Back to Writing
Narration
Narration simply means telling a story in a logical and organized way. This story has already happened so you will mainly use the following tenses:
- past continuous
- simple past
- past perfect
Introduction: Verb forms you need to know and use
Introduction:
Activities and Materials
- Narrative 1: Verb Tenses used in Narrative
- Narrative 2: A Night to Remember. A description of a train journey. Story and Exercises
- Narrative 3: Verb Tense Exercise
- Narrative 4: An Accident in the Desert. Story and Exercises.
- Narrative 5: Bang goes the Bus Stop. Writing Exercise
- Narrative 6: Camels and Cars Don't Mix. Writing Exercise
- Narrative 7: The Old Man. Writing Exercise
- Narrative 8: Four Topics. Writing Exercises
- Narrative 9: Boys in the Storm. Picture Story
SmartBoard Activity
Download the activity "Musicians of Bremen" in any HCT classroom with a SmartBoard. When prompted, click "Open." Turn the volume up. Students may enjoy doing the narrative... or not...
Student Writing
- A hostage situation by Mohd.Al Hashemi Grade A essay
- Superman comes to Sharjah. A thrilling tale by Faysal "Man of Steel" Al Khalufi
- A Night in the Desert. Salim Rashid changed his mind about the desert after his car broke down and a stranger offered to help
Supplementary Activities & Links
- The Choking Dog, The Death Car and other stories, with questions and exercises. From the University of Victoria
- Narrative Writing: Useful words and sentences. From TJ Everest. PDF or Word new!
- What Makes a Good Story? Some useful tips new!
- Narrative Writing: Links from Iredell-Statesville Schools in North Carolina new!
- I hate mornings! Gap-fill exercise: Verb Tenses
- Use of the past simple and continuous
- Click for Grammar Exercises related to telling a story.
- Complete the caption using the correct tense
- There are five or six good timed stories here from the University of Victoria - each one takes 12 minutes maximum to read and answer. Recommended.
- Strange stories - Can You Believe Them?
- Biography Exercise: Mick Brewster (30 mins)
- Using the correct verbs Timeline tenses
- Gap-Fill Exercise (40 mins)
- Open http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/blpastcont.htm
- Select and copy from "Use of the Past Continuous in Writing" to "As he was walking through the woods"
- Paste into Word
- Remove all blank lines and type the correct tense of the verbs
- Put the six time phrases into the text ("As Frank was drawing the graph," "it was raining so..."
- Change the title
- Use paragraphs
- Type your name
- For extra marks, find two quotes about computers being fads at http://uptowncity.com/comedy/Great_Quotes/short.htm
Roald Dahl
Here are two Roald Dahl stories and questions. Both of them are mysteries or have surprises. Read and enjoy!
- Lamb to the Slaughter (Htm file. For a Word version 68kb, right-click here)
- The Way Up To Heaven (Read the HTM file, then do the exercises in the PDF file. Right-click to download, 527kb)
Picture Stories
There are eight picture stories here, for learners of English and new immigrants in the US. They deal with social and medical issues. Not a lot happens - and not much fun! Story 1: Emergency, Story 2: A Doctor's Appointment, Story 3: Stressed Out! Story 4: What Should She Do? etc
Comic Strips
Make a story based on a comic strip or cartoon:
Past Tense Quizzes
Click here for a page of grammar quizzes. A small selection is given below.
- Excellent review of past tenses here on EnglishGrammar Secrets.com with seven exercises which can be done in less than an hour.
- Englishpage.com have a good past tense gap-fill quiz
- Simple Past and Past Progressive Quiz:
http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/past1.html - Simple Past and Present Perfect:
http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/past2.html - Verb Tense Review:
http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/vtr.html
Back to Writing