223. The Cambridge exam B1 story writing

Practising English

To write a successful story for the Cambridge PET exam (Preliminary English Test)

Here is some of the help and advice I talk about in the podcast. I will also read you a model story.

You are always given a first sentence, which you must use.

'When Jasmin looked down at the soft ground, she could see quite clearly that the tiger had recently come this way.'

Use of 'when' here. 'When ' is a good word to use in your story as it means you create a complex, 2-part sentence.

Setting the scene - where the story is happening etc.

It was foggy in the early morning light, but she clearly noticed that something was moving in the long grass.

Here we can show where the action is happening, and things that can be seen from where we are. Note the use of past continuous.

Putting the story into context by saying what happened before.

It had all started when she began hanging out with gamers*. They said she was a ‘natural’. So she had started training. All that time spent in the gym working out to get fit for the most realistic computer game ever.

Notice the use of the past perfect here to talk about what happened before the present moment in the story.

Use of linking words.

Despite, however, although, so, because...

Back to the present action...

She turned and set off again.

We now use past simple to describe the action in the story.

Use of adverbs like, luckily, fortunately, unfortunately, slowly etc.

She fell about ten metres. Luckily, her fall was broken by a branch

Fortunately, she had not reached the bottom,

Although this world was not real, the tears on her cheeks were wet, and the cold morning fog and her fear made her body shake.

(linker 'however' - making the story exciting - what happened next?)

However, what happened next made Jasmin scream. The branch began to break - slowly, at first.

You could also finish with a more classical ending than mine

Finally, her friends came to rescue Jasmine and took her out of the virtual world.