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2nd Line of Your Organization WRITING A NARRATIVE

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2005-12-31
 WRITING A NARRATIVE

ATITLAN OR AMATITLAN?
Last year, I went to Guatemala for my summer holiday. The day before I had to leave,
the sun was shining but there was a cool wind blowing, so it wasn't too hot. As it
was such a beautiful day, I decided to get a bus to a famous volcanic lake called
Atitlan. It was a three-hour trip, but I had the time so I didn't mind.

First, I had to find the right bus. It wasn't easy. I don't speak a word of Spanish and I
couldn't find anyone who spoke English. Still, I managed to get to the bus station,
where people were very helpful. They smiled and pointed to the bus I should take.
Once by bags were on the roof and I was inside, I sat down to enjoy the ride.

I must have been very tired because in no time at all, I fell asleep. The next thing I
knew, someone was shaking me. We had reached our destination. I looked at my
watch. This couldn't be right – onlly 45 minutes had gone by! We had arrived at Lake
Amatitian – not Lake Atitlan. The names sounded the same, so I had taken a bus to
the wrong lake!

This could have ruined my day, but I was on holiday and I was determined to have a
good time. I walked around the pretty village near the lake and eventually found
some stalls with delicious local food. A few hours later, with a full stomach and a
smile on my face, I got the bus back. All in all, it was a great day. I'll just have to visit
Lake Atitlan the next time I go to Guatemala. 2
 WRITING A NARRATIVE

THE DREAM

I had a terrible dream the other night. When I woke up, I could still remember it quite
clearly. I was walking around in the centre of a strange city and didn't know where I
was.

I tried to ask people for help but they walked right by without looking at me. I was like
being invisible. Suddenly, a man stopped and started shouting at me to go away. A
few moments later, several more people joined him. That's when a policeman
appeared and told me that I had to leave the city immediately. “If you don't leave, I will
arrest you,” he warned me. I tried to find my way home, but I got more and more
confused. It was getting dark and cold and I had nowhere to go. I kept asking myself
where my family was and why they weren't helping me. I had never felt so lonely in all
my life.

At that moment, I woke up, went downstairs and saw my entire family sitting down at
the breakfast table. I was still feeling the effects of my dream and seeing them there
made me so happy. I must have had a huge smile on my face because my little
brother looked at me strangely and asked, “Are you all right?”

“Never felt better,” I replied. And then I sat down at the table and joined my family.
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 WRITING A NARRATIVE

Last summer, I went to Marseille to visit my French penfriend, Isabelle. It was a great
holiday. Isabelle showed me around the city, and we spent a lot of time at the beach
too! One day, after we had just finished a bit of window shopping, an incredible thing
happened. We met Johnny Depp!

I did not recognize him at first, as he was wearing dark sunglasses. Luckily, he took
them off while he was walking past. Before I could say anything, Isabelle ran up to
him and asked for his autograph! He was really friendly, and we even chatted for a
few minutes.

Afterwards, I felt amazed and delighted, but a bit shocked too! Johnny Depp is my
favourite actor, and meeting him was probably the most exciting thing that has ever
happened to me. I will never forget it, and neither will Isabelle!

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 WRITING A NARRATIVE

A NARRATIVE

When writing a narrative, it is important to say when and where the actions
are taking place, to clearly show the sequence of events and to explain how
the story ends.
Structure and sections of a narrative:

• Opening – Paragraph 1: It describes the setting, gives some background

and introduces the main characters. Think about character, background,
feelings and atmosphere. Use past perfect and past continuous to refer
to events leading up to the main event.

• Body – Paragraphs 2 and 3: It relates the events in the story, including a

problem or conflict. Use time expressions and sequencers to make the
order clear, and use adjectives and adverbs to make your story
interesting.

• Closing – Paragraph 4: It tells how the story ends and how the problem
is resolved. Describe your thoughts and feelings. 5
 WRITING A NARRATIVE

A NARRATIVE

We often use different PAST TENSES to write a narrative: past simple, past
continuous, past perfect, present perfect, used to / would.

Make sure that your story has a LOGICAL ORDER. Give it a clear beginning,
middle and end.

In every narrative there must be a CLIMAX, which is the point when something
happens that changes the direction of the story. It is always preceded by some
kind of rising action and then followed by some falling action.

CONNECTORS of sequence and time expressions help you to organise your

writing by making the order of events clear. In addition to typical connectors of
sequence such as first, before, next, then and finally, time expressions such as
once, when , as soon as, the next thing and during can be used.

Try to make your narrative interesting. Use a variety of language, including

ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS.
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 WRITING A NARRATIVE

CHECKLIST

• Organisation
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Grammar
• Word order
• Use of connectors

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 WRITING A NARRATIVE

USEFUL EXPRESSIONS
• It all began when …
• One afternoon / day …
• Last week / year, …
• Two years ago, …
• Last summer, …
• Before I knew it, …
• That's when …
• All of a sudden, …
• All in all, it was a …
• The other day / night / …
• Suddenly, …

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 WRITING A NARRATIVE

USEFUL VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE

TIME EXPRESSIONS
Main sequence
• At first
• By the time
• Eventually
• Finally
• In the end
• Next
• Then
• Before and after
• After a while
• Afterwards
• Before
• Earlier (on)
• Later (on)
• In the end
• Simultaneous events
• As
• As soon as
• During
• When 9
• while
 WRITING A NARRATIVE

USEFUL VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE

ADVERBS
Manner adverbs
• Angrily
• Apprehensively
• Fearlessly
• Immediately
• Quickly
• Straight
• Comment adverbs
• Amazingly
• Luckily
• Sadly
• Suddenly
• Suprisingly
• Unfortunately
• Worryingly
• Adverbs of certainty
• Certainly
• Definitely
• Possibly
• Probably 10
 WRITING A NARRATIVE

USEFUL VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE

ADVERBS
Adverbs of degree
• Absolutely
• A bit / little
• Pretty
• Quite
• Rather
• Really
• Slightly
• Very

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 WRITING A NARRATIVE

USEFUL VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE

ADJECTIVES

Atmosphere
Dangerous, dirty, exciting, fascinating, friendly, frightening, gloomy,
noisy, incredible, lively, romantic, stressful, unusual, welcoming,
wild

Emotion
Amazed, apprehensive, confused, delighted, disappointed,
embarrassed, exhausted, lonely, proud, relieved, shocked, terrified,
thrilled, worried

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 WRITING A NARRATIVE

USEFUL VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE

Comparisons
• It was the best / worst day of my life!
• It was the most frightening / exciting thing I've ever done!
• I was too scared to …
• It wasn't hot enough to …
• I felt much happier when …
• I was so shocked that …
• It was such a good holiday that …

• More useful expressions

• I will never forget it.
• … was the most exciting / frightening thing that has ever happened to me.
• The happiest / scariest moment in my life was when …
• One of my worst / happiest memories …
• It was the best / worst day of my life.

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