Narratives

Narratives are written either in the first person(I/we) or in the third person
(he/she/they). They may accounts of real events that happened to us or
somebody else, or imaginary stories. These can be humourous stories,
detective stories, fairy tales, etc. Before we start writing the story, we should
decide on the plot line-that is, the events which make up the story.

A narrative should consist of:

●an introduction in which the scene is set-that is, when and where the story
took place, who the people in the story were and what happened first.
●a main body of or more paragraphs where the story is developed describing
the events, usually in chronological order. One of the events should be the
climax event-that is, the even where interest, suspense and feelings reach their
peak.
●a conclusion which includes what happened at the story, as well as people’s
feelings , final comments or reactions. A twist-that is, a surprising ending makes
a long-lasting impression on the reader.
A narrative may also have a catchy title in order to attract the reader’s
attention, especially if it is for a magazine, newspaper, etc.
 Useful language

1.Introduction-setting the scene

➢ While I was walking along the path one day…
➢ It was a beautiful morning…
➢ The rain was pouring down…
➢ He had been waiting for this moment…
➢ There were three of us…
➢ My family had rented a cottage…
➢ It was a cold winter night…
➢ I had never been to…
➢ There were three of us in the mountains.
➢ I was with my parents in the countryside.

2. Main body- what happened

2.1.The order of events should be presented using when, while, as soon as, before, at that
moment, in real time, first, next, soon, then, eventually, meanwhile, after a while, suddenly,
at first, at the beginning, within secondsby the time.
Hardly
Scarely =>when->Past Perfect+inversion

Barely
No sooner-> than
2.2. Reaction to events
➢ I was surprised
➢ The event came as a schock to me
➢ Everything came as a surprise
➢ I was numb with fear
➢ I felt embarrassed
➢ To my surprise
➢ To my amazament
➢ To my astonishment
➢ I was petrified
➢ Iwas numb with fear
➢ I stood there speechless
 ➢ I was at a loss for words

2.3.Verbs
●to whisper
●to scream
●to sigh

3. Conclusion- how the story ends

➢ in the end
➢ finally
➢ Afterwards