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Common Patterns and Usages of Tenses in English
03/10/2020 Views : 1268
I NENGAH SUDIPA
COMMON
PATTERNS AND USAGES OF TENSES IN ENGLISH
By:
I Nengah Sudipa
Abstract
This article aims to describe in detail about the formulas
of a numbers of tenses with English sentences. The data
was collected from a number of reference books, Magazine, as well as from Practical English Usage. It was done through reading and note-taking. The
formulation of the article is in accordance with the patterns exemplified by the quoted sentences. It turns out that Tense
is defined as a verb form referring to time.
Keywords
: tense, pattern, usage
I.
INTRODUCTION
“How many tenses are there in English?”, once the English
student was asked. The answer was “There are , oh maybe
14 or 16 tenses”. This dialogues urges me to write this article in order
to widen the insight of the readers, who are mostly our beloved English
students. The answer is not only about the numbers of the tenses, however the
patterns and how to use them as well. This article aims to introduce the
patterns and elaborate the usages in
such ways that the materials could be
easily comprehended.
II.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The materials for this article, especially the patterns
were adopted from a number of English grammar books, namely The Comprehensive
Grammar of the English Language (Quirk,
et.al.1985) and The Introduction to the English Grammar (Huddleston, 1984).The
usages are based upon the examples taken from Garuda Magazine (Sept,2015) and a
number of token from the Practical English Usages (Swan, 1995). The materials
were intensively and extensively read to comprehend the relevant points, and
furthermore the observation and note-taking techniques were applied.
III.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
“What is TENSE?
is the first question must be thoroughly responded. Tense is the verb form
referring to time. Look at the examples
(3-1) He eats rice
(3-2) He ate rice
(3-3) He is eating rice
(3-4) He has eaten rice
The verb form of eat
in (3-1) is called Verb I [present
tense] indicates the activity happens everyday, the same as the daily habitual happening. It covers three
time dimensions (yesterday, now and tomorrow). The form of ate in (3-2) is called the Verb II [past tense] functions to show
the activity happens in the past (yesterday,
…..ago; last …..). The form of is
eating in (3-3) is called Verb I+ING [continuous/progressive tense] indicates
the activity is still going on; and the form of eaten in (3-4) is called Verb III [past participle] with the
combination of has/have indicates the
activity has just finished at the moment of the speaking.
3.1 Patterns and Usages
Basically there are two major points of tenses in English, namely ; (1) The Present and (2) The Past
3.1.1 The Present
The
present consists of (1) Simple Present; (2) Present Progressive; (3) Present Perfect and (4)
Present Perfect Progressive
3.1.1.1
The Simple Present covering three time
dimensions : the past, the present and the future is used to indicate the
habitual activity. This can be completed by certain adverbs and time adverbials. Adverbs of frequency : always, usually,
often, sometimes, occasionally, seldom, rarely, ever, never. Time adverbials : every day, every …..; on Sundays, on ……….
|
S – Vb I – Etc. |
(3-1)
They sometimes work in a factory
They do not work in an office
|
S – Vb I (s/es) – Etc. |
Do
they work at home on Sundays?
(3-2)
He works
in a cafeteria every Saturday
He does not work in a school
Does
he always work in a supermarket?
3.1.1.2
The Present Progressive is used to
indicate that the activity is still going
at the moment of the speaking. This tense is usually completed by : now,
at the moment, at present.
|
S – is/am/are -Vb I+ing – Etc. |
(3-3) She is
wearing blue jean now
Is he listening
to the radio
They are not sleeping well in a
camp
|
S – has/have – Vb III – Etc. |
3.1.1.3 The
Present Perfect.
(3-4) They have
written three letters for one hour
Has she copied the book since 1st of March?
She has not cooked in the kitchen
(3-5) (a) He has
lived in Denpasar for three months
(b) She
has loved him since 1990?
(c) They
have remembered their friends living
in Lampung
The activity of present perfect with state verb does not end at the moment of the speaking,
however it keeps continuing until the
future. (a) He does not finish living in Denpasar, but he is still living
there until certain time in the future; (b) She does not stop loving him nor
hating him because she has loved him,
however her love to him is still going on until certain time in the future; (c)
it does not mean that they forget their friends after they finished saying the
sentence : they have remembered their
friends in Lampung. This indicates that they still remember them until next
time in the future.
3.1.1.4 Perfect Progressive
The
Present Perfect Progressive, with action verbs only - is used to express the activity that started
in the past and not stopping at the time of the speaking and moreover it
continues until future.
|
S – Have/has – been – Vb I + ing –
since/for |
(3-6) He has
been sleeping for an hour
We have been studying since 08.00 in this
morning
Has she been crying for two hours?
3.1.2 The Past
The
Past consists of (1) Simple Past; (2) Past Progressive; (3) Past Perfect and (4) Past Perfect
Progressive
3.1.2.1
Simple Past is used to indicate that the action took place in the certain time
in the past, usually with the time
adverbials : yesterday, …… ago (two days ago); last …….( last year)
|
S – Vb II – Etc. |
(3-7)
They studied in Australia
She did not buy many blouses in the morning market
Did
he build a house in 2002
3.1.2.2
The Past Progressive
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