EnglishFreePrintable

Plot Development Sentence Starters

A free english worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

Plot Development Sentence Starters

Read the original story below, then use its events to practise writing about plot development. Use past tense to recount events and present tense to analyse how the story works. Sample answers are provided; your wording may differ if your response is supported by the story.

Read: The Last Signal

Mara had spent the winter helping her grandfather restore the old signal tower above the harbour. Most locals thought it was only a landmark now; its lamp had not worked for years. On the evening before the tower was due to be sold, Mara found a handwritten note tucked behind its control panel: “If the red light returns, check the north steps.” That night, a storm rolled in. From her bedroom, Mara saw a red flash from the tower. She ran uphill through the rain and found the lamp turning by itself. At the north steps, a loose stone concealed a rusted metal box. Inside was a list of ship names and dates, including one marked with tomorrow’s date. Her grandfather caught up with her and admitted he had hidden the box years earlier, after a fishing boat had vanished in a storm. He had never been able to prove what he saw that night. A sudden crack split the air. The tower lamp went dark, and the harbour’s warning bell began to ring. Mara had to choose: take the box to the police, or stay and help her grandfather restart the signal before a boat reached the dangerous reef. She handed him the box and climbed the tower stairs. Together they brought the red light back just as a small boat turned away from the reef. At dawn, Mara gave the box to the harbour police. The tower would still be sold, but its light had guided one boat safely home. As she looked out to sea, her grandfather said, “Some things are worth keeping, even when their purpose changes.”

Track the plot

Use precise plot vocabulary: exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, resolution and turning point.

1.Which detail belongs most clearly to the exposition of “The Last Signal”? Choose one answer.

Mara has been helping restore the signal tower, which is due to be sold.
The harbour warning bell begins to ring.
Mara gives the box to the harbour police.
A boat turns away from the reef.

2.Match each event to the plot stage it best represents.

The storm arrives and Mara sees the tower flash red.
Mara must choose between taking the box to police and restarting the signal.
Mara gives the box to police the next morning.

Climax
Resolution
Rising action

3.Complete the sentence with a specific internal or external conflict from the story: “The central conflict emerges when …, creating tension because …”

4.The note says, “If the red light returns, check the north steps.” Explain how this detail foreshadows a later event. Begin: “The note foreshadows … because …”

5.Combine these ideas into one compound sentence using a coordinating conjunction: Mara restarts the signal with her grandfather. The boat turns away from the reef.

6.Complete the starter with a complex sentence that links the storm to the rising action: “As the storm rolled in, …”

Use sentence starters to analyse

Useful starters: “At the beginning of the story, the writer establishes …”; “As tension builds, …”; “The turning point occurs when …”; “By the resolution, …”; “This event contributes to the plot because …”.

7.Complete this analysis in present tense: “The climax occurs when … This moment is significant because …”

8.Use the starter “By the conclusion, …” to explain how the resolution addresses the main conflict and what idea it leaves the reader considering.

9.Improve this sentence by using at least two plot terms: “The story gets more exciting when Mara goes to the tower and finds the box.”

10.Choose one moment from the story and write an analytical sentence explaining how it develops the plot. Use one of these starters: “This event advances the rising action because …” or “The turning point changes the direction of the plot when …”.