UNDERSTANDING AND WRITING COMPREHENSION EXERCISE

8.       NARRATIVE ESSAY

Narrative essay re-count or tell past events or stories. It can be an event you witnessed and as such while telling it, you use first person narrative, point of view. For instance, use ‘I’. The same story may be told by using third person, for instance ‘he’ or ‘she’.

Features

1.       Your tense should be in the past or in the present if the story is a true-life one that is still taking place.

2.       To achieve coherency and balance, the story should be in sequence as the event unfolds itself.

3.       The main character and other characters should be introduced at the first paragraph.

4.       The story setting should start by showing where and when the events occur.

5.       The conclusion of the story should be in line with the instruction given on the question.

9.       DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY

In this type of essay, the writer is expected to create a picture of a person, place, and scene or object so clearly that his readers can easily visualize what is being described with his inner eyes. Descriptive essay could be a narrative as well as expository essays. The wrier need not be bias in order to allow his readers to judge what they have read.

Features

1.       It has to be captivating in order to arrest the interest of the reader.

2.       The language is formal and should be filled with adequate adjectival, adverbial expression as well as figures of speech. Comparative and contrastive expressions are also needed.

3.       The tense should be in the past for past events and in present for what is physically present.

4.       To achieve a coherent write up, the event or the experiment being described should be written in sequence – from the beginning and gradually to conclusion.

5.       Personal sentiment or feelings should not be attached on the things being described to avoid subjecting the minds of the readers.

OUTLINE OF AN ESSAY

A good essay has at least four parts namely: apriori, introduction, body and conclusion.

Apriori

Apriori is an introduction before the real introduction of the topic to be discussed. It is a statement of fact about what the topic is all about. For instance, in a debate, which usually has two sides, apriori would be that statement that touches both sides of that argument. For instance, argument that “Men cook better than women”, the apriori would centre on food, why we eat food and that somebody must do the cooking, irrespective of the sex.

Introduction

Introduction as the name implies is the beginning of what is to be discussed. It is an explanation of what to be seen in the whole discussion. Usually, it should not be long but interesting in order to encourage further reading or listening. Like the debate mentioned above, it is at the introduction part that a speaker introduces himself, takes a definite side of the argument and probably, defines the topic.

Body

The body of the essay is where the main issues are discussed. It shows the detail of what the writer has in mind and his knowledge about the topic in question. It is here that different styles of paragraph may be adopted in order to explain whatever point a speaker or a writer has.

Somebody may wish to state causes of a thing in the topic being described in one large paragraph; the consequences in another and the solutions in another paragraph. It may be splitted into different smaller paragraphs as well.

Usually in exam, students are expected to be detailed in explanation and in building their paragraphs in order to meet up with the required number of words. For a reasonable mark, students must give at least three good points and explain them well.