The narrative text is the story that is made of an event that takes place in some place and in a certain time, it can include characters, whether real or imaginary. Each author has their own storytelling style, but there are rules that must be followed. Among the narrative texts you can find news, announcements and journalistic reports.
In narrative texts, the dialogues are produced directly, in other words, what the characters say is transcribed as they express it and the verbs are used in the present tense.
The function of a narrative text is to inform, entertain or tell a story, it has a very particular characteristic that is the presence of the narrator, who is involved with the story, whether real or fictitious.
The style of the narrative text is unique to the writer, each author has their own way of seeing things, of relating and telling facts or stories and uses their own language. This is why this type of text is frequently used in literature, they are usually written in prose and sometimes the verse can also be used, it can be presented orally or in writing.
Narrative Text Elements
Table of Contents
The narrative text is one that has real or fictitious events that happen in a given space and time, its essential elements are:
The structure is divided into three parts:
- Introduction: through it, the story to be told can be presented and the conflict that will develop in different situations can be stated.
- Knot: it is the body of the story, where the narrated events unfold.
- Outcome: it is the part of the text where the conflicts raised in the introduction and exposed in the node are resolved.
- Space and time: this refers to the physical environment where the events take place.
- Space: site where events take place.
- Time: in the time frame the "external time" is distinguished, the moment in which the events unfold, and "internal time" the space that the narrative encompasses.
- Narrator: is the person who tells the story or facts, important to clarify that the author and narrator are not necessarily the same person, the narrator is only limited to telling the story.
- The characters: depending on the case, they can be grouped into:
- Protagonist: is the main character in the narrative and usually evolves throughout the story and according to events.
- Secondary: this character usually does not evolve and they are flat, that is, they are few and simple.
- The discourse: the discourse is done in narration but other aspects such as description and dialogue also count.
- Variety of genres: the literary genre of the narrative is very broad, it is made up of stories, fables, novels, journalistic news, opinion articles and chronicles, whose objective is to transmit the events or stories to the reader.
- The Narrator: is the person in charge of telling the story, it can be someone who is part of it, be its protagonist or simply a spectator who only observes and recounts the events.
- Sequential structure of the story: through the narration, a certain event can be made known, the purpose is to tell the story, as it happens.
- Importance of style: the style of each author is very important, when narrating a story this should arouse the interest of the reader, for this reason the way it will be done should be analyzed. It is different to narrate a journalistic chronicle about an artistic event, to narrate a novel.
- Conclusion, moral: in this part of the narrative text a teaching or moral can be developed.
Narrative Texts Characteristics
The most outstanding characteristics of the narrative text are:
Types of Narrative Texts
The narration are speeches that are developed in narrative texts of different nature. The types of narrative texts are:
- Literary narration: in this type of text, the author shows a well-elaborated language through images and comparisons to increase expression, in order to tell a story for artistic purposes. In this classification the novel and the short story stand out.
- The historical narration: in this type of narration the chronicle, the diary and the biography stand out. Some stories reveal relevant events and events experienced by a character.
- The journalistic narration: the purpose of this type of narration (the news) is to publicize the events, the means used for this purpose are social networks and the media.
Reading narrative texts for children is the most practical way to teach them what narration is, through the reading of stories and tales. There are a large number of narrative texts dedicated to children, pleasant writings on fictional and children's stories dedicated to their education and recreation.
The short narrative texts are created by the authors in order to present examples, in short narrations, of great literary works and in this way expose the different ways that the author has to show his story.
Narrative Text Example
Example narrative text:
Fragment of The Aeneid, by Virgilio.
The Cicada and the Ant (Jean de la Fontaine)
- -I will pay you the debt with his interests: -he told him- before the harvest, I give you my country.
But the ant is not generous at all, and this is its least effect. And I ask the cicada:
-What did you do when the weather was warm and beautiful?
"He sang night and day freely," replied the carefree cicada.
-What did you sing with? I like your freshness! Well then, start dancing now, my friend.
- “Don't spend your time just for pleasure. Work, and save your harvest for times of scarcity "
It is important to mention that, on the internet, different websites name the narrative text in different ways, for example, when searching "Wikipedia narrative text" we will be able to find this type of text as a narrative, giving a meaning similar to the one previously exposed..
