English 10A                Solutions to Common Narrative Essay Problems

 

1.  Headings:  All papers must have headings in the top left corner of the paper, single-spaced.  Include the following:

 

Name                                                   Example:          Jennifer Smith              
Teacher                                                                        Mrs. Lindbloom
Class                                                                            English 10A
Date                                                                             February 1, 2006

 

2.  Font:  Papers must be typed in a formal, 12 point font, preferably Times New Roman.  The color of the font should always be black.  If you find yourself in a home printer predicament and run out of black ink, I will accept blue ink with a note from your parent.

 

3.  Quotations:  Quotations record what people say, and people do not always speak in correct grammar.  It is perfectly acceptable to record what people said.  However, their speech must still be punctuated correctly.  If the person asked a question, it needs a question mark.  Even though you may have heard the quotation as one long string of phrases in your head, you must still punctuate them as you would other sentences.  Review the rules of punctuation of quotations.

 

4.  Strange Synonym Choices:  I applaud those of you who tried to use a variety of words.  I got the sense that some of you looked in a thesaurus, especially to replace commons verbs such as “said” and “asked” when used with quotations.  Keep in mind that not all synonyms can be used in the same way.  For example, dead and extinct are synonyms. 

My parakeet is dead! sounds fine.  My parakeet is extinct! does not.

Dinosaurs are extinct. sounds fine.  Dinosaurs are dead. does not.

If you have never heard the word used in the way you are using it, consider the possibility that you are using it in a strange way.

 

5.  Exclamation Points:  Avoid using exclamation points excessively.  They are fine in quotations, but otherwise, they should be used sparingly.

 

6.  Let the situation explain itself.  If the situation was exciting or boring or terrifying, this should be obvious from your telling of it.  It does not really add anything to say, “This was the most terrifying moment ever!”  Following this rule should preclude the overuse of exclamation points as mentioned in point five. 

 

7.  Avoid too much detail.  If you wouldn’t dwell on a moment in your story when telling it to friends, don’t dwell on it when writing.  For example, if it was your job to set the table for dinner and nothing remarkable happened during the setting, then one sentence will suffice.  If you wrote detail like this because you weren’t sure how to fill the space requirement, then I would suggest giving more background information about your relationship with the people present or your mood that day.

 

8.  Separate Quotations:  There should never be quotations from more than one speaker in a paragraph.  If you are recording a back-and-forth dialogue, you will have very short paragraphs.