NARRATIVE TENSES

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NARRATIVE TENSES

• How do they work?
• English Department III Unit Level10th
• C. Roessler

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Narrative Tenses

• Present Perfect
• We use the Present Perfect to say that an action
  happened at an unspecified time before now. The
  exact time is not important.
• We CAN use the Present Perfect with unspecific
  expressions such as ever, never, once, many
  times, several times, before, so far, already,
  yet, etc.
• e.g. I have been to Europe a couple of times.
• (This means that I would go again, or maybe I
  would never been there again.)

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Narrative Tenses

• Present Perfect
• Can you say how this is formed?
• Aff. S have/has V past part. C
• Neg. S have/has not V past part. C
• Int. (Wh-) have/has S V past part. C ?

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Simple
• We use Past Simple to talk about a specific
  moment or event in the past.
• e.g. I studied for the test the whole weekend.
• (This means that I was doing that activity during
  a specific moment in the past, and it is already
  finished. It does not continue today.)

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Simple
• We can also use it to refer to a series of
  situations that happened in the past.
• e.g. Last night I cooked some dinner, then I
  watched a film, and after that I went to bed.
• (There are three different actions, that are over
  now, that happened as a series of events)

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Simple
• Can you say how this is formed?
• Aff. S V past simple C
• Neg. S did not V inf C
• Int. (Wh-) Did S V inf C ?

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Continuous
• We use the Past Continuous to indicate that a
  longer action in the past was interrupted.
• The interruption is usually a shorter action in
  the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real
  interruption or just an interruption in time.
• e.g. I was watching TV when she called.

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Continuous
• We also use the Past Continuous to refer to an
  event that was taking place at a specific moment
  in the past. This action was in progress in that
  moment.
• e.g. Last night at 10PM I was watching House MD.
  

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Continuous
• Can you say how this is formed?
• Aff. S was / were Ving C
• Neg. S was / were not Ving C
• Int. (Wh-) was / were S Ving C ?

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Perfect
• The Past Perfect expresses the idea that
  something occurred before another action in the
  past.
• It can also show that something happened before a
  specific time in the past.
• e.g. I did not have any money because I had lost
  my wallet.

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Narrative Tenses

• Past Perfect
• Can you say how this is formed?
• Aff. S had V past part. C
• Neg. S had not V past part. C
• Int. (Wh-) Had S V past part. C ?

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References

• http//www.englishpage.com/verbpage/