21
c. The past tense of the verb use combines with to form an auxiliary which is
used to described customary or habitual action in the pat. I used to be a boy scout
I used to get up at 05.30 every morning. d.
The past form of do as an auxiliary is used with the simple past form of the verb to express emphasis.
I did study for the examination. No matter what Lisa said, he did finish the work
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. As we know from the explanation above simple past tense is telling situation
and event in the past.
E. Passive Voice of Simple Past Tense 1.
Form of passive voice of simple past tense
The experts have already explained about passive voice and simple past tense above. If both are fused, there will be a new definition that passive voice of
simple past tense is a sentence in which the subject is the recipient of the action of the verb that occurs in the past.
To form the passive voice of simple past tense, us was or were + past participle. The passive voice subject determines whether the verb be is singular or
plural. The agent can be included in the passive sentence is a phrase with by
33
.
32
George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let’s Write English, New York : Litton
Education Publishing, Inc.,1980, pp. 195-196.
33
Werner, et. Al., …, 4
th
Edition, p. 267.
22
Simple Past Tense
Active Passive
The Dutch invented a simple telescope
A simple telescope was invented by the
Dutch
The Italians later developed several telescope
Several telescopes were developed by the
Italians
2. Analysis of passive voice of simple past tense
Here, the writer will make an analysis of the sentences as an example. The sentences :The Dutchinventeda simple telescope
Subject V2 object
Analysis : The sentence has subject The Dutch, verb 2 invented,
and object a simple telescope. It‟s verb is simple past tense and it is a transitive
verb, because there is an object follows it. Thus, it may become passive and it is shown as follows :
The sentences : A simple telescopewasinventedbythe Dutch
Subject to be past participle by phrase object
Analysis : Subject in passive sentence A simple telescope is derived
from object of active sentence as shown above. And the object The Dutch in passive is taken from subject of active sentence. Then to be was decides the
subject. Whether it is singular or plural. Therefore, the subject a simple telescope uses to be “was”. Beside that, as it has been shown above, the
transformation of the verb is from simple past to the past participle invented. By as a phrase it is used because the object is important to know.
The writer conclude that passive voice used for make the object which is important to know get more emphasize.
F. The Problem learning Passive Voice
As it has been mentioned in chapter one, students usually find the difficulties when they learn passive voice. Martin Parrot in his bookgrammar for
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English language teachers said that, “teaching materials often concentrate on the
form of standard passive constructions, and practice activities often involve mechanically transforming active constructions into passive one. Learners
sometimes end up with the impression that passive constructions are some kind of optional, deviant version of active constructions
.”.
34
Learners may fail to recognize a passive construction, thinking that the subject of a sentence is the agent when it isn‟t. For example, in the following, they
may understand that man was the attacker: A man was attacked by three women.
This problem is particularly acute:
Where the facts contradict normal expectations as in the example. In listening as opposed to reading, where the learner can look back and check
In listening when learners may fail to hear the auxiliary verb e.g. was
which makes the sentence passive. Where the past tense form and the past participle are the same e.g. attacked,
but not bitbitten.
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Based on the description above, the writer concludes that there are two main difficulties in learning and constructing passive voice, there are: the
difficulty in using of verb be auxiliary verb and distinguishing the past tense form and the past participle.
1. Difficulty in Using of Auxiliary Verb be
The verb is the most complex part of speech. Its varying arrangements with noun determine the different kinds of sentences-statements, questions,
comments, and exclamations. A verb is a word that asserts something about persons, things or ideas and is essential to sentence meaning.
36
34
Parrot, op. cit., p. 257.
35
Ibid., pp. 294-295.
36
Frank, op. cit., p. 47.
24
The verb to be : be, being, am. are, is, was, were, shall be, will be, has been, have been, had been, shall have been, will have been.
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Be as the main verb has three basic patterns: Example
a. John is a students
be + a noun b.
John is intelligent be + an adjective
c. John was at the library be + a prepositional phrase
Be function as an auxiliary verb as well as a copula. The copula, links nonverbal predicates i.e., nouns, adjectives, certain adverbials with their subject
and serves as a carrier for tense and subject-verb agreement.
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teacher Copula: John is
tall In boston
Auxiliary: John is talking to Susan. Progressive aspect Many students often confused in using active and passive verb forms. This
is no surprising, because: a.
Be is used make both passive verb-forms and active progressive tenses. b.
Past Participles are used to make both passive verb-forms active perfect tense.
Compare: He was calling. Active-past progressive
He was called. passive-past simple He has called. Active-present perfect
The most common problem in the use of auxiliary verb be is that students have a tendency to omit it. Second language learners have been observed to omit
the copula regardless of whether or not their native language has an equivalent form. The other problem involves use of wrong from of be. The multiplicity of
37
Azar, op. cit., p. A6
38
Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen freeman, the Grammar Book, p. 53.
