Narrative tenses (to talk about the past)

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Narrative tenses (to talk about the past)

Past Continuous

The whole (day, morning, night)

All (day/ morning/ night/ day yesterday)

When, while, at the same time, during, meanwhile

S+ WAS/ WERE (+ not) + verb+ING

An ongoing situation that was interrupted by another.

The fire started while the people were sleeping.

Ongoing actions or situations around a time in the past. Background information.

Thousands of people were living in very enclosed spaces.

I wasn't paying attention when the car crashed.

Past Simple

Time expressions

A few (seconds, minutes, hours) later

When I (was born, was young)

In (2010) (March)

Earlier this (morning, week, month, year)

A week (month, year) ago

Last (week, month, year, Monday, night)

Yesterday, The day before yesterday

Suddenly, all of a sudden, at that moment

S+ didn't + verb INF

People didn't have easy lives 200 years ago.

S+ verb+ ED / Irregular verb

I fell over

Actions that happened at one moment in the past, or were true at one time in the past.

Past Perfect Continuous

Specific time periods (for 20 years, all night, until that point, for hours/days before, etc)

for, since, already

S + had (+ not) + been + verb+ING

Ongoing actions that began before another action in the past.

He couldn't answer the teacher's question because he hadn't been listening.

When I finished the race, I was exhausted because I had been running for more than two hours.

Past Perfect Simple

Time expressions:

By the time, Before that time, It wasn't until (later) that, Once I had..., Until then, After..., As soon as, When, As, Never, already, just,

S + had + Past Participle

Describe an event that happened before another

When we arrived, the film had already started.

The weather had been very hot when the fire broke out.