Thank you guys for your support. Many people asked me where to start to improve their communication. My advice is tell some story to your friends. The story can be a movie you saw yesterday or some happening in your family or your happiest moment in your life or tell about your best friend. This can dramatically improve your communication. Also in some interview they ask you these kind of questions so you can prepare for both. So today we will see how to tell a story in English.
A useful skill in English is to be able to tell a story or an anecdote. Anecdotes are short stories about something that happened to you or to someone you know.
How to start
Traditional stories often start with the phrase “Once upon a time”. However, if you are going to tell your story after someone else has already spoken, you can say something like:
That reminds me!
Funny you should say that. Did I ever tell you about…
Hearing your story reminds me of when…
Something similar happened to me….
How to tell your story
First of all, your story should be quite short. Try to keep it grammatically simple as well, so that it is easy to follow.
Make it easy for the listener to understand by using sequencing and linking words:
Sequencing words
These words show the chronological sequence of events.
First of all, I (packed my suitcase)
Secondly, I …. (made sure I had all my documents)
Previously (before that) ….. I changed some money.
Then… I (called a taxi for the airport)
Later (on)… (when we were stuck in traffic, I realised…)
But before al that… (I had double checked my reservation)
Finally… (I arrived at the wrong check-in desk at the wrong airport for a flight that didn’t go until the next day)
Linking words
Use these words to link your ideas for the listener. Linking words can be used to show reason, result, contrasting information, additional information, and to summarise.
I booked a flight because….
As a result, I was late…
Although I had a reservation, I hadn’t checked the airport name.
I made sure I had an up-to-date passport and I also took along my driving licence.
In short, I had made a complete mess of the holiday.
Tenses
We can use a variety of tenses to tell stories and anecdotes. Jokes are often in the present tense:
A man walks into a bar and orders a beer.
We also use the present tense to give a dramatic narrative effect:
The year is 1066. In medieval England people are worried that the king, Harold, is not strong enough to fight off a Norman invasion.
However, we generally use past forms to talk about past events. If you tell your story in chronological order, you can use the past simple:
I double checked my reservation. I packed my suitcase, and then I called a taxi.
Use the past continuous to describe activities in progress at the time of your story, or to describe the background.
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. We were driving along the motorway quite steadily until we suddenly saw in front of us the warning lights to slow down. We were heading towards a huge tailback.
Sometimes, you might want to avoid telling your story as one chronological event after the other. You can use the past perfect (simple and continuous) to add more interest to your story by talking about events that happened before the events in your story:
I double checked my reservation, which I had made three days previously.
I wanted to visit some friends who had been living in France for the last five years.
Vocabulary
Try to use a wide range of words to make your story more interesting. Remember that you can “exaggerate” when you tell a story, so instead of using words like “nice” or “bad”, experiment with more interesting words, such as “beautiful”, “fabulous”, “wonderful”, “horrible”, “awful” or “terrible”.
Finally - remember that you are telling a story - not giving a lecture. Look at the people listening, and try to “involve” them in the story or anecdote. Keep eye contact, use the right intonation and try to make your face expressive. You might also want to try practising a few anecdotes in the mirror before “going live”. Have fun!
If you find it useful please make a comment below, it makes us happy and encouraging.
Happy Learning !!!
By Narayanasamy K on Jun 18, 2008
I want to improve my communication skill
By eziuche on Jun 18, 2008
THIS A GOOD ONE, THANKS ONCE AGAIN.
By kranthi on Jun 18, 2008
ya i have gone through this quite useful
By Nagaraj on Jun 18, 2008
I think it is a very good idea for beginners…
continue your process…It is an innovative thought..ALL THE BEST
By papitha on Jun 18, 2008
tell some oter tips to improve engliosh communication
By Oinam on Jun 18, 2008
This is very helpful, Thank you
By Sonal Jain on Jun 18, 2008
Thanks for this type of articals.
By priya on Jun 18, 2008
it’s a good idea for improving communication,very useful trick.
thanks
By saroj verma on Jun 18, 2008
it’s very useful idea for beginner’s, thanks again to you
By Jaya Balaji on Jun 18, 2008
it,s ver useful for me.. thank you so much..
By gagan on Jun 18, 2008
thanks buddy
By Renjith KD on Jun 18, 2008
This is very useful for begginers who are trying to improve their communication skills and I expect more tips from you..
once again thank you.
By Manoj on Jun 18, 2008
Your tips r very useful for beginers & Hindi belt students. I’m also one of them. We understand, but can’t write perfectly. Mostly, I suffer in office communication. Thanks a lot.
Manoj
By Manoj on Jun 18, 2008
Your tips r very useful for Hindi belt students. I’m also one of them. We understand, but can’t write perfectly. Mostly, I suffer in office communication. Thanks a lot.
Manoj
By Deeps on Jun 18, 2008
It helped me so much to improve my English
.. Thanks Buddy
By Anuj Duggal on Jun 19, 2008
story telling is a great job for the satisfaction of the speaker that he is confident about what he is telling.
This gives a “pre-assumed” image of the speaker regarding his communication skills in any field.
Thanks.
By amjad on Jun 19, 2008
really it is good and usefull tips that helps man in his communication skills.
By archana on Jun 19, 2008
it was really helpful to me thanx
By Aparna Wankhede on Jun 19, 2008
It is just superb! The explanation given is in such a simplified way to understand, with the examples, that the concept is Crystal Clear !!
By Rashi on Jun 19, 2008
Thanks, u have provided a good tips for the beginners.
Keep it up!! I look forward for some more techniques on improving communication skills.
By Idrish on Jun 19, 2008
Hi great Its nice way to learning as well as comunicatting also for beginers like me thanks
By arun kumar on Jun 19, 2008
I give alot of thanks who give me learning and comunicating technic in english in very simple way……….
By sathya on Jun 19, 2008
thanks for ur respones
By Sarafraz Shaikh on Jun 19, 2008
I think this is very good idea to improve the communication skills.By telling a story one can easily recognize the pitfalls in communication and improvement over them.
By Sbo on Jun 19, 2008
Wow that was good, it helpful
By kumarswamy on Jun 19, 2008
this exercise make me more confidence, i was a fabulous one and try to send this type of tips regularly…………
By Srinivas on Jun 19, 2008
Very Good effortd….. Thanks a lot…. Useful for the beginners
By vaishnavi on Jun 19, 2008
very useful
By henna on Jun 19, 2008
thanks for ur quick response over our comments…….
be continue the same.
thank you once again………..
By divyaa.s on Jun 20, 2008
thank for ur good exercises.it was really usefull to me..keep it up.
By velmurugan on Jun 20, 2008
thanks.. i didnt that of this simple way to improve my english.. Thanks..
By HASAN RAZA on Jun 20, 2008
Thanks a lot for giving tips for improving the communicfation with help of Grammer, clause and linking words. I hope you would also give the tips of How to speak any topic infront of the HR.
By V.MURUGAN on Jun 20, 2008
YOUR SUGGESTION IS VERY USEFUL TO ME,THANKS
By SRINIVAS RAO on Jun 20, 2008
It Is nice expirience in my life it gives me immense plessure and confidence thanks alot for this information about communication skills and how to start stories.
By SHAHUL AKTHAR on Jun 20, 2008
thank u for giving valuable tips.
By nitin garg on Jun 20, 2008
thanx for giving me a wonderful idea for improvement of my comm. skill………..thanx a lot……..
By gufran on Jun 20, 2008
I really 2 thanx for your time to time sending mail.
By Mona on Jun 20, 2008
thanx!!!
By eswar on Jun 21, 2008
keep on sending…
its more useful 4 us…………
thanks for sending….
By dv on Jun 21, 2008
it is very useful which inspires to improve
By Asmaa Sallam on Jun 21, 2008
I would like to take Toffeil cource please help me to take it.
By priya on Jun 21, 2008
thank u sir for having this type of articles
By Ajay on Jun 21, 2008
I am very Thankful to this techpreperation site.
By kartik sahoo on Jun 22, 2008
Thank you for send me communication tips
I aspect such more communication tips from your site
By jinka vishnu on Jun 23, 2008
wow,really its a great throught. I am really thankful to techpreperation site.
By d g shankar on Jun 23, 2008
thanks and exelent.
By loganathan on Jun 23, 2008
Thank you for your valuable information.
How to make a best resume for engg job.
Actually i am doing B.E(Electrical & electronical engg)final year.How to apply for the job.
By Manoj Gautam on Jun 23, 2008
thanks for giving information.
By Ashwani on Jun 23, 2008
i really like the way of teaching to improve our communication skill and i glad to find that site..
keep going…………..
By Suganya on Jun 23, 2008
Very informative… this is very obliging for the people like me… i ve learned many things from the information… Thanks… I will follow these things to improve my communication.
By Madhan kumar on Jun 25, 2008
thank for you send me information
By phani on Jun 25, 2008
it would be great help if u provide example story also….
but its tooo nice….. Goahead…
By prasad on Jun 26, 2008
thank you for this simple and very useful suggession. this will certainly help me to improve my communication.
By amit kumar singh on Jun 27, 2008
thanks for tech preparation send me information which is useful for me to improve my communication
By arivu on Jun 28, 2008
its wonderful and very useful to me and many
By Rachit on Jun 30, 2008
This 1 is fabulour which will help me 2 come out from my terrible problem of speaking in english
By Muru.k on Jul 1, 2008
Thanks a lot for techpreparation which has given more information about communication skills for beginners.its realy useful for me
By Muru.k on Jul 1, 2008
Thanks a lot for techpreparation which has given more information about communication skills for beginners.its really useful for me
By msuarrua on Jul 1, 2008
wow,well its a great i am really feel it.thanks to techpreparation group members and especially who was established.
By vivek on Jul 2, 2008
Its really wonderful.Thanks to all group members of techpreparation.
By aruna on Jul 3, 2008
yes this is very good..i want to improve my commuication skills plz help for me
By ss on Jul 3, 2008
it’s very nice
By Ilavendhan.A on Jul 5, 2008
I dont know how to start speak in english but now its very easy to speak, Thank u very much to this group
By surme habe on Jul 5, 2008
quite interesting..thanx a lot..pls include some more
By TREASURE on Jul 7, 2008
How do i speak in public without fear and trembling?
By ABDUL SAKKEEL on Jul 8, 2008
it is really very useful to us,
I want the detial about ASSERGENT Software Solution
By maggi on Jul 11, 2008
This is realy a very useful things to improved the spoken n personality development. i request u to teach the tenses more, clearly, and in a very simple way so that we can able to fit all the rules n regulations in our sentences and use it easily, sooner and effective way.
thanks
By saravanan on Jul 13, 2008
how do i speak with puplick without fear?
please guid me
thanking you
saravanan
By SANTHANAMALA on Jul 14, 2008
PLEASE SEND SOME AUDIO WHICH CAN BE DOWNLOADED
By ibrahimzaheer on Jul 16, 2008
This information is verygod for the beginners..thankx a lot all the best may god bless u always for ur innovative works,
welll it helped me also giving me to mind some important points while communicating
By SANJAY on Jul 20, 2008
thanks for very simple, useful, effective tips.
keep uploading and sending on mail also.
once again thanks a lot for taking people forward
By celiwe on Jul 22, 2008
what is the most important thing you must mention about your story in shortly
By Dr. N.S. Balaji Rao on Jul 23, 2008
hi really it is fabulous . every one should learn and use this kind of words while telling a story in the given task, definitely one might have select to the aspiring post
thanks a lot for giving this kind of awareness, don’t stop at this stage , by giving more stuff like this and serve the youth of India
By smriti on Jul 23, 2008
how i improve my vocabirly
By Dr.Baru vijayakumar on Jul 23, 2008
Thank you.In fact this is what I have been asking my students to do.
By senthil on Jul 24, 2008
Its very excellent and also eye opener for me.Thank you
By jyoti on Jul 27, 2008
great words
By Vedant Agrawal on Jul 28, 2008
hi sir
i have a bit of speech impediment that usually depresses me and i often lose my confidence while speaking…
please give me suggestions to remove speech impediment.
By kavi on Jul 30, 2008
thks a lot………..
By kavi on Jul 30, 2008
u help lots of ppl to get a job great….so kind of u
By Ilavendhan.A on Jul 31, 2008
hi sir
This is very easy to speak english telling story in english. I thank to the group, I have some doubts in group discussion.
In group discussion how to talk and how to get points in the few seconds.And how to manage in that place
By kamal kumar on Aug 2, 2008
i want good to speak english
By kamal kumar on Aug 2, 2008
i want speak english
By RAJESH on Aug 7, 2008
IT’S ABSOLUTELY MARVELLOUS TO SEE ALL THE NEEDED THINGS AT ONE PLACE.ITS PLEASURE
By shripoorna on Aug 11, 2008
how to increase our vocabulary
By ajaykumar vemuri on Aug 11, 2008
this is use full not only for me and also who are bothering about communication.as far as I’m concerned it helped me a lot.before i read this column i was very nervous and feeling tense.finally this is good for all who want improve their skills
By Pankaj Malviya on Aug 13, 2008
Yes It is very usefull for the peoples whose want to build a confidence to boos up for the English Speaking.
Thanks for usefull tips which is very much satisfied me.
By Pankaj Malviya on Aug 13, 2008
all the best
By Pankaj Malviya on Aug 13, 2008
keep mit up, all the best for futures.
By MAHESH on Aug 19, 2008
IT SO NAICE TO IMPROV OUR SKILLS
By swati on Aug 30, 2008
thanx 4 d tips..ther r realy helpful…bt hw 2 improve vocabulary…
By Manju on Sep 25, 2008
Its really superb idea to improve our communication skills yr
By Eben on Oct 28, 2008
Once again i thank u very much sir… its really helpful to me sir…
By SR Raja on Nov 6, 2008
it’s very useful technique that telling the story…this technique can be used for communication skills..
Thanks a lot your advice
By H T MENGHANI on Nov 9, 2008
Communication skill proves better
By nagaraj on Nov 17, 2008
tats quite nice and i really find it valuable…
By javith on Dec 12, 2008
Hey man its very nice.., its a very useful thing from u for beginners…, keep rocking.
By vardhan on Dec 29, 2008
sir,
I’ve lot of stage fear.how to over come it
By niranjani on Dec 30, 2008
How to talk with an unknown person without fear?
By deepthi on Jan 20, 2009
Hi sir,
thanks for giving a such good tips i am sure it will help me in my interview keep on giving……
thanks again.
By arun kumar on Jan 23, 2009
i want some vacabulary knowledge how we get………..
By giridhar on Feb 2, 2009
thanks sir these are very useful tips to me .
i want information about tenses.
By pankaj on Feb 10, 2009
Hi sir,
thanks for giving a such good tips i am sure it will help me future……
thanks again.
By pankaj on Feb 10, 2009
Hi sir,
thanks for giving a such good tips i am sure it will help me future……
By santoshkumar on Mar 14, 2009
very very nice and thanks for giving such good tips
By sriram on Mar 28, 2009
Its great sir… really great… those tips r so new and interesting… hope i could develop more…
By SHAHNAWAZ QUAZI on Apr 9, 2009
HELLO SIR, I M REALLY VERY HAPPY TO READ OUT THIS ARTICLE IT IS SUCH A GREAT WAY TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION THANKYOU VERY MUCH.
By Marzia Popal on May 4, 2009
i just need to help me to talk english fluently
By Marzia Popal on May 4, 2009
i dont know how should i continue this technic in the future? i prefer to continue this way
By Marzia Popal on May 4, 2009
the message which i have written here just come over the table and i couldnt got any response from question
By rakkesh on May 7, 2009
Its simply awesome. I have never seen a web site which clearly explains every aspect of story telling. thanks
By manoj prajapat on May 8, 2009
I FOUND IT WORTH TO ENHANCE MY PRESENTATION SKILLS… THANK YOU