1: LANGUAGE FOCUS - Past narrative tenses | Tiếng Anh 9 (Friends Plus) | UNIT 1: THEN AND NOW - Lớp 9 - Giáo Dục Việt Nam

1 Match rules 1-3 with the examples of tenses a-c. Then find more examples of these tenses in the text on pages 12-13.

a past continuous

Some workers were repairing the building.

b past simple

Some experts opened the box.

c past perfect

Water had destroyed the documents a long time before they opened the box.

2 Look again at examples a-c in exercise 1. Answer the questions.

1 Which word is a regular past simple form?

2 Which word is a past participle?

3 Which word is a past form of be?

4 How do we form the past continuous?

5 How do we form the past perfect?

3 Read the story and choose the correct verb forms. Explain your answers.

A true story

A long time ago in Sweden, there was a sailor called Ake Viking. He worked on a boat, but because of his work, he didn't meet many people. He ¹hadn't had / wasn't having a girlfriend for a long time. One day he ²was feeling / had felt lonely and romantic, so he ³decided / was deciding to write a letter. He addressed it to 'someone beautiful and far away', then he ⁴put / was putting the letter into a bottle and he ⁵threw / had thrown it in the sea. One day a fisherman in Italy ⁶emptied /was emptying his net when he found the bottle and the message. He ⁷gave / was giving it to his daughter Paolina, and she ⁸started / had started writing to Ake. Three years after Ake ⁹had written /was writing the letter, he finally travelled to Sicily and ¹⁰married / had married his true love.

4 Complete the sentences using the verbs in brackets. Include a past simple form and a past perfect form in each sentence.

1 I .................. (remember) that I  .................. (see) her somewhere before.

2 We  .................. (be) late because we  .................. (forget) the tickets.

3 We  .................. (not meet) before I  .................. (see) her at the party.

4 After we  .................. (have) breakfast, we  .................. (go) for a walk.

5 When we  .................. (arrive) at the station, we were late and the train  .................. (leave).

5 Complete the questions with the correct verb forms. Then ask and answer the questions with a partner.

1 What  ..................  you doing at this time yesterday?

2  .................. you do anything interesting last weekend?

3 When  .................. you last to the cinema? 

4   ..................you studied much English before you  .................. to this school?

5 Who  .................. talking to you before you came into this class?

6 USE IT! Work in pairs. Invent a 'cooperative story. Take turns to say sentences. Listen to your partner and continue their ideas.

One day I was walking in a wood with a friend.

It was dark and we were feeling a bit scared.

Suddenly, I saw ...

Finished?

Think about a film with a happy or surprising ending. Write the story, using past narrative tenses. Read it to your classmates. Can they guess the film?