How to Tell a Story in English

Hi Bob the Canadian here.

I thought today would be a good day to teach you a little bit about how to tell a good

story in English.

You know, the, the kind of story that you tell a friend or a co-worker after you've

been gone for the weekend or after you did something fun.

For myself, last weekend my wife and I went to Niagara Falls.

And it was a really fun trip.

But if you look at that sentence, if you look at the sentence, "Last week my wife and I

went to Niagara Falls.", there's three interesting things about that sentence that you can use

to tell your own story.

For instance, I started by talking about WHEN we went.

I said, "Last weekend...".

And there's a lot of ways that you can start a sentence when you're talking about time.

So for instance I could say, "Yesterday..."

I could say, "A couple days ago..."

I could say, "Last weekend or last week..."

You notice how I'm getting further back in time with each statement.

So I could say, "Last weekend / Last week..."

I could say, "A couple weeks ago..."

I could say, "A few weeks ago..."

That would be further in the past than a couple weeks ago.

And I could say, "Last month..."

"A couple months ago..."

You can see how I get further and further in the past, but when you tell a small story

to people you know you can, you can always start with the WHEN.

So in my story again I said, "Last weekend..."

The second part of that sentence I just said WHO I was with.

So we started with the WHEN and then I stated the WHO.

I was with my wife.

So, "Last weekend my wife and I…."

The third thing I said was the WHERE.

So we have the WHEN, the WHO, and then the WHERE.

So the WHERE was, "Niagara Falls".

So, "Last weekend my wife and I went to Niagara Falls."

So if you're telling your own story, if you're sharing with someone something that you did

that is a great starting sentence and you should probably practice that a little bit.

You should probably write down a few practice sentences like, "A couple of days ago my friend

and I went to a restaurant for dinner."

So it's the same format, the, the WHEN, the WHO, and the WHERE.

Or, "A few months ago my dad and I went to Portugal."

So that would be a great example of a starting sentence again.

After you've introduced the WHEN, the WHO, and the WHERE you then want to say a few things

about the trip.

So, "Last weekend my wife and I went to Niagara Falls.

While we were there we went for a couple of walks.

We saw Niagara Falls.

And we went to some of the popular tourist areas."

So you'll notice something common about all those sentences, and that's that they'rein

the past tense.

So we're talking about something that happened, and something that's now over.

You're going to want to be able use the past tense in English.

An easy way to remember that is a lot of the English verbs when they end in -ED are in

the past tense.

There's some that are irregular, but if you say things like, "We watched all of the other

tourists as they took pictures."

When you use the -ED verbs, the verbs that end in -ED you're speaking in the past tense.

And then when you're done telling your story, when you get to the point where you've shared

enough information, you want to finish off by saying, the reason you're telling the story

usually is because of how you felt.

So you would want to say things like, "My wife and I really enjoyed the trip.

It was a lot of fun for us to go to Niagara Falls."

You might even want to recommend whatever it is that you did to someone else.

So again you want to start by stating the WHEN.

Then you want to state the WHO.

And then you want to state the, the WHERE.

Did I get that right?

I'm kind of getting it confused in my own mind.

So here's a few more examples.

You could say, "Last year my brother and I went to Italy.

While we were there we visited Rome.

We visited the southern part of Italy.

And we visited some family."

I'm not Italian, but anyways.

"While we were there we had a good time, and I would recommend that trip to anybody."

So that's a great little story right there.

Let's do another one.

Let's say, "A few months ago..."

So that could be three or four months ago.

"A few months ago my dad and I went to Portugal.

And while we were there we visited his cousins.

They have a beautiful farm in Portugal where they have lots of sheep and goats.

It was so nice there I would definitely go again sometime."

So again the same format.

I'm kind of introducing the story with the, the WHEN, the WHO, the WHERE sentence.

I'm saying a few things about what happened while we were there, and then I'm kind of

just making a comment in general about how it made me feel.

Anyway, it's always good to learn how to tell a little story in English.

I hope that you take some time just to write down a few of these.

If you want a challenge I would say write down about three or four stories.

Make sure they're true, in English of course, and then memorize them.

Memorize little parts of your life that you would be sharing naturally if you had an English

conversation.

So write down a few things, a few things that you've done in the past year or two.

Write them down so that you can be ready.

I'm always big on, which means I recommend, that you're ready for your English conversations,

that you always memorize a few interesting details about yourself.

You should memorize so that means that you have them memorized in your head and be ready

to share a few stories about yourself in English.

Just so that when you do happen to get into an English conversation then you're ready.

It's always good to be ready!

Anyways, Bob the Canadian here, learn English with Bob the Canadian.

Thanks so much for watching and going for a little walk with me.

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And I hope you have a good week ahead of you.

I hope your English is just improving every single week.

I hope you have a good week and I'll see you Friday in the live stream.

Have a good day!