We meet people all of the time. We go on first dates, go to first parties and we even have children that we meet at play or while walking their dog. There are all kinds of reasons why people meet other people.
So how do you know when to use the past tense? Well, there are a few things that are pretty clear. When you say, “I met him at work,” you are almost guaranteed to have the person say, “at work.” If they did not say, “at work,” it would be more understandable if they said, “I met him while I was at work.” It is much easier for the recipient to imagine themselves in the past.
When you say, “I met him at a park,” it can be very difficult to think about where you met him. If he has been giving you funny stories about going to the park often, you can insert an example sentence like, “He told me that he goes to the park all the time with his friends from school.” The recipients will get a laugh out of the story and you can avoid the awkward question of “where did you get that funny story?”
When you meet someone at a church basement, it can be difficult to picture where you might meet them. This can help you when you are giving speeches at your pulpit or introducing someone to the congregation. Say something like, “I was just listening to the minister talk about how great it was that he was able to meet so many people here today.”
It is very easy to hide examples in text. People are lazy and they want the boring parts of speeches to be the easiest parts. You need to get them thinking about the main points of your speech before you go into the boring text. That is where good examples come in.
Using examples is the best way to get your audience to remember the main point of your speech. It does not matter what kind of people you are trying to meet. Everyone loves to be surprised. You can give good examples and hide them in your speech to make it interesting for everyone. Use examples when you are giving talks at church, to introduce other members to other members, and to make your audience to remember important parts of your speech.