Untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang baik, baca beberapa kali setiap penjelasan yang saya

berikan, dan kerjakan latihan yang ada. (Heryatman,MM – TOEFLINDONESIA.COM)

GRAMMAR SECTION OF TOEFL ONLINE COURSE :

10. PAST TENSE

Sesuai dengan namanya (Past Tense = Bentuk Waktu Lampau), maka Past
Tense digunakan untuk menyatakan kejadian-kejadian yang telah berlang-
sung di masa lampau.

Jika anda telah memahami dengan baik Present Tense, maka Past Tense
akan sangat mudah anda pahami, karena hanya ada sedikit perubahan dari
bentuk Present Tense menjadi Past Tense, sbb :

Simple Past Tense :

Digunakan untuk menyatakan suatu hal yang dilakukan di masa lampau.
Perhatikan perubahan yang terjadi dari bentuk Simple Present menjadi
Simple Past.

Simple Present Tense : Subject + Verb1(s/es) + Object + Adverb

Simple Past Tense : Subject + Verb2 + Object + Adverb

Jadi perubahan hanya terjadi pada Verb1 (pada Simple Present Tense),
menjadi Verb2 (pada Simple Past Tense). Sedangkan yang lainnya (subject,
object, adverb) tidak berubah. Kecuali kalau ada adverb of time (keterangan
waktu), memang harus berobah, dari bentuk sekarang menjadi bentuk
lampau. Tetapi adverb of time tidak wajib digunakan. Perhatikan contoh
berikut :

Simple Present Tense :

+ : I buy a magazine in the book store this morning.
- : I don’t buy a magazine in the book store this morning.
? : Do I buy a magazine in the book store this morning ?
Yes, I do / No, I don’t.

Simple Past Tense :

+ : I bought a magazine in the book store last week.
- : I didn’t buy a magazine in the book store last week.
+ : Did I buy a magazine in the book store last week ?
Yes, I did/No, I didn’t
Simple Present Tense : Some employees get new uniforms.
Simple Past Tense : Some employees got new uniforms.

Contoh yg menggunakan ‘tobe’ :

Simple Present Tense :
+ : She is sick today.
+ : She is not sick today.
+ : Is she sick today ? Yes, She is / No, She is not.

Simple Past Tense :

+ : She was sick yesterday.
+ : She was not sick yesterday.
+ : Was she sick yesterday ? Yes, She was / No, She was not.

Coba anda buat bentuk negatif dan pertanyaan dari kalimat berikut :
Simple Present Tense : My friends are busy.
Simple Past Tense : My friends were busy.

Ingat, jika anda tidak menggunakan kata kerja (verb) sesudah subject, maka
gunakan tobe (is, am, are (untuk present tense) dan was, were (untuk past
tense) sebagai pengganti verb, seperti pada contoh di atas. Ciri verb :
mempunyai bentuk ke-dua (Verb-2/past) dan bentuk ke-tiga (Verb-3/past
participle). Bila sebuah kata tidak memiliki bentuk ke-2 dan ke-3, berarti
bukan kata kerja.

Past Continuous Tense :

Digunakan untuk menyatakan suatu kegiatan yang sedang dilakukan di masa
lampau. Perhatikan perbedaan rumusnya dengan Present Continuous Tense
sebagai berikut :

Present Continuous Tense : S + tobe (is,am,are) + V-ing + O

Past Continuous Tense : S + tobe (was, were) + V-ing + O

For Example :

Present Continuous Tense :

+ : The boy is playing football in the yard.
- : The boy is not playing football in the yard.
? : Is the boy playing football in the yard ?

Past Continuous Tense :

+ : The boy was playing football in the yard.
- : The boy was not playing football in the yard.
? : Was The boy playing football in the yard ?.
Coba anda buat bentuk negatif dan pertanyaan dari kalimat berikut :
Present Continuous Tense : Several workers are repairing my house.
Past Continuous Tense : Several workers were repairing my house.

Karena didalam rumusnya harus menggunakan Verb-ing, maka untuk selain

verb, anda tidak bisa membuatnya dalam bentuk continuous (past/present
/future), walaupun di dalam bahasa Indonesia kita sering menggunakannya.
Misalnya dalam bahasa Indonesia anda bisa berkata : “Saya sedang sibuk”.
Tetapi dalam bahasa Inggris, anda hanya bisa berkata : I am busy / I was
busy (saya sibuk). Tidak bisa : I am busying, karena ‘busy’ bukanlah kata
kerja.

Past Perfect Tense

Digunakan untuk menyatakan suatu kegiatan yang telah selesai dilakukan di
masa lampau. Perhatikan rumusnya sebagai berikut, dibandingkan dengan
rumus Present Perfect Tense :

Present Perfect Tense : Subject + has/have + Verb-3 + Object.

Past Perfect Tense : Subject + had + Verb-3 + Object.

For Example :
Present Perfect Tense :
+ : Uncle John has written an article for newspaper
- : Uncle John has written an article for newspaper
? : Has Uncle John written an article for newspaper ?
Yes, he has / No, he has not.

Past Perfect Tense :

+ : Uncle John had written an article for newspaper
- : Uncle John had not written an article for newspaper
- : Had Uncle John written an article for newspaper ?
Yes, he had / No, he had not.

Coba anda buat bentuk negatif dan pertanyaan dari kalimat berikut :
Present Perfect Tense : They have finished their job
Past Perfect Tense : They had finished their job

Anda dapat menggunakan ‘non-verb’ untuk Present Perfect Tense, dengan

menambahkan kata ‘been’. For example :
My aunt had been sick for two weeks.
She had been angry to her son since yesterday.
The president has been

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Digunakan untuk menyatakan suatu kegiatan yang telah dimulai dan masih
sedang dilakukan di masa lampau. Perhatikan rumusnya sebagai berikut,
dibandingkan dengan rumus Present Perfect Continuous Tense :
Present Perfect Continuous Tense :
Subject + has/have + been + Verb-ing + Object.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense :

Subject + had + been + Verb-ing + Object.

For Example :
Present Perfect Continuous Tense :
+ : The students have been studying English for 2 years.
- : The students have not been studying English for 2 years.
? : Have the students been studying English for 2 years ?
Yes, they have / No, they have not.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense :

+ : The students had been studying English for 2 years.
- : The students had not been studying English for 2 years.
? : Had the students been studying English for 2 years ?
Yes, they had/ No, they had not.

Coba anda buat bentuk negatif dan pertanyaan dari kalimat berikut :

Present Perfect Continuous Tense :

We have been sitting here for 45 minutes

Past Perfect Continuous Tense :

We had been sitting here for 45 minutes.

Jadi, salahsatu ciri utama Present / Past perfect continuous tense adalah
digunakannya kata “since/for” (artinya : sejak/selama).

Contoh soal TOEFL Test tentang Tenses :

23. Before she moved here, Arlene had been president of the organization since
........ A........................................... .B ...................C .......... .............D
four years.

Jawab : D.
Seharusnya jika menyatakan jangka waktu (four years), menggunakan kata “for”
(selama).

Best Regards,

Heryatman, MM
www.toeflindonesia.com.
Answer Key :
+ : We have been sitting here for 45 minutes.
- : We have not been sitting here for 45 minutes.
? : have we been sitting here for 45 minutes ?

+ : We had been sitting here for 45 minutes.

- : We had not been sitting here for 45 minutes.
? : had we been sitting here for 45 minutes ?