Grammar Focus: Narrative Tenses Review

Narrative tenses tell a story or describe past events.

• Past Simple — main events in sequence: He opened the door and saw her.
• Past Continuous — background actions / actions in progress: She was cooking while he was reading.
• Past Perfect Simple — an action before another past action: He had already left when I arrived.
• Past Perfect Continuous — the duration of an action before another past action: She had been waiting for an hour when he came.