Describe a Time or Event: The Ultimate Guide

In IELTS Speaking Part 2, it is really common to be asked to describe a time when you did something. This guide is for times and events in the past, so when the question talks about an activity you did, that’s fine. If it talks about an activity you do, this guide does not apply. Here is a detailed template which you can use as a whole, or in parts. Go here for Describe a Person: The Ultimate Guide, and here for Describe a Place: The Ultimate Guide.

Examples of these questions are:

Warning: There is a lot of information in this post and includes grammar and vocabulary. You have a choice. You can either go through the post and use the order as a template for any question about describing a person. OR You can use different parts of the post to improve your answers.

To speak well about a time or event, use the following answer order.

1: Say what it was and when it happened.	2: Say why it happened, where it happened and who was there.
3/ Say what happened.	4: Say why the event was special and how you feel/ felt about it.

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Stage 1

Say what it was and when it happened.

Step 1 – stage 1

Words & Phrases for Events

Bertha …I want to talk about a story called “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. When I was a child, my mother always used to read me bedtime stories to help me get to sleep…
James … I’d like to tell you about a football competition I participated in. it was a 5-aside football competition held when I was working for my last company, about four years ago…
Catherine … I’d like to talk about the time that I was late for an exam…

Obviously, the first thing you should do when beginning your monologue about a past event is to say what type of event it was. Look at the following words and phrases:

Stories	Competitions/Sports	Learning a Language	Journeys
children’s story	sports match	class	school trip
bedtime story	boxing match	activity	educational trip
novel	sports competition	exercise	road trip
poem	athletics competition	role-play	day trip
play	chess competition	summer camp	holiday/vacation
film	speech contest	English corner	family holiday
opera	the Olympic Games	friendly game	tour
fable	the Asian Games	class discussion	romantic weekend away
fairy tale		debate
legend

As well as the above, you can also use the following phrases to say what the event was:
the time (that/when)+ did something
…the time when I saw an interesting story on TV…
…the time that my friends and I went on a day trip…
…the time I went to the Houston Rockets…

the first time + did something
…the first time I learned to ride a bike…
…the first time I played chess…
…the first time I flew in a plane…

Step 2 – stage 1

Prepositions of Time & Time Phrases

Bertha …I want to talk about a story called “The Boy Who Cried Wolf’. When I was a child…
James …It was a 5-a-side football competition held when I was working for my last company, about four years ago…
Catherine … I’d like to talk about the time that I was late for an exam. It was in my last year at secondary school, when I was taking my final exams…

It’s important to use prepositions of time or time phrases in to explain when the past event happened naturally. First, remind yourself of the following essential prepositions of time for specific times:

last (weeks, weekends, months, years, festivals)
…last weekend…
…last month…
in (months, seasons, years, long periods of time)
…in December…
…in 1979…
on (days, special days)
…on the 5th of November 2005…
…on my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary…
at (specific times, noon, midnights, festivals)
…at noon on my birthday…
…at Christmas…
during (months, seasons, long festivals, long periods of time)
…during the Summer holiday…
…during the spring…

You can also use the following words and phrases for unspecific times:

around/about (times, months, occasions, festivals, special days)
…around Christmas…
About my 10th birthday…

once
Once I went on a school trip.
I attended a strange party once.

one day
One day I watched a football match with my cousin.
One day I took a bus into the countryside.

a few years ago
A few years ago, I was late for work.
I was late for work a few years ago.

quite a while ago/some time ago
I started going to English corners quite a while ago,
Some time ago, a friend gave me this piece of advice.

when
When I was a child…
I went on a trip when I was at university.

Before cannot be used to replace ago. Generally speaking, after before, we should use a time phrase or clause; therefore, instead of saying It happened a few years before, you should either say ‘It happened a few years ago’, or ‘It happened a few years before I went to university’.

Step 3 – stage 1

The Past Continuous & Past Simple and Past Perfect & Past Simple for Setting a Scene

Bertha …My mother would lie next to me on the bed and read a different story every night. When she was reading, I would often lay my head on her chest and listen to the voices she made for the different characters in the stories…
James …It was a 5-a-side football competition held when I was working for my last company, about four years ago…
Catherine …I’d like to talk about the time that I was late for an exam. It was in my last year at secondary school, when I was taking my final exams…

Notice that in the above answers, they all set a scene by using the past continuous and past simple to help them say when the event occurred.

Past continuous & past simple
When using the past continuous and past simple, the shorter past simple action happened during the longer past continuous (was/were+ verb-Ing) action.
Let’s look at the two structures of the past continuous and past simple:

(while/when)+ was/were+ verb-Ing+ (when)+ past verb
While/When I was studying at university, I beard an interesting story.
I was studying at university when I beard an interesting story.

(when)+ past verb+ (while/when)+ was/were+ verb-Ing
I heard an interesting story while/when I was studying at university.
When I wrote this letter, I was travelling back to my university.

Past perfect & past simple
You can also use the past perfect and past simple to set a scene of your monologue.
The past perfect (had + past participle) action happened before the past simple action.
The two structures of the past perfect and past simple are:

had (already) + past participle + past verb
I had studied at university for a few months before my teacher told me…
Because I had already performed really well on the school sports day, the headmaster made me attend another competition.

past verb+ had (already) + past participle
My teacher told me something really important after I had studied at university for a few months.
The headmaster made me attend another competition because I had already performed really well on school sports day.

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STAGE 2

Say why it happened, where it happened and who was there.

1.Use the passive voice for location or cause of events accurately.
The party was held in a restaurant.

2.Use preposition of location correctly.
She lived above a Chinese restaurant.
There were many trees along the river bank.

3.Use relationship, occupation and group words accurately.
My uncle, who lived in Ha Noi, was an engineer.

Step 1 – stage 2

The Passive Voice for Location or Cause of Events

James …The competition was organized by a national football association, and teams from all over the country came to my hometown to compete. The other members of our team were all my colleagues, who either worked in different departments to me or were more senior managers than I was. Most of us were quite out of shape, and few players were getting a little bit too old to play competitive football. Our main concern though was our goalkeeper, Mark, who was absolutely awful!…

In his answer, James says: …The competition was organised by a national football association…

When people want to describe an event, they will often use the passive voice to say why or where an event occurred in the past.

You may remember the passive voice from previous lessons, but remind yourself of its structure:

be + past participle (+ by + agent)
I was given a present for my 8th birthday.
The party was held in an office.
I was told the story by my teacher.
The competition was organised by my school.
I was taken to the swimming pool by my father.

Step 2 – stage 2

Prepositions of Location

Bertha …His job was to look after his father’s sheep in the fields outside his village, but he found it very boring to be by himself all day…
James …The other members of our team were all my colleagues, who either worked in different departments to me or were more senior managers than I was…

Obviously, when you are talking about a past event, you need to say where it happened.

To do this well, you need to use prepositions of location correctly.

in + an enclosed or larger place
…in my house…
…in Korea…

at + a specific place or location
…at the market…
…at the centre of the page…

on+ a surface or road
…on the highway…
…on the wall…

over/above + a certain place or location
…above the building…
…over the bridge…

next to/beside/by + a certain place or location
…by the lake…
…next to the post office…
…beside a Chinese restaurant…

opposite/across from + a certain place or location
…opposite the bank…
…across from the drugstore…

between+ two places or locations
… between the cafe and the bank…
…between the mountains…

ln front of+ a certain place or location
…in front of my house…
.. .in front of the Rex Hotel…

outside of (a town/city)
…outside of Mexico City…

near (to)
…near the zoo…
…near (to) London…

far from
…far from home…
…far from the gas station…

Step 3 – stage 2

Relationship, Occupation and Group Words

Bertha …In the story there was a boy who was a shepherd. His job was to look after his father’s sheep in the fields outside his village, but he found it very boring to be by himself all day ..

James …The other members of our team were all my colleagues, who either worked in different departments to me or were more senior managers than I was… Our main concern though was our goalkeeper, Mark, who was absolutely awful! …

Most past events people talk about involve other people as in the above answers. You should similarly use relationship, occupation and group words to describe the people involved.
We’ve already looked at some words of relatives, occupations and social positions (Describe a Person: The Ultimate Guide Step 1 Stage 1). The following table contains a few of these words to remind you, as well as words to describe groups of people.

Vocabulary to help you with relatives and occupations

You can also use the following structure to introduce and describe the people in your past event monologue (for more information about relative clauses, see Describe a Person: The Ultimate Guide Step 2 Stage 1.

person+ relative clause
Susan, who was an accountant with HSBC, was waiting for me outside.
My grandfather, who was a very kind and gentle man, got so angry that he…
All of the party-goers who had been dancing all night decided to go to another bar.

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STAGE 3

Say what happened.

1.Use direct and indirect speech accurately.
He said he would never go to university
She said ‘You are my best friend’

2.Use the past simple with sequence markers correctly.
My cousin went next door to get the ball. Shortly afterwards he came running back…

3.Use the past continuous & past simple and past perfect & past simple with adverbs of surprise.
While we were cycling along the road, suddenly a man jumped out of the trees

Step 1 – stage 3

Direct & Indirect Speech

Bertha says: …In the story there was a boy who was a shepherd… He ran into the village shouting “Wolf! Wolf! There’s a wolf killing my sheep!” …

There are two ways to report what somebody has said: direct speech and indirect speech.

Direct speech

The above example is direct speech as Bertha uses quotation marks to say what another person said. (Obviously quotation marks can’t be heard by the examiner during the IELTS test, but you can still use this way to report speech.)

Other examples are:
She always says: “Wear more clothes; don’t catch a cold.”
He said: “I really don’t like this party.”
I said: “I will not go home now.”
This is probably the easiest way to report what somebody has said because you do not need to change the language used.

Indirect speech

When you do not use quotation marks and instead use what the person has said as part of your own sentence, this is indirect speech. When using indirect speech, you usually have to change the pronouns, time markers and the tenses of all verbs in the sentence.

The tense should go back one tense further into the past, so that present simple becomes past simple, past simple becomes past perfect, etc.

Examples:
She said: “I love you.”
She said that she loved him.

I said: “I have never loved you.”
I said that I bad never loved her.

When reporting questions, yes/no questions should be changed using if, while questions that use question words such as how, who, why, etc. should be included in the indirect speech.

Examples:
I asked her: “Will you go?” – I asked her if she would go.
She asked him: “Why don’t you love me?” – She asked him why he didn’t love her.

Look at the following examples:
Direct speech Indirect Speech

My mother said: “I won’t have time to read you a story.”
My mother said that she wouldn’t have time to read me a story.

Our teacher said: “Stay together so you won’t get lost.”
Our teacher told us to stay together so that we wouldn’t get lost.

She said: “John was hungry yesterday.”
She said that John had been hungry the day before.

She said: ”.Mary will go to New York tomorrow.”
She said that Mary would go to New York the next day.

She asked him: “Do you like ice cream?”
She asked him if he liked ice cream.

The teacher asked: ”Why didn’t you come to class today?”
The teacher asked me why l hadn’t gone to class that day.
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In indirect speech, the verbs could, should, would, might, must, need, ought used to are kept.

Step 2 – stage 3

The Past Simple with Sequence Markers

Sophia … In the story there was a boy who was a shepherd… He ran into the village shouting “Wolf! Wolf! There’s a wolf killing my sheep!” immediately, all the villagers stopped working and ran to the field to help protect the sheep. When they found there was no wolf, the boy laughed at them.

Jean …I remember studying by myself in my bedroom and feeling exhausted. I’m not really sure what happened next, but I must have fallen asleep when I was studying because the next thing I knew it was the next day and the sunlight was streaming through the window. Straight away, I started panicking as it felt very late. Looking at my watch, I found that I was already 20 minutes late for my exam! So without showering or changing my clothes, I ran out of the house and caught the bus to school.

When you describe an event, you need to use the past simple accurately. You should also use sequence markers to structure your monologue – this makes it clear what order things happened in and also makes you sound much more natural.

Look at the following useful sequence markers:

to start with
at the beginning
at first
as soon as
immediately
straight away
by the time that
then
so
afterwards
following that
following on from that
after (that)
next
soon after/afterwards
shortly after/ afterwards
in the end
finally

Examples:
To start with I felt very nervous, but after a few dances I relaxed and, in the end, had a really great time.
As soon as we entered the stadium, we realised we were very early.
I watched a documentary about wild animals a few years ago. Following that, I decided not to eat meat anymore because I think it’s cruel.

Step 3 – stage 3

The Past Continuous & Past Simple and Past Perfect & Past Simple with Adverbs of Surprise

Sophia … Again, the boy ran into the village shouting “Wolf! Wolf! There’s a wolf killing my sheep!” but to his surprise nobody believed him and all his sheep got killed.

suddenly
all of a sudden
to (one’s) surprise
out of the blue
surprisingly
unexpectedly
unbelievably
incredibly
the next thing I knew

When ‘when’ or ‘and then’ appears in the middle of a sentence, they are put in with ‘suddenly’, ‘all of a sudden’, ‘to (one’s) surprise’ and ‘out of the blue’.

These phrases are commonly used in combination with the past continuous and past simple or past perfect and past simple as in the examples below:
with past continuous & past simple
We were quietly walking along the road when suddenly a car crashed right in front of us.
I was sleeping in my parents’ car on the way to the airport and then the next thing I knew we were flying in an aeroplane!
We were watching the basketball match on TV when the electricity unexpectedly stopped. When we were learning the first conditional, the activity our English teacher made us do was surprisingly enjoyable and useful.

with past perfect & past simple
I had just sat down in the restaurant when all of a sudden a woman came to my table and threw a glass of wine over me!
My girlfriend had told me that there was a problem with our flat, and asked me to come home quickly. Incredibly, when I got home I found all my friends and family were there to give me a surprise birthday party!
I had prepared for the presentation for a very long time and although I was nervous, it went unbelievably well.
My classmates and I hadn’t prepared well for the exam and so were really worried. Out of the blue, our teacher told us it was cancelled – it was such a relief!
We had asked our parents for a pet dog many, many times and they always said no. Then one day, to our surprise they said yes!

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STAGE 4

Say why the event was special and how you feel/felt about it.

1.Use adjectives for describing events & adjectives of feeling well.
This event was important to me because it was such a crazy time!
I feel very nostalgic whenever I think of those times.

2.Use the third conditional & present perfect to express the importance of an event accurately.
If I hadn’t had this experience, I would never have had the confidence to learn the language.

3.Use concluding expressions correctly.
I wish I hadn’t done it; I still feel stupid whenever I think about it!

Step 1 – stage 4

Adjectives for Describing Events & Adjectives of Feeling

James … I was really pleased with my performance. Besides, it was a really fun day for all of us. I’ve always liked playing football, but that was probably the most enjoy able football competition I’ve ever taken part in.
Catherine …Needless to say, this was a pretty horrible experience for me to go through. Apart from feeling so anxious on the day of the exam, I was also worried sick about what my result was going to be for weeks afterwards…

As you can see from their answers, you should use adjectives for describing events.

Here are some more adjectives for you to use for past events.

In addition to describing what the past event was like, you should also talk about how you felt. This makes it more interesting to the examiner and explains why this event was important to you.

Let’s look at some useful native speaker adjectives of feeling:
embarrassed
irate
incredulous
moved
pleased
delighted
thrilled
over the moon
enthusiastic
reassured
Satisfied

Here are some examples using both kinds of adjectives:
I felt extremely satisfied to see my paper be published in the school newspaper.
Although it was embarrassing at the time, when I think about it now, I guess it’s pretty amusing.
I was really moved to visit a place with such an awe-inspiring history.

Step 2 – stage 4

The Third Conditional & Present Perfect to Express the Importance of an Event

James …I’ve always liked playing football, but that was probably the most enjoyable football competition I’ve taken part in…
Catherine …This event taught me the importance of not being late – I’ve always been punctual ever since!

In you describe an event, you should also tell the examiner what you learned from it or how it has affected your life. This ls a great way of saying why the event was important.
To do this, you can use either the third conditional or the present perfect.

Details of Conditional sentences

Just to remind you of the structure before looking at some examples below.
If + had(n’t) + past participle, would(n’t) have + past participle
If l hadn’t participated in the speaking competition, I wouldn’t have bad the confidence to continue studying Italian.

would(n’t) have + past participle + if + had(n’t) + past participle
I probably wouldn’t have chosen architecture for my major if our school hadn’t taken us to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The present perfect to express the importance of an event
To talk about the importance of a past event, you can use the present perfect in the following ways:

(event) was + the superlative (type of event) I have ever + past participle
The math was the best match I have ever played in.
This story was the most memorable tale I have ever heard.

since (event) I have (adverb of frequency) + past participle
Since I saw that TV programme, I have often thought about all the animals that become extinct every year.
Since that party I have been much more interested in foreign cultures and customs.

Step 3 – stage 4

Concluding Expressions

Bertha …I like this story as a child and I think it has a good message, I will definitely read story to my children in the future.

Catherine …This event taught me the importance of not being late – I’ve always been punctual ever since!

When you would like to describe an event, it is natural to use a concluding expression to sum up or conclude – you should too!

Here are our “top ten” concluding expressions:

The (event) taught me that…
Writing this letter and the effect it had on my friend taught me that making just small signs that you care about someone can have a big impact on their life.

The (event) was important to/for me because…
This trip was important to me because I learnt a lot about travelling alone and staying safe.

Through this experience, I learnt the importance of…
Through this experience, I learnt the importance of studying as well as I could, and not being lazy.

I will always remember…
I will always remember that sunny afternoon in the park with my boyfriend.

I will never forget..
I will never forget watching that crazy basketball match with my father.

Overall, it was a rewarding experience and I learnt a lot.

I’m glad I did it – it was a very (adjective) experience.
I’m glad I did it – it was a very inspiring experience.

I would love to do it again if I had the chance.

Although I enjoyed it at the time, I wouldn’t want to do it again because..
Although I enjoyed it at the time, I wouldn’t want to do it again because I don’t think it would be as much fun now that rm older.

In the future, I will…
In the future, I will try to share the same piece of advice with others.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information on how to describe a time or event on this page, and you can use any part separately or use it all together. It’s up to you. The important thing is for you to improve how you speak about people. Practice is essential. Good luck!

This page is adapted from the book 31 High Scoring Formulas to answer IELTS Speaking Questions