IBM Business English 1 C2 Class Autumn Semester 2022/23

Script Week 6

1 Aim of the lesson

The aim of this week’s lesson is to revise the narrative tenses and to do some more work on
logical arguments.

2 Narrative tenses
The narrative tenses are the tenses that are used to tell stories. They are the past simple, the
past continuous and the past perfect (simple and continuous).

2.1 Past simple

Past simple is used for past actions, events, activities, states and conditions that are
connected with a period of time that is in the past and completed.
1. For single completed actions and events in the past:
e.g. i) I left school in 2005.
ii) Last year’s storm destroyed large areas of forest.
2. For repeated actions or events in a completed past time frame:
e.g. i) My family went to Italy for the summer holidays when I was a child. (time frame =
when I was a child)
ii) I attended a lot of talks at the conference. (time frame = time at the conference)
iii) Between 1990 and 2010, Japan suffered five major earthquakes. (time frame =
1990 to 2010)
N.B. When the verb refers to a past habit that is no longer practised, ‘used to + verb’ can be
used. The form ‘would + verb’ can also be used in a more formal style for habits that are
perceived as taking place in the (more or less) distant past.
e.g. i) We used to go to Spain for the summer holidays, but now we mostly stay in
Switzerland.
ii) He used to smoke 40 cigarettes a day, but now he only smokes 5.
iii) When I was a child I would spend my holidays at my grandparents’ house.
3. For activities, processes and trends in a completed past time frame. The activity, process
or trend is most often, but not always, finished:
e.g. i) I read a good book last week. (I finished the book)
ii) We developed the product from 2005 to 2008.
iii) The budget deficit grew by 10% of GDP per year over a five-year period.
iv) I worked on the report all day yesterday, and I still haven’t finished it.
N.B. When the verb refers to a past activity or process that can be seen as a habit and that
no longer takes place, ‘used to + verb’ can be used. Once again, the form ‘would + verb’ can
also be used for habits that are perceived as taking place in the (more or less) distant past.
e.g. I used to grow vegetables in my garden, but now I don’t have enough time.
When I was a child, I would daydream for hours on end, imagining the most amazing
things.

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4. For past states in a completed past time frame:
e.g. i) I loved my primary school. (I’m not at primary school any more).
ii) Nobody knew the location of the stolen jewels. (The time frame of the story about
the jewels is finished.)
N.B. When the verb refers to a past state whose opposite is now true, ‘used to + verb’ is
most often used. The form ‘would + verb’ cannot be used for past states.
e.g. i) I used to know lots of people in Madrid, but most of them don’t live there anymore.
5. For past conditions in a completed past time frame:
e.g. ii) A: Where did you stay during the conference?
B: At the Hilton.
N.B. When the verb refers to a past condition that is no longer true, ‘used to + verb’ is most
often used. The ‘would + verb’ form cannot be used for past conditions.
e.g. My parents used to live in the countryside, but now that they are older, they live in the
city.

2.2 Past continuous

The past continuous is used to describe a past activity, process or trend when the focus is on
the activity, process or trend itself, and not on the fact that it is finished.

1. Most often, the past continuous is used to describe a longer action that acts as the
background for a shorter one that is expressed in the past simple. In this case, the focus is
on the activity itself as a background, and not on the fact that it is finished.
2. If the temporal connection of the two clauses is expressed, they are often joined with one
of the conjunctions ‘while’ or ‘when’. The conjunction ‘while’ is mostly followed by the clause
in the past continuous. The conjunction ‘when’ can be followed by either the clause in the
past continuous or the clause in the past simple.
e.g. While I was visiting my mother, somebody broke into my flat.
When I was visiting my mother, somebody broke into my flat.
I was visiting my mother when somebody broke into my flat.
N.B. When two short actions follow each other, we can connect the two actions with ‘when’
or ‘after’. In this case, the past simple is used for both actions. ‘When’ can be used to
indicate that the first action caused the second one.
e.g. When they arrived, we had a drink.
or After they arrived, we had a drink.
When they saw me, I left. (I left because they saw me.)
N.B. When the two activities occur simultaneously and are of equal importance, the past
simple is often used for both activities, and the two clauses are joined by ‘while’.
e.g. My Mum visited the museum while my Dad shopped for souvenirs.
The past continuous is also often used to express a background activity that is connected
with an action that occurred because of or in spite of the background activity. The two
clauses are joined with conjunctions such as ‘because’, ‘although’ or ‘even though’.
e.g. He went home because it was raining.
I stayed at the game although / even though my team was losing.

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2.3 Past perfect (simple and continuous)
1. The past perfect simple is used to express an action, event or state that took place before
another action, event or state in the past.
e.g. i) When I arrived at the office, my client had gone.
ii) I was nervous before the job interview for the position in London because I had
never done one in English before.
The past perfect can almost always be seen as the present perfect shifted back in time. For
example, the two situations above could be moved forward in time and expressed as follows:
i) A: Is my client still here?
B: No, he has gone.
ii) I am nervous about the job interview for the position in London because I have
never done one in English before.
2. The past perfect continuous is used to express an activity, process or trend that was in
progress before a point in time in the past.
e.g. I became ill because I had been working too hard.
As with the past perfect simple, the past perfect continuous can mostly be seen as a present
perfect continuous moved back in time. The sentence above, for example, can be shifted
forward in time as follows:
I am ill because I have been working too hard.
2.4 Practice
Complete the practice exercise on the following page. The answers are on the last page of
the script.

3 Exercises to identify premises and conclusions

Work through the tasks assigned to you from Chapter 3 of Critical Thinking Skills (Stella
Cottrell, 2005).

4 Homework
1. Prepare your fourth summary.
2. Complete as many exercises as necessary from units 21 and 22 in the grammar book.

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Example argument (adapted from Critical Thinking Skills by Stella Cottrell (2005)

This area has become well-known, but for unfortunate reasons. The
junction of Green Road and Mill Street has been the site of over a dozen
major traffic accidents in the last five years because drivers take the
corner on Green Road before the junction too quickly. A local artist has
made a rather grim photographic record of all the serious accidents that
have taken place. Some tourists have been victims. New sped cameras
have now been placed at the corner of the road, and this will reduce the
number of accidents.

1. What are the premises in this argument? Write full sentences using the vocabulary
of the text as much as possible.

2. What is the conclusion of the argument?

3. What is the position of the author; i.e., what is the overall argument in this text?

4. Which sentences or parts of sentences in the text do not form part of the
argument?

5. What premises are implied but not stated in the argument? Are these implicit
premises themselves the conclusions to implied arguments?

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Answers to Example argument

This area has become well-known, but for unfortunate reasons. The
junction of Green Road and Mill Street has been the site of over a dozen
major traffic accidents in the last five years because drivers take the
corner on Green Road before the junction too quickly. A local artist has
made a rather grim photographic record of all the serious accidents that
have taken place. Some tourists have been victims. New sped cameras
have now been placed at the corner of the road, and this will reduce the
number of accidents.

1. What are the premises in this argument? Write full sentences using the vocabulary
of the text as much as possible.

1. The junction has been the site of over a dozen major accidents in the last five
years.

2. The accidents are caused by drivers taking the corner before the junction too
quickly.

3. New speed cameras have been placed at the corner.

2. What is the conclusion of the argument?

Therefore, the number of accidents will be reduced.

3. What is the position of the author; i.e., what is the overall argument in this text?

The installation of speed cameras will reduce the number of accidents at the junction.

4. Which sentences or parts of sentences in the text do not form part of the
argument?

This area has become well-known…

A local artist…

Some tourists…

5. What premise/premises is/are implied, but not stated in the argument? Are these
implicit premises themselves the conclusions to implied arguments / Is this implicit
premise itself the conclusion to an implied argument?

Implied premise 1. The new speed cameras will cause drivers to drive more slowly.

This is the position expressed by the following deductive argument:

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Premise 1: Speed cameras cause drivers to drive more slowly.

Premise 2: Speed cameras have been installed before the corner at the junction.

Conclusion: Therefore, drivers will drive more slowly around the corner.

This argument is valid (logically correct), but is it true / persuasive? How sure are we
that the cameras will cause drivers to drive more slowly? Could there be other factors
that stop drivers from doing this?

If the speed limit is already too high for the road configuration, the effect of the
cameras will be reduced, as drivers travelling within the speed limit will pay little or no
attention to the speed cameras but might still cause an accident.

The implied premise is therefore that the speed limit is NOT too high.

Maybe road signs would be a better solution.

Or speed bumps.

Or redesign the corner.

In any case, in order for speed cameras to be effective, the following premises need
to be true:

Premise 1: Drivers who are driving too fast will see the speed camera.

Premise 2: Seeing the speed cameras will cause the drivers to slow down.

However, the truth of these premises is questionable. It is therefore reasonable to at

least consider other possible solutions to the problem.

There are two additional deductive arguments embedded in the argument of the text.
They look something like this:

1.1. The higher the speed of a vehicle entering a junction, the more likely it is to crash
into another vehicle on the junction or to crash off the road.

1.2. The investigation of each crash indicated that the driver approached the junction
at a relatively high speed.

1.3. Therefore, the crashes were caused by drivers’ taking the corner too fast (The
correlation between the high speed of the vehicles and the crashes is posited as a
causal relationship on the basis of the major (first premise). Don’t forget the warning:
‘correlation is not causation’ – it is an essential element of critical thinking!)

2.1 Blocked visibility of a junction causes drivers to not slow down before the
junction.

2.2 The visibility of the junction in the town is blocked by the corner before it.

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2.3 Therefore, the relatively high speed of the cars in the accidents was caused by
the fact that the corner before the junction blocks its visibility to drivers.

Is this argument valid? Is it also plausible? Could there be another cause of the high
speed of the cars? Furthermore, are you convinced that high speed is the cause of
the accidents?

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 Answers to Grammar task

Question 1 Question 2
1 did not pay / had already shut 1 retired / had been working
2 did not pick up / was dealing 2 had been waiting / left
3 was travelling / got 3 made / had been trying
4 took / was making 4 decided / had not been feeling
5 still had not paid / sent 5 happened / had been driving
6 reached / had already closed
7 was / had not prepared
8 saw / had just got
9 lost / was travelling
10 was checking / noticed