Unit 3: Narrative Essays
Al-Huqail, Eman
Narrative Essay Organization
• Introduction.
• Body Paragraph (events of the story).
• Conclusion.
See page. 58
Al-Huqail, Eman
Sequence in Narrative Essays
• We use the time adverbs (then, finally) to
show the chronological order.
• We use Subordinating Conjunctions (before,
after, when) to link clauses within a sentence.
See page 64 /65
Al-Huqail, Eman
Details in Essays
• Details are important in any essay.
• A writer adds details to make the ideas more
clear.
• Details can be examples, definitions,
descriptions or illustrations.
See page 66
Al-Huqail, Eman
Past Continuous Tense
• A writer might need the past continuous
tense to describe actions in a Narrative Essay.
e.g. She was walking down the Fifth Street
when she saw a flickering ball on the sidewalk.
e.g. Jim was enjoying the sunset view and he
was dreaming about his childhood.
• See page 68
Al-Huqail, Eman
Describing Events in Narrative Essays
see pages 70 & 71
Activity
Definition
Tense Used
Simultaneous
Events
Two actions
Use past
happening at the continuous in
same time
two clauses
When I was
sleeping, the
children were
watching TV.
Interrupted
Activities
Two actions but
one interrupts
the other
While I was
waiting for the
bus, I heard a
crash.
Events in
Sequence
One action
Use simple past
follows the other in both clauses
Use the past
continuous and
simple past
Al-Huqail, Eman
Example
I walked past my
sister, before I
recognized her.
The end 
Al-Huqail, Eman