Time, viewpoint and narrative distance
Objective: Control chronology and narrative perspective through advanced tense and aspect choices.
Explanation
Advanced tense choices can present an event as continuing, completed, anticipated or viewed retrospectively.
Examples
- She was to discover later that the assumption was mistaken.
- By noon, the records had been being examined for hours.
Practice
Choose the correct answer.
By the time the auditors arrived, the records ___ for several hours.
Practice
Choose the correct answer.
She ___ later that the apparently minor error had serious consequences.
Practice
Choose the correct answer.
I ___ that the negotiations would finish on Friday, but they continued into the weekend.