2021 SPM Writing PDF

HOW TO BEGIN YOUR STORY

• When you start a story, if the first sentence isn’t given to you, you can use
phrases like these:

• It all began…
• When I first…
• At the beginning…
• It was a hot/cold summer/winter day.

• Just to be clear, these are only some simple examples which you can use, as
there is no right or wrong way to start a story. That’s the beauty of it!

TIME PHRASES

•When writing a story, you need to pay
careful attention to the time over
which the story develops. In order
to define the order of the events
in the story, we must use time
expressions or time phrases.

TIME PHRASES (COHESIVE DEVICES)

• Then • ____ minutes later
• After that • a moment later
• Not long afterwards • Later (that morning/ day
• As soon as • Just then
• While • Some time later
• Meanwhile • A little later
• As

CREATING SUSPENSE

•When writing a story, the aim is not to
inform or to convey information; the real
purpose is to entertain the reader, just
like when you read a novel you expect to
be entertained. For this reason, a story
should aim to do so: entertain. And a cool
way to entertain is to create suspense.

CREATING SUSPENSE

• Suddenly • Out of the blue

• All of a sudden • Out of nowhere

• Without warning • Right away

• Just at that moment • Straight away

• Unexpectedly

USE DIRECT SPEECH

• In every story there are characters and they
usually interact with each other, so it is
always good if you know how to use direct
speech, that is, reproduce the words the
characters actually say or think. The tricky bit
about this is the punctuation and the verbs to
choose, because it’s good to use some verbs
other than “say”.

USE DIRECT SPEECH

• “ I’m coming with you,” she said.
• She said, “I’m coming with you.”
• “Do you like it?” he asked.
• “Don’t do it!” he screamed.
• “ Watch out!” she shouted.

CONCLUDING/ FINISHING YOUR STORY

• This paragraph, the resolution, should be separated from the rest, and it’s
a good idea to start it with one of the following expressions:

• In the end
• Finally
• When it was all over
• Eventually
• After everything that happened
• Luckily

VERB TENSES

• One of the reasons why stories are particularly challenging
for students is that they tend to take place in the past,
which makes it necessary to use a range of past tenses
appropriately. The main three past tenses you should
really try to use are the following:

• Past simple (verb + ed / irregular form)

• Past continuous ( was/were verb + ing

• Past perfect (had verb + ed/en / irregular form)

VERB TENSES

• Past simple and continuous:

It was midnight and I was trying to sleep.

• Past perfect and simple:

I had completely forgotten (that) it was my birthday.

• Past simple:

This time I picked up the phone quickly and shouted,
“Hello!”

VERB TENSES

Please avoid a simple succession of past simple
tenses alone, like:

• I woke up and got out of bed. Then, I went to the
kitchen and made some coffee.
It’s not wrong, but it’s just not good enough for a
story.

TRANSITION-ACTION-DETAILS



PART 3: STORY

•Your teacher has asked you to write a story for
your school magazine. The story must have the
title:

• An unforgettable incident

•Your story should include:
•• a description of the incident
•• why it is unforgettable

•Write your story.

PLANNING A STORY: An unforgettable incident

TRANSITION ACTION DETAILS

After class, I wanted to eat pizza There were many customers.
for lunch with my We had to queue.
My stomach was rumbling.
friend.
Earlier, I saw there was the last piece of
Finally, I was my turn to order pepperoni pizza.
I was excited.
Quickly, I ordered the last slice.
Thanked God I got it.
Suddenly, Everybody in the café However, it slipped out of my plate.
laughed. I was embarrassed.

In the end, We turned an The server made a joke.
embarrassing moment I saw best friend laughed too.
to a happy one. Then, I laughed with them

I would never forget this incident.
I learned an interesting lesson

AN UNFORGETTABLE INCIDENT

Yesterday, I learned that laughter cures most problems, even an embarrassing
one.. An incident that I would never forget happened when I wanted to buy my
lunch at a pizza café.

“Stay in line,” Mrs. Martin said. I knew right away that my friend Naomi
wouldn’t be able to cut the queue. I looked at Naomi and frowned. Soon, the line
began to move faster, and I followed along hoping that there would still be pizza. I
could hear the rumbling of my very disappointed stomach..

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw one last piece of pepperoni pizza. I
got so excited. “Pepperoni pizza,” I said politely. Mrs. Martin handed me the pizza. I
took the paper plate so quickly that the pizza slid off the plate. I tried to save it, but
the pizza landed in the pan of hot buttery mashed potatoes.

I could feel my face turning redder and redder. All I could hear was laughter
from the kids in line. As I looked at the upside-down pizza, I heard Mrs. Martin’s
voice. “Maria, would you like a side of mashed potatoes with your pizza?” I looked
up and saw Naomi. She was laughing too. With a nervous smile, I replied, “Of
course.” Mrs. Martin smiled and scooped the mash potatoes pizza on my plate. I
looked around at my friends, and we all laughed again.

To my surprise, the laughing made me feel good instead of just clumsy. This
would be in my mind for quite some time. (256 words)

EDIT YOUR ESSAY PART 3

CONTENT COMMUNICATIVE ORGANISATION LANGUAGE

ACHIEVEMENT

• DID YOU USE ALL THE • DID YOU USE THE • DID YOU USE • DID YOU USE A

CONTENT POINTS? CORRECT GENRE/ PARAGRAPHS AND RANGE OF

FORM OF TEXT? ARE THEY WELL- VOCABULARY

• IS THE TARGET PLANNED? INCLUDING LESS

READER FULLY • DID YOU WRITE • DID YOU USE ANY COMMON LEXIS

INFORMED? STRAIGHT FORWARD CONJUNCTIONS? APPROPRIATELY?

IDEAS? • DID YOU USE ANY

• DID YOU ELABORATE TRANSITION WORDS • DID YOU USE SIMPLE,

TO HOLD YOUR WITH GENERALLY COMPOUND AND

READER’S INTEREST? GOODEFFECT? COMPLEX SENTENCES

• DID YOU WRITE WITH CONTROL?

• DID YOU USE THE USING THE CORRECT

RIGHT TONE? TENSE THROUGHOUT

THE ESSAY

NOW, LET’S WRITE A STORY

•ANY STORY