LIFE UPPER INTERMEDIATE

Unit 2
Narrative Past Tenses;
The Passive
Life Upper-Int Unit 2a
Narrative Past Tenses
Narrative Past Tenses- MEANING:
Match each sentence with an explanation:
1) He came out of a left-hand corner
too fast and lost control of the car.
2) It was July 1976 and Lauda was
leading the Formula 1
championship.
3) A few days before, Lauda had
tried to get the race stopped.
4) It had been raining during the
morning and the track was still wet.
a) To describe the main events in
sequence in the past, i.e. one after
another
b) to describe something that happened
before the main event(s) or story
c) to describe an activity in progress in
the past, which is a background to the
main story or to an event within it
d) to describe an activity in progress
before or up to the main event(s) in
the past
e) to describe a general state in the past
Narrative Past Tenses- USE

Past Simple:
general states or
actions in the past;
sequencing the main
events in the past
Past Continuous:
activity in progress at
a specific time in the
past; background to
the main event

Past Perfect:
an event happening
before another in the
past
Narrative Past Tenses- FORM:
Read the sentences below and answer the following questions.
1) He came out of a left-hand corner
too fast and lost control of the car.
- What form of the verb do we
use in simple past?
2) It was July 1976 and Lauda was
leading the Formula 1 championship.
- What form of the verb do we
use in past continuous?
3) A few days before, Lauda had
tried to get the race stopped.
- What are the TWO different
4) It had been raining during the forms of the verb for past
morning and the track was still wet. perfect?
Narrative Past Tenses– FORM
Look at each sentence and see how past tenses are formed.
• He came out of a left-hand corner too fast (PAST SIMPLE)
Verb 2
• It was July 1976 and Lauda was leading the Formula 1.(PAST CONTINUOUS)
was/were + Verb+ing

• A few days before, Lauda had tried to get the race stopped.(PAST PERFECT SIMPLE)
had + Verb3(past participle)

• It had been raining during the morning. (PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS)

had +been+Verb+ing

Do you remember how to form negatives and questions in theses tenses?

+ - ?
Notes on Past Simple And Past Continuous:
• We use the past simple to express :

general states or actions that are finished in the past:

Ex: It was a cold winter.
We had a terrible winter.

the main events in the past in sequence; one after another

Ex: He got in the car, started the engine and drove away.

• We use the past continuous to express:

actions in progress at a specific time in the past:

Ex: I was having lunch at 12:45 yesterday.

the background to an event or a story:

Ex: I was sleeping when the phone rang. // It was 1998 and I was living in Paris.
Notes on Past Perfect Simple and Continuous:

• We use the Past Perfect Simple:

when we need to make it clear that one past event happened before another one.
Ex: When the police arrived, the thieves had already left.
(= First the thieves left, then the police arrived.)
 to describe something that happened (or a state that was true) before the main event(s) or story.
Ex: I couldn’t believe it when I saw the plane tickets in his hand. I had always wanted to visit
Australia!

• We use the Past Perfect: Continuous:

To describe a longer activity in progress before or up to a main event in the past.
Ex: It had been snowing all night and my flight was cancelled.
We’d been enjoying a morning on the beach when something strange happened.
Notes on Past Continuous and Past Perfect Continuous:

• Note that we use both past continuous and past perfect continuous to talk about an
activity in progress in the past. With the past perfect continuous there is more
emphasis on the duration of the activity.

I'd been walking all morning, so I had really sore feet.

(I was walking for a long time before my feet got sore.)
I was crossing the road when I saw him.
(The two actions happened around the same time, No duration)
Exercise: Grammar Summary: Page 159
Exercise 1a: Put the sentences in the correct order to make a story.

A5 When she arrived at the restaurant, she realized that she’d left her purse at home.
B3 Anu had completely forgotten about her friend’s birthday dinner and now she was late!
C In the end, she had a great evening, and the best thing was she didn’t have to pay for
9
anything!
D7 After paying the taxi driver, she joined her friends, who were all really hungry.
E1 Anu was sitting at home when she received a message on her phone.
F6 So, she ran inside the restaurant and asked her friends for some money.
G4 She decided to get a taxi to the restaurant.
H8 They’d been waiting for a long time for her to arrive!
I2 It was from her best friend and it was about the dinner party that evening.
Exercise: Grammar Summary: Page 159
Exercise 1b: Match the underlined verbs from Exercise 1a with the uses
(a–e).
a a main event in the story
‘d left
b something that happened before the main events in the story
had completely forgotten
c an activity in progress in the past – background to the main story
had
d an activity in progress up to a main event in the past
was sitting
e one event in the story that happened before another event in the story
‘d been waiting
Exercise: Grammar Summary: Page 159
Exercise 2: Complete the sentences with the past perfect continuous. Use
the prompts.
1 The roads were really wet because … it / rain / allrainning
it had been night. all night.

2 André couldn't concentrate because … he / not sleepslept

he hadn’t / well.
well.

3 WeWe /not
hadn’t been
wait/waiting
forforlong
long. … before the train arrived.

I had been
4 I / study hardstudying
/ allallmorning
morning … so I decided to have a break.
5 you Had you been
/ look forlooking
a new for ajob
new/job for aalong
for longtimetime … before you found one?

6 He was very happy with his result because …hehe had /

been
trytrying to pass the
to pass the exam

exam / for years.

7 I had a sore throat because … I / Ising had been singing all morning.
/ all morning.
Had Maria been working at the company for long
8 Maria / work at the company / for long … before she was promoted?
Exercise: Grammar Summary: Page 159
Exercise 3: Complete the text with the correct form of the verbs in
brackets.
was reading
One day in 2001, Adele Geraghty 1 _______________________ (read) a newspaper when
saw
she 2 _______________________(see) an advert for a poetry competition. She 3
decided
_______________________ (decided) to email some of her work. Soon after, she 4
had received
_______________________(receive) a reply from a university professor called Phil. He 5
received didn’t understand
_______________________ (receive) similar messages and 6 _______________________ (not
understand) why. Adele found out that the newspaper 7 _______________________(print)
had printed
Phil’s email address by mistake, instead of the emailwrote
for the poetry competition, so
she 8 _______________________ (write) to Phil to tell him. Adele and Phil felt an instant
connection and 9 _______________________(develop) a strong friendship, even though
developed
Adele was in the USA, and Phil was 3,000 miles away in the UK. They met for the
first time in 2002, exactly one year after they 10had _______________________
sent (send) their
first messages, and five years after that, they got married.
Work on the following exercises from the book.

Page 23: Exercises 6-12

Life Upper-Int Unit 2b
The Passive
The Passive - MEANING:
Read the sentences below and answer the following questions.
1) People present a lot of factual
information visually now.
2) A lot of factual information is
presented visually now.
3) In the past, publishers used
photos in magazines.
4) In the past, photos were used
in magazines.
- What is the subject in each sentence?
- What is the connection between the
subject and the verb in each
sentence? Who does the action?
- Does the subject do the verb in each
sentence?
- Which sentences do you think are
active? Which sentences are passive?
- How do you understand the tense in
each sentence?
The Passive - USE

• When we use the active form, the focus of the sentence is on the ‘agent’ –
the person or thing that does an action.
Ansel Adams took this photo.
• When we use the passive, the object of the active sentence becomes the
subject.
Ansel Adams took this photo.
object
This photo was taken by Ansel Adams.
subject
The focus of the sentence is now on ‘this photo’, not the photographer.
The Passive - FORM
verb Be + Verb 3 (past participle)
is held every year.
is being held soon.
The photography exhibition has been held here since 2010.
was held in June.
was being held when we visited.
had been held just days before.
will be held netx month.
should be held soon.
We don’t normally use the passive with the present perfect continuous or past perfect continuous.
Notes on The Passive
• If we want to mention the agent in a passive sentence, we introduce it
with the preposition by. We normally do this when the agent is new or
important information.

Ex: The photo was shared by over ten million people.

The theory was developed by a group of students from Harvard.
Notes on The Passive
• There are also infinitive (with and without to) and -ing forms of the passive.

I didn’t expect to be criticized so much.

(expect to do=expect to be done)
I enjoy being photographed.
(enjoy doing=enjoj being done)

In order to do this, you must be aware of gerund & infinitive !!

Exercise: Grammar Summary: Page 159
Exercise 4: Rewrite the sentences (or parts of sentences) in italics using
the passive.
1 The first book printed in English was a collection of stories about the Trojan Wars,
printed in 1473. You can see it in the British library in London. It can be seen in the British library in London.
2 One of the most popular songs in 2014 was ‘Happy’. Pharrell Williams wrote and
performed it. It was written and performed by Pharrel Williams.
3 The Olympic Games take place every four years. In 2024, theythey willwillhold them
be held in Paris.
in Paris.

4 In 2006, Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream was found. Two years earlier, a
thief stole it from a gallery in Oslo. Two years earlier, it was (had been) stolen from a gallery in Oslo.
5 In 1962, three prisoners escaped the Alcatraz prison island in California, USA. The
police never found them and they are still on the US government’s list of ‘wanted
fugitives’. They were never found

6 WhatsApp has millions of users around the world. While you’re reading this sentence,
people are sending about 1,000 messages every second. about 1000 messages are being sent every second.
Exercise: Grammar Summary: Page 159
Exercise 5: Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the
verb in brackets.
was made
1 Bernhard Schlink wrote The Reader in 1995. It ____________________(make) into an
award-winning film in 2008.
being read
2 I read stories to my children every night. They love ____________________ (read) to.
3 Snapchat ____________________
has been downloaded (download) over 500 million times since it was created.

4 I tried to get the book from the library but it already ____________________
had already been taken(take
out out).

5 Larger cities can ____________________

be seen (see) easily from the International Space
She hopes ____________________
to be awarded (award) a prize for her latest documentary series.
Work on the following exercises from the book.

Page 25: Exercises 5-10