Happy Christmas

Narrative Verbs

We use these when telling stories. (We sometimes use the formal verb to narrate with a story - he narrated a story)

We use the past continuous to set the scene and background information.

- It was a lovely sunny day, the sun was shining and the birds were singing.

We use the past simple to tell the main events in order

- I got up, had my breakfast and then had a shower.

We can use the past continuous with the past simple to show an action interrupted (broken) by another.

- I was having a shower when the phone rang / While I was having a shower, the phone rang

Note the use of when + past simple, while + past continuous quite common but not 100%!

We can use the Past Perfect Continuous to talk about an action taking place up to your point of time in the past.

- I was really tired because I had been working all day in the garden.

We use the Past Perfect Simple to look back at an action which took place before the time of the story.

- When I got to work I realised that I had left my mobile at home.

We also use this with the expression 'by the time' and use this to talk about our achievements at various points in our history.

By the time Bob was 25 he had had 3 jobs and was on his fourth!