2E Narrative tenses

A Work in pairs or small groups. Ignore the options and put paragraphs 1–5 into the correct order.

✂
When planning her wedding, a young woman 1decided / was deciding she wanted to hold the wedding in the
garden of the large farmhouse where she 2 growing / had grown up. It 3 was / was to have been a beautiful wedding
and everything went perfectly.
✂
Afterwards the guests 4 played / were to have played some casual party games, and someone suggested hide-
and-seek so they could get the children to play too. Smiling, the bride’s parents 5 reminisced / were reminiscing about
all the funny places their daughter 6was hiding / would hide when she was a little girl.
✂
The groom was ‘it’, and the bride 7wanted / used to want to make sure that she won the game. When no one
was looking / had looked she slipped inside the house. She 9  was running / ran up to the attic, found an old trunk
8 

and hid in it. No one could find her.

✂
Her new husband 10 wasn't / hadn’t been worried though. He thought that she 11 got / had got tired and 12 decided
/ had decided to go inside to rest. So everyone 13 went / had gone home. The groom 14 searched / was searching the
house but he couldn't find her anywhere. Finally, distraught, he and her parents 15 reported / had reported her missing
to the police, but she was never found.
✂
A few years later when her mother died, the woman's father went to go through his late wife's things that
were collecting / collected dust in the attic. He 17came / had come to an old chest. The lid was closed and the old
16 

lock was rusted over and 18 was holding / would hold it closed. He 19 opened / had opened the lid and was horrified to
see his daughter's decaying body in the chest. After climbing into the trunk, the lid 20 had closed / was closing and the
rusty parts of the lock had latched together, trapping her there.
✂
B Read the story again and choose the best narrative tense in each case.

C Use a dictionary to find the definition of the term urban myth.

D Work with a partner and discuss the questions:

1 Could this story have taken place in your country?
Consider:
• the location of the wedding reception.
• the fact that the guests wanted to play games such as hide-and-seek.
• the layout of the house.
2 Does the behaviour of the characters seem believable?
Consider:
• the bride’s strong desire to win the game.
• the fact that the groom wasn’t worried when he couldn’t find her.
• the fact that all the guests went home although the bride was still missing.
3 Is it feasible that:
• the lid of the trunk could lock due to rust?
• nobody heard the bride cry for help?
• the parents did not open the chest and look inside?
4 On balance, how likely is it that this story could be true?

E Do you know any other urban myths? If so, tell them to the group. If not, work together to brainstorm the elements
needed to create an urban myth and write one to tell the class.

Solutions 2nd edition  Advanced classroom activity © Oxford University Press • Photocopiable
 2E Narrative tenses

Aims  To review and practise narrative tenses. To give students

the opportunity to read and react to a genre of story called
‘urban myth’.
Time  10–15 minutes
Materials  1 handout for each pair of students, cut into pieces
• Divide the class into pairs and give each pair a copy of the cut
up story. Check answers as a class.
Answer Key
Order of paragraphs: D, B, E, A, C
• In task B students decide which narrative tense is needed to
complete the story. Check answers as a class, ensuring that
students can explain their choice of tense in each case.
Answer Key
1  decided  2  had grown   3  was   4 played  5  reminisced
6  would hide   7  wanted  8  was looking   9  ran  10  wasn’t
11  had got   12  had decided   13  went  14  searched
15  reported  16  were collecting   17  came  18  was holding
19  opened  20  had closed
• Ask students to check the term ‘urban myth’ in a dictionary. An
urban myth is a story about an amusing or strange event that
is supposed to have happened, which is often repeated and
which many people believe is true.
• Working in pairs students discuss the questions in task D.
Conduct class feedback.
• As an extension encourage students to tell each other urban
myths in pairs or small groups or to create urban myths and
then tell them to the class.

Solutions 2nd edition  Advanced classroom activity © Oxford University Press • Photocopiable