Simple Past

We use the simple past to talk about consecutive actions or situations in the past, i.e., for the main events in a story.

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• We arrived at the airport and checked in.

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Unit 3 | Narrative tenses

Simple Past

Past Continuous

We use the past continuous (was/ were+ verb + -ing) to describe a longer continuous past action or situation that was in progress when another action happened, or to describe an action or situation that was not complete at a past time.

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• We were having dinner when the plane hit some turbulence.

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Unit 3 | Narrative tenses

Past Continuous

Past Perfect simple

We use the past perfect (had + past participle) to talk about the "earlier past," i.e., things that happened before the main event(s).

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• When we arrived at the airport, we suddenly realized that we had left one of the suitcases in the taxi.

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Unit 3 | Narrative tenses

Past Perfect simple

Past Perfect continuous

We use the past perfect continuous (had been+ verb + -ing) with action verbs to talk about longer continuous actions or situations that started before the main events happened and have continued up to that point. Nonaction verbs (e.g., be, have, know, like, etc.) are not usually used in the past continuous or past perfect continuous.

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Unit 3 | Narrative tenses

Past Perfect continuous

Past Perfect continuous

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• We'd been flying for about two hours when suddenly the captain told us to fasten our seat belts because we were flying into some very bad weather.

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Unit 3 | Narrative tenses

Past Perfect continuous

Past Perfect simple or continuous

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The past perfect continuous emphasizes the continuation of an activity. The past perfect simple emphasizes the completion of an activity.

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Unit 3 | Narrative tenses

Past Perfect simple or continuous

Past Perfect simple or continuous

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• Lina was crying because she'd been reading a very sad book.

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• Lina didn't want to see the movie, because she'd already read the book.

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Unit 3 | Narrative tenses

Past Perfect simple or continuous