WRITING A PROPER STORY (B2 Cambridge exam)
You see this notice on an English-language website for young people.
We are looking for stories for our English-language website for young people.
Your story must begin with this sentence:
Feeling slightly nervous, Emma walked up the steps and onto the plane.
Your story must include:
– bad weather
– a surprise
Write your story.
MODEL ANSWER
1Feeling slightly nervous, Emma walked up the steps and onto the plane. She 4 ’d never
been to America before, but now 2 she was on her way for a one-month exchange visit to
an American school.
3 As she 4 was waiting for the plane to take off, questions 4 went through her mind. Would
she get on with the other students? Would they accept her? Would it be difficult? Emma
sighed. It was too late to change her mind now!
3 An hour later, Emma was looking out at the 6 clear blue sky as they flew over the ocean.
Then, 5 all of a sudden, the sky darkened. There was a roar of thunder, and the pilot told
passengers to put on their seat belts. 5 Two minutes later, the plane was in the middle of 8 a
fierce storm. Lightning flashed, and the plane bumped and shook 6 violently. Terrified,
Emma closed her eyes.
After what felt like hours, the plane landed. As she walked out into the terminal building,
Emma saw a big colorful sign: Welcome Emma! 9 What an amazing surprise! Her host
family were there, smiling and waving, and Emma knew immediately that 7 everything
would be fine!
1 starts with the first sentence from the task
2 includes some background to the events
3 is organised into paragraphs
4 uses past simple, past continuous and past perfect verb forms
5uses a range of time expressions to say when the actions happened and what order they
happened in
6 uses descriptive adjectives and adverbs to make the story interesting
7 includes a clear ending
8 includes the idea of bad weather, specified in the task
9 includes the idea of a surprise, specified in the task
4. Read the tips.
Remember, to get a good mark for your story:
• You must use the first sentence and the two ideas in the input.
• Your story should be organized into paragraphs, and it should have a clear beginning,
middle and end.
• You should use a range of past tenses for the events in the story.
• You should use a range of words and expressions to show when different events
happen.
• You should include descriptions as well as actions.
• You should use descriptive adjectives and adverbs to make your story interesting.
• You should think of an interesting ending.
5. Read two beginnings of students’ stories. Which one is better? Give three reasons
why.
A When Laura sat down on the train, she noticed a bag on the seat opposite her. She
waved goodbye to her mum, and the train started moving. Laura started reading her book,
then the phone in the bag rang.
B When Laura sat down on the train, she noticed a bag on the seat opposite her. There
was no one else in her part of the train, so she guessed someone had probably left it there
by mistake. It was a very modern, fashionable bag, and looked expensive. Laura opened
her book to start reading, when she heard a phone ringing. It wasn’t hers – it was coming
from inside the bag.
6. Choose the best ending for the story in Exercise 5. Why is it better than the other
one?
A Laura stepped down from the train, holding the bag. A woman immediately ran
towards her. ‘I’m Kirsty,’ she said, ‘the owner of the bag. Thank you so much for all you
did for me today!’ Laura handed her the bag. ‘No problem,’ she said, smiling. ‘It certainly
made my journey a lot more interesting!’
B When Laura reached her station, she picked up the bag. She wasn’t sure what to do
with it, so she decided she would take it to the lost property office. Then, all of a sudden,
a woman came running onto the train. ‘That’s my bag!’ she said and grabbed it out of
Laura’s hands.
