(A) Sample Answer
Your English teacher has asked you to write a story. Your story MUST begin with this sentence.
I felt nervous when the phone rang. Write your story in about 100 words.
Past Tenses : Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect Time Expressions
I felt when the phone rang. It was midnight and I was trying to sleep. Who could it be?
1st ParagraphBackground to the story
Direct Speech Adjective
A few minutes later, I got up and ran to the phone. However, as I was running, the phone stopped running. I was quite as I had wanted to ignore the phone at the beginning. I decided to go back to bed again. Just as I was falling asleep, the phone started ringing again. “Oh, my God! This is so !”, I thought. This time I picked up the phone and shouted, “Hello?!”. Nobody said anything at first, but all of a sudden I heard, “Hello.”
The voice sent shivers down my spine. Before I could say anything, the call ended. “Maybe it was just a prank.” I comforted myself and went back to bed.
2nd Paragraph –Main Events of story
3rd ParagraphEnd the story
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1st -Background to the story
(B) Plan
2nd - Main events using time expressions to make order of events clear.
Use Past Tenses (Past Simple, Past Continuous& Past Perfect)
Use adjectives or adverbs to make the story more interesting.
(C ) Key Language & Ideas
1)Past Tenses
a) Past Simple:
main events.
I decided to pick up the call.
event which happened one after another.
I got up , ran to the phone and picked it up.
b) Past Continuous (was/were + -ing) :
action in progress until another action interrupted.
I was walking to the ringing phone when it stoppedringing.
two / more actions happening at the same time.
I was reading a book while Julie was watering the plants.
background information for story.
3rd - End the story.
It was raining cats and dogs while I was listening to the music on the bus.
c) Past Perfect (had + past participle):
action which happened before another action in the past.
I had finished dinner before my parents came home.
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2) Time Expressions
not long afterwards
as soon as
as
few minutes later
suddenly / all of a sudden
just at that moment
unexpectedly out of nowhere right away
straight away
eventually / finally
luckily / fortunately,
3) Adjectives & Adverbs
Adjectives to describe people: friendly, kind, tall
Adjectives to describe places: modern, old, haunted, busy
Adjectives to describe feelings: scared, excited, angry
Adverbs to describe how someone does something: slowly, calmly, angrily
4) Direct Speech
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
She said, “I’m coming with you.”
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