Narrative Tenses
Narrative Tenses
Narrative Tenses
ru
ATLA N TIC C H A L L E N G E
^ th e world's toughest
row ing Tace
I you
Apply o n lin e a t w w w . r o w . . .
1 SPEAKING Read the advert for the Atlantic challenge and discuss the questions.
1 W h at typ e o f even t is it?
2 W h at m ight the challenges be?
3 If you took part in the event, w h o w ou ld you choose as your rowing partner?
your best friend your m u m / d a d your teacher som eone famous
2 Read part 1 of the story. Who was supposed to be Daniel's rowing partner? What happened?
What do you think happened next?
P a rt 1
’jan Meek usually g o t home from work at 6 o'clock and today was no different. 2She m a d e herself
a cup of tea and lo o k e d out of the kitchen window. 3|f w a s ra in in g and cold outside - not good
weather for building a boat. ]an had an uneasy feeling and decided to check her answering machine.
There was a message from her son, Daniel, and it wasn’t good news. 4At the tim e, 21-year-old Daniel
w a s p r e p a r in g to com pete in the Atlantic challenge with a friend. Unfortunately, his friend had just
called him with some bad news. He didn’t have the tim e to prepare for the race, so Daniel had to
find another partner, som eone with enough free tim e to raise money, build a boat and to train!
5The boat w a s very small and the race was long, so it also had to be someone he could get on with.
6|an phoned her son and asked him what h a d h a p p e n e d . Then 7w hile |an w a s s u g g e s tin g solutions
Daniel in te r r u p te d h e r...
Narrative tenses
3 Read parti of the story again. Then match sentences 1-7 to rules a-g.
We use the past simple for:
a a past state,
b a past habit.
c a sequence of actions in th e past.
We use the past continuous for:
d background descriptions.
e an action or actions in progress at a specific tim e in the past.
We use the past simple and the past continuous for:
f a longer action interrupted by a shorter action.
We use the past perfect for:
g an action or even t that happened before another action in the past.
4 Complete part 2 of the story with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. Then answer the
questions.
1 W h o did Daniel ask and w h y?
2 W h y did th ey agree?
3 W h at was goo d / bad about th e journey?
18 T ra v e lle rs'ta le s
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2 B
Pa rt 2
Surprisingly, D a n ie l1........................ (ask) his fifty-year-old mum to be his rowing partner His
mum 2........................ (never / row) in her life, but she was very adventurous. The previous year she
3........................ (study) Chinese in Taiwan, then she had gone backpacking round the world on
her own. )an said 'yes' because she 4........................ (know) that the race was a 'once-in-a-lifetime'
opportunity.
Two years and m any hours of training later Jan and Daniel 5........................ (arrive) in Tenerife. At
last they were ready to take part in the race - they 6........................ (raise) enough money and they
7........................ (build) a good boat. On the boat, there was enough food for 100 days, as well as
books and m usic for entertainm ent. They 8....................... (also / ask) friends to w rite them letters
and poems, so they had som ething to open during the difficult days ahead.
Once the race 9....................... (start), |an and Daniel realized just how hard it was going to
be. The rowing was tiring, they couldn’t wash and they were constantly soaked with salt w ater
There were terrible days when they wanted to give up, but there were also good days. W hile they
10........................ (row), they saw dolphins, whales, and flying fish. They also 11.........................(get)
to know each other extrem ely well.
In the end, the journey 12....................... (take) 101 days - two m onths longer than the winners
of the race. Ian and Daniel thought that everyone 13........................ (forget) about them. But
when they arrived in Barbados, people 14....................... (w ait) on boats to greet them. Everyone
15........................ (cheer) and waving, and there was m usic and fireworks. People wanted to
congratulate them on their amazing achievem ent!
1.06 Listen to a radio show about Jan and Daniel. What did they do next?
Ja n and Daniel tho ug h t about giving up. They learned h o w to use a gun.
They w e n t on a course to learn survival skills. Friends followed their blog posts.
They had a bad accident. They w ere ready to start the expedition
Jan suffered from frozen hands. Th ey broke another w orld record.
8 SPEAKING Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions about a memorable journey you have
had. Use the ideas below.
Think about:
w here you went. w h a t you did / saw on the journey,
w h at you had packed / read / d on e before h o w you w ere feeling before, during and after,
your journey. w h at you thought about the journey,
w h o you travelled with.
T ra v e lle rs'ta le s 19
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2 One of the verbs in each sentence is wrong. Rewrite Mum used to work as a tour guide.
one of the verbs in each sentence in the correct It didn't use to be o r a t o r y to wear a seatbelt.
form. Use the past simple, past continuous or past Did your grandparents use to go on a working holiday every
perfect. year? Yes, they did. / No, they didn't.