Exercise 1: Narrative tenses 1

 Narrative tenses 1

1Match the sentence to the rule. 

• 1He smoked twenty cigarettes a day. 

• 2We went to the National Park and saw the wild cats. 

• 3I opened the overhead locker. 

• 4The beach resort was deserted. 

• 5She had eaten her meal when he telephoned to invite her to the restaurant. 

• 6The local people were playing drums and singing and dogs were barking. 

• 7He was building his boat yesterday afternoon. 

• 8I was taking a photograph when it started to rain. 

aA sequence of actions in the past

bA completed past action

cA past habit

dA completed past state

eA longer action interrupted by a shorter action

fSomething that happened before another event in the past

gA background description

hAn action in progress at a specific time in the past