Narrative tenses: telling a great story – narrative tenses exercises for telling stories

This B1 drill lesson gives narrative tenses exercises: the past simple, past continuous and past perfect working together in one story, with when, while and by the time.

Grammar: Past simple for main events, past continuous for the background, past perfect to go back, and the three meanings of When I arrived, Ana left / was leaving / had left.
Topic: A magazine's story contest: Emmett's winning story about a parrot and the wedding rings, his interview, the second-prize story, a reader's letter and a chat with Corinne.
Activities: Sorting, choosing the tense, gap-fills, drag-and-drop stories, matching, word order, tables, quizzes, a memory game, anagrams and a chat, with instant answers.

What's inside

Chapter 1The rule
- PictureUnlock
- Study the scheme: narrative tensesGrammar schemeTry it
- Is the sentence correct? Mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
- Sort the sentences: main event, background or earlier event?Sort into columnsTry it
- Choose the right tenseChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: use the tense in the labelFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 2Setting the scene
- Fill in the gaps: the background (was / were + -ing)Fill in the gapsTry it
- Fill in the gaps: the main events (past simple)Fill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the right form: background or main event?Choose the optionUnlock
- Read about the fire alarm and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Match the beginnings and the endingsMatchUnlock
- Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: past simple or past continuousFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 3Going further back
- Fill in the gaps: the earlier event (had + past participle)Fill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the right form: which happened first?Choose the optionTry it
- Fill in the table: past simple, past continuous, past perfectFill in the tableUnlock
- Match the two halves: what had happened before?MatchUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: by the time + past perfectFill in the gapsUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: what had happened?UnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the right answer: which happened first?QuizUnlock
Chapter 4All three together
- Choose the right form: use the story cluesChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right answer: what does the sentence mean?QuizUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: one verb, three tensesDrag and dropTry it
- Fill in the gaps: past simple, past continuous or past perfectFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the mistake and choose the right wordsQuizUnlock
- Match the beginnings and the endings: three tensesMatchUnlock
- Read Radek's story and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
Chapter 5Real life: The story contest
- Read the winning storyReal-life documentUnlock
- Read the story again: true or false?True or falseUnlock
- Read the interview with Emmett and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read the second-prize story and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read a reader's letter and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right replies: Corinne asks about your storyChatTry it
- Test yourself: choose the right answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 6Homework
- Choose the right form: at the airportChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: what was happening? (was / were + -ing)Fill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: what had happened? (had + past participle)Fill in the gapsUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: little storiesUnjumbleUnlock
- Match the questions and the answers: a stormMatchUnlock
- Fill in the table: negatives and questionsFill in the tableUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: verb and past participleMemory gameUnlock
- Unscramble the past participlesAnagramUnlock
- Sort the sentences: correct or wrong?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Choose the correct sentenceQuizUnlock
- Drag the words into the gaps: a night in the mountainsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read the news story and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Read Thea's email and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Odessa's blog post and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Write the questions for the answersFill in the gapsUnlock

Grammar: narrative tenses: three past tenses, three jobs

A story about the past rarely gets by with one tense. Each of the three tenses has its own job: the past simple moves the story forward, the past continuous paints the background, and the past perfect steps back to something earlier: My brother had come home early. I didn't know!

Narrative tenses: telling a story in the past

Three past tenses work together in a story: the main events, the background, and what had happened before.

Main events, background, earlier event

I was watching a scary movie is the background, in progress; the lights went out is a main event that happens inside it. He had come home sits further back on the timeline, before both.

Three tenses, three jobs

Tense	Form	Its job in a story	Example
Past simple	worked · went	the main events, one after another	Suddenly the lights went out, and I screamed.
Past continuous	was / were + -ing	the background: what was in progress	I was watching a scary movie, and the wind was blowing.
Past perfect	had + past participle	an earlier event: before the main events	My brother had come home early. I didn't know!

On a timeline

he had come home (earlier)
I was watching a movie
the lights went out

Positives, negatives, questions

Each tense has its own helper: did, was / were or had. The short answer repeats that helper: Did she leave? – Yes, she did. Were they leaving? – No, they weren't. Had she left? – Yes, she had.

Tense	Positive (+)	Negative (−)	Question (?)	Short answers
Past simple	She left.	She didn't leave.	Did she leave?	Yes, she did. · No, she didn't.
Past continuous	She was leaving. · They were leaving.	She wasn't leaving. · They weren't leaving.	Was she leaving? · Were they leaving?	Yes, she was. · No, they weren't.
Past perfect	She had left. · She'd left.	She hadn't left.	Had she left?	Yes, she had. · No, she hadn't.

When I arrived: Ana left, was leaving, had left

Left: first I arrived, then she went. Was leaving: she was at the door with her coat on. Had left: she was gone before I came, so I didn't see her at all.

When I arrived, Ana left.

First I arrived, then she left.
past simple: the next event

When I arrived, Ana was leaving.

She was at the door with her coat on: in the middle of leaving.
past continuous: in progress

When I arrived, Ana had left.

She left before I arrived. I didn't see her.
past perfect: the earlier event

Story words for each tense

Suddenly, then and as soon as often go with main events; while, as and still with the background; by the time, already and never … before with the earlier event: As we were leaving the hotel, it started to snow.

Story words

Tense	Words that often go with it
Past simple	suddenly · then · after that · as soon as · when (the next event)
Past continuous	while · as (= while) · still · at that moment · all evening
Past perfect	by the time · already · just · before that · never … before

Examples

It was raining, and people were hurrying home.the background
I was crossing the street when a bike hit me.background + main event
As we were leaving the hotel, it started to snow.as = while
By the time the police arrived, the thief had run away.the earlier event
I didn't recognize my old teacher. She had cut her hair short.going back
Had the movie started when you got there? — Yes, it had.a past perfect question

Go back only from a moment in the story

When I got to the station, my train had left steps back from a moment. Events told in their own order stay simple: I got up, had a coffee and left. With after and before, the past simple is fine too.

Don't use the past perfect everywhere

Go back with the past perfect from a moment in the story: When I got to the station, my train had left. Events in their own order stay in the past simple: I got up, had a coffee and left. With after and before, the order is clear, so the past simple is fine too: After she finished (or had finished) work, she went home.

Common mistakes

Look out for Suddenly I was dropping my phone (a sudden event), Yesterday I had met an old friend (nothing later to step back from) and someone had took my seat, where had needs the third form, taken.

When we got to the stadium, the game already started.
When we got to the stadium, the game had already started.
it started before we got there → had + past participle
Suddenly I was dropping my phone.
Suddenly I dropped my phone.
a short, sudden main event → past simple
Yesterday I had met an old friend in town.
Yesterday I met an old friend in town.
no later moment to go back from → past simple
When I came back, someone had took my seat.
When I came back, someone had taken my seat.
had + past participle: take – took – taken

More lessons on this grammar: Past perfect lessons and exercises · Past continuous lessons and exercises · Past simple lessons and exercises

Try the narrative tenses exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

What's in the lesson

41 auto-checked exercises
5 games
1 real-life document
1 grammar scheme
1 picture

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

tell the main events in the past simple: Suddenly a cat jumped onto the kitchen table.
set the scene with was / were + -ing: At ten last night, Grandma was knitting a scarf in front of the TV.
go back to an earlier event: I couldn't open the door. I had lost my key.
tell apart When I arrived, Ana left, Ana was leaving and Ana had left
keep sudden events simple: Suddenly I dropped my phone, not Suddenly I was dropping my phone

Grammar:: narrative tenses · past simple · past continuous · past perfect · when / while / by the time
Topic:: grammar practice · stories · short story contest · weddings

Teaching tips

Build a story around the room: one student sets the scene (It was snowing…), the next adds an event with suddenly, the next explains it with had, and so on until the story ends.
Act out “When I arrived, Ana…”: one student walks in, and a partner then leaves, is halfway out the door, or is already gone; the class calls out left, was leaving or had left.
Write a contest entry after the chat: once students have answered Corinne, they write six lines about a trip that went wrong, using each of the three tenses at least twice.

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The whole course: English Grammar Practice · B1

English Grammar Practice · B1 has 28 drill lessons, one grammar point each: the present perfect continuous, narrative tenses, future forms, modals of deduction, the second conditional, the passive, relative clauses, reported speech, question tags and linkers. Each has the rule as a scheme, 43 to 47 exercises that check themselves, 15 of them for homework, and no new words.See the course

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