Quiz Simple Past Tense

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APA ITU TEKS NARATIF?

Teks naratif merupakan salah satu jenis teks yang secara sederhana diartikan sebagai cerita. Seseorang bercerita umumnya agar orang lain merasa terhibur dan dapat membayangkan hal-hal yang diceritakan. Dalam sebuah teks naratif terdapat 3 unsur utama yang dapat digambarkan sebagai berikut.

• Tujuan (purpose) merupakan unsur utama pertama yang digunakan untuk menceritakan kepada pembaca tentang mengapa kita bercerita. Tujuan utama dari bercerita adalah untuk menghibur, mendapatkan dan mempertahankan perhatian pembaca. Dengan membaca cerita yang menarik, seseorang dapat menikmati bahkan mengambil hikmah dari cerita yang dibacanya.
• Unsur kedua adalah struktur generic atau disebut juga organizational structure. Unsur ini berisi tentang bagaimana cerita disusun. Teks naratif biasanya diawali dengan orientation atau seting. Dilanjutkan dengan konflik/masalah/komplikasi. Bagian akhir dari teks naratif adalah resolusi. Tabel berikut ini adalah penjelasan tentang struktur generic naratif teks.

Unsur teks naratif	Isi
Orientasi/setting	-          Penggambaran dunia cerita -          Pengenalan tokoh dan perwatakan -          Kapan cerita terjadi -          Membangun suasana cerita
Konflik/masalah	-          Munculnya beragam komplikasi/konflik yang membuat cerita semakin menarik -          Tokoh utama mengalami masalah dalam mencapai tujuannya -          Munculnya masalah masalah lain karena adanya masalah utama
Resolusi	-          Tokoh utama mendapatkan pemecahan masalah -          Konflik terselesaikan sehingga pembaca puas -          Terkadang resolusi sengaja dibuat mengambang agar pembaca bertanya tanya sampai akhir cerita

• Fitur kebahasaan dalam teks naratif mencakup hal-hal berikut ini.

          - Specific participants dan sering individual
          - Menggunakan bentuk past tense karena peristiwa cerita terjadi di waktu lampau
          - Menggunakan verb (material process), verbal dan mental process
          - Menggunakan kata sifat untuk merinci orang, binatang, tempat atau tindakan
          - Menggunakan linking words yang berkenaan dengan waktu
          - Seringkali ada dialog, dan tense mungkin berubah
          - Menggunakan ungkapan langsung dan tidak langsung

Berikut adalah contoh sebuah teks naratif dengan pembagian teks organisasinya.

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Learning Past Simple from a Story

In the previous post we learned about local wisdom which is uttered in English. This time, we are going to learn the language feature found in the story. A legend belongs to a narrative, and narrative uses past tense in conveying its story. Well, now let’s start learning about past tense.

Past tense / past simple is a grammatical structure that is used to describe actions which have finished now. The actions started and finished in the past. Past tense is indicated by some adverb of time, like yesterday, this morning, last week, two days ago, long time ago, etc.

To get better understanding the use of past simple we will divide the sentence into two kinds. They are nominal sentence and verbal sentence.

A.   Nominal sentence

Nominal sentence is a sentence which does not have verb. The sentence uses ‘be’ instead of a verb.

The ‘be’ in past simple is was and were

Was is used for single subject, such as: I, he, she, it, John, cat, etc.

Were is used for plural subject, such as: you, we, they, John and Betsy, cats, etc.

Example of nominal sentence:

I was happy yesterday.

John was in Surabaya last Monday.

Some students were sick at school this morning.

My cats were not in their room last night.

Was he your teacher in elementary school?

We can see that after subject there is no verb used. The adjective, noun or adverb comes after ‘be’. In negative sentence, we add ‘not’ right after the ‘be’, and in interrogative sentence the ‘be’ is put in the beginning of a sentence before the subject.

B.   Verbal sentence

Like its name, verbal sentence has a verb as the predicate of the sentence. Since the action happens in the past, we use the past form of verb in positive sentence. Meanwhile, auxiliary ‘did’ is used in negative and interrogative sentence. In negative and interrogative sentence the base verb is used instead of the past form. Look at the example below.

My mother made soup this morning.

Farida and Moya went to the zoo yesterday.

I did not meet you last night.

We did not sleep well last night.

Did Dian call you two days ago?

Here are some past simple sentences found in the legend of Ngerit cave:

• She was a daughter of a king from Kediri.
• This princess was the youngest among three brothers.
• She meditated in the jungle of Trenggalek to gain the power and wisdom.
• He wanted to build a mosque.
• He did not believe what he heard.

This video may help you in understanding about simple past tense.

 video's source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQO1UcvZraM

Form of verb

Some of verbs are regular and the others are irregular. The past form of regular verb is almost the same as its infinitive. We only need to put ed/d in the end of the word. For example: want+ed=study; play+ed=played; study+ed=studied; kick+ed=kicked

The past form of irregular verbs changes into a new word. Here are some exammples:

Infinitive	Past form
be begin break bring buy build choose come cost cut do draw drive eat feel find get give go have hear hold keep know	was/were began broke brought bought built chose came cost cut did drew drove ate felt found got gave went had heard held kept knew

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Learning From A Legend: The Legend of Ngerit Cave

Sometimes we do not realize that our district or village has an amazing story. If we want to explore more from our local community, we may be surprised to know something we never know before. The beauty of a place in our village hides unspoken or even forgotten tale. 

This time, as the opening of my fun English educational blog, I want to share a legend of a cave that is located in the border of Senden village-Kampak subdistrict and Pakel village of Watulimo subdistrict. This cave is called Ngerit.

The beauty of Ngerit can be felt as we step our feet to the surrounding of this place. The majestic stone garden and stone cliff dominate the view. The stream and scattered rocks add the magic of this place. Well, as we all know, almost everything in our area has story, now please enjoy the legend of Ngerit cave.

The Legend of Ngerit Cave

Long time ago, in the deep forest of Trenggalek, in the southern part of East Java, did live a very beautiful woman. Reputedly, she was a daughter of a king from Kediri. This beautiful young lady was known as Putri Ngerit.

This princess was the youngest among three brothers. Each brother got a different place as a king in Java Island, while she was commanded to lead the south sea of Java. She had to rule all the creatures resided in the south sea. Therefore, she meditated in the jungle of Trenggalek to gain the power and wisdom.

Meanwhile, in Pakel village of Watulimo lived a village headman. His name was Demang Tangar. He was a nobleman and the offspring of a noble from Banten, West Java. As a religious man, he wanted to build a mosque in his territory. So, he went to the jungle to find the best wood for his mosque. Unlike other people did, Ki Demang Tangar looked for the wood at night. He thought that the silence of the night was the best time to find the best wood. It was because the nature was calmer and more peaceful at night.

In the middle of his search, Ki Demang Tangar heard a faint sound of a melodious song sung by a woman. He did not believe what he heard, so he tried to find who was singing. After a while, the beautiful song he heard was disturbed by the random sound of women pounding rice. He was so angry because it was not at the right time. He shouted and cursed, “Hey uncivilized women! It is not the time to play mortar at night. Listen… YOU WILL BE OLD MAIDEN AND YOU CAN’T FIND YOUR SOULMATE.” Because of his curse, many women in this place become spinsters. Later the village was called Mbawuk which means very old and virgin.

Ki Demang Tangar continued his search until dawn broke. Finally, he met the one who sang that heartbreaking song. He was amazed by her beauty and fell in love at once. To this beautiful princess, Ki Demang Tangar asked, “Oh young lady, who are you? And what are you doing here?”

The princess answered, “I am a wanderer, and here I am meditating to forge my body and soul so I can rule the south sea.”

Ki Demang said, “Why would you be a ruler of all kinds of genies, ghosts, and horrible things? You can live in prosperity if you become my wife.”

“No thank you, stranger. It is the command of my father to be the ruler of the south sea. I can’t be your wife. It is my way of life,” said Putri Ngerit.

Being rejected did not make Ki Demang Tangar gave up. He kept on persuading the princess. At last, to stop the effort of this man, Putri Ngerit mentioned a requirement. She would be his wife if Ki Demang could make her a majestic hermitage that was fragrant and full of flower.

Ki Demang Tangar then prayed to God. He begged to God to give what putri Ngerit wanted. Surprisingly, God granted Ki Demang’s prayer. Magically, there stood a huge stone garden that was beautiful and full of flower above a river. And this place later was known as Princess Ngerit Cave or goa Ngerit. After having what she asked, Putri Ngerit went into the cave and continued her meditation. She asked Ki Demang Tangar to wait for 40 days. Being overwhelmed by joy, Ki Demang Tangar did not realize that it was only Putri Ngerit’s trick to avoid him. And this expectation continued forever until no one knows.

If you are interested in exploring more you can directly go to this place. Witness the beauty of pure nature which is rich in history. Here, I post a video in Bahasa in order that you can feel the gorgeous panorama of Ngerit.

source: www.bioz.tv (youtube: https://youtu.be/2GdIoHQXO7Q)

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