A narrative exercise: tell a humorous incident from your life. The story should have a clear setting, sequence of events and a funny twist. The dominant tense is the past simple, with some past continuous for background.
Time, place, who is involved. "Yesterday, around 2 a.m., I was at home alone…"
Describe what was happening, what you saw or heard. Use the past continuous + simple past.
The unexpected, ridiculous, or embarrassing ending — the reason the story is funny.
Yesterday, it was about two o'clock in the morning, and suddenly I woke up. I heard a noise. I got out of bed and went slowly downstairs. There was talking in the living room. I listened carefully.
I could hear two men speaking very quietly. "Burglars!" I thought. "Two burglars!" Immediately, I ran back upstairs and called the police. I was really frightened.
Fortunately, the police arrived quickly. They opened the front door and went into the living room. Then they came upstairs to find me. "It's all right now, sir," they explained. "We turned the television off for you."
Why is it funny? The narrator thought there were burglars, but the noise was just the TV — a humorous anti-climax.
I was coming out of my English class one afternoon wearing my new high heels. But coming down some stairs, I lost my balance and started to wobble. And suddenly, I knew I was going to fall! As I fell, I grabbed on to someone's legs to stop falling.
Of course, it didn't help, and I fell anyway. But imagine my horror when I saw what I was holding on to. It was someone's jeans. I had pulled them down when I fell! I looked up and saw a boy, standing with his jeans around his ankles. I don't know who was more embarrassed then, him or me!
Why is it funny? The narrator tried to save herself by grabbing someone — but ended up pulling down a stranger's jeans! Comic horror.
For main actions: I woke up. I went downstairs. I called the police.
For background actions: I was wearing high heels. We were studying when…
Think about a funny incident that happened to you. Fill in this chart on a draft sheet:
A short model you can adapt:
One day, while I was walking to school with my best friend Karim, something funny happened to me. It was raining heavily and the streets were full of puddles. We were rushing because we were late for our English class.
Suddenly, a car passed by very fast and splashed water all over Karim. He was wearing his new white shirt — and it turned brown in a second! He stopped, completely shocked. I couldn't help laughing, but he just stood there, staring at his shirt.
When we finally arrived at school, the teacher looked at Karim and asked: "What happened? You look like a chocolate bar!" The whole class burst into laughter. I'll never forget that day — and Karim still blames me for laughing first!
Open with time and place, build up the action, then deliver the funny moment at the end.
Past simple for actions, past continuous for background. Use past perfect only for prior events.
Suddenly, then, after that, fortunately, finally. These connect your sentences and improve fluency marks.
If the exam topic is a narrative, aim for 120-150 words, with at least 5 linking words and 3 different past tenses. End with a twist or a comment — never leave the story unfinished.