b. -s forms
Support grows for RI to take lead in Bali The Jakarta Post, Thursday,
November 1
st
, 2007 -s [Support grow for RI to take lead in Bali]
C’ C
TNSP NP
TNS’ TNS
VP N
V’ NP
V North Jakarta
flood Cause
traffic chaos -s
CP C’
C TNSP
NP TNS’
TNS VP
NP V’
V Support
grow -s
for RI to take lead in Bali Clause
t t
t
t CP
c. Modal auxiliary
Govt may limit sales of fuel to private cars The Jakarta Post, Wednesday,
November 7
th
, 2007 may [Govt limit to private cars]
CP C’
C TNSP
NP
V V’
NP VP
TNS TNS’
NP Govt
may
limit sales of fuel to private cars
t
d. be form
This is more about enforcing the law for the sake of healthy business
competition in Indonesia. The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 22
nd
2007, p.6 -s [This be more about enforcing the law for the sake of healthy business
competition in Indonesia]
be [This more about enforcing the law for the sake of healthy business competition in Indonesia]
CP
C TNSP
NP TNS’
C’
TNS NP
V’ VP
V NP
This be -s
t t
more about enforcing the law for the sake of healthy
business competition in Indonesia
e. do form
that the rainfall rate doesn’t change The Jakarta Post, Thursday,
November 29
th
2007, p.13 -s [that the rainfall rate not change]
CP
V’ C’
C TNSP
NP TNS’
TNS Neg P
Neg’ Neg
VP - s
That
V change
not The rainfall
rate t
NP t
By looking at the S-Structure of each finite clause, the writer figured out that twenty-one of the finite clauses in the headlines are in the forms of simple
present and most of them are main verbs standing alone. The using of modal auxiliaries is only one clause from twenty-one clauses. Here are some finite
clauses which use the forms of simple present tense in the headlines: 3
Support grows for RI to take lead in Bali The Jakarta Post,
Thursday, November 1
st
, 2007 4
North Jakarta floods cause traffics chaos The Jakarta Post,
Tuesday, November 27
th
, 2007 5
Govt may limit sales of fuel to private cars The Jakarta Post,
Wednesday, November 7
th
, 2007 Clause 3 is the example of finite clause using a simple present tense with
–s form. The –s form can be seen in the finite verb grows. The base form of the verb is grow but because the subject of the clause is singular, the verb is inflected
with –s. From the headlines, there are 18 clauses with the same characteristics, using simple present tense with –s -es forms.
Clause 4 is an example of finite clause using simple present tense with the base form of finite verb. The base is the basic, uninflected form which is given
as the entry form in the dictionaries. The finite verb with the base form in clause
4 is cause. The other example of finite verb in the headlines which used the base form is only respect The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 22
nd
2007. The other type of simple present tense in the headlines can be seen in clause 5.
Clause 5 is an example of finite clause which uses modal auxiliary standing with PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
main verb. Leech and Svartvik define the auxiliary verbs as the helping verbs 1994: 240 which do not make up a verb phrase on their own, but help to make
up a verb phrase in combination with a main verb 1994: 249. For example in
clause 5, the modal auxiliary which is used is may and the main verb is limit.
The type of finite verb with modal auxiliary standing with main verb only occur once in the samples of headlines, that is in November 7
th
2007. The occurrences of the finite verbs with –s form in the headlines of The
Jakarta Post published in November 2007 are more frequent rather than the finite verbs with base form, and finite verb with modal auxiliary. The –s forms occur in
18 clauses, the base forms occur in 2 clauses and the modal auxiliary only occurs in one clause. The clearer description can be seen in the following table.
Table 5.
The Types of Finite Verbs in the Simple Present Tense Clauses in the Headlines
No. Types of Finite Verbs
Occurrence Percentage
1. -s forms
18 85.72
2. Base form
2 9.52
3. Modal auxiliary
1 4,76
Total
21 100
Besides analyzing the headline, the writer also analyzed the articles of the headlines news. As stated before, there are 411 finite clauses from 521 which use
the pattern of simple present tense in the articles of the headlines. The type of finite verb also varies like the type of finite verbs in the headlines. There are
simple present tense with main verbs standing alone and also simple present tense with auxiliaries. The main verbs which stand alone can be in the base form or in
the –s form, while the auxiliaries can be in the form of modal auxiliaries or PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
primary auxiliaries like be form and do form. The distribution of each types of finite verb is illustrated in the following table.
Table 6 . The Types of Finite Verbs in the Simple Present Tense Clauses in the
Articles
No. Types of Finite Verbs
Occurrence Percentage
1. Base form 70
17.03 2.
-s forms 105
25.55 3.
Modal auxiliary 102
24.82 4.
be form 122
29.68 5.
do form 12
2.92
Total 411 100
From the table, it is clear that the occurrences of the base form are 70 clauses or 17.03. As stated before, the base form of the main verb is uninflected
form as in dictionaries. The examples of the clauses which contain main verbs with base forms are:
6 Where countries agree to push for it The Jakarta Post, Thursday,
November 1
st
2007, p.5 7
Norway, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Sweden and South Korea,
all with EDIs of close to 1, occupy the top five spots on UNESCO’s
list. The Jakarta Post, Friday, November 30
th
2007, p.8
The main verb in clause 6 is agree and the main verb of clause 7 is occupy.
Both of the verbs are uninflected and the same with dictionaries entries because the subjects of the clauses are plural.
The second type of the finite verbs which is found in the simple present clauses is the –s form. This type of finite verb occurs in 105 clauses or 25.55.
Some of the examples of this type can be seen in the following clauses. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
8 The organization already has the experience, infrastructure, and
expertise. The Jakarta Post, Friday, November 2
nd
2007, p.8 9
The HDI report looks back at a measure of health, education and
income ... the standard of living among 177 countries The Jakarta Post, Wednesday, November 28
th
2007, p.3
The main verbs, has and looks, in the finite clauses above are the examples of
finite verbs with –s form. The main verbs are inflected with –s-es because the subjects of the clauses are singular and the –s form is also called as the third
person singular present. The third type of the finite verbs is the modal auxiliaries which stand with
main verbs. The modal auxiliaries which are found in the articles are will, can, may, must and shall. The distributions of the modal auxiliaries which stand with
main verb are 102 clauses or 24.82, the examples are: 10
Indonesia and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Conference will hold a climate conference in Bali from Dec. 3 to
14. The Jakarta Post, Friday, November 2
nd
2007, p.15 11
How can they say the sale of tankers that cost 130 millions for
184 millions created a lost? The Jakarta Post, Saturday, November 3
rd
2007, p.14 12
The funds for the program may come from another reallocation of
routine expenditures in the budget The Jakarta Post, Wednesday, November 7
th
2007, p.11 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13 That military rule must end by Nov. 22 The Jakarta Post,
Wednesday, November 14
th
2007, p.7 14
How shall we live? The Jakarta Post, Wednesday, November 18
th
2007, p.14 Clauses 10 to 14 are the examples of finite clauses using modal auxiliaries in
the form of statements and questions. In here, the writer also found that the modal auxiliaries can be in the form of negatives like can’t, won’t and must not. The
negative forms can be seen in the following clauses. 15
In Bali, we probably cant develop the legal framework or draft it
The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 1
st
2007, p.5 16
I simply won’t be able to believe anything he said to me The
Jakarta Post, Wednesday, November 14
th
2007, p.11 17
The divested shares ... must not exceed five percent for each buyer
The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, November 20
th
2007, p.4 The fourth type of the finite verb which is found in the simple present
tense clause is be form. The type of be form is dominated in the simple present tense clauses. The occurrence is 122 clauses from 410 clauses, or 29.68. As we
know in English, there are 3 kinds of be is, am, are, but from the samples of the simple present tense clauses, there are only two kinds of be which occur in the
samples, is and are. The occurrences of be form are stated in the following examples.
18 This is more about enforcing the law for the sake of healthy
business competition in Indonesia. The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 22
nd
2007, p.6 19
There are, in spite of this apparent setback, significant pluses in
Indonesia, so much so that investors will never dry up. The Jakarta Post, Friday, November 23
rd
2007, p.17 The last type of finite verb which occurs in the simple present tense
clauses is do form. The occurrence of this type is the less than the other types. The distribution of do form only occurs in the 12 clauses or 2.92. In English, do
form can be in the form of do, does, don’t, and doesn’t, but from the samples of the simple present tense clauses, the writer only found the negative forms of the
don’t and doesn’t. The examples are: 20
If we don’t do the right things right now The Jakarta Post,
Wednesday, November 28
th
2007, p.10 21
that the rainfall rate doesn’t change The Jakarta Post, Thursday,
November 29
th
2007, p.13
2. Present Progressive
From Table 5 we have known that there is not a present progressive clause in the headlines because, as stated before, the simple present tense dominates the
clauses. The type of present progressive tense can be seen in the following S- Structure.
The new generations are becoming more and more comfortable with Asia
The Jakarta Post, Monday, November 26
th
2007, p.18 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
-s [The new generations be becoming more and more comfortable with Asia]
be [The new generations becoming more and more comfortable with Asia] -ing [The new generations become more and more comfortable with Asia]
V AP
A’ CP
C TNSP
NP TNS’
C’
TNS NP
V’ VP
V PartP
Part’ Part
VP NP
V’ The new
generations be -s
t t
t
become -ing
t t
more and more comfortable
with Asia The occurrence of present continuous tense clauses in the articles is the fewest
compared with the occurrences of the simple present tense and present perfect tense. The distribution of present continuous tense in the articles is only 30
clauses or 5.76. The pattern of present continuous that was found by the writer is be + V ing, with most of be are is and are. Some of the clauses using the
pattern of present progressive tense are: PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
22 Alaska is heating up more dramatically than other regions because
increases in temperature are accelerated in the far north, according to climate scientists The Jakarta Post, Sunday,
November 11
th
2007, p.18 23
The new generations are becoming more and more comfortable
with Asia The Jakarta Post, Monday, November 26
th
2007, p.18
3. Present Perfect
The writer didn’t find the pattern of present perfect in the headlines, but in the articles, the writer found that the distribution of the present perfect clauses is
the second largest, which are 80 clauses or 15.35 of the whole samples. The pattern of present perfect tense can be seen in the following S-Structure:
Many have expressed hope Yudhoyono would use the opportunity to take a
stronger stance on the junta when he meets with Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein. The Jakarta Post, Monday, November 19
th
2007, p.7
-s [Many have expressed hope Yudhoyono would use the opportunity to take a stronger stance on the junta when he meets with Myanmar’s Prime
Minister Thein Sein] have [Many expressed hope Yudhoyono would use the opportunity to take
a stronger stance on the junta when he meets with Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein]
-en [Many have express hope Yudhoyono would use the opportunity to take a stronger stance on the junta when he meets with Myanmar’s Prime
Minister Thein Sein] PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CP
C TNSP
NP TNS’
C’
TNS NP
V’ VP
V PartP
Part’ Part
VP NP
V’ Many
have -s
t t
t
express -en V
NP t
Yudhoyono would use the opportunity
to take a stronger stance on the junta
when he meets with Myanmar’s Prime
Minister Thein Sein Clause
N hope
t
The writer found that the patterns of present prefect tense in the articles of the headline news can be in the form of active voice and passive voices. The
auxiliaries which always appear in the present perfect tense are has for the singular subject and have for plural subject. The patterns of present perfect can be
seen in the following clauses. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
24 Many have expressed hope Yudhoyono would use the opportunity
to take a stronger stance on the junta when he meets with Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein. The Jakarta Post,
Monday, November 19
th
2007, p.7 25
which has been criticized as one reason for ASEAN’s inability to
deal with Myanmar and other problems such as the Asian financial crisis of 1997 The Jakarta Post, Saturday, November 10
th
2007, p.17
As stated before, basically there are only two kinds of tenses, present and past. In this analysis result, the type of present tense clauses has been discussed in
the above paragraphs. Therefore, the pattern of Past tense will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
In this study, the writer also found the pattern of past tense in the finite clauses which are taken from the articles of the headlines news. The population of
the past tense form dominates the samples of the data that is 806 clauses from 1327 clauses or 60.74 of the samples of the data. Those past tense clauses are in
the form of simple past, past perfect and also past progressive. The pattern of simple past dominates the whole past tense clauses. The distribution of the simple
past clauses is 749 clauses from 806 clauses or 92.93. The second type of past tense is past perfect tense. This type of tense occurs in 43 clauses or 5.33, while
the third type, past progressive tense, only occurs in the 14 clauses or 1.74. The distribution of those types of past tense can be shown in the following table.
Table 7. The Variants of Past Tense and the Distributions in the Articles of the
Headlines News
No. Variants of Past Tense
Occurrence Percentage
1. Simple Past
749 92.93
2. Past Perfect
43 5.33
3. Past Progressive
14 1.74
Total 806 100
4. Simple Past
There are also several types of finite verbs in the simple past tense clauses which are found in the analysis. Those finite verbs can be in the in the forms of -
ed form, modal auxiliary, be form and also did form. The patterns of simple present tense can be seen from the S-Structure like in the following examples:
a. -ed form
He added it would also put a rules-based framework in place, which would
include measures for monitoring compliance and provisions for the settlement of disputes. The Jakarta Post, Monday, November 19
th
2007, p.4
-ed [He add it would also put a rules-based framework in place, which would include measures for monitoring compliance and provisions for the
settlement of disputes] PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
C’ C
TNSP NP
TNS’ TNS
VP NP
V’ Clause
V add
it would also put a rules-based framework in place, which would include measures for
monitoring compliance and provisions for the settlement of disputes
-ed He
t t
CP
b. Modal auxiliary
Bangladesh death toll could top 2,000 The Jakarta Post, Sunday,
November 18
th
2007 Could [Bangladesh death toll top 2,000]
CP C’
C TNSP
NP
V V’
NP VP
TNS TNS’
NP Bangladesh
death toll could
top t
2000 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
c. be form
the initial purchase by Indonesia of the two VLCC tankers for 130 million
in 2002 was appropriate and in line with existing regulations The Jakarta
Post, Saturday, November 3
rd
2007, p.8 -ed [the initial purchase by Indonesia of the two VLCC tankers for 130
million in 2002 be appropriate and in line with existing regulations] be [the initial purchase by Indonesia of the two VLCC tankers for 130
million in 2002 appropriate and in line with existing regulations]
A’ CP
C TNSP
NP TNS’
C’
TNS NP
V’ VP
V AP
the initial purchase by
Indonesia of the two
VLCC tankers for
130 million in 2002
be -ed
t t
appropriate and in line with existing
regulations
d. did form
Paskah did not give details on the program The Jakarta Post, Wednesday,
November 7
th
2007, p.11 -ed [Paskah not give details on the program]
not [Paskah give details on the program] PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
N’
By looking at the S-Structure, the writer found that there is only one clause in the headlines which uses the pattern of past tense. From Table 1, it is clear that
the occurrence of past tense clause in the headlines is 4.55. The pattern of past tense in the headlines is using modal auxiliary in the past form, could, which stand
with the main verb. The past tense clause in the headlines is: CP
C’ C
TNSP NP
NegP V’
NP VP
TNS TNS’
VP Paskah
-ed
V NP
t
give not
N PP
on the program details
26 Bangladesh death toll could top 2,000 The Jakarta Post, Sunday,
November 18
th
2007
In the above clause, past tense is shown by the using of modal auxiliaries could and the main verb is top. As the minimum requirement of a past tense, the modal
auxiliary is in the past form. The modal auxiliary could is the past form of modal auxiliary can.
In the articles of the headlines news, the writer found that 749 of 806 clauses are using the pattern of simple past tense. Like the pattern of simple
present, the simple past tense can also be varies. Those simple past tense clauses can be in the –ed forms, modal auxiliaries forms, be forms or did forms. The
occurrence of –ed form is dominating the whole samples, 528 from 749 clauses or 70.49. The modal auxiliaries forms occurs in 86 clauses or 11.48, be form
occurs 131 clauses or 17.49, and the fewest is did form, which only occurs in 4 clauses or 0.54. The clearer distributions can be seen in the table below.
Table 8
. The Types of Finite Verbs in the Simple Past Tense Clauses in the Articles
No. Types of Finite Verbs
Occurrence Percentage
1. -ed form
528 70.49
2. Modal auxiliary
86 11.48
3. be form
131 17.49
4. did form
4 0.54
Total
749 100
As stated before, the occurrence of the simple past tense is dominated by –ed form. The writer found that this kind of finite verb can be in the irregular or
regular form. For examples are the verbs added and found. The verb added is an example of regular verb and the past form of verb add. The second verb, found, is
an example of irregular verb and the past form of verb find. Those verbs are used
in the following clauses. 27
He added it would also put a rules-based framework in place,
which would include measures for monitoring compliance and provisions for the settlement of disputes. The Jakarta Post,
Monday, November 19
th
2007, p.4 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
28 The KPPU found Monday that Temasek, along with eight other
firms, mostly its subsidiaries, including STT and Singapore Telecommunications SingTel, had broken the Monopoly Law,
which prohibits a company or business group from owning two or more companies with a combined market share of more than 50
percent. The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 22
nd
2007, p.8 The second type of finite verb in the simple past tense clauses is modal
auxiliaries form. The occurrence of this type is 86 from 749 clauses or 11.48. Some of the modal auxiliaries which are employed in the simple past tense clauses
are could, should, would, and might. Those modal auxiliaries are used in the
following clauses. 29
that Indonesia could take the lead for developing nations by
forming a friends of chair group The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 1
st
2007, p.8 30 Which
institution
should handle
the billions of dollars The Jakarta Post, Friday, November 2
nd
2007, p.1 31 it
would “take a lot of energy to shift the 2.5 million cubic meters
of water in the crater” The Jakarta Post, Sunday, November 4
th
2007, p.17
32 that finally we might have a leader who is passionate about
fairness in this country The Jakarta Post, Sunday, November 25
th
2007, p.7 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Besides the positive statement, the using of modal auxiliary is also used in the
negative statement. One of the example is modal auxiliary shouldn’t. The simple past clause which used modal auxiliary shouldn’t is:
33 They
shouldn’t be
angry if they are subjected to sanctions The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 22
nd
2007, p.4 The third type of finite clauses in the simple past tense is be form. The
distribution of this type of finite verb is 131 from 749 clauses or 17.49. The writer found that there are only two kinds of be which occur in the articles of the
headlines news. Those two kinds of be are was and were and shown in the
examples below. 34
the initial purchase by Indonesia of the two VLCC tankers for 130
million in 2002 was appropriate and in line with existing
regulations The Jakarta Post, Saturday, November 3
rd
2007, p.8 35
some recalcitrant residents were dragged from their homes The
Jakarta Post, Saturday, November 4
th
2007, p.13 And the last type of finite verb is did form. The distribution of this type of
verb is the fewest among all. Did form only occur in 4 clauses from 749 clauses or the percentage is 0.54. The form of did only occurs in the negatives statements
and one of the examples of those simple past tense clauses is: 36
Paskah did not give details on the program The Jakarta Post,
Wednesday, November 7
th
2007, p.11 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
5. Past Perfect
The second combination of the past tense is past perfect tense. The patterns of past perfect tense can be seen in the following S-Structures:
a. modal auxiliary
whether we should have separated conventions like Kyoto Protocol for
adaptation The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 1
st
2007, p.5 should [whether we have separated conventions like Kyoto Protocol for
adaptation] have [whether we separated conventions like Kyoto Protocol for
adaptation] -en [whether we separate conventions like Kyoto Protocol for adaptation]
whether CP
C TNSP
NP TNS’
C’
TNS NP
V’ VP
V Part P
Part’ Part
VP NP
V’ we
should
separate -en V
NP PP
N’ t
t have
t t
conventions like Kyoto
protocol for adaptation
b. had form
five ships had been dispatched with supplies of food, medicine, and relief
materials The Jakarta Post, Saturday, November 17
th
2007, p.10 -ed [five ships have been dispatched with supplies of food, medicine, and
relief materials] have [five ships been dispatched with supplies of food, medicine, and
relief materials] -en [five ships be dispatched with supplies of food, medicine, and relief
materials] be [[five ships dispatched with supplies of food, medicine, and relief
materials] -en [[five ships dispatch with supplies of food, medicine, and relief
materials]
CP
Five ships
Part P V
Part’ VP
Part V’
NP PP
dispatch -en with supplies
of food, medicine, and
relief materials V’
NP Ø
V C
TNSP NP
TNS’ C
TNS NP
V’ VP
V Part P
Part’ Part
VP NP
V’ have -ed
t
be -en
t t
t
t t
t t
In this study, the writer didn’t find any past perfect tense in the headlines, but in the articles, this type of tense occurs in the 43 clauses from 806 clauses, or
5.33. The type of past perfect tense in articles also varies. It can be in the form of had and also with the combination of modal auxiliaries. The modal auxiliaries
in the samples of the data are should, could and would. Those modal auxiliaries
are used in the following clauses.
37 whether we should have separated conventions like Kyoto
Protocol for adaptation The Jakarta Post, Thursday, November 1
st
2007, p.5 38
that the sale of the two tankers to Bermuda-based Frontline Inc.
for US 184 millions in 2004 could have inflicted state losses The
Jakarta Post, Saturday, November 3
rd
2007, p.7 39
the death toll would have been far higher The Jakarta Post,
Sunday, November 18
th
2007, p.23 Like in present tense, the pattern of past perfect tense can be in the form of
active voice and also passive voice. Some of the clauses which used the pattern of past perfect tense with had form are:
40 although the administration had increased the height of the sea
barrier in Muara Angke over the past few weeks The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, November 27
th
2007, p.21 41
five ships had been dispatched with supplies of food, medicine, and
relief materials The Jakarta Post, Saturday, November 17
th
2007, p.10
6. Past Progressive
The third combination of past tense is past progressive tense. The pattern of past progressive clause can be seen in the following S-Structure:
that authorities were getting tough The Jakarta Post, Sunday, November
4
th
2007, p.14 -ed [that authorities be getting tough]
be [that authorities getting tough] -ing
[that authorities get tough]
that CP
C TNSP
NP TNS’
C’
TNS NP
V’ VP
V PartP
Part’ Part
VP NP
V’ authorities
be -ed
get -ing V
AP tough
t t
t t
t PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
The writer also didn’t find any kind of past progressive tense in the headlines. In here, the writer figured out that the distribution of past progressive
tense is 14 articles from 806 clauses or 1.74. The types of past progressive tense
in the articles are only were form and was form. Those types of verbs can be seen
in the clauses below. 42
that authorities were getting tough The Jakarta Post, Sunday,
November 4
th
2007, p.14 43
Although Howard was also trying to have a closer relations with
Asia, among others by becoming part of the East Asia Summit and concluding a defense agreement with Indonesia The Jakarta Post,
Monday, November 26
th
2007, p.11
B. The Grammatical Reasons of the Tense Choices
In this part, the grammatical reasons of the tense choices in the headlines and also in the articles of the headline news in The Jakarta Post published in
November 2007 are discussed. The grammatical reasons which will be discussed include grammatical meanings of the tense and also what the tenses are used for.
For example, a simple present tense may be used to show a habitual action, general timelessuniversal statement, or expressed a temporary activity. Therefore,
the writer will describe the grammatical reasons of the tense choices in the following paragraphs.
1. Simple Present
As stated in the previous chapter, simple present tense may have some grammatical reasons such as to express a habitual action, general
timelessuniversal statement, a temporary activity and instantaneous activity, for referring to a sequential habit in subordinate clause with the main verb is in future
time, for referring to a conditional in a future time especially in the subordinate clause, for describing a past events in narration in conversation, for referring to
an action which takes place at some definite future time, for referring to a future habitual action or future state, for referring to a situation that may obtain in the
present and will obtain in the future but with some future termination in the sight, or for referring to the main clause in the future conditional sentence.
In this study, the writer mixed the data both from the headlines and also from the articles of the headlines. There are 21 simple present tense clauses from
the headlines and 411 clauses from the articles. The writer figured out that most of the simple present tense clauses are used to show the speech acts that take place in
the present time with percentage of 57.41 or 248 from 432 clauses. And the rest 42.59 or 184 clauses of the simple present tense clauses are used to show the
speech acts that happen in the past time but taken as quotations in the articles of the headline news. The percentage can be seen clearer from the table below.
Table 9.
The Grammatical Reasons of the Choosing Simple Present Tense in the Clauses of the Whole Samples
No. Grammatical Reasons Occurrence
Percentage
1. Showing speech acts that happen in the present time
248 57.41 2. Showing past speech acts that taken as
quotations in the articles 184 42.59
Total 432 100
From the 248 clauses of the speech acts that happen in the present time, the writer found that the using of the simple present tense also has various
meanings. The pattern of simple present tense can be used to show present actions present statements, habitual actions, to refer to sequential habit in
subordinate clauses, to refer to a conditional future time especially in the subordinate clauses, to describe actions which take place at some definite future
time, to describe a future habitual actions, to show situations that may obtain in the present and will obtain in the future but with future termination in the sight, to
show a possibility that states in the present time, to refer to the abilities of the actions that are stated in the present time, and to show the obligations or
compulsions in the present time. The occurrences of those grammatical meanings of the present speech acts are stated in the following table.
Table 10 . The Grammatical Meanings of the Simple Present Tense in the Present
Speech Acts
No. Grammatical Meanings Occurrence
Percentage
1. Showing present action present statements
185 74.60
2. Showing habitual actions
1 0.4
3. Showing sequential habits in the subordinate clauses
1 0.4 4. Showing conditional future time in the
subordinate clauses 2 0.81
5. Showing actions which take place at some definite future time
34 13.72 6.
Showing future habitual actions 1
0.4 7.
Showing situations which occur in the present and will obtain in the future with the same
future termination in the sight 4 1.61
8. Showing possibilities that stated in the present time
10 4.03 9.
Showing the abilities of the actions that stated in the present time
6 2.42 10. Showing obligations or compulsory that
stated in the present time. 4 1.61
Total 248 100
From the above table, it is clear that the occurrence of the grammatical meaning showing the present actions present statements dominates the samples of
the present speech acts with percentage 74.6 or 185 from 248 present speech acts. This grammatical meaning can be viewed from these following clauses.
44 GEF projects are implemented by the World Bank, UN agencies,
regional development banks, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Food and Agriculture
Organization The Jakarta Post, Friday, November 2
nd
2007, p.7 45
About 130,000 people live within a 10-kilometer six-miles danger
zone around Mount Kelud, according to the health ministry The Jakarta Post, Sunday, November 4
th
2007, p.16
The verbs are implemented and live in the clauses show the using of simple
present tense and used to show the present statement and also present actions. Those clauses are said in the present time and that is why both of the clauses are
called as the present speech acts. The second grammatical meaning of the simple present tense is showing
the habitual actions. In this study, there is only a simple present clause which has that grammatical meaning. The percentage is 0.4 from 248 simple present tense
clauses. The only clause which having grammatical meaning to show the habitual action is:
46
who travels regularly on Jl. Metro Pondok Indah, in Pondok Indah
The Jakarta Post, Monday, November 12
th
2007, p.6 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI