5 LISTEN IN G 6 GRAMMAR

narrative tenses, past perfect continuous

a R ead a new spaper story about an incident that happened during
a flight. W hat exactly happened?

Last updated at 09:12

Nightmare over the Atlantic!

At 11:35 on January 13, 2012, British Airways flight BA 0206
Hoo/c o ff l was ta k in g o ff from Miami to London. It had been
flying for about three hours, and was over the Atlantic, when
suddenly a voice 2cam e out / h ad com e out of the loudspeakers:
“This is an em ergency announcem ent. W e may shortly have to
a You are going to listen to an airline pilot make an em ergency landing on water.”
and an air traffic controller talking on a
radio program . Before you listen, discu ss Im m ediately panic 3broke out / was breaking out. One passenger
on the flight said, “ My wife and I looked at each other and we
questions 1 -8 with a partner and im agine
feared the worst. We im agined that we were about to crash into the
w hat the answ ers w ill be. Atlantic. It was awful. Everybody 4scream ed / was scream ing.”
1 What weather conditions are the most
But about 30 seconds later, the cabin crew started to run up and
dangerous when you are flying a plane?
down the aisle saying that the m essage 5h ad been played / was
2 Is turbulence really dangerous? being played by accident, and that everything was OK. By this time
3 Which is more dangerous, taking o ff or a lot of the passengers were in tears, and 6tried / were trying to get
landing? their life jackets out from under their seats.
4 Are some airports more dangerous than Another passenger said, “The captain didn't even say anything
others? about it until ju st before we started to land and even then he didn't
5 What personal qualities does an air traffic explain w h a t7hap p e n e d / h ad happened. It w as very traumatic.
controller need? Everybody was terrified. I can't think of anything worse than being
told your plane's about to crash. I t 8was / h ad been the worst
6 Is the job really very stressful?
experience of my life.”
7 Why is it important for air traffic
controllers and pilots to speak English well? Later a British Airways spokesman 9sa/h / h ad said, “A pre-
recorded em ergency announcem ent was activated by error on
8 Are there more men than women working
our flight from M iami to Heathrow. W e would like to apologize to
as pilots and air traffic controllers?
passengers on this flight.”
b 2 7))) Listen to the program . How m any o f
the questions did you answ er correctly? Adapted from the Daily Telegraph

c Listen again for m ore detail and take notes

for each o f the questions. b R ead the story again and (circle) the correct form o f the verbs 1-9.

d W hich job would you prefer, to work as a c N ow look at tw o sentences about the story. W hat do you think is
pilot or as an air traffic controller? Why? the difference between the tw o highlighted verbs?
The pilot was very experienced and had flown this route many times
before.
When the announcement w as made, the plane had been flying for
about three hours.
d V- p.136 Grammar Bank 3A. Learn m ore about narrative tenses
and the past perfect continuous, and practice them.

e In pairs or groups, try to com plete the two sentences in four

different w ays u sin g the four narrative tenses.
1 The police stopped the driver because h e...
2 I couldn't sleep last night because...

26 3A
3A
narrative tenses: simple past, p a st continuous, 3 W e u se th e past perfect (had + p a s t p a rtic ip le ) to ta lk a b o u t
th e “e a rlie r p a s t,” i.e., th in g s th a t h a p p e n e d b e fo re th e m a in
past p e rfe ct, p a st p e rfe c t continuous event(s).
n arrativ e te n s e s 4 W e u se th e past perfect continuous (had been + v e rb + -inf)
w ith a c tio n v e rb s to ta lk a b o u t lo n g e r c o n tin u o u s a c tio n s
1 W e arrived a t th e a ir p o r t a n d checked in. 2 8))) o r s itu a tio n s th a t s ta r te d b e fo re th e m a in e v e n ts h a p p e n e d
2 W e were having d in n e r w h e n th e p la n e h it so m e a n d have c o n tin u e d u p to th a t p o in t. N o n a c tio n v erb s
tu rb u le n c e . (e.g., be, have, know, like, e tc.) a re n o t u s u a lly u s e d in th e
A t n in e o 'c lo c k m o s t p e o p le o n th e p lan e were reading o r p a s t c o n tin u o u s o r p a s t p e rf e c t c o n tin u o u s .
were trying to sleep.
3 W h e n w e a rriv e d a t th e a ir p o r t, w e su d d e n ly r e a liz e d th a t p a s t p e r f e c t sim ple or co ntinuous?
w e had left o n e o f th e s u itc a s e s in th e ta x i.
4 W e ’d been flying fo r a b o u t tw o h o u rs w h e n s u d d e n ly th e L in a w a s c ry in g b e c a u se s h e ’d b e e n r e a d i n g a 2 9)))
c a p ta in to ld u s to fa s te n o u r s e a t b e lts b e c a u s e w e w ere v e ry sa d b o o k .
fly in g in to s o m e v e ry b a d w e a th e r. L in a d id n 't w a n t to see th e m o v ie, b e c a u s e s h e ’d a lre a d y read
th e b o o k .
1 W e u s e th e sim ple p ast to ta lk a b o u t c o n se c u tiv e a c tio n s o r
s itu a tio n s in th e p a s t, i.e., fo r th e m a in e v e n ts in a sto ry . • T h e p a s t p e rfe c t c o n tin u o u s e m p h a s iz e s th e c o n tin u a tio n
2 W e u se th e p ast continuous (was / were + v e rb + -inf) to o f a n a c tiv ity . T h e p a s t p e rf e c t s im p le e m p h a s iz e s th e
d e s c rib e a lo n g e r c o n tin u o u s p a s t a c tio n o r s itu a tio n th a t w as c o m p le tio n o f a n activ ity .
in p ro g re s s w h e n a n o th e r a c tio n h a p p e n e d , o r to d e s c rib e a n
a c tio n o r s itu a tio n th a t w a s n o t c o m p le te a t a p a s t time.

a (C irc le ) th e c o r r e c t v e rb fo rm . b P u t t h e v e r b i n p a r e n t h e s e s i n t h e p a s t p e r f e c t s im p le
(had done) o r c o n t i n u o u s (had been doing). I f y o u t h i n k
b o t h a r e p o s s ib l e , u s e t h e c o n t i n u o u s f o r m .

H is E n g lis h w a s v e ry g o o d . H e 'd been learning it fo r

fiv e y e a rs , (le a rn )
1 I w a s re a lly fe d u p b e c a u s e w e ______________________ in
lin e f o r h o u r s , (w a it)
2 S h e w e n t t o th e p o lic e to r e p o r t t h a t s o m e o n e
h e r b a g . (ste a l)
3 I t ______________________ a ll m o r n i n g . T h e s tr e e ts w e re
w e t, a n d t h e r e w e r e p u d d le s e v e ry w h e r e , (ra in )
4 S h e g o t t o w o r k la te b e c a u s e s h e ______________________
h e r p h o n e a t h o m e a n d ______________________ g o b a c k
a n d g e t it. (le a v e , h a v e to)
5 I a lm o s t d i d n 't r e c o g n i z e T o n y a t t h e p a r ty . H e
M e g a n d L ia m M c G o w a n (g o t)/ were getting a n a s ty a lo t s in c e I la s t s a w h im . (ch a n g e )
s u r p r i s e w h e n th e y 1had checked in / were checking in a t 6 T h e t o u r i s t s ’ f a c e s w e r e v e ry r e d . T h e y ________________
t h e a i r p o r t y e s te r d a y w i t h t h e i r b a b y S h a u n . T h e y i n th e s u n a ll m o r n in g a n d t h e y ______________________a n y
2had won / won t h r e e f re e p la n e tic k e ts t o R o m e i n a s u n s c re e n , (sit, n o t p u t o n )
c o m p e t it io n , a n d th e y 3were lookingforward to / had
7 I c o u ld s e e f r o m t h e i r e x p r e s s io n s t h a t m y
been lookingforward to t h e i r t r i p f o r m o n th s . B u t,
p a r e n t s ______________________ . (a rg u e )
u n f o r t u n a te ly , th e y Ahad beenforgetting / hadforgotten to
8 ju n k o h ad a b a n d a g e o n h e r a rm b e c au se she
g e t a p a s s p o r t f o r t h e i r s o n , s o S h a u n c o u ld n 't fly. L u ck ily ,
o f f h e r b ik e t h a t m o r n in g , (fall)
th e y 5had arrived / were arriving v e ry e a rly f o r t h e i r f lig h t,
9 I w a s a m a z e d b e c a u s e I ______________________ s u c h a n
s o th e y s till h a d tim e t o d o s o m e t h i n g a b o u t it. T h e y 6had
e n o r m o u s p la n e b e fo r e , (n e v e r see)
run I ran t o t h e p o lic e s ta t io n in t h e a i r p o r t t o a p p ly f o r a n
e m e r g e n c y p a s s p o r t . M e g 7was going / went w ith S h a u n 10 H o w l o n g _____________________ b e f o r e y o u r e a liz e d
t o t h e p h o t o m a c h in e w h ile L ia m Bhad filled in / wasfilling t h a t y o u w e r e lo s t? (w alk )
in t h e f o r m s . T h e p a s s p o r t w a s r e a d y i n a n h o u r , s o th e y < p .2 6
9hurried / were hurrying t o t h e g a te a n d wgot / had got o n
t h e p la n e .