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My Story in English: The Narrative Tense
Level: B1 · 5 minutes · Teens & Adults
💡 Today’s Idea
Stories in English use three past tenses together:
Past Simple (the main events) · Past Continuous (background/interrupted actions) · Past Perfect (events before the story began).
Past Simple (the main events) · Past Continuous (background/interrupted actions) · Past Perfect (events before the story began).
📖 From My Experience
Here is a paragraph using all three: I was sitting on the kerb outside Sydney Airport (Past Continuous — background). I had arrived three hours earlier (Past Perfect — before the story). I had nothing except a phone number on a piece of paper. Then a taxi driver walked over and asked where I was going (Past Simple — the main event). That question changed everything.
📚 The Three Narrative Tenses
Past Simple: I arrived. I saw. I decided. → Main events.
Past Continuous: It was raining. People were rushing. → Background/interrupted.
Past Perfect: I had never left my country before. → Before the story.
✏️ Try It! (2 minutes)
Write 4–5 sentences about a significant moment in your life. Use all three narrative tenses. Start with the background (Past Continuous), then the main event (Past Simple), then something that happened before (Past Perfect).
🎯 Quick Quiz
“When I arrived, she ___ for two hours.” (wait)
Independent project; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification.
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