Bahasa Inggeris notes, unit 2

Grammar: present and past tenses

Textbook English Form 1 KSSM (2016, older edition) — skills-based units for the UASA, pages Skills unit (UASA Paper format)

What this chapter covers

I can use the present simple for habits, routines and facts, and add -s or -es after he, she and it (2.1)
I can use the present continuous for actions happening now, and I know which verbs (like know, want, agree) do not take -ing (2.2)
I can write the past simple of regular verbs with the correct -ed spelling, and I know the common irregular past forms (2.3)
I can use the past continuous with when and while to show an action that was in progress (2.4)
I can use the present perfect with ever, never, just, already and yet (2.5)
I can choose the right tense from time expressions like every day, now, yesterday, last week and so far (2.6)
I can find and correct tense errors in a text, as in UASA Paper 1 Part 2 (2.6)

Tenses tell the reader when something happens: every day, right now, yesterday, or at some time up to now. In the UASA, Paper 1 Part 2 gives you a short text with eight underlined errors, and many of them are tense errors ("Nancie love playing games" should be loved; "she now spend more time" should be spends). Tenses also matter in Paper 2: a story about last weekend must stay in the past. This unit covers five tenses and the time words that go with them.

Tense: the form of a verb that shows the time of an action, for example play, is playing, played, was playing, has played.

Tense	Use it for	Example
Present simple	habits, routines, facts	Aiman cycles to school every day.
Present continuous	actions happening now	Aiman is cycling to school now.
Past simple	finished actions at a past time	Aiman cycled to school yesterday.
Past continuous	an action in progress in the past	Aiman was cycling when it started to rain.
Present perfect	past actions linked to now (no exact time)	Aiman has just cycled 10 kilometres.

2.1Present simple: habits, routines and facts

Use the present simple for things that happen again and again (habits and routines), and for things that are always true (facts).

Examples

I wake up at 6 o'clock on school days. (routine)
My father works at a hospital in Ipoh. (fact about him)
The sun rises in the east. (fact)
We go to the pasar malam every Thursday. (habit)

Pattern

Subject	Positive	Negative	Question
I, you, we, they	They play futsal.	They do not (don't) play futsal.	Do they play futsal?
he, she, it (one person or thing)	She plays futsal.	She does not (doesn't) play futsal.	Does she play futsal?

With does and doesn't, the main verb goes back to the base form: "Does she play?", not "Does she plays?". The -s has moved to does.

Spelling: adding -s or -es

Verb ends in	Rule	Examples
most verbs	add -s	read → reads, eat → eats, swim → swims
-s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -o	add -es	miss → misses, wash → washes, watch → watches, fix → fixes, go → goes, do → does
consonant + y	change y to i, add -es	study → studies, carry → carries, fly → flies
vowel + y	add -s	play → plays, pray → prays, enjoy → enjoys
have	irregular	have → has

Adverbs of frequency and time expressions

These words tell you to use the present simple: always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, never, every day, every Sunday, once a week, twice a month, on Mondays, in the morning.

Adverbs of frequency go before the main verb but after am, is, are: "Mei Ling often helps her mother." "Mei Ling is often late." Not "Mei Ling helps often her mother."

Common mistakes
"He go to school by bus." → He goes to school by bus.
"My sister ~~don't~~ like durian." → My sister doesn't like durian.
"Does your brother ~~plays~~ badminton?" → Does your brother play badminton?
"Everybody ~~like~~ Hari Raya." → Everybody likes Hari Raya. (everybody, everyone and nobody take -s)
"My friends ~~plays~~ chess." → My friends play chess. (friends = they, so no -s)

Write the correct form of the verb in brackets.
(a) Puan Rohana ______ (teach) Science at our school.
(b) The twins ______ (not / like) spicy food.
(c) ______ Arif ______ (study) in the library every evening?

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(a) teaches (ends in -ch, so -es)
(b) do not like / don't like (the twins = they)
(c) Does Arif study ...? (does + base form)

2.2Present continuous, and verbs that do not take -ing

Use the present continuous for actions that are happening now, at the moment of speaking, or around now (this week, this term).

Subject	Positive	Negative	Question
I	I am (I'm) reading.	I am not reading.	Am I reading?
he, she, it	He is (he's) reading.	He is not (isn't) reading.	Is he reading?
you, we, they	They are (they're) reading.	They are not (aren't) reading.	Are they reading?

Signal words: now, right now, at the moment, today, this week, Look!, Listen!, Be quiet!

Present simple or present continuous?

Kavitha practises the violin every evening. (habit)
Shh! Kavitha is practising the violin now. (happening now)
My uncle usually drives a lorry, but this week he is working in the office. (habit, then a short, temporary activity)

Spelling: adding -ing

Verb	Rule	Examples
most verbs	add -ing	read → reading, cook → cooking
ends in -e	drop the e	write → writing, make → making, ride → riding
one vowel + one consonant (short, stressed)	double the last letter	run → running, swim → swimming, sit → sitting, stop → stopping
ends in -ie	change ie to y	lie → lying, die → dying, tie → tying
ends in -l (British spelling)	double the l	travel → travelling, cancel → cancelling

State verbs: no -ing

Some verbs describe a state (what you think, feel, have or are), not an action. State verbs are normally not used in the continuous form, even when we mean "now".

Group	State verbs	Correct example
thinking	know, understand, believe, remember, forget, mean, agree	I understand the question now.
feelings	like, love, hate, prefer, want, need	She wants a new bicycle.
having	have (= own), own, belong	This bag belongs to Daniel.
senses and seeming	see, hear, smell, taste, seem	This nasi lemak smells good.

have can be an action: "We are having lunch" (= eating) is correct. But "I have two brothers" (= own) is a state, so never "I am having two brothers".

Common mistakes
"I ~~am agree~~ with you." → I agree with you. (agree is a verb; it needs no am)
"I ~~am knowing~~ the answer." → I know the answer.
"She ~~is wanting~~ to go home." → She wants to go home.
"They ~~watching~~ TV now." → They are watching TV now. (do not forget am / is / are)
"Look! The bus ~~comes~~." → Look! The bus is coming.

Choose the correct form.
(a) Listen! Somebody (knocks / is knocking) on the door.
(b) I (am believing / believe) your story.
(c) My grandmother (is visiting / visits) us every Hari Raya.

Show answerHide answer

(a) is knocking ("Listen!" means now)
(b) believe (state verb)
(c) visits ("every Hari Raya" is a habit)

2.3Past simple: regular and irregular verbs

Use the past simple for actions that started and finished at a time in the past. It is the main tense for stories, diaries, reports and recounts.

Examples

We visited Zoo Negara last Saturday.
Amir bought a new pair of shoes two days ago.
The school held its sports day in 2025.

Pattern

	All subjects (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
Positive	She cooked rendang. / She went home.
Negative	She did not (didn't) cook rendang. / She didn't go home.
Question	Did she cook rendang? / Did she go home?

After did and didn't, use the base form: "Did you see it?" "I didn't see it." The past is already in did.

Regular verbs: spelling of -ed

Verb	Rule	Examples
most verbs	add -ed	walk → walked, clean → cleaned, visit → visited
ends in -e	add -d	dance → danced, live → lived, arrive → arrived
consonant + y	change y to i, add -ed	study → studied, carry → carried, cry → cried
vowel + y	add -ed	play → played, stay → stayed, enjoy → enjoyed
one vowel + one consonant (short, stressed)	double the last letter	stop → stopped, plan → planned, drop → dropped
ends in -l (British spelling)	double the l	travel → travelled, cancel → cancelled

Common irregular verbs

Irregular verbs do not use -ed. Learn them by heart. The third column (past participle) is used in the present perfect (2.5).

Base	Past simple	Past participle	Base	Past simple	Past participle
be	was / were	been	leave	left	left
begin	began	begun	lose	lost	lost
bring	brought	brought	make	made	made
buy	bought	bought	meet	met	met
catch	caught	caught	put	put	put
choose	chose	chosen	read	read (say "red")	read
come	came	come	ride	rode	ridden
do	did	done	run	ran	run
drink	drank	drunk	say	said	said
eat	ate	eaten	see	saw	seen
fall	fell	fallen	sell	sold	sold
feel	felt	felt	send	sent	sent
find	found	found	sing	sang	sung
fly	flew	flown	sleep	slept	slept
forget	forgot	forgotten	swim	swam	swum
get	got	got	take	took	taken
give	gave	given	teach	taught	taught
go	went	gone	tell	told	told
have	had	had	think	thought	thought
hold	held	held	win	won	won
know	knew	known	write	wrote	written

Signal words for the past simple: yesterday, last night, last week, last year, two days ago, a month ago, in 2024, on Monday (a past Monday), when I was young, just now.

Common mistakes
"We ~~goed~~ to Langkawi." → We went to Langkawi.
"I ~~buyed~~ a book." / "I ~~brang~~ my lunch." → I bought a book. I brought my lunch.
"He ~~did not went~~ to school." → He did not go to school.
"Yesterday I ~~eat~~ roti canai." → Yesterday I ate roti canai. (yesterday needs the past)
"She ~~studyed~~ hard." → She studied hard.
"I ~~was went~~ to the shop." → I went to the shop. (do not put was before a past verb)

Change the verbs in brackets to the past simple.
"Last Sunday, my family (1) ______ (drive) to Port Dickson. We (2) ______ (stay) at a chalet near the beach. My brother (3) ______ (catch) a small crab, and I (4) ______ (not / swim) because the water was too rough."

Show answerHide answer

(1) drove (2) stayed (vowel + y, just add -ed) (3) caught (4) did not swim / didn't swim

2.4Past continuous: was / were + -ing

A family at the dinner table when the lights go out; the mother lights a candle — We were having dinner when the lights went out.

Use the past continuous for an action that was in progress (still going on) at a time in the past.

Subject	Positive	Negative	Question
I, he, she, it	She was sleeping.	She was not (wasn't) sleeping.	Was she sleeping?
you, we, they	They were sleeping.	They were not (weren't) sleeping.	Were they sleeping?

At a time in the past

At 9 o'clock last night, I was doing my homework.
What were you doing at 4 p.m. yesterday? I was playing sepak takraw.

When and while

We often use the past continuous with the past simple. The long action (in progress) is in the past continuous. The short action that interrupts it is in the past simple.

Pattern	Example
long action (past continuous) + when + short action (past simple)	We were having dinner when the lights went out.
While + long action (past continuous), short action (past simple)	While Hana was crossing the road, she dropped her phone.
two long actions at the same time, joined by while	Ayah was cooking while Ibu was washing the car.

while is usually followed by the past continuous; when is usually followed by the past simple. A comma is needed when the sentence begins with While or When.

Common mistakes
"They ~~was~~ playing football." → They were playing football. (they, we, you take were)
"While I ~~walked~~ home, it started to rain." → While I was walking home, it started to rain.
"I was ~~read~~ a book when you called." → I was reading a book when you called.
"I was watching TV when my mother ~~was calling~~ me." → I was watching TV when my mother called me. (the short action is past simple)

Join the ideas with the word in brackets.
(a) Lim / walk / to the canteen. He / see / a snake. (when)
(b) The teacher / explain / the lesson. Two boys / talk. (while)

Show answerHide answer

(a) Lim was walking to the canteen when he saw a snake.
(b) The teacher was explaining the lesson while two boys were talking. / While the teacher was explaining the lesson, two boys were talking.

2.5Present perfect with ever, never, just, already and yet

Use the present perfect for past actions or experiences when the exact time is not important, or when the result matters now.

Subject	Positive	Negative	Question
I, you, we, they	We have ('ve) finished.	We have not (haven't) finished.	Have we finished?
he, she, it	He has ('s) finished.	He has not (hasn't) finished.	Has he finished?

The verb after have / has is the past participle: regular verbs end in -ed (finished, visited); irregular verbs use the third column of the table in 2.3 (eaten, gone, seen, written).

The five time words

Word	Meaning	Where it goes	Example
ever	at any time in your life	questions, before the participle	Have you ever eaten durian?
never	not at any time	before the participle (no "not")	I have never been to Sabah.
just	a very short time ago	between have/has and the participle	The bus has just left.
already	sooner than expected	between have/has and the participle	Siti has already done her homework.
yet	up to now (in negatives and questions)	at the end of the sentence	Has the parcel arrived yet? It hasn't arrived yet.

Present perfect or past simple?

If the sentence has a finished past time (yesterday, last week, in 2023, two days ago), use the past simple. If there is no exact time, or the time words are ever, never, just, already, yet, so far, use the present perfect.

Compare

I have visited Melaka three times. (experience; no time given)
I visited Melaka last December. (finished time)
"Have you ever tried laksa Sarawak?" "Yes, I tried it when I was in Kuching."

been or gone? "Ali has been to Japan" = he went and came back. "Ali has gone to Japan" = he is there now.

Common mistakes
"He ~~has went~~ to Penang." → He has gone to Penang. (use the past participle, not the past simple)
"She ~~has finished~~ it yesterday." → She finished it yesterday. (yesterday = past simple)
"I ~~have not never~~ seen snow." → I have never seen snow. (never already means not)
"He ~~have~~ already eaten." → He has already eaten.
"I ~~haven't finished already~~." → I haven't finished yet. (in negatives, use yet)

Choose the correct word.
(a) "Is Faiz here?" "No, he has (just / yet) left. You missed him by one minute."
(b) Have you (ever / yet) climbed Gunung Kinabalu?
(c) We haven't received our report cards (already / yet).

Show answerHide answer

(a) just (b) ever (c) yet

2.6Time expressions and correcting tense errors (UASA Paper 1 Part 2)

The time words in a sentence are your best clue for the tense. Look for them first.

Time expressions	Tense
always, usually, often, sometimes, never, every day, once a week, on Fridays	present simple
now, right now, at the moment, today, this week, Look!, Listen!	present continuous
yesterday, last night / week / month, ... ago, in 2024, when I was seven	past simple
at 8 p.m. yesterday, while, when (+ short action), all morning yesterday	past continuous
ever, never, just, already, yet, so far, before (= in my life)	present perfect

In a long text, check the main tense first. A diary or a story about last week is in the past, so a present verb in the middle ("We go to the beach") is often the error. A text about facts or habits is in the present.

Method: correcting an underlined error

In Part 2 you read a text with eight underlined words. Each underlined word is wrong. You write one correct word for each. The errors can be tenses, subject-verb agreement, pronouns, articles, prepositions or conjunctions (Units 3 to 6). For tense errors, follow these steps.

Read the whole text once and decide its main time: past, present or general.
Find the subject of the underlined verb. Is it one person or thing (he, she, it, my brother) or more than one (they, my friends)?
Look for time words in the same sentence (yesterday, every day, now, already).
Choose the tense and form. Check -s, -ed, irregular past, was/were, have/has and the participle.
Write only one word and spell it carefully. Then read the sentence again with your word in it.

Worked example: "A rainy Saturday"

Last Saturday, my cousins (0) come to my house in Seremban. In the morning, we (1) plan to cycle to the lake. But while we (2) was pumping the tyres, it started to rain heavily. My aunt said, "You can play indoors. Everyone (3) love board games!" We played Scrabble all afternoon. In the evening, we (4) eat my aunt's famous chicken curry. It was a fun day after all!
0 came (example)

No.	Thinking	Answer
(1)	The text is about last Saturday, so past simple. plan = one vowel + one consonant, so double the n.	planned
(2)	The subject is we, so the past continuous uses were.	were
(3)	My aunt is speaking about a general fact, so present simple. Everyone takes -s.	loves
(4)	"In the evening" here means the evening of last Saturday, so past simple. eat is irregular.	ate

Write the corrected word only, not the whole sentence, and do not copy the wrong word. "were" earns the mark; "we were pumping" or "was → were" may not.

Correct the underlined word.
"My school canteen (a) sell delicious mee goreng. Yesterday, I (b) buyed a plate for RM3. Now my friends (c) is queuing for it too."

Show answerHide answer

(a) sells (canteen = it; a fact) (b) bought (irregular past) (c) are (friends = they)

Summary

Tense	Form	Signal words	Example
Present simple	base / base + s (he, she, it); do / does + base	always, usually, every day	She walks to school.
Present continuous	am / is / are + -ing	now, at the moment, Look!	She is walking now.
Past simple	-ed or irregular; did + base	yesterday, last week, ago	She walked yesterday.
Past continuous	was / were + -ing	while, when, at 8 p.m. yesterday	She was walking when it rained.
Present perfect	have / has + past participle	ever, never, just, already, yet	She has just walked in.

He, she, it (and everyone, nobody) take -s in the present simple: he goes, she studies.
After do, does, did, use the base form: Did you go? He doesn't know.
State verbs (know, like, want, agree, belong, need) do not take -ing. Say "I agree", never "I am agree".
Learn the irregular past forms: went, bought, brought, caught, taught, thought, ate, saw, took.
British spelling doubles the l: travelled, travelling, cancelled.
A finished past time (yesterday, in 2024) needs the past simple, not the present perfect.
In Part 2, decide the text's main time, find the subject, look for time words, then write one correct word.