Study Tip

Study Tip
When we write a story about events that happened to us in the past, we use past tenses. These include:
Past simple
For an action which started and ended in thepast( e.g. I went to corfu on holiday last summer.)
For several actions which happened one after the other in the past (e.g. I opened the gate, walked down the garden path andknocked at the door.)
Past continuous
For an action that was in progress at a certain time in the past (e.g. I was having a bath when the phone rang.)
To give backgroundinformation at the start of a story (e.g. The wind was blowing loudly and the rain was pouring down..)
Past perfect
For an action which happened before another action in the past (e.g.The rain had already left by the time I got to the station.)

Study tip
We often begin and/or end a story about something that happened to us by talking about our feelings.Instead of using common adjectives (e.g. tired), we should use more interesting words (e.g. exhausted) to describe how we feel.

Study tip
First-person narratives are storiesabout real events that happened to us in the past, or imaginary stories written in the first person (“I/we”), as if we were the main character.
When we write a first-personnarrative we can divide it into five paragraphs:
In the introduction we catch the reader’s attention, and give information about when the story took place.
In the main body (paragraphs2-4), we explain what was happening when the story began, then develop the story by narrating the events in the order they happened.
In the conclusion we write what happened inthe end, mentioning any consequences/ results, and describe our feelings and/or reactions.
Descriptions of people, places, etc can also be included in first-person narratives.