Looking back in three ways

A story about a tree growing over years needs three past tenses. Each answers a different question.

1. Simple past: something happened and finished.

• 'He bought the cherries.'
• 'Rakesh and Grandfather gazed at the tree.'

2. Past progressive (was/were + -ing): something was going on at a past moment.

• 'Rakesh was looking for Grandfather.'
• 'Rakesh was on his way home from school…'

The two often go together: 'Rakesh was walking home when he bought the cherries.' The walking is the background; the buying is the event.

3. Past perfect (had + past participle): something happened before another past event.

• 'They gazed at the tree as though it had performed a miracle.' The gazing is past (simple past); the miracle is even earlier (past perfect).

Three layers:

• the background → was doing;
• the event → did;
• the earlier past → had done.

Try the passage:

• 'I was sitting with my grandparents in the garden.' (background)
• 'As we talked, I realised how much wisdom they had imparted to me over the years.' (the imparting came first)
• 'While I was listening to their stories, I remembered the times we had spent together.'
• 'By the time I left, the sun had set, and I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the bond we had nurtured.'