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Sometimes people will describe something that happened in the past using the present tense.  For example, let's say I see a car accident on my way to work. After work I want to tell my wife what I saw, but instead of using the past tense, I use the present tense. This makes the story seem more immediate and alive. Listen:

So I'm on my way to work when all of a sudden I hear a screech and a big BANG! I look around and I see that a pickup truck has run into a bus. People are screaming so I run over to see if I can help…

The rest of this podcast contains two versions of a silly science fiction story. In the first version all the verbs are in the present tense. In the second version, all the verbs are in the past tense.

Read both versions of the story and then listen. Pay special attention to the pronunciation of the verbs in each tense.

Oh, and by the way: I personally don't believe that aliens have visited us. 

Story in present tense:

I'm walking down the street. 
I look up and I see a strange object.
It is descending.
As it gets closer, I see that it is a UFO--an Unidentified Flying Object.
Then I remember that UFOs have a new name: UAP—Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
Let me say that again: UAP stands for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
Whatever it's called, it looks like a big flying frisbee to me.
I decide to run away.
That's a big mistake.
A beam of green light shoots out of the flying thing and picks me up.
The light pulls me into the UAP and I faint.
After that I remember nothing.
When I wake up I am in a police station. 
I tell the police my story.
They look at me strangely but they don't say anything. 
Then I see myself in a mirror. 
I have two heads!
I scream and faint. 
The next time I wake up, everyone has two heads and all the heads are smiling.
The end.
 
Story with verbs in past tense

I was walking down the street. 
I looked up and I saw a strange object.
It was descending.
As it got closer, I saw that it was a UFO--an Unidentified Flying Object.
Then I remembered that UFOs had a new name: UAP—Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
lWhatever it was called, it looked like a big flying frisbee to me.
I decided to run away.
That was a big mistake.
A beam of green light shot out of the flying thing and picked me up.
The light pulled me into the UAF and I fainted.
After that I remembered nothing.
When I woke up I was in a police station. 
I told the police my story.
They looked at me strangely but they didn't say anything. 
Then I saw myself in a mirror. 
I had two heads!
I screamed and fainted. 
The next time I woke up, everyone had two heads and all the heads were  smiling.

Well, I hope that story wasn't too scary! Here's some extra pronunciation practice:

1. I looked up.
2. Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
3. I decided.
4. That was a big mistake.
5. They looked at me strangely.
6. Then I saw myself in a mirror.

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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