Which verb tense is used for describing past events in narrative writing?

• A. Future tense.
• B. Past tense.
• C. Present perfect tense.
• D. Past perfect tense.

Answer: (B)

Describing past events in a narrative is typically done in the past tense because it shows actions that already occurred in the story’s timeline. It helps readers follow the sequence of events clearly and feels natural for telling what happened. For example, “She walked to the market, bought bread, and returned home” places the actions in the story’s past.

Other tenses describe different ideas: future tense talks about what will happen, which isn’t describing the events that already occurred; present perfect describes actions connected to now or experiences up to now (she has walked); past perfect describes something that happened before another past moment (she had walked before she arrived). These are used for different purposes, but the straightforward telling of past events in a narrative usually uses past tense.