http://teacherluke.co.

uk/2009/11/12/mystery-story-narrative-tenses/

This podcast is about narrative tenses (past simple, past continuous &

past perfect – see details below). We use these tenses to sequence

stories about the past. To master the use of these tenses you have to

deal with their form, their use and their pronunciation – both for

listening and speaking. Use this podcast to help you deal with all of

those things, and then start using narrative tenses fluently whenever

you describe something. Make your descriptions more detailed and

colourful!

Below you can read the mystery story from the podcast, and then grammar

details and a tense review exercise.

Listen to the story, and notice the different verb forms being used. If you

like you can try to remember the story and repeat it to yourself until you’re

using all the tenses correctly. You can then transfer what you’ve learned

and remembered from the story when you talk about something else.

Subscribe to Luke’s English Podcast to improve your English every day, and

have fun in the process! Add your email address to the mailing list on the

right of this page, or subscribe using iTunes.

The mystery story:

Last night I was walking home next to the river Thames, when something

strange happened to me. It was late at night and I’d had a long and difficult

day at work. There was a large full moon in the sky and everything was

quiet. I was tired and lonely and I’d just had a few pints of beer in my local

pub, so I decided to stop by the riverside and look at the moon for a while.

I sat on some steps very close to the water’s edge and looked up at the big
yellow moon and wondered if it really was made of cheese. I felt very tired

so I closed my eyes and after a few minutes, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, the moon had moved behind a cloud and it was very dark

and cold. The wind was blowing and an owl hooted in a tree above me. I

rubbed my eyes and started to get up, when suddenly I heard a splash. I

looked down at the water and saw something. Something terrible and

frightening, and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Something was

coming out of the water and moving towards me. Something green and

strange and ugly. It was a long green arm and it was stretching out from

the water to grab my leg. I was so scared that I couldn’t move. I’d never

been so scared in my whole life. The cold green hand was moving closer and

closer when suddenly there was a blue flash and a strange noise from

behind me. Someone jumped onto the stairs next to me. He was wearing

strange clothes and he had a crazy look in his eyes. He shouted “Get Back!”

and pointed something at the monster in the water. There was a bright

flash and the monster hissed and disappeared.

I looked up at the man. He looked strange, but kind. “Don’t fall asleep by

the river when there’s a full moon”, he said “The Moon Goblins will get you.”

I’d never heard of moon goblins before. I didn’t know what to do. “Who…

who are you?” I asked him. “You can call me… The Doctor.” He said. I was

trying to think of something else to say when he turned around and said,

“Watch the stars at night, and be careful of the full moon”. I was trying to

understand what he meant, when there was another blue flash and I closed

my eyes. When I opened them again, he had gone.

I couldn’t believe what had happened. What on earth were Moon Goblins,

and who was the mysterious Doctor? And why had he saved me? I was

determined to find the answers to these strange questions. I stood up,

looked at the moon and quickly walked home.

Practice:

Here’s the transcript to the mystery story, but with some of the verbs

‘gapped’. Try to put them in the correct tense. Listen again to check.

The mystery story:

Last night I _________________ (walk) home next to the river Thames,

when something strange _________________ (happen) to me. It was late

at night and I _________________ (have) a long and difficult day at

work. There was a large full moon in the sky and everything was quiet. I was

tired and lonely and I _________________ (just have) a few pints of

beer in my local pub, so I decided to stop by the riverside and look at the

moon for a while.

I _________________ (sit) on some steps very close to the water’s edge

and looked up at the big yellow moon and wondered if it really was made of

cheese. I felt very tired so I _________________ (close) my eyes and

after a few minutes, I _________________ (fall) asleep. When I woke

up, the moon _________________ (move) behind a cloud and it was very

dark and cold. The wind _________________ (blow) and an owl

_________________ (hoot) in a tree above me. I rubbed my eyes and

started to get up, when suddenly I _________________ (hear) a splash. I

_________________ (look) down at the water and saw something.

Something terrible and frightening, and unlike anything I’d ever seen

before. Something _________________ (come) out of the water and

_________________ (move) towards me. Something green and strange

and ugly. It was a long green arm and it _________________ (stretch)

out from the water to grab my leg. I was so scared that I couldn’t move. I

_________________ (never be) so scared in my whole life. The cold

green hand _________________ (move) closer and closer when suddenly

there was a blue flash and a strange noise from behind me. Someone

_________________ (jump) onto the stairs next to me. He

_________________ (wear) strange clothes and he had a crazy look in his

eyes. He shouted “Get Back!” and _________________ (point) something

at the monster in the water. There was a bright flash and the monster

hissed and disappeared.

I looked up at the man. He looked strange, but kind. “Don’t fall asleep by

the river when there’s a full moon”, he said “The Moon Goblins will get you.”

I _________________ (never hear) of moon goblins before. I didn’t know

what to do. “Who… who are you?” I asked him. “You can call me… The

Doctor.” He said. I _________________ (try) to think of something else

to say when he turned around and said, “Watch the stars at night, and be

careful of the full moon”. I was trying to understand what he meant, when

there was another blue flash and I closed my eyes. When I opened them

again, he _________________ (go).

I couldn’t believe what _________________(happen). What on earth were

Moon Goblins, and who was the mysterious Doctor? And why had he saved

me? I was determined to find the answers to these strange questions. I

stood up, looked at the moon and quickly walked home.

he Man & The Moon, part 2…

When I arrived home that night, I immediately wrote everything
that had happened into my diary.
“I could make a great podcast out of this”, I thought to myself…
The next day I told my friend what had happened.
“I know just the person who can help you!” he said, “There’s a man
who lives in Baker Street, in the centre of London”, he said.
“Yes, I know where Baker Street is – it’s quite a famous street
y’know”
“Yes! Anyway, this man is the best detective in London! He’s the
most brilliant mind there is. The police have to use him to solve all
their crimes, and some say that even the Queen asks him for help
when she has lost her TV remote control down the back of the sofa!
You should go and visit him. I’m sure he’ll be able to help you.”
I took the address and immediately went to Baker Street on the
underground. I took the Picadilly Line from Hammersmith, and
changed at Green Park station, but the Jubille line was closed, so I
had to get back on the Picadilly Line and then change at Leicester
Square onto the Northern Line, but that was delayed due to
engineering works and a signal failure at Waterloo station. But
finally, after an hour an a half on the underground, I arrived at
Baker Street. I found the address: Flat number 21b and knocked on
the door. An elderly woman answered.
“Yes?” she said.
“Umm, hello, I’m here to get some help. A friend told me to come”
“Alright, come in then.”
We walked through into the hallway. I could smell pipe tobacco,
and what sounded like a cat being murdered in the next room. Then
I realised it was a violin being played, very badly.
The woman knocked on the door of the front room, and the violin
stopped playing.
“There’s a man here to see you” “Yes, yes, I know” said a loud,
commanding voice from inside the room. “Show him in Mrs
Hudson, thank you”
Mrs Hudson stepped aside, and I walked into the room.
I immediately felt nervous and awkward. There, standing at the
fireplace was a very unique looking man. He was tall and thin, and
old. I’m not sure how old he was exactly. His hair was going grey,
and his skin was wrinkled, but his eyes were bright and youthful.
He could have been as old as 80, but he had the spirit of a much
younger man.
He was wearing a brown suit, with a waistcoat, and long leather
winter boots. In his hand, he was holding a Stradivarius violin, of
very fine quality. On the mantelpiece next to him was a smoking
pipe.
“Umm, my friend Smith recommended you. He said that you would
be able to assist me” I said.
“Smith? Hmmm?” said the man. “And…?”
“Oh, and, well, the thing is, I need your help… it’s…”
“Well, what do you think Watson?” Said the man, quickly, and only
then did I realise that there was a third person in the room. To my
right, in a dark leather armchair, there was a red faced man,
probably about 65 years old. He had a large brownish red
moustache which covered his top lip. In his hand was a large glass
of Brandy, and in his other hand, a cigarette. He seemed very
comfortable, as if he had just woken up from a lovely sleep by the
fire”
“Huh…? Oh, hello! How do you do?” he said, smiling at me and
yawning.
“What do you think Watson?” Snapped the man with the violin.
“Oh, err… a student? Perhaps a waiter… erm… ah! An unemployed
librarian!”
“No no no! Watson. Completely wrong! Don’t overcomplicate
matters! Now, let me try…”
I stood there, feeling confused. The tall man looked at me. “Your
name is Thompson, am I right?”
“Well, how on earth did you guess…?”
“Not a guess Mr Thompson… Not a guess… Allow me to
demonstrate something for you, if I may”
I stood in silence. I was in the presence of a great mind, I could
understand that now.
“Let me see…”
He looked me up and down for a second.
“I would say that you are an English teacher… of no more than 10
years experience, but no less than 5. Let’s say 8 and a half years.”
I was gobsmacked.
“You worked in the far east, didn’t you?” “In Japan?”
“yes! Yes I did!”
“Kanagawa prefecture?”
“Oh my god, yes!”
“Now, I suppose something happened to you, near the river, which
you don’t understand, and you need answers, so your friend told
you to come and see me so I could sort it all out for you, is that
right?”
“Oh – My – GOD! How did you know…? It must be magic, or … a
trick!”
“Alright, I’ll tell you” he said, with a bored look on his face.
“Using simple empirical methods of observation and deduction, the
truth will almost always reveal itself to you as the most reasonable
answer. You just look at the evidence, and think logically. Usually,
the simple answer is the best.”
“Would you like a cup of tea? He might take a while” It was Mrs
Hudson.
“Oh, yes please” “two sugars”…
The man continued… “One simple look at your hands revealed
your occupation. Your nails are badly chewed and damaged. This
must be due to stress. A common problem for any teacher, but
especially one that has to deal with demanding students from
different countries who all want to know about the difference
between all the past perfect continuous passive conditional verb
tenses, and adjectival noun phrases and reduced non defining
relative participle clauses and such matters.” I looked at my fingers,
he was right. The nails were a terrible mess… “I saw also that your
hands are very dirty with blue and red ink. This must be from using
whiteboard marker pens. You write on the board, and in your haste
you make a mistake, and then quickly rub it off with your hand,
hoping that no-one notices…”
“Umm, yes, that’s true.”
“That’s the evidence which told me that you must be an English
teacher.”
“Wow!” I said
“Yes, that and the fact that you’re holding a copy of New Headway
Upper Intermediate Teacher’s Book by Liz and John Soars, which
kind of gave it away… oh, and Watson googled you before you
arrived, but anyway… On your face I noticed wrinkles – around
your mouth and eyes. This is from smiling all the time, to keep your
students happy, is it not?”
“Yep. Well done. Right again”, I said, sipping my tea, getting a little
impatient. “Umm, sorry but could you hurry up a bit? It’s just that
this is going to be a really long podcast, and I don’t want anyone to
stop listening…”
“Yes yes! I counted the wrinkles on your face, and estimated that
since graduating from university, you have been smiling at students
for exactly 8.5 years. Simple: Count the wrinkles on the face, divide
by 5 (the average teaching hours per day) and the result: 8.5 years.”
“Fair enough” I said.
“And when you entered the room, you bowed slightly. This must be
body language which you picked up while living in Japan.”
“Yep. Well done… very good”
I was getting annoyed and impatient. I gulped down my sugary tea.
“OK, you’ve convinced me, you’re a brilliant detective. Now, will
you help me out please, Mr…?”
“It’s Holmes, Sherlock Holmes, and this is my companion, Dr
Watson”
“Wow, it really is Sherlock Holmes”, I thought. “I’ve read so much
about him, but I never thought he was real! And his faithful
companion Dr Watson! Fantastic!” I looked again at Watson. He was
fast asleep in his chair.
“WAKE UP WATSON!” shouted Holmes, throwing a chess piece at
him. It bounced off Watson’s head, and he woke up suddenly, and
smiled at me sleepily. “So, how can we help you then Mr Simpson?”
“It’s Thompson you fool!” Shouted Holmes quickly” “And we must
hurry to the riverside in Hammersmith immediately! There’s
another mystery to solve! Come Watson!”
“How did you know it was Hammersmith…?”
“Oh, never mind…” said Holmes.
The three of us jumped in a cab on Baker Street and drove to
Hammersmith bridge. On the way there, I told Holmes about how
I’d sat down by the river the night before, how it had been a full
moon, how a green monster had nearly grabbed me, how I’d heard
weird noises and seen a strange blue light and how I’d been saved
by a mysterious man called The Doctor. When we arrived I took
Holmes and Watson to the spot where everything had happened. A
cold chill ran down my spine as I remembered it all again.
“This is where it happened Mr Holmes” I said.
“Excellent” Said Holmes, a magical light shining in his eyes. “Stand
back! I shall investigate the area.”
“He always does this” Said Watson. “He’ll be busy for an hour or
two I reckon.”
Holmes was bent over, studying the ground next to the river with a
magnifying glass. Occasionally he stopped suddenly, and picked
something up and placed it carefully in his pocket. He walked close
to the water and looked in. He looked up at the sky and down at the
river again. He sniffed the air with his big nose. He picked up a
stone and dropped it into the water, and then went back to look at
the steps where I had been sitting the night before.
Watson yawned, and said to me “There’s a pub over there, fancy a
pint while Holmes does his investigation stuff?”
Watson pointed at a pub called The Black Lion. “Umm, alright.
Yeah, why not!?” I replied.
“We’re just off for a pint in that pub” shouted Watson.
“Hmmm” said Holmes, as he studied some markings on the
ground.
Watson and I sat in the pub next to the fire, and made small talk.
“So, you’re a doctor, are you?”
“Yes, that’s right”
“Hmm, that’s interesting…”
“Yeah, it’s alright, I suppose. Most of the time I just hang out with
Holmes to be honest. Do a bit of writing. That sort of thing. It’s
pretty boring really. I like a quiet life, you know?”
“Yeah, I suppose so. The man I met last night said he was a doctor.
You don’t know who he is, do you?”
“A doctor? Doctor who?”
“I don’t know, he didn’t say his name. He just said ‘you can call me
The Doctor…’ and then he disappeared. It’s really annoying…”
ly: ‘book antiqua’, palatino;”>Just then Holmes burst into the room.
“Come with me Watson, we must walk up the river bank and
investigate the mud near the sewage outlet for evidence!”
“Umm, do we have to? I mean, why don’t we just stay here in the
pub, and you go and look in the mud near the sewage outlet? How
about that?” said Watson, sipping another pint of beer and warming
his feet by the fire.
“Oh Watson, you stay here then, if you must. Your love of the local
Chiswick ale will be the end of you Thompson, what about you?
Fancy getting up to your knees in mud??”
“Erm, I think I’ll stay here with Watson actually, if that’s all right.”
“Fine, stay here, both of you! I shall return within one hour.”
59 minutes and 59 seconds later, Holmes returned. His leather boots
were covered in brown mud, and he had a grim look on his face. He
suddenly looked much older, and tired. I was a little bit worried
about him.
< /p>
We took a cab back to Baker Street and Holmes remained quiet and
moody for the whole journey. I stared out of the window and
dreamed about the present perfect continous passive tense. Watson
fell asleep.
When we got in, Mrs Hudson brought us some cake and Watson
opened the drinks cabinet. “Brandy anyone?” he said, pouring
himself a large glass.
Holmes ignored him, and sat in his chair, smoking his pipe.
For what felt like 2 hours, Watson drank brandy and nodded off by
the fire, while Holmes sat silently in the chair surrounded by clouds
of his own smoke, his face tight with concentration. The sun went
down, and Holmes stayed in the chair, and his pipe smoke stretched
outwards across the room, running along the ground and wrapping
itself around my legs like claws. The moon shone in through the
window, and I began to fall asleep.
Suddenly Holmes jumped out of his chair, a young man again. The
room seemed brighter.
“THOMPSON! I have solved your mystery!” Shouted Holmes,
confidently!
“Wow, that was quick!” I said. I looked over at Watson. He was fast
asleep.
Holmes proceeded to walk around the room, rubbing his hands and
laughing to himself.
“So! What’s it all about??” I asked, impatiently.
“I have read about cases such as this before Thompson, and I have
been very much looking forward to having the opportunity of
working on one myself. And this Doctor of yours… well, I never
thought I would be lucky enough to…”
“To what?? I asked… just tell me what’s going on, please! This is
going to be such a long podcast, and I’m really worried that all my
listeners will be really bored, and they’ll stop listening, and, there’s
not enough pedagogical content, and…”
“ENOUGH!” Shouted Holmes. “I will explain everything. You
would be wise to listen carefully. I have looked at the evidence,
which has been presented to me. There wasn’t much, but there was
enough. First, you told me that this happened near the river.
Inspection of the riverbank revealed several things to me.”
“I discovered some vital clues. I found two green hairs, which must
have come from the ‘monster’ which you talked about. I checked the
hairs, and they perfectly match hairs which have been discovered
near the Thames before. They are hairs from a lunaris goblarmunas
– a moon goblin!”
“Yes, I already know that! What the hell is a Moon Goblin!”
“Oh, it’s a monster which lives in the water, and which comes out
when there’s a full moon to eat people. They worship the moon, and
some people say that they are aliens which once lived on the moon,
but they escaped to earth millions of years ago when the moon lost
its atmosphere.”
“Oh, right… wow, I never knew about that. How did they travel to
the earth, through space”
“Oh, err, well, they’re actually robots”
“Robots, what do you mean?”
“Oh never mind, it’s too difficult to explain…Yep, it’s true, there’s
loads of them in the Thames. They’re responsible for a lot of stuff
actually. The Queen knows all about it, so does the Prime
Minister…”
“They do?”
“Yeah. Anyway, when I investigated the mud up the river, I noticed
that there were lots of goblin footprints. They’re very active. In fact,
there’s many more of them than I first thought. I will have to tell her
majesty all about it. She will want to know.”
“I’m sure she will… Anyway, what about this Doctor guy…”
“Oh yes, while you and Watson were having such a lovely time in
the pub, I inspected the area near where you were sitting last night. I
found some very interesting scratches on the ground. They were
blue scratches. They must have been caused by something very
heavy, blue in colour, and square in shape.”
“What, like a big blue box?” I said.
“Exactly Thompson! Exactly!” I estimate that it was similar in size to
a telephone box. It must have been there for a moment, and then it
moved away quickly.
“So you’re telling me there was a big blue telephone box there one
minute, and then the next minute it was gone?”
“Precisely”
“I also found some footprints near where the box had been. Those
must have been the footprints of your Doctor. The size of the feet
match the description you gave me. I also found this lying on the
ground, near where the blue telephone box had been”
He showed me a silver ticket. It was a concert ticket, made of an
amazing shiny material. It said “Prince Michael Jackson II – Live in
Concert – Wembley Arena September 16th 2021”
“Oh my god! Prince Michael II? That’s Michael Jackson’s son! But,
how is this possible!? How can the doctor have a ticket for a concert
from the future?”
“Let me explain. Look at the evidence. The goblins from space, the
blue ‘telephone box’, the strange sound, the blue flash of light, the
man who called himself the doctor who appeared and disappeared
out of nowhere, the thing he pointed at that goblin, the special
knowledge he had about the moon goblins, the ticket from the
future. It all means one thing.”
“What!? What does it mean?!” I demanded.
Holmes stared at me with dark eyes. Watson snored in the corner of
the room.
“There is no other answer. The Doctor you told me about. Well, he
must be a Timelord.”
“What? Is that your answer? What the hell is a Timelord?” I asked
him.
Holmes stood up, and said.
“If you want to find out, then YOU’LL HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE
NEXT EPISODE OF LUKE’S ENGLISH PODCAST!!!!”
I sighed with frustration.
“Don’t worry Thompson.” Said Holmes. “I know an expert on
Timelords, and he will tell you everything he knows about The
Doctor. Just wait for the next episode of the podcast, and you’ll
learn everything.”
I left 21B Baker Street wishing I had never gone there in the first
place. Holmes wasn’t quite the brilliant man I thought he was, but I
was still determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. I had
managed to get some answers: The Doctor was a Time Lord who
travelled around through space and time in a blue telephone box.
That explained the strange light, the sound, and how The Doctor
appeared and disappeared so quickly. But who was he really, where
had he come from and what on earth was going on?”
With the address of the Timelord expert in my hand, I jumped on a
number 27 bus towards Hammersmith, desperately hoping to get
some final answers to this mystery, and silently hoping that none of
my listeners got really bored with this stupid Sherlock Holmes story
and stopped listening and decided to unsubscribe from Luke’s
English Podcast because it’s gone a bit strange, and where are the
phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions that he said he would teach
us…? I decided that I had to end this mystery as soon as possible,
and then I could go back to teaching useful expressions and
pronunciation… But before that, I was determined to find out about
Timelords, and The Doctor… I arrived at the address, and went
inside to meet the Timelord expert who Holmes had
recommended…
To be continued…