Explaining narrative tenses (4) for proficiency: E6-06G

Narrative tenses for proficiency-level students part 4: present perfect and past continuous.

 

 

Introduction

So far, we have been concerned with the relationships between three time zones: the present, the past, and another past further back than the first one. This has led us to look in particular at the past simple and past perfect tenses. To complete our study of narrative tenses, we need to examine, finally, the present perfect and the past continuous. We shall take them in that order.

The present perfect

Consider the following two time lines:

 

 

In the first time line, we have a verb in the present perfect, where there is a past action which has a reference to the present: “I’ve read this book” (some time before today) – this combination of past and present being needed in order to use a present perfect tense.

 

In the second time line, the same IDEA is there, but this time it has been pushed back from the present into the past. Instead of having an action referenced to T1 – the present – we have one referenced to T2 – a past moment described using the past simple: ‘He mentioned”. This is followed by “which I had read” – at some time leading up to T2.

In other words, this present perfect set-up, when it is pushed back in time, gives us a verb in the past perfect, because there is no other tense available to express this time relation. We can see this equivalence clearly if we report something said in the present perfect:

“I’ve just seen an amazing film,” Susan told me.

Susan told me that she had just seen an amazing film.

To conclude, the present perfect does not exist as a narrative tense, being replaced always by the past perfect. It would invariably be wrong to write something like:

“I got a phone call from Tracey, who told me that she has just passed her driving test.”

The past continuous

The place of the past continuous in narrative is straightforward, because it is always situated in time zone two (T2), along with the past simple. That is to say, the two tenses are used in conjunction.

As its name suggests, the past continuous differs from the past simple in that the latter summarises, whereas the former emphasizes a continuing action.

“Last Saturday I spent the day at my office. I was trying to finish some outstanding paperwork.”

More generally, the continuous form is used to set up the background to events, to set the scene for action.

“It was raining softly on the almost deserted, orange neon-lit square, the silence broken only by the sound of a stereo (which was) playing Michael Jackson hits from an upper window. The big black car slid softly into view, stopped outside number thirty-seven and then – nothing. Jason Pepper, who for several minutes had been standing behind the net curtains in the bay window of number thirty nine, suddenly shivered.”    

 

Like the past simple verbs slid, stopped and shivered, the two past continuous verbs – was raining and (was) playing – clearly belong in time 2, that zone cut off from the present by a gap. Again, as in previous texts, as soon as we refer to an event prior in time to the developing story – the arrival of the car, Jason shivering - we use the past perfect, in this case the continuous form: had been standing.  

Conclusion

This set of four files should, I hope, enable you to grasp how to use the English past tenses in extended narratives, and the accompanying practice exercises will help you train yourself to write using the correct narrative tenses.

I would also like to remind students that there are two other sets of files associated with these past tenses. First, there is a version of these narrative tense files aimed at Upper Intermediate students – it covers the same ground, but more slowly and in less detail. Second, there is a series of files dealing with the form and use of the past tense verbs, in the ordinary way common to regular grammar books.