This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2404. How mixing up your grammar makes you a better storyteller.

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz.

and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

How many different grammar tenses do you think a skilled storyteller uses in one story? Today, get an example from my trip to Nicaragua and find out how to mix up your grammar to the max.

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Visit phrma.org/middlemen to learn more. Paid for by Pharma. Hey, Lindsay, how are you? Hey, Aubrey, doing great. How's it going? Excellent. I'm curious, what verb tense do you use when telling a story? I feel like I use the present tense a lot.

Just the present tense. But not just the present tense though. Not just that. I mean, that would be kind of weird. I think I move between the present tense, the past tense, the present perfect tense. Totally. We use them all, right? It depends on what we're saying. I agree. Present tense comes up a lot because you're trying to pull someone into the story, make them feel like they were there with you. So we move into the present tense.

but we use subjunctive conditional. We use all of the tenses when telling a story. So you can't just think this happened in the past. I'm using past simple tense. It doesn't work that way. Yeah. We just move seamlessly in and out of them, right? That's the key. We did do an episode recently on reporting our speech and our thoughts. And I shared how I ran into Billie Eilish in LA, which is very cool.

um you know so i told my daughter she was she's like oh i wish she would have gotten a photo with her like she would she loves billy eilish does she really yeah i'm not i'm not like i don't know her music but i was not going to be the one one of the ones chasing after her no thank you we want to let her have some privacy and my daughter probably wouldn't either she's so shy but she thought that was so cool that you saw that's cool that's cool love that um all right guys before we get deeper into the episode make sure you share this show with one friend

right? There is a way to share your episode in Spotify or Apple. Think of one friend. Well, who should we think of, Aubrey? Who would be an ideal listener of All Ears English? Ideally, someone else who knows who's learning English, right? Who speaks at a pretty high level like you, who would enjoy these podcasts. I love that idea. I share it with people all the time. When I was in Mexico, I told my masseuse about the podcast. I told the guy we rented jet skis from about the podcast.

Because they're all, they're learning English and they speak English pretty well. I'm like, oh, for a podcast, you should check it out. Yeah, that's perfect. No, I love it. And imagine someone who believes in human connection, right? That's the kind of show that we put on here. And our listeners also believe in that value of we just want to connect, right? We know that we don't have to be perfect, but we just want to connect. And we'll get you there. So go ahead and click on that share button and share Allers English with one person. Alright.

All right. Yes. And we are today diving into all of these tenses we use when telling a story. We want you to be able to tell interesting, engaging stories. We did, like Lindsay said, we talked about reported speech. Stay to the end. We'll share what episode that was in case you missed it. But when telling stories, you need to know what these different verb tenses are for so you know which to use. Yes.

And we've done a lot of episodes where we dive into these specific verb tenses more deeply. We're going to give you a very brief overview of several of them that we use the most often when telling a story. All right, good stuff. So we're going to go through the grammar pieces and then at the end of the episode, you're going to hear my story about something I did in Nicaragua and we'll pull out the pieces of grammar that I used. A very natural story. Okay. Yes, exciting. Stay to the end so you don't miss that story.

Nice. All right. So first one we need for telling a story. What is it, Aubrey? Yeah. Present perfect. And this is often how we introduce a story. So for example, I've always loved finding new restaurants. And last night, right? So I'm setting the stage. I'm sharing how things have always been. I have always loved finding new restaurants. Present perfect. Yeah.

Yeah, I think this is a very articulate way of telling a story, opening a story. I think I don't usually do this, but I sort of wish I did. You know, I've always been a traveler, for example, right? I've always been adventurous when I travel. This would be a smart way to open a story. I usually just go right to the thing, though, but it does set the stage nicely. I challenge you, Lindsay, to start doing this. I think you're gonna find like, "Oh, okay, it was a better story." It set the stage, it gave a little background, it let someone know a little more about you as a person.

and your life experience, right? That's why we're using Present Perfect to talk about sort of things we've always done. Yeah, because if you think of movies that are narrated, they bring you right into the psyche of the main character by sometimes doing that. The scene will open and the darkness will come over the lens cover. I've always been this. I've always been that, right? Yes, exactly.

- Character development. - That's what it is. - Or I've read hundreds of books, but this one, right? So I have read, we've got that present perfect to set the stage a little bit. - Good, all right. Now we also need another tense we need, Aubrey, is what?

Past simple. So this is finished actions in the past. So these examples are going to be threads that are continuing a story, right? So the first one, I've always loved finding new restaurants. And last night, then we moved to past simple. I ate at the best Thai restaurant. So we're moving to the past simple to say something specific that happened in the past at a specific point in time. Yep.

Or just saying something like, "I absolutely loved it." Or, "I absolutely loved the food in Cambodia," for example. Yes. Or that story we're continuing here, "I've read hundreds of books, but this one I absolutely loved." Right? Then we just need that past simple to share, "Oh, I loved this book." But then the next thing we do, Aubrey, which I think is really dynamic, it's we

We pull people in to the story by using the present tense. We pull the listener in by making it feel like we're doing the thing in that moment, but we're not. We're bringing them back to that moment. Exactly. Or stating facts that are always true. So for example, this restaurant, it's right around the corner from my house and it is seriously the best.

So I'm sharing, I don't have to stay in the past saying what I ate and what we did. Now I've moved into the present or the books. I read books a lot, but this one seriously blew me away. I'm present tense. I read books a lot, but I love what you said as well. We pull them in and then picture it. We are in a parking lot.

and this woman arrives out of nowhere and we start using present tense to make it feel like it's happening right now yes exactly or you know it's 5 55 a.m my alarm goes off and i know today's the day right so this is also present tense and the purpose is a little different from that right it's pulling in the listener to that moment right we have set the stage and now we're bringing the

them and us to the present to make it feel like it's real. It's happening right now. But we also use the subjunctive for hypothetical situations. What would this look like, Aubrey? Yeah. So maybe with this restaurant example, if I weren't wandering that area, I'd never have found this restaurant. So I use this hypothetical like, oh, if I hadn't been there, this would never have happened. I love it. I love it. Or if you were to read just one book this year, it should be this one.

Right? So that example, I read books a lot, but this one blew me away. If you were to choose just one book to read this year, right? You need the subjunctive mood for this. I love it. So good. So that's one. And then there's still another. I can't even believe how many tenses we use when we tell stories. It's incredible. We use conditionals too. Exactly right. If we want to express that one thing is contingent on another or what might happen or what might have happened, often

this makes the story the most interesting. You can add interest, right? Like I, you know, for example, if that restaurant would do some marketing, they'd be busier. This is a conditional about, right? I'm saying it was dead. I'm worried it's going to close down. If they would do some marketing, they would be busier. Or if they, if they did marketing, they would be busier. If they marketed themselves, they would be busier, right? A lot of ways we could say that with the conditional, or I would have liked this book better if it were shorter. Okay.

Okay. Yes. Long stories. That starts with conditional and ends with subjunctive. There are so many verb tenses here when we're telling stories. The most important thing is to pay attention when you are observing language, when you hear someone else tell a story, notice all of the different verb tenses so that you can make your stories more interesting. Hmm.

I love it. We're pulling in lots of tenses to keep it dynamic, make it interesting. That is the key. I think that's been a bit of a theme in the last few weeks, Aubrey, on this show is telling interesting stories, right? Yeah, which is great. We want you to be able to tell interesting stories, right? It's such a fun connection skill. So good.

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All right, Aubrey, we are back. What are we doing now? All right, Lindsay, you are going to share with us a fun story and I'm going to be jotting down, taking note of the verb tenses you use so that after your story, we can pull them out, highlight so we see all of the verb tenses you used. Okay. And how long should I, how long should my story be just so I'm clear? Yeah, maybe, I don't know, a couple minutes, one to two minutes. Okay. All right, let's do it. I've got something in mind. Awesome. Okay. I'm excited. All right.

okay let's do it all right here we go so aubry i've always been an adventurous person but i never imagined that i would do what i did on this day so i was in nicaragua uh i think i was in managua or somewhere close to there and after backpacking around for a couple of days i realized or we realized that the thing to do in nicaragua is volcano boarding

and not just volcano boarding, but active volcano boarding. So Nicaragua is a country with a lot of volcanoes, right? A lot of seismic activity. And so we booked a tour to go volcano boarding. Have you ever heard of this before? - No, I have never heard of volcano boarding. I can't believe I can't wait to hear about this. - This is something that would be right up your alley. - Yeah.

I saw videos of this, of what you actually do and just listen to this. This is actually what you do. What they do is they take the backs of refrigerators. Because the refrigerators are slick, right? They're slippery. They take the back, that coating off the refrigerator and they make it into a board.

And so what you do is you book a tour, you get up in the morning, super early, it's still dark out, you hop on a bus, you drive for three hours. So we're driving, we're driving and the terrain is getting more bumpy and more bumpy. We get there, we put these refrigerators, not a full refrigerator, but it's the, you know, our boards, we put them on our back.

So we start hiking up this active volcano and I'm always a little nervous about active volcanoes, right? Like, okay, let's just hope that today's not the day, you know, that this volcano explodes, right? Because that just wouldn't be so convenient. So we hike up this volcano, we get to the top and I watched the guide. He does the example, he goes down and I'm,

Terrified Aubrey. I don't think I've been that scared before. I'm like, I'm visibly shaking. I'm feeling my adrenaline is popping up, coming, like going throughout my body. And I'm thinking, how the heck am I going to control my board? Because this is a steep volcano, right? This is not like just an easy slope and it doesn't look like you have much control. All you, all you do is you just slap it down, put your butt on it and you go.

So I watch people go and they seem like they're flying off and someone is getting their speed with a speed gun. And then it's my turn. I'm one of the last ones to step up and I'm thinking, I don't want to die in a volcano board, right? I just, this isn't how I want to go.

And so I put it down and I sit down and I'm supposed to use my feet as brakes, right? That was how it worked. And I realized quickly, I realized I had more control than I thought I did. And so I did go, but I ended up going really slow. I did like 15 miles an hour down the volcano. And then at the end, they had a list of speeds. And I think the fastest guy was 45 or 47 miles an hour. I was like 12.

45 miles an hour that is insane wild wild so I was a little embarrassed about how slow I went but I was so happy to see that I could indeed control my speed and I wasn't gonna die that day on that volcano so this is crazy I've never heard of anyone doing that

before I think I would be a hard pass on that and I feel like I'm an adventurous person but I don't know Cliff jumped before you've done way crazier things scary baby if I were in that situation I probably would be like I gotta try it but yeah that sounds scary okay this looked really scary yeah yeah it was like

all of the verb tenses that came out and you used quite a bit of present continuous, present progressive, which we actually didn't highlight. So I'm glad it came up in your story because it really showed how much we do that as well, that we use continuous also to pull people in and was like, this is a continued action. So they're part of the story, right? Let's go through this. So you started with present perfect to say, I've always been adventurous, but this was crazy.

love that to introduce then immediately jumped into past simple i never imagined but the conditional right it starts with past simple and then condition i never imagined i would do this yes so really interesting and then i love um you know some more past tense um after backpacking i realized so we have the past simple there and then we're moving into present nicaragua is a country that right

did a little bit of present simple to share these facts that are always true, always true. And so we use present simple for that. And then I love something you did where you say, just listen to this. It's such a great storytelling phrase to really build up excitement. Like you're never going to believe this. No, just listen.

So good. And then you have present simple where you are help, you know, bringing me into the story, bringing us into the story. They take the box of fridges, you book a tour, you get up early, right? This is all present simple to like, so that we're imagining we're right there doing what you do. Yeah. And then you moved into present progressive.

Or present continuous. You'll hear this tense called both. We've talked about it a lot here on the podcast, but we use it in stories. You said we're driving and then we start hiking. And you used a lot of instead of saying we hike, we drive. Right. It's a continued action. So you're going to use present progressives.

And then I really loved when you were talking about how like, I mean, this volcano could erupt. So you say, let's hope this is not the day, right? This is what really makes the story great. Taking the time to add those interesting phrases and share your feelings. You were sharing that it was scary. Like this could erupt.

any moment don't hesitate to add that when you tell a story guys right add your short add what yeah add a little drama right i mean i didn't really think it was going to erupt but i knew it was an active volcano which it could right and it makes the story more interesting right it feels more death defying that you're thinking it could right yes and then lastly i want to point out when you used um reported speech reported thoughts in the past you said i'm thinking how the heck am i going to control my board

And this is the episode we did recently. We want to make sure you don't miss it because we do this a lot when telling a story that will narrate our thoughts in the past, narrate what we were thinking or what we said. And that really pulls someone in and makes it so much more interesting. Wow. That was a great story. And it's amazing how many different verb tenses you use. Yeah. It's mind boggling, right? But this shows our listeners really how natives speak, right? This is how we do it. We don't just stay in one tense. We move in and

out of them depending on what we're trying to convey are we trying to pull people in are we trying to recount a series of events you wait i you know i wake up i get on the bus um how are we doing it so good so good exactly right yes so we want to make sure that when you guys tell stories you're thinking about all of these things right that you tell an interesting engaging story this is such a great connection skill right huge

way more important than if you're making grammar mistakes is that you are engaging the people you're listening and telling these interesting stories. Oh my gosh, you can still tell an incredible story while making some grammar mistakes. Obviously not...

tons of grammar mistakes, but some because there's a lot more resources that we have like tone of voice, vocabulary, a lot of things we can do to set the stage. So Aubrey, I think we'll be coming back to storytelling as a theme in the future on the podcast. It's a great topic. Yes, it's vital that we want you guys to be able to tell stories, but we want them to be interesting. We've all had that person telling us a story and we're

Our eyes are glazing over, right? So come back if you missed it. Don't miss All Ears English 2401, How to Be a More Interesting Storyteller. That's where we talked about narrating speech and thoughts in the past. This is vital. And then today's episode two, Use These Strategies. Don't limit yourself to past tense, right? Oh gosh, no, don't. Be flexible with your verb tenses. Think about how boring that story would have been if the whole thing had been in the past tense.

I went to Nicaragua. We rented boarded. There's so much that I couldn't say. I couldn't say, right? I'd miss all those details because they just don't make sense in the simple past. I love it. Guys, if you love our style, go ahead and share the show with one friend. All right. Good stuff. Awesome. Thanks for sharing your story with us, Lindsay. That was awesome. Thank you for breaking down the grammar. Great stuff. Well, see you next time. All right. See you next time. All right. Bye. Bye.

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