1.2. Everybody has a past

Reflexión

In an earlier section of this lesson you heard about the novel "The Alchemist", by Paulo Coehlo.

Here's the beginning of the story:

The boy's name was Santiago. Dusk was falling as the boy arrived with his herd at an abandoned church. The roof had fallen in long ago, and an enormous sycamore had grown on the spot where the sacristy had once stood.

He decided to spend the night there. He saw to it that all the sheep entered through the ruined gate, and then laid some planks across it to prevent the flock from wandering away during the night. There were no wolves in the region, but once an animal had strayed during the night, and the boy had had to spend the entire next day searching for it.

Source: Read online "The Alchemist" by "Paolo Coelho" for free. Book available for free download. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2016, from http://www.readanybook.com/online/16896

Image by World Economic Forum in Flickr under CC

1. How many different tenses can you find in the excerpt?

2. Why does the writer use those specific tenses in the text?

Actividad desplegable

Look at the following statements. They all describe a specific type of past. Decide which past they are referring to and write a number next to each of the statements.

1. Simple Past

2. Past Continuous

3. Past Perfect

Uses	Type of past
A. To express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past	Rellenar huecos (1): JXUwMDY5
B. To indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted	Rellenar huecos (2): JXUwMDZh
C. To express the idea that something occurred before another action in the past	Rellenar huecos (3): JXUwMDZi
D. To list a series of completed actions in the past	Rellenar huecos (4): JXUwMDY5
E. To describe a habit which stopped in the past	Rellenar huecos (5): JXUwMDY5
F. To describe the atmosphere at a particular time in the past	Rellenar huecos (6): JXUwMDZh
G. To express that two actions were occurring at the same time	Rellenar huecos (7): JXUwMDZh
H. Used with a duration which starts and stops in the past	Rellenar huecos (8): JXUwMDY5
I. To show that something started in the past and continued up until another action in the past	Rellenar huecos (9): JXUwMDZi
J. To describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true	Rellenar huecos (10): JXUwMDY5

Habilitar JavaScript

Here are some more websites where you can practice and improve your use of the narrative tenses in the past:

Simple Past Practice

Past Continuous Practice 1

Past Continuous Practice 2

Past Perfect Practice

Narrative

Narrative Tenses Practice 1

Narrative Tenses Practice 2

Narrative Tenses Practice 3

Creative Speaking

Below are some random book covers - choose one that you like. Just on the basis of the book cover you are going to recommend that book to a friend. In order to do that, you will have to make up what type of book it is, what the story is about, what kind of readers would enjoy reading the book and why. Talk for 5 minutes. Don't forget to use varied structures, vocabulary and cohesive devices which are appropriate to the C1 level.