tenses in the sentence

[ostap77]

"I was coming home pretty late. It was getting dark and it was raining. I didn't want to get soaking wet. So I was walking fast since I didn't take an umbrella with me. The cars were passing by. One of them sudenly pulled up next to me and somebody called me. I recognized the voice of my friend. He wondered if he could give me a lift. I agreed and in 5 minutes I was home." Correct?

[Richard1]

Hello,

There's nothing inherently wrong, but the sentences are somewhat brief and 'staccato'.

Perhaps:

"I was coming home pretty late and it was getting dark and raining. I didn't want to get soaking wet and since I hadn't taken an umbrella I was walking fast. One of the passing cars suddenly pulled up next to me and somebody called out. I recognised the voice of my friend who was asking if he could give me a lift, to which I agreed and in five minutes I was home.

Rgds

[ostap77]

Hello,

There's nothing inherently wrong, but the sentences are somewhat brief and 'staccato'.

Perhaps:

"I was coming home pretty late and it was getting dark and raining. I didn't want to get soaking wet and since I hadn't taken an umbrella I was walking fast. One of the passing cars suddenly pulled up next to me and somebody called out. I recognised the voice of my friend who was asking if he could give me a lift, to which I agreed and in five minutes I was home.

Rgds

Is it possible to use the past simple "......since I didn't take an umbrella with me....."?

[Richard1]

Hello,

Again I can see that it would work although it doesn't sound at all natural given the tenses in the rest of the paragraph.

Don't worry too much about tenses. Ask 100 native English speakers about tenses and most wouldn't even know what you were talking about. Just get a feel for the way it's written and spoken by natives rather than over analysing it.

Rgds