Lesson 8 English 3 Narrative Tenses '24

Narrative sentences

Lesson 8

Used to talk about the past. You can often find them in stories, textbooks, spoken accounts and in descriptions of past events, to talk about recent actions, historical events, and biographical information.

The cave men painted on the walls

PastSimple

PastContinuous

Used withfour different tenses.

Past PerfectSimple

Past PerfectContinuous

Time line

Home

Rachel took a cab home.

She got to the door.

Cab

She couldn't get inside.

She left her keys at the party.

Party

Time line

Home

Rachel took a cab home, when she got to the door she couldn't get inside 'cause she had left her keys at the party.

Cab

Party

Saved by a spider

But it wasn't the spider's bite... Tests showed that I was suffering from cancer.' Today, after several months of treatment, the cancer has gone. 'Life can be strange,' says Theo. 'My wife wouldn't have taken me to the hospital if the spider hadn't bitten me. Then we probably wouldn't have found the lump in time. If I had left it for a few more months, it would have been too late. That spider saved my life!'

Theo Minsk remembers the day that a spider saved his life. 'If it hadn't rained, I would have gone to the beach. However, it rained all day, so I tidied my garage instead. While I was doing it, a spider bit my neck. My wife was worried abut me, because some spiders in Australia are very poisonous. So we went to the hospital. When the doctors examined me, they noticed a lump on my neck.

Oh, deer!

had at work the previous day. Anyway, I was approaching the city when a deer suddenly ran into the road. I swerved to miss it. The car skidded and I crashed into a lamppost.

I was driving to work when the accident happened. It had been raining all morning and the streets were wet. I probably wasn’t concentrating enough because I was thinking about a problem I’d

Used to emphasize single actions in the past.

Past Simple

... a spider saved his life. However, it rained all day. So we went to the hospital.

Past Continuous

Used to emphasis that the action was in progress when something happened.

While I was doing it,.. Tests showed that I was suffering frmo cancer. I was living in Japan when I met my wife.

For background information.

To describe a scene or situation that continued for some time.

Past Perfect Simple

To emphasize that the action already occurred at some point in the distant past.

If it hadn't rained... If I had left it for a few more months... When I woke up, the moon had moved behind a cloud and it was very dark and cold.

With the past simple together in a sentence to describe an action that happened before another past action.

Past Perfect Continuous

To emphasize a period of time during which an action was happening that ended when a second, action occurred.

It had been raining all morning. I had been living in Japan for a few months before I got a job.

To describe something that has been happening over a long period of time.

in a written story

Bond opened the door very slowly, looked carefully around the room and walked in. The window was open and the curtains were blowing in the wind. Clearly someone had left in a hurry.

Narrative tenses are common in written stories, especially when they describe action

in a written story

Opened, looked and walked - are a sequence: they are written in the order that the actions took place. We know this because they are in the past simple.

Bond opened the door very slowly, looked carefully around the room and walked in. The window was open and the curtains were blowing in the wind. Clearly someone had left in a hurry.

in a written story

Bond opened the door very slowly, looked carefully around the room and walked in. The window was open and the curtains were blowing in the wind. Clearly someone had left in a hurry.

Were blowing, shows an action in progress: the curtains started blowing before he walked into the room and continued to blow while he was there.

in a written story

Bond opened the door very slowly, looked carefully around the room and walked in. The window was open and the curtains were blowing in the wind. Clearly someone had left in a hurry.

Had left, shows an action that happened before he walked in.

David: I saw a UFO once. Well, I think it was one. Carol: Oh yeah? David: Yeah, really. I was in the country - in Yorkshire - on the moors... Carol: What were you doing there? David: Oh, I was visiting some friends. They'd rented a cottage and we'd gone to stay with them.

in conversation

Narrative tenses are common in conversation when we talk about past experiences

Nelson Mandela never gave up on his struggle against apartheid. As the years went by, his fame spread to every corner of the world. In the end, under enormous global pressure, the government had no option but to release him.

When we tell a story in the past, we often use linking words or phrases to join two or more sentences or clauses.

Linking words / phrases

Adverbs or Connectors

Sentence types

Simple sentence

• Simple Sentence

• Compound Sentence

• Complex Sentence

• Passive Sentence

• Question Sentence

• Conditional Sentence

Sugar makes people unhealthy. People gain weight from sugar. Sugar harms people's teeth.

Sentence types

Complex sentece

Compound sentece

While some people will support the tax others will be against it.

Sugar makes people unhealthy and it harms people's teeth.

Sentence types

Complex sentece

The goverment should tax sodas so that the public becomes healthier. Because people are becoming more obese, the goverment should tax sugary drinks

Although people will benefit, companies will suffer.

Doubts?