PAST TENSE

Talitha Zafirah
State Islamic University of North Sumatera, Medan, Indonesia
talithazhafira03@gmail.com

Carisha Puti Salsabila

State Islamic University of North Sumatera, Medan, Indonesia
carishaputi26@gmail.com

Zahwa Aini Bulan Sitompul

State Islamic University of North Sumatera, Medan, Indonesia
zahwa.aini@icloud.com

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

In English conversation, past tense adverbs are one of the most commonly used sentence
types. Not only in conversation, but also in the dialog of stories, books, or other types of writing.
This indicates the importance of a clear past tense description in a conversation or sentence.
However, pronunciation or writing errors are often found which greatly affect the information to
be conveyed correctly without being mistaken. This is in line with the opinion of Tarigan (2017:
77) who says that in the learning process, mistakes will often be found. And the frequent errors
in writing prove that students' abilities have not reached the level of fluency.
In general, the past tense is which represents events that occurred in the past or in the
moments before. This tense is frequently employed in narrative or recount texts in writing also to
speak (Sudarwati & Grace, 2007: 74). The importance of past tense is closely related to
grammar. It is widely acknowledged, according to Hewings & Hewings (2005:12), that
knowledge of grammar will enhance well-formed language, including in written form. Thus, a
student's ability to write and speak well and comprehensively will ultimately depend on their
grasp of the grammar surrounding this tense.
However, over the past few years, many people have experienced difficulties in learning
English which causes errors in using English. For example, Brown (2007) in a thesis journal
written by Adika Kartika Lauw states that errors are the result of a person's systematic ability,
and Azar (1993) explains that the simple past tense is an event that occurred in the past, while
the adverbial time consists of: Yesterday, last night, two days go, and so on. The verbs used are
two-form verbs (Verb 2).
With the above background, there are also problems that are almost the same as those that
occur in 2nd semester students in the English education department. Therefore, this research was
conducted to become a reference and new knowledge that will reveal the causes and location of
errors so that the results of this study can be useful and knowledge can be taken.

PROBLEM FORMULATION
Based on the foregoing context, researchers attempt to carry out more investigation and
analysis of the kinds of past tense errors made by English education students in semester 2 at
Medan State Islamic University, subject to the following problem limitations:
1. What are students difficulties in learning past tense?
2. Why do the students have those difficulties in learning past tense?

PURPOSE OF RESEARCH
1. To find out students' difficulties in learning past tense
2. To elaborate the factors of students difficulties in learning past tense

SIGNIFICANT
1. To know about past tense
2. To elaborate the factors of students' difficulties in learning past tense
3. Analyzing the factors of students' difficulties in learning the past tense
4. Assist further research to find solutions to problems
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE

2.1 Past Tense

Tenses are just one of many subjects covered in grammar. The Latin term tempus, which
means "time," is the source of the English word tense, which indicates the moment at which a
verb's action occurs (Jarvie, 2007: 32). In English, there are numerous tense variations. The
present, past, and future tenses are the foundational tenses from which all other forms are
derived. The researcher will now talk about the past tense.
The simple past tense expresses that a situation or activity started and concluded at a
specific point in the past (Azar, 1999: 27). The following formula was used to create simple past
tense sentences for both verbs and non-verbs:

Tabel 1. Past Tense

Form Pattern with Verb Form Patterb with non-Verb

Affirmative S + V2 + Object Affirmative S + was/were + Non verb

I went to the market He was healthy last night

yesterday
They were happy yesterday
They played badminton
last sunday

Negative S + did + not + Verb1 + Negative S + was/were + not + Non

Object verb

I didn't go to the market He wasn't healthy last night

yesterday
They weren't happy yesterday
They didn't play
badminton last sunday

Interrogative Did/didn't + S + Verb1 Interrogative Was/were + S + Non Verb

 + Object Was he healthy last night?

Did you go to the market Were they happy yesterday?

yesterday?
(Serious English for Serious
Didn't they play Student, 2006 : 184-185)
badminton last sunday?

One of the tenses that students are always taught is the simple past tense. The tenses in
English and Indonesian differ significantly from one another. According to Lado (2008:7),
"Tenses can be interpreted as changes in the form of verbs in a sentence caused by changes in
tense or time information."
According to Ali (2010:183), tenses are used to describe or explain when an occasion,
event, or action takes place in a sentence that makes sense given the surrounding circumstances.
phrases that represent the circumstances in the past, present, or future. The researcher draws the
conclusion that, according to the above explanation, verb tenses are a way for words to express
time, and that the way verb tenses are utilized in a sentence might vary depending on how time is
described.
"There are three absolute tenses formulated, namely present tense, past tense, and future
tense," according to Comrie (1985: 36). Azar (1993) defined the Simple Past tense as an activity
with a past tense beginning and ending. Apart from that theory of error analysis, according to
Ellis (1997:15–19), explains why students make a variety of mistakes when learning the simple
past tense, such as omission errors, form abuse, and misplacement errors. Azar (2003:27) also
states that "the simple past indicates that an activity or situation began and ended at a particular
time in the past." The simple past tense indicates that an event or activity started and concluded
at a specific point in the past. When describing past events that have no bearing on the present,
the simple past tense is employed. The simple past tense is used to describe past events, such as
those that occurred yesterday, this morning, two years ago, and so forth.
Lado (2008:46) contends that "The simple past tense is a tense that is used to describe
events in the past," which is consistent with the view stated above. tense is the simple past tense
used to describe events or activities carried out at a certain point in time.The simple past tense
structure should be used when reporting on experiences and completed tasks. So, we can infer
from the preceding definition that the simple past tense is a tense that indicates time and is used
to describe an event or event in the past when the event or event is known to have occurred
(Mubasyira, 2018).

2.2 Previous Study

Research conducted by Hidayat Polim, Frangky Silitonga, and Mamal Zakriamal in 2018
with the title 'The Simple Past Tense Understanding In SMA Maitreyawira Batam' with the
method used is quantitative method. This study discusses the effect of understanding aspects of
grammar on writing skills. The researcher emphasized that the understanding of simple past
tense is important having a good writing skills, especially in narrative text. The result proved the
argument proposed by Hewings & Hewings, who stated that it is generally accepted that an
understanding of the grammar of language can help in constructing well-formed language such
as in writing (2005:12).
This proves that there is an influence of understanding of simple past tense to the skill in
writing narrative text. Researchers found a lack of good understanding of the structure by
students so that they had difficulty remembering the past tense form. The most common
difficulty found in Halim's findings is the incorrect placement of regular verbs and irregular
verbs.
Dede Irawan (2018) who conducted research with the title 'Analisa Kesalahan Dalam
Penggunaan Simple Past Tense Oleh Mahasiswa Semester 1 Program Pendidikan Bahasa
Inggris' using the Classroom Action Research method. Where data is collected descriptively and
repeatedly until the data is sufficient. The most frequent difficulty found in this invention is the
use of to be which is still often exchanged among the types of past tense sentences. It is also
often found that students do not understand and remember well that to be in past tense sentences
changes according to the subject.
Research with the title 'Analisa Kesalahan Penggunaan Simple Past Tense Pada English
Narrative Composition SMPN 1 Bojong Gede' studied by Mu'thia Mubasyira in 2017 using
quantitative methods with a descriptive approach. In this study, the researcher emphasizes the
importance of understanding past tense in narrative essays or narrative reading, which is crucial
in education. This research is also supported by a statement from Oshima and Hogue (2007:24)
states that: "Narration is story writing. When you write a narrative text, you write about events
in the order that they happened." Based on this opinion it can be underlined that in a narrative
essay there is an element of storytelling that is delivered in writing by using a certain time order.
This study found many errors in the use of to be which is the basic key to a good and correct
understanding of past tense, as well as verb usage errors that are quite dominating. The
researcher stated that the factor that causes the omission and misuse of to be was and were is the
students' ignorance that before adjectives and adverbs must use to be. In the simple past tense to
be used are was and were. In addition, students also add to be to sentences that already have
verbs. This is caused by students' lack of understanding and knowledge in the use of to be.
In this discovery, it was found that students do not understand how important grammar
understanding is to be able to understand the past tense well, and according to the results of
mubasyira's discovery, this is also due to a lack of interest in reading and listening to English,
which affects the ear and memory in English sentence structure.

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Research Design

This research uses qualitative research methods with data collection through case studies
through participants. According to Creswell, J, W. (2007) that research with qualitative methods
is carried out continuously until the data is complete and feasible to process and get results. This
is to encourage more valid research results and develop research topics to be broader with in-
depth and tested studies.

3.2 Participants
The participants of this research is the 26 active students of the English study program in the
Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training which is part of the State Islamic University of North
Sumatra. According to Creswell (2012), participants are the target population groups that
researchers have selected to gather target population data. The use of participants in this study is
in line with the opinion expressed by Merriam (2009, p. 13) that qualitative methods are to
understand how individuals construct meaning, how they interpret their environment, and the
experiences they have in it. There are two stages that researchers do with using participants for
data collection, namely by:
1. Quiz: After the presentation of the materials to familiarize the participants, they will be
asked to 26 participants tp complete a quiz that will serve as a measure of their skills and
data needs for the research.
2. Interview: This session will be conducted after data processing from the results of the quiz
analysis that has been carried out. In the interview session, researchers used 5 participants
who will be asked questions, so that the data collected can be valid and more clearly draw
conclusions from the research.

3.3 Instrument
This research uses several instruments that help to obtain data by utilizing existing
participants, with structured parts that also adjust the depth of understanding of participants in
past tense material, so that the research objectives can be achieved and structured properly.
Researchers used several instruments to achieve research objectives, namely:
1. Quiz: The Quizzes are distributed to students after the distribution of past tense material
presented in class. Selection of qualitative methods in research by distributing questionnaires
that utilize technological developments, namely Google Forms. So that respondents could
adjust their time flexibly, and researchers could monitor the movement of data in a clearer
and more structured manner. The questionnaire was divided into 4 section of the part of the
past tense: (1) Simple Past Tense, (2) Past Continuous Tense, (3) Past Perfect Tense, (4) Past
Perfect Continuous Tense, with questions that have different levels from the easiest, slightly
or medium, to the most difficult. (See Appendix : 3)
2. Interview: This session will be conducted when the data collection from the quiz has met the
research data needs. Interviews are conducted by asking 5 participants, whose answers will
be analyzed and adjusted to the data that has been found. The participants' answers about the
difficulties and factors of difficulties in learning past tense are used to strengthen and
complement the results of the data that have been found. (See Appendix : 5)

3.4 Research Procedure

 In accordance with the explanation in the previous sections, this research will collect data
with procedures, so that the data will be more accurate and structured. The following is the
sequence of research procedures:
1. Presentation: The earliest step of this research was to provide the participants with past
tense-related materials by presenting a slide presentation in class. This step aims to introduce
the material so that participants can adjust their understanding ability. (See Apendix : 1)
2. Discussion: After the presentation of the material, the researcher will open a question and
answer session so that participants can dig deeper into their knowledge of past tense and can
measure the level of difficulty they face. (See Apendix : 2)
3. Quiz: Participants will be given 20 questions about past tense that have been explained in
the presentation session as well as a question and answer session. The questions have levels
that adjust the types of past tense, from the easiest, medium, to the most difficult. This is
done so that researchers know the participants' difficulties in learning past tense. (See
Apendix : 3)
4. Analysis Quiz: After getting the answers from the quiz, the researcher will analyze the
results of their answers, for the needs of the research and achieve the objectives of the study
to determine the level of difficulty of the participants in learning past tense. (See Apendix :
4)
5. Interview: This session was conducted by asking 4 participants about their difficulties.
Participants will get some questions that will show where their difficulties are. (See Apendix
: 5)
6. Analysis Interview: This is the last stage of data processing. researchers will process the data
that has been obtained from the answers of 5 participants, and then analyze it so that
researchers will find the factors that are the reasons for the difficulties of the participants.
This aims to complete the research results. (See Apendix : 6)

3.4 Data Analysis

Research analyze data that has been found from answers and interviews to respondents
and the population so that data is obtained to support the results of this study. Interview was used
in getting the secondary data of general information and questionnaire was used in gaining the
primary data from respondents. In collecting the data, there were 4 section of types of past tense.
 In a study, a technique is needed that is arranged systematically and scientifically in
helping researchers answer the formulation of problems in the research being conducted. The
research method is a method used by researchers aimed at describing and explaining in depth the
phenomena and reality that are the subject of research.
According to John W. Creswell in his book titled "Research Design; Qualitative,
Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches" explains that the research approach is a series of
plans and procedures in research consisting of assumptions about a phenomenon to detailed
methods including data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
In this thesis research, the author uses a qualitative research approach qualitative research
approach that is descriptive in nature. The qualitative approach method is defined by Creswell as
an approach taken to explore and understand the form of problems by observing individual
objects or human groups. The data collected will be described in the form of descriptions in
accordance with the research objectives.
Still in Creswell's book, he explains that data analysis in qualitative research will process
data one by one that has been collected and analyzed. Qualitative research will process data one
by one that has been collected and recorded previously. In the process of collecting data,
researchers have conducted analysis so that they can organize the data structure at the end of the
study. Meanwhile, according to Bogdan, data analysis can be interpreted as, “Data analysis is
the process of systematically searching and arranging the interview transcripts, fieldnotes, and
other materials, that you accumulate to increase your own understanding of them and to enable
you to present what you have discovered to others.”
In this research, there are five stages of data analysis that refer to the analysis during the
research model Creswell. The five stages are:
1. Preparing and Organizing data In this stage, researchers will record all data found from the
documents collected, then sort and organize the necessary data into certain sections
according to the required topics.
2. Reading and Viewing All Data
This stage requires the researcher to interpret the previous data that has been found such as;
What main ideas are presented by the article or report? What is the credibility of the topic of
the reading source found? What are the factors of the difficulties found?
3. Coding
 According to (Rossman & Rallis, 2012) in Creswell's book, coding is basically organizing
data by categorizing data both in description and difficulty and factors into the same
category. Coding is done to be able to produce a description of the information and overall
data to be analyzed more systematically and structured.
4. Advance how the description and these will be represented in the qualitative narrative
In this stage, a frequent approach is to use narrative in explaining the findings in the analysis.
This explanation is done by discussing the interrelated discussions that have been categorized
both descriptive data and tabular data, then can be added with interviews as additional data
and clarify the findings.
5. Interpreting the Meaning of the Data
The last stage in analyzing data is to interpret the meaning of each data that has been found to
find answers to the research that has been found to find answers to research. In this section,
the researcher provides his interpretation, such as the factors behind the problems found or
can compare with previous findings in the literature review and theories used.
In accordance with the technique referred to in this study (Cresswell, 2014), the
researcher categorized or coding by selecting the questions with the most wrong answers chosen
by the participants from each type of question. So that the author can find the difficulties that are
the purpose of the research, to then find the factors from the addition of discussion sessions or
the last data collection session. The description of the results is as follows:

1) Simple past tense

Question: Some pens _____ by him last tuesday?

a. Was bought c. Buys

b. Is bought d. Were bought (correct)

Participants who answered incorrectly: 12 participants

In the simple past tense question number 4, it was found that students had difficulty
analyzing the plural form of the sentence listed in the question. From the problems obtained,
students have difficulty putting the right to be between was or were. There are 12 of the
respondents answered incorrectly by choosing the answer "was bought". Whereas the correct
answer is "Some pens were bought by him last night".

2) Past continuous tense

From the sounds it was clear that Mary __ ?

Question:
(practice the piano)

a. was practicing (correct) c. was practiced

b. were practicing d. were practiced

Participants who answered incorrectly: 6 participants

In the question number 9, there were 6 students who answered incorrectly. The
comparison is not too striking compared to those who answered correctly, but in this question it
was found that respondents still had difficulty distinguishing the placement of to be between was
or were. There were a total of 6 people who answered incorrectly in details 4 respondents who
answered the blank above with "were practicing" and 2 others also seemed to have difficulty
distinguishing between ongoing sentences and past sentences by choosing "was practiced" as
an answer. Whereas the correct answer is: "From the sounds it was clear that Mary was
practicing the piano."

3) Past perfect tense : I had never _____ her before (melihat)

Question: I had never ____ her before

a. see c. seen (correct)

b. saw d. seems

Participants who answered incorrectly: 11 participants

 Enter the perfect tense section. At the question number 14, judging from the results of data
analysis that respondents are still not familiar with irregular verbs which are the most important
roots in mastering grammar, especially past tense. This can be seen from 11 respondents who all
answered "saw" to fill in the blanks in the question. And 15 other respondents have answered
correctly by choosing seen. This proves that the mistakes that are often made and the difficulties
experienced are the lack of memorization of irregular verbs. Because the most correct answer is
"I had never seen her before".

4) Past perfect continuous tense : Had you ____ badminton in there? (played)

Question number 18: Had you _____ badminton in there? (play)

a. Are playing c. will play

b. had been played d. been playing

Participants who answered incorrectly: 16 participants

Often fooled by the addition of the word had is a difficulty that is often found. Students
seem to have difficulty understanding the location of had in positive, negative, or interrogative
sentences. 13 respondents chose the answer "had been playing" which clearly repeats the word
had written in the question, and 3 other respondents answered "are playing" which is another
type of past tense. From the data above, it can be analyzed that respondents are still often
mistaken and have difficulty knowing the position of "had" in the form of interrogative
sentences, and still often forget that this type of past tense uses "had" as an addition and an
important keyword.

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
4.1 Students' Difficulties in Learning Past Tense
From the results of the analysis described above, it is clear that the respondents made the
most mistakes in answering questions about the past perfect continuous tense which shows the
word had as an addition and keyword in the sentence. This is also in line with the opinion of Ellis
(1997: 15-19) which explains that there are several mistakes made by students in learning the
past tense, including omission, misuse of form (Misinformatuin) and misordering. This is
evidenced by 13 students who answered the repetition of the word had in the past tense question
type.
And for simple past tense and past continous tense problems are also very often found in
conversation or writing. From the results of data analysis which explains that respondents have
difficulty with the use of was or were. This is in line with the findings conducted by Dede Irawan
(2018) which also explains that respondents or students still have difficulty remembering that in
the past tense, the to be used is/were no longer is, am, are.
And the difficulties or errors found in the data that have been analyzed are about the issue
of irregular verbs which is still the root and most frequently found problem. And the findings
found by researchers which explained that 11 respondents chose the wrong answer by forgetting
irregular verbs. This is in line with the results of research conducted by Mu'thia Mubasyira
(2017) which also found that students still lack mastery of irregular verbs and regular verbs so
that many errors are found in pronunciation or writing past tense.
After analyzing all the errors, the writer can conclude that the most errors occur in the use
of verbs. To reduce errors in the use of verbs can be done in various ways, one of which is using
a learning medote that involves active students in interesting teaching and learning activities so
that students are motivated to understand and memorize irregular verbs and regular verbs. So that
students can reduce errors in the use of simple past tense and can improve students' English
skills. From the results of the analysis above, the author summarizes by sorting the difficulties
based on the data that has been analyzed and found, as follows:
1. Students have difficulty deciding and remembering the use of to be was/were in the past
tense.
2. Students still lack mastery of irregular verbs and regular verbs
3. Students have difficulty distinguishing the use of has, had, be, been, or being which is
an identity in each type of past tense.
 4. Students still have difficulty remembering the structure and formula of each different
type of past tense

4.2 The Factors of Students Difficulties in Learning Past Tense

The interview results obtained are in line with the results of the data that have been
presented. That participants still have difficulty remembering to be which changes when the
sentence form already explains the past tense, also too often the formulas are confused between
one type and another. Therefore, based on the analysis of the data supported by additional
interviews, the author concludes that there are factors that cause students to make mistakes in the
simple past tense, namely:
1. Students rarely memorize and recognize the grammar structure of the past tense, especially
use of to be.
The results of the analysis also found things that are in line with Mubasyira (2017) statement
which states that the factor that causes the omission and incorrect use of to be was and were
is the students' ignorance that before adjectives and adverbs must use to be. In the simple past
tense to be used are was and were. In addition, students also add to be to sentences that
already have verbs. This is caused by students' lack of understanding and knowledge in the
use of to be.
2. Students are not familiar with the use and placement of irregular verbs or regular verbs so
this problem is often found.
This is also in line with the results of Hidayat Polim (2018) research which found that many
students are quite unfamiliar with the use of verbs so they often place them in the wrong
place.
3. Lack of interest in reading and listening to English conversations thoroughly that include
various types of tenses so that with this, students should know the form of past tense and its
use.
Mu'thia's (2017) research is quite descriptive of the factors, and the results of this study are
also in line with his. That the cause of the difficulties that are often found is the students' lack
of interest in reading and listening to English conversations, so the sentence structure is
unfamiliar to them.
4. Student errors in the use of to be are the most common, errors in the use of irregular verbs are
still lower than errors in the use of had in the past perfect continous tense.
This one factor is quite common and even found in Dede Irawan (2018) research, that the use
of to be is still often mistaken, even though to be in the past tense is the key word to
understand the sentence structure.

CONCLUSION
The results of the research that have been carried out related to the analysis of errors in
the use of past tense in 2nd semester students of the English language education program at the
State Islamic University of North Sumatra after data collection, three types of errors were found
including, (1) errors in the use of to be which should be in the past tense to be was/were, but in
two types of past tense, there are respondents who still use to be is, am, are. There is also
difficulty in distinguishing the placement of was/were in singular or plural sentences. (2) Errors
in the use of past regular/irregular verb forms were made by 11 students in the example sentence
"I had never seen her before" but answered with the use of the word saw. And (3) the last error is
the perfect keyword structure, namely had, which is repeated twice, and there are students who
still use to be are in answering questions.
From this conclusion, it can be seen that students still need a lot of remembering the
structure and placement of the correct formula of each type of past tense. Students should also be
familiar with irregular verbs which are an important part of the past tense.

REFERENCE

Ali, A. Faidal Rahman SE. PAR. (2010). English Grammar Complite Edition. Yogyakarta:
Pustaka Widyatama.
Azar, B., S. (1999). Understanding and Using English Grammar. US: Longman.
Azar, Betty Schramfer. (2000). Understanding and Using English Grammer. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall
Brown, Douglas H. (2008). Principles of Language Teaching and Learning. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning conducting and evaluating quantitative
and qualitative research (4th ad). Boston, MA.
Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches
Second Edition. New York: Sage Publication, Inc.
Ellis, R. (1997). Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP Oxford.
Hewings, Ann & Hewings, Martin. (2005). Grammar and Context. UK:Routledge.
Irawan, D. (2018). Analisa Kesalahan Dalam Penggunaan Simple Past Tense Oleh Mahasiswa
Semester I Program Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. Jurnal Ilmiah Kependidikan 5 (2), 91-
96.
Jarvie, Gordon. (2007). Bloomsbury Grammar Guide Second Edition. UK: A & C Black
Publishers Ltd.
Lado, M.J. (2010). Memahami Tenses Bahasa Inggris. Jakarta Penerbit: Titik Terang.
Merriam, S. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mubasyira, M. (2017). Analisa Kesalahan Penggunaan Simple Past Tense Pada English
Narrative Composition Smpn 1 Bojong Gede. Jurnal Dimensi Pendidikan dan
Pembelajaran Vol. 5 No. 2.
Oshima, Alice dan Ann, Hogue. (2007). Introduction to Academic Writing. New York: Pearson
Longman.
Rosani, Ahmad. (2008). Contrastive Linguistics and Error Analysis. Penerbit: Unindra.
Polim, H., Silitonga, F., & Zakriamal, M. (2018). The Simple Past Tense Understanding In SMA
Maitreyawira Batam. Jurnal Basis 5 (1), 21-38.
Sudarwati, Th. M & Eudia Grace. (2007). Look Ahead 2: An English Course. Jakarta: Erlangga.
Tarigan, Henry Guntur. 2008. Menulis Sebagai Suatu Keterampilan Berbahasa. Bandung:
Angkasa.

APPENDIX

Appendix 1. Power Point Presentation (PPT)

Appendix 2. Question and Answer (Discussion after Presentation section)

Appendix 3. Google Forms of Quiz

Appendix 4. Tabel Analysis Quiz

No. Question Type True False Presenter Participants Reason

1. _____ any Simple Past 18 8 Easy Average Presenter: This

interesting Tense is a simple past

people in tense question

that clearly
the
captures the
conferenc
past tense.
e
yesterday
?
Participants:
Multiple The participant
Choice: was not careful
in paying
Do you met attention to the
question.
Did you
meet

Did you met

Was you
meet

2. Ratna _____ Simple Past 22 4 Easy Easy

to my Tense
house last
week, but I
____ at
home

Multiple
choice:
 Comes; isn't

Come; was

Came;
wasn't

Came; isn't

3. The woman Simple Past 20 6 Easy Easy

_____ in Tense
the room
last night

Multiple
choice:

Was

Were

Is

Did

4. Some pens Simple Past 14 12 Easy Difficult Perenter: The

_____ by him Tense form of the

last Tuesday. question is

quite simple
Multiple
with clear
Choice: subject
A. Was information
bought and even time
information.
B. Is bought

C. Buys
 D. We're Participants:
bought Lack of
remembering
the to be form
which is
different and
changes in the
past tense form.

5. My father Simple Past 19 7 Easy Easy

went to Tense
London last
week. He had
something to
do there. He
____ the
night in
Hilton hotel.

Multiple
choice:

A. Spend

B. Spends

C. Spent

D. Has spent

6. We didn’t go Past 24 2 Easy Easy

out because it Continous
_____ Tense

Multiple
choice :
 A. Is raining

B. Rains

C. Was
raining

D. Raining

7. Last night I Past 24 2 Easy Easy

_____ TV Continous
when Tense
suddenly I
heard a
scream.

Multiple
choice :

A. Watch

B. Watching

C. Am
watching

D. Was
watching

8. My sister was Past 24 2 Easy Easy

watering Continous
flower _____ Tense
you came.

Multiple
choice :

A. When

B. While
 C. But

D. And

9. From the Past 20 6 Easy Average Presenter: The

sounds it was Continous choice of tenses

clear that Tense and sentences

in the question
Mary ___
is quite clear
(practice the
and explains
piano)
the past tense.
Multiple
choice :

A. Was Participants:
Did not pay
practicing
attention to the
B. We're detail that the
practicing adverb to be is

C. Was needed in the

practiced past tense

before the
D. We're
verb+ing.
practiced

10. Dicky : I Past perfect 23 3 Easy Easy

called you Tense
last night but
there was no
answer.
Where were
you?

Vira: Sorry. I
_____ when
you called me
 last night.

Multiple
choice :

A. Sleep

B. Slept

C. Am
sleeping

D. Was
sleeping

11. Had we Past perfect 22 4 Easy Easy

_____ the Tense
dinner?

Multiple
choice :

A. Finished

B. Finishing

C. Was finish

D. We're
finish

12. Had they Past perfect 18 8 Easy Average Presenter: The

_____ to her Tense blank in the

before? question only

needs to be
Multiple
filled in with
choice :
the verb 3.
A. Spoke Moreover, in
front of the
B. Spoken
question
C. Spoked
sentence
 D. Speak already
explains the
word had
which is the
key to the past
perfect tense.

Participants:
Did not
remember
irregular verbs
which are key
to
understanding
the past tense.

13. He had _____ Past perfect 21 5 Easy Easy

lunch at that Tense
time.

Multiple
choice :

A. Ate

B. Eaten

C. Eat

D. Was

14. I had never Past perfect 15 11 Easy Difficult The blank in

____ her Tense the question

before. only needs to

be filled in with
Multiple
the verb 3.
choice:
Moreover, in
 A. See front of the
question
B. Saw
sentence
C. Seen already
D. Seems explains the
word had
which is the
key to the past
perfect tense.

Participants:
Did not
remember
irregular verbs
which are key
to
understanding
the past tense.

15. We arrived at Past perfect 23 3 Average Easy Present: The

8.05, but the Tense question

rain ___ sentence is

quite tricky
already left.
with the lack of
Multiple
information
choice: that the
A. Has question is a
form of Past
B. Have
perfect Tense.
C. Had

D. Was
Participants:
Were quite
 detailed and
picked up on
the signal while
remembering
that the key to
the past perfect
tense is the
word had.

16. She ___ her Past Perfect 11 15 Difficult Difficult

house for 5 Continous
hours. Tense
(Clean).

Multiple
choice:

A. Is cleaning

B. Will clean

C. Had been
cleaning

D. Cleaned

17. You ____ his Past Perfect 21 5 Average Easy Presenter: The
chicken last Continous question is

time. Tense quite tricky by

omitting all the
(Shoot) .
structures and
Multiple
mandatory
choice: keywords from
A. Shoots the past perfect
continous tense
B. Are
formula.
shooting

C. Will shoot
 D. Had been Participants:
shooting
Remembered
the formula
well and read
the question in
detail

18. Had you Past Perfect 10 16 Easy Difficult Presenter:

_____ Continous There is

badminton in Tense already an

adverb had as
there? (play).
the obligatory
Multiple
identity of the
choice: past perfect
A. Are continous

playing tense.

B. Had been
playing
participants:
C. Will play Stuck with

D. Been V+ing due to

lack of detail
playing
and good
recall.

19. Anita was Past Perfect 21 5 Easy Easy

tired, because Continous
she _____ Tense
very hard.
(work)

Multiple
choice:

A. Are
 working

B. Had been
working

C. Had
worked

D. Will work

20. The ground Past Perfect 25 1 Difficult Easy The blank in

was wet, Continous parti partici the question is

because it Tense cipa pants quite tricky,

and there is the
_____ all nts
word was
day. (rain)
instead of had.
Multiple
choice:

A. Are Read the

raining question well

and pay close
B. Had rain
attention, also
C. Had been remember the
raining formula of the
form past
D. Will rain
perfect
continous tense
correctly.

Appendix 5. Interview of Google Form

Appendix 6. Table of Interview Analysis

1. Simple Past Tense

No. Question Answer Interpretation

1. What are your difficulties in

 understanding the simple past tense?

2. What are the factors that make it

difficult for you to understand the
simple past tense?

3. What do you think is the most difficult

difficulty in learning simple past tense?

4. In your experience, how can you

effectively improve your understanding of
simple past tense?

2. Past Continous Tense

No. Question Answer Interpretation

1. What are your difficulties in

understanding the past continous tense?

2. What are the factors that make it

difficult for you to understand the past
continous tense?

3. What do you think is the most difficult

difficulty in learning past continous
tense?

4. In your experience, how can you

effectively improve your understanding
of past continous tense?

3. Past Perfect Tense

No. Question Answer Interpretation

 1. What are your difficulties in
understanding the past perfect tense?

2. What are the factors that make it

difficult for you to understand the past
perfect tense?

3. What do you think is the most difficult

difficulty in learning past perfect tense?

4. In your experience, how can you

effectively improve your understanding
of past perfect tense?

4. Past Perfect Continous Tense

No. Question Answer Interpretation

1. What are your difficulties in

understanding the past perfect
continous tense?

2. What are the factors that make it

difficult for you to understand the past
perfect continous tense?

3. What do you think is the most difficult

difficulty in learning past perfect
continous tense?

4. In your experience, how can you

effectively improve your understanding
of past perfect continous tense?