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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
English as a foreign language in Indonesia has influenced many
aspects of life to the people. They try to know and learn the language. So,
in order to improve peoples ability in English, the government has
encouraged teaching the English from beginning. English has been tought
from elementary to university (Herlina, 2011).
English language teaching includes four language skills such as
listening, speaking, reading and writing. One of the language skills which
is difficult to study is writing. English writing is a subject that learns about
how to express our idea in written form. In writing, students of
Elementary School, Junior High School and Senior High School learn how
to write words, phrases, clauses and sentences. When the students make a
sentence they should concern with subjet, verb and tense (Barnet and
Stubbs, 1983).
For some Indonesian students, learning tenses in English is difficult
because there is no tense in Indonesia. For example, in English, to make a
sentence with simple present tense, the students have to put s or es in
verb for the third person singular, while in Indonesian there is no rule for
verb if a subject is third person singular or others and to make a sentence
with present continuous tense, the students have to put ing in end of the
verb (Herlina, 2011).

Based on the background of the study above, the writer interested in

knowing the ability of using present tense and present continuous tense by
the first year students of SMA Al-Manar Medan at academic year 20152016.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Based on the background of the study above, the writer would like to
formulate the problem as follow how is the students ability of using
present tense and present continuous tense by the first year students of
SMA Al-Manar Medan at academic year 2015-2016.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The objective of the study is ro reveal the students ability of using
present tense and present continuous tense by the first year students of
SMA Al-Manar Medan at academic year 2015-2016.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significance on this research is giving the information about the
students ability of using present tense and present continuous tense by the
first year students of SMA Al-Manar Medan at academic year 2015-2016.
1.5 Scope of the Study
Scope of this research is to analyzing about the students ability of
using present tense and present continuous tense by the first year students
of SMA Al-Manar Medan. The instrument that is used in this research is
the test in form of questionnaire that contained 30 questions. It consists of
15 questions for present tense and 15 questions for present continuous
tense in positive, negative and interrogative statement.

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Ability
Ability is the capacity or power to do something. Ability seemed as
skill because the skill is ability to found through education and
experiences. In this case the students can not be said able if they are not
able to finish assignment that given by teacher. Abillity is power that must
every one should have for doing something (Hornby, 1995).
Ability is a conseptually broad term referring to possession of the
talents and skills necessary to perform a current task. Ability decribes
what person can do. The students ability or disability is certainly caused
by some factor or difficulties (Collin, 2008), such as :
1. Psychological condition such as intelligence or perception.

2. Psychological temporary condition such as food and health

problem.
3. Influence of social environment such as parent and family
problem.
4. Influence of temporary environment.

2.2 Tenses
Basically tenses in English can be devided into two groups, Present
Tense and Past Tense which can further be divided into sixteen tenses.
This classification is based on the fact that a discourse, generally speaking,
falls under either of the two tenses. When a discourse happens at the time
of speaking, all the sentences will be in the present, on the other hand,
when it happens in the past time, they will be in the past, except in special
cases, for instance when it expresses a general truth, which is in the simple
present tense, or when at the time of the speaking the speaker tells about
past events, which are expressed in the past tense (Wren & Martin, 1990).
2.2.1 Present Tense
The simple present expresses daily habits or usual activities and
general statements of fact (Azar, 2003). The time signals commonly used
in the simple present tense are always, often, usually, sometimes, seldom ,
rarely, every day, every time,every week, etc (Wren and Martin, 1990).
Table 2.1 Positive Statement of Simple Present Tense in Form of Verb

st

1 Person
2nd Person
3rd Person

Singular
I talk
You talk
He talks
She talks
It rains

Plural
We talk
You talk
They talk

Notice : The verb after she, he, it (3rd person singular) has a final s or es.

Table 2.2 Negative Statement of Simple Present Tense in Form of Verb

(a) I
do not
drink coffee. Negative :
We do not
drink coffee.
You do not drink coffee.
I
They do not drink coffee.
We
+ do not + main verb
(b) He does not drink coffee.
She does not drink coffee. You
It
does not
rain every They
day.

(c) I dont drink tea.

They dont have a car.
(d) He doesnt drink tea.
Mary doesnt have a car.

He
She
It

+ does not + main verb

Do and does are called helping

verbs.
Notice : In the 3rd person singular,
there is no s or es on the main
verb. The final s is part of does.
Constraction : do not = dont
does not = doesnt
People usually are constractions
when they speak. People oftem use
constractions when they write.

Table 2.3 Interrogative Statement of Simple Present Tense in Form of

Verb
Do I
Question
Do you
+ main verb

Do we
Do they
Do/Does + Subject + Main Verb

(a) Do you like coffee ?

(b) Does Bob like tea ?

Does he
Does she
Does it

+ main verb

Notice in (b) : The main verb in the

question (like) does not a final s.
The final s is part of does.

(Azar, 1984)

We use the simple present tense (Alter, 1991) :

a. To show habitual action
Here, it is often used with adverbs like often, usually, every day,
etc.
Usage pratice :
1) He often comes late to school.
2) They usually walk up this way.
3) I drink a glass of milk every day.
4) My father always smokes a pipe after dinner.
b. To state a general truth
Usage practice :
1) It often rains at this time of the year.
2) The earth travels round the sun.
c. To show future action
Usage practice :
1) The train leaves the station at a quarter to one.
2) The plane arrives at Haneda Airport at ten a.m.
3) He departs for London on Thursday morning.
d. To show historonic present
Usage practice :
This occurs in commentaries on games or plays. The commentators use
the simple present tense in an effort to show the action as though it
were taking place at the moment of speaking.
Usage practice :

1) Tony dashes out with the ball. It is snatched away by Pepe.

Pepe runs all the way down the field. He passes the ball to
Max.......
2.2.1 Present Continuous Tense
Present Continuous Tense is used when a process is going on at the
very moment of speaking or in the near future. The time signals
commonly used in this tenses are now, at the moment, at present, at this
very moment, etc (Wren and Martin, 1990).
Table 2.4 Formulas of Present Continuous Tense
Possitive
Subject + To be 1 + (Verb + ing) + Object
Negative
Subject + To be 1 + NOT + (Verb + ing) + Object
Interrogativ
To be 1 + Subject + (Verb + ing) + Object ?
e
(Andriyanti, 2014)
Example:
1. -

Possitive : We are studying English now

Negative : We arent studying English now
Interrogative : Are We studying English now ?

2. -

Possitive : They are going to Bandung two weeks again

Negative : They are not going to Bandung two weeks again
Interrogative: Are they going to Bandung two weeks again ?

3. -

Possitive : She is cooking in the kitchen

Negative : She is not cooking in the kitchen
Interrogative : Is She cooking in the kitchen ?

CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
The design of this research is descriptive analysis in form of
qualitative research about the ability of using present tense and present
continuous tense by the first year students of SMA Al-Manar, Medan.
3.2 Population and Sample
3.1.1 Population
This research was conducted at the first year students of SMA AlManar Medan at academic year 2015-2016. This school is located in Jalan
Karya Bhakti No. 34, Medan. The population is the student at hte first
year. It is 40 students in one class.
3.1.2 Sample

Sample is a smaller number of observations taken from the total

number of the

population. Sampling is the technique of taking a

representative sample from the population (Arikunto, 2003). The subject

of this research is the first year students of SMA Al-Manar, Medan. In this
case, all the population are taken as the sample, because the population is
less than 100 persons which the total population in this research is 40
students in one class.
3.2 Data Collection
Data collection in this research is by giving the test to the
respondents. The test is used to find out the ability of using present tense
and present continuous tense. It consist of 15 questions for present tense
and 15 questions for present continuous tense in positive, negative and
interrogative statement. Time allocation for the test is 60 minutes. The
questions are taken from High School English Grammar and
Composition a book by Wren and Martin.
Table 3.1 Number of Questions
Tenses
Positive
Negative
Present Tense
5 items
5 items
Peresent Continuous Tense
5 items
5 items

Interrogative
5 items
5 items

In this research, the data are all information that was gathered from
the subject. The data are the items that obtained from the respondents after
doing the test given to them. In process of collecting data there are some
steps which are :
1. Collecting the data by the test that given to the respondents.
2. Analyzing the data by using statistical percentage analysis.

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3. Tabulating the result data.

3.3 Data Analysis
This research used the descriptive method and basic statistical
percentage analysis to analyze the data, which is collected through the test
in questionnaire to complete the data. The data is analyzed descriptively in
percentage and then analyzed by using ability classification to find out the
students ability (Arikunto, 2003) :
n

X x 100%
N

Whereas :
n

score of students in percentage

the number of correct answer

the number of questions

Classifying the students score based on the following ability

classification. The students can be said able when they are classified in
excellence, good and fairly good and it is unable for fairly and poor
classification (Arikunto, 2003) :
Table 3.2 The classification of ability
Score (%)
Classification
81-100
61-80
41-60
21-40

excellence
good
fairly good
fairly

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0-20

poor