Narrative Tenses - All Past Tenses

Exercises

Explanation

The four narrative tenses are:

• Past Simple

• Past Continuous

• Past Perfect

• Past Perfect Continuous

1. Past Simple

We use the Past Simple for finished actions in the past or for events that happened in sequence.

Form

• Affirmative: subject + V2

• Negative: subject + didn’t + V1

• Questions: Did + subject + V1?

Examples

• Liam opened the window and sat down.

• We didn’t have time to cook dinner.

• Did you visit the museum last weekend?

Use

• A completed action

• A series of events

• Repeated actions in the past

2. Past Continuous

We use the Past Continuous to talk about an ongoing action at a moment in the past, background descriptions, or two actions happening at the same time.

Form: was / were + verb-ing

Examples

• She was reading when her phone rang.

• The children were playing while their parents cooked.

• It was snowing all evening.

Use

• An action happening at a specific past moment

• Two actions happening at the same time

• A background scene in a story

3. Past Perfect

We use the Past Perfect to show that one action happened before another past action.

Form: had + V3

Examples

• I had packed my bag before the taxi arrived.

• He had never tried sushi before that dinner.

• By the time we got there, the show had started.

Use

• The earlier of two past actions

• Explaining a cause or reason in the past

4. Past Perfect Continuous

We use this tense to talk about a long action that continued up to another moment in the past.

Form: had been + verb-ing

Examples

• They had been studying for hours before the test began.

• She had been waiting for a long time when I arrived.

• His hands were dirty because he had been fixing the bike.

Use

• A long action before another event

• Explaining a past result (tired, wet, angry, etc.)

How These Tenses Work Together in Stories

When telling a story, we usually mix the tenses:

• Past Simple → main events
  Emma opened the door and walked inside.

• Past Continuous → background
  The rain was falling softly outside.

• Past Perfect → earlier events
  She realised she had forgotten her keys.

• Past Perfect Continuous → long earlier actions
  She had been looking for them all morning.

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