Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect & Past Perfect Continuous

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Narrative tenses

I can use

the past simple,

past continuous,

and past perfect

to tell a story that 

happened in the past.

We use these to make sure we don't bore someone to death when describing a story & to make the sequence of events clear :)

Example - boring.

Last night, I walked home. I saw a car running very fast towards a red light. I looked at the driver. I saw him talking on the phone.

He didn't stop at the traffic light, and another car crashed into him.

The police arrived. The police asked what happened.

I told them that the driver didn't see the light bc he was on his phone.

• Example - clear and rich!
  Last night, I was walking home when I saw a car running very fast towards a red light. I looked at the driver and I could see that he was talking on the phone. He didn't stop at the light and another car crashed into him. When the police arrived, they asked me what had happened and I told them that the driver hadn't seen the traffic light bc he was using his phone.

Narrative tense

PAST SIMPLE = describe the main events in chronological order

PAST CONTINUOUS = to set the scene & to describe actions/situations in progress

PAST PERFECT = describe events that happened earlier in the past

Example - clear and rich!

Last night, I was walking home when I saw a car running very fast towards a red light. I looked at the driver and I could see that he was talking on the phone. He didn't stop at the light and another car crashed into him. When the police arrived, they asked me what had happened and I told them that the driver hadn't seen the traffic light bc he was using his phone.

2.2 Past Simple, Continuous & Perfect

Past Simple: an action started and finished in the past.

I spent the entire holiday at home with my boyfriend.

Past Continuous: an action that happend over a longer period of time.

Joshua was living in New York for over two months last year.

Past Perfect: an action that happened before another one.

Farrah had gone doctor before she realized she wasn't sick.

Tom couldn't play because...

1. he had forgotten his trainers
2. he forgot his trainers

The referee blew his whistle and...

1. the game started.
2. the game was starting.

Sue and Jenny were excited because...

1. they didn't go to a football match before
2. they hadn't been to a football match before

It was snowing when ...

1. the marathon began
2. the marathon had begun

Match the tense and when we use this tense

a past event that was in progress for some time before another past event

an event that had just stopped and of which result was still visible

an event in the past that happened before another past event

events in the past of which we know when they happened and that they are finished

past simple

past perfect

past continuous

past perfect continuous

I missed my ferry. When I arrived at the port, it (leave).

Linda (eat, already) when she arrived at my house.

I'm so tired; I (drive) all night.

He phoned me as soon as he (left) the hospital.

Both past continuous and past perfect continuous tenses can be used to talk about actions or situations that were in progress at a certain point of time in the past. While the past continuous merely shows continuity, the past perfect continuous tense also puts an emphasis on the idea of duration.