UNIT 3 GRAMMAR

NARRATIVE TENSES

Use the past simple for completed actions in the past which tell the main events in a story.
When I arrived, my mom leſt.
Use the past perfect simple (had+ past participle) to talk about completed actions/events
that happened
• before another action/event/the story began.
My friends had already leſt by the time I arrived.
When I arrived at the restaurant, my friends had leſt.
• with ‘thinking’ verbs such as realize, remember, forget, think, find out, discover and also
with because.
I suddenly remembered I hadn’t phoned Sue.
I felt terrible because I’d promised to phone her.
Use the past continuous (was/were+ verb + -ing) to describe an action in progress
• at a specified time or point in the story.
• when another shorter action or event happened (usually in the past simple) that interrupts
the past even.
He was sleeping when the plane landed.
• to set the scene of the story or a section of the story.
I was walking along the street when I noticed the man.
Use the past perfect continuous(had+ been+ verb + -ing) to talk about longer actions or
situations which started
• before the story began and continued to the beginning of a story. The length of the action is
oſten mentioned with for (amount of time: for six years) or since (specific past time: since
2019, since I was a child).
• before a point or an action in the story and continued up to that action.
She had been living there for a week before they met.
• before a point where there is evidence of a recent activity.
David looked very tired because he’d been working all night.

WISHES ABOUT THE PRESENT

Use wish + past simple for things you want to change but it is impossible or not likely.
I wish I had more time.(But I don’t have more time.)
I wish you were here.(But you aren’t here.)
I wish I were taller
• Use wish+ could to talk about possibilities and abilities you want to change.
I wish I could swim.(But I can’t.)
•Use wish + person/thing+ would to talk about things you want to change because they
annoy you. Don’t use this to talk about yourself.
I wish you would listen to me!
WISHES ABOUT THE PAST
Use wish + past perfect to talk about things that happened or didn’t happen in the past and
which you regret now.
They wish they hadn’t come.
I wish I’d never met him.
Use If only instead of wish to talk about the present or past. It can show more emotion than
I wish although this depends on intonation.
If only we lived nearer my parents.
If only I could afford a holiday.
If only the car would start.
If only I had listened to my teacher.