21 Narrative Tenses

We use Narrative Tenses in stories and past events.

There are four Narrative Tenses:
Past Simple*, Past Continous, Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continous.

*Past Simple Tense is the most commonly used Narrative Tense.

Past Simple

• They finished studying, and started thinking about the tedious day they had.

Past Continuous

• It was dark in the night. The fireplace was radiating a soothing heat and the children were listening the radio programme with complete attention.

Past Perfect Simple

• People of this small village had been uneasy and restless long before the war was declared. And they couldn’t find peace for a long time after the war ended.

Past Perfect Continuous

• We had been trying hard to make the ends meet before the financial crisis, but in the end, all the effort was in vain.

We use Narrative Tenses to tell stories and to talk about past events. We can use these tenses when we are describing past events such as personal anecdotes.

We use Narrative Tenses to talk about past. Generally, Narrative Tenses are used in stories and past events.

Narrative Tenses are Past Simple, Past Continous, Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continous.

For example:
— “It was raining heavily that night. He got dressed and took his umbrella. It was going to be a long night.” = Narrative Tenses are used to tell stories.
— “It had been a hot winter in 1998, a year later your brother was born.” = When we are talking about past events, Narrative Tenses are used.

Let’s revise this content within the [Form] section. Take a look at the [Example] section that shows its use within a context.