ABSTRACT
The title of this writing is A DESCRIPTION OF TENSES USE BY THE 2016/2017 STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 2 MEDAN. The method applied to this writing is field research. The problem of this writing whether the students of SMP Negeri 2 Medan are able to use the English tenses (simple present tense, simple paast tense, and future tense). The sample used as the representative is thirty nine students who are sitting in the class VIII-1. These students are used as the resources of the data required for further analysis. In collecting the data to these students given a set of question which is consists of sixty items. The model of the tes is multiple choice with four possible choices (a, b, c, and d). Every student who is able to answer one item will be given score 1,7. The answers of the students were the data to be analysed to find the result of the test. The interpretation of the data analysed showed that the students of SMP Negeri 2 Medan in the academic year of 2016/2017 are able to use the English tenses. There are thirty seven students out of thirty nine students are able to use the English tenses and there are only two students who are not able to answer the question well.
