“Tense yang paling sulit ya…eh…perfect? Dari dalam, semuane. Semua perfect. Mungkin karena time signalnya terus kapan penggunaannya, ya kayak gitu lah… Klunya pertama time signal, terus liat depan-depannya pake ppast, present atau future. Terus seumpama ada dua kejadian ya biasae ya salah satune present continous disini present. Terus atau disini past continous ya disini past simple. Kalau dalam satu kalimat ada present campur past, ya nggak tahu.kadang bener kadanag enggak. Biasae ya diterjemahin dulu jadi tahu urutane gimana.”
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
PART I
23. hadn't sold instead of haven't sold
“…..dia kan pake past tapi kalo ada yet nya bukan’e perfect ya? Jadi past perfect. Ehm..bukan present perfect atau present perfect continuous soalnya ada last year.”
Translation: The student thinks that past perfect is suitable because she gets the clue from ‘last year’ and ‘yet’.
Analysis: the student thinks that ‘yet’ signals perfect and ‘last year’ signals past time frame. The student is distracted because of her misinterpretation of the context. It shows that she has problem related to the context of the sentence. (7)
27. will buy instead of have bought
“….nah ini, bonda bandi masalah’e. aku pertama njawab buy, terus ganti will buy, bingung masalahnya. Buy….ya dia kan masih sedang merencanakan, jadi belum fix, jadi nggak buy, dan itu kan masih akan. Jadi aku buy atau will buy, tapi kalau buy kan mereka belum fix. Terus ya wis tak kasih will, jadi aku akan membeli gitu.”
Translation: The student is confused but she finally chooses ‘will buy’ instead of ‘buy’ because she thinks that the action is an unfixed plan.
Analysis: The student thinks that the context is still in the future. It is highly probable that she is distracted by ‘I am planning as she thinks that the action is an unfixed plan.. Therefore she has problem related to the context of the sentence. (7)
PART II
44. have instead of have had
“Ehm…dia pake…………dia pake er…perfect continuous. Present perfect continuous. Ya udah aku langsung pake present ae. I have enough. Nah..ini to waktu nomor ini, bingung juga. Kan I have been working, dia kan telah bekerja di bisnis ini selama sepuluh tahun. Aku bingungnya ini kalo…. ya udah pada saat ini dia mempunyai cukup pengalaman. Tapi aku liatnya juga kayak gini: alternatif kedua itu kalo dia telah mempunyai, berarti kan present perfect. Tapi opo’o aku pake I have soalnya aku kira orangnya ngomong sekarang gitu.”
Translation: The student is confused to use present simple or present perfect tense. She thinks that at this moment, the doer has enough or has had enough experience. She finally decides to use present simple because she thinks that the sentence is in the form of conversation.
Analysis: The student admits that she has two choices, Present Perfect Tense and Simple Present Tense. She finally uses present simple because she thinks that the moment of focus is now. It signals that she has problem because she is unaware that the action is a new development or a new state that began at some indefinite time in the past. It indicates that she has problem related to the concept or use of present perfect tense. (6)
49. had changed instead of has changed
“….pake ..pake past karena arrived. Perfect karena udah terjadi changednya. My understanding of this country, telah berubah banyak sejak aku tiba. Jadi proses perubahannya udah terjadi , pake past perfect. Kalo continuous kan…apa ini namae, wah aku nggak mikir itu. Terjadi ya udah terjadi gitu.”
Translation: The student thinks that she should use past time frame because of the word ‘arrived’. As the action of changing has finished, she uses past perfect. Analysis: The student is distracted because of the word ‘arrived’. She thinks that the action of changing happened before the action of arriving. Therefore, instead of using present time frame, she uses past time frame. She has problem related to the sentence context. (7)
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
PART I
19. have sit instead of have been sitting
“…ehm..dia ini past to? Kenapa aku pake present????? Dia kan past, tapi right now. Oh, dia pada pagi itu datang jam 9,nah nyeritain kejadian tadi pagi, jadi pake past. Nah, sekarang ini, dia itu masih duduk di kelas, nah…pake present. Habis itu dia itu bilang kalo dia itu telah duduk di bangku itu selama 1 jam dan………disini aku kalau have nya kan dari tenses right now. Jadi I have. Aku yakin ini perfect soalnya telah, telah duduk for an hour. Iya, ya pake continuous ya? Kan masih sekarang belum selesai. Iya, perfect continuous. I have been sitting.”
Translation: The student thinks that the sentence tells about something which began in the past up to now, so she uses present perfect. Then, she realizes that she should use Present Perfect Continuous instead of Present Perfect Tense because she thinks that the process is still on-going.
Analysis: The student thinks that present perfect fits perfectly at first. Then she changes it because she thinks that the action has not finished yet. She has problem related to carelessness. (8)
22. studied instead of has been studying
“Rong…Rongrong aduh cek angel’e, Rongrong ini kan belajar di London 3 bulan yang lalu. Ya udah..aku langsung pake studied ae, pake past, solanya three
months ago kan? Jadi pake past. Dia telah menyelesaikan waduh apa ini? Has finally started. Waduh, nggak tak liat, langsung ini apa bla bla bla gitu.”
Translation: The student thinks that Rongrong studied in London three months ago. She gets the clue from 'three months ago' and does not pay attention to other sentences.
Analysis: The student thinks that three months ago signals simple past action. She is distracted because of her exclusive belief of time signal. (1)
PART II
36. have studied instead of have been studying
“ehm…ehm…..er…ini kan dia pake present masalahnya it is midnight, kan udah tengah malam kan, disini kan past to de’e? ya jadi nggak cocok aja. Terus kenapa aku pake present perfect soalnya dia kan udah belajar selama, ada for five straight hours.”
Translation: The student thinks that it is a perfect action. She gets the clues from 'it is midnight' which indicates past time frame and 'for five straight hours' indicates present perfect.
Analysis: According to the student, ‘it is midnight’ signals past time frame and ‘for five straight hours’ signals perfect, so she should use Present perfect tense. She has problem related to time signal because of her belief that it exclusively belongs to other certain tense. (1)
50. has waited instead of has been waiting for
“emmm… pake present. You have been sleeping terus your friend has been here. Perfect, sebenere bingung aku, ini present perfect continuous atau present perfect tok. Akhir’e milih perfect tok soal’e dia telah menunggu. Kalo continuos kan sebenarnya, harus’e sebenarnya kan ada for fifteen minutes. Kalo for ya harus continuous, tapi nggak ngerti kok tiba-tiba present perfect…. Ehm.. you have been sleeping, kan sedang telah menunggu. Kan sapa ini you-nya masih tidur dan friend nya ini telah menunggu, jadi kejadiannya sudah selesai.”
she is confused what perfect that she should use. Then, she decides simple present perfect is more suitable than present perfect continuous because the action of waiting is completed.
Analysis: From the student’s analysis, it can be seen that she actually also wants to answer it by using present perfect continuous because of the time signal ‘for’. However, she, then, decides that present perfect fits well because she thinks that the action of waiting has finished. It indicates that she is unaware that at the moment of focus (someone wakes up the ‘you’), the ‘friend’ is still waiting. She has problem related to the use or concept of Present Perfect Continuous Tense. (6)