• I have been living here for 10 years and I intend to continue. • I have lived here since 1999 and I am moving tomorrow.
• I have been working here for 5 years and I intend to continue. • I have worked here since 2000 and I will resign tomorrow.
3.2 Past Tense
Generally, Past Tense also consists of 4 parts namely Past Tense, Past
Continuous Tense, Past Perfect Tense, and Past Perfect Continuous Tense. All of them will be explained briefly.
3.2.1 Simple Past Tense
According to Rangkuti-Hasibuan 1996:59 Simple Past Tense is used to explain actions that happened at a specific time in the past. The actions have
already done and usually are followed by adverb of time such as yesterday, two days ago, in 1920, last week, last year, etc. Sometimes Past Tense is not followed
by adverb of time because the verb used in Past Tense expresses the past time. The form of verb does not change because of plural subject you, we, they or singular
subject I, she, he, it, except verb to be was comes after singular subject I, she, he, it and were followed by plural subject we, they, you.
The structure of the Past Tense is: 1. Verbal
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Verbal is a sentence uses main verbs. It means the sentence does not contain auxiliary verbs. In the Past Tense form, the main verb used is the second
form of verb. For example, I saw
A. Affirmative statement;
my lecturer in library yesterday.
subject +
main verb complement
I, you, we, they, +
verb II she, he, it
+ verb II
B. Negative statement; subject
+ auxiliary verb
+ main verb
complement I, you, we, they, +
did not
verb I she, he, it
+ did
not verb I
C. Question; auxiliary verb
+ subject
+ main verb
complement did
+ I, you, we, they,
+ verb I
did +
she, he, it +
verb I
Look at these examples; • I went to library yesterday.
• I did not go to library yesterday. • Did I go to library yesterday?
2. Nominal Nominal is a sentence uses a verb to be. It means the sentence has to use a
verb to be to form a sentence. The verb to be is usually followed by adjectives,
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nouns, adverbs, etc. The verbs to be are used in Simple Past Tense are; was comes after I, he, she, it, and were comes after you, we, and they. For example;
1. I was
2. You
in Jakarta last week. were not as fat as you were
in senior high school.
A. Affirmative statement; subject
+
verb to be +
complement you, we, they
+ were
+ I
+ was
+ she, he, it,
+
was +
B. Negative statement; subject
+ verb to be
+ complement
you, we, they +
were not
I +
was not
she, he, it,
+
was not
C. Question; verb to be
+ subject
+ complement
were +
you, we, they +
was +
I +
was +
she, he, it +
Look at these examples; • I was a senior high school student 4 years ago.
• I was not a senior high school student 4 years ago. • Was I a senior high school student 4 years ago?
3.2.2 Past Continuous Tense
