Narrative tenses review

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Kahoot

• Past simple
  • Describes the main events of the story
  • Describes sequences of events
  • It is the 'standard' narrative tense. If in doubt, go for past simple.
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• Past continuous
  • Describes unfinished actions, especially around a certain time
  • Describes longer actions interrupted by shorter ones
  • Is often used for describing background actions
  • Is sometimes used to make the actions in a story seem more immediate, especially with the word now
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• Past perfect
  • Describes actions which took place before the main actions in the story
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• Past perfect continuous
• Describes longer continuous actions which took place before the main actions in the story
• Is sometimes used to explain the condition of people or things at the time of the main events in the story.
• Is sometimes used after words like "discovered" or "realised" (these are often verbs of mind)

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Two other things to worry about!!

Past habits: used to +inf and would + inf

Future in the past: was -ing / was to inf / would + inf


Practice

The Future in the Past