Language Points Related to Narration

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Language Points Related to Narration 1) Tenses Verb tense is an extremely important clue in writing that recounts events in a fixed order because tenses show the temporal relationships of actions (earlier, simultaneous, later). When you learn to write a narrative, you must be especially careful to keep verb tense consistent and accurate so that your reader can easily understand the time sequence. Naturally, there are times when you have to shift tense to reflect an actual time shift in your narrative. For instance, a flashback may require a shift from present to past tense. But it is important to avoid unnecessary shifts in verb tense because such unwarranted shifts will make your narrative confusing. Questions: 1. In the ‘An Accident’ and oral narratives above, which tenses appear in the Orientation? 2. Which tenses does Larry use to tell the main part of his story? 2) Transitions Together with verb tense, transitions (connecting words or phrases) are the most precise way you can show the correct sequence of events. Transitions can indicate the order in which events in a narrative occurred (first, second, after that, next, then, later) or their simultaneous occurrence (at the same time, meanwhile). Transitional words and phrases can also show how much time has passed between events (just then or three years later). Without these guides, your essay would lack coherence, and your readers would be unsure of the correct sequence of events. Other transitions commonly used to signal shifts in time include immediately, soon, before, earlier, after, afterward, now and finally. 3) Sentence Structure Sentences can be divided into three basic groups according to the number and kinds of clauses they contain. These three basic types are simple, compound, and complex sentences. a) The Simple Sentence A simple sentence contains only one independent

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