UNIT 2: WRITING A NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH



UNIT 2: WRITING A NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH

Narration is story writing. When you write a narrative paragraph, you write about events in the order that they happen. In other words, you use time order to organize your sentences. As you read the model paragraph, look for words and phrases that tell when something happened.

Narrative Paragraph

Earthquake!

1An unforgettable experience in my life was a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. 2I was at home with my older sister and younger brother. 3Suddenly, our apartment started shaking. 4At first, none of us realized what was happening. 5Then my sister yelled, "Earthquake! Get under something!" 6I half rolled and half crawled across the room to get under the dining table. 7My sister also yelled at my little brother to get under his desk. 8Meanwhile, my sister was on the kitchen floor holding her arms over her head to protect it from falling dishes. 9The earthquake lasted less than a minute, but it seemed like a year to us. 10At last, the shaking stopped. 11For a minute or two, we were too scared to move. 12Then we tried to call our parents at work, but even our cell phone didn't work. 13Next, we checked the apartment for damage. 14We felt very lucky, for nothing was broken except a few dishes. "However, our first earthquake was an experience that none of us will ever forget.

Questions on the Model

1. In which four sentences does the word earthquake appear?

2. What words and phrases show when different actions took place? Circle them.

Time Order

In the model narrative paragraph, the writer used time order to tell what happened first, what happened next, what happened after that, and so on.

Notice the kinds of words and phrases used to show time order. These are called time order signals because they signal the order in which events happen.

Time Order Signals

|Words |Phrases |

|Finally, first (second, third, etc.) Later, |At last, At 12:00, After a while, After that, |

|meanwhile, next, now, soon |Before beginning the lesson, In the morning, The |

| |next day, |

Put a comma after a time order signal that comes before the subject at the beginning of a sentence. (Exception: Then, soon, and now are usually not followed by a comma.)

At first, none of us realized what was happening. For a minute or two, we were too scared to move. Then we tried to call our parents at work.

PRACTICE

Time Order

Complete the paragraphs with time order signals from the lists provided, and capitalize and punctuate them correctly. Use each word or phrase once. There is more than one possible word or phrase to fill in some of the blanks.

Use these words and phrases:

|first |after dinner |

|on the night before Thanksgiving |in the morning |

|about 3:00 in the afternoon |soon |

|then |before taking the first bite |

|after that |finally |

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in the United States is a day for families to be together and enjoy a traditional meal, (a) On the night before Thanksgiving, our mother bakes a pumpkin pie, the traditional Thanksgiving dessert. (b) she gets up early to prepare the other traditional dishes. (c) she makes dressing. (d)__________________ she stuffs the turkey with the dressing and puts the turkey into the oven to roast. (e) __________________

she prepares the rest of the meal. She cooks all day long. (f) the family sits down at the table. (g) everyone around the table says one thing that they are thankful for. (h) _____________ We stuff ourselves just as full as Mother stuffed the turkey earlier in the day! (i) we are all groaning3 because we have eaten too much. (j) we collapse on the living room sofa and watch football games on TV. No one moves for at least two hours.

1dressing: mixture of bread cubes, onion, celery, butter, chicken broth, and herbs that is cooked inside a turkey. After it is cooked, it is removed from the turkey and eaten as a side dish. It is also called stuffing.

2stuff: put inside; fill until completely full

3groaning: making a long deep sound because you are in pain

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| |Have the above exercise marked by an instructor. ( /8 marks). |

The Writing Process

Freewriting:

You remember that prewriting is the step in the writing process in which you get ideas. In the first lesson, you learned about the prewriting technique called listing. Another prewriting technique is freewriting. When you freewrite, you write "freely"— without stopping—on a topic for a specific amount of time. You just write down sentences as you think of them without worrying about whether your sentences are correct or not. You also don't have to punctuate sentences or capitalize words. You can even write incomplete sentences or phrases. The main goal in freewriting is to keep your pencil moving across the paper.

Look at this example of freewriting on the topic "A Memorable Event in My Life."

MODEL

Freewriting

A Memorable Event in My Life

I'm supposed to freewrite for ten minutes about a memorable event in my life. I don't know what to write about. Maybe about my brother's boat accident. We were so scared. We thought he was going to drown. He was trapped under an overturned boat and didn't have any air to breathe. But it ended all right. He was rescued and had only a broken arm. What else can I write about? Oh! I know. A day I will always remember was the day I left my country to come to the United States. That was a sad/happy day. I felt sad and happy at the same time. Maybe I should write about something happy. Our family vacation last summer was fun. We drove to the coast and camped for a week on the beach. Then there was the day the earthquake happened. Now that was definitely a memorable event. I will never forget it. I was at home with my older sister and little brother. .

This writer free wrote until she found a good topic: the earthquake. If she had wanted to, she could have done further free writing about her earthquake experience to develop this top

Try It Out! - Freewrite about a memorable event or experience in your life. It might be a happy day, a sad event, an embarrassing moment, an interesting trip, or a frightening experience. Write for about ten minutes without stopping. If you find a topic during your free writing, continue free writing on that topic. If you already have a topic in mind before you start, free write on that topic for ten minutes to develop your ideas about it.

Writing Assignment:

Write a paragraph about a memorable event or a memorable experience in your life. Let's review the steps in the writing process.

Step 1 Prewrite to get ideas. Use the free writing that you completed in the Try It Out! exercise.

Step 2 Organize the ideas. Put the events into time order: Make a list of the events or number them on your freewriting paper. Use your list to guide you as you write.

Step 3 Write the rough draft. Write ROUGH DRAFT at the top of your paper. Begin your paragraph with a sentence that tells what event or experience you are going to write about.

I'll never forget the day I met my future husband.

The most memorable vacation I ever took was a bicycle trip across Canada.

• Use time order to organize your paragraph. Use time order signals, and punctuate them correctly.

• Pay attention to your sentence structure. Write both simple and compound sentences, and punctuate them correctly.

Step 4 Polish the rough draft.

• Use Self-Editing Worksheet 2 to check your draft for grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You may check this with an instructor and write another draft before getting a mark if you wish.

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| |*Have your rough draft marked by an instructor before writing your final draft. ( /6 marks) |

Step 5 Write a final copy. Hand in all rough drafts, your final copy, and the page containing the editing worksheet. (Final draft: /12 Marks)

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