Narrative Text| grade XII

Hello students...how are you? Are you happy today? Hopefully you are happy to join the section for today. In this section, I'd like you to do reading activity to gain your reading skill. Are you ready?

Before you do the exercises, what type of writing that you know? 
There are many types of writing, right? At first, I'd like you to learn Narrative Text and I'll show you a video below about the example of narrative text. Enjoy it!

NARRATIVE TEXT

 

Having watched the video, have you understood what the narrative text is. Let me explain to you more about narrative text. 

The Social Function of Narrative Texts

The purpose is to entertain, create, stimulate emotions, motivate, give and teach readers.

The Generic Structure of Narrative Text

Orientation: (Beginning or introduction)	Introduces main characters, setting and time The opening paragraph introduces characters / participants of the story and sets the scene (it answers the questions who, when, what and where)
Complication: (Middle)	The problem happens among the characters It is about the problems which involve the main characters in the story developed
Resolution: (Ending)	The problem is dissolved It is about how the problems in the story are solved (better or worse). Here, the main characters find ways to solve the problems.
Reorientation	The conclusion of a story

    

A narrative text may include folktales, myths, legends, etc and has moral value.

The language features are:

• Using simple past tense
• Using time sequence conjunctions such as then, before that, after that, soon, when, finally, first, dsb.
• Using time expressions such as once upon a time, long ago, oneday, dsb. 

   I will give you a simple exercise to do. Here is it.. a famous story and I'm sure you know it well.

CINDERELLA

1. __________________________

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Cinderella. She lived with her step mother and two step sisters.The step mother and sisters were conceited and bad tempered. They treated Cinderella very badly. Her step mother made Cinderella do the hardest works in the house; such as scrubbing the floor, cleaning the pot and pan and preparing the food for the family. The two step sisters, on the other hand, did not work about the house. Their mother gave them many handsome dresses to wear.

2.___________________________

One day, the two step sister received an invitation to the ball that the king’s son was going to give at the palace. They were excited about this and spent so much time choosing the dresses they would wear. At last, the day of the ball came, and away went the sisters to it. Cinderella could not help crying after they had left.

“Why are you crying, Cinderella?” a voice asked. She looked up and saw her fairy godmother standing beside her, “because I want so much to go to the ball” said Cinderella. “Well” said the godmother,”you’ve been such a cheerful, hardworking, uncomplaining girl that I am going to see that you do go to the ball”.

3._________________________

Magically, the fairy godmother changed a pumpkin into a fine coach and mice into a coachman and two footmen. Her godmother tapped Cinderella’s raged dress with her wand, and it became a beautiful ball gown. Then she gave her a pair of pretty glass slippers. “Now, Cinderella”, she said; “You must leave before midnight”. Then away she drove in her beautiful coach.

Cinderella was having a wonderfully good time. She danced again and again with the king’s son. Suddenly the clock began to strike twelve, she ran toward the door as quickly as she could. In her hurry, one of her glass slipper was left behind.

4.________________________

A few days later, the king’ son proclaimed that he would marry the girl whose feet fitted the glass slipper. Her step sisters tried on the slipper but it was too small for them, no matter how hard they squeezed their toes into it. In the end, the king’s page let Cinderella try on the slipper. She stuck out her foot and the page slipped the slipper on. It fitted perfectly.

Finally, she was driven to the palace. The king’s son was overjoyed to see her again. They were married and live happily ever after.

EXERCISE 1 » Quiz maker software

Exercise 1 is very easy, isn't it? If you have done with this, let's continue to the next exercise.

EXERCISE 2 » Free online quiz software

EXERCISE 2 » Create A Quiz

What score you get in the exercise 2? Is it satisfying? Don't worry. You still have one more exercise to do. However, firstly please read the materials below.

What is the language feature of narrative text? Using simple past tense right? Let's take a look on the materials below.

How do we make the Simple Past Tense?

To make the past simple tense, we use:

• past form only
  or
• auxiliary did + base form

 

Here you can see examples of the past form and base form for irregular verbs and regular verbs:

	V1 base	V2 past	V3 past participle
regular verb	work explode like	worked exploded liked	worked exploded liked	The past form for all regular verbs ends in -ed.
irregular verb	go see sing	went saw sang	gone seen sung	The past form for irregular verbs is variable. You need to learn it by heart.
			You do not need the past participle form to make the past simple tense. It is shown here for completeness only.

 

Look at these examples with the main verbs go and work: 

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I			went	to school.
	You			worked	very hard.
-	She	did	not	go	with me.
	We	did	not	work	yesterday.
?	Did	you		go	to London?
	Did	they		work	at home?

To make a question, we exchange the subject and verb. Look at these examples:

	subject	main verb
+	I, he/she/it	was		here.
	You, we, they	were		in London.
-	I, he/she/it	was	not	there.
	You, we, they	were	not	happy.
?	Was	I, he/she/it		right?
	Were	you, we, they		late?

How do we use the Past Simple Tense?

We use the past simple tense to talk about an action or a situation - an event - in the past. The event can be short or long.

Here are some short events with the past simple tense:

The car exploded at 9.30am yesterday. She went to the door. We did not hear the telephone. Did you see that car?
past	present	future
The action is in the past.

Here are some long events with the past simple tense:

I lived in Bangkok for 10 years. The Jurassic period lasted about 62 million years. We did not sing at the concert. Did you watch TV last night?
past	present	future
The action is in the past.

Notice that it does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or seconds in the past, or millions of years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the event is. It can be a few milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic period). We use the past simple tense when:

• the event is in the past
• the event is completely finished
• we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event

In general, if we say the time or place of the event, we must use the past simple tense; we cannot use the present perfect.

Here are some more examples:

• I lived in that house when I was young.
• He didn't like the movie.
• What did you eat for dinner?
• John drove to London on Monday.
• Mary did not go to work yesterday.
• Did you play tennis last week?
• I was at work yesterday.
• We were not late (for the train).
• Were you angry?

Note that when we tell a story, we usually use the past simple tense. We may use the past continuous tense to "set the scene", but we almost always use the past simple tense for the action. 

Look at this example of the beginning of a story:

"The wind was howling around the hotel and the rain was pouring down. It was cold. The door opened and James Bond entered. He took off his coat, which was very wet, and ordered a drink at the bar. He sat down in the corner of the lounge and quietly drank his..."

This page shows the use of the past simple tense to talk about past events. But note that there are some other uses for the past simple tense, for example in conditional or if sentences.

Have you done reading all about simple past tense above? So, let's measure your understanding so far about the simple past tense by doing the exercise below. Don't worry. Please do the exercise by your self and then you can immediately get your score. Whoalaaa... What score will you get? Have a try and good luck!

EXERCISE 3
Click the link 'Simple Past Quiz' below!
 Simple Past Quiz, by faraways
Find this and other past simple exercises in English Exercises .org

Ok, if you have done with the exercises, you may try the games below.Thanks for joining the on-line class today... See you on the next section. Good Luck!

Click the link! http://www.vocabulary.co.il/crossword/