grammar
NARRATIVE TENSES
Using tenses to tell a story
On 20th December 1964, Ralph Lauren married Ricky Anne Loew-Beer in New York City. The couple had met six months earlier in an eye doctor's office where Ricky was working as a receptionist. Lauren made a point not to mention to his parents that his new bride was only half-Jewish. Ricky had been supporting Ralph in his career for many years until she returned to college, earned her degree, and then worked as a psychotherapist.
Taken from the podcast.
1 Which tenses are the verbs in bold?
a past simple
b past continuous
c past perfect simple
d past perfect continuous
Taken from the podcast.
1 Which tenses are the verbs in bold?
a past simple
b past continuous
c past perfect simple
d past perfect continuous
Quiz
Do you know narrative tenses?
Check yourself
| Start quiz |
Which tense is used to describe an activity or state in progress before the main event?
Ricky had been supporting Ralph in his career for many year...
Ricky had been supporting Ralph in his career for many year...
Ricky had been supporting Ralph in his career for many year...
Ricky had been supporting Ralph in his career for many year...
| Next |
| Check |
| Show result |
Which tense is used to describe a background activity or state?
... where Ricky was working as a receptionist.
... where Ricky was working as a receptionist.
... where Ricky was working as a receptionist.
... where Ricky was working as a receptionist.
| Next |
| Check |
| Show result |
Which tense is used to describe a sequence of events?
She returned to college, earned her degree, and then worked as a psychotherapist.
She returned to college, earned her degree, and then worked as a psychotherapist.
She returned to college, earned her degree, and then worked as a psychotherapist.
She returned to college, earned her degree, and then worked as a psychotherapist.
| Next |
| Check |
| Show result |
Which tense is used to describe an action that took place at an earlier time than the main event?
Lauren married Ricky Anne Loew-Beer. The couple had met six months earlier.
Lauren married Ricky Anne Loew-Beer. The couple had met six months earlier.
Lauren married Ricky Anne Loew-Beer. The couple had met six months earlier.
Lauren married Ricky Anne Loew-Beer. The couple had met six months earlier.
| Next |
| Check |
| Show result |
Poor
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Poor
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It could have been better
Listen to the podcast and do the quiz again.
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More or less
Listen to the podcast and pay attention to the details.
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Well done
Move on to the next exercises.
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Well done
Move on to the next exercises.
| Restart |
Past simple
We use the past simple to talk about:
Past continuous
We use the past continuous to talk about:
We don't generally use be in the past continuous:
My business was going really well and I was happy. (not was being happy)
Past perfect simple
We form the past perfect simple with had + past participle.
We use the past perfect simple to talk about:
Past perfect continuous
We form the past perfect continuous with had + been + -ing.
We use the past perfect continuous to talk about:
We use the past simple to talk about:
- an event or sequence of events in the past. The past time is stated (last month, ten years ago, etc.) or is clear from the context.
Past continuous
We use the past continuous to talk about:
- activities or states that describe the background to past actions
- activities or situations that were in progress when another action took place
We don't generally use be in the past continuous:
My business was going really well and I was happy. (not was being happy)
Past perfect simple
We form the past perfect simple with had + past participle.
We use the past perfect simple to talk about:
- actions that took place at an earlier time than the main event in a narrative, especially when the events are not related in the sequence they happened
Past perfect continuous
We form the past perfect continuous with had + been + -ing.
We use the past perfect continuous to talk about:
- an activity or state in progress before the main event took place
2a Complete the TED talk with the correct forms of the verbs. Use the narrative tenses. Write down your answers.
That winter, I 1 had been doing (do) research on the aftermath of the financial crisis in Latvia. When the Global Financial Crisis 2__________ (erupt) in 2008, Latvia 3__________ (get) hit hard as a small, open economy. To balance the books, the Latvian government 4__________ (choose) a strategy of internal devaluation. Now, in essence, that meant drastically reducing public budget spending, so, slashing public sector workers' wages, shrinking civil service, cutting unemployment benefits and other social assistance, raising taxes.
My mother 5__________ (work) as a history teacher her whole life. The austerity for her meant seeing her salary cut by 30 percent all of a sudden. And there were many in a situation like hers or worse. The costs of the crisis were put on the shoulders of ordinary Latvians.
As a result of the crisis and the austerity, the Latvian economy 6__________ (shrink) by 25 percent in a two-year period. Only Greece 7__________ (suffer) an economic contraction of a comparable scale. Yet, while Greeks were out in the streets for months staging continuous, often violent protests in Athens, all 8__________ (be) quiet in Riga. Prominent economists 9__________ (fight) in the columns of "The New York Times" about this curious extreme Latvian experiment of this austerity regime, and they 10__________ (watch) on in disbelief how the Latvian society 11__________ (put up) with it.
I 12__________ (study) in London at the time, and I remember the Occupy movement there and how it 13__________ (spread) from city to city, from Madrid to New York to London, the 99 percent against the one percent. You know the story. Yet when I 14__________ (arrive) in Riga, there were no echoes of the Occupy here. Latvians 15__________ (put up) with it. They "16__________ (swallow) the toad," as the local saying goes.
For my doctoral research, I 16__________ (want) to study how the state-citizen relationship 17__________ (change) in Latvia in the post-Soviet era, and I 18__________ (choose) the unemployment office as my research site.
2b Watch or listen to the TED talk (1:24–3:30) and check your answers.
That winter, I 1 had been doing (do) research on the aftermath of the financial crisis in Latvia. When the Global Financial Crisis 2__________ (erupt) in 2008, Latvia 3__________ (get) hit hard as a small, open economy. To balance the books, the Latvian government 4__________ (choose) a strategy of internal devaluation. Now, in essence, that meant drastically reducing public budget spending, so, slashing public sector workers' wages, shrinking civil service, cutting unemployment benefits and other social assistance, raising taxes.
My mother 5__________ (work) as a history teacher her whole life. The austerity for her meant seeing her salary cut by 30 percent all of a sudden. And there were many in a situation like hers or worse. The costs of the crisis were put on the shoulders of ordinary Latvians.
As a result of the crisis and the austerity, the Latvian economy 6__________ (shrink) by 25 percent in a two-year period. Only Greece 7__________ (suffer) an economic contraction of a comparable scale. Yet, while Greeks were out in the streets for months staging continuous, often violent protests in Athens, all 8__________ (be) quiet in Riga. Prominent economists 9__________ (fight) in the columns of "The New York Times" about this curious extreme Latvian experiment of this austerity regime, and they 10__________ (watch) on in disbelief how the Latvian society 11__________ (put up) with it.
I 12__________ (study) in London at the time, and I remember the Occupy movement there and how it 13__________ (spread) from city to city, from Madrid to New York to London, the 99 percent against the one percent. You know the story. Yet when I 14__________ (arrive) in Riga, there were no echoes of the Occupy here. Latvians 15__________ (put up) with it. They "16__________ (swallow) the toad," as the local saying goes.
For my doctoral research, I 16__________ (want) to study how the state-citizen relationship 17__________ (change) in Latvia in the post-Soviet era, and I 18__________ (choose) the unemployment office as my research site.
2b Watch or listen to the TED talk (1:24–3:30) and check your answers.
Liene Ozoliņa
Why do we blame individuals for economic crises?
