NARRATIVE TENSES

1
NARRATIVE TENSES

• PAST SIMPLE.
• PAST CONTINUOUS.
• PAST PERFECT.
• PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS.

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PAST SIMPLE

• PAST SIMPLE VERBS CAN BE
• REGULAR ? V-ED
• IRREGULAR ? 2ND COLUMN.
• USE THE PAST SIMPLE TO TALK ABOUT CONSECUTIVE
  ACTIONS IN THE STORY.
• EXAMPLES
• He (1)arrived home and (2)had a shower.
• I (1)didnt hear the phone so I (2)didnt answer
  it.

3
PAST CONTINUOUS

• We use this tense to describe an action which
  was in progress when another action happened, so
  we could say the action in progress was
  interrupted by the other action.
• Many times, we set the scene at the beginning
  of a story.
• Examples
• When I was watching the terror film, a terrible
  noise happened and almost killed me.
• I was trying to get to sleep when the phone rang.

4
PAST PERFECT

• We use the past perfect to talk about actions
  that happened before the moment in the past when
  the main events of the story happened.
• Examples
• ?When the doctor (2)arrived, the ambulance (1)had
  taken the patient to hospital.
• ?When she (2)arrived late home she realized her
  husband (1)had left her.

5
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

• We use the past perfect continuous to talk about
  longer continuous actions that were going on
  before the moment in the past when the main
  events of the story happened.
• Examples
• ?I was (2) exhausted because I (1) had been
  driving around all morning.
• ? The party (1) was a success because I (2) had
  been planning it for ages.