IELTS Grammar Topics
Using the Narrative Tenses to Tell Stories in IELTS Speaking Part 2
When we tell stories or anecdotes about our past experiences we tend to use 4 past tenses, the past simple, past continuous and past perfect and past perfect continuous.
Past simple examples: I went, she did, he saw, you asked, we walked, they gave, etc.
Past continuous examples: I was eating, she was walking, they were talking etc.
Past perfect examples: I had finished, you had arrived, they had talked, etc.
Past perfect continuous examples: I had been eating, she had been reading, he had been running
Past Simple
The past simple is used to describe the main events in the story. The majority of the time you will use the past simple when telling stories.
I crashed into a tree and broke my arm.
The doctor arrived after 10 minutes and told me that I needed to go to the hospital.
Past continuous
Usually, the past continuous describes the background situation. We use it to say what was happening around or surrounding the main event of the story.
This happened while I was driving to work.
When I arrived at her house loud music was playing and her children were dancing in the living room.
Past perfect
The past perfect is used to go further back in time. If you begin by describing an event in the past, and then you need to describe something that happened before it (further in the past), you should use the past perfect.
It is often used with I realised:
While I was standing at the airline check-in counter I realised that I had left the back door of the house open.
It’s also often used in reported speech:
The policeman asked me if I had seen a tall man wearing a black hoodie.
The past perfect is often used with a time expression such as when, before or by the time.
Before I met John, I had never played badminton.
Everybody in the office congratulated me after I had given the speech.
By the time she arrived, I had finished cooking.
Past perfect continuous
You can use the past perfect continuous to talk about something that began in the past, and continued up to a specific point in the past.
He was sweating because he had been exercising
Before the turbulence hit, the passengers had been eating their lunch.
Exercise 1:
Complete the sentences using the verbs in brackets and decide on the correct grammatical form from the options given.
1. I decided to start working much harder at school when I was 14 years old. Before that time I ___________ (not make) any effort in my school studies. (past perfect or past simple)
2. When I was a kid, I ___________ (play) football with my friends every Sunday afternoon. (past simple or past continuous)
3. This happened while I ___________ (study) at university. (past simple or past continuous)
4. As soon as I walked into the room I could tell that she ___________ (cry). (past perfect or past perfect continuous)
5. I picked up a small stone and ___________ (throw) it at the window. (past continuous or past simple).
6. She asked me if I ___________ (see) the movie. (past perfect or past simple)
Exercise 2:
Fill the gaps in the following story with the most appropriate tense (past simple/ past continuous/ past perfect).
I (arrive) at the airport at 10am. My flight (be) at 1pm so I wasn’t in a rush. I (go) to the check-in desk and (wait) in the queue. Many people (wait) and several airline employees (work) at the desks so the queue (move) quickly. When it was my turn I (give) the staff my passport and ticket. The airline employee (look up) my details, and (tell) me that my flight (be) on time, but that I (be) only allowed hand luggage. I (be) shocked. I (check) the details of the flight carefully before booking the ticket. I even (call) the airline to check that I would be allowed to check-in luggage. I also (receive) a confirmation email which showed that I (be) allowed to check in luggage up to 20kg. Luckily, I (can) find the confirmation email and I (show) it to the airline staff, who then (talk) to her supervisor. Finally the supervisor (come over) and (tell) me that there (be) an error in their system and I (can) check in my luggage after all. I (be) very relieved!
Exercise 3:
Fill the gaps in the following story with the most appropriate tense (past simple/ past continuous/ past perfect).
Well, there (be) one time that I (get) stuck in a really bad traffic jam when I (travel) from Sheffield to London. This (happen) a long time ago, maybe about 15 years ago. At the time, I (live) in London, which is in the south of England, but one of my best friends (live) in Sheffield, which is a city in the north of England, so I used to regularly travel to Sheffield to visit her.
So, I (drive) home one Sunday evening when I (hit) heavy traffic. I (visit) my friend over the weekend and I (leave) the city at about 4pm. After about 2 hours of driving I (reach) the traffic jam. The cars (not move) at all, so I (have) to hit the brakes and completely stop.
I (turn on) the radio to listen to the traffic news and (hear) that there (be) a big accident nearby. Believe it or not, a lorry (crash) into the central reservation, and (block) the road. What’s more, the newsreader (say) that it would probably take the police and emergency services a few hours to clear the wreckage.
I (sit) in the traffic for 3 hours before it started moving again. By the time I (get) home I (be) absolutely exhausted!
Answer Key:
Exercise 1:
1. had not made
2. played
3. was studying
4. had been crying
5. threw
6. had seen
Exercise 2:
I arrived at the airport at 10am. My flight was at 1pm so I wasn’t in a rush. I went to the check-in desk and waited in the queue. Many people were waiting but several airline employees were working at the desks so the queue was moving quickly. When it was my turn I gave the staff my passport and ticket. The airline employee looked up my details, and told me that my flight was on time, but that I was only allowed hand luggage. I was shocked. I had checked the details of the flight carefully before booking the ticket. I had even called the airline to check that I would be allowed to check-in luggage. I had also received a confirmation email which showed that I was allowed to check in luggage up to 20kg. Luckily, I could find the confirmation email and I showed it to the airline employee, who then talked to her supervisor. Finally the supervisor came over and told me that there had been an error in their system and I could check in my luggage after all. I was very relieved!
Exercise 3:
Well, there was one time that I got stuck in a really bad traffic jam when I was travelling from Sheffield to London. This happened a long time ago, maybe about 15 years ago. At the time, I was living in London, which is in the south of England, but one of my best friends was living in Sheffield, which is a city in the north of England, so I used to regularly travel to Sheffield to visit her.
So, I was driving home one Sunday evening when I hit heavy traffic. I had been visiting my friend over the weekend and I had left the city at about 4pm. After about 2 hours of driving I reached the traffic jam. The cars weren’t moving at all, so I had to hit the brakes and completely stop.
I turned on the radio to listen to the traffic news and heard that there had been a big accident nearby. Believe it or not, a lorry had crashed into the central reservation, and was blocking the road. What’s more, the newsreader said that it would probably take the police and emergency services a few hours to clear the wreckage.
I sat in the traffic for 3 hours before it started moving again. By the time I got home I was absolutely exhausted!