verb is in the simple past tense and did is not used before the subject. The following is the example of informative questions:
11
1. The positive form: Example:
“Where did your relatives stay?” “They stayed in the upstairs bedroom.
2. The negative form: E
xample: “Why did not you order in pizza?” “I wanted a home-cooked meal.”
From the description above, each form of simple past tense is different whether it is affirmative or negative forms. The positive form of simple past tense
is formed by –ed regular verbs and many different changes for irregular verbs
based on the verbs. For negative, it is formed by did not for infinitive and waswere not for -be. Then, interrogative sentence, it is also formed by diddid
not for infinitive and waswere or waswere not for -be.
3. The Use of Simple Past Tense
Simple past tense has some uses or functions. The central use of simple past tense is to locate the situation, or the part of it under consideration, in past
time.
12
It means that the use of simple past tense is to express a repeated action or event in the past, and a completed action in the past. There are several expressions
of past time such as yesterday, last week, last night, the day before yesterday, a year ago, two weeks ago, yesterday morning, a few minutes ago, a month ago,
11
Eline Kirn and Darcy Jack, Interaction 1 Grammar, 4
th
Edition, New York: McGraw- Hill, 2002, p. 107
–111.
12
Rodney Huddleston, A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 46.
etc., to make it clear that the period of time is finished.
13
According to Slamet Riyanto, the simple past tense is a verb form that is used to express:
14
1. One action which happen or take place at a particular time in the past: She was a teacher in 1975.
She ate an apple a few minutes ago.
2. Repeated, habitual actions in the past: I always went to mosque at night.
My mother cooked fried rice every morning.
Referring the definition of the simple past tense in previous statements, simple past tense describes actions or situations that began and ended in the past.
Therefore, there are two uses of simple past tense, namely to describe past actions and past situation. Time expressions often used with this tense include yesterday,
last week mont, year, Monday, weekend, etc.
15
1. Past actions, for example: I studied at a Japanese University for three years.
They bought a beautiful house a week ago.
2. Past situations, for example: He enjoyed his classes.
We were happy for the party.
Moreover, the use of simple past tense is not always signed by the time signal like, yesterday, last night, two years ago and others. The past tense can
sometimes be used when no definite time then is easily apparent. Hello, how are
you? They told me you were ill. In this situation, the speaker is thinking of a
13
Betty Schrampfer Azzar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New York: Pearson Education, 1999, 3
rd
Edition, p. 27.
14
Slamet Riyanto, A Handbook of English Grammar, Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 2007, p. 136-137.
15
Patricia K. Werner, Interaction2, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002, 4
th
Edition, p. 20.
definite time in the past.
16
In general, past tenses often replace the corresponding present tenses in such contexts.
17
1. Reported speech In keeping with the sequence of tense requirement of reported speech,
when speech is reported, the simple present is succedded to the simple past. Thus, the verb be
–am in simple present tense becomes verb be –was in simple past tense. The requirement for reported speech is followed especially in writing, for
example:
John said, “I am a doctor.” quoted speech John said that he was a doctor. reported speech
2. Unreal Conditionals In clauses introduced by if, the simple past expresses an unreal condition,
for example: If I made many mistakes in TOEFL test, I would get bad score.
3. Polite Requests and Questions Particularly with requests and questions, the simple past is often used
instead of the simple present to express a more deferential, polite one, for example:
I want to ask you a favor. I wanted to ask you a favor. more polite
Do you want to see me now? Did you want to see me now? more polite
According to the explanation above, it can be concluded that the use of simple past tense is no matter how long ago the event is, it can be a few minutes
or hours in the past, and or million years in the past. Simple past tense is also used when the event is in the past and is completely finished. In addition, simple
16
Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik, A Communicative Grammar of English, London: Pearson Education Limited, 2002, p. 69.
17
Ron Cowan, The Techer’s Grammar of English, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008, p. 359.
past tense can be used in reported speech and unreal conditionals, and polite requests and questions.
C. Short Story 1. The Definition of Short Story
According to Natalie Hess in Literature in Language Teaching and Learning,
“short story serves the purpose of language learning well because it is intense universaly in message and meaning; and best of all, truly a very short
story, taking up about four pages. ”
18
The return of literature as a rich and worthwhile source for language study has been observed and appreciated over the
last 20 years by the English as Second LanguageEnglish as Foreign Language community. It means that in a foreign language class, literary text can be used as a
way for the teacher in explaining the material and giving the activities to the students.
Moreover, second language was taught by using Grammar Translation Method GTM where the literature became one of its characteristics in the
nineteenth century. The goal of foreign language study is to learn a language in order to read its literature or in order to benefit from the mental discipline and
intellectual development that result from foreign language study.
19
Based on that statement, it can be said that literature had been used long time ago in foreign
language teaching. Literature consists of poetry and prose and short story, which is a brief
fictional narrative in prose. Edgar Allan Poe popularized the idea that a short story could be read in one sitting and would primarily focus on creating one effect.
Then, it tells one event in a very concentrated way and describes something at a moment of crisis. It is about people who do not really exist and has a plot and
18
Jill Burton, Literature in Language Teaching and Learning, Alexandria: TESOL, Inc., 2006, p. 28.
19
Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, Approach and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 3.
