THE NEWS
NARRATIVE TENSES
classifies
Local News
Where do you get your news? How important is to keep up-to-date?
In your opinion, which sections contain the most interesting news? The least interesting news?
Choose one category. Give an example of a possible type of story.
Perspectives Surprise endings
Top Stories Entertainment Sports Art Travel Opinion
What happened in each story that was surprising?
Where did it
happen?
When did it
happen?
What happened?
Conversation What happened?
PAST PERFECT
We use the past perfect for an event that occurred before another past event
in the past. What event happened first?
PAST EVENT
PAST PERFECT EVENT
S + had/hadn’t + verb Past Participle
I was working out,
When I came back,
They were able to steal it,
and I had put my stuff in my locker.
someone had stolen my wallet.
because I had forgotten to lock the locker.
Yesterday
Last weekend…
when it started to rain.
my sister was coming back home,
So, she looked in her bag for her umbrella,
but unfortunately, she had forgotten it at home.
NARRATIVE TENSES
Single completed
actions
Past Simple
A previous action in
the past
Past perfect
had + v pp
Context of the story
Simultaneous actions
Past continuous
Was/were + ing
I was working out, and I had put my stuff in my locker.
I worked out, and I had put my stuff in my locker.
Past simple & past perfect
Past simple & continous
Broke into
were picking
was shopping
was driving
was trying
got
c
had given
came over
had reached
Stopped
lost
had left
ran out
Got
a
d
b
was
started
had brought
called
fell
Were
getting
pushed
Had put
Was
ran
driving
Had
Was
going
robbed
Were running
Task: Look at the picture and write a
short story. Use Narrative Tenses.
What happened?
Think about
What happened?
What were people doing at that moment?
What had they done before?
Common expressions:
Past progressive & Past Simple
While/ As + Past Progressive
When / Suddenly + Past Simple
Past Perfect & Past simple
Because/ After /Already / Yet + Present Perfect
Before/when + Past simple
They were driving 3 hours to California,
suddenly the car stopped working. So,
they pushed the car for one hour after
they had tried to start it up.
As they were working, the car stopped working.
They were driving when the car stopped.
By the time, they pushed the car. They had already tried to
start it up.
What
happened?
Were driving
Had visited
Were going
skidded
stopped
hit
Had put
ran
Was staying
Were
chatting
thought
Was arriving
heard
Had forgotten
Had been
LET’S
TALK
ABOUT
THE PAST
Broke into
was shopping
was driving
was trying
got
c
had given
came over
were picking
had reached
Stopped
lost
ran out
had left
Got
a
was
started
d
b
had brought
called
Telling anecdotes
Narrative tenses
Have you ever had a bad day?
Two years ago, I missed my flight to Washington. I got
up early that morning and took a taxi to the airport. As
I was arriving to the airport, I realized that I had
forgotten my passport on the table. I couldn’t catch
the plane because I had to came back home for it.
I was working on my thesis yesterday.
Suddenly, the computer showed an error
and restarted itself. I had been working all
day on it and, that day I lost all the
information I had written.
Stative verbs:
Like, love, believe, know, want
Past tenses review
Simple past
A. I missed my flight to Washington.
B. I realized that I had forgotten my
passport on the table.
C. I was working on my thesis last
night.
Completed past actions
Past Progressive
Actions in progress in the
past
Past Perfect Simple
A past action that happened
before another past action
Past Continuous
S + was/were + verb ING
Simultaneous actions
Background
Long actions in progress
Past Simple
S + verb in past + c
Didn’t + verb
had
Completed single actions
Sequence of events
Short actions
Billy / Play in the snow / get sick
The dog / Stand under the rain / help it
David / Drive / answer the phone /have a car accident
Jon / Walk down stairs / use the pone / fall down / hurt
Past Perfect
S + had + verb pp
Because somebody had stolen it
Because they had had the old one for 15
years.
Because I had never flown before
Because it had snowed the night before.
Because she hadn’t studied much.
Because he had lost her passport.
Because he had spent it.
Because she hadn’t left on time.
A past action that
happened before another
past action
Tell an anecdote
Write a funny, happy or sad anecdote. Use the simple past,
past perfect and the past continuous
Last week, I was using Google notes on my
phone, when suddenly the app stopped
working. I didn’t realize my phone had sent
a notice that there had been a problem.
Fortunately, I didn’t
lose
anything.
What were you doing?
What happened?
What happened earlier?