The verb tenses used more frequently in the short story Eveline are :

•-          the simple past, used when Eveline remembers about her past life. This is coherent to the tense function, which is to express something happened and ended in the past.

•-          The expression related to the simple pas is " used to" and the narrator uses it to describe actions that no longer exist in the present.

•-          The past progressive underlines a distance between the action and the idea, the will, the intention of the main character.

•-          The simple present is used when Eveline comes back to reality with her mind; her ordinary present, her real life is in contrast to her past in her perception, and the use of the verb tenses underlines that.

•-          The narrator uses the past perfect to refer to a very distant past, which is distant from her present condition, too. She feels better in the past, she seemed happier.

Using these verb tenses the narrator wanted the reader to understand that Eveline remembers and goes back to her past, but she is not able to act, to fight a present she does not like.

Insistence on time references creates  a gap, a difference between her ordinary life and the memory of her past life.