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