Narrative tenses & Adverbes summary

Objectives:
 Narrative tenses (tenses you use in stories)
o Past simple.

o Past continuous
 
o Past perfect
 
o Past perfect continuous
 
o Present perfect
 
 Abverbes
o Form
o Position
 ( adverbials - (front)/mid/end)
 Order (place before time)

What are narrative tenses? --> tenses you use to tell a story.
narrative tenses include:
- past simple
- past continuous
- past perfect
- past perfect continuous
- present perfect
Past simple and preset perfect
1. the past simple refers to finished past.  Shakespeare wrote plays. (he’s dead)/ I’ve
written a few short stories. (I’m alive)
2. There is no present result.  I hurt my back. (but it’s better now) / I’ve hurt my back
(And it hurts now.)
3. It refers to definite past.  I saw him (last night, two weeks ago, on Monday, at 8.00.)
Compare this with the indefinite adverbials found with the present perfect. (recently,
before, since January, yet, for month, never, just)
Even without a past time adverbial, we can imagine a past time:
- Did you have a good journey? (The journey’s over now? You’re here now.)
- Thank you for supper. It was lovely. (The meal is finished.)

Past Simple:
1. to express a finished action in the past.
o Columbus discovered America in 1492.

2. to express actions which follow each other in a story. (series- “and then”)
o I heard voices coming from Downstairs, so I put on my dressing gown and
went to investigate.
 3. to express a past state or habit.
o When I was a child, we lived in a small house by the sea. Every day, I walked
for miles on the beach with my dog.
Past continuous:
1. to express an activity in progress before and probably after a time in the past
o I phoned at 4.00, but you didn’t answer. What were you doing?

2. to set the scene of a past situation or activity. (background)

o the cottage was looking so cozy. A fire was burning in the grate, music was
playing, and from the kitchen were coming the most delicious smells.
(Something is going on)
3. to express an interrupted past activity.
o I was having a bath when the phone rang.

4. to express an incomplete activity in the past.

o I was reading a book during the flight (But I didn’t finish it.)
o Compare: I watched a film during the flight. (the whole film)

5. to express an activity that was in progress at every moment during a period of time.
o I was working all day yesterday.
o they were fighting for the whole of the holiday.

Notes:
- the Past simple expresses past actions as simple, complete facts,.
The past Continuous gives past activities time and duration.
o What did you do last night? – I stayed at home and watched the football
o I phoned you last night, but there was no reply – Oh, I was watching the
football and my phone was off. Sorry.
- Notice how these questions and answers in the Past Continuous and Past Simple refer
to different times.
o When we arrived, Jan was ironing. She stopped ironing and made some coffee.
 What was she doing when we arrived? She was ironing.

 What did she od when we arrived? She made some coffee.

Past perfect
The past perfect is used when we look back to a time in the past and refer to an action that
happened before then.
- Kate was fed up. He’d been looking for a job for months, but he’d found nothing.

Notes:
- The continuous refers to longer actions or repeated activities. The simple refers to
shorter, complete facts.
o He’d lost his job and his wife had left him. Since then he’d been sleeping
rough, and he hadn’t been eating properly.

- the past perfect can refer to definite as well as indefinite time

o I knew his face immediately. I’d first met him in October 1993. (=definite)
o I recognized her face. I’d seen her somewhere before. (=indefinite)

Past perfect and Past simple:

1. Verbs in the Past simple tell a story in chronological order.
o $John worked hard all day to prepare for the party. Everyone had a good time.
Even the food was all right. Unfortunately, Andy upset Peter, so Peter left
early. Pat came looking for Peter, but he wasn’t there. It was a great party.
John sat and looked at all the mess. He felt tired. It was time for bed.

2. By using the past perfect, the speaker or writer can tell a story in a different order.
o John sat and looked at all the mess. It had been a great party, and everyone had
had a good time. Even the food had been all right. Unfortunately, Nick upset
 Pete, so Pete left early. Dave came looking for Peter, but he’d already gone.
John felt tired. He’d been working all day to prepare for the party. It was time
for bed.

Note: For reason of style it is not necessary to have every verb in the past perfect. Use the
first verb in past perfect and the following you can use in past simple.
Time clauses:
1. We can use time conjunctions to show that two actions happened one after the other.
Usually the past perfect is not necessary in these cases, although it can be used.
a. After I’d had a bath, I went to bed
b. as soon as the guests had left, I started tidying up. I sat outside until the sun
had gone down
2. The past perfect can emphasize that the first action was completed before the second
action started
a. When I had read the paper, I threw it away
b. We stayed up until all the beer had gone.
3. Two verbs in the Pat simple van suggest that the first action led into the other, or that
one caused the other to happen
a. When I heard the news, I burst out crying.
b. As soon as the alarm went off, I got up
4. The past perfect is more common with when because it is ambiguous. the other
conjunctions are more specific, so the past perfect is not essential.
a. As soon as al the guests left, I tidied the house
b. Before I met you, I didn’t know the meaning of happiness
c. When I opened the door, the cat jumped out
d. When I’d opened the mail, I made another cup of tea.

Adverbes:
 Abverbes
o Form
o Position
 ( adverbials - (front)/mid/end)
  Order (place before time)

Some adverbs have the same form as adjectives:

- close - pretty (informal)
- dead(informal) - short
- fast - straight
- fine - wide
- long - wrong
- low
Some adverbs are formed by adding -Ward/s or -wise to a noun or preposition:
home – homeward price – pricewise
after – afterwards health – Healthwise
Different meanings:
close Not fare away closely very carefully
direct without stopping directly exactly/precisely
late not on time lately recently
high to a great height highly extremely
hard with a lot of effort almost not
right direction/correctly rightly correctly in my opinion
free without paying freely without control
deep to a great depth deeply extremely
Is it affected by the adverb? or is it actually describing a noun and not the verb? An adverb
modifies how something works.
We use adverbs to add information about time, manner or place of an action or stat:
He hit the ball hard and this time it flew into the back of the net.
Adverbialen kann man mit versch. Formen füllen mit nominalen Formen, Präpositionalgefüge
Adverben etc.
All diese Fügungen nennt man im Englischen als Adverbialen bezeichnet.
Adverbes which modify a verb or add information about how, when or where something
happens can take several positions in a sentence:
- front position
- mid position (before the verb)
- end position

Wenn ich z.b “these days» ersetzen kann, mit z.b «then» dann ist es ein adverb.
 Mid position (next tot he verb) short epression adverbs
end positions long things adverbs
to Stress the adverbe, put it at the front of thr sentence  not very often to link two
sentences, you can also put it at the front.

these adverbs are usually put in the mid position:

always completely still
frequently entirely then
generally just yesterday
hardly hardly tomorrow
ever partly
never quite
normally rather
occasionally really
often slightly
rarely totally
seldom

In the end position

there is a certain
order: Place before
time.
If there is an
auxiliary verb in the
sentence, the
adverbe would be certainly
after that auxiliary
verb. If there isn’t definitely
any auxiliary verb probably
the adverbe comes in
front of the verbe already

sometimes finally

usually immediately

absolutely no longer

almost soon