AN ERROR ANALYSIS ON USING SIMPLE PAST TENSE IN RECOUNT TEXT BY THE FIRST GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 2 SALATIGA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 20142015 A GRADUATING PAPER Submitted to the Board of Examiners as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

  

AN ERROR ANALYSIS ON USING SIMPLE PAST TENSE IN

RECOUNT TEXT BY THE FIRST GRADE STUDENTS OF

SMA NEGERI 2 SALATIGA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF

2014/2015

  

A GRADUATING PAPER

Submitted to the Board of Examiners as a Partial Fulfillment of

the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan Islam

  

(S.Pd.I)

English Education Department of Teacher Training and

Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN)

Salatiga

  

By:

NUR ANITA

113 10 077

  

DECLARATION

  ميحرلا نمحرلا الله مسب

  

“In The Name of Allah the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful”

  Hereby the writer declares that this graduating paper is written by the writer herself, and it does not contain materials written and has not been published by others and other people‟s ideas except the information from the references.

  The writer is can be responsible for her graduating paper if in the future, it is proved of containing others ‟ idea or in fact, the writer imitates the others‟ graduating paper.

  The declaration is written by the writer and she hopes that this declaration can be understood well.

  th

  Salatiga, February 18 , 2015 The Writer,

  Nur Anita 113 10 077

  

Motto

  “Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor and your picture begins to lighten up.”

  ~Allen Klein~

  DEDICATION This work is sincerely dedicated for:

  

1. My beloved parents, my mother (Yatmi) and my father

(Nuryadi) who always pray, guide, motivate me to become better person.

2. My beloved twins sisters (Nur Aniati) who always be my best sister.

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

  ,

  In the name of Allah, the most gracious and merciful, the kings of universe and space. Thanks to Allah because the writer could complete this thesis as one of requirement to finished study in English and Education Department of States Institute for Islamic Studies.

  This graduating paper would not have been completed without support, guidance and guidance from individual and institution. Therefore, I would like to express special thanks to:

  1. Dr. Rahmat Hariyadi, M. Pd. as the Rector of State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga.

  2. _{Noor Malihah, Ph. D. as the Head of English Education Department of}

  States Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga. Thank you for all your suggestions, recommendations and supports for this graduating paper from the beginning until the end.

  3. _{Ruwandi, M. A. as counselor who has educated, supported, directed and} given the writer advice, suggestion and recomendation for this graduating paper from beginning until the end. Thanks for your patience

  

5. My beloved mother, father and sister. Thanks for love, support, and praying.

  

6. The beloved friends (Siska, Winda, Puji, and Sukris). Thanks for always give me

sweet memory, and support.

  

7. Special thanks someone who help and accompany directly in working with this

thesis; Yayan who always help me and standing beside me.

  8. All of my friends TBI ’10 especially C class, thanks for the cheerfull and your togetherness.

  9. All of staffs who help the writer in processing of thesis administration.

  10. _{Everybody who has helped me in finishing this thesis. Thanks for all supports,} advice, suggestion and other helps that you all gives. The writer hopes that this thesis will useful for everyone. th

  Salatiga, February 18 2015 The writer Nur Anita 113 10 077

  

ABSTRACT

  Anita, Nur. 2015. “An Error Analysis on Using Simple Past Tense in Recount Text by the First Grade Students of SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga in the Academic Year of 2014/2015”. A Graduating Paper. English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty. State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN). Counselor: Ruwandi, M. A.

  Keywords:writing, Recount Text, Simple Past Tense, Error;

  This research is mainly aimed to describe the students‟ error on using simple past tense in recount text by the first grade students of SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga. This study was also intended to give some contributions regarding the sources of error on the use of simple past tense. The writer had chosen the first grade students of SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015 as the sample. The data were analyzed by using descriptive analysis method. The error types were classified based on four kinds of errors. The result of this study showed that there were four kinds of errors such as errors of addition, error of miss

• – ordering, error of omission, and error of misformation. From the result above, the writer concluded that the students still made grammatical errors where the most dominant errors students made are error of misformation with a total of 89 or 68, 46 %.

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE ............................................................................................................... i DECLARATION ............................................................................................. ii ATTENTIVE COUNSELOR NOTE ............................................................... iii CERTIFICATION PAGE ................................................................................ iv MOTTO ........................................................................................................... v DEDICATION ................................................................................................. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. x LIST OF TABLE, CHART, AND FIGURE .................................................... xiii

  CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. _{......................................................................................................... Back} ground of the Study ....................................................................................

  1 B. _{......................................................................................................... State} ment of the Problems .................................................................................

  4 C. _{......................................................................................................... Obje} ctive of the Study .......................................................................................

  5 D. _{......................................................................................................... Bene} fit of the Study ............................................................................................

  5 E. _{.......................................................................................................... Limit} ation of the Study .......................................................................................

  6 F. _{.......................................................................................................... Defin} ition of Key Terms .....................................................................................

  6 G. _{......................................................................................................... Revie}

  8 w of Previous Studies.……………………………………………... .........

  H. _{......................................................................................................... Orga} nization of Paper ........................................................................................

  10 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK A. _{......................................................................................................... Writi} ng 1. _{..................................................................................................... Writi} ng Skill .................................................................................................

  11 2. _{..................................................................................................... Writi} ng Process ............................................................................................

  13

  2. _{..................................................................................................... Lang} uage Feature of Recount…………………………………………....... 19 C. _{......................................................................................................... Simp} le Past Tense

  1. _{..................................................................................................... Form} s of Simple Past Tense……………………………………… ............. 19 2. _{..................................................................................................... Use} of Simple Past Tense……………………………………… ................ 25 3. _{..................................................................................................... Use} of Simple Past Tense……………………………………… ................ 25

  D. _{......................................................................................................... Error} 1. _{..................................................................................................... The} Definition of Error……………………………………….................... 26 2. _{..................................................................................................... Error} Analysis……………………………………… .................................... 27 3. _{..................................................................................................... Mista} kes and Errors……………………………………… ........................... 28

  4. _{..................................................................................................... Type} of Error……………………………………… ..................................... 31 5. _{..................................................................................................... The}

  Stages of Error Analysis………………………………………........... 32

  CHAPTER III REPORT A. _{......................................................................................................... Settin} g of the Research

  1. _{..................................................................................................... The} General Description of SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga………………… ....... 35 2. _{..................................................................................................... Cond} ition of teachers, staffs, and students………………………… ........... 36

  B. _{......................................................................................................... Rese} arch Methodology 1. _{..................................................................................................... Rese} arch Method and Approach ..................................................................

  39 2. _{..................................................................................................... Popul} ation …………………………………….. ........................................... 40 3. _{..................................................................................................... Samp} le…………………………………….. ................................................. 41

  C. _{......................................................................................................... Tech} nique of Collecting Data

  2. _{..................................................................................................... Docu} mentation …………………………………….. ................................... 42 E. _{.......................................................................................................... Evalu} ation Criteria

  1. _{..................................................................................................... Class} ification of Students‟ Scores ............................................................... 43 2. _{..................................................................................................... Quan} tification of errors …………………………………….. ...................... 45

  CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS A. _{......................................................................................................... Data} Presentation ................................................................................................

  47 B. _{......................................................................................................... Discu} ssion 1. _{..................................................................................................... Gene} ral Findings .........................................................................................

  50 2. _{..................................................................................................... Indiv} idual Findings ......................................................................................

  50 CHAPTER V CLOSURE C. _{......................................................................................................... Conc} lusion ..........................................................................................................

  82 D. _{......................................................................................................... Sugg} estion ..........................................................................................................

  83 BIBLIOGRAPHY CURRICULUM VITAE APPENDIX

  LIST OF TABLES, CHART AND FIGURE

  appendix Table 4. 2 The Typ

  

The Percentage of Students’ Writing Errors

  appendix Table 4. 5

  Students’ Score and Mark

  appendix Table 4. 4

  The Distribution of the Students’ Writing

  appendix Table 4. 3

  

es of the Students’ Error

  The Students’ Writing

  Table 3. 1 The Condition of the Building of SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga 35 Table 3. 2 List of the Teachers and Staffs

  45 Table 4. 1

  Classification of Students’ Scores

  44 Table 3. 6

  Rubric of Students’ Writing

  38 Table 3. 5

  37 Table 3. 4 The List of X MIA 2

  37 Table 3. 3 The Total Number of Students in 2014

  49

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study

• – Writing is the most complicated skills both for native and non native learners. Native learners got English from their parents and from their playmates; it is just for speaking system. By the time they enter first grade or even kindergarten, they have learned to use and to respond to the stresses and pitches of English. But at this age, they have not yet learned such things as paragraphing, spelling, or even punctuation: one of the first thing that a child learning to write English has to be taught, for example, is to begin each sentence with a capital letter and to end it with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark ( Allen, 1972: 80). It shows that writing is difficult even for the native learners, because they have to learn to make it well.

  The factor in the difficulty for non

• – native learners in their English writing is language transfer. According to Richards (1974: 5), sentences in the target language may exhibit interference from the mother tongue. They are influenced by their mother tongue roles when they transfer their ideas

and English have totally different rule in their structure. It is very influence in their process of writing English.

  Sociolinguistic situation is also influence their writing process. Richards stated that different setting for language use result in different degrees and type of language learning. These may be distinguished in terms of the effects of the socio- cultural setting on the learner‟s language and in terms of the relationship holding between the learner and the target language community and the respective linguistic markers of these relations and identities. Included here are thus the effects of the learner‟s particular motivations for learning the second language as well as the effects of the socio-cultural setting.

  Structure is one of the most complicated rules in writing English for non

• – native learners especially in grammar. It is not to be expected that study of the grammar, no matter how good a grammar it is or how carefully it is taught, will effect any enormous improvement in writing (Allen, 1972: 107).

  One of writing text must be produced by learners is recount text. In a Recount text, the students must retell the sequence of events or experiences which they have ever got in the past (Nafisah and Kurniawan, 2007:65). Retelling past event intends to entertain or inform others what speeches (Anderson and Anderson, 2003:49). Even though Recount text had been studied since junior high school, sometimes the students had problems in writing it. It is because in writing Recount text, the students should be aware in using the schematic structure of Recount text including orientation, record of events, and reorientation (Anderson and Anderson, 2003:50). Besides that the students should apply the linguistic features of Recount in their text including specific participants, circumstance of time and place, first person, additive conjunction, material process, and past tense (Gerot and Wignell, 1995:194), (Nafisah and Kurniawan, 2007:71).

  Simple past tense is one of the components needed in writing recount text. It may be difficult in English conjugates verb tense

• – that is the way to change verb to communicate past action. First, usually they use multiple past tense markers, for example “Did you went home?” that should be “Did you go home?” And then they make incorrect tense with a temporal adverb, like the use of “Yesterday”. For example “yesterday I p lay”, it should be “yesterday I played”. They also make create incorrect tense with irregular verbs.

  The difficulties may be caused by the ignorance of the rules and false concept hypothesized. The complicated rules of past tense makes the learners avoid to using them. And they are not able to arrange a well

  According to the curriculum 2013, learners have to produce recount text with well structure. The purpose of the text is retelling the past experiences. The learners will write their experiences in recount text to develop their ability in mastering simple past tense. This research focuses on the qualification of items analysis such as content, vocabulary, grammar and mechanics. Based on the research background above and in order to make this research consistent with the topic the writer intended to restrict the problem and purpose of this research in finding out the errors entitled “An Analysis on Grammatical Errors in Using Simple Past Tense in Recount Text Written by the First Grade Students of SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga in the Academic Year of 2014/ 2015

  ” B.

   The Statements of the Problem

  Based on the background of the study there are problems, which can be formulated after identifying the type errors. The problem can be stated as follows:

  1. What are the types of errors that occur in using simple past tense in recount text written by the first grade students at SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/ 2015?

2. What are the dominant errors made by the first grade students at SMA

  Negeri 2 Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/ 2015?

  C. The Objectives of the Study

  Based on the statements of the problem above, the objectives of this research are follows:

  1. To find out the dominant errors on the use of simple past tense in recount text writing by the first grade students at SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/ 2015.

  2. To identify and classify the causes of errors in doing item of simple past tense by the first grade students at SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/ 2015.

  D. The benefit of the Research

  The result of this research is expected to give contribution in some ways:

  1. Practically The result of the research can be used by English teacher especially in SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga, to detect the learners‟ ability in mastering simple past tense in recount text and to identify what they have and have not learnt, also to know the causes of unsuccessful learning in simple past tense.

  2. Theoretically

E. The Limitation of the Problem

  In order to make a focus in this research, especially in the explanation, the writer limits the study as follows:

  1. The research uses a test to find the students errors in using simple past tense in recount text.

  2. The research carries out the first grade students at SMA Negeri 2 Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/ 2015.

F. The Definition of the Key Term

  To make easier in understanding this research, the researcher defines the key terms are follows:

1. Errors Analysis

  An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of an active speaker, reflecting the inter language competence of the students (Brown, 1980:165). Errors are the sign that learner has not mastered the target language. Learner makes errors when they have not learned something correctly and they consistently wrong. For example:

a. I student. (The correct sentence: I am a student) b. Yesterday he come. (The correct sentence: He came yesterday).

  Tarigan, H. G. (1988:76-77), explained that: mastered the system of the language yet. However when students produce sentence ungrammatically due to their divided concentration, their incorrect writing, they make mistake.”

2. Simple past tense

  The simple past tense has some functions as follows: a. _{The simple past tense is used to describe a completed action in the} past. The action can single action: He sent a letter to you yesterday. It can be a repeated action: He made several trips to Europe in the last years of his life. It can cover a long period of time: He worked for the city for thirty years. These entire action share one characteristic – they were all complete in the past.

b. The idiomatic verb phrase used to emphasizes the idea of a repeated or habitual action in the past. He used to work in the city.

  He used to bite his fingernails, but he‟s stopped doing it.

  c. _{Time expressions that are commonly used with the simple past} tense include all. Those which indicate a definite past time, such as yesterday, expressions with last and ago and specific time references about the past.

  d. _{Recount Text} According to Djuharie (2008), Recount is a reconstruction involved, what happened, where this event took place and when it happened. The sequence of event is then described in some sorts of order, for instance a time order. The generic structure of a recount consists of three parts; they are the setting or orientation, vents, and conclusion. The setting or orientation is the background information answering who, when, where and why. It is also where you give an outline of what you are writing about. Events are where the students write about the things that happened and are identified and described in chronological order. And the conclusion expresses a personal opinion regarding the events described. A recount has a title, which summarizes the text. Since recount tells about past experiences, it uses past tense. A recount describes events, so plenty of use is made of verbs (action words), and of adverb (describe or add more detail to verb). It describe the events word which link event such as next, later, when, then, after, before first. The lexicon grammatical features of recount focus on specific participants, use of past tense, uses of material processes, circumstances of time and place, and temporal sequence.

G. Review of Previous Research

  The writer reviews of related researcher from other thesis as principle or comparative in this research. First previous research was done by Doni Ramli a student of Teacher Training and Education Faculty Tanjungpura University Pontianak, entitled “An Analysis on Students‟ Errors in Writing Recount Text”. He analyzed that based on the finding in his research, there were 275 errors made by the students in writing recount text. The errors were 95 or 34.54% errors at writing content of the text, 21 or 7.63% errors at vocabulary, 123 or 44.74% errors grammar and 36 or 13.9% errors at mechanics.

  The second previous research was done by Anisa Fitriyani the student of State Institute of Islamic Studies Salatiga, entitled “ An Error Analysis of Word Order Use in Recount Text Made by Students at the Tenth Grade of MAN 1 Kota Magelang Academic Year 2013/ 2014”. She found that 80% of respondent committed word order error either in constructing the sentence or distributing the word in noun phrase. In constructing sentence, word order errors were visible in the omission of subject, predicate, or object and the wrong composition of sentence constituent. Whereas in word order distribution, the error occurred in the arrangement of modifier + head noun. Beside that, according to the

  It is compared to the previous researches, this research will analyze the grammatical errors in using simple past tense in recount text to know the dominant errors made by the students and what is the kind of the errors commonly.

H. Organization of Paper

  This paper is divided in to five chapters. Each of them can be explained as follows: Chapter I is Introduction. It contains background of the study, the statement of the problem, the objective of the study, benefits of the study, limitation of the study, definition of key terms, review of previous research, methods of the research, and organization of paper.

  Chapter II is theoretical Framework, which is discuss about the definition of error, simple past tense, and recount text. Chapter III is Methodology of Research that consists of setting of the research, subject of the research, method of the research, procedure of the research, technique of collecting data and technique of data analysis.

  Chapter IV is Data Analysis. It consists of conducting the test, identifying and listing the students‟ errors, classifying the students‟ errors, computing the percentage of errors, analyzing the errors.

Chapter V is Closure. The writer writes the summary of the research,

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK A. Writing 1. Writing Skills Some students and aspiring professionals believe that serious

  reading, reflecting, and writing are activities that require extraordinary amounts of effort and commitment

• – more than anyone can expend in days that are filled with innumerable obligations (Beene, 2004: 2). Writing is one of the activities that need more effort than others. It teaches everyone how to reason carefully, analyze closely, recognize conflicting viewpoints on issues, and improve communication skills. It is also supported by Beene(2004: 2), said that reading and writing require reflection.

  Writing is a natural thinking process and people share what they think to others with a communicative language. They make their opinions and they absolutely want their audiences accept or get the point. Beene (2004: 3) also says that this is another way of saying that all communicative writing has a purpose and that the purpose in writing to induce to see the world as the writer sees it. greater control over what you write and greater confidence in your ability to write (2004: 4). The authors have their style of how to share their idea in to some words. It is according to their knowledge and their skills to write. Their background of mother tongue is also influence their writing.

  Writing for learners is an activity that very hard to do for some of them. They have to use a suitable word, clear explanation, and right grammar of the situation tells. According to Norman (1962: 3), the writer must posses a feeling for words

• – a kind of word sense – that will help him to put the right word in the right place.

  In this case, learners have to write in English language although it is not their first language. It makes some difficulties for them.

  Background of their language is influence their process of writing. They should to use English vocabulary and its roles that totally different with their basic language. They will be more aware to choose the vocabulary to write. They have to make a clear sentence and a fact. Facts are details, and details make good writing; but not all details are facts (Norman, 1962: 5).

  Learners are required to understand the roles before they began to write in English, and it is not easy for some learners. Norman said that the structure of English is so complex and the opportunities for

2. Writing Process

  a. Planning Harmer (2004:4) stated before starting to write or type, try and decide something that going to say. When planning, author has to think about three main issues. First, the purpose of writing since this will influence the type of text, the language, and the information.

  Ede (2008:251) added to try establishing a controlling purpose. A controlling purpose reveals just not the topic but also the point and the effect to the readers. Second, the audience, since this will influence not only the shape of writing but also the choice of language. Thirdly, the content structure that is, how best to sequence the facts, ideas, or arguments which they have decided to include.

  Ede (2008:250) added planning activities described in generally require more discipline. Because much of the crafting essay occurs as a result, however, this work can be intensely rewarding.

  b. Drafting The first version of a piece of writing is a draft. This first go at a text is often done on the assumption that it will be amended later

  (Harmer, 2004:5). Drafting is a messy process that no two people approach the same way. Drafting is important, for it is through c. _{Editing (Reflecting and Revising)} Reflecting and revising are often helped by other readers or editors who comment and ma ke suggestions. Another reader‟s reaction to a piece of writing will help the author to make appropriate revisions. Ede (2008:282) added that when revise a draft, begin by asking the big, important questions about how well the essay has responded to rhetorical situation, and how successfully the writer achieved the goals established by controlling purpose. If the writer discovers that the essay hasn‟t achieved its original purpose, the writer must make major changes in the draft.

  d. _{Final Version} When writers have edited their draft, making the changes they consider to be necessary, they produce their final version. This may look considerably different from both the original plan and the first draft, because things have changed in the editing process.

  The writing process that described operates whether people are writing e-mail, texting, writing shopping list, or providing compositions for their English teachers. However, to approach the process, the writer will still try and plan what to write, check what have written, and revise it before sending it off. a. Getting started (adapting the free writing technique).

  b. O ptimal monitoring of one‟s writing (without premature editing and diverted attention to wording, grammar, etc).

  c.

  Peer editing (accepting/using classmates‟ comments).

  d.

  Using the instructor‟s feedback.

  e. Reading aloud technique in small groups or pairs, students read their almost-final drafts to each other for a final check on errors, flow of ideas, etc.

  f. Proof reading.

  Since writing as a process is oriented towards work in progress and the development of new skills, rather than merely evaluative tasks, the classroom practices, therefore, will vary each other. These often depend much upon the students‟ experiences and skills when planning and adjusting their writing program (Fauziaty, 2005:151).

  When helping learners to become better writers, teachers have a number of crucial tasks to perform. This is especially true when learners are doing writing activities. Among the tasks which teachers have to perform before, during, and after the learner writing are the following: a. Demonstrating Learners need to be aware of writing conventions and genre constraints in specific types of writing; teachers have to be able to draw these features to their attention.

  b. Motivation and Provoking Provoking the learners into having ideas, stimulating them with the value of the task, and persuading them what fun it can be.

  c. Supporting Teachers need to be extremely supportive when learners are writing, always available, and prepared to help learners overcome difficulties.

  d. Responding When responding student‟s work at various draft stages, we will not be grading the work or judging it as a finished product. Instead, telling the learner how well it is going so far.

  e. Evaluating When evaluating learners‟ writing, indicate they wrote well and where they made mistakes, and we may award grades.

3. Writing Format

  Gower, Philips, and Walters (1995:113) stated that writing involves different aspects. It is useful to look at them under these headings:

  a. Handwriting This maybe is a problem for learners who are not familiar with Roman script.

  b. Spelling Usually more of problem for speakers non-English languages.

  However, speakers of languages where the spelling and pronounciation are consistent.

  c. Punctuation The conventions of English capital letters and punctuation are not universal and might have to be taught.

  d. Sentence Construction The construction of sentences those are grammatically correct, using correct word order.

  e. Organizing A Text and Paragraphing Dividing the information into paragraphs. Knowing when start a new

  Using language that appropriate the formality and style of the text.

B. Recount Text

  There are many texts that have learned by students one of them is recount text. Recount is a reconstruction of something which happened in the past (Djuharie: 2008). It is the unfolding sequence of event over time and the purpose is to tell what happened. Recount text begins by telling the reader who was involved, what happened, where this event took place and when it happened. The sequence of event is then described in some sorts of order, for instance a time order. The generic structure of a recount consists of three parts; they are the setting or orientation, events, and conclusion. The setting or orientation is the background information answering who, when, where and why. It is also where you give an outline of what you are writing about.

  Events are where the students write about the things that happened and are identified and described in chronological order. And the conclusion expresses a personal opinion regarding the events described. A recount has a title, which summarizes the text. Since recount tells about past experiences, it uses past tense. A recount describes events, so plenty of use is made of verbs (action words), and of adverb (describe or add more detail to verb). It describe the events word which link event such as next, later, when, then, after, before first. c. Reorientation: It is optional. Stating personal comment of the writer to the story

2. Language Feature of Recount

  a. Introducing personal participant; I, my group, etc

  b. Using chronological connection; then, first, etc

  c. Using linking verb; was, were, saw, heard, etc

  d. Using action verb; look, go, change, etc

  e. Using simple past tense C.

   Simple Past Tense 1. Forms of Simple Past Tense

  According to Glorfeld, Lauerman, and Stageberg statement (2002: 100) , authors must be careful in their use of the tense form of verbs to show time. When they do not select the tense forms which would indicate the precise time relationship that they have in mind or when they shift from one tense to another without reason, they may confuse the readers or muddle the time perspective in their writing.

  Frank, Marcela (1973:14) defines: “Tense a special verb ending or accompanying verb signaling the “time” an event takes place”. Based on the definition above, the author would like to say that the word “tense” stand for a verb or series of verb for mused express a time relation. Tense varies in property that related to the time a verbs action is performed. By tense we understand the correspondence between the form of the verb and our concept of time (present, past or future).

  Comrie (1985:41), states that: The meaning of the past is this location in time period to the present moment and any further deduction about temporal location that are made on the basic of individual sentences in the past tense are the result of factors other than simply the choice of tense.

  The simple past tense has some functions as follows: a. _{The simple past tense is used to describe a completed action in the past.}

  The action can single action: He sent a letter to you yesterday. It can be a repeated action: He made several trips to Europe in the last years of his life. It can cover a long period of time: He worked for the city for thirty years. These entire action share one characteristic

• – they were all complete in the past.

  b. _{The idiomatic verb phrase used to emphasizes the idea of a repeated or} habitual action in the past. He used to work in the city. He used to bite his fingernails, but he‟s stopped doing it.

  c. _{Time expressions that are commonly used with the simple past tense} include all. Those which indicate a definite past time such as yesterday, expressions with last and ago, and specific time references about the past. Emery (1972), say that a sentence is the essential unit of communication, which is a meaningful and orderly arrangement of words. To be a meaningful, any arrangement of words must form some kind of pattern. About sentence, Frank (1972:225) explains that there are sentence patterns:

  a. S V : Children run

  b. S V A : Mary was at home

  c. S V C : Mary was a nurse

  d. S V O : Children played a game

  e. S V O A : I put a plate on the table

  f. S V O C : We had proved him wrong A verb indicates the time of the action, event, or condition by changing it form. Verb can be divided into various kinds, according to its form; there are two types of verb, which are regular and irregular verb.

1) Regular Verbs

  Regular verbs are verbs whose past tense are formed by adding “- ed/ - d‟ to the infinitive. For instance:

  I play badminton (Present Tense) I played badminton (Past Tense) There are some regulations to form regular verbs:

a) We generally form past tense by adding “-ed” to infinitive.

b) If the infinitive ended in vowel “e” we add “-d” to form past tense.

  Example: Dance - danced - danced Like - liked

• – liked

  c) _{If the infinitive ends in “y” and follows a consonant the “y” is} replaced by “I” and then we add “-ed”. Example: Cry - cried - cried Copy - copied

• – copied

2) Irregular Verbs

  The term “Irregular verb” is used for those verbs do not have the suffix “-ed” for past participle.

  For example:

  Infinitive Past Tense

  Eat Ate Cut Cut

  Give Gave There are three main types of irregular verbs:

  a) Infinitive past tense and past participle are identical. Example:

  Infinitive Past tense Past participle

  Cut Cut Cut Hit Hit Hit

  Put Put Put Read Read Read

  b) _{Past tense and past participle are identical. Example:}

  Infinitive Past tense Past participle

  Bring brought brought Creep crept crept

  Lay Laid Laid

  c) _{Past tense and Past Participle all identical.}

  

Infinitive Past tense Past participle

  Arise Arose Arisen As explained above, we know that simple past tense describes actions or situations that began and ended in the past.

According to Betty (1992: 19) he stated that the forms of the simple past tense are follow:

  Statement I, you, we, they, he, she, it worked yesterday Negative I, you, we, they, he, she, it did not work

  yesterday

  Question Did I, you, we,

  they, he, she, it work yesterday?

  Short Answer

  Yes I, you, we, they, he, she, it did. No didn‟t.

  Uses Examples Notes Past Actions

  I studied at a Japanese university for three years.

  I won a scholarship a year ago.

  Time expressions often used with this tense include yesterday, last week (month, year, Monday, weekend, etc.) a week (month, etc) ago.

  Past Situations He enjoyed his classes.