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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter presents and discusses about the theoretical framework which is consist of what the Simple Past Tense is, the form of the Simple Past Tense, the use
of the Simple Past Tense, definition of narrative text and its purpose, schematic structure of narrative, and grammatical features of narrative.
A. Simple Past Tense
1. Definition of the Simple Past Tense
Azar, in her book Understanding and Using English Grammar said, “The
Past Tense indicates that an activity or situation began and ended at a particular time in the past.”
1
It means that past tense refers to an activity that occurs in definite time in the past. It is in line with Frank who said that
“The Simple Past Tense represents definite time, whether a time word is given or not
.”
2
So, Simple Past Tense talks about an action or situation that happened in the past whether there is the time signal
or not.
1
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, Inc, 1989, p. 24
2
Marcella Frank, Modern English: A Practical and Reference Guide, New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, Inc, 1972, p. 73
In addition Geoffrey leech stated in his book “Meaning and the English Verb
Third E dition” said:
“The Simple Past Tense shows the happening takes place before the present moment. This means that the present
moment is excluded. …. With the past tense, the difference between „state’ and „event’ is less important
than it is with The Present Tense. In fact, as The Past Tense normally applies only to completed happenings,
everything it refers to is in a sense an „event’, an episode seen as a complete entity”
3
According to A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet, “The Simple Past Tense in
regular verbs is formed by adding -ed to the infinitive, verbs ending in -e add -d only, the negative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did not
didn’t and the infinitive, the interrogative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did + subject
+ infinitive”.
4
It can be said that the Simple Past Tense is formed by adding
–d-ed
for regular verbs and for irregular verbs there is no rule on it and must be learned and mastered by the students.
Meanwhile, Swan in his book Practical English Usage defines, “The Simple
Past Tense is the one most often used to talk about the past. It can be refer to short, quickly finished actions and events, to longer actions and situations, and to repeated
happening s.”
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The Simple Past is used to express the idea that an action started and finished at specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention
the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind. From the several statements above, we can take the conclusion that the Simple
Past Tense used to express a definite event in the past. Simple Past Tense also used if the event happened completely in the past and time period has finished.
3
Geoffrey Leech, Meaning and the English Verb Third Edition, Great Britain: Pearson Education Ltd., 2004, p. 13
4
A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet, A Practical English Grammar, New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 161
5
Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, New York: Oxford University Press, 1980, p. 469
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