Unit 8
Lesson 2
SB page 65
GRAMMAR
Time expressions: when, by the time (that), before, while
● We use time expressions in dependent clauses to give extra information about when events (in the main clause) took place.
● We use when to describe an event that took place at the same time as the main action.
When we sat down to eat, the phone rang.
It can also be used with the Past Perfect to talk about an event that finished before the event in the main clause.
When we had finished eating, the phone rang.
● We use by the time to show that one activity was finished before the other one. We use it with the Past Simple in the dependent clause, and the Past Perfect in the main clause.
By the time that I arrived at the station, the train had left.
● We use before to say that one action happened before another. We can use the Past Simple in the main clause if we know when the action happened.
Before I went to bed, I read a chapter of my book.
● We use the Past Perfect if the action in the main clause happened at an unspecified time before the action in the dependent clause.
Before I met my pen friend, I had never met an Australian.
● We use while to link two events that happened at the same time.
While I was reading my book, my brother was watching television.
While I was taking a bath, the doorbell rang.
Narrative tenses
● Narrative tenses are verb tenses that we use to talk about the past. They are often used when we tell stories and when we describe past events. Three tenses that we use for narratives are the Past Simple, the Past Continuous and the Past Perfect.
● When we describe past events or tell stories in the past, it is important not to mix past and present tenses. The reader or listener will not understand when the events happened and your story will not be clear.
● We use the Past Simple to describe the main events of a story, and to describe sequences of events. We use the Past Simple for completed events in the past.
After she said goodbye to her family, she got on the train to London.
She sat down on her seat and looked out of the window.
● We use the Past Continuous for unfinished actions and events at a point of time in the past, and for repeated actions that were happening over a period of time.
The young man was studying Engineering at university.
I was working on my project for a month.
● We also use the Past Continuous to describe the situation or background in which the events of a story happen.
That day, my grandfather was celebrating his birthday.
In the garden, the sun was shining and the birds were singing.