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English Tenses
Written by Mazrul Aziz
There are sixteen tenses available in English. As an English Department student you must be able
to understand and utilize them correctly either in active or passive forms. Some tenses are rarely used but
they appear in literature, reports, books, and scientific researches.
According to a language research, there are five English tenses included into high frequency
tenses, they are such as (1) Simple Present Tense (2) Present Continuous Tense ( 3) Present Perfect
Tense ( 4) Past Tense (5) Future tense. If the aim of a course for the sake of speaking skill, so you only
have to focus on these five tenses. However, especially for English Dept students they must totally master
all these tenses.
A. PRESENT B.PAST
1. Simple Present Tense 1. Past Tense
2. Present Continuous Tense 2. Past Continuous Tense
3. Present Perfect Tense 3. Past Perfect Tense
4. Present perfect Continuous Tense 4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
C. FUTURE D. PAST FUTURE
1. Future tense 1. Past Future Tense
2. Future Continuous Tense 2. Past Future Continuous Tense
3. Future Perfect Tense 3. Past Future Perfect Tense
4. Future Perfect Continuous Tense 4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
A. PRESENT
ACTIVE PASSIVE
A1 S + V1 + (O) S + Be1 + V3
Mary scolds John John is scolded by Mary
A2 S + Be1 + V –ing + (O) S + Be1 + Being + V3
The mechanic is repairing the car now The car is being repaired by the mechanic
A3 S + have/has + V3 + (O) S + have/ has + Be3 + V3
The lecturer has interviewed the student The student has been interviewed by the lecturer
A4 S + have/has + B3 + V-ing + (O) xxxx Unavailable
Budi has been typing a resume for an hour
B. PAST
ACTIVE PASSIVE
B1 S + V2 + (O) S + Be2 + V3
Susi insulted John yesterday John was insulted by Susi
S + Be2 + V-ing + (O) S + Be2 + Being + V3
B2 The police was interrogating the thief The thief was being interogated by....
B3 S + had + V3 + (O) S + had + Be3 + V3
A Thief had stolen my motorcycle My motorcycle had been stolen by thief
B4 S + had + Be3 + V-ing + (O) xxxx Unavailable
Budi had been teaching English
C. FUTURE
ACTIVE PASSIVE
C1 S + will / shall + V1 + (O) S + will /shall + Be + V3
Budi will sell a laptop tomorrow British A Laptop will be sold by Budi tomorrow
S + Be1 going to + V1 + (O) S + Be1 going to + Be + V3
Yulie is going to remove the basket USA The basket is going to be removed by....
C2 S + will/shall + be + V-ing S + will / shall Be + Being + V3
Budi will be delivering a KFC KFC will be being delivered by budi
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Budi will have been selling a laptop
D. PAST FUTURE
ACTIVE PASSIVE
D1 S + would / should + V1 + (O) S + would / should + be + V3
We would take the decision The decision would be taken
D2 S + would/ should + be + V-ing + (O) S + would/ should + be + being + V3
The standup comedy would be entertaing the audience The audience would be being entertained .........
D3 S + would/ should + have + V3 + (O) S + would/ should + have + Be3+ V3
She would have taken the umbrella The umbrella woud have been taken
D4 S + would/ should + have + Be3 + V-ing + (O) xxxx unavailable
They would have been discussing the problem
Very often students mix the usage of verbal sentences and nominal sentences such as sentences
below:
I am not agree with you Sir…..I am never forget about it in all my life, if you are not understand I am try
to explain it, I like rice but I am not like porridge very much….. I am like hunting pigs by using dog in the
forest because I am like dog so much.
These are silly errors made by ignorants
The Transformations in sentence are such as: (+) (-) (?) (-?) ( W?) (W-?) ( QT) Question Tags. Especially
or (W?) it consists of several forms such as : what, why, who/whom, when, where, who/whom, which,
whose.
But you must keep in mind that imperative sentences (!) and (-!) are just only available for Present
Tense, and they do not not exist in other tenses
There is a strict regulation of how to make passive sentences , they are as follows:
1). The object in the active sentence will become the subject in passive sentence
2). The verbs used in passive sentence must consist of transitive verbs only. We absolutely cannot make
passive sentence by using intransitive verbs, such as walk, go etc
Let us see below the examples of Transformation in Present Tense n Present Perfect Tense
You must try to train yoursef by transforming all tenses above into many typical transformations as shown
below, therefore, you exactly gain the ability to demontsrate each forms of transformations
Active Passive
Subject + Verb 1 + (Obj) Subj + Be + V3
(+) John takes the salary The salary is taken by........
(-) John does not take the salary The salary is not taken yet
(?) Does John take the salary? Is the salary taken by....... ??
(-?)Doesn’t John take the salary? Isn’t the salary taken by John
(W?) Why does John take the salary ? Why is the salary taken by Jhon ??
(W?) Who takes the salary? When is the salary taken ?
W-?) Why doesn’t John take the salary ? How much is the salary takenn?
( QT) John takes the salary, doesn’t he ?
( ! ) Please take the salary ..!
( -! ) Please don’t take the salary..!
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Looka t the examples of transformations in PAST TENSE below :
ACTIVE PASSIVE
(+) John has injected the patient (+) The patient has already been injected
(-) John has not yet injected the patient (-) The patient hasn’t been injected yet
(?) Has John injected the patient? (?) Has the patient been injected?
(-?) Hasn’t John called the doctor? (-?) Hasn’t the doctor been called?
(W?) Why has John isolated the patient? (W?) Why has the patient been isolated?
(QT) John has bought a laptop , hasn’t he? (QT) A laptop has been bought by John, hasn’t it?
,etc
It is now your turn to apply those examples of Transformation above to all English tenses, OK
It is important for you to keep in mind that you must be able to differentiate how to use noun, verb,
adjective and adverb of a word in a sentence. Why? Because they have different patterns in constructing
sentences. If you use a noun as object you must put a transitive verb before the noun. If you use an
adjective you must use “be “or “linking verbs” before it. If you use subject you must use a verb after it.
SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION
Transformasi kalimat maksudnya dalah : perobahan-perobahan bentuk dari sebuah kalimat inti. Misalnya
bentuk kalimat negative ( - ) , kalimat tanya (?), (W?), (QT) dll yang dibentuk dari sebuah kalimat inti. Contoh kalimat
inti “ You come here everyday” kemudian dirobah kedalam beberapa transformasi spt:
(-) You don’t come here. Do you come here everyday? How often do you come here ? (W?), Why do you
come here? You come here everyday, don’t you? (QT)
Jangan heran dan aneh jika ternyata ada sebagian mahasiswa yang tidak tahu dan tidak mengerti membuat kalimat
menidakkan (-) negative sentences, tidak bisa membuat bentuk kalimat tanya (?) dan kalimat (W?). Justru itu jangan
anggap enteng karena justru itu latihlah membuat transformasi (-) (?) (W?) (QT)dari setiap bentuk tenses diatas agar
anda terhindar dari kalimat-kalimat error
Terutama jika subjectnya (the third singular) orang III yang mengharuskan Kt Kerjanya ditambah [s/es] pada Present
Tense, Present Perfect dan Perfect Cont. Sering siswa dan mahasiswa KELIRU dalam menggunakan serta
memposisikan kt kerja dan kt kerja bantu do, does dan has dalam kalimat transfromasi.
Please learn all examples of Transformations in Present Tense with the core sentence
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“YOU COME HERE” Indeed, you can create so many sentences derived from a core sentence, especially for (W?)
what, who, when, where, why, How, which etc…so you can construct more creative sentences. Please look at the
exercises of these transormations on each tenses below.
But you must be cautious that the transformation of (!) and (-!) are only available in Present Tense with the
subject YOU, they do not exist in other tenses and other subjects (doers)
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3. Setiap kalimat passive wajib menggunakan to be (Be1),is
am are) B2 (was were) B3 (been) diakhiri atau ditutup oleh
V3 (past participle)
4. Kalau kt kerja intransitive tidak ada object maka
mustahil membuat kalimat passive
Nominal Sentences
By Mazrul Aziz
Nominal Sentence is a sentence without having verb , instead they use “be” as the auxiliary and then
followed by complement. A Complement may consist of Noun, Adjective, or Adv.Place/Time.
Anyhow, we can also use linking verbs as to replace “to be” such as feel, look, become, get, go,
appear, turn, sound, etc. Berarti Linking verbs bisa menggantikan posisi to be dlm kalimat nominal
Please study the formula & the examples of nominal sentences in each Tenses below:
The Formula of Nominal sentence in general :
Subject + Be + Complement
(Noun, Adjective, Adverb of Place/Time)
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S + be2 (was/were) + Adjective He was hungry.last night
S + be2 (was/were) + Adverb of Place / Time We were at home all day yesterday
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D4. Nominal in Past Perfect Contionous Tense
S + would / should + have + been + being + Noun She would have been being a dentist
S + would / should + have + been + being + Adjective You would have been being hungry
S +would /should +have + been +being+Adv.of Place / Time We would have been being at home all day later
Important Notes:
Those formulas above are structurally standardized. However, some tenses are seldom or rarely used
because of the development of language use. Anyhow, you cannot neglect them at all because they still
appear in literatures and some other written Engtlish. You must certainly be aware of the usage and how
they are grammatically used and structurally constructed in sentences.
Here they are some tenses belows which are seldom and rarely appear in usage:
Jangan heran dan aneh bahwa ada sebagaian bentuk ADJECTIVES yang memakai baju past participle
(V3). Seolah olah dia berbentuk Past Tense tapi sebenarnya dia adalah adjective al:
confused, interested, satisfied, disappointed, bored, depressed, embarassed
He was confused atau “ he looked confused”
Hati- hati menggunakan ADEJCTIVE yg berbentuk [ -ing] dan yang berbentuk [ - ed ]
Karena adjective yang menggunakan [ -ed] adalah untuk manusia / binatang sedangkan adjective yang
berbentuk [ - ing] adalah untuk benda. Examples .
The lesson is boring, so that I am bored. John is confused because the explanation is confusing
Tapi sering mahasiswwa keliru mengatakan saya bosan tapi malah dia menyebut “I am boring” (SALAH)
LINKING VERBS
Linking verbs are verbs which link the subject with the complement.There is a strong link between subject
and compelement or we can say complement explains what happen to the subject. In other words linking
verbs can replace the posisition of “to Be” in a sentence. Posisi “to be” bisa saja digantikan oleh kata
kerja linking verbs al: get, feel, become, look, appear, dll
For example: She is curious = she feels curious or She looks curious, or She gets curious
John is sick = John gets sick, Joh feels sick, etc
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He is a student He is a teacher
She is jealous
He become
s a teacher
feels
He is sad .......... She sad
he looks jealous
He is a doctor .................. he beomes a doctor
She is sick ............. she feels sick
The were all bored in the class ........the all feel bored in the class
By Mazrul Aziz
MODAL AUXILIARIES
( Kata Bantu di depan kata kerja)
PASSIVE S + Aux + Be + V3
HAVE TO You have to wash the car the car has to be washed
Ought to You ought to invite John John ought to be invited
Have got to She has got to pay the debt The debt has got to be paid
Be supposed to We are sopposed to respect parents and Parents and teachers are
teachers supposed to be respected
Perlu diwaspadai bahwa auxiliaries yang haram memakai TO dan wajib menggunakan TO. Jangan
sampai kacau dan keliru seperti kotak table paling atas TIDAK mngunakan TO tapi kotak bagian bawah
wajib menggunakan TO. Jangan heran banyak mahasiswa yang masih hamburadul menggunakan auxiliary
diatas, seperti : “I will to go “………… “I can to speak English” (silly mistakes)
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CAUSATIVE VERBS
He makes me sick, let her go away , they make me go away
I have my hair cut = saya nyuruh seseorang memotong rambut saya ( bukan saya yg motong rambut sy)
I have my house painted = artinya sy nyuruh seseorang mengecat rumah say ( bukan sy yg pelaku
pengecatan)
For further details please see the book of Betty S. Azzar and Toefl by Barrons on the Grammar section.
Conditionals
Conditional type I ……….. If I have a lot money I will travel around the world
Conditional type II ………..If I had a lot of money I would travel around the world
If I were a king I would appoint you a Prime Minister
If I were you I would marry her
Conditional type III, …………..If I had had a lot of money I would have travelled
around the world
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SUBJUNCTIVES
I strongly suggest that John go to school
(that John goes to school = wrong)
3).Teruskan kemudian menanjak ke Advanced level , sebagian kursus ada membagi level
ini : level 1 s/d level 3 atau cuma 2 level saja: Pre Advanced level, Advanced level, and
Post Advanced ..di level ini anda sdh diharapkan mampu speaking skill yang
interactive/communicative dan Writing skill yg creative bs mengembangkan kalimat2
menguraikan secara detail sesuatu topik dg Str/Grammar yg cukup memuaskan dg
volume vocabulary yg cukup significant...dg sasaran materi,
4) Kemudian baru anda pantas / layak masuk kursus level Toefl/IELTS...pd level ini juga
pembagian kelas spt: Pre- Toefl atau jg disebut Preparatory Class....kemudian Final atau
Post-Toefl Class atau ada juga tambahan class spt Toefl Kits dll.
Pada kelas Toefl/Ielts anda diforsir dan dilatih membahas, menjelaskan, menguraikan,
mengargumentasikan serta mengembangkan dg baik sesuatu topik ilmiah atau non ilmiah
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