The line somebody said
Say the line somebody said in your story — a guard, a clerk, a stranger — in their exact words. Your partner guesses what had already happened before it was said.
Six phrases for stepping between the story and what came before it. Match each to what it signals.
Where the extra minutes come from
The same day at two minutes and at five
Two minutes: My flight to Milan was cancelled and I ended up sleeping in Munich airport and arriving a day late. It was nobody’s fault exactly and it cost me a whole day.
Five minutes adds: what the departures hall smelled of at eleven at night; the fact that I had checked in at a machine, which turned out to matter; the ninety minutes I had already spent in a queue in Lisbon; what the woman at the transfer desk actually said, in her words; the man who had been on both my flights and was in the same situation; what I had promised my sister I would be there for; what I did not know at the time about the rebooking; and what I do differently now, every time, because of that night.
Four questions about the list of additions.
1. How many of the eight additions are new events in the forward story?
2. Several additions begin "I had…". Which layer are those?
3. What I did not know at the time about the rebooking — why is that worth a minute?
4. The last addition is about now. Why end there?
Six ways to make a minute
Where the extra time comes from, and which layer it sits in
| Add | Question | Layer |
|---|---|---|
| A sense | What could you smell or hear? | Behind — past continuous |
| A duration already run | How long had you been doing that by then? | Underneath — had been -ing |
| A cause you learned later | What had somebody already decided? | Underneath — past perfect |
| Another person in the same trouble | Who else was stuck, and what had happened to them? | Behind, then underneath |
| A line of speech | What did somebody actually say? | In front — past simple |
| Now | What do you do differently because of it? | Outside — present |
Six additions. Put them into the order they would fall across five minutes.
Build the five minutes
Task card · Planning · Individual · 6 minutes
Five minutes from a page of notes. Words only — a written sentence will be read aloud and everybody hears it.
A page with six headings and three or four words under each.
- Opening background — where you were, what was going on, one thing you could smell or hear.
- The discovery, in one sentence.
- Three things that had already happened. At least one you only found out afterwards.
- One duration: by that point I had been…
- The line somebody said, in their words.
- What you do differently now.
One to four words per gap. All three layers, in one paragraph.
The transfer desk at the far end of a hall that of floor polish and cold coffee. By the time I reached it I for about forty minutes, and there four people in front of me who on the same flight. The woman behind the desk up and said, "You checked in at a machine, didn’t you." It was not really a question. Somebody that decision at eight that morning, in an office I never saw.
Five minutes, twice
Task card · Speaking · Round one · 5 minutes each
Your partner has not heard this. Notes on the table; you may glance at the six headings only.
Five minutes, opening at the discovery rather than at the beginning.
- Forty seconds of background before the discovery.
- The discovery in one short past simple sentence.
- At least four had clauses, one of which you only learned afterwards.
- One duration: by that point I had been…
- One line of direct speech. Finish on what you do differently now.
Listener’s job. A horizontal line and two columns.
1. Place every event on the line in the order it happened. Mark a question mark on anything you cannot place.
2. Note every had clause and, beside it, what it was earlier than.
3. Note every word over three syllables where the stress landed somewhere unexpected.
Between the rounds — three minutes, silent. Look at the question marks on your partner’s line. Each one is a moment where the timeline broke.
Write down the one place you will add a had, and the one word you will re-stress. Nothing else changes.
Task card · Speaking · Round two · New partner · 5 minutes
Same day, new listener, same clock, notes face down.
Five minutes with a timeline your new listener can draw without question marks.
- No notes. The content is yours by now.
- The moment that broke last time is the one to slow down on.
- Your new listener draws the same line and keeps the same two columns.
- Compare the two lines afterwards. The second should have fewer question marks.
Where the line broke
Five sentences from round one. Fix each.
1. When I got to the desk, they closed it twenty minutes before.
2. By that point I was waiting for forty minutes.
3. I had realised that something had gone wrong.
4. Somebody had made the decision and then I had found out and then I had complained.
5. They gave no informaTION about the cancelLAtion.
Question marks
Two questions about your own two rounds.
1. Your listener put three question marks on the line. What does that mean?
2. You ran out at four minutes. What is the fix?
Before next lesson. Keep both listeners’ pages. Count the question marks on each, and list every word that got a stress note.
Next lesson is built from exactly those two — the timeline and the stress — and they are the two things standing between you and a story a stranger can follow.