Developing a paragraph by narration
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Narration is telling or relating of occurrence or a
series of events. It requires us to tell what happened. It is a method used in
personal letters, diaries, journals, newspapers, biographies, and
autobiographies.
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Developing a paragraph by narration means telling a
story or relating event by using chronological order or time order.
Example
One day when
I was a little girl, I had a frightening experience during which I almost
drowned. The incident occurred in Lake Toba, North Sumatra, where I spent my
vacation last June. One day my brother and I had been sailing a skipper class
boat in the lake. As we had gone out quite a distance, we decided to turn back.
All of sudden, while the boat was turning back, I found myself in the water
with the boat on top of me. Not knowing how to swim, I grabbed my brother who
pulled me from under the boat. After a long period of clinging to the
overturned boat, I spotted a rescue boat coming out to help us. Then I ashore.
I was reminded of that experience when I saw the movie “Jaws”. I know I shall
never forget it.
Time
order used in the story
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As you can see from the previous paragraph, the writer
tells the reader a series of event in the order in which they happened by using
time order words and phrases such as: one day, last June, all of sudden, after
a long period of time, and finally.
Developing a paragraph by description
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When you describe the way something looks, for
example, its physical description, you have to describe it according to space.
You organize the idea in spatial order. You should arrange your sentences and
details according to where the objects being described are located.
Description
of a place
In describing a room, for example, the following should be
taken into consideration:
1. The location of
the objects in the rooms should be clear.
2. The details
should be arranged logically and systematically so it is easy for the readers
to visualize the description in his/her mind.
3. Most importantly
is that there should be controlling idea which gives the paragraph a focus.
Example
My dormitory
room, on the second floor of Asrama Daksinapati, is small and crowded. The blue
walls and rather yellowish ceiling make the room seem dark, and it looks even
smaller than it is. My bed occupies about half of the room. The two windows
over the bed are covered with heavy blue drapes. Against the wall on your left
is a large bookcase which is crammed with paper, books, and other things.
Between the bookcase and the wall opposite the bed is a small desk with a
chair. Under the desk is a rattan waste paper basket full of paper and debris.
The wall above the bookcase and desk is covered with small posters of my
favorite rock singers. On the right hand side of the room is a narrow closet
with clothes, shoes, badminton racket, and boxes bulging out of its sliding
doors. Can you imagine how cram-full my room is? It is like living in a closet.
Spatial
order used in the story
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The spatial expressions are called adverb of place;
usually they are prepositional phrases: preposition + noun phrase.
•
Some expressions used in the paragraph:
On the second floor, under the windows, on your left, next to
the bookcase, opposite the bed, on the right-hand side, against the wall, above
the bookcase, underneath the desk.
•
Special
sentence construction:
Adverb of place +
verb phrase + subject
Under the desk is a basket (or a basket is under the desk)
Description
of a person
You can describe a person’s appearance in many ways such as
his/her clothes, manner of speaking, color and style of hair, facial
appearance, body shape, and expression.
Example
Karmila is
as beautiful as any Indonesian film star. Her thick, wavy long black hair falls
down to her shoulders and surrounds her beautiful, diamond shaped face. A
golden suntan usually highlights her smooth, clear complexion. Her slightly
arched dark brown eyebrows draw attention to her deep brown eyes. Her eyes are
large, but not too large, with thick eyelashes. Her nose is straight and
neither too long nor too short. A small black mole on the left side of her
mouth adds to her beauty. And her mouth is small and looks delicate and
feminine. Her lips are rather thin, but not too thin; her light pink lipstick
adds another touch of feminine beauty. When she smiles, which is often, her
well-formed and even white teeth brighten up her whole face. There is nothing
but extraordinary beauty in the face of Karmila.
