Useful Expressions to Tell a Great Story π | Time Order Words
Previously on interactive English. Which answer best completes the sentence?
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. That's not what we're talking about today.
Today I'm going to teach you all about time order words.
Hey everyone. My name is Wes. This is interactive English,
which is all about helping you practice and improve your English and that is
what you want to do. Subscribe to our channel.
We put out lessons every week that will help you take your English to the next
level. In today's lesson, I want to talk to you about time order words,
which are so important to help you improve your speaking fluency.
And the reason I say this is because we use time order words when when we're
we use them when we're giving a presentation because these are words and phrases
that transition between different events and ideas and they help people follow
along with with what another person is saying.
So I've broken this lesson down into a few different categories,
which you can see here. So first we're going to talk about before,
what are some different ways that you can discuss the things that happened
before an event or before the story that you're getting ready to talk about.
Then we will discuss first, all right, how,
what are some different ways that you can say first when you want to begin your
story or begin your presentation.
Then we'll look at different ways in which you can say next,
how you transition from one idea to the next as well as some different ways you
And then last we're going to talk about last and and some of the useful ways
that you can tell people that your story is coming to an end.
Your presentation is coming to an end and you want to tell them what happens last.
Let's begin with before and the very first word that I said in this lesson
previously. That is the first time order word I want to talk to you about.
And when you say previously what you're talking about is the events that happen
before and you're kind of recapping the information from before so that people
have a better idea of what you want to tell them right now.
And when I think of the word previously,
I think it's often used in TV shows when you're watching a series and they want
to remind you about everything that happened before.
You might hear that word previously and I always remember the show lost.
I don't know if you've ever seen that show,
but it would always begin on lost muesli on lost previously on lost.
And then it would tell you about all the events that happened before so that
you, you are ready to watch the show now.
But you can also use this when you're talking about maybe maybe you're giving a
presentation about research that you did and you want to tell them some of the
things you did before you started doing the research. So you might say,
well previously we identified the different methods we wanted to use it for
And you would tell people this so that they understand the research that you
Another common phrase is not long ago and if you say not long ago,
then you're talking about the recent past, and this may vary.
It could mean a few hours, it could mean a few days.
You really just have to put it in context when somebody says, well,
something happened and that's going to help you understand what the person wants
Or if you're talking about something that happened a long time ago,
then you're talking about very far in the past could be hundreds of years,
thousands of years, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,
and if that sounds familiar and it should,
it's because that's how star Wars begins.
The key word that I want you to focus on is a go because this is also where I
think learners make simple mistakes. I've often heard learners say things like,
Oh two days before or three weeks before I did this thing and I would have to
remind them that in that case they want to use a go two days ago,
three weeks ago when you want to talk about the past and say that something
Another great time order word is prior to and when you use prior to you actually
want to use it with some event or something that took place.
you could say prior to the meeting we had a conference call in which we
discussed our yearly goals. So before the meeting,
prior to the meeting something happened,
and again you need to say the event that it is prior to the start of school,
something happened prior to filming this lesson,
I was doing a live lesson and that is that is a true story.
We do live lessons on Saturdays.
You guys should check those out if you haven't already.
Now let's look at first when you want to begin your presentation or begin the
story that you are going to tell others.
You can use the phrase in the beginning or at the beginning.
Often these may be used interchangeably but there is a slight difference at the
beginning would refer more to a specific time whereas in the beginning would be
talking about a time period in general.
Let me give you a couple examples.
So I could say at the beginning of class I was sitting in the front row,
so that is talking about a very specific point in time.
At the beginning of class this is where I was sitting and then if I wanted to
use in the beginning I could say, you know in the beginning class was so boring, so dull,
but then it got super exciting and we were all so thrilled to be learning some
new things and I hope you guys are thrilled to be learning time order words and
if you are let know, hit that like button. So in that example,
I am not talking about a specific point in class,
just kind of referring to the beginning of class in general.
So that is one difference between at the beginning and in the beginning.
Then we have the phrase at the onset and onset just means you know the start of
something and you want to say at the onset when you want to say those things
Often this is followed by the preposition of at the onset of winter,
the temperatures were really cold at the onset of this lesson I,
I did a little parody off of lost when I said previously on interactive English
at the onset of the lesson. Okay. All right. All right. Let's,
let's just move on to the next phrase or phrases and that is from this point on
or you could say from that point on, and again they are a bit different.
So when you say from this point on you were talking about right now you are
having a conversation with somebody and you're telling him from this point on,
Now if you're talking about that,
which is often referring to like a distance, something that's farther away,
you can use that when talking about things either in the past or the future.
So if we're talking about the past, I could say from that point on,
It happened at some indefinite point in the past,
which is why I use the present perfect. But still it happened in the past.
I've been completely honest or if I want to express this and say it in the
maybe I'm talking about some 0.2 days from now and I'd say,
okay, you know, from that point on, I will be completely honest with you.
From that point on, I'll be completely honest.
Now let's look at some words and phrases in which we can say next,
which is a very popular and common word.
When you want to transition from one idea to the next,
which I think many of you already know are our words like after then or later.
And I don't want to focus on those too much because I think it's a bit easy.
You probably know how to use these when transitioning from one idea to the next,
but we can add a word to make it a little more precise. For example,
let's take after and I could add the word right,
right after and when I say that something happens right after then that that
gives you more information, you know that that it happened immediately.
Right after I got to work, my boss just started yelling at me.
If I want to use another phrase that has the same meaning,
you could say as soon as, and as soon as again,
it means that something happened immediately. As soon as I got to work,
my boss started yelling at me.
We can also add another word which has a a similar meaning and that is soon
Now the difference between right after and soon after would be just that that
time period. If somebody says right after,
I think it's immediately soon after means, well,
some general time period in the beginning, soon after,
my boss started yelling at me and then soon after he yelled at me, I just quit.
I went home and then we can add a different word,
which is shortly, shortly after,
and that really just has the same meaning as soon after you're talking about
something that happens in that general time period of the beginning.
and I could continue this story and say shortly after I quit my job,
I found another one her, me. Then we have consequently,
now this is a word that's used to say that something happened as a result of
something else. So it is similar in that you're,
you're saying something happened next,
but it's specific in that it's a result of another thing happening.
So consequently in that case is very similar to saying.
maybe I am going to play a football match outside and it starts raining and I
it started raining and consequently we had to cancel the match.
So canceling the match was a result of it raining.
So I can use consequently to connect those two things and say that canceling the
match happened. Next, it started raining.
Consequently we had to cancel the match.
Now let's look at some different ways to say sometimes,
which is a very common adverb of frequency because things don't always happen.
Sometimes they don't never happen. I'm using it right now.
You just want to say things happen sometimes and I want to teach you three
phrases that you can use and you can use them interchangeably and it they just
mean the same thing. So the first one is from time to time,
from time to time, I like to eat pizza, which,
which is true from time to time. I like to eat pizza.
Another great way of saying this is to use the word occasionally.
Occasionally I like to go for walks outside.
Yeah, it's something I like to do. It relaxes me. I enjoy it.
I like to do that occasionally.
We can also use the phrase every now and then,
same meaning sometimes every now and then I what?
Every now and then I make eggs for breakfast. Also a true story.
I don't always do it. I just do it every now and then.
I'll also have cereal and from time to time I'll eat oatmeal.
so those are some great examples and now you know what I like to eat for
breakfast and finally we come to last.
When you want to say what's happening at the very end you want to say what
I already used one of the words that I wanted to tell you and that is finally so
a good way when you start to end a presentation or you end a story,
you can use either one of those last or finally.
Another way of saying that is just you know at last,
at last something happens and when you hear that phrase at last,
then again that tells you, okay, we're at the end. Personally,
I like to use finally when I'm going to wrap something up and bring it to an
end. I just say finally most of the time I don't really say last,
but I just prefer to use finally another way that you can say it and I think
it's a little more professional.
You would probably hear it in presentations or maybe if you're reading an essay,
somebody might say in conclusion in conclusion and then they will give you the
end of whatever, whatever it is. But like I said,
I think it's something that's more common in a presentation in a more formal
People might say in conclusion and then tell you the end of their presentation
and I want to throw another one in there and that is eventually,
and you can use this to talk about things that happened at the end often as a
Eventually this thing happened and when we use eventually it does.
It makes me think of the end. There is some kind of closure.
Eventually this is what happened. For example, I could say that,
well my my friend, they got really sick. They, they were in the hospital,
they were there for some time and they had to take some medication but
And in that case I think eventually is a word that you would hear more in just
everyday conversation when somebody's talking about you know,
the events in their life and things that happen and when you want to bring it to
an end and talk about what happened last, you could use eventually.
Eventually this thing happened.
So prior to this lesson I was reviewing my notes and in the beginning I was
really trying to stress to you the importance of time order words that they're
so useful for your speaking fluency when you're giving a presentation,
when you're telling a story. And consequently,
I hope that you've learned some new words that you can then go out and use when,
when you're having a conversation and trying to tell your own story because you
will use these words from time to time.
I promise you every now and then you're going to need these time order words and
I'm just trying to use these words again so that you can see how they're used
and just to show you that yes, they are very important.
They're very useful when you're having a conversation or even in a more formal
setting like work or school when you're giving a presentation.
So let's practice a little bit in the comments.
I want you to tell me about your day. What did you do today?
And I want you to use some of these time order words.
I look forward to reading about your day and learning a little bit more about
you, just as you guys have learned about me,
as such as the things I like to eat for breakfast. All right.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I hope you learned something new and I will see you next time.