Lesson 5 – Step 3 – Tell a story using time sequencers and connectors

Goal

We all love telling stories. But we like it even more when the story is catchy and interesting, don’t we? Today you will learn how to use short words, called linkers, that will make the difference.

You can watch the video or go straight to the written explanation. You decide! Once you’ve finished, you can move to step 4.

Language Discovery

Look at the words and phrases in blue in the text in step 1. What do they have in common?

• They are expressions related to time

Look at the words in green in the text in step 1. What do they have in common?

• They help connect sentences.

LINKERS

Time sequencers

They are words that organize your writing and speaking. Use them to say when or in what order things happen. 

• Use after that and then to say what happened after the previous action.
  • The dog ran away from him. Then, Peter went back to his car.
• Use the following (day/week) to give a time reference.
• Use two (minutes/days/weeks) later to give a time reference.
  • Two minutes later, the dog stopped.
• Use when to join two actions in time.
  •  Peter was driving his car when he saw a small dog in the middle of the road

Connectors

Also called conjunctive words, they are words that link two ideas in a sentence. The connectors can be divided into various sections depending on their role.

• Use because to explain why something happened.
  • He couldn’t make the call because there was no signal.
• Use so to talk about the result.
  • The dog barked at him and started to run, so Peter followed it. 
• Use but to contrast two ideas.
  • Peter started the car, but the dog didn’t move.
• Use although to contrast two ideas. Use although at the beginning of the first sentence, and separate the second sentence with a comma.
  • Although Peter got out of his car carefully, the dog ran away from him.

Conclusión

Ready? Terrific! That’s all for now. You will use the next step together with your teacher in class.