Narrative tenses

1
Narrative tenses

• These are the tenses you use to tell stories that
  happened in the past, namely
• past simple
• past continuous
• past perfect
• past perfect continuous

2

• A thief broke into the office where I work.
• He stole lots of things.
• I arrived this morning.
• I called the police.
• This morning, I arrived at work and saw that a
  thief had broken into the office and stolen lots
  of things, so I called the police.

3

• A man was driving in the rain.
• His brakes failed.
• He crashed into a tree.
• I was driving to work
• I saw the accident.
• I called an ambulance.
• I was driving to work this morning when I saw an
  accident. A man had been driving in the rain and
  his brakes had failed, so he had crashed into a
  tree. I then called and ambulance.

4
6 5 2 1 7 8 3 4 9 10

• It was raining heavily.
• The traffic was terrible.
• Rainwater accumulated on the streets.
• Corifeu was flooded.
• It took me longer than usual to get to P3.
• I arrived at P3 at 4.20 p.m.
• I tried to get into the campus.
• I couldnt.
• I called Jamil and cancelled my class.
• I went home.

5
6 5 2 1 7 8 3 4 9 10

• That Wednesday, at 4.20 p.m., I arrived at P3.
• It had taken me longer than usual to get there.
  The traffic was terrible, because it had been
  raining heavily.
• I tried to get into the campus, but I couldnt,
  because rainwater had accumulated and Corifeu was
  flooded.
• I called Jamil and cancelled my class, and went
  home.