3. The Usage of Simple Past Tense