Narrative tenses in English

1. Adapted from Isabel Bastida

2. • Past Simple
• Past Continuous
• Past Perfect
• Time conjunctions.

3. Finished actions in the past.
Peter threw a stone and broke a
car window last night.
I spent all my childhood in
Scotland.

4. What were you doing on
Sept 11th 2001?
I was watching the news
when a plane crashed
against the Twin Towers .
The phone rang while I was
having a bubble bath.
As background actions (+
as, when, while)

5. Past in the past.
When I arrived at the party,
they had already opened all the
presents.

6. Past in the past.
When I arrived at the party,
they had already opened all the
presents.