Writing skills practice: A short story – exercises
WORKSHOP 7: Look at the short story and do the exercises to practice and improve your writing skills.
Preparation
Match the part of the story to what usually happens in it and write a–c next to the numbers 1–
3.
1… beginning a. a problem or difficulty is introduced
C…..
2… middle b. the problem or difficulty is resolved
B…..
3… ending c. the characters and the situation are introduced
A…..
1. Check your understanding: multiple choice – choose a
title
Circle the best title for the story.
a. The accident
b. The surprise
c. My lucky day
2. Check your understanding: true or false
Circle True or False for these sentences.
1. Katia didn't want to celebrate her birthday. True False
2. Katia was the first person to arrive at the Italian restaurant. True False
3. Katia waited outside the restaurant for 30 minutes. True False
4. Jonty is Katia's closest friend. True False
5. Katia went home after waiting for her friends for an hour. True False
6. Katia's friends hadn't forgotten her birthday. True False
3. Check your writing: matching – story structure
Match the parts of the story with the examples and write a–d next to the number 1–4.
1… beginning a. ‘So they hadn’t forgotten and in the end it was the best birthday
C….. ever.’
‘Then she called Jonty, Alex and Yoko, but they didn’t answer either.
2… middle b.
“What’s going on?” she said to herself.’
B…..
‘They were meeting at Mamma Mia’s, her favourite Italian
3… ending c.
restaurant, for a special birthday dinner.’
D…..
‘Suddenly the lights went on and all her friends jumped up and
4… final line d.
shouted “Surprise!”.’
A…..
4. Check your writing: grouping – adjectives and adverbs
Write the words in the correct group.
unexpect freezin quickly nervou
ed g sly
sadly exciting huge quietly
slowly enjoya unexpecte happily
ble dly
strange patientl awful fantasti
y c
adjectiv adverbs
es
Unexpected huge sadly nervously
Strange awful slowly quietly
Freezing fantastic patiently happily
Exciting quickly
enjoyable unexpectedly
5. Check your writing: error correction – punctuation
Rewrite the sentences with the correct punctuation.
1. “Where does he live?” she asked.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
2. “I can’t believe what’s happened?” he said.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. “Follow that car” she shouted.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
4. “Why doesn't he call me back?” she asked herself.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Discussion
Have you ever had a special birthday celebration? YES
Do you like writing stories? YES I DO
Writing skills practice A short story – writing practice
Look at the exam question and write the short story.
Exam question
Your teacher has asked you to write a short story with the title ‘The surprise’.
Think about:
the beginning: who are the characters? What situation are they in?
the middle: what problem or difficulty do they have?
the ending: how is the problem or difficulty resolved?
AN ADVENTURE OF FRIENDS
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful white horse, who liked country walks. This horse always went for a
walk with his master "Julian", who liked to comb his hair and feed him too, they always went out together for
a walk in the afternoons and happily returned home for dinner.
One day Julian got sick and was in bed all morning, his mother called the doctor and he told her that the
boy could not go out to play until he got better.