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TOPIC 2: Reading Comprehension – Reading as a Language Skill
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SHS 1 English Language
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    SHS 1 ENG Lesson Note 34

    NOTES FOR STUDENTS

    This is English for SHS 1

    Lesson 34

    Essay Writing

    Topic: Writing  a Narrative

    Objectives

    By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

    1. identify  the form of the narrative.
    2. plan a narrative  essay.
    3. narrate using  chronological order.
    4. use appropriate link  devices to indicate time order in your narrative.

    The Narrative

    When you narrate, you tell somebody about something  that has happened on a particular occasion or during  an event. The narrative  could be about something  that has truly happened, or it could be an imaginary  happening.  In our literature lessons, we will refer to the account of the event that truly happened as non-literary,  and the imaginary  event as the literary  form. The narration  can be oral, that is, by word of mouth; it can also be written.

    Narrative writing  enables us to capture a moment,  an event, or episode and keep it alive,  perhaps, even forever. When you write a narrative  paragraph, you tell a story by writing  about a series of events, often in the order in which they occurred. These events are the details in your paragraph. Thus, a narrative paragraph has a narrator, a person who tells the story. The narrator may be a person in the story or an observer to what is happening  in the story. Usually  a narrative paragraph is a short story that is part of a longer story, or simply,  an event that is part of a story. Now, listen  to this:

    Once upon a time, there lived a man called Kweku Ananse. He had a wife called Okonore Yaa.

    His only son was called Ntikuma.

    Kweku Ananse was rather greedy. He wanted everything for himself. He hated to share anything of his.

    One day, Kweku Ananse had a dream. He dreamt that he was very very rich. He was very rich because he was the only person who had wisdom. He was selling out wisdom to the people of all nations. When the people came to buy wisdom, he dished it out to them using a teaspoon. One spoonful of wisdom in a matchbox cost hundreds of cedis.

    When Ananse woke up, he set out at once collecting the wisdom from all over the world. In those days, wisdom was like butterflies. If you saw a bit of wisdom fluttering around, you could run after it and catch it. If that wisdom was related to the use of money, you became wise in using money. Many people didn‟t bother to be wise; they were content w ith eating and sleeping.

    So, Ananse set about collecting all the wisdom in the world.

    Features of a Narrative

    Do you want to hear more of this story? Why do you want to hear more? What questions  are running  through  your head?

    1. What will happen next?
    2. Will Ananse succeed?
    3. What will he do with the wisdom?

    You see, the story teller has managed  to arrest your attention.  This is done by creating  what is termed suspense. Suspense is that strong desire to know what will happen next. Suspense is a very important  feature in a narrative.

    Here are some other features of a narrative.  These are the features that a written  narrative  will usually  have.

    The Title

    A narrative is about a particular  idea. This is the idea the writer wishes the readers to know about. This idea is usually  captured in a title.  The title will be a kind of summary  of the idea discussed in the narrative.  This means that the title will say very briefly  what the story is about.

    Imagine  that I tell my children  stories in the evenings.  One evening  as they sit around to listen  to my story, I say to my children:

    “This  evening,  I am going to tell you about „Ananse  and the wisdom pot.‟”

    This will mean that the story will be about Ananse and the wisdom pot. In the story, they will hear about Ananse; they will also hear about the wisdom pot. The events I will be relating  will involve  Ananse and the wisdom pot. This is the idea of the title of a narrative.  The title may not necessarily  be mentioned  at the beginning  of the story, but when the story is told, anyone who had heard the story will be able to say that it is about that particular  idea.

    The Narrator

    The narrator is the person who tells the story. Remember  that the narrator may be a person in the story or an observer to what is happening  in the story. You will be taught in your literature lessons that if the narrator is a person in the story, this narrator will be called the first person narrator. On the other hand, if the narrator is an observer to what is happening  in the story, this narrator will be called the third  person narrator. The third person narrator is also called the omniscient.

    In the story I tell my children  about Ananse and the wisdom pot, I will be the narrator. I was not be there with Ananse in the story. However, I will tell the story as though I were there with Ananse when the things  were happening.  I will say, for example:

    “One day, Ananse decided to collect all the wisdom in the world.”

    In a statement  like this, I, the narrator, am behaving  as though  I were in the mind  of Ananse as he made the decision.  I am behaving  as God, who only knows everything.  That is why sometimes this kind of narrator is referred to as the omniscient.

    Imagine,  on the other hand, that you witnessed  fight  between two boys and you were asked to narrate what happened. You may begin like this:

    It was break and every student was anxious to go out of the classroom to get something to eat. I called out to Fabien, my best friend, to hurry up so that we could get to the „waakye‟ seller‟s stall quickly. Fabien walked to my desk and the two of us started walking toward the classroom door. I was walking in front of Fabien. At the door, I turned back and whispered to Fabien:

    “Today, we can take that extra „wele‟. My dad gave me some extra money for mending his bicycle tyre.”

    “Waaaoh!” Fabien said.

    We both laughed aloud. We were then on the verandah. Then, I noticed Kofi Aaba coming toward us.

    In beginning  this narrative,  I used the first person personal pronoun „I‟. I am part of the story, and I will narrate the story from the way I saw things  happen, or my point of view. You see, this is the first-person  narrator. I am in the story and I tell the story from my point of view.

    The use of the past tense

    The writer of a narrative will usually  use the past tense. This is because the story the narrator tells is usually  about something  that has already happened.

    However, the writer may also use dialogues  in the story. These dialogues  usually  use the present tense.

    Let us look at the narrative  above again. The narrator said:

    “Today, we can take that extra „wele‟. My dad gave me some extra money for mending his bicycle tyre.”

    Fabien replied:

    “Waaaoh!”

    Do you notice that what the narrator said and Fabien‟s  replies are in the present tense. This is what will happen in a narrative.  The story will be told in the past tense but dialogues  will be in the present tense. The dialogue  will be saying  exactly what the two or more people engaged  in the dialogue  are saying.  This is the reason why the dialogue  will be in the present tense. This means that if one of the people engaged  in the dialogue  says something  that refers to the past, that statement will be in the past tense.

    Characters

    When we listen  to stories, we note that the stories involve  individuals.  In most stories these individuals  are persons. In others, they are animals.  In literature,  you will learn that stories in which the individuals  we hear about are animals  are called  fables. Where there are animal characters, these animals  will behave just like humans  do; for example,  the animals  will have their chief,  hold meetings,  maybe, even go to school like you do.

    Characters are very important  in a story. In fact, stories are often woven around characters. We will learn about types of characters in our literature  lessons.

    Chronological  Ordering

    When we narrate or tell someone about an event, we give an account of the event. This event will itself be made up of a series of incidents  or smaller  happenings.  For example,  if you narrate the events during a quiz competition,  you will be talking  about things  other than the questions  and answers during the quiz. For example,  before the quiz,  there will be preparations,  meetings  by the organisers,  and practice for those taking part in the competition.  On the day of the competition,  there will be the preparation of the venue, the arrival of the competitors,  the sitting arrangement,  and the beginning  of the competition, among other things.  These are the incidents or smaller  events that will eventually  make up the overall event.

    In presenting  all these we must arrange the smaller  events in a way that will enable the person listening  to us or reading our account to easily follow  our narration.  This arrangeme nt  is usually in the order of the time the events occurred, or chronological  order.

    Let us look at two examples: Example 1

    The football matches between our school and OSSA are always great events. For this particular  qualifying  match we trained at the Kaneshie Sports Complex.  All the thirty- five members of the football team gathered at the school playing  field  at 5:00 a.m. every morning  except Sundays. Then we will jog to the Kaneshie Sports Complex which is some five or so kilometres  away. When we get to the Sports Complex,  we ran round the playing  field  once. After this, we lined  up for what we called the “stretch exercises”.  This was just the beginning.

    Example 2

    I was always curious about funerals.  This one was happening  next door and that was where my cousin lived.  I determined  that I will see everything  that happened during  this funeral.  First, there was the painting  of the old house. This gave me the opportunity  to pilfer  some paint which  I intended  to use for face-painting  later. Next, was the bringing  in of the ingredients  for the preparation of food for the guests. Cousin Doe and I helped in packing the foodstuffs  into one of the kitchens in the house, and it was exciting.  Then, in the evening,  I was put in charge of the blender. I had always done this at home and was glad I could show my competence at this here.

    Let us go through the short narratives  again.

    Can you make a list of the incidents  in the order in which they happened in each of the short narratives?  This is what is being referred to as „Chronological  order‟.

    Using Link Words in Narratives

    Look at the first short narrative  again.

    What will you say the word „then‟  does in the paragraph? It helps us to understand  that something  happened before this particular  incident.  Also note that the use of „after  that‟ also tells us that something  had happened earlier.

    These words are called link  words and phrases. Their use helps the reader to follow  the narrative easily.

    How do we plan a narrative essay?

    We have learnt that it is important  to plan any essay before we begin to write it. Let us consider what to think about as we plan to write a narrative  essay. Firstly,  we must be clear in our own minds regarding  the event we shall talk about. We can help ourselves  by asking ourselves  some questions.  Here are some questions to ask yourself as you think  about the various parts of the essay.

    Introduction

    Remember that this is the first paragraph of the essay. One of the first questions  to ask yourself is:

    1.  What is my story about?

    The answer to this question will help you to give a title to your essay. Other questions  to answer in this first paragraph include  the following:

    1.  What happened before the main event? (You can give a background  to the main event.)

    You can also frame the question  as:

    1.  What smaller  events in the past have led to this main event?

    Perhaps it is the sports season and the „qualifying  matches‟  are being played. This will lead to determining  the two teams that will play in the finals.  One of these two teams will lift  the trophy. You are narrating  the events leading  to the final match.

    Perhaps there had been a death in the neighbouring  house and the funeral is to be celebrated. Preparations were underway and you were involved,  or you witnessed  the preparations.  Now, you are narrating  the event.

    The Body

    This is where you discuss the main event. The question to ask yourself is:

    1.  What happened?
    2. How did the event begin?
    3. What happened first: in the morning,  in the afternoon,  etc.?
    4. What was the most interesting  or important  part?
    5. How did the event end?

    Conclusion

    This is the last paragraph. In this paragraph you close the narrative.

    1.  How will I sum up all that happened?
    2.  What are the key incidents  that happened during  this event?
    3. If I think  about the event, what comes to mind,  or how do I feel?
    4.  Will I like to experience  this again? Why? Why not?
    5. Does the event have a lesson for someone? Who?

    Summary

    In this lesson, you have learnt that:

    1. a narrative  refers to telling  others about events.
    2. what we narrate could be real or imaginary  events.
    3. every narrative includes  important  features such as the title,  narrator, the use of chronological or time order, and past tense.

    CONTENT CONSULTANTS

    Author

    Prosper Kwesi Agordjor, M.Phil.

    Peer Reviewers

    John Tetteh Agor, Ph.D.

    Modestus Fosu, Ph.D.

    William Foli Garr, (Rev.) M.Phil.


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