Narrative Text

Narrative Text

What is it?

What's a Narrative?

A narrative is a text that tells a story and, in doing so, entertains the audience. The purpose of a narrative, other than providing entertainment, can be to make the audience think about an issue, teach them a lesson, or excite their emotions. Written narratives often take the form of novels. The story is usually told by a narrator. If the narrator is one of the characters in the story, the story is said to be told in the first person. If a person outside the story is the narrator, then the story is being told in the third person.

Examples of narrative texts include:

• Myths

• Fairytales

• Dreaming stories

• Science fiction

• Historical fiction

• Romance novels

Steps for constructing a Narrative text

The Narrative Scaffold

Orientation

In this paragraph, the narrator tells the audience who is in the story, when it is happening, where it is happening, and what is going on.

Complication

This is the part of the story where the narrator tells about something that will begin a chain of events. These events will affect one or more of the characters. The complication is the trigger.

Sequence of Events

This is where the narrator tells how the characters react to the complication. It includes their feelings and what they do. The events can be told in chronological order (the order in which they happen) or with flashbacks. The audience is given the narrator’s point of view.

Resolution

In this part of the narrative, the complication is sorted out or the problem is solved

Coda

The narrator includes a coda if there is a moral or message to be learned from the story.

Grammatical Features of a Narrative

...

Narratives usually include the following grammatical features:

• Nouns that identify the specific characters and places in the story

• Adjectives that provide accurate descriptions of the characters and settings

• Verbs that show the actions that occur in the story

• Time words that connect events, telling when they occurred.

The most commonly used verb form in this type of text is the past tense

Usually past perfect but others are also used: he picked up the salt shaker, he lived in that house, he had walked, he was clear, he said what he thought, etc

The narrative text includes...

any type of writing that relates a series of events and includes both fiction (novels, short stories, poems) and nonfiction (memoirs, biographies, news stories). Both forms tell stories that use imaginative language and express emotion, often through the use of imagery, metaphors, and symbols. Students need to know how narrative texts work and how to read them because stories are used for many important purposes.

The purpose of narrative text is

to entertain, to gain and hold a reader's interest; however, writers of memoirs and novels often relate complex stories that examine universal ideas, events, and issues. In addition, speakers, advertisers, and politicians use stories to persuade us to accept or reject an idea.

All in all...

the narrative form is unique, because authors relate ideas they want to express about how people behave and what they believe. These ideas, or themes, generally relate to universal truths and make connections to the reader's experiences.

Let's Practice

Look at the picture carefully.Choose the sentence to tell what you did at the carnival. 

Multiple Choice

First...

• The ferris wheel was fun.

• The carousel went up and down.

• I had cotton candy.

• I played a dart game.

Multiple Choice

Next...

• The ferris wheel was fun.

• The carousel went up and down.

• I had cotton candy.

• I played a dart game.

Multiple Choice

Then...

• The ferris wheel was fun.

• The carousel went up and down.

• I had cotton candy.

• I played a dart game.

Multiple Choice

Last...

• The ferris wheel was fun.

• The carousel went up and down.

• I had cotton candy.

• I played a dart game.

N A R R A T I V E - S C A F F O L D