Watching television is one of the activities I like to do in my spare time.

I
enjoy watching cartoons on Saturday morning and sport programs on Sunday
afternoon. I have a lot of homeworks, I try to arrange my schedule so that I can
watch at least one of my favorite shows. I also watch television during the week
after I have finished all my school work. At night, I especially like to watch movies
and situation comedies. Watching TV is not the only activity that I do. One of my
other favorite activities is making paper flower.

THE NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH

Present Narration

There are several ways to organize sentence in paragraph. The

arrangement of sentences and details depends on the writer’s purpose. Suppose,
for example, that you were asked to write about a typical morning at school.
Obviously, you would not begin by telling what you do when you get home.
Instead, you would begin with what you do first and end with what you do at the
end of the morning. In short, you would arrange your ideas according to the time
in which they occurred. Likewise, if you were asked to explain a process (how to
do something), you would begin by explaining what to do first and finish by
explaining what to do lst. Ordering your sentences and ideas of time is referred to
as chronological development.

There are principally two types of writing the require chronological

development narration and process description. Although narration usually refers
to the telling of the story, the term is used here to describe the relating of an
experience. That experience may be in the past (past narration), or it may be a
typical experience (what people usually do), or it may be going on now (present
narration).
 Ordering your sentence and ideas chronologically is not hard, as you know.
However, deciding what to include and what to omit-in other words, Making your
paragraph unified-can be difficult. And what is perhaps more difficult is having a
controlling idea in your paragraph. Imagine that you received a letter from your
cousin back home. Your cousin is very curious about the various American
custom. If you lived in New Orleans, you might decide to write about the famous
Mardi Gras celebration. Your narration might begin like this:

For many, Mardi Gras day begins on St. Charles Avenue with the
Rex Parade. By 9 o ‘clock, the avenue is lined with people dressed in all
kinds of costumes. At around 10 o’clock, the parade begins. First there
is sound of sirens. The police on motorcycles always lead the parade to
clear the street. Then band usually marches by, At this time the people
start clapping and swaying to the music. Next come the masked men on
horse-back. Finally, the first float arrives carrying men in costumes and
masks. Immediately everyone rushes toward the float. They wave their
hands and yell “Throw me something, Mister!”. The men generally
throw beads and coins at the crowd. Then the float passes, but soon
another one comes and the people do the same thing over and over
again. After about an hour, the parade passes by and the first part of
Mardi Gras day ends.
The writer has narrowed down the topic to the Rex Parade on Mardi Gras
day. The sentences are arranged logically; the topic suggest chronological
development, and the sentences are arranged in chronological order. The
paragraph , the, is coherent. The paragraph also unified. But is the author’s
attitude about the event clear? Not really. The cousin back home would have a
difficult time determining the author’s attitude about this topic. Of course, the
writer does not have to tell what he/she feels about that experience, but a
controlling idea would help the reader get a clearer image of what that
experience is like. This paragraph can be improved by revising it to have a strong
controlling idea:
 When people here talk of Mardi Gras, the use the expression
“Mardi Gras Madness”. This delightful madness begins for many on St.
Charles Avenue with The Rex Parade. By 9 o’clock, the avenue is lined
with people of all ages in colorful costumes, from cavemen to
Supermen. They stroll among the crowd and chat with friends and
strangers alike. Some dance and some drink. At around 10 o’clock, the
excitement mounts as the parade begins. First there is the welcome
sound of sirens. The police on motorcycle always lead the parade to
make a path through the jubilant crowd. Then the band usually
marches by, playing a popular tune such as the theme from Star Was.
At this time, people start clapping and dancing to the music. Next come
masked men on horseback. They wave and the crowd waves back.
Finally some one usually shout, “There it is!”. It is the first float carrying
men in costumes and masks. Immediately everyone rushes toward the
float. They wave their hands and yell, “Throw me something, Mister!”.
The men throw beads and souvenir coins to the excited crowd. Usually
they catch the coins, but sometimes one hits the ground. Then several
people rush to retrieve it, pushing and shoving if necessary. Then the
float passes, but soon another one comes and the madness continues in
the same way. After about an hour, the parade passes by and the first
part of Mardi Gras end.
By adding a topic sentence with a strong controlling idea (”delightful madness”),
the writer clearly established his/her attitude about the parade. In addition, the
writer has changed some of the sentences and added some details to make sure
that the support shows the delightful madness at the Rex Parade.
Coherence
The sentences in both of the paragraph discussed are
arranged in chronological order. Each of these paragraphs is a
short narration. A narration, as previously mentioned, tells a story
or describes a sequence of events. It is important in narrative
writing to show the reader the tome relation between sentences
and ideas; clarifying the time relationship helps to achive
coherence.
Clarifying the time sequence:
By 9 o’ clock…..at around 10 o’clock……First…..Next……
Note that these adverbial expressions fall into two groups. The
first group consist of time expressions of more than one word. The
generally introduce a sentence and are followed by a comma.
Here are list of the most common ones:
by +time By 9 o’clock the avenue is lines
with people
By 7, I am already sit in my class
at +time At around 10 o’clock, the
excitement mount
At round 1 in the afternoon we have a
short break
after +time After 11 o’clock, the people go
home
After Dzuhur prayer I still have one class
to attend
before +time Everyone gets there before
9 o’clock
Before 6 I usually go home

FEELINGS

Delightful, Exhausted, Tired, Happy, Excited

Present narrative usually uses Present Tense, sometimes Present Progressive.

Every Monday I have Biology, Chemistry and Physics . In this semester I am taking
three major class which make me busy the whole week.

First First, there is the welcome sound of sirens

Next Next, the masked men arrive on horseback

Second Second, they wave and the crowd waves back

Then Then, the band usually marches by

Last Last, the bog floats come

Finally Finally, the parade is over

The typical Swazi housewife has a very busy morning. Every morning she
gets up at sunrise. -----, she generally puts her youngest child on her back and
fasten s him with a blanket,

----, she goes to the public faucet to get the water for the day. She fills up her
bucket, carefully balances it on her head, and hurries home. It usually takes her
about an hour to get the water. -----that, she immediately builds a fire and boils
some water in a large pot. She carefully adds meal to the boiling water to make
porridge. ----, the baby on her back begins to wake up and cry, so she feeds him.
By---, the rest of the household is usually stirring. The housewife always make
sure the older children are properly dressed in their school uniform. ----, she gives
them porridge and hot tea for breakfast. She must also make sure that her
husband has a good healthy breakfast before he leaves for work. By---- , she
leaves for the market to do the shopping. Again she takes her youngest child with
her on her back. At the market, she bargains with the merchants and usually buys
some beans, onions, and oranges, but she sometimes buy mangoes or bananas.
She almost always buy pumpkin or a squash. As she hurries home, she frequently
stops at the butcher’s to buy a piece of meat.

----, she continues home with her pumpkins on her head. She usually arrives home
at noon, just in time to begin preparing the evening meals.

At indicates a time of day:

Most Americans eat lunch at noon

My first class begins at 8 o’clock

In indicated a part of the day, year, or season:

I enjoy eating out in the evening

We get a week off from school in the spring

On indicates a day:

My brother was born on May 5, 1968

In USU there is usually no class on weekends

By indicates up to but no later than a point of time

I usually get up by 6.30

They always try to arrive home by noon

During indicates an amount of time (followed by a noun phrase)

I have class during the day

I sometimes fall asleep during the biology lecture

Until indicates time up to the point, but not limited to that point of time

I usually do not get home until midnight, rarely before and sometimes after

I will not go until you ask me to do so

Special Time Expressions: ON TIME and IN TIME

On time indicates the completion of an act at a designated time. It indicates the

correct or exact time. If class begins at 8 o’clock and you arrive at 8 o’clock, you
are on time. If you must turn in a paper on Friday and you hand it on Friday, you
have turned it on time.

We arrive at the concert on time

In time indicates the completion of an act during the length of time which has a
final limit. If class begins at 8 o’clock and you come anytime before 8 o’clock but
you are there at 8 o’clock, you are in time. In time is often followed by for and to

I arrive in time for the Biology class.

I arrive in time to watch the concert.

SINGLE-WORD ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY

Always

Frequently

Occasionally

Generally

Usually

Sometimes
Often

Rarely

Seldom

Never/Ever

THE DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH

Narrative paragraphs describe a sequence of events or tell a story; in other words,

narrative paragraph describe an experience. The logical arrangements of ideas
and sentence in a narrative paragraph is chronological- according to time order.
But what if you were asked to describe how something looks- a place, a thing?, or
a person? How should you arrange your ideas and sentences in the paragraph?
Obviously time order would not be logical. When you are describing the way
something looks-it’s physical description-it is not time, but the space is important.
Therefore you should arrange your sentence and details according to where the
objects being describe are located.

This type of organization is called spatial organization. In a descriptive paragraph,

you must make the location of the object being described very clear.

Description of a Place

In describing a room what should you describe first? The walls? The floor? Unlike
the chronologically developed paragraph, there is no set pattern for arranging
sentences n in a descriptive paragraph. It is not necessary to begin with one area
and then proceed to another area. Nevertheless, the sentence should not be
randomly arranged. The description must be organized so that the reader can
vividly imagine the scene being described. Imagine that you are describing a scene
for an artist to paint. Would you have the artist the ceiling white and the bed blue
and then go back and put posters on the wall before painting the wall? Of course
not! Those direction might irritate the artist. The same applies to describing for
the reader, for you are the describer with words, and your reader the painter who
mentally recreate what you are describing in the paragraph.

The arrangement of the details in a descriptive paragraph depends on the subject.

The selection and the description of details depends on the describer’s purpose.
Suppose that your cousins wrote and asked you to describe your room.
Remember that your cousin is very interested in what you think about your life in
the United States. You might write your description like this:

My dormitory room is on the second floor of Bienville Hall. It is small rectangular

room. With a white ceiling and green walls. As you enter the room straight a head
you will see two large windows with golden curtains. My bed which is covered
with a red gold bed spread, is under the windows. On your left against the wall
there is a large bookcase filled with books. Close to the door, a desk and a chair sit
next to the bookcase with a small woven wastepaper. There are several posters
on this wall. The one that over the bookcase shows an interesting scene from our
country. The one that is over the desk is of my favorite singer. To your right built
into the wall opposite the bookcase and desk, is a closet with sliding door. Behind
you on your right and somewhat behind the door, is a dresser with a mirror over
it.
Another description of a place

Our backyard is dominated by a huge old live oak tree. The base of the
trunk measures approximately ten feet round. The thick muscular trunk rises
solidly for about eight feet around. The thick muscular trunk rises solidly for about
eight feet and then separates into four main branches. From these, the lower
branches spread out horizontally over the ground, reaching into the neighbor
yards. The main branches continue to rise up and up, where they compete with
each other for air and sunlight. From this height, the neighbor cardinals and blue
jays sing to each other, keeping a sharp eye out for cats. As the bird sway in the
wind, they look as if they riding a ship across a gently swelling ocean. From this
heights, too, it is easy to see the variety of shrubs and sweet-smelling flowers
lining the two long sides of our rectangular yard, the small walkaway along the
back of the house, and the back fence that runs along the alley.

In college writing, it will occasionally be necessary to describe an animate

subject, such a person, animal, or insect . For example in biology class it might be
necessary to describe the Cro-magnon man or perhaps even a certain species of
butterfly. In a sociology class, it might be necessary to describe a typical “middle-
class” person. How would you describe a person? Depending on the subject or
assignment, you could describe the physical appearance, the behavior or both.

You can describe a person’s appearance in many ways. You can describe a
person clothes, manner of walking, color and style of hair, facial appearance,
body shape and expression.

Description of a Person

Marie has long black hair that falls down to her shoulders and surrounds
her diamond-shaped face, which usually suntanned. She has dark brown
eyebrows over her blue eyes, which are rather large. Her nose is straight, and on
the left side of the bottom of her nose, by her nostril, is a small mole. She has a
small mouth, with lips that are usually covered with light pink lipstick. Her teeth
are straight and white.

The using of adjectives to modify nouns and give more detailed description.

Vary the form of the sentences so to gain smooth description.