The Way to Transforming Simple Present Progressive

According to A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet, the simple past tense is defined as the action completed in the past at definite time. 27 In addition, Eugene J. Hall stated that simple past tense indicates a past action that occurred at definite time in the past, whether that time is stated or not. 28 The simple past tense is formed with the past form of the verb which may be either regular, by adding –ed to infinitive form incidentally, most verbs are regular or irregular which must be learned and memorized in each case. 29 For example: “She played volleyball yesterday” or “She ate a bowl of soup last week. ” Betty S. Azar described that simple past tense can formulate in diagram as follow: Now Certain Time Past Future From the diagram above she described that simple past tense indicates that an activity or situation began and ended at a particular time in the past. 30 From those several statement above, the writer concluded that the simple past tense is used to express a definite event in the past. Simple past tense is also used if the event happened completely in the past even the time is not mentioned.

2. The Rules of Using Present Progressive Tense

27 A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet, A Practical English Grammar, 4 th ed, New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 147 28 Eugene J. Hall, Grammar for Use, Jakarta: Binarupa Aksara, 1993, p. 173 29 Nasrun Mahmud, English for Muslim University Students, Jakarta: Pusat Bahasa dan Budaya UIN, 2003, p. 88 30 Betty S. Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, 2 nd ed, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989, p. 24 According to the examples above, the form is used for all subjects, both singular and plural. All regular verbs take an –ed ending in the past tense. Moreover, there are some spelling rules of regular verbs. Those are as following: a. If the simple form of a verb ends in –y after consonant, change the –y to i and add –ed. For example: Try tried Carry carried Dry dried b. If the simple form of a one syllable verb ends in consonant + a vowel + a consonant, double the final consonant and add –ed. For examples: Plan planned Stop stopped c. If the simple form of a two syllable verb end in a consonant + a vowel + a consonant, double the final consonant only if the syllable is stressed. For examples: Permit permitted Prefer preferred Occur occurred d. If the simple form of a verb in –e, add only –d. For examples: Tie tied Change changed Live lived e. Add –ed to simple form of all other regular verbs. For examples: Want wanted Ask asked