Writing a Narrative Essay Yun-hsiang Liu, M.S., Ed. HSNU English Teacher Copyright 2007 Narrative Writing

Narrative writing In using the form of narrative writing (telling a story), writers tell a story or create a personal essay by using story elements (character, event, time, place, action, sequence, and conclusion), to which the eye-catching details of an experience are added. For example, we may have students practice using this narrative form to write about a picnic they had with their families.(CEE 1983 A Taxi Ride; CEE 1984 How I Spent Yesterday Evening; CEE 1986 A Shopping Experience; CEE 1989 On the Way to School; CEE 1998 Being Caught in the Rain; CEE 2000 The Difficulties I Have with Learning English; CEE 2003 The Most Unforgettable Exam)

Narrative writing structure Beginning: Give a setting, including who, what, when, where, what to do. Body: Give a sequential description of events. Ending: Give a comment or something.

A Taxi Ride (CEE 1983) 請以 ”A Taxi Ride” 為題目，寫一篇 120 到 150 個單詞左右的英文作文，敘述你搭乘計程車 的一次經驗。 Please write an essay with the title "A Taxi Ride" in 120~150 words, in which you describe one of your experiences of riding a taxi.

Outlines Give a setting (who, what, when, where, what to do) Describe the taxi (color, size, etc.) Interaction I (tell where to go) Describe the driver (age, height, manner, etc. ) Interaction II (have a chat) Describe the sights outside the windows Tell the total time used to finish the ride Interaction III (pay taxi fare) Interaction IV (say good-bye) Comment on the ride

Beginning (Give a setting, including who, what, when, where, what to do) Who (passenger): I What (vehicle): a taxi When (time): one morning Where to go (destination): downtown Taipei What to do (thing): take a taxi from Guan-du to downtown Taipei  One morning, I took a taxi from Guan-du to Taipei. Give a setting

taxi Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Describe the taxi The color of the taxi was yellow. The taxi was big. The taxi looked brand-new.  The taxi, big in size and yellow in color, looked brand-new. Describe the taxi

driver and I Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Interact with the driver (I) After / As soon as I got in I told the driver where I was going / where to go / where I wanted to go  As soon as I got in, I told the driver where I was going. Interaction I

driver Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Describe the driver’s look The driver was / looked young. The driver was of average height (of medium build / neither tall nor short).  The driver was of average height and looked young.  The driver, who looked young, was of average height.  The driver, who looked young, was of medium build with short, dark hair. Describe the driver 1

driver and I Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Describe the driver’s manner of driving The driver was good. I respected the driver.  He was a good driver, so I respected him.  Because he was a good driver, I respected him.  He was such a good driver that I respected him. Describe the driver 2

driver Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Put the reason why he was good He drove carefully / with care. He followed the traffic rules. V1 ~ and V2 ~ all / on the way to the destination / throughout the ride  He drove with care and followed the traffic rules all the way to the destination. Describe the driver 3

driver Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Put something good the driver did  He never ran red lights. Describe the driver 4

driver and I Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Interact with the driver (II) As the car moved along We chitchatted. about this and that / about (movies, celebrities, food, music, sports, etc.)  As the car moved along, we chitchatted about this and that.  As the car moved along, we had a chat. We talked about ~. Interaction II

sights Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Describe the sights outside the car At times, I looked out the window. I saw so many interesting sights one after another. I saw a wide plain. I saw conspicuous / tall buildings. I saw vehicles / cars of all sorts. I saw many other things, too.  At times, I looked out the window, and interesting sights, such as a wide plain, conspicuous buildings, vehicles of all sorts, and many others, came into view, one after another.  At times, I looked out the window, interesting sights, such as a wide plain, conspicuous buildings, vehicles of all sorts, and many others, coming into view, one after another. Describe the sights

length of time Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Tell the total time used to finish the ride About forty minutes later We got to Taipei.  About forty minutes later, we got to Taipei.  It took us about forty minutes to get to Taipei. length of time

taxi fare Body (Give a sequential description of events) taxi → driver → driver and I → sights → length of time → taxi fare Pay taxi fare I paid three hundred and fifty dollars to the driver. I told him to keep the change. V1 ~ and V2 ~  I paid three hundred and fifty dollars to the driver and told him to keep the change. Interaction III

Ending (Say goodbye and comment on the ride) Interact with the driver (IV)  Then, we said goodbye to each other. Comment on the ride  What a nice ride it was!  It was really a nice ride, wasn’t it? Ending

Full Text – A Taxi Ride One morning, I took a taxi from Guan-du to downtown Taipei. The taxi, big in size and yellow in color, looked brand new. As soon as I got in, I told the driver where I was going. The driver, who looked young, was of average height. He was such a good driver that I respected him. He drove with care and followed the traffic rules all the way to the destination. He never ran red lights. As the car moved along, we chitchatted about this and that. At times, I looked out the window, interesting sights, such as a wide plain, conspicuous buildings, vehicles of all sorts and many others, coming into view, one after another. About forty minutes later, we got to Taipei. I paid three hundred and fifty dollars to the driver and told him to keep the change. Then we said goodbye to each other. It was really a nice ride.

Appendix 1: A sample student composition A Taxi Ride Last Sunday, I took a taxi to Taipei. The color of the taxi was yellow. The taxi looked new. After I got in the taxi, I told the driver where I wanted to go. The driver, who looked young, was very tall. We talked to each other for a while. He was a good driver, so I respected him. He drove carefully and followed the traffic rules. He never ran red lights. As we moved along, I looked out of the window. I saw many interesting things. I saw beautiful trees and flowers. I saw tall buildings. I also saw many other cars. It took us forty minutes or so to get to Taipei. I paid two hundred dollars to the driver and told him to keep the change. Then I said goodbye to him. It was a nice experience. （ 140 words ）

Appendix 2: A simple style A Taxi Ride One day I went to Kaohsiung by taxi. The color of the taxi was yellow. It looked new. It was a nice car. After I got in the taxi, I told the driver I wanted to go to Kaohsiung. The driver was a young guy. He was tall. He was a little fat, too. His hair was black and short. He was a nice driver. He drove carefully. He followed the traffic rules. He never ran red lights. I liked him so much. Sometimes, we talked to each other happily. We talked about everything, such as people, animals, movies, sports, books, and so on. Sometimes, I looked out the window. On the way to Kaohsiung, I saw many interesting sights. I saw mountains. I saw beautiful flowers. I saw green trees. I saw tall buildings. I saw shop signs. I saw birds flying in the sky. I also saw vehicles of various kinds. About half an hour later, I got to Kaohsiung. I paid three hundred dollars to the driver. I said goodbye to him. It was a really nice ride. (181 words)

Appendix 3: Grading Organization 4% Content 4% Wording 4% Grammar 4% Spelling & punctuation 4%

Appendix 4: Temporal adverbial phrases 1. one day / morning / afternoon / evening 2. one Sunday / Monday / Tuesday 3. one Sunday morning / one Friday evening 4. yesterday evening / last night 5. one summer day / one spring morning 6. one summer morning many years ago 7. on a clear morning 8. last summer vacation 9. on a clear autumn afternoon 10. on a cold winter / winter’s night

Appendix 5: Three model compositions as supplementaries Going Shopping--Guided Composition for High School Students by Liu Yun-hsiang (2003), ps 26~28, The Crane Publishing Co., Ltd. A Helping Hand--Guided Composition for High School Students by Liu Yun-hsiang (2003), ps 39~41, The Crane Publishing Co., Ltd. A Trip to Sun-Moon Lake--Guided Composition for High School Students by Liu Yun-hsiang (2003), ps 57~60, The Crane Publishing Co., Ltd. 劉老師英文作文專欄網站