Narrative Tenses

We use the Past Perfect Simple: (had+ past participle)

-To make clear a sequence of events in the past. E.g.:

PAST PERFECT SIMPLE V PAST PERFECT
‘He didn’t call me because he’d lost his phone.’ CONTINUOUS
(=1He lost his phone. 2 He didn’t call me.)
Past Perfect Simple and Continuous are both
-To contrast with past events introduced by by the time, used in describing events which were
happening before the time of another past
before, as soon as, or when.
event.
‘The band had finished their first song by the time we reached our seats.’

(=1 The band finished their song. 2 We reached our seats)

-With already, just, ever, and never.

‘When we arrived, everyone had already started dancing.’ (=1 Everyone started dancing.

2= we arrived)

-To say how many times, or how often something had happened before a point of time in the past.

‘I’d visited LA four times before my tenth birthday.’ (=1 visited LA four times. 2= I had my tenth birthday).

We use the Past Perfect Continuous ( had+been+ -ing form of the verbs) for describing events which were happening before the time of another
past event.

-To focus on the fact that the earlier event may or may not be complete. E.g.: ‘We could tell that everyone had been having a good time’

-When we talk about how long the event had been happening. E.g.: ‘The tourists had been walking for two hours and wanted a chance to sit
down’
 ‘When I walked into the room, everyone had stopped talking’. (=1 They stopped

Talking. 2= I walked into the room.)

PAST PERFECT V PAST SIMPLE ‘Everyone had been enjoying the show when the rain started’

We use the Past Perfect and the Past (1= They were enjoying themselves. 2= The rain started.)
Simple Together to show that one
-We use two past-simple verbs to show that two events happened at the same time
event happened before another.
E.g.: ‘When I walked into the room, everyone stopped talking’

(=They stopped talking at the moment I walked into the room.)

‘Everyone danced when the band played.’

-We can use and to link the two past simple verbs to suggest that one event caused another.

E.g.: ‘I walked into the room and everyone stopped talking.’

(=They stopped talking at the moment I walked into the room – probably because I walked into the room.)

E.g.: The rain started and everyone went indoors.