Superman

When 'become' is not becoming

Full-day school becomes an important issue because it concerns a wide range of people, especially parents.

This is the influence of Bahasa Indonesia. In English 'become' is always used to describe a change, rather than a constant:

  • People become sleepy when they drink a lot of beer.
  • Most knives become dull after a while and need to be sharpened.
  • When there's a problem, Clark Kent becomes Superman.

In each of these three cases, a change is implied:

  • ..from alert to sleepy
  • ..from sharp to dull
  • ..from newspaper journalist to superhero

These are all familiar, recurring situations, and so we use present simple tense to describe them.

If we say "Full-day school becomes an important issue," a change is indeed implied (from non full-day school to full-day school), but since this is a unique, rather than a recurring situation, then we need a time frame.

If the change happened in the past, but we're not sure exactly when, then we use present perfect tense:

Full-day school has become an important issue.

If the change is happening right now - continuously - then we can use present continuous tense:

Full-day school is becoming an important issue.

However, if we are analysing a situation that is true now, constant and without change, as though we are looking at it under a microscope, then we use present simple tense:

Full-day school is an important issue.