Welcome to the point of view mini stories for Greek family.
Let’s get started.
First, the past tense.
Five years ago, I was walking down the street when a guy came to me and said "hi can I chat
with you for a moment."
He looked clean and very neat.
I was quite naïve so I thought he was just being friendly.
I said "okay."
The man asked me "how far would you go to save yourself."
I said "what do you mean."
He said "I’m talking about the Christian faith.
I want you to con- vert to Christianity."
"Actually, I’m a Buddhist" I said.
"What about your relatives are they Buddhists too", he asked.
I told him "no just me."
He then told me that I would go to hell if I didn’t convert.
He said I was a bad person.
He told me all Buddhists would go to hell.
Finally, he said that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil.
That was the last straw.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I yelled at him "go away I refuse to listen to you anymore."
Alright.
Our second version.
I’m going to change this a little bit to -- so you get a little more practice.
Just change the order of the story.
Since I was a child I have been very naïve.
I have always thought that people are very friend- ly even if they’re not.
I have always accepted people and not worried about them or been suspi- cious.
Right?
I have always been quite naïve since I was a child.
Well one day I was walking down the street when a guy came up to me and said "hi can
I chat with you for a moment".
He looked clean and very neat.
Since I was quite naïve and have always been naïve I thought he was just being friendly
so I said "okay".
The man asked me "how far would you go to save yourself."
I said "what do you mean."
He said "I’m talking about the Christian faith; I want you to convert to Christianity."
"Actually, I’m a Buddhist" I said.
"What about your relatives are they Buddhists too", he asked.
I told him "no just me".
He then told me that I would go to hell if I didn’t convert.
He said I was a bad person.
He told me all Buddhists would go to hell.
Finally, he said that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil.
That was the last straw.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I yelled at him "go away I refuse to listen to you anymore."
So you can notice I used the present perfect "have been" for something that started long
ago when I was a child and continued up to the time this story happened.
Then I changed to the simple past because we’re talking about one specific event and
that it’s already happened it’s done.
Okay.
Let’s -- now, let’s go to the future -- back to the future.
Here we go.
In ten years -- ten years from now -- I’m imagining this, maybe I dreamed this.
Okay, this is a dream.
I have a dream.
In ten years, I will be walking down the street when a guy will come up to www.EffortlessEnglishClub.com
me and he’ll say "hi can I chat with you for a moment."
He’ll look clean and very neat.
I’ll be quite naïve so I’ll think he’s just being friendly.
I’ll say "okay".
The man’s going to ask me "how far would you go to save yourself."
And I’ll say "what do you mean."
He’ll say "I’m talking about the Christian faith I want you to convert to Christianity".
"Actually I’m a Buddhist" I’ll say.
"What about your relatives are they Buddhists too" he’ll ask.
I’m going to tell him "no just me".
He’ll then tell me that I will go to hell if I don’t convert.
He’ll say I’m a bad person.
He’ll tell me all Buddhists will go to hell.
Finally, he’ll say that the Buddha and all Buddhists serve the devil.
That’s going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
I’ll yell at him "go away I refuse to listen to you anymore".
Alright.
Go back, listen to each version.
After each version pause and try to tell that version yourself out loud, so you can hear
it.
So listen to the first version the past, pause, and tell the whole story again using the past
"ten years ago".
Second time, start the story with "since I was a child" and tell the story yourself out
loud.
And then again listen to the future version and pause and tell the future version yourself.
If it’s difficult, if you can’t do it, no problem just relax, go back, listen very
carefully again, and again, and again and then try again.
Alright.
I’ll see ya next time.
Bye-bye.