Gap-fill
French literary récit: keep the same tense system across paragraph breaks
Complete a sustained French literary narrative with passé simple, imparfait and earlier completed background. Choose tense by event structure across paragraphs.
- C2
- 10 gaps
- Translation included
- Learn this in the C2 notebook →
In short
Track the event’s role across the whole passage. Passé simple advances bounded narrative events; imparfait presents ongoing setting or habits; plus-que-parfait can locate an earlier completed event. A paragraph break does not reset the narrative timeline.
The ten gaps belong to one original narrative. Read the full sequence before answering. The hints identify bounded action, background or anteriority, so the choice does not depend on the misleading rule that every short action takes passé simple.
Une enveloppe à remettre
Quand Nora entra, la pluie (tomber · ongoing background) depuis une heure. Elle (poser · bounded event) sa valise près de la porte. La veille, Malik lui (envoyer · earlier completed event) une adresse différente. Elle (relire · foreground event) donc le message sur son téléphone.
Le couloir (sembler · background description) désert. Soudain, une porte (s’ouvrir · new bounded occurrence) au fond du couloir. Malik (apparaître · next foreground event) avec le dossier sous le bras.
Il (porter · accompanying description) le manteau gris que Nora connaissait. Sans parler, il lui (tendre · next bounded action) une enveloppe. Elle (comprendre · moment of understanding) alors pourquoi il lui avait demandé de venir.
Read it in English
When Nora came in, it had been raining for an hour. She put her suitcase near the door. The day before, Malik had sent her a different address. She therefore reread the message on her phone.
The corridor seemed deserted. Suddenly a door opened at the far end. Malik appeared with the file under his arm.
He was wearing the grey coat Nora knew. Without speaking, he held out an envelope to her. She then understood why he had asked her to come.
Keep relationships when the paragraph changes
The earlier message remains anterior after a paragraph break. The rain remains an ongoing setting even if its description is brief. The moment of understanding can appear in passé simple because the narrative presents it as an occurrence, despite its mental rather than physical nature.
| Shortcut | Better question |
|---|---|
| Short action = passé simple | Is the event presented as bounded in this narrative? |
| Long action = imparfait | Is it being viewed as ongoing or habitual? |
| New paragraph = new tense | How does the event relate to the established timeline? |
A sustained literary narrative requires the same control after the first few sentences. Read for the line of bounded events and the circumstances surrounding them, then ask whether each tense helps the reader recover that relationship.