Writing: A story

1Read the first two paragraphs of a story about Will. Number the order in which the following things are mentioned. There are two things that are not mentioned. 

• aa description of the weather

  bthe time of day

  cthe time of year

  dthe location

  ea description of the other people around

  fhow the person was feeling

  ga quote

• 1

  2

  3

  4

  5

It was nearly midday, and so hot outside that the roads were beginning to melt. I was tired and desperately needed a cold drink, so I went into a café that had air-conditioning. I was backpacking around Spain, and had just reached Barcelona in one of the hottest summers on record.

I hadn't eaten much for breakfast and I was starving, so I bought a big bag of crisps and a lemonade and looked for somewhere to sit. There were a lot of people in the café, but I found a seat at a table where a man was just sitting down. I sat down next to him and put my backpack on the floor beside me. I drank some lemonade and opened my bag of crisps, which was in the middle of the table, and ate some hungrily.

2Look at the first two paragraphs. Find examples of the following tenses. 



It was nearly midday, and so hot outside that the roads were beginning to melt. I was tired and desperately needed a cold drink, so I went into a café that had air-conditioning. I was backpacking around Spain, and had just reached Barcelona in one of the hottest summers on record.

I hadn't eaten much for breakfast and I was starving, so I bought a big bag of crisps and a lemonade and looked for somewhere to sit. There were a lot of people in the café, but I found a seat at a table where a man was just sitting down. I sat down next to him and put my backpack on the floor beside me. I drank some lemonade and opened my bag of crisps, which was in the middle of the table, and ate some hungrily.

• 1past continuous to give background to the story

• 2past perfect to say what happened before the story began

• 3past simple to begin the story

 

3Complete the third and last paragraphs in exercises 4 and 5 with the words in the box. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

MOVE
• Eventually
• after a while
• Just then
• At first
• A few seconds later
• That's when

4Read the third paragraph of the story. Why did Will think the man might be crazy? 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

Will thought the man might be crazy because nobody wanted to sit at his tablehe started to get aggressivehe took some of Will's crisps and started eating themhe avoided making eye contact.

It was nearly midday, and so hot outside that the roads were beginning to melt. I was tired and desperately needed a cold drink, so I went into a café that had air-conditioning. I was backpacking around Spain, and had just reached Barcelona in one of the hottest summers on record.

I hadn't eaten much for breakfast and I was starving, so I bought a big bag of crisps and a lemonade and looked for somewhere to sit. There were a lot of people in the café, but I found a seat at a table where a man was just sitting down. I sat down next to him and put my backpack on the floor beside me. I drank some lemonade and opened my bag of crisps, which was in the middle of the table, and ate some hungrily.

¹

 

I realized that the man was looking at me very strangely. 

²,

 

to my astonishment, he took some of my crisps and started eating them! 

³

 

I felt angry, but 

⁴

 

I began to feel afraid because I thought the man might be a bit crazy and could get aggressive. I tried not to make eye contact and just smiled nervously, but when I took some more crisps myself, I could see that he was staring at me angrily.

5Read the last paragraph of the story. Why had the man stared at Will angrily? Why did Will hurry out of the café? 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

The man stared at Will angrily because the chips were very expensiveWill had eaten the man's crispsthe man was a bit crazyWill hadn't offered his crisps to the man.

Will hurried out of the café because .

⁵ I decided I'd better leave as soon as possible, so I ate the last of the crisps, finished my lemonade, and picked up my backpack.

 

⁶ I saw my bag of crisps, which had fallen on the floor underneath my backpack. They were his crisps I'd eaten! I turned bright red with embarrassment, and didn't think I could explain myself in Spanish, so I hurried out of the café as quickly as I could.

6Match the verbs to the adverbs. Check your answers in the story paragraphs. 

eat

look

smile

stare

hurry

• nervously
• quickly
• strangely
• angrily
• hungrily

It was nearly midday, and so hot outside that the roads were beginning to melt. I was tired and desperately needed a cold drink, so I went into a café that had air-conditioning. I was backpacking around Spain, and had just reached Barcelona in one of the hottest summers on record.

I hadn't eaten much for breakfast and I was starving, so I bought a big bag of crisps and a lemonade and looked for somewhere to sit. There were a lot of people in the café, but I found a seat at a table where a man was just sitting down. I sat down next to him and put my backpack on the floor beside me. I drank some lemonade and opened my bag of crisps, which was in the middle of the table, and ate some hungrily.

_____I realized that the man was looking at me very strangely. _____, to my astonishment, he took some of my crisps and started eating them! _____ I felt angry, but _____ I began to feel afraid because I thought the man might be a bit crazy and could get aggressive. I tried not to make eye contact and just smiled nervously, but when I took some more crisps myself, I could see that he was staring at me angrily.

_____ I decided I'd better leave as soon as possible, so I ate the last of the crisps, finished my lemonade, and picked up my backpack. _____ I saw my bag of crisps, which had fallen on the floor underneath my backpack. They were his crisps I'd eaten! I turned bright red with embarrassment, and didn't think I could explain myself in Spanish, so I hurried out of the café as quickly as I could.

Unit 2 Writing guide

Read the instructions.  Write your answer in the Word document.  Save your work.  Upload your file.  If you want to add a note for your teacher, write it in the Comments box.  Select Submit to dropbox to send your work to your teacher.