CHAPTER II

THEORY REVIEW

2.1 Concept of Simple Present Tense

Among English tenses, the simple present tense is a tense that is frequently

used. According to Pramono (2006, P. 50), simple present expresses daily habit or

usual activities, and expresses general statement of fact, use the simple present

tense for a present state, Example: a feeling, an opinion, or the fact that something

belongs to someone. There are many experts who define and talk about simple

present tense in terms of usage and form of simple present tense itself. Simple

present tense or present simple (present simple is a term taken).

According to Murphy (as cited in Siswoyo, 2016, p. 4), grammar is an

English form used to talk about things in general. He adds that the use of the

present simple is to talk about things in general, not just about the present, but

also using it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly, or

something is generally true. It does not matter whether the action occurred while

talking. Another opinion is given by Murthy (2003, p. 76) who said that when the

verb is used to indicate that an action is happening now.

Another statement was also added by Swan (2000, p. 145) who said that

when talking about permanent situations, or about things that happen regularly or

all the time (not there now), and usually use simple gifts. Example: I go to

London about three times a week. From this grammatical definition, it is clear that

the present tense is an activity or action carried out by the subject all the time.

That does not mean in a while but anytime and anywhere. According to Azar

(2006, p. 34), simple prizes reveal events or situations that are always there, and

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commonly use the Simple Present Tense for repetitive actions such as routines,

habits, jobs, hobbies, and things that always happen.

In English, simple present tense verbs after of third personal pronoun subject

will have an addition of s/es. Typical time expressions with the simple present are

always, often, usually, sometimes, ever/never, every day, every week, once, twice,

on Friday, in the morning, at ten o’clock, etc. Based on the explanation about

Simple present tense is tense that are used when an event is happening right now

or an event that happens repeatedly (habit) is done every day.

2.2 Function and Uses of Simple Present Tense

Simple present tense is one several tense which has a function to tell a fact

or habitual activity. According to Azzar (as cited in Listi, 2016, p. 22) the simple

present to express general statements of fact and timeless truths and can be use to

express habitual or everyday activity.

TABLE 1
EXAMPLES OF FUNCTION OF SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

Examples Functions
a. Water consists of hydrogen and To Express General Statements of Fact
oxygen. and Timeless Truths
b. The average person breathes
21.600 times a day.
c. The world is round.
d. I study for two hours every To Express Habitual or Everyday
night. Activity.
e. I get up at seven every moring.
f. He always eats a sandwish for
lunch.
Table:1, Source : Listi (2016:22)

The use of simple present to express general statements of fact or timeless

truths can be seen in the example a,b,c. The fact that water consists of hydrogen

and oxygen is timeless truth. In the past,present, or even in the future, watel will
 9

always consist of hydrogen and oxygen. It just the same with the example (b) and

also (c). It tells about a fact or can be defined as a timeless truth. Besides, the use

simple present to express habitual or everyday activities can be seen in the

example (d), (e) and (f). Those example show that someone usually studies for

two hours, gets up at seven, and eats lunch with a sandwich. The subject does the

activities every day as a habit. According to O’Dawyer (as cited in Listi, 2016, p.

22) state that the function of simple present is to express action or event which

occurs now or shows habitual or timeless.

The simple present is often used to describe something that was true in the

past, is the true in the present, and will be true in the future. The simple present

tense is used to describe habitual actions, e.g. Dodi reads hie e-mail first thing in

the morning. According to Hornby (as cited in Dewi, 2011, p. 29), the usage of

simple present tense devided into five kinds:

1. To describes an activity that is actually in progress at the moment of

speaking e.g. in demostration, explanation, step by step the way to cook

something.

Example: I sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. I mix them.

2. To used in commentaries, e.g. as broadcast during a sporting event such

as a football match.

3. To used in exclamatory sentense begining with here and there.

4. In the general statement of what was true in past time, is true now is likely

to be true in future time.

5. To used for references to what was comunicated in the past.

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Nesfied (as cited in Amrina, 2016, p. 28) adds the simple present tense is used

with adverbial of time, adverbial of place, adverbial of frequently and etc., as like

always, usually, often at night, on Sunday, everyday, twice a week, sometimes,

seldom, never, every week, here and there. According to Frank (as cited in Natria,

2007, p. 30) states that the simple present tense is also used to express non-action

states or condition. It may indicate an action that exists right now or at the

moment of speaking.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that simple present tense

is a kind of tense that is used to state general truth, habitual actions, and other

universal statement.

2.3 The Pattern of Simple Present Tense

One of the ease of learning the simple present tense by using a simple and

understandable formula. According to Lester (as cited in Dewi, 2011, p. 8) simple

present tense uses the simple verb and is added by -s or –es if the subject is the

third singular person. Simple present tense has diference verb form between verbs

used in the thrid singular verb form between verbs used in the thrid singular

subject (e.g. he, she, it, jean, your friend, etc), and verb with other subject (e.g. I,

you, we, they, Jean and John, cows and etc).

Present tense has its own formula with its verbs. Simply, the formula starts

with the subject and followed by infinitive verb or verb by adding es/s based on

who is the doer in the sentence. It means, simple present tense uses verb 1 to show

the action in a verbal sentence and use to be (am, is, are) in a nominal sentence.

Time signal which is often used in the simple present like always, usually, often,
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sometimes, rarely, seldom, never, and so on. According to Azar (as cited in

Martina, 2019, p. 24) the forms of simple present sentences are:

2.3.1. Verbal Statement

The Verbal sentence means that the sentence predicate is a verb. In other

words, the subjects do an activity in the sentence. The important thing that should

be known by the user is who is the doer in the sentence because the subject will

influence verb form in simple present especially if the subject is third person

singular (she, he, it) the verb is ending by s, ss, ch, o, and x the verb should get

suffix es but if the verb is not ending by s, ss, ch ,x, and o the verb have to get

suffix s example he goes to school, she teaches me English, he works at office.

a. The Pattern of positif statement

S (He/She/It) +V –s or –es +....

And

S (I, You, We, They) +V +....

From the example and the pattern above, it can be summarized that in a

third singular subject, it can make an affirmative statement by using verb other

than be, add –s or –es to the verb and for the other subject just put the main verb.

For example:

➢ He/she/ Jean plays badminton every morning

➢ I/You/ We/ They/Jean and Jeni play badminton every morning.

b. The Pattern of negative statement

S (He, She,It) + does not + V (simple form of verb) +...

And

S (I, You, We,They) + do not + V (simple form of verb)

+...
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From pattern above, for the thrid singular subject to make negative

statement add does not or doesn’t after the subject and for the other subject add do

not or don’t after the subjects.

For example:

➢ He doesn’t teach math very well

➢ They don’t know about you

c. The Pattern of introgative statement

Do + S (I,You, We, They) + V(Simple form of verb )

+ ...?
And

Does + S (He, She, It) + V(Simple form of verb ) + ...?

The formula of negative question is :

Do + S (I,You, We, They) + Not + V(Simple form of verb ) +

...?
Do + S (I,You, We, They) + Not+ V(Simple form of verb ) +
...?
The pattern of introgative sentence with be put in the beginning of the

sentences or before the subject then following by subject and then

adjective/adverb of place/noun.

2.3.2. Nominal Sentences

The nominal sentence means the sentence predicate is not a verb. It claims that

the doer does not do an activity in the sentence.

a. The pattern of positif statement with be, use this formula:

S+ Be (Am, Is,Are) + Adjective/ Adverb Of Place/ Noun

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Based on the pattern above to make an affirmative statement with be, after

subject put the appopriate be ( am, is, are) to the subject the followed by

adjective/adverb of place/noun phrase. E.g. she is a teacher (She’s a teacher).

b. The pattern negative statement with be, add not after subject and be, after

that followed by adjective/adverb of place/noun, the formula is:

S+ Be (Am, Is,Are) +not+ Adjective/ Adverb Of Place/

Noun to Krohn (as cited in Ridhatul, 2012, p. 14) in simple present
According

tense, introgative sentences, a form of the verb “do” comes before the subject then

following by subject and simple form of verb. Use “does” if the subject are:

he/she/it and use ”do” if the subject is thrid singular subject ( I, You, We, They)

for example: “Does Charles like milk?” “ yes, he does.” On that short answer,

“yes”, he does means yes, charles likes milk. Notice that does is substitutes for the

verb phrase. In the example, does replace likes milk.

c. The formula of introgative sentence with be is:

Be (Am, Is,Are) + S + Adjective/ Adverb Of Place/ Noun

TABLE 2
VERB OF BE IN INTROGATIVE SENTENCE

Introgative sentence Short answer

Am I Late ? I am I’m not
A police?
Right?
Is He Handsome? He Hen
She Beautiful” She is Shen
It A book? Yes It No It

Are We Wrong? We We
You Filson? You are You
They Indonesian? They They
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There are some spelling rules for –s endings, the rules are as follow:
1. In all other cases, add –s to the simple form.

Example: wear wears

I wear a hat.

He wears a hat.

2. If the simple form of a verb ends in –y after consonant, change the y to i and

add –es.

Example: Study studies

We Study in the classroom.

He studies in the classroom.

But verbs that have a vowel before the –y do not change from y to i and not

add-es.

Example: Buy buys

We buy a car.

My Father buys a car.

If the simple form of a verb ends in –s, -z, -sh, -ch, -x, or –o (after

consonant), add –es

Example: Teach teaches

I teach English in school.

Mr. David teaches English in school.

Based on the explanation above, there are some ways to uses English clearly

and correctly. They are:

a. Knowing who the subject in the sentence is.

Knowing the subject will help us to use and choose the correct verb or to be

because the subject will influence the form of a verb and to be. Introduce the third
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person singular (she, he, it) which prove the most difficult for students. When the

student is familiar with a third-person singular, they will be comfortable in

speaking (spoken communication).

b. Knowing the kinds of sentence

Kind of sentences here means verbal or nominal sentence. By knowing these

things, we will be easy to decide in applying the verb or to be in the sentence. The

nominal sentence is describing or telling about daily activity and general truth

which does not use a verb in the sentence. Verbal sentence explains about habit

activity and general fact which uses the verb in the sentence.

c. Knowing the form of sentence

The form of the sentence here means statement/positive, negative, and

interrogative sentence. The language users have to pay attention to this because

different sentence form will have a different pattern. To be good language user

have to use sentence form correctly.

From the explanation, some ways to use English correctly are by knowing

these things. First, knowing the subject: I, we, they or she, he it. Second, knowing

the kinds of sentence: verbal or nominal. The last, knowing the form of the

sentence: positive, negative, or interrogative.

2.4 Adverbs of Frequency and Time Signal

In simple present tense there is an adverb of time that is often used in a

sentence. According to Akhmad (as cited in Suci, 2010, p. 9) the adverb that states

the number or how many a job, action or event was carried out. Many time

adverbs are put or used at the beginning or end of a sentence, and also repetitive
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adverbs are often placed before the verb or after to be. There are several adverbs

and times used to denote the simple present tense:

TABLE 3
ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY AND TIME SIGNAL

Adverbs of frequency Time Signal

Always At five o’clock

Usually Every day
Often Every hour
Frequently Every minute
Generally Every week
Continually Every year
Occasionally In the afternoon
Seldom In the evening
Rarely In the morning
Ever On Sunday
Hardly ever Once a week
Never Twice a day
Once
Twice
Regulary
Periodically
Repeatedly

From the table above it can be concluded that there are many kinds of

adverbs of frequency and time signals. Adverb of frequency can be used to add

meaning in the sentence. While time signal must be used in simple present tense

sentences.

2.5 Learning Difficulties

Learning difficulties is a problem that is often experienced by every student in

the learning process which will have the impact of hindering the achievement of

the learning objectives themselves. According to the United States Office of

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Education (USOE) (as cited in Abdurrahman, 2009, p. 6), learning disabilities

(Learning Disability) is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological

processes that include understanding and use of language or writing, and the

disorder manifests itself in forms of difficulty listening, thinking, speaking,

reading, writing, spelling, or counting. According to Hakim (2011, p. 22), learning

difficulties is a condition that can cause obstacles in one's learning process. It is

also added by Dalyono (2006, p. 229) that learning difficulties is a condition of

students who cannot learn as children should in general.

However, a student can be suspected of having learning difficulties if the

student is not successful in achieving certain qualifications of learning outcomes

based on the criteria for success. As stated in ICT a measure of the level of

capacity, ability in the program of learning, and or at the level of its development.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that learning

difficulties is a condition in which there are obstacles that interfere person in the

learning process, which is accompanied by a failure. These obstacles are

influenced by several things such as impaired intelligence that develops less than

perfect, lack of ability to learn, and psychological disorders that exist in a person.

2.5.1. Types of Learning Difficulties

Learning difficulties are a problem that is almost experienced by all

students. Learning difficulties can be interpreted as a condition in a learning

process that is marked by the presence of certain obstacles to achieve learning

outcomes. According to Nurjan (2016, p. 181-185) there are some types of

learning difficulties that students experience in learning.

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1. Learning Disabilities

Learning Disabilities (LD) is the inability of a person to refer to a child who is

unable to learn or avoid learning, so the learning outcomes are below his

intellectual potential. Failures that are often experienced by children with

learning disabilities are in terms of understanding, use of hearing, speaking,

reading, spelling, thinking, writing, arithmetic, and social skills. Learning

disabilities are disturbances of motor activity, perception, attention,

emotionality, symbolization, and memory. While in terms of academic aspects,

most learning disabilities children also experience real failures in mastering

basic learning skills, such as in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

2. Underachiever

Underachiever is much more complex compared to underachievement. The

concept of an underachiever has more to do with one's abilities. A person in

carrying out many activities related to the ability he has. High ability, then the

tendency of one's achievement will be high as well. Underachiever is an

achievement under ability is a condition of the imbalance between one's

academic achievement and intellectual abilities they have underachiever is far

more complex than underachievement. The concept of underachievers is more

related to one's abilities. Someone in carrying out many activities related to

their abilities.

According to Hurlock (as cited in Sulistiana, 2009) the high ability of a child

then the tendency of one's achievement will be high too, underachiever is the

achievement under ability is a condition of imbalance between one's academic

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achievement and intellectual abilities possessed. According to Surya (as cited in

Sulistiana, 2009, p. 26), identifying the term underachiever with the term

underperforming students, namely students who have high potential. So his

achievement is still less than expected to be completed in accordance with

potential.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that underachiever

students are students who have a high level of intelligence, but the level of

academic achievement is not in accordance with the capacity of their abilities.

Underachiever students have a gap between intelligence test scores and student

learning outcomes in school as measured by grade levels and the results of

evaluations conducted by teachers. For example students who have an IQ level of

120, it turns out that the value obtained is only 6. The student is categorized as an

underachiever because his learning achievement is below the standard value.

3. Slow Learner

Slow Learner is a student who is slow in the learning process so he needs more

time than a group of other students who have the same level of intellectual

potential. If observed, then there are a number of students who have difficulty in

achieving learning outcomes completely.

Meanwhile, according to Abdurrahman (2003, p. 11) the types of learning

difficulties can be divided into two parts; there are developmental learning

disabilities and academic learning disabilities.

1. Learning difficulties related to development namely learning difficulties

related to development, including motor and perception disorders,

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language learning and communication difficulties, and learning difficulties

in adjusting social behavior.

2. Academic learning namely learning difficulties that include the failure of

achieving academic achievement in accordance with the expected

capacity. These failures include mastering skills in reading, writing, or

mathematics.

2.6 Difficulties in Learning English

Difficulty in learning English is no longer a new problem, even many

people, especially students; complain about the difficulty of understanding

English as an international language. According to Blassic & Joes (as cited in

Sugihartono, 2009, p. 204), the difficulty of learning English experienced by

students shows the gap between expected academic achievement and academic

achievement achieved by students in its reality. In improving the quality of

learning English can be achieved if known background learning difficulties.

According to Hasan (as cited in Rahmat, 2000) states that learning difficulties

faced by students in learning English are seen from the four basic potentials in

English namely reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Hasan (as cited in Megawati, 2016, p. 148), states that the difficulty faced

by many learners of English as a foreign language is the lack of understanding of

English pronunciation expressed at normal speed through listening material. On

reading skills, Rahmawati (2011, p. 76), believes that the problem faced for

understanding reading texts lies the lack of knowledge about reading material and

ignorance of how to connect ideas between sentences. Writing skill is difficult

because the activity requires a complex and systematic thought process, but
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nevertheless it needs to be mastered by English learners. According to Rukmini

(2011, p. 89), in communication writing skills are also important to master. The

benefits will be felt when the writing is published and read by many people. So

the quality of writing must always be improved. For speaking skills, Megawati &

Mandarani (2016) in his research found that the difficulty students often face

when speaking English lies in the lack of English vocabulary.

Thus, from the explanation above, the conclusion learning difficulties are

essentially problems that cause a student to not be able to follow the learning

process like other students in general are caused by certain factors so that

students are inhibited and unable to achieve the expected learning goals.

2.7 Students’ Difficulties in Learning Simple Present Tense

Students have difficulty in understanding simple present tense as a part of

grammar due to various things. One of them is because of the influence of the

students’ first language. Akir (as cited in Wahyuningtyas & Bram, 2018, p. 148)

states that the students might face difficulties in learning and understanding

English grammar because the students cannot keep away from their first language.

The first language becomes a reference for students in understanding English

sentences so that they find it difficult to find different sentence patterns. Inayati &

Damayanti (as cited in Wahyuningtyas & Bram, 2018, p. 148) state that the

patterns in English sentences are definitely different from sentences in Indonesian.

This is even more difficult with Indonesian which is a simple language,

because it does not have tenses. Jufrizal (as cited in Listia & Febriyanti, 2020, p.

87) states, English and Indonesian language have different typologies on

grammatical features and constructions, typologically, English belongs to

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tenseness languages; henceforth, the Indonesian language is tenseless. They have

to understand tenses from scratch. In conclusion, referring to the theories above, is

know that the students’ difficulties in learning simple present tense cover some

areas relating to the differences of their first and English language which is

pattern or structure it related grammar function.

With their mother tongue without tenses, they have no initial concept of

what tenses are. They find it difficult to understand what English tenses they

should use. According to Parrot (as cited in Listia & Febriyanti, 2020, p. 87),

some learners find choosing between the tenses difficult because their language

does not make this kind of distinction. Students also do not understand why there

are different types of verbs when in Indonesian they only use one type of verb.

Cowan (as cited in Listia & Febriyanti, 2020, p. 87) states that the use of verb

forms is one of the two or three most difficult areas for English language learners

to master.

Another problem is that students feel that studying grammar in general is

not interesting. Vannestal & Linquist (as cited in Wahyuningtyas & Bram, 2018,

p. 148) state that many students assumed that English grammar is an uninteresting

course to learn by a using handbook. It exacerbated their ignorance of grammar in

English. Accroding to Elturki (as cited in Listia & Febriyanti, 2020, p. 87-88),

employing the correct grammar helps the learners to create clear, well-structured,

unambiguous sentences.

The next problem is in terms of understanding tenses and their aspects as a

whole. Bardovi-Harlig (as cited in Rahman & Ali, 2015, p. 131), tense and aspect

are apparently two major issues in language teaching. Cowan (as cited in Rahman
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& Ali, 2015, p. 131), tense has three dimensions: present, past, and future. While

aspects, according to Cowan (as cited in Rahman & Ali, 2015, p. 132) expresses

how the speaker views the action of the verb. For example, an action that is seen

as complete is perfect in aspect; if the action is seen as incomplete, it is imperfect

in aspect; if seen as repeated, it is iterative; if seen as occurring regularly, it is

habitual. From the expert opinion above, tenses are dimensions, namely present,

past, and future, while aspects are perfect, imperfect, iterative, and habitual

actions. The combination of the dimensions of tenses and their aspects forms 12

types of tenses that are known. Understanding the differences between each will

help students understand tenses, especially the simple present tense.

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that students have

problems in understanding grammar and tenses in general, including the simple

present tense. Students are still influenced by their mother tongue so they have

difficulty distinguishing sentence patterns from English. Students do not

understand the concept of tenses because in their mother tongue there are no

tenses. Students have difficulty distinguishing what verbs should be used in

sentences. Students still do not understand the tenses they use to make a sentence

so that errors occur. Students do not understand tenses and its aspects. A thorough

understanding of tenses and their differences with the mother tongue is one way to

reduce the difficulties experienced by students.

2.8 Factors of Learning Difficulties

Some students have difficulties in their learning. It can be shown by their

low/bad score or achievement in several subject matters. Almadi (2012, p. 74)

state that the condition where the students cannot learn normally is called learning
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difficulty. And there are some factors which causes learning difficulties.

According to Supriyono (2010, p. 75-79) there are two factor there is Internal and

External Factors, as follows:

2.8.1. Students Internal Factors

The students’ internal factors are divided into two aspects as follow:

1. Physiological aspect, this aspect is about condition of students’ body from

every part of the body.

2. Psychological aspect, this aspect emphasizes on the inside conditions of

the students. It consists of student intelligence, talent, interest,

motivation, mental health and special type of learner.

2.8.2. Students External Factors

Student extern factors cover all conditions and condition around environment

that do not support student learning activity. Environment factor cover as follow:

1. Social Environment, the social environment here is the human environment

outside students who have contact directly with them such as family, in their

school and mass media.

2. Nonsocial Environment, the factors which include the nonsocial environment

are the location of student house, the school building, learning instruments,

curriculum, and school timing. All the factors are through can be the influence

for student achievement.

From the ideas above, the conclusion the difficulty in learning is a condition

that makes students cannot get the output learning target because there are barriers

or threats that come from inside or outside of students.

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2.9. Related Research Review

First research conducted by Suwardi (2010) in their study Student

Difficulties of Learning Simple Present Tense in first grade students at mts

Ciputat, it can be concluded that the results of the research found that students

were confused in sentence patterns and their use in the simple present. Tense,

from the results of his research, it was found that 49% of students made mistakes

in the simple present tense sentence pattern, and as many as 60% of students made

mistakes in the use of simple present tense.

The second study from Isabela Faradila Yanti (2019) in their study analysis

of student errors in the use of the simple present tense at SMPN 5 Manado

From the results of the student worksheet research, it was found that 149 sentence

variations made student errors of 1,231 errors, and the most frequent errors made

do the students on the use of the form (misinformation) with a total of 98

sentences that were done as many as 683 times the error of using the simple

present tense of the verb form, the error of the use of the subject, the error of

using the object, the use of the form to be, the error of the form to do.