B2 Narrative Tenses

B2 GRAMMAR · NARRATIVE TENSES

The Wrong House

PICTURE

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"I'd been so certain. I'd built an entire story out of nothing."

Past simple · past continuous · past perfect · past perfect continuous

Reading

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

Completely, confidently wrong

Discuss in pairs.

1. Have you ever been convinced you were right about something and then discovered you were completely wrong?

2. What had made you so sure?

3. How did you feel when you found out?

PICTURE

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B · READING FOR GIST

Eleven days at the window

Hannah Price kept a notebook, a camera and a theory about the house opposite.

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

PICTURE

1. What did Hannah do?

2. Why did she do it?

3. What had actually been happening at number 14?

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B · READING

The wrong house

A notebook, photographs and a theory

By the time Hannah Price phoned the police, she had been watching the house opposite for eleven days. She had a notebook. She had photographs. She had, she later admitted, a theory.

It had started on a Tuesday. Hannah was working from home, as usual, and was staring out of the window between emails, when a van pulled up outside number 14. Two men carried in a long metal box. Then another. Then a roll of thick plastic sheeting. The curtains at number 14 had been closed for a week — the elderly owner, Mr Abbott, had gone into hospital in January, and the house had stood empty since — so Hannah noticed when the lights came on that night and stayed on until three in the morning.

Over the following days, she kept watching. The men came and went at odd hours. On Friday, one of them was carrying a bag that dripped. On Saturday, she smelled something chemical. By Sunday, she had stopped sleeping properly and had started photographing number plates. "I had been reading a lot of true crime that winter," she says now. "That probably didn't help."

On day eleven, at 2.15 a.m., she saw one of the men dragging something heavy across the front lawn in the dark. She dialled 999.

Four police cars arrived within six minutes. Officers went in through the back. Hannah was standing at her window in her dressing gown, heart pounding, when the front door opened and a young officer came out — laughing.

Mr Abbott's son, it turned out, had been renovating the house while his father was in hospital. The metal boxes were radiators. The plastic sheeting was for the floors. The dripping bag had contained fish from the market, and the chemical smell was paint stripper. The heavy object on the lawn was a bath. They had been working nights because both men had day jobs.

"I felt sick," Hannah says. "I'd been so certain. I'd built an entire story out of nothing." She went over the next day with a bottle of wine. Mr Abbott's son had already heard the whole thing from the police. "He said he was just glad someone was watching the house," she says. "I don't think he meant it."

C · COMPREHENSION

Number these events in the order they actually happened.

_____ The police arrived and went in.

_____ Mr Abbott went into hospital.

_____ Hannah saw a man dragging something across the lawn.

_____ Hannah began photographing number plates.

_____ A van delivered metal boxes to number 14.

_____ Hannah took round a bottle of wine.

_____ Mr Abbott's son began renovating the house.

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

The main events, the scene and the earlier past

a) She dialled 999. Four police cars arrived within six minutes. Officers went in through the back.

b) Hannah was working from home and was staring out of the window when a van pulled up.

c) Mr Abbott had gone into hospital in January. The curtains had been closed for a week.

1. In (a), the actions happen one after another. Which tense tells the main events of the story?

2. In (b), which actions were already in progress? Which action interrupted them? Name the tenses.

3. In (c), the story is set in February and March. When did Mr Abbott go into hospital — before or after the main events? Which tense jumps back to an "earlier past"?

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Long activities up to a past moment

a) By the time Hannah phoned the police, she had been watching the house for eleven days.

b) Mr Abbott's son had been renovating the house while his father was in hospital.

c) I'd been so certain. I'd built an entire story out of nothing.

d) Lina was crying because she'd been reading a sad book. vs Lina didn't want to see the film because she'd already read the book.

1. In (a), had been watching is the past perfect continuous (had been + -ing). Did the watching start before she phoned? Did it continue up to that moment? Is it a long activity or a single event?

2. In (b), which is the long activity — the renovation or being in hospital? Why is it was and not was being?

3. In (c), be and build: which is non-action? Could we say I'd been being so certain? Why I'd built and not I'd been building — is the "story" complete?

4. In (d), which sentence emphasises the activity continuing? Which emphasises the result / completion?

D · THE RULES

Complete the rules

Complete with past simple, past continuous, past perfect or past perfect continuous.

• ________: consecutive actions, the main events of the story.

• ________ (was / were + -ing): a longer action in progress when another action happened; scene-setting; an action not complete at a past time.

• ________ (had + past participle): things that happened before the main events — the "earlier past". Emphasises completion.

• ________ (had been + -ing): longer continuous actions that started before the main events and continued up to that point. Emphasises continuation / duration. Only with action verbs.

CAREFUL

Non-action verbs (be, have = possess, know, like) are not normally used in the past continuous or past perfect continuous: She'd known him for years, NOT She'd been knowing him.

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Circle the correct verb form.

1. Hannah watched / had been watching the house for eleven days before she called the police.

2. When the officers arrived / were arriving, Hannah stood / was standing at her window.

3. The men had worked / had been working nights for a fortnight, so they were exhausted.

4. She had read / had been reading true crime all winter, which explained a lot.

5. By the time she got to the house with the wine, the son already heard / had already heard the story.

6. Mr Abbott had been / had been being in hospital since January.

7. She felt terrible because she accused / had accused an innocent man.

8. While the police searched / were searching the house, the neighbours came / were coming out to watch.

Now complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb.

9. Her eyes were red. She ________ (cry).

10. The kitchen was a mess because the men ________ (strip) the floors all day.

11. He ________ (not / hear) the police because he ________ (drill) for an hour.

12. They ________ (know) each other for years before they became neighbours.

13. How long ________ (she / watch) the house before she finally picked up the phone?

14. The bath was on the lawn because they ________ (just / carry) it out of the house.

F · FREER PRACTICE

The moment it all made sense

Tell a partner a true or invented story about a misunderstanding.

• What were you doing when it began? Set the scene with the past continuous.

• What had happened before, that you didn't know? What had been going on?

• Use at least two past perfect and two past perfect continuous "flashbacks", and finish with how it ended.

• Your partner then retells your story to a new partner — in the third person.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B GIST She phoned the police about the house opposite because she was convinced something criminal was happening; in fact the owner's son had been renovating it at night.

C ORDER 1 Mr Abbott went into hospital · 2 Mr Abbott's son began renovating · 3 A van delivered metal boxes (accept 2 and 3 in either order — the delivery was the first visible sign of the renovation) · 4 Hannah began photographing number plates · 5 She saw a man dragging something · 6 The police arrived · 7 Hannah took round a bottle of wine.

D PART 1 1 Past simple. 2 Was working / was staring (past continuous) were in progress; pulled up (past simple) interrupted. 3 Before; the past perfect.

D PART 2 1 Yes; yes — right up to the phone call; a long activity. 2 The renovation; be is a non-action verb and is not used in the continuous here. 3 Be is non-action, so no; I'd built = the story was complete — the past perfect simple emphasises completion / result. 4 First = continuation (the reading caused the crying); second = completion (she had finished the book).

RULES past simple; past continuous; past perfect; past perfect continuous.

E 1-8 1 had been watching · 2 arrived / was standing · 3 had been working · 4 had been reading · 5 had already heard · 6 had been · 7 had accused · 8 were searching / came

E 9-14 9 had been crying · 10 had been stripping · 11 hadn't heard / had been drilling · 12 had known (non-action — no continuous) · 13 had she been watching · 14 had just carried (a completed single action — the continuous would be odd here)