Narrative tenses are verb tenses that are used to talk about the past.
Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect
| Past Simple | Present Perfect Simple | |
|---|---|---|
| Description: | Completed events in the past | Completed events in the undefined past. |
| Example: | I watched House of the Dragon last weekend. | I have watched House of the Dragon. |
| --------------- action end time -------------- now--> | ----------------------------------action end--now-> |
Past simple Time phrases:
• yesterday
• last week/summer/year/etc
• in January/2001/etc
• an hour/a week/a year ago
have + been + ing
| Present Perfect | Present Perfect Continuous | |
|---|---|---|
| Description: | We can use the present perfect simple for how many times we have done something in the past. But these events are separated. | We can use the present perfect continuous for actions that started in the past and continued UNINTERRUPTED until now. |
| Example: | 1 ..... 2 ..... 3.... now I have travelled 3 times. | past -----------> now I have been playing football. |
I have known Brett for 2 years
I have been thinking about elephants. I have been thinking about elephants, and I have decided that I want to buy one.
like belong have (possession)
I have had (possession) a cough for 3 days.
I have been having (experiencing) a great time in Thailand.
I have made a route through the main attractions (Present Perfect)
I have been to Thailand.
I have been thinking about Thailand for 10 years.
I have known how to write code since 2006. My first line of code was also written in 2006. // also can also be the first word
I have been writing code for 16 years.
Code has been being written by me for 16 years.
I have been coming here from a far city.
I’ve been talking with Denis about future of our project on the way from Bankok to Pattaya.
Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.
How long have you been learning Thai language ?
He has been reading this book for 3 years. He has been reading this book since 2019.
He has known her for 3 years. He has known her since 2019.
For some verbs, we can use both cases.
For example:
He has worked here for 10 years. (acceptable)
He has been working here for 10 years. (better)
He has been working there for his whole life.
He has worked there for his whole life.
birth--------------------------------------------------now.
vineyard
plant a vineyard -> grow grapes
He has been planting grapes since 1990.
The boy has been naughty this week. (not finished!)
start of the week ---------------------------------------------end of the week -------------------------------now---------->
I was riding on an elephant when I called my teacher