Narrative Paragraph

Sam An Teng

Objectives: After learning this unit, you will be able to:

• identify key elements in a narrative paragraph, 
• write narrative paragraph about an event or story. 

WHAT IS NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH? 

Narrative paragraph tells a story or an event. Events in narrative paragraph should be arranged chronologically, that is in the order in which they have happened. 

Almost everyone narrates, reads, or listens to stories from books, other people, or media. However, the audience expects and needs more from a written narrative. Therefore, a narrative paragraph must have a central idea (what the story/event is about), characters (who it about), a plot (conflict, complication, climax, and resolution of the story/event), adequate description, and setting (when and where the story happens)

DEVELOPING A NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH 

A good narrative paragraph normally requires three necessary components: background information, the story/event, and conclusion. 

• 1. Background information
  
  The background information sets the scene for the audience. It includes the following pieces of information: 
  • A topic sentence, 
  • What story/event is about, 
  • Who it is about, 
  • When it happens, 
  • Where it happens, 
  • Where is the source of the narration. 
  
  
  Note: the topic sentence of a narrative paragraph does not start the narration. It establishes a purpose. It does not tells only a story, but also the reader's view point. Therefore, writing a strong topic sentence is important. 
  
  
• 2. Story
  
  The story or event happens 3 different stages: the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story or event.
  • beginning of the story -- the beginning tells what happens first in the story.It can be the problem which make the story or event happen. 
  • middle of the story -- the middle tells the main events or important activities of the story/event. 
  • end of the story -- the end tells the final events, i.e. the result or what brings the end of the story/event.
  
  
• 3. Conclusion
  It is a concluding sentence. The writer can either restate the topic sentence, give a concluding remark, make a prediction about the story, or make a suggestion. 
  
  

Read the following sample paragraph and explanation below: 

Tum Teav 

(1) Tum Teav is an interesting story. (2) The story is a real love tragedy happened in the 16th century in presently Kampong Cham province. (3) It is widely taught in high school. (4) The story begins when Tum and Teav fall in love at their first sight. (5) Their love is so deep that they have abused the traditional barriers and engaged in a pre-marriage love affair – it is strongly prohibited in Khmer culture. (6) Not long after, Teav’s mum arranges a marriage with rich guy for Teav, but fails. (7) Then, Teav is selected as a concubine and sent to the capital. (8) The king admires her so much, but with mercy he offers Tum and Teav a wedding. (9) As dissatisfaction grows, Teav’s mum rearranges the marriage with the previous guy. (10) Teav is deceived and comes back home. (11) With worry, Tum follows her. (12) Tum arrival at Teav’s wedding marks end of the story. (13) Tum is caught and executed. (14) Teav, with love for her husband, commits suicide. (15) The couple death outrages the king that he orders execution for those involved in the tragedy. (16) The story, I believe, is so appealing. 

Explanation:

• The topic sentence is sentence (1). It tells the purpose, that's what the writer will write about. 
• The background information includes sentences (2) and (3). Sentence (2) tells what the story is about, and when and where it happen. Sentence (3) tells the source of the story.
• The story comprises of sentence (4) to (15). 
• Sentence (4) and (5) tell the beginning of the story. 
• Sentence (6)-(11), which is middle of the story, tell the main events happen in the story. 
• Sentence (12)-(15) tells the end of the story.
• Sentence (16) is the concluding sentence. It restates the topic sentence. 

TRANSITIONAL WORDS IN NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH 

A narrative paragraph tells events in chronological order, so it soimportant to link event from one event to another. To do so, a writer need to use transitional words. The common Transitional expressions used in a narrative paragraph are: after, finally, soon, as (soon as), later, then, before, meanwhile, upon, during, next, when, first, now, and while.