Learning English

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In this last episode of the stories Pippa and Beth talk about some language you can use to tell a story. We hear clips from Neil, Phil and Georgie's stories and talk about the language they use to make their stories interesting.

Transcript

Pippa
Hello. Happy New Year and welcome to Christmas stories. I'm Pippa.

Beth
And I’m Beth.

Pippa
Over the past few weeks, we've heard some true stories about Christmas and New Year from Learning English presenters.

Beth
That's right. I talked about when I went ice skating and almost broke my knees.

Pippa
Yes. And I told a story about when I took my blender to the theatre.

Beth
You can find all the stories on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

Pippa
In this final episode, we're going to look at some of the storytelling techniques that you can use to tell your own stories in English.

Beth
Yes. So, if your New Year's resolution is to get better at speaking in English, we've got some great tips for you.

Pippa
OK, let's start with a story we heard from Neil about his car. Neil's car had broken down a few days before Christmas, but a colleague kindly offered to lend him a charger to fix it.

Beth
Let's listen to some of the story.

Neil
And I went home and I put the bag down by the front door. And I didn't look at it or anything.

And I just started packing my bags for my trip on Christmas Eve, the next day. And I didn't really get up early or I wasn't in a rush at all. In fact, I was quite relaxed. And later on, I regretted that very much.

Pippa
Neil uses a technique called foreshadowing in his story. So, he says he was quite relaxed and later on, he regretted that very much.

Beth
Yes. So, Neil gives us some information about the end of the story, that he regretted being relaxed. So we know when we're listening, that something bad is going to happen. And using this technique keeps you interested. You want to find out what happens at the end of the story.

Pippa
Yes. And there are a few phrases we can use to add foreshadowing into our stories like this. So, we could say, little did I know. So you might say, "little did I know, a surprise was waiting for me."

Beth
Yes. And another one is unbeknownst to me which is a bit more formal, but we can use it in the same way. So, you could say, "unbeknownst to me, something very bad was about to happen."

Pippa
OK, let's look at another storytelling technique. In episode two of this series, Phil told a story all about his Christmas in the countryside. Let's have a listen.

Phil
Now, almost every Christmas card you get when you're a kid shows a snowy scene, a white Christmas. And the thing is, I'd never had one. It never snows in London at Christmas, or hardly ever. But out in the countryside it's a different story. So, on Christmas Eve, as my parents and my aunt and uncle were preparing Christmas dinner, it started to snow, and it didn't stop! Pretty soon the village we were staying in was blanketed in snow.

Beth
Phil’s story has lots of descriptive details. He talks about the images of a white Christmas, a snowy Christmas, a Christmas card. And this gives us a picture to imagine, as we're listening.

Pippa
Yes. And he also uses a nice descriptive phrase about the weather. He says that the village was blanketed in snow. This means covered in snow.

Beth
Now, it can be quite tricky to use interesting descriptive phrases when you're learning English.

Pippa
Yeah, but try learning some common expressions about the weather because these are easier to add into lots of different stories. So, we've had blanketed in snow, that's the one that Phil used. And this means covered in snow.

Beth
And there are a couple of phrases with the preposition 'down'. So, you could say the rain was pouring down. That means it was raining really heavily.

And we also have a phrase, the sun was beating down, which means it was really, really hot.

Pippa
Yeah. And a couple more ways we can describe things being cold and hot. We can say it's bitterly cold. That means it's really cold, freezing.

Or we could say it's baking hot and that means it's really hot.

Beth
Yeah, baking hot makes me think of opening an oven after baking a cake and that heat just comes out the oven. So hot.

Pippa
Yeah. So, it's really good to use phrases like this in a story. If I said it was baking hot, you can imagine what that was like, and it makes you more interested in the story.

Beth
Yeah, definitely.

OK, let's have a look at one more story. This one is from Georgie, who was talking about her New Year's Eve celebrations. She was at a party with friends and she left the room for just a few minutes.

Georgie
And when I returned, I walked in on a very strange scene.

So, at this house, there was a fireplace and everyone was gathered round this fireplace in a kind of semi-circle, and they were writing on bits of paper things that they were leaving behind in 2022. And they were, they were announcing what these things were to the group and then throwing them in the fire. So, things like negative energy or ex-partners. Things that they wanted to leave behind in that year.

Pippa
So, did you notice how Georgie switches tenses to tell her story?

Beth
Yes. She started off with the past simple. She said, "when I returned, I walked in on a very strange scene."

Now, she uses the past simple here because these are specific actions and they are very short. They started and finished in the past. When I returned and I walked in.

Pippa
Yep. And then Georgie uses the past continuous so she says her friends were writing on bits of paper and they were throwing them in the fire. So, Georgie walks in as this is happening, so it's happening in the past, but it's a continuous action. So, it doesn’t have a definite ending. And that's why she uses the past continuous.

Beth
Yes. And these are longer actions as well. If you return it is quite quick. But if you're writing on paper then it is a longer action. And we do combine these tenses often and especially when we want to talk about an interruption. So, for example, you could say, "I was doing the washing up when the doorbell rang."

So, here the doorbell has interrupted an action that you’re doing, the washing up. And of course, that's a longer action than the doorbell ringing. So that's why 'the doorbell rang' is in the past simple.

Pippa
Yep. And this allows you to give a bit more context to your story. And you can talk about two things that happen at a similar time.

And you can also use the present simple when you're telling someone a story. So, this makes it feel more dramatic.

For example, in Georgie's story. She could say, "I walk into the room. My friends are writing things on paper and they're throwing them in the fire and I don't understand what’s going on!"

Beth
Exactly. And this is actually more common in American English than British English, although it is used in both.

Pippa
That's it for our Christmas stories episodes. We hope you enjoyed hearing some true stories from the team at BBC Learning English. Send us an email to tell us what you think. Email [email protected].

Beth
And next week, our classic stories will be back with Tim and Mariam. Find all our stories and dramas at bbclearningenglish.com.

Pippa
Thanks for listening. Bye.

Beth
Bye.