Careless Mistakes with the VERB TO BE

I figure out that most Malaysian students (primary or secondary) usually have problems determining the choices of the verb to be. Note that the use of verb to be is predetermined by the type of tenses used in the sentence or the text itself.

Below are some notes regarding the VERB TO BE or the BE verbs.

Present Tense Singular = is
E.g: She is cooking in the kitchen.

Present Tense Plural = are
E.g: They are cooking in the kitchen

Past tense Singular = was
E.g: She was cooking in the kitchen yesterday.

Past Tense Plural = were
E.g: They were cooking in the kitchen yesterday.

Based on my experience as a teacher for Standard 5 and 6 students, most of them make mistakes when they failed to determine whether the sentences are in present tense or past tense. Example:

They were cooking in the kitchen.
instead of
They are cooking in the kitchen.
(students need to use present tense when there is no time indicator/no time frame mentioned in the sentence.)

Some of them also make mistakes when they fail to recognize the subject (whether it is singular or plural) Example:

They is cooking in the kitchen.
instead of
They are cooking in the kitchen.

In the next post I will discuss on what are the steps that I take in order to solve the problems.Stay tune!