Dr. H.

Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book

CHAPTER 4
THE CONTINUOUS AND THE PERFECT TENSES

Specific instructional aims

Students are able to construct and describe the sentences that are using
continuous and perfect tenses.

Sub topics

Present and past continuous tenses

Present and past perfect tenses

The present continuous tense

The present continuous tense is used to describe actions or conditions
that are taking place at the present time, and for a period of time which includes
the present time. Time markers generally used for present time are: now, this
moment, these days, nowadays, or simply use the continuous tense in a
sentence.
The formula of present continuous tense: Subject + verb to be (is, am,
are) + verb (type I) + ing.
Examples:
1. The virus diseases are attacking citrus farm in Kumpeh Ulu, Jambi.
2. Farmers in Kayu Aro are growing potatoes, carrots and other vegetables.
3. The extension officer is presenting the methods of making compost.
4. Budi is doing intercropping between lettuce and baby corn.
5. I am cultivating my land by using hand-tractor.

The past continuous tense

The past continuous tense is seldom used alone in a sentence. This type
of tense is usually used in combination with an event in the past, which is stated
or simply implied.

15

Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book

The formula of past continuous tense: Subject + verb to be (was, were)

+ verb (type I) + ing.
Examples:
1. For an action happening in the past:
- Tono was spraying the rice field with insecticides.
2. For two actions happening at the same time in the past:
- Tono was spraying the rice field while his wife was clearing the weeds.
3. For two actions happening in the past, one was continuing while the other
interrupted:
- Tono and his wife were working the rice field when the flood suddenly
came yesterday.

The present perfect tense

The present perfect tense is normally used in two situations as the
following:
1. For a completed action or state at an indefinite time in the past. The time
markers usually used are: just, already, yet, not yet, etc.
2. For an action or state that has continued for a period of time, from the point
in the past until the present time (past-to-present). The time markers used
are: since, for, so far, up to now, in all (time), until now, etc.
The formula of present perfect tense: Subject + have/has + verb (type
III).
Examples:
1. Ani has taken the Agricultural Extension course for nearly one semester.
2. Mr. Madjid has already sold his farm products in the local market with a good
price.
3. I have learned the breeding of tropical vegetables through genetic
engineering since many years.
4. Anton and Susan have demonstrated the techniques of plant propagation
by vegetative methods.
5. Some horticultural products have been rotten during transportation from field
to market due to high temperature.

16

Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book

The past perfect tense

The past perfect tense is used to show an action that was completed
before a particular event that also took place in the past. In a sentence, the
past perfect tense is generally combined with a past tense, since both refer to
events in the past. The time markers usually used in this combination are:
before, after or when.
The formula of past perfect tense: Subject + had + verb (type III).
Examples:
1. Jono had sold his buffaloes before he bought a hand-tractor for cultivating
the rice field.
2. Farmers in our village had cleared the weeds, bush and other materials
before they cultivated the land using a hand-tractor.
3. They sprayed the pesticide after the aphids had attacked their tomato
crops.
4. My uncle grew soybean after he had harvested the cabbages.
5. The birds had left when the farmer put up the scarecrow.

Sentence transformation for present and past continuous tenses

To transform sentences in the form of present and past continuous tenses
into a negative, simply put the word not after the verb to be; and to transform
the sentences into an interrogative, you should place the verb to be in the front
of the statement (at the beginning of the sentence before the subject) or use the
question words.
Examples:
1. The virus diseases are attacking citrus farm in Kumpeh Ulu, Jambi.
- The virus diseases are not attacking citrus farm in Kumpeh Ulu, Jambi.
- Are the virus attacking citrus farm in Kumpeh Ulu, Jambi?
- What are attacking citrus farm in Kumpeh Ulu, Jambi?
2. Farmers in Kayu Aro are growing potatoes and carrots.
- Farmers in Kayu Aro are not growing potatoes and carrots.
- Are farmers in Kayu Aro growing potatoes and carrots?
- Who are growing potatoes and carrots?

17

Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book

3. The extension officer is presenting the methods of making compost.

- The extension officer is not presenting the methods of making compost.
- Is the extension officer presenting the methods of making compost?
- What is the extension officer presenting?
4. Tono was spraying the rice field with insecticides
- Tono was not spraying the rice field with insecticides.
- Was Tono spraying the rice field with insecticides?
- What was Tono spraying the rice field?
5. Tono was spraying the rice field while his wife was clearing the weeds.
- Tono was not spraying the rice field while his wife was clearing the
weeds.
- Was Tono spraying the rice field while his wife was clearing the weeds?
- Who was spraying the rice field while his wife was clearing the weeds?
6. Tono and his wife were working the rice field when the flood suddenly came
yesterday.
-

Tono and his wife were not working the rice field when the flood
suddenly came yesterday.

Where Tono and his wife were working when the flood suddenly came
yesterday?

Sentence transformation for present and past perfect tenses

To transform sentences in the form of present and past perfect tenses into
a negative, simply put the word not after the helping verbs (have, has, had) +
verb (type III) or use the words did not + verb (type I); and to transform the
sentences into an interrogative, you should place the helping verbs before the
subject (and use the verb type III) or use the word did before the subject (and
use the verb type I) at the beginning of the sentence; or use the question words.
Examples:
1. Mr. Madjid has already sold his farm products in the local market.
- Mr. Madjid has not already sold his farm products in the local market.
- Has Mr. Madjid already sold his farm products in the local market?
- Where has Mr. Madjid already sold his farm products?

18

Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book

2. I have learned the breeding of tropical vegetables through genetic

engineering since many years.
- I have not learned the breeding of tropical vegetables through genetic
engineering.
- Have I learned the breeding of tropical vegetables through genetic
engineering since many years?
- What have I learned since many years?
3. Some horticultural products have been rotten during transportation from field
to market due to high temperature.
- Some horticultural products have not been rotten during transportation
from field to market due to high temperature.
- Have some horticultural products been rotten during transportation from
field to market due to high temperature?
- What have been rotten during transportation from field to market due to
high temperature?
4. Jono had sold his buffaloes before he bought a hand-tractor for cultivating
the rice field.
- Jono had not sold his buffaloes before he bought a hand-tractor for
cultivating the rice field.
- Had Jono sold his buffaloes before he bought a hand-tractor for
cultivating the rice field?
- What had Jono sold before he bought a hand-tractor for cultivating the
rice field?
5. They sprayed the pesticide after the aphids had attacked their tomato
crops.
- They did not spray the pesticide after the aphids had attacked their
tomato crops.
- Did they spray the pesticide after the aphids had attacked their tomato
crops?
- What did they spray after the aphids had attacked their tomato crops?
6. The birds had left when the farmer put up the scarecrow.
- The birds had not left when the farmer put up the scarecrow.
- Had the birds left when the farmer put up the scarecrow?
- What had left when the farmer put up the scarecrow?
19

Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book

Students activity
Assignment 1
Please have a look at the following passage, then fill in the blanks with
appropriate words (based on the word in the bracket).

Modern Australian Farmers

My family and I .. (fly) from Jakarta to Sidney on Qantas Airlines last
year, and we .. (watch) a movie on the aircraft during the travel. This
movie shows us the lives of farmers in a small town in Western Australia. There
.. (to be) a man .. (stand) on nearby a shade. He .. (wear)
a blue shirt and a striping jumper. The man .. (watch) his workers work in
his farm by using modern equipments, such as tractors, drying machine, silos.
Some people .. (harvest) wheat crops using harvesting tractors, while
some others .. (unload) the harvested wheat from tractors and ..
(take) them to the silos for storage. While their parents .. (work) on the
field, the children .. (play) hide-and-seek in the hay. They .. (run)
here and there happily. I think they .. (to be) really .. (enjoy) their
lives as farmers.

A Buffalo Attack
I .. (watch) a TV program when I .. (hear) someone .. (call)
my name. It .. (to be) my friend, Jono. He .. (wear) a red shirt
with black trousers, and a cap .. (put) on his head. I .. (think) he
.. (to be) about to go to his farm and asked me to accompany him. But
suddenly, when he .. (walk) toward my house, a big black buffalo ..
(run) after him. Jono .. (to be) very upset and he .. (shout) for help
while .. (keep) on running for his life. Fortunately, the buffalo ..
(stop) chasing him and run away. Jono .. (to be) not hurt but he ..
(to be) very shocked. My mother .. (give) him a glass of plain water.
Then Jono and I .. (spend) the whole day by watching TV while my
mother .. (preparing) meals.

20

Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book

Assignment 2
Try to construct 5 (five) sentences of each present continuous, past
continuous, present perfect and past perfect tenses, then transform the
sentences into negative and interrogative forms.

Vocabulary list
Aphids

= sejenis serangga kutu

Baby corn

= jagung semi (jagung sayur)

Bush

= semak belukar

Cabbage

= kubis

Carrots

= wortel

Citrus

= jeruk

Clearing

= membersihkan (rumput, belukar)

Compost

= pupuk kompos

Cultivating

= membudidayakan

Genetic engineering

= rekayasa genetika

Hand-tractor

= traktor tangan

Hay

= jerami

Intercropping

= tumpang sari

Plant propagation

= perbanyakan tanaman

Potatos

= kentang

Scarecrow

= orang-orangan di sawah untuk mengusir burung

Silos

= silo (tempat menyimpan hasil panen biji-bijian)

Vegetables

= sayuran

Virus

= virus

Weeds

= gulma (tumbuhan pengganggu)

Wheat

= gandum

21