11/12
Creative Nonfiction
Quarter 1 – Module 3:
Analyzing Factual/
Nonfictional Elements
1
Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
English – Grade 11 / 12
English Learning Kit
Analyzing Factual/Nonfictional Elements
First Edition, 2020
Published in the Philippines
by the Department of Education
Schools Division of Iloilo
Luna Street, La Paz, Iloilo City
Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any
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the payment of royalties.
This English Learning Kit is published to be utilized by the Schools Division
of Iloilo.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this learning resource may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical
without written permission from the Schools Division of Iloilo.
Development Team of English Learning Kit
Writers:
Jomel B. Guintivano and Al Jeffrey L. Gonzales
Illustrators:
Armand Glenn S. Lapor, Mark T. Dasa, John Bermudo,
Joven Velasco
Layout Artists:
Armand Glenn S. Lapor, Ricky T. Salabe, Jun Victor F. Bactan,
Sanil John S. Perez
Division Quality Assurance Team:
Lilibeth Larupay, Armand Glenn S. Lapor,
Dr. Ruby Therese P. Almencion, Ricky T. Salabe,
Sanil John S. Perez, Jonalyn O. Gegato, Rita M. Bertomo
Management Team: Ma. Gemma M. Ledesma, Dr. Josilyn S. Solana,
Dr. Elena P. Gonzaga, Donald T. Genine, Dr. Paul Nestor M. Pingil,
Dr. Roel F. Bermejo, Dr. Nordy D. Siason, Jr.
Dr. Lilibeth T. Estoque, Dr. Azucena T. Falales, Ruben S. Libutaque,
Lilibeth E. Larupay, Dr. Ruby Therese P. Almencion
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
Introductory Message
Welcome to Grade 11/12 Creative Nonfiction.
The English Learning Kit is a product of the collaborative efforts of the Division
of Iloilo Secondary English Teachers Association (DISETA) and the Division English
Coordinators Association (DECA) writers, illustrators, layout artists, reviewers, editors,
and Quality Assurance Team from the Department of Education, Schools Division of
Iloilo. This is developed to guide you dear learning facilitators in helping our learners
meet the standards set by the K to 12 Curriculum.
The English Learning Kit aims to guide our learners in accomplishing activities
at their own pace and time. This also aims to assist learners in developing and
achieving the lifelong learning skills while considering their needs and situations.
For the learning facilitator:
The English Learning Kit is developed to address the current needs of the
learner to continue learning in the comforts of their homes or learning centers. As the
learning facilitator, make sure that you give them clear instructions on how to study
and accomplish the given activities in the material. Learner’s progress must be
monitored.
For the learner:
The English Learning Kit is developed to help you, dear learner, in your needs
to continue learning even if you are not in school. This learning material aims to
primarily provide you with meaningful and engaging activities for independent learning.
Being an active learner, carefully read and understand to follow the instructions given.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
BEGIN
At your age, you may have already
encountered hundreds of stories, both real and
imagined. Apart from the language arts textbooks
and the books from the libraries, one is now given
the privilege of access to countless stories through
a number of platforms. All thanks to technology and
the people behind them, one can now watch videos
on content communities, listen to podcasts, read ebooks and blogs, and access narratives from an
entire array of avenues.
However, reading is one skill but writing is
another. Since the very goal of this course is to
make a writer out of you, specifically of creative
nonfiction, it is necessary that the fundamentals of
this genre are laid and set for you to understand.
In this module, you will learn and understand
the foundational features and essential elements of
nonfiction as well as how they are used in the field
of storytelling.
TARGET
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
•
identify
factual/nonfictional
characterization, point
elements
such
as
plot,
characters,
of view, angle, setting and atmosphere,
symbols and symbolism, irony, figures of speech, dialogue, scene, other
elements, and devices; and
•
analyze factual/nonfictional elements in the given texts.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
TRY THIS
Although not so creatively written most of
the time, news articles are a work considered as
nonfiction. They are not so because they are meant
to be delivered in a matter-of-factly manner so as
not to take so much of one’s time reading or arouse
biases and prejudices among readers. Moreover,
the information contained in them has to be factual
and far from fabricated.
News stories are still stories however and
they have elements embedded in them that are
similar to the elements found in fiction.
Activity 1
NEWS STORY
Directions: For a clearer understanding, read the news story below, answer the
questions found on the next page. Write your answers on your creative
nonfiction notebook.
Fatalities in Serendra
blast laid to rest
Published June 10, 2013, 7:37 am
The three fatalities in the blast at the Two Serendra condominium in Taguig City last
May 31 were laid to rest in their home provinces over the weekend.
Relatives of the three are not keen on filing charges against the condo's management
as they cited potential high legal costs, radio dzBB reported early Monday.
Sallymar Natividad was buried at a memorial park in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan
province, the report said.
Natividad, the driver of the delivery van crushed by debris from the explosion, left
behind a pregnant widow and two children.
Another fatality, Marlon Bandiola, was buried in Carmona in Cavite province.
The third fatality, Jeffrey Umali, was buried in Nueva Ecija province, the report added.
Last May 31, a blast hit the Two Serendra condominium, causing tension in the area,
including shoppers at a nearby commercial area.
An investigation showed the blast stemmed from a gas explosion and not a bomb. —
KG, GMA News
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
A. MULTIPLE-CHOICE
Directions: Read and understand each of the questions carefully and write the letter
of your choice on your Creative Nonfiction notebook.
1. What is the news all about?
A. Serendra victims filing charges
B. Serendra victims kills several people
C. Serendra victims being laid to rest
D. Serendra victims assisted by company
2. Who among the following are the victims in the Serendra blast?
A. Jeffrey Umali
C. Sallymar Natividad
B. Marlon Bandiola
D. All of the above.
3. Which among the choices does not reflect information from the news?
A. Sallymar Natividad was buried in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
B. Victims of Serendra blast were killed in a suicide bombing incident.
C. Marlon Bandiola was buried in Carmona in Cavite province.
D. Victims of Serendra blast were killed in a bomb explosion.
4. What places were mentioned in the news?
A. Carmona, Cavite province
C. San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
B. Taguig City
D. All of the above.
5. Where is this article most likely to appear in?
A. fashion magazine
C. cookbook
B. newspaper
D. poem anthology
6. Which description is not fitting to describe how the article was written?
A. short and abrupt
C. detailed and elaborate
B. concise and factual
D. void of emotions
B. FREE RESPONSE
Directions: On your notebook, write in brief sentences your answers to the following
questions.
1. Recall your answer in item 5 in the previous activity. What factors help you
arrive with your answer? What form of writing can be usually found in these
sources?
2. Recall your answer in item 5 in the previous activity. What factors influenced
your answer? Why do you think the other choices are not the answer? Would
you have written it another way? Explain your answer.
3. What were your thoughts and feelings while reading the news? What did you
think of these fatalities and their families?
4. If you were to write the material instead in a different form, what changes would
you make or what details would you incorporate?
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
RECALL
Before you take on bigger challenges, it is always
worth remembering your takeaways from your previous
journeys. These are the weapons that we equip ourselves
to ensure victory whether in learning or in life. So, let’s put
your prior knowledge to a test.
Activity 2
LABYRINTH OF ELEMENTS
Directions: Like Theseus race your way out of this labyrinth by passing through the
element that correctly corresponds to the clues provided. Write your
answers in your Creative Nonfiction notebook.
Ariadne’s Thread of Clues
1. This is the general term for the conversation between two or more people as a feature
of a story.
2. This is the description of the distinctive nature or features of someone or something.
3. This refers to the surroundings and time in which the events of a story take place.
4. The main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by
the writer as an interrelated sequence.
5. It is a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object
representing something abstract.
6. This is the term that refers to the people involved in a story.
7. This refers to the place where an incident in real life or fiction occurs or occurred.
8. This is a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect.
9. This is what you call the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or work of art.
10. This is the lens through which the writer filters the information he or she has gathered
and focuses it to make it meaningful to viewers or readers.
11. This is the narrator's position concerning a story being told.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
DO THIS
Activity 3
READING CREATIVE NONFICTION
Directions: The text below exemplifies literary journalism which is one of the most
definitive examples of creative nonfiction. It contains the elements
necessary to literary fiction but retains the journalistic foundation of news.
Read the text carefully answer the activities in you Creative Nonfiction
notebook.
The Coffin in the Living Room
Patricia Evangelista
June 13, 2013
BULACAN, Philippines - The coffin is in
the living room. The room is small,
eleven feet by six, just deep enough for
the coffin to stand flush against the wall,
and wide enough to crowd half a dozen
mourners and one sleeping cat.
cardboard, cuts the tag off the crisp
white T-shirt with a knife from the
kitchen. The red shirt comes off, the
new shirt is pulled on.
Lilibeth runs a hand over her Hope’s
rumpled hair. She says she must smile
and keep calm, because she is
pregnant, and the baby is due in two
months.
The widow comes in from the outhouse
bathroom. Her name is Lilibeth. Her hair
is wet, there is a towel over her
shoulder. She smiles at the visitors, and
says she is looking for Hope.
Sallymar is dead, and he is leaving
home for the last time.
***
Sallymar’s brother Bong is standing
alone on the road, past the yard, under
the tent sent by the local congressman.
He is 34 years old, a skinny man in a
white and green Rough Rider polo.
There was a phone call, he says,
Abenson’s was on the line, saying there
had been an accident.
The priest reads from the Bible. Holy
water is shaken over the body of
Sallymar Natividad. The air smells of
sweat and smoke and chicken boiling in
vinegar.
Hope is outside, crouched on the street
with four other boys, staring intently at
the spider crawling over the tip of his
finger. Someone calls out his name. He
runs into the house, slips past the
crowd and their paper plates of rice and
chicken.
He didn’t know his brother was dead
until four in the morning of the next day,
June 1.
His mother is sitting beside the coffin.
There is a package on her lap. She rips
away the cellophane, shakes off the
Sallymar Natividad died at 8:10 in the
evening of May 31, exactly two weeks
ago, died because the outer wall of Unit
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
501 of Serendra 2 Building B went flying
outward just when Sallymar was driving
down 22nd Avenue in an Abenson’s
van.
Imelda says they always talked about
their mother. He wanted her treated
well. Their mother was not in her right
mind, says Imelda, not since she fell
and hit her head the year before. Now
she sits and laughs softly. Sallymar’s
mother Ursulita does not remember
very much. Her daughter says she has
the mind of a young child. Ursulita asks
about Sallymar, but she does not
understand the answer.
Bong does not remember the last thing
his brother told him, even if he
remembers when they last spoke. It
was May 1, a full month ago.
“Now
we’ll
conversation.”
never
finish
that
Ursulita Natividad does not know her
son is dead. She sees the coffin of her
firstborn son, and thinks it is her
brother, or father, or cousin. Her
children tell her he is dead, sometimes
they think she understands. They tell
her about the explosion. She would
nod, but she is not very interested.
Sometimes she cries. They are not sure
why.
***
The living room empties, to let in the
pallbearers. The door is too narrow for
the coffin. Someone looks for a
hammer.
Lilibeth watches through the window as
a neighbor in a baseball cap pounds
away at the already broken concrete
frame. An inch, two inches, three, the
chunks flying out to land on the mud
outside. Now the lid is closed, now the
coffin is lifted, now it is angled, pushed,
reversed.
On the day he is buried, his wife Lilibeth
finally weeps. They are not the quiet
tears that the video cameras aired on
national television, but wracking,
painful sobs that erupt while she hangs
on to his coffin. Her neighbors tell her to
step away. They tell her not to let her
tears fall on the coffin. They say it is bad
luck.
Imelda is 37, the second in the family.
She and Sallymar are close, she says.
He sent her money, even when she had
a husband of her own. She says he
would cook on his days off, the same
way he did when they were growing up.
On June 1, at six in the morning, she
got a call from her younger brother
Bong. He said Sallymar was dead. He
said he was in the funeral parlor, in
Pasay. She didn’t believe him, until a
cousin bought a newspaper at 9 in the
morning and she saw a picture of the
crushed truck her brother used to drive.
Imelda stands before her brother. She
says she will not let him down. She
promises they will take care of their
mother, all of them who are left behind.
She thanks him, thanks him again and
again.
He wanted his children to graduate, she
says. He wanted to finish building his
house. He painted it himself, the week
before he died.
Ursulita stands before the coffin. She
rubs at the tears on the glass lid. She
does not cry. She tilts her head, looks
at her dead firstborn. She says his
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
name. She rubs at the coffin a long
time.
Lilibeth only pretends to be fine. She
will go back to school, because there is
nothing better to do. She says Hope still
does not understand, but she will be
there when he does.
The mourners walk to the waiting jeeps.
Hope is watching his 14-year-old sister
Ivy, who stays standing by her father’s
grave. She leaves only when the
gravediggers have filled the gaping
hole.
Lilibeth says she has no plans. She will
clean the house her husband painted,
and wait for what comes next. It is
Father’s Day today, and Sallymar is
dead. - Rappler
Later she sits on the grass. She says
she misses her father. She says she
worries about her mother, she says
Activity 4
PIECE BY PIECE
Directions: Read each of the directions and questions carefully. Supply what is being
asked in each of the items to get a better understanding of the elements
of a narrative.
1. In which places does the story happen? What events transpire in these places?
How are these places described in the text? What feelings did you feel as the
author tells these events?
Places
Events
Description
Feelings
1.
2.
2. Who are the people involved in the story? How does the author describe each
of them? What do you think of them or how do you feel towards them?
People
Description
Your Thoughts/Feelings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
3. Who do you think is telling the story? Whose perspective is the story told from?
Is she witnessing all these events? Is the storytelling limited from the
perspective of one person?
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
4. The ‘coffin’ is a mental image repetitively used in the story. The word however
operates differently depending on the character in focus. Write down what the
‘coffin’ represents for each of the characters. Provide a brief explanation after.
Representation
Characters
Explanation
1. Hope
2. Lilibeth
3. Bong
4. Ursulita
5. The title of the story you have read is creatively made. Explain what you think
is the meaning behind the title.
The Coffin in the Living Room
6. The news article, Fatalities in Serendra blast laid to rest and the news story,
The Coffin in the living room share many similarities but are written in
completely different forms. Using a Venn diagram, compare and contrast the
two in terms of its content, language, style, form, etc.
The Coffin in the living
room
Fatalities in Serendra
blast laid to rest
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
EXPLORE
Excellent job! Now that you have
survived several preliminary tasks, it is now high
time for you to take on bigger challenges to fully
develop your writing potential.
Activity 5
GIST OF THE STORY
Directions: Using your own words, retell in five events Patricia Evangelista’s The
Coffin in the Living Room. Use the guide questions to pick out which
events will glean the gist of the story.
Event
Question
Response
1
How does the story begin?
2
What crisis do the people in
the story face?
3
How do the characters deal
with problems at hand?
4
What happens to the
characters after dealing with
the crisis?
5
How does the story end?
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
KEEP THIS IN MIND
Good job! Now that you were able to
successfully answer the previous activities.
You are now very much ready to learn the
elements of a narrative.
In this part of the lesson, you will identify the fundamental elements
found in a narrative, nonfiction and otherwise. As the concepts are defined
and explicated, you will have to recall the story you have just read as well as
your answers in the previous activities as they will guide you in identifying the
specific elements.
There is a thin line that differentiates fiction from nonfiction. That thin line is
called FACTS. Works of nonfiction are factual accounts and encounters that have truly
transpired somewhere at some time. Autobiographies and memoirs are two of the
many examples there are. Meanwhile, fiction is a literary genre that features a
narrative that is not real or has not happened. These works may be purely imaginary
but they may draw inspiration from real events. Novels and short stories are
categorized under this literary genre.
Despite the difference however, fiction and nonfiction are literary genres whose
primary goal is to tell a story whether real or imagined, factual or fictional. Therefore,
creative nonfiction will have to contain all the essential elements of a short story so the
message it wants to communicate can get across to its audience.
RECOGNIZING ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
Element:
Setting
Definition:
It is the surroundings and time in which events of a story take place.
Settings can include the era or period, date and time of the day,
geographical location, weather and natural surroundings, immediate
surroundings of a character, and social conditions.
Example:
Living Room, Wake, Pre-funeral, Funeral
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
Element:
Definition:
Characters
These are the individuals in the story. Characterization is the process
by which the writer reveals the personality of a character in many ways
such as speech, thoughts, the effect on others, actions, and looks.
Examples:
Lilibeth, Hope, Sallymar, Bong, Ursulita, etc.
Element:
Definition:
Dialogue
These are the utterances that the characters say to each other.
Examples:
“Now we’ll never finish that conversation.”
Element:
Definition:
Question:
Element:
Atmosphere
Also known as mood, it is the dominant emotion/feeling that pervades
a story. It is less physical and more symbolic, associative, and
suggestive than the setting, but often akin to the setting. Every story
has some kind of atmosphere, but in some, it may be the most
important feature or, at least, a key to the main points of the story
Atmosphere is created by descriptive details, dialogue, narrative
language, and such.
Grieving, sorrowful, full of despair and suffering can be the
possible atmosphere exuded by the narrative.
Point of View
In a narrative, the point of view is the perspective from which a story is
told. There are three common types of point of view:
1. The first person point of view is used when the narrator of the story is
also a character in the story and tells it from her point of view. The pronoun
“we” or “I” is frequently used here.
Definition:
2. The second person point of view tells a story as if the story is happening
to the reader himself. The pronoun “you” or “yours” is commonly used.
3. The third-person point of view tells the story from an outsider’s
perspective. He or she is not a character in the story and refers to the
characters using the pronoun “he”, “she”, or “they”.
Examples:
The point of view used is the third-person point of view. It is told
by an omniscient narrator and she can access the events that
have transpired even before the present event. The storytelling is
not limited to the perspective of one person as she can tell the
accounts of the different people.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
Element:
Plot
The plot is a series of events and scenes that occur in a story. The
structure of the plot is the method or sequence in which incidents in a
narrative are organized/presented to the audience/readers. Almost all
plots follow the basic sequence such as reflected in the Freytag’s
Pyramid below.
Definition:
Example:
The following events form the plot of The Coffin in the Living Room.
Exposition:
The people in the life of Sallymar are introduced and shows how they
are coping with his death.
Rising
Action:
They are faced with the predicament of having to deal with the death
of someone very important in their lives.
Climax:
They go to the funeral and struggle to let go of Sallymar.
Falling
Action:
The funeral is over and they wonder what they will now do with
Sallymar gone from their lives.
Resolution:
His children will for the first time in their lives celebrate father’s day
without a father.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
Element:
Definition:
Question:
Symbols and Symbolism
Symbols are concrete objects/images that stand for abstract
subjects. The objects and images have meanings of their own but
can be ascribed subjective connotations such as heart = love, skull &
crossbones = poison, color green = envy; light bulb = idea.
One symbol that can be found in the story is the coffin.
The coffin can be a symbol of death, sorrow, misery, etc.
As writers of fiction do, writers of creative nonfiction also employ figurative
language when they write. One of the most common ways to incorporate figurative
language in writing is to use figures of speech.
A figure of speech is a language that is not literal, straightforward, or factual. It
is the opposite of literal language which states facts, and nothing but facts.
Below are the most common examples of figures of speech:
FIGURES OF SPEECH
1. Simile is a figure of speech which involves a direct comparison between two
unlike things, usually using the words “like” or “as”.
Ex. Far in the distance, I saw the river gleamed as a flashing sword of silver.
The little stars, like little children, went first to bed.
2. Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things WITHOUT
using the words like or as and states the comparison as if it were a fact.
Ex. Hearty and hale was he, an oak that was covered in snowflakes.
Our friendship is a tree with deep roots.
3. Personification is a figure of speech that appropriates human attributes and
qualities to an animal, an object, or an idea.
Ex. The stars were asleep.
Her heart was foolish.
4. Hyperbole is an outrageous exaggeration that emphasizes a point and can be
ridiculous or funny.
Ex. The tumult reached the stars.
I had a dream so big and loud, I jumped so high I touched the clouds.
5. Irony is a figure of speech in which one thing is said when the opposite is
meant.
Ex. It was expected of a genius to get zero in a test.
You’d actually be stunning if you wore rags to the prom.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
6. Allusion is a reference in a work of literature to another work of literature or a
well-known person, place, or event outside of literature. There are several types
of allusion including literary, biblical, historical, and cultural.
Ex. He has the patience of Job.
I was meant to be a warrior, please make me a Hercules.
7. Apostrophe is the act of addressing of usually absent people or a usually
personified thing rhetorically.
Ex. Not yet Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace
Jesus, take the wheel!
8. Oxymoron is a phrase containing a juxtaposition of two contradictory terms.
Ex. All my fragile strength is gone.
In her solitude, she listened to the deafening silence.
9. Paradox is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly, but which
may include a latent truth.
Ex. A million dreams are keeping me awake.
Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.
10. Metonymy is the use of a word or a term to refer to or stand for another object
or idea.
Ex. You know pink is this year’s black! (Black stands for the new fashion trend.)
“Let me give you a hand.” (Hand means help.)
11. Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers
to the whole of something or vice versa.
Ex. Door clicks while his wheels start spinning on the pavement.
(Wheels are a part of a car. In the sentence, wheels stand for car.)
12. Litotes is when an affirmative is conveyed by the negation of the opposite, the
effect is to suggest a strong expression employing a weaker one.
Ex. They are not unhappy with the presentation.
This is not your ordinary, no ordinary love.
13. Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for
one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.
Ex. After a decade long battle with the disease, he now finally has met
his maker. (To meet someone’s maker means to die.)
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
Activity 6
GO FIGURE!
Directions: Identify the figures of speech present in each of the sentences below.
Write your answers in your creative nonfiction notebooks.
__________ 1. The ship is like a plough, plowing the sea.
__________ 2. I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
__________ 3. For forty-three times, a white president ruled the United States.
__________ 4. The old teacher has the temper of Zeus.
__________ 5. O Death! Where is thy sting?
__________ 6. Fifty sails entered the harbor.
__________ 7. “I can resist anything but temptation.”
__________ 8. Poignant memories are bittersweet.
__________ 9. What a brilliant remark that was. It made no sense.
__________ 10. Teresa Magbanua was branded as the Visayan Joan of Arc.
Directions: Choose from the options the meaning of the sentences below.
Write the letter of your answer in your creative nonfiction notebooks.
11. “Wherever I walk, my shadow is a marriage of flags.”
A. I am a product of many cultures.
B. My shadow is covered with flags.
C. I am a shadow of flags.
12. “Before the sun rises, you see the glimmer of its rays.”
A. Dawn comes before sunrise.
B. Our future is foreshadowed by our present inclinations.
C. If you see a chance take it so that you will be successful.
13. “The silence is deafening.”
A. Silence can cause deafness.
B. The deaf can’t hear anything.
C. The silence is so deep that nothing can be heard.
14. “From the cradle to the grave is but a day.”
A. The baby died one day after it was born.
B. The distance between the cradle to the grave is only one day’s walk.
C. Life is short.
15. “Dmitri is an ox of a man.”
A. Dmitri looks like an ox.
B. Dmitri is strong and hardworking.
C. Dmitri is half-ox and half-man.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
SUM UP
You are almost done with this chapter. At this point,
let’s recap the salient point to make sure you take with you
the essential lessons when you finally write your own piece
of creative nonfiction.
Analyzing Factual/Nonfictional Elements
When one gets acquainted with creative nonfiction, it won’t particularly take a
genius to decipher what it means. From the two words its name is made of, creative
nonfiction is literally the telling of factual information in an artistic fashion. Some of the
more common examples of this literary genre include biographies, autobiographies,
personal essays, memoirs, etc. When one writes these, they don’t necessarily have to
be written in a tedious and lackluster manner. After all, real-life can be stranger than
fiction.
So, how does one tell a factual story creatively?
Before doing so, one has to be aware of the literary elements that make fiction
storytelling worth reading and take note of these elements. As soon as one realizes
that the elements in fictional literature are not so far or so different from the events in
real life, one will find it easy to navigate his way through the process of composing
creative nonfiction.
The following are the elements:
1. Setting
- The surroundings and time in which events of a story take
place. Settings can include the era or period, date and
time of the day, geographical location, weather and
natural surroundings, immediate surroundings of a
character, and social conditions
2. Characters
- These are the individuals in the story.
3. Dialogue
- These are the utterances that the characters say to each
other.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
4. Atmosphere
- Also known as mood. It is the dominant emotion/feeling
that pervades a story. It is less physical and more
symbolic, associative, and suggestive than the setting, but
often akin to the setting.
5. Point of View
- In a narrative, the point of view is the perspective from
which a story is told.
6. Plot
- It is a series of events and scenes that occur in a story.
The structure of the plot is the method or sequence in
which incidents in a narrative are organized/presented to
the audience/readers.
Normally, these are the parts of a plot:





7. Symbols
Exposition - The author sets the scene and explains
what’s going on.
Rising Action - This is a series of crises and conflict
that lead to the climax.
Climax - The most exciting moment of the story when
both people and events change.
Falling Action - These are the events that follow the
climax.
Resolution - This is the conclusion, in which all the
tensions of the plot are resolved.
- These are concrete objects/images that stand for abstract
subjects
These elements are essential to every story. However, what puts color and
breathes life to any literary work is the incorporation of figurative language. Figurative
language is a language deviating from the conventional order and meaning to
communicate a complicated meaning, colorful writing, clarity, or evocative
comparison. The use of figurative language appeals to the sensation and imagination
of the readers and create a meaningful experience for them.
Figures of speech are very much an example of figurative language. There are
many classifications of figures of speech including but not limited to simile, metaphor,
personification, hyperbole, irony, allusion, apostrophe, oxymoron, paradox, metonymy
synecdoche, litotes, euphemism, and etc.
20
Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
Activity 7
ANALYZING FOR UNDERSTANDING
Directions: Read Patricia Evangelista’s The Coffin in the Living Room once
more. Scrutinize the details of the story with your newly acquired
learning to achieve a deeper understanding of the text. The following
are questions that you need to answer to completely analyze the
material at hand. Answer each set of questions individually in the
boxes provided below. Come up with a critique of the text afterward.
Write your answers on your activity notebook.
1. How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin? Where does it
go next? How does it end? What is the work's plot? How is its plot related to
its structure?
2. What is the relationship between each part of the work to the work as a
whole? How are the parts related to one another?
3. Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the narrator,
speaker, or character revealed to readers? How do we come to know and
understand this figure?
4. Who are the major and minor characters, what do they represent, and how
do they relate to one another?
5. What are the time and place of the work—its setting? How is the setting
related to what we know of the characters and their actions? To what extent
is the setting symbolic?
6. What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate, explain, or
otherwise create the world of the literary work? More specifically, what
images, similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the work? What is their
function? What meanings do they convey?
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
REFLECT
REFLECT
Well done! You have shown great
improvement after accomplishing all the
tasks in each lesson. This time you will
reflect on what you have learned.
Activity 8
JOURNAL WRITING
Directions: One exercise to improve one’s writing ability is through journal
writing. Journal writing allows you to jot down your thoughts with
honesty and carefreeness. Your journey through this chapter has been
loaded with so much learning and information. Write your thoughts
away about this experience. Write what you find the easiest and the
most difficult to understand as well as how this new learning will impact
your life.
The lesson I find the easiest is/are
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
The lesson I find the most difficult is/are
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
LEARN MORE
Activity 9
DOWN MEMORY LANE
Directions: Recall a particular experience in your life that you clearly remember the
details of. Think of this memory as the springboard for the first creative
nonfiction piece you will be writing. List the elements of a narrative that
corresponds to this particular experience in the table. Write your answers
in your Creative Nonfiction notebook.
Element
Response
1. Setting
2. Characters
3. Atmosphere
4. Point of View
5. Plot
A. Exposition
B. Rising Action
C. Climax
D. Falling Action
E. Resolution
6. Symbols
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
Directions: Read and understand each of the questions and excerpts below.
Write your answers on your creative nonfiction notebook.
1. “Bombs fall from the sky. Blood spatters like rain. A small boy is killed with a
bullet in his head. His name was Eithan Ando, and this is his story.”
-
Blood from the Sky, Patricia Evangelista
What atmosphere is being exuded by the excerpt?
A. joy and happiness
B. fear and terror
C. sadness and gloom
D. mystery and mysticism
2. “In the beginning, on the first day, he promised a new earth.
He said the fishes will feed fat on the corpses of criminals. He said morticians
will grow rich with the deluge of dead. He said the police will be protected from
punishment, and his chief of police suggested the burning of houses. He said
to kill the addicts; it will be a kindness to their parents.
And he said, Let there be blood, and there was blood.”
- Impunity: In the Name of the Father, Patricia Evangelista
What figure of speech is employed by the author?
A. apostrophe
B. metonymy
C. synecdoche
D. allusion
3. “His two wives are as different as fire and water. The first is some twelve
younger than he – very girlish, pretty, fair-skinned, dainty of build, and
passionate of temper. The second is the same age as he – a larger, darker,
cooler-looking, young woman of great poise.”
- The Mystery of the Murdered Bigamist, Quijano de Manila
What figure of speech is most likely employed by the author in the
excerpt?
A. simile
B. metaphor
C. personification
D. paradox
4. “His wives say he was good-looking; but his brothers and male friends say that
Tony was tallish, had a tan complexion and a nice grin, and looked younger
than he was, but was not really handsome. His was not a virile physique either.
- The Mystery of the Murdered Bigamist, Quijano de Manila
What way of characterization is employed?
A. looks
B. looks
C. thoughts
D. actions
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
5. “In Camp Batalla, Jeorge is excited, happy. He sees his wife, across the room,
answering questions from investigators. He mouths the word. “Eithan?”
She shakes her head. “Gone.”
“Gone?”
“He’s gone.”
- Blood from the Sky, Patricia Evangelista
What element is employed by the author to depict the realistic events that
transpired?
A. figure of speech
B. setting
C. plot
D. dialogue
6. “Bombs fall from the sky. Blood spatters like rain. A small boy is killed with a
bullet in his head. His name was Eithan Ando, and this is his story.”
-
Blood from the Sky, Patricia Evangelista
What atmosphere is being exuded by the excerpt?
A. joy and happiness
C. sadness and gloom
B. fear and terror
D. mystery and mysticism
7. “In the beginning, on the first day, he promised a new earth.
He said the fishes will feed fat on the corpses of criminals. He said morticians
will grow rich with the deluge of dead. He said the police will be protected from
punishment, and his chief of police suggested the burning of houses. He said
to kill the addicts; it will be a kindness to their parents.
And he said, let there be blood, and there was blood.”
- Impunity: In the Name of the Father, Patricia Evangelista
What figure of speech is employed by the author?
A. apostrophe
B. metonymy
C. synecdoche
D. allusion
8. “His two wives are as different as fire and water. The first is some twelve
younger than he – very girlish, pretty, fair-skinned, dainty of build, and
passionate of temper. The second is the same age as he – a larger, darker,
cooler-looking, young woman of great poise.”
- The Mystery of the Murdered Bigamist, Quijano de Manila
What figure of speech is most likely employed by the author in the
excerpt?
A. simile
B. metaphor
C. personification
D. paradox
25
Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
9. “His wives say he was good-looking; but his brothers and male friends say that
Tony was tallish, had a tan complexion and a nice grin, and looked younger
than he was, but was not really handsome. His was not a virile physique either.
- The Mystery of the Murdered Bigamist, Quijano de Manila
What way of characterization is employed?
A. looks
B. spoken
C. thoughts
D. actions
10. “In Camp Batalla, Jeorge is excited, happy. He sees his wife, across the room,
answering questions from investigators. He mouths the word. “Eithan?”
She shakes her head. “Gone.”
“Gone?”
“He’s gone.”
- Blood from the Sky, Patricia Evangelista
What element is employed by the author to depict the realistic events that
transpired?
A. figure of speech
B. setting
C.
D.
26
Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
plot
dialogue
GLOSSARY
Figures of Speech
-
a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for
rhetorical or vivid effect.
Journalistic Texts
-
are texts that are intended to be published by
broadcast or news media, such as magazines
or newspapers, or on media websites.
Literary
Journalism
-
is a form of nonfiction that combines factual
reporting with narrative techniques and stylistic
strategies traditionally associated with fiction.
Literary Text
-
is a form of nonfiction that combines factual
reporting with narrative techniques and stylistic
strategies traditionally associated with fiction.
News Story
-
is a written article or interview that informs the
public about current events, concerns, or ideas
Nonfiction
-
is a prose literary genre whose contents are
fully based on fact.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
ANSWER KEY
TRY THIS: ACTIVITY 1 NEWS STORY
A. MULTIPLE- CHOICE
1. C
2. D
3. B
4. D
5. B
6. C
B.
7.
8.
9.
1O.
}
ANSWERS MAY VARY.
RECALL: ACTIVITY 2 LABYRINTH OF ELEMENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
dialogue
characterization
setting
plot
symbols
characters
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
scene
figures of speech
atmosphere
angle
point of view
DO THIS: ACTIVITY 4 PIECE BY PIECE
1. In which places does the story happen? What events transpire in these
places? How are these places described in the text? What feelings did you
feel as the author tells these events?
Places
Living
Room
Cemetery
(Possibly)
Events
PreFuneral
Funeral
Description
The room is small,
eleven feet by six, just
deep enough for the
coffin to stand flush
against the wall, and
wide enough to crowd
half a dozen mourners
and one sleeping cat.
Everybody in the family
was crying over the
coffin of their dead loved
one.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
Feelings
Answers may
vary.
Answers may
vary.
2. Who are the people involved in the story? How does the author describe
each of them? What do you think of them or how do you feel towards them?
People
Description
Your Thoughts/Feelings
1.
Lilibeth
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
2.
Hope
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
3.
Sallymar
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
4.
5.
Bong
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
6.
Ursulita
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
3. Who do you think is telling the story? Whose perspective is the story told from?
Is she witnessing all these events? Is the storytelling limited from the
perspective of one person?
Possible Answer:
A narrator is telling the story. She is an omniscient narrators as she
is able to access the events that have transpired even before the present
event. The storytelling is not limited to the perspective of one person as she
is able to tell the accounts of the different people.
4. The ‘coffin’ is a mental image repetitively used in the story. The word however
operates differently depending on the character in focus. Write down what the
‘coffin’ represents for each of the characters. Provide a brief explanation after.
Characters
Representation
Explanation
1. Hope
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
2. Lilibeth
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
3. Bong
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
4. Ursulita
Answers may vary.
Answers may vary.
5. The title of the story you have read is creatively made. Explain what you think
is the meaning behind the title.
The coffin in the living room
Answers may vary.
29
Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
6. The news article, Fatalities in Serendra blast laid to rest and the news story,
The Coffin in the living room share many similarities but are written in
completely different forms. Using a Venn diagram, compare and contrast the
two in terms of its content, language, style, form, etc.
Fatalities in Serendra blast laid to rest
Matter of Factly,
Journalistic, Void of
Emotions,
Nondescript, Literal
Language etc.
The Coffin in the living room
Same
Characters,
Same
Information
Literary, Figurative
Language, Lengthy,
etc.
EXPLORE: ACTIVITY 5. GIST OF THE STORY
Event
Question
1
How does the story begin?
The people in the life of Sallymar are
introduced and shows how they are
coping with his death.
2
What crisis do the people in
the story face?
They are faced with the predicament of
having to deal with the death of
someone very important in their lives.
3
How do the characters deal
with problems at hand?
They go to the funeral and struggle
to let go of Sallymar.
4
What happens to the
The funeral is over and they wonder
characters after dealing with what they will now do with Sallymar
gone from their lives.
the crisis?
5
Response
How does the story end?
30
Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
His children will for the first time in
their lives celebrate father’s day
without a father.
ACTIVITY 6 GO FIGURE!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Simile
Metaphor
Metonymy
Allusion
Apostrophe
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Synecdoche
Paradox
Oxymoron
Irony
Allusion
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
A
B
C
C
B
ACTIVITY 7 ANALYZING FOR UNDERSTANDING.
Answers may vary.
ACTIVITY 8 JOURNAL WRITING.
Answers may vary.
ACTIVITY 9 DOWN MEMORY LANE.
Answers may vary.
ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
1. B
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. A
6. B
7. D
8. A
9. A
10. D
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements
REFERENCES
Deriada, L. (2001). Little Lessons, Little Lectures. Iloilo City: Seguiban Printers and
Publishing House.
Diyanni, R. (1995). Critical Theory: Approaches to the Analysis and Interpretation of
Literature. McGrw-Hill, Inc.
Encyclopedia, World Heritage. (2020, July 25). Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing
Press. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press:
http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/Literary_technique
Evangelista, P. (2013, November 13). After Yolanda: The barber of Guiuan. Retrieved
July 16, 2020, from https://rappler.com/video/haiyan-the-barber-of-guiuan
Evangelista, P. (2013, October 17). Blood from the sky. Retrieved July 16, 2020, from
https://rappler.com/newsbreak/sta-catalina-zamboanga-blood-sky
Evangelista, P. (2013, June 13). The coffin in the living room. Retrieved July 16, 2020,
from https://rappler.com/nation/coffin-in-the-living-room
Evangelista, P. (2016, December 15). Impunity: In the Name of the Father. Retrieved
July 16, 2020, from https://rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/duterte-drug-warname-of-the-father-impunity
GMA News Online. (2013, June 10). GMA News Online. Retrieved July 16, 2020, from
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/312142/fatalities-in-serendrablast-laid-to-rest/story/
Manila, Q. d. (1977). Reportage on Lovers: A Medley of Factual Romances, Happy or
Tragical, Most of Which Made News. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, Inc.
Moratilla, N. A., & Teodoro, J. E. (2016). Claiming Spaces: Understanding Reading
and Writing Creative Nonfiction. Quezon City: The Phoenix Publishing House,
Inc.
Morato, P. (2002). Workbook in English II. Quezon City: St. Bernadette Publications,
Inc.
Workman Publishing Co., Inc. (2016). The Complete Middle School Study Guide:
Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts in One Big Fat Notebook.
New York City: Workman Publishing Co., Inc.
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Grade 11 /12 – Creative Nonfiction
Competency: analyze factual/nonfictional elements