Narrative Tenses

Narrative Tenses

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Verb tenses we use to talk about past events.

We find them in narrations (hence the name).​

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​How can we define them?

Regular verbs: -ed

Irregular verbs​

​​Past simple

had + past participle

was + verb in -ing

​​Past progressive​

had + been

+ verb in -ing

(We won't be working with this one)

​​Past perfect progressive

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We have 4 narrative tenses with 4 simple structures

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​​Past perfect

We use it to talk about a single event that began and ended in the past.

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• I started my homework early.

• I sang all night at the karaoke place.​

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​Past simple

If we need to write it in the negative, we use the following structure:

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Wong didn't sing all night.

(subject + ​ didn't + verb in base form)

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​Past simple

We use it to give background information. We can describe a situation that continued for some time.

• My teacher was playing videogames with her friends all night.​

​Past progressive

(Past continuous)​

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​Imaginary timeline

If we need to write it in the negative, we use the following structure:

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My teacher was not playing videogames all night.​

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OR​

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My teacher wasn't playing videogames all night.

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​Past progressive

(Past continuous)​​

​Imaginary timeline

We use the past perfect to make it clear that one action happened before another past action.

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He was very rested because he had slept well.

​Past perfect​

​Imaginary timeline

To write it in the negative we add a "not" after the verb "had"

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He was very rested because he had not slept well.

​Past perfect​

​Imaginary timeline