ENGLISH FORM 3 CHAPTER 7: EXTREME SITUATIONS
Extreme Situations
Unit 7 • Survival, Rescues & Narratives
🏔️ Miracle in the Andes
Read this incredible true-life story of survival. Can you imagine being trapped in the freezing mountains?
🌊 Graveyard of the Pacific
Hover to reveal the rescue vocabulary!
Mercy
NounKindness or help given to people who are in a very bad or desperate situation.
“At the mercy of the waves.”
Violent
AdjectiveUsing or involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill. (Also describes extreme weather/waves).
Tragedy
NounAn event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident or natural disaster.
Missions
Noun (Plural)Important assignments carried out for political, religious, or commercial purposes, typically involving travel.
⏱️ The Past Perfect Tense
We use the Past Perfect to show that one action happened before another action in the past.
| Tense | Usage & Example |
|---|---|
|
Past Perfect Simple had + past participle |
Focuses on the completed result of an action before another past action. • “By the time the rescue team arrived, the snow had stopped falling.” |
|
Past Perfect Continuous had been + verb-ing |
Focuses on the duration (how long) an action was happening before another past action. • “They had been flying for an hour when they saw the mountains.” |
❓ Question Tags
Question tags are short questions added to the end of a sentence to check if something is true, or to ask for agreement.
The Golden Rule of Tags:
Positive sentence ➡️ Negative tag
Negative sentence ➡️ Positive tag
| Sentence (Statement) | Tag (Question) |
|---|---|
| You are afraid of the extreme cold, | aren’t you? |
| The rugby team didn’t give up, | did they? |
| He had finished the survival training, | hadn’t he? |
| They can’t fly in this terrible storm, | can they? |
Subject vs Object Questions
“Who rescued the survivors?” (The coast guard rescued them.)
“Who did the coast guard rescue?” (They rescued the survivors.)
✍️ Narrative Suspense
Writing a great story about an extreme situation requires building tension and suspense. How do you keep the reader on the edge of their seat?
1. Use Narrative Tenses
Mix your past tenses to create depth:
- Past Cont. for background setting (“The wind was howling…”)
- Past Simple for the sudden action (“…when the branch broke.”)
- Past Perfect for backstory (“He had never seen a storm like it.”)
2. Short, Punchy Sentences
During the most exciting or scary parts of the story, use very short sentences. This speeds up the reading pace and makes the action feel faster.
3. Engage the Senses
Don’t just describe what the character saw. Describe what they heard, felt, and smelled to make the extreme situation feel real.
Unit 7: Extreme Situations
Prepare for an intense quiz! Test your knowledge on survival stories, extreme vocabulary, and advanced grammar (Past Perfect & Question Tags).