2. Read the story and put the paragraphs in the correct order. Then, answer the questions that follow.

A _____ After I had checked in, I made my way slowly to the departure gate. As I was waiting to board the plane, I kept thinking about my ideal holiday destination: Jamaica, with its long, sandy beaches and crystal clear waters.

B _____ So there I was, lying on the beach, enjoying the music and sampling the marvelous food of Jamaica! As for Aunt Rosa, I suppose she just had to live without me!

C _____ The day of my holiday arrived, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. I had little money and had only been able to afford to stay with my Aunt Rosa in Spain. So, I wasn’t really thrilled as I knew exactly what it was going to be like: lots of noisy cousins, and Aunt Rosa begging me to take her for a ride.

D _____As soon as the plane took off, I fell fast asleep and only woke to the sound of the announcement: ”Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, as we will shortly be landing in Kingston.” I froze in my seat. Was I dreaming? Kingston? Jamaica? I had boarded the wrong plane!

E _____Immediately after the plane had landed, I explained the situation to the authorities. It seems there were also three other passengers heading for Spain. Apparently, it had been the airline’s fault, since the flight numbers for Spain and Jamaica were exactly the same! Therefore, with no light back to London for a week, the airline had no choice but to pay for our stay!

1. Which tenses have been used? What does each verb describe (actions, events, feelings, etc)?

2. Underline the adjectives used and say decide which have a positive or a negative meaning.

3. Circle the adverbs used and decide which show manner, time or degree.

4. Which words show the sequence of events?

5. Which words/clauses describe the writer’s feelings/moods?

6. Which is the climax event? Underline it.

c. Put the events in chronological order.

1) I checked in and waited to board the plane.

2) I explained the problem to the audience.

3) I spent a week in Jamaica.

4) The airline agreed to pay for my stay in Jamaica.

5) The plane took off.

6) I wasn’t looking forward to going on holiday.

7) The pilot announced that we were landing in Kinston.

8) I fell asleep.

10) I realized I was on the wrong plane.

To show the sequence of events in a story we can use linking words such as: When, while, as soon as, after, before, at that moment, by the time, first, next, soon, then, eventually, meanwhile, after a while, suddenly, at first, finally, as.

Task 26.

1. Read the extract below and underline the time words and phrases.

As soon as the taxi pulled up outside the hotel, we knew we had made a terrible mistake. When we had booked our holiday, the travel agent said that the hotel Mirage was a 4-star hotel in the center of town. This was an old rundown building and we were miles from anywhere!

While we were waiting to check in, we heard one of the guests complaining that there was no hot water in the bathroom and her room was crawling with cockroaches! At that moment we both decided that we would only spend one night there and first thing in the morning we would look for another place to stay.

b. Read the rest of the story and fill in appropriate time words and phrases from the box above.

1_____ it was our turn to check in but the hotel receptionist said she couldn’t find our reservation. 2 _____ we did not know what was wrong. 3 _____, she asked to check our confirmation details. “You’re in the wrong place,” she said eventually. “This is Le Mirage. Your hotel is called Mirage and it’s in the center of town.” She called a taxi for us and 25 minutes later we arrived at a beautiful, luxurious hotel.

4 _____ we had checked in and the porter had taked our luggage up to our suite overlooking the pool, we both breathed a sigh of relief. 5 _____ our holiday was about to begin.