Learning English

Neil

Hello. Welcome to How To with me, Neil Edgeller. In this programme we'll take a look at how to tell friends, or people you know quite well, about serious things which have happened to you.

Perhaps you've been unlucky enough to have been attacked, or maybe you've seen something frightening, like a road accident.

How do you introduce the topic to your friends? How do you tell the story, and how do you finish it?

Listen and find out more in this week's How To.

I've just come into the office here at BBC Learning English after the weekend and asked my colleagues how they are.

Unfortunately, something serious has happened to each of them. First of all, listen to Carrie. What happened to her?

Carrie

Neil, you'll never guess what's happened this morning. I was on the train on the way into work, just coming into London, and about five minutes before we got into the station there was this huge bang and the train just came off the rails, I think.

Everybody was thrown about, luggage got thrown about and it was so scary. I've never been so scared in all my life.

Neil

Carrie was in a train accident. People and luggage were thrown about the train and it was very scary.

How did she start telling the story? She says, Neil, you'll never guess what's happened this morning.

Carrie

Neil, you'll never guess what's happened this morning.

Neil

This is a good way of introducing shocking and serious events to a friend or colleague you know quite well.

It's for informal situations. After she introduces it, she can then tell the story. At the end, she comments on the story.

Carrie

It was so scary. I've never been so scared in all my life.

Neil

She says, It was so scary. I've never been so scared in all my life. It's typical with this type of story to end with a comment which tells us how you felt.

Next, I spoke to William. Unfortunately, something quite nasty happened to him over the weekend too. What was it?

William

Oh well, something awful happened to me yesterday, actually. A really, really terrible thing - you won't believe it, actually.

Basically, I was mugged, really. And I was walking home and these two guys sort of came up and one of them put his arm around me, actually.

He was kind of all very friendly and stuff like that, and said, 'Have you got any money?'

And I said, 'No, I don't have any money.'

And he said, you know, 'Gimme some money or I'll punch you.'

And then he punched me and went away and I was really upset at the time. I was really, really upset.

Neil

He was mugged, which means someone attacked him in public to steal his money.

They put their arm around him at first to pretend to be friendly, but then punched him and took his money.

How does he introduce the story? He says, Something awful happened to me yesterday, actually.

William

Something awful happened to me yesterday, actually.

Neil

And after that he tells the story. And, just like Carrie, he finishes with a comment which tells us how it ended and what the feeling was.

William

I was really upset at the time. I was really, really upset.

Neil

He says he was really upset. Again, it's common to end this type of story with a comment about how it made you feel.

Lastly, here's Jackie. Something very serious and shocking has happened to her too. Listen to find out what it was.

Jackie

Guys, something really bad's just happened. I was outside and I was about to cross the road and someone went across, where there was a red light, and they were hit.

I think the guy's dead. It was just really horrible. I just saw it happening and didn't know what to do. I feel really shaken actually.

Neil

She was outside the office and she saw a man being run over by a car.

He was seriously injured and Jackie thinks he might have died.

Listen to how she introduces this story. She says, Guys, something really bad's just happened.

Jackie

Guys, something really bad's just happened.

Neil

After that, she tells the story and then ends with a comment, this time: It was just really horrible. I feel really shaken actually.

Jackie

It was just really horrible. I feel really shaken actually.

Neil

Shaken here means upset and shocked.

So, to recap: if you want to tell a friend about something serious that's happened to you, you can introduce it like this:

EXAMPLES

Neil, you'll never guess what's happened this morning.

Something awful happened to me yesterday, actually.

Guys, something really bad's just happened.

Neil

You then tell the story and end by adding a comment:

EXAMPLES

It was so scary. I've never been so scared in all my life.

I was really upset at the time. I was really, really upset.

It was just really horrible. I feel really shaken actually.

Neil

That's all for this How To. I really hope you don't have a weekend as bad as my colleagues, but if something serious does happen, you'll know how to tell your friends.