Hi,
Thank you so much for your reply and help. Let me give you the whole idea about this. Obviously some changes have to be made since you told me that there are no "narrative tenses" as such. By the way, I read it on the Internet.
There might be some merit in drawing attention to various tenses that are most commonly used in narrative. I've looked at the net, and I see that this terminology is not uncommon, so I guess it's OK to use. The problem I have with it is that you can also use other tenses for narrative.
It seems that the "narrative tenses" are past simple, past continuous, past perfect simple, and past perfect progressive.
However, you can also use the simple present, the present continuous, various future and conditional tenses and moods as well. As long as students know what you are referring to (the tenses most used in narrative, there's probably not a problem).
"So, I'm walking down the street, and this man comes up to me says 'Give me your money!' Well, I haven't got much money on me, but I'm not going to let him deprive me of my lunch, so ... "
This is narrative, and it uses the simple present, the present continuous, the present perfect, and the future construction with "going to".
The title has to be changed and so have these sentences, 'The narrative tenses are ...?' and 'The most common narrative tenses ...' Could you suggest others please?
Thanks again
L45
The Narrative Tenses
Grammar Notes
The narrative tenses are the grammatical structures that we use most often to narrate a story.
The most common narrative tenses are the Simple Past and the Past Progressive.
Using the Simple Past in Narrative
The simple past is used to narrate past events in chronological order. It expresses completed actions at a definitive time in the past. In other words, we use the simple past to narrate the principal events of the story.
EXAMPLE:
(1) I woke up at half past seven yesterday then, (2) I had a shower and (3) ate my breakfast. (4) I went out of the house at a quarter past eight.
Using the Past Progressive in Narrative
The past progressive is used to narrate a situation in which one event is occurring over a period of time and another event either interrupts it or occurs during the time at which the first event is occurring.
EXAMPLES:
When (1) I phoned her, (2) she was eating breakfast.
When (1) her son came into the kitchen, (2) the dog was sleeping and she was making dinner.