1. NARRATIVE TENSES
New English File Advanced
A PowerPoint by Ana Flores

2. When we narrate a story, we use:
 Past Simple
 Past Continuous
 Past Perfect
 Past Perfect Continuous
 Would / Used to

3. We use narrative tenses when
telling a story, or talking about
situations and activities which
happened at a past time.
When telling past events,
DO NOT mix past and present
tenses.

4. PAST SIMPLE TENSE
We use Past Simple
o to express a completed action at a definite
time in the past:
When I was little we lived in another village.
o To express past habits:
I woke up very late at weekends when I
was a teenager.

5. PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
We use Past Continuous
o For an action which was in progress at a
stated time in the past:
At 3 o´ clock , my son was sleeping.
o For a past action which was in progress when
another action interrupted:
I was talking on the phone when someone
knocked at the door.

6. o
For two or more actions which were
happening at the same time in the past:
My husband was working on the computer
while I was preparing lunch.
o To give background information in a story:
It was getting really dark and the wind was
blowing as I was walking to work.

7. PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
We use Past Perfect to go back to a sencond
past.
o We use it to talk about things that had already
happened before that specific time in the past
Some students got to school late. When they
arrived, the exam had already started.
o We use it to make the narrative more
interesting and easy to read.

8. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
We use Past Perfect Continuous to talk about
longer actions or situations which had
continued up to the past moment:
Before we went to bed that night, I had been
reading a very scary story about a wicked
witch.

9. TIME CLAUSES
WHEN+ SIMPLE PAST_________ SIMPLE PAST
When I read the news, I cried.
WHEN+ SIMPLE PAST_____PAST CONTINUOUS
When he phoned me, I was cooking.

10. WHEN+SIMPLE PAST_____PAST PERFECT
When she arrived there, he had already gone.
WHEN+S.PAST____PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
When they found a cure for cancer, they had
been researching for years.

11. WHILE/AS/JUST AS+PAST CONT___SIMPLE PAST
While I was watching a new serial on TV, I fell
asleep.
As I was walking along the street, I bumped
into an old friend of mine.

12. WHILE/AS/JUST AS+PAST CONT___PAST CONT
As I was writing an essay, my son was studying
in his bedroom.
While he was studying Maths, he was listening
to music on his iPod.
JUST AS/AS+SIMPLE PAST______ SIMPLE PAST
As I woke up, I saw a cat staring at me!
Just as I picked up the home phone,the
mobile phone rang.

13. JUST AS+BE ABOUT TO______SIMPLE PAST
Just as I was about to leave, my sister-in-law
arrived.
IT/THIS/THAT WAS THE 1ST,2ND,3RD.. TIME
__
PAST PERFECT
That was the last time I had seen her.
It was the first time I had eaten octopus.

14. AFTER+SIMPLE PAST_____SIMPLE PAST
After she graduated from Malaga University,
she went to Oxford.
BEFORE+SIMPLE PAST____PAST PERFECT
Before she got married,she had spent most of
her time in London.
BEFORE+SIMPLE PAST____SIMPLE PAST
Before I went to Italy, I bought a lot of new
clothes.

15. BY THE TIME+SIMPLE PAST_____PAST PERFECT
By the time his first film came out, he had
taken part in lots of theatre plays.
BY THE TIME+SIMPLE PAST___PAST P. CONTIN.
By the time he settled down in Estepona, he
had been travelling around the world.
UNTIL/TILL+ SIMPLE PAST___SIMPLE PAST
We waited until he finished his homework.

16. UNTIL/TILL +SIMPLE PAST_____PAST PERFECT
Until they found a new job,they had been
unemployed for years.
AS SOON AS/THE MOMENT/ONCE/IMMEDIATELY+
PAST PERFECT/SIMPLE PAST___ SIMPLE PAST
As soon as I had seen her, I understood that
something was wrong.
Once she decided to leave him, nobody was
able to change her mind.

17. BY +PAST EXPRESSION_______PAST PERFECT
By the mid 20th century, many women had
gained the right to teach.
HARDLY/SCARCELY+PAST PERFECT(INVERSION)
_______WHEN+SIMPLE PAST
I had hardly entered the classroom when I
noticed a student speaking in Spanish.
Hardly had I entered the classroom when I
noticed a student speaking in Spanish.

18. NO SOONER+PAST PERFECT(INVERSION)___
THAN+SIMPLE PAST
No sooner had I left the office than it started
to rain.

19. WHAT ARE STATE VERBS?

20. When a verb describes a state and not an
action we do not use the continuous
tense. For example, 'play' is an action so we
can say 'playing' whereas 'be' is a fixed state
which does not change: 'To be, or not to be'.
Grammatically it is not correct to say "Im
loving it" even though McDonald's have made
this expression famous. 'Love' is a state verb
and so we should say "I love it".

21. •
•
•
•
State verbs generally fall into 4 groups:
Emotion: love, hate, want, need
Possession: have, own, want, belong
Sense: see, hear, smell, seem
Thought: know, believe, remember

22. Here are some more examples of state verbs:
doubt dislike understand suspect loathe like
mean forget prefer live
Some verbs can be both state and action verbs
The meaning of these verbs is then different.
Have a look at these:
•

23. • 'I have a car.' – state verb showing possession
• 'I am having a bath.' – action verb which, in
this case, means 'taking'.
• 'I think you are cool.' – state verb meaning 'in
my opinion'.
• 'I am thinking about buying a motorbike.' –
action verb meaning 'considering'.

24. USED TO- WOULD
USED TO: (semi-modal)
I used to go climbing a lot ( but I don´t now)
The negative form is either: I didn´t use to or I
used not to ( rare for some speakers). The
form I didn´t used to may also be found. This
is usually considered incorrect, unless we
consider used to as an unchanging semimodal form.

25. USED TO
it is used to describe past habits or states.
When we use used to we suggest that the
action is no longer true and so make a strong
contrast with the present.
I used to get up at 8, now I get up at 7 (habit)
I used to live in a flat, now I live in a house
( state)

26. WOULD
it is used to describe a person´s typical
activities in the past.It can only be used to
describe repeated actions, not states. It is
mainly used in writing, and in personal
reminiscences.
Every evening was the same. Richard would
turn on the radio, light his pipe and read a
newspaper.

27. That´s all folks!!!
ANA FLORES
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
EOI ESTEPONA
2011-2012