Unit 3 - Mystery
Review of Past Tenses
Refresh and extend your command of the past tenses for fluent, accurate storytelling.
1. Quick Reminders (from B1)
- Past Simple: I visited Rome last year.
- Past Continuous: I was running when I dropped my phone.
- Present Perfect: I have been to London.
- Present Perfect Continuous: I have been studying all morning.
Keep these forms in mind as we upgrade them for B2 contexts.
2. Overview of Forms and Focus
| Tense | Structure | Focus | B2-Level Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Past Simple | Subject + V2 | Finished actions, clear past time. | The board approved the policy last Friday. |
| Past Continuous | Subject + was/were + verb(-ing) | Action in progress in the past. | We were reviewing the data when the lights went out. |
| Past Perfect | Subject + had + V3 | Action completed before another past moment. | She had completed the report before the meeting started. |
| Past Perfect Continuous | Subject + had been + verb(-ing) | Duration before another past point. | They had been negotiating for hours before reaching a deal. |
3. Choosing the Right Past Tense
-
Narrative flow
- Scene setting → Past Continuous
- Main events → Past Simple
- Background causes → Past Perfect
-
Clarify sequence
- Use Past Perfect when the order might be confusing.
- Combine with Past Simple to keep the timeline explicit.
-
Highlight duration
- Switch to Past Perfect Continuous when the length of an activity matters.
4. Signal Words
- Past Simple: yesterday, last year, two weeks ago, in 2019, when
- Past Continuous: while, when, as, at 7 p.m., the whole afternoon
- Past Perfect: before, after, by the time, already, just
- Past Perfect Continuous: for, since, before, until
Mixing Tenses Smoothly
Blend tenses to create depth: I was preparing coffee when she called to say she had missed the train she had been taking every day.
5. Typical B2 Upgrades
| Goal | Tip | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Emphasise causality | Past Perfect + because/since | The software crashed because we had ignored the warning signs. |
| Spotlight background | Past Continuous + when/as | The team was brainstorming ideas when the CEO walked in. |
| Show duration | Past Perfect Continuous | He had been working remotely for months before he met the team in person. |
| Contrast habits | Used to / Would | We used to meet weekly, but the schedule changed after the merger. |
6. Practice
- Write a short anecdote that uses all four past tenses.
- Reorder jumbled events and explain the timeline using Past Perfect.
- Describe a long-term project that ended, highlighting the duration and result.
Quick Review
- Combine Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, and Past Perfect Continuous for richer narratives.
- Use signal words to guide your listener through complex timelines.
- Pay attention to duration (continuous forms) vs completion (simple/perfect forms).