NARRATIVE TENSES

How to use them

Narrative tenses are used to talk about past events and to tell
stories. There are four tenses that we often use for talking about
past events. The most common of these is the past simple. The
other three tenses, the past continuous, the past perfect
simple and the past perfect continuous, can help us to say what
we want more efficiently.

PAST SIMPLE PAST

CONTINOUS
It is use for events and actions that
It is use to talk about things that
started and finished in the past.
started before our story started and
continued through our stoty.
Example:
I had a terrible day yesterday. It all
Example:
started when I woke up late.
It all started when I woke up late. It
was raining and the traffic was
moving slowly.

PAST PERFECT PAST PERFECT

It is use to signal that one thing
actually happened first.
Example:
When I looked at my phone, I
realised I had slept through the
alarm.
CONTINOUS
Similar to Past Perfect but this time
is for activities that continued for a
lenght of time before another past
event.
Example:
When I looked at my phone, I realised
I had slept through the alarm.
I had been sleeping like a log.

EXERCISE - NARRATIVE TENSES

WRITE THE CORRECT ANSWER.
1. Phill and his wife __________ (meet) when they were teaching in Botswana.
2.Their car broke down as they ________(drive) home.
3. We wanted to go to Peru because we __________ (not be)there before.
4. Hello, Karen. I thought you __________ (work) at the London office this week.
5. When she arrived her eyes were very red. I think she ___________ (cry).
WRITE THE CORRECT ANSWER ACCORDING STEVE'S STORY

'I'm Steve, a motor mechanic and this is the story of something strange that
_____(happen) to me about five years ago. It was a freezing cold winter.
One day I _____(receive) a call to assist a motorist whose car had broken down
and was stuck in snow. As I _____(drive) to the place where the motorist was
stranded, I noticed that the snow was getting heavier.
When I _____(get) the phone call, I was sure I knew where the motorist was. But
when I got there, I couldn't see a car anywhere. I_____(try) to call my office, but
my mobile's battery was dead. I looked around, the snow had stopped, but it
was lying thick on the ground. I got out of the car and _____ (start) looking for
some sign of the motorist. I looked down and saw some footprints in the snow.
I began following them. They _____ (led) over a small bridge and across a park.
It was freezing cold. I _____ (follow) the footprints for about five minutes when I
saw a phone box about one hundred metres away. I listened. I heard a noise.