We used relaxed, informal English when we talk in a small group. Informal English is conventional English. But we also use it in a chatty, personal letter.
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The most basic difference in usage is the difference between standard and nonstandard English. Standard English is the English used in school, offices, and
the media. It is the English spoken by announcers, interviewers, or reporters on television program. Meanwhile, Nonstandard English is used by many Americans
at work, in their neighborhoods, or at home. The following table will draw about the Standard English.
a. Verb Tense
Tense is different from the time. Tenses are the forms of a verb that show when the action or condition expressed by the verb that show when the action or
condition expressed. People characteristically think of time in terms of present, past and future. More complex aspects of time relationships, such as ongoing or
completed actions or conditions, are expressed through progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive forms.
Present tenses give the idea about the habitual actions. Then, progressive tenses give the idea that an action is in progress during particular time. The tenses
say that an action begins before, is in progress, and continuous after another time or action. Moreover, the perfect tenses all give the idea that one thing happens
before another time or event. Then, the perfect progressive tenses give the idea that one event is in progress immediately before, up to, until another time or
event. The tenses are used to express the duration of the first event.
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1 Present Tense Form
The simple present indicates actions or conditions occuring at the time of speaking or writing. As well as those occuring habitually and those considered to
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Hans P. Guth, American English Today, New York: McGraw Hill, Inc, 1980, p.246- 248
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Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, inc., 1989, p. 2-5
