NARRATIVE
1. Romeo and Juliet's Romantic and Tragic Story
The above example of narrative text tells a story which can amuse the reader. Amusing and entertaining are the power of narrative text to attract the reader. Reader will tend to follow the whole story.
As it is said many times that the heart of narrative text is the existence of the complication. It will drive the plot of the story to keep amusing. The existence of conflict inside the Queen Maura is what builds the story keep running. The psychological conflict inside Maura, which she strike against herself, is arousing the readers attention to continue reading the story. They want to know what next will happen, who will be chosen by Queen Maura, in what way she will decide who is the best. Keeping knowing them really entertaining as well increasing the moral value added.
Orientation: the text introduce the Queen Maura and three sheiks in Arabia once time.
Complication: Queen Maura find out that it was very difficult to choose one as the best among them
Resolution: finally Queen Maura has a convincing way to choose one and he is Sheik Hakim
So the next morning the clown put on the gorilla suit and entered the cage before the crowd came. He felt that it was a great job. He could sleep all he wanted, played and made fun of people and he drove bigger crowds than he ever did as a clown. He pretended the gorilla successfully.
However, eventually the crowds were tired of him for just swinging on tires. He began to notice that the people were paying more attention to the lion in the next cage. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he decided to make a spectacular performance. He climbed to the top of his cage, crawled across a partition, and dangled from the top to the lion's cage. Of course, this made the lion furious, but the crowd people loved it.
At the end of the day the zoo keeper came and gave him a raise for being such a good attraction. Well, this went on for some time, he kept taunting the lion, the audience crowd grew a larger, and his salary kept going up. Then one terrible day happened. When he was dangling over the furious lion, he slipped and fell into the lion cage. The clown was really in big terrible situation. He was terrified.
Sooner the lion gathered itself and prepared to pounce. The clown was so scared. He could do nothing and he began to run round and round the cage with the lion close and closer behind. Finally, the lion could catch him. The clown started screaming and yelling, "Help me, help me!", but the lion was quick and pounces. The clown soon found himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and suddenly he heard a voice from the lion’s mouth;"Shut up you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?".
Purpose: To amuse/entertain the readers and to tell a story
Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Complication
3. Resolution
4. Reorientation
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Chronologically arranged
Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Complication
3. Resolution
4. Reorientation
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Chronologically arranged
THE EXAMPLES OF NARRATIVE TEXT
1. Romeo and Juliet's Romantic and Tragic Story
In the town of Verona there lived two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. They engaged in a bitter feud. Among the Montagues was Romeo, a hot-blooded young man with an eye for the ladies. One day, Romeo attended the feast of the Capulets', a costume party where he expected to meet his love, Rosaline, a haughty beauty from a well-to-do family. Once there, however, Romeo's eyes felt upon Juliet, and he thought of Rosaline no more.
The vision of Juliet had been invading his every thought. Unable to sleep, Romeo returned late that night to the Juliet's bedroom window. There, he was surprised to find Juliet on the balcony, professing her love for him and wishing that he were not a "Montague", a name behind his own. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo was ready to deny his name and professed his love. The two agreed to meet at nine o-clock the next morning to be married.
Early the next morning, Romeo came to Friar Lawrence begging the friar to marry him to Juliet. The Friar performed the ceremony, praying that the union might someday put an end to the feud between the two families. He advised Romeo kept the marriage a secret for a time.
On the way home, Romeo chanced upon his friend Mercutio arguing with Tybalt, a member of the Capulet clan. That qurreling last caused Merquito died. Romeo was reluctant no longer. He drew his sword and slew Tybalt died. Romeo realized he had made a terrible mistake. Then Friar Lawrence advised Romeo to travel to Mantua until things cool down. He promised to inform Juliet.
In the other hand, Juliet's father had decided the time for her to marry with Paris. Juliet consulted Friar Lawrence and made a plot to take a sleeping potion for Juliet which would simulate death for three days. The plot proceeded according to the plan. Juliet was sleeping in death.
Unfortunately, The Friar's letter failed to reach Romeo. Under the cover of darkness, he broke into Juliet's tomb. Romeo kissed the lips of his Juliet one last time and drank the poison. Meanwhile, the effects of the sleeping potion wear off. Juliet woke up calling for Romeo. She found her love next to her but was lying dead, with a cup of poison in his hand. She tried to kiss the poison from his lips, but failed. Then Juliet put out his dagger and plunged it into her breast. She died
Note: Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by William Shakespeare. This example of narrative text about romantic and tragic story was written and simplified from love-story.com
Note: Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by William Shakespeare. This example of narrative text about romantic and tragic story was written and simplified from love-story.com
Arabian Story
2. Queen of Arabia and Three Sheiks
Maura, who like to be thought of as the most beautiful and powerful queen of Arabia, had many suitors. One by one she discarded them, until her list was reduced to just three sheiks. The three sheiks were all equally young and handsome. They were also rich and strong. It was very hard to decide who would be the best of them.
One evening, Maura disguised herself and went to the camp of the three sheiks. As they were about to have dinner, Maura asked them for something to eat. The first gave her some left over food. The second Sheik gave her some unappetizing camel’s tail. The third sheik, who was called Hakim, offered her some of the most tender and tasty meat. After dinner, the disguised queen left the sheik’s camp.
The following day, the queen invited the three sheiks to dinner at her palace. She ordered her servant to give each one exactly what they had given her the evening before. Hakim, who received a plate of delicious meat, refused to eat it if the other two sheiks could not share it with him.
This Sheik Hakim’s act finally convinced Queen Maura that he was the man for her. “Without question, Hakim is the most generous of you” she announced her choice to the sheiks. “So it is Hakim I will marry”.
Narrative Complication in Generic Structure
The above example of narrative text tells a story which can amuse the reader. Amusing and entertaining are the power of narrative text to attract the reader. Reader will tend to follow the whole story.
As it is said many times that the heart of narrative text is the existence of the complication. It will drive the plot of the story to keep amusing. The existence of conflict inside the Queen Maura is what builds the story keep running. The psychological conflict inside Maura, which she strike against herself, is arousing the readers attention to continue reading the story. They want to know what next will happen, who will be chosen by Queen Maura, in what way she will decide who is the best. Keeping knowing them really entertaining as well increasing the moral value added.
Orientation: the text introduce the Queen Maura and three sheiks in Arabia once time.
Complication: Queen Maura find out that it was very difficult to choose one as the best among them
Resolution: finally Queen Maura has a convincing way to choose one and he is Sheik Hakim
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RECOUNT
Purpose: to retell something that happened in the past and to tell a series of past event
Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Event(s)
3. Reorientation
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Using adjectives
Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Event(s)
3. Reorientation
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Using adjectives
Narrative and recount in some ways are similar. Both are telling something in the past so narrative and recount usually apply PAST TENSE; whether Simple Past Tense, Simple Past Continuous Tense, or Past Perfect Tense. The ways narrative and recount told are in chronological order using time or place. Commonly narrative text is found in story book; myth, fable, folklore, etc while recount text is found in biography.
The thing that makes narrative and recount different is the structure in which they are constructed. Narrative uses conflicts among the participants whether natural conflict, social conflict or psychological conflict. In some ways narrative text combines all these conflicts. In the contrary, we do not find these conflicts inside recount text. Recount applies series of event as the basic structure
The thing that makes narrative and recount different is the structure in which they are constructed. Narrative uses conflicts among the participants whether natural conflict, social conflict or psychological conflict. In some ways narrative text combines all these conflicts. In the contrary, we do not find these conflicts inside recount text. Recount applies series of event as the basic structure
THE EXAMPLE OF RECOUNT TEXT
1. My Adventure at Leang-Leang Cave
On Sunday, my parents, my best fruend Novi, and I visited a cave at Maros called Leang-leang . It was my first time to visit the cave, better yet, my best friend came to visit it with me!
The cave was famous for its primitive cave wall paintings which were some hand prints and wild boar paintings. The cave and its surroundings was turned into a national park, so it was taken care of. My parents took a rest in a small hut for visitors of the park, while Novi and I adventured around the cave with a guide. We had to climb some metal stairs to get to the cave, because the cave was embedded into a small mountain. Next stop was a place where some seashells littered the ground and some were actually piled into a big mound! The guide said that these piles of seashells are called kjokkenmoddinger, or kitchen trash. The humans who lived here ate the shells and dumped the left overs in their 'kitchen'. The last place was a small museum where they have skeletons of the humans who lived in the caves. The skeletons along with some roughly made jewelry and weapons were placed inside glass cases for display. The walls of the museum were adorned with photographs taken when they did an excavation there.
After a quick lunch with Novi and my parents, we decided it was time to go back home. We really had the time of our lives!
*************************************
SPOOF
Purpose: to tell an event with a humorous twist and entertain the readers
Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Event(s)
3. Twist
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Using adverb
4. Chronologically arranged
Example of Spoof Text in Funny Story
Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Event(s)
3. Twist
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using Past Tense
2. Using action verb
3. Using adverb
4. Chronologically arranged
Example of Spoof Text in Funny Story
The Zoo Job Story
One day a clown was visiting the zoo and attempted to earn some money by making a street performance. He acted and mimed perfectly some animal acts. As soon as he started to drive a crowd, a zoo keeper grabbed him and dragged him into his office. The zoo keeper explained to the clown that the zoo's most popular gorilla had died suddenly and the keeper was fear that attendance at the zoo would fall off. So he offered the clown a job to dress up as the gorilla until the zoo could get another one. The clown accepted this great opportunity.
So the next morning the clown put on the gorilla suit and entered the cage before the crowd came. He felt that it was a great job. He could sleep all he wanted, played and made fun of people and he drove bigger crowds than he ever did as a clown. He pretended the gorilla successfully.
However, eventually the crowds were tired of him for just swinging on tires. He began to notice that the people were paying more attention to the lion in the next cage. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he decided to make a spectacular performance. He climbed to the top of his cage, crawled across a partition, and dangled from the top to the lion's cage. Of course, this made the lion furious, but the crowd people loved it.
At the end of the day the zoo keeper came and gave him a raise for being such a good attraction. Well, this went on for some time, he kept taunting the lion, the audience crowd grew a larger, and his salary kept going up. Then one terrible day happened. When he was dangling over the furious lion, he slipped and fell into the lion cage. The clown was really in big terrible situation. He was terrified.
Sooner the lion gathered itself and prepared to pounce. The clown was so scared. He could do nothing and he began to run round and round the cage with the lion close and closer behind. Finally, the lion could catch him. The clown started screaming and yelling, "Help me, help me!", but the lion was quick and pounces. The clown soon found himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and suddenly he heard a voice from the lion’s mouth;"Shut up you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?".
(Re-written and simplified from www.onlyfunnystories.com)
*************************************
REVIEW
Purpose: to critique or evaluate an art work or event for a public audience
Dominant Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Evaluation
3. Interpretative Recount
4. Evaluation
5. Evaluative Summation
Dominant Language features:
1. Focus on specific participants
2. Using adjectives
3. Using long and complex clauses
4. Using metaphor
Dominant Generic Structure:
1. Orientation
2. Evaluation
3. Interpretative Recount
4. Evaluation
5. Evaluative Summation
Dominant Language features:
1. Focus on specific participants
2. Using adjectives
3. Using long and complex clauses
4. Using metaphor
EXAMPLE OF REVIEW TEXT
review film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2:
Title : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Production year : 2011
Country : Rest of the world
Runtime : 130 mins
Directors : David Yates
Cast :
- Alan Rickman
- Billy Nighy
- Daniel Radcliffe
- Emma Thompson
- Emma Watson
- Gary Oldman
- Helena Bonham Carter
- Maggie Smith
- Michael Gambon
- Ralph Fiennes
- Rupert Grint
Details: 2011, Rest of the world, Cert 12A, 130 mins, Dir: David Yates
With: Alan Rickman, Billy Nighy, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Thompson, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Grint
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort's final horcruxes
"It all ends," says the poster slogan. A potentially grim statement of the obvious, of course, yet the Potter saga could hardly have ended on a better note. With one miraculous flourish of its wand, the franchise has restored the essential magic to the Potter legend – which had been starting to sag and drift in recent movies – zapping us all with a cracking final chapter, which looks far superior to CS Lewis's The Last Battle or JRR Tolkien's The Return of the King. It's dramatically satisfying, spectacular and terrifically exciting, easily justifying the decision to split the last book into two.
Title : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Production year : 2011
Country : Rest of the world
Runtime : 130 mins
Directors : David Yates
Cast :
- Alan Rickman
- Billy Nighy
- Daniel Radcliffe
- Emma Thompson
- Emma Watson
- Gary Oldman
- Helena Bonham Carter
- Maggie Smith
- Michael Gambon
- Ralph Fiennes
- Rupert Grint
Details: 2011, Rest of the world, Cert 12A, 130 mins, Dir: David Yates
With: Alan Rickman, Billy Nighy, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Thompson, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Grint
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort's final horcruxes
"It all ends," says the poster slogan. A potentially grim statement of the obvious, of course, yet the Potter saga could hardly have ended on a better note. With one miraculous flourish of its wand, the franchise has restored the essential magic to the Potter legend – which had been starting to sag and drift in recent movies – zapping us all with a cracking final chapter, which looks far superior to CS Lewis's The Last Battle or JRR Tolkien's The Return of the King. It's dramatically satisfying, spectacular and terrifically exciting, easily justifying the decision to split the last book into two.
Here is where the Harry Potter series gets its groove back, with a final confrontation between Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and our young hero, and with the sensational revelation of Harry's destiny, which Dumbledore had been keeping secret from him. When stout-hearted young Neville Longbottom (a scene-stealer from Matthew Lewis) steps forward to denounce the dark lord in the final courtyard scene, I was on the edge of my seat. And when, in that final "coda", the middle-age Harry Potter gently hugs his little boy before sending him off for his first term at Hogwarts – well, what can I say? I think I must have had something in my eye.
The colossal achievement of this series really is something to wonder at. The Harry Potter movies showed us their characters growing older in real time: unlike Just William or Bart Simpson, Daniel Radcliffe's Harry was going to grow up like a normal person and never before has any film – or any book – brought home to me how terribly brief childhood is. The Potter movies weren't just an adaptation of a series of books, but a living, evolving collaborative phenomenon between page and screen. The first movie, Philosopher's Stone, came out in 2001, when JK Rowling was working on the fifth book, Order of the Phoenix, and when no one – perhaps not even the author herself – knew precisely how it was going to end. The movies developed just behind the books, and it's surely impossible to read them without being influenced by the films. This is most true for Robbie Coltrane's endlessly lovable, definitive performance as Hagrid.
In this final episode, Harry (Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) continue their battle to find and destroy the "horcruxes" that the sinister Voldemort needs so he can stay alive for all eternity: these are objects in which the fragments of souls are trapped and whose vital, spiritual force Voldemort, that hateful parasite, can siphon off for his own ends. Harry and his friends track down these horcruxes, but the last one is a puzzle. As the forces of good assemble at Hogwarts for the final showdown with Voldemort and his hordes, Harry knows only that the most vital horcrux is actually in the castle, very close at hand.
There are some superb set-piece scenes – and now the plot has so much more zing, these scenes have a power that comparable moments in earlier movies did not have. When Harry, Ron and Hermione insinuate themselves into Gringotts Bank to steal the sword of Gryffindor, the effect is bizarre, surreal and macabre: drawing on the influence of Lewis Carroll and Terry Gilliam. It is a great moment when Severus Snape, played with magnificently adenoidal disdain by Alan Rickman, is attacked by Voldemort's snake Nagini, and we witness this only from behind a frosted glass screen – a nice touch from director David Yates. London-dwelling Potter fans will, as before, be intrigued to see how the ornate St Pancras railway station is used to represent King's Cross, from where the Hogwarts train traditionally departs. Millions of tourists are undoubtedly convinced that this building is, in fact, King's Cross. It may be forced simply to change its name.
We get passionate, but somehow touchingly innocent screen kisses between Harry and Ginny (Bonnie Wright) and, of course, between Ron and Hermione. In the midst of the battle, Neville declares that he is going to find Luna (Evanna Lynch) for a snog: "I'm mad about her! About time I told her, since we're both probably going to be dead by dawn!" But these love stories are always subordinate to the all-important battle between good and evil.
The crucial moment of the film is where, I admit, I have a quibble: it is gripping and even moving when Harry realises what his destiny is, and sets out to fulfil it. Yet the exact rationale for his ultimate survival may be a little obscure, and perhaps even Potter-diehards may suspect that in the film there is a touch of having your cake and eating it. Well, no matter. This is such an entertaining, beguiling, charming and exciting picture. It reminded me of the thrill I felt on seeing the very first one, 10 years ago. And Radcliffe's Harry Potter has emerged as a complex, confident, vulnerable, courageous character – most likable, sadly, at the point where we must leave him for ever. Wait. I've got that darn thing in my eye again...
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
The colossal achievement of this series really is something to wonder at. The Harry Potter movies showed us their characters growing older in real time: unlike Just William or Bart Simpson, Daniel Radcliffe's Harry was going to grow up like a normal person and never before has any film – or any book – brought home to me how terribly brief childhood is. The Potter movies weren't just an adaptation of a series of books, but a living, evolving collaborative phenomenon between page and screen. The first movie, Philosopher's Stone, came out in 2001, when JK Rowling was working on the fifth book, Order of the Phoenix, and when no one – perhaps not even the author herself – knew precisely how it was going to end. The movies developed just behind the books, and it's surely impossible to read them without being influenced by the films. This is most true for Robbie Coltrane's endlessly lovable, definitive performance as Hagrid.
In this final episode, Harry (Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) continue their battle to find and destroy the "horcruxes" that the sinister Voldemort needs so he can stay alive for all eternity: these are objects in which the fragments of souls are trapped and whose vital, spiritual force Voldemort, that hateful parasite, can siphon off for his own ends. Harry and his friends track down these horcruxes, but the last one is a puzzle. As the forces of good assemble at Hogwarts for the final showdown with Voldemort and his hordes, Harry knows only that the most vital horcrux is actually in the castle, very close at hand.
There are some superb set-piece scenes – and now the plot has so much more zing, these scenes have a power that comparable moments in earlier movies did not have. When Harry, Ron and Hermione insinuate themselves into Gringotts Bank to steal the sword of Gryffindor, the effect is bizarre, surreal and macabre: drawing on the influence of Lewis Carroll and Terry Gilliam. It is a great moment when Severus Snape, played with magnificently adenoidal disdain by Alan Rickman, is attacked by Voldemort's snake Nagini, and we witness this only from behind a frosted glass screen – a nice touch from director David Yates. London-dwelling Potter fans will, as before, be intrigued to see how the ornate St Pancras railway station is used to represent King's Cross, from where the Hogwarts train traditionally departs. Millions of tourists are undoubtedly convinced that this building is, in fact, King's Cross. It may be forced simply to change its name.
We get passionate, but somehow touchingly innocent screen kisses between Harry and Ginny (Bonnie Wright) and, of course, between Ron and Hermione. In the midst of the battle, Neville declares that he is going to find Luna (Evanna Lynch) for a snog: "I'm mad about her! About time I told her, since we're both probably going to be dead by dawn!" But these love stories are always subordinate to the all-important battle between good and evil.
The crucial moment of the film is where, I admit, I have a quibble: it is gripping and even moving when Harry realises what his destiny is, and sets out to fulfil it. Yet the exact rationale for his ultimate survival may be a little obscure, and perhaps even Potter-diehards may suspect that in the film there is a touch of having your cake and eating it. Well, no matter. This is such an entertaining, beguiling, charming and exciting picture. It reminded me of the thrill I felt on seeing the very first one, 10 years ago. And Radcliffe's Harry Potter has emerged as a complex, confident, vulnerable, courageous character – most likable, sadly, at the point where we must leave him for ever. Wait. I've got that darn thing in my eye again...
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
*************************************
ANECDOTE
Purpose: to share with others an account of an unusual or amusing incident
Generic Structure:
1. Abstract
2. Orientation
3. Crisis
4. Reaction
5. Coda.
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using exclamations, rhetorical question or intensifiers
2. Using material process
3. Using temporal conjunctions
Purpose: to share with others an account of an unusual or amusing incident
Generic Structure:
1. Abstract
2. Orientation
3. Crisis
4. Reaction
5. Coda.
Dominant Language Features:
1. Using exclamations, rhetorical question or intensifiers
2. Using material process
3. Using temporal conjunctions
How we judge stories
Posted by Shawn Callahan - 1/11/11
Filed in Anecdotes, Business storytelling.
Filed in Anecdotes, Business storytelling.
I found myself watching parliamentary question time today on TV (OK, I was tired. I did yoga for the first time last night). There were lots of questions about when exactly did the leaders of the government and the opposition knows about Qantas CEO's, Alan Joyce, decision to ground his airline. It was a heated debate. (BTW, why can't anyone speak normally in parliament? Everything is said in staccato, like a basketball coach shouting instructions to his team mid-game). Anyway, Anthony Albanese, the transport minister, steps up to the dispatch box and tells a story about how he was at Sydney airport after the planes were grounded and how he met a distressed American couple who were unable to get home. Now, we'll have to check Hansard tomorrow morning for the exact wording but Mr. Albanese went on to say, "the woman was 43 weeks pregnant and needed to get home."
Sheenagh and I looked at each other and said, "43 weeks pregnant! What is she doing flying at 43 weeks? How is she 43 weeks pregnant? Maybe she's an elephant (OK that was too harsh)." Gales of laughter float around our house. I note on the Qantas website this policy about flights over 4 hours, "For routine pregnancies, you can travel up to the end of the 36th week for single pregnancies and the end of the 32nd week for multiple pregnancies (e.g. twins)."
Mr. Albanese's story failed the plausibility test.
Whenever we listen to a story we instinctively match the experience we're hearing with our own experience and if there's a significant mismatch the story's, and the storyteller's, credibility crumbles, no matter how true the event.
The plausibility test occurs as the story unfolds but we have another test we unconsciously make before the story hardly gets started: the relevance test.
Especially in business settings where everyone is pressed for time (That's what people say. I'm not convinced), if we know a story is about to be told we want to know there's a good chance it'll be relevant. To help the listener judge the potential relevance of a story we often pretend a short statement suggesting, or simply stating, the point of the story.
"The Qantas grounding was causing incredible distress for people. It was a good thing the government stepped in. I was in Sydney airport on Sunday ... [the pregnant woman story]"
Sometime it just takes a slight slip up in facts to lose credibility with a story ... [The Anthony Albenese story of the 43-week pregnant woman]
With these two tests in mind business storytellers should be thinking of ways of conveying the relevance of their stories so they're afforded the air-time to recount their experiences.
They also should be thinking how to increase the plausibility of their story. Facts matter. Details matter. Names of people and places help. But most importantly will your audience believe what you're saying. The best advice comes from the master screenwriter and director Quentin Tarantino in this scene from Reservoir Dogs, lovingly called The Commode Story. Be warned: do not click on this link if you are offended by intense cursing or your workmates in the adjoining cubicles might be offended. The Commode Story.
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