Communicative functions: Interacting with others

Adjusting our interaction with others

Being more precise about an event

When we interact with others, we often try to adjust our point of view in order to make it more precise. One way to do this is to use double verb structures, which we can do in the following ways:

	To show the precise phases of an event, ie the beginning, middle and end:
		beginning of the event	Kitty began to tickle MegaMonster and he started to laugh. The water began to spurt back into the swimming pools.
		middle of the event	She continued to tickle him so he went on laughing.
		end of the event	She stopped tickling him when all the water was back in the swimming pools.
	to show precisely how an event happened
		Granny Gong decided to help the children.
		MegaMonster refused to give the water back.
		Kitty forced herself to row towards MegaMonster.

For more information about responding to requests, see: 

Text types: Stories: Building atmosphere and suspense