ELSAC Workout: Grammar 6, Narrative Tenses

ELSAC Workout: Grammar 6, Narrative Tenses
(EN/A/ 0702.123)
Get Grammar Fit!

review the use of past simple, past continuous and past perfect tenses
practise writing these tenses

Level: Advanced
Time: approx. 20 mins
Suggested next workout: Grammar 7, Phrasal Verbs

For more support: https://morepracticeinenglish.blogspot.com/2012/10/narrative-tenses.html

Work through the practice activities in order, by clicking on the tabs at the top of the next page. After completing all practices, the Result tab will summarize your workout. Record your results as proof of independent learning and as motivation to repeat the workout and beat your score. Practice makes you fitter!

Material developed by Hebe Wong, Alison Wood.

Strengthen knowledge

Stretch usage

Energize practice

*** All ELSAC Workouts ***

Practice 1 Practice 2 Practice 3 Result

1. How strong are your narrative tenses?

Read the story below, which is about Martha's journey to work one day. Stories, or narratives, often use the past simple tense, the past continuous tense and the past perfect tense, to help the reader/listener understand the order of events. Choose the correct tense option for each verb. After you have finished this activity, you can check why the different tenses were used.

If you need help understanding any of the vocabulary in this story, please use a dictionary such as https://www.ldoceonline.com/. Do not use google translate, as it may not help you to remember the word and it is not always accurate for the context.

Last Tuesday, Martha ⁽¹⁾ the MTR to work as usual. As she ⁽²⁾ Wanchai station, she suddenly ⁽³⁾ that she ⁽⁴⁾ of coffee and sugar in the office, so she ⁽⁵⁾ to the nearest convenience store to buy some. She ⁽⁶⁾ the coffee, but there ⁽⁷⁾ no sugar. She ⁽⁸⁾ the offer of a plastic bag.

So, she ⁽⁹⁾ the next convenience store just down the street. She ⁽¹⁰⁾ the jar of coffee in her hand when she ⁽¹¹⁾ to the back of the store to find sugar. As she ⁽¹²⁾ the counter, she ⁽¹³⁾ down and ⁽¹⁴⁾ that the sales staff might think she ⁽¹⁵⁾ to buy the coffee as well, so she ⁽¹⁶⁾ it in her handbag. She ⁽¹⁷⁾ for the sugar and ⁽¹⁸⁾ .

She ⁽¹⁹⁾ her office building when she ⁽²⁰⁾ a loud shout behind her. A sales assistant and a police officer ⁽²¹⁾ towards her. She was surprised when the police officer ⁽²²⁾ her arm and ⁽²³⁾ to see inside her handbag. When the coffee jar was revealed, the sales assistant shouted "Thief!", but the police officer ⁽²⁴⁾ . He ⁽²⁵⁾ the coffee and ⁽²⁶⁾ a Seven Eleven sticker on the side.

By that time, a large crowd ⁽²⁷⁾ , including her boss. But Martha's boss just ⁽²⁸⁾ and ⁽²⁹⁾ "I tell you what. Let's go to the coffee shop and I'll buy you a cup of coffee."

Note your score and move onto Practice 2.

2. How flexible are your narrative tenses?

The three tenses in this workout are flexible, i.e. they are used for different purposes within a story. Below is a list of their various uses. Can you drag an example sentence from the stack below which shows each use?

Past simple is used to talk about...
... a finished single action or situation
e.g.⁽¹⁾
... finished repeated actions or situations
e.g.⁽²⁾
... a main action that happened whilst another action was happening in the 'background'
e.g.⁽³⁾
Past continuous is used to talk about...
... something that was happening at a definite time in the past
e.g.⁽⁴⁾
... a longer 'background' action to another main action
e.g.⁽⁵⁾
... two (usually longer) actions that were happening at the same time in the past
e.g.⁽⁶⁾
Past perfect is used to talk about...
... an action that happened before another action, in the past
e.g.⁽⁷⁾

Example sentences to drag and drop into the table above.

a. She was taking the stairs as he was coming down in the lift.

b. She drank a glass of whisky every night until she died.

c. I was watching Netflix all night.

d. They had finished dinner by the time he arrived.

e. He was cooking his dinner when the phone rang.

f. She left the room in tears.

g. The wind was howling as he climbed the mountain.

3. Test your stamina

You need stamina to always use the narrative tenses correctly in stories. To check your stamina with verb tenses, try Practice 1 again and see if your score improves. For a more challenging workout, complete Martha's story below by typing in the correct form of each verb (in brackets) yourself. Some of the verbs are in passive voice. Remember to use the correct spacing, spelling, etc.

Last Tuesday, Martha ⁽¹⁾ (take) the MTR to work as usual. As she ⁽²⁾ (leave) Wanchai station, she suddenly ⁽³⁾ (remember) that she ⁽⁴⁾ (run out) of coffee and sugar in the office, so she ⁽⁵⁾ (go) to the nearest convenience store to buy some. She ⁽⁶⁾ (buy) the coffee, but there ⁽⁷⁾ (be) no sugar. She ⁽⁸⁾ (refuse) the offer of a plastic bag.

So, she ⁽⁹⁾ (try) the next convenience store just down the street. She ⁽¹⁰⁾ (carry) the jar of coffee in her hand when she ⁽¹¹⁾ (go) to the back of the store to find sugar. As she ⁽¹²⁾ (approach) the counter, she ⁽¹³⁾ (look) down and ⁽¹⁴⁾ (realize) that the sales staff might think she ⁽¹⁵⁾ (want) to buy the coffee as well, so she ⁽¹⁶⁾ (put) it in her handbag. She ⁽¹⁷⁾ (pay) for the sugar and ⁽¹⁸⁾ (leave).

She ⁽¹⁹⁾ (just enter) her office building when she ⁽²⁰⁾ (hear) a loud shout behind her. A sales assistant and a police officer ⁽²¹⁾ (run) towards her. She was surprised when the police officer ⁽²²⁾ (grab) her arm and ⁽²³⁾ (demand) to see inside her handbag. When the coffee jar was revealed, the sales assistant shouted "Thief!", but the police officer ⁽²⁴⁾ (not convince). He ⁽²⁵⁾ (examine) the coffee and ⁽²⁶⁾ (see) a Seven Eleven sticker on the side.

By that time, a large crowd ⁽²⁷⁾ (gather), including her boss. But she just ⁽²⁸⁾ (smile) and ⁽²⁹⁾ (say) "I tell you what. Let's go to the coffee shop and I'll buy you a cup of coffee."

Activity	Correct	Total	Percentage
Practice 1	0		0%
Practice 2	0		0%
Practice 3	0		0%
Total Score	0		0%

1. How strong are your narrative tenses?

2. How flexible are your narrative tenses?

3. Test your stamina

Final Result of Grammar 6