General English Level 6 Version 2.1 © 2004 acl Pty Ltd GELEV6 Unit 04 Topic 04.doc licence … He started the car and as he slowly drove along the road looked … John drove on with the woman silent beside him. He tried to imagine how this woman had come to be on this deserted road on this cold, wet night. After ten minutes he turned off the road into the street on the woman's licence John turned to open the door but as he did the woman grabbed his arm … John hurried up to the house and rang the bell … The woman looked at John and said, "That's not possible. Jane died five years ago … For the next hour John sat in the kitchen with Jane's mother … The woman paused, then continued. "Two years ago, the same thing happened … Then John remembered what the young woman had asked him to do …" Walking back to his car John heard a voice call out softly behind him. "Thank you … Conclusion or reorientation: Driving home John felt calm and strangely happy. He knew that somehow he had helped Jane make peace with her mother. Now she could leave this world and continue on her journey into the next. 1. Introduction It was a dark and stormy night on an unlit, deserted stretch of road. It was about 1 am and John was on his way home from a friend's party. The rain was coming down hard and he could barely see the slippery road in front of him. It took all of his concentration to keep his car from sliding off into the bushes bordering the road. In the introduction the writer sets the scene. The writer tells the reader • when the story took place (It was a dark and stormy night … It was about 1 am …). • where the story took place (on an unlit deserted stretch of road). • who the main character of the story is (John). The writer also creates an atmosphere: ' The rain was coming down hard … It took all his concentration ...' In the introduction to a story we set the scene. We tell the reader the when, where and who of the story. We also create an atmosphere. Examples It was a hot and humid day and Mary was at her office in the centre of the city. The office air-conditioning had broken down and so the office felt like an oven. Mary felt hot and uncomfortable, but she had a lot of work to do and no time to take a break. It was the last day of the summer holidays. Susan and Tim were enjoying their last day at the beach house they had rented for the two-week break. It was a beautiful day and they were looking forward to relaxing one last time on the wonderful beach that was a two-minute walk from their house. Little did they know what was going to happen. 132