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Published byGriselda Wade Modified over 9 years ago
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Narrative tenses: The Past Simple The Past Continuous The Past Perfect
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The Past Simple is used to show when an event happened, i.e: I managed to finish my report yesterday at six. We last met in March. When I was a kid, I liked dancing very much.
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The Past Continous is used to describe longer activities interrupted by shorter events, i.e: We were walking down the beach when we saw a stranded dolphin. While I was paying for my shopping, I saw that I didn’t have enough money. NOTE: In time clauses WHILE and AS always introduces the Past Continuous tense.
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The Past Continuous is also used to describe what action was going on at a certain point of time. Yesterday at eight I was driving home. When Jack was doing the ironing, Jill was vacuuming the carpets.
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The most important use of the Past Continuous though is to describe certain background for an event. The clouds were gathering and the wind was blowing when I finally decided to go home The teacher was talking loudly, but monotonously, and students began to fall asleep.
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The Past Perfect (had + past participle) is also used to describe events, which happened before other events in the past. In other words, we may call it a retrospection tense. I already started doing my shopping when I realized that I hadn’t taken my purse. By the time I arrived at the meeting, the boss had already presented the subject
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They had been together for years before they decided to get married. Bilbo Baggins didn’t tell anybody about the ring he had found on a previous expedition. NOTE: Words BEFORE and BY THE TIME often indicate the Past Perfect.
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Also we need to remember about the Past Perfect Continuous (had+been+verb+ing) which describes a longer activity before a certain point in the past. Before I was transfered to Italy, I had been working for a few years in Spain. I had been thinking for a long time before Jack came and gave me the solution.
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