Style - Write a Time Order Sentence
Types
- Descriptive Past “Coffee was first discovered in… then … After that … recently”
- Descriptive Present: “After they are discarded, plastic bags then float.. finally turtles eat”
- Tell a Story Present: “So yesterday I go to the station, and see Hiroki. We say hi, then..”
- Tell a Story Past: “In 2017 I went to …. And I saw … After that … Recently”
- Instruction Present: “To make scones, first take 225g of flour and add…then…finally”
Differences | Narrative Time Order | Descriptive Time Order | Instructional Time Order |
---|---|---|---|
example question | “What is the history of coffee” | “How do people make coffee?” | “How do I make coffee?” |
The content | “I did X, then Y, and finally Z” | “Someone does X, then Y, and finally Z” | “First you do X, then Y, and finally X” |
Language example 1 | Next, I made the coffee | Next, the farmer makes the coffee | Next, you make the coffee |
Example Topic Sentence | This paragraph describes the history of coffee | This paragraph describes how coffee is made | This paragraph describes how to make coffee |
Common mistakes
- Avoid instructions if you’re not doing it!
First, pick the tea(I don’t work in a tea plantation!)First, you pick the tea(No I don’t! I teach English!)
- Instead
- First, the machine picks the tea
- First, the worker picks the tea
- First, the tea is picked
Option 1 - topic first
Cohesion phrase | Narrative | Descriptive | Instructional |
---|---|---|---|
First, | X happened | X does something | do X |
Firstly, | what happened was x | X begins happening | you do X |
Initially, | X were starting to Y | X is done | you should do X |
To begin with, | X was done | You need to do X | |
At the outset |
Continue:
- Second…Third
- The second step….The third step
- Secondly, … Thirdly,
- Next,
- Then,
- After that
- Subsequently
- Following that
- The next year
- The following year,
- Two hours later,
- Three years later,
- At the end of the 30 mins
- At the end of two years,
- After, / Afterwards,
- Finally,
- The final
- In the end,
Option 2 - category first
Cohesion phrase | Narrative | Descriptive | Instructional | |
---|---|---|---|---|
The first | thing | that happened was X | is X | is doing X |
The second | event | was that X did Y | is that X does Y | is to do X |
The third | stage | was X is X doing Y | is X doing Y | |
The next | step | event was that X did Y | is when X does Y | |
The following | was X doing Y | |||
The final | was when X did Y | |||
was that X happened |
Option 3 - “ING-ED”
Cohesion phrase | Narrative | Descriptive | Instructional |
---|---|---|---|
After Xing, | Y happened | X happens | do X |
While Xing, | etc | etc | etc |
Before Xing, | etc | etc | etc |
Option 4 - happens at the same time
Cohesion phrase | Narrative | Descriptive | Instructional |
---|---|---|---|
While X is happening | Y happened | Y happens | do Y |
At the same time X was happening | Y happened | Y happens | do Y |
Meanwhile, | |||
In the meantime, | |||
At the same time, | |||
Simultaneously, |
Other useful language
- Basics (, so…, or…, but…, because…, and…)
- “Cause and Effect” language (As a result…This results in…The outcome was)
- Basic time phrases (“Then in 1956”…“After 30 minutes”…“Three years later”)
- Going out of sequence
- You need to Y, but before that, do X
- After having previously Xed, do Y
- Before Y happened, X had happened