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Tell Stories Easily by Using 4 Parts

24 February 2014 by Marc

speaking

You can tell stories easily by using four parts: beginning, main point, reaction and ending. Remember that stories usually stick to the past tense.

Beginning

It is common to use a past-continuous clause (was/were ~ing) and ‘when‘, followed by a past-tense clause (simple or continuous) for a detail to link to the main point.

“I was having a job interview when I felt the room shaking.”

Main Point

Get straight to the point. This is an action.

“There was a huge earthquake.”

Reaction

What did you do after the action you just talked about?

“Everybody left the building and went home.”

Ending

How did things get back to normal or back to a comfortable situation for you?

“I had to walk for five hours because there were no trains.”

This might be useful next time you write your diary.

Write a diary

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Posted in: Output, Speaking, Writing Tagged: pastcontinuous, pasttense, stories

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