11

READING AND
WRITING
LEARNER'S ACTIVITY SHEET
Quarter 3 – Week 1:
Compare and contrast patterns
of written texts across
disciplines
Reading and Writing – Grade 11
Learner's Activity Sheet
Quarter 3 – Week 1: Compare and contrast patterns of written texts across
disciplines
First Edition, 2021
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LEARNER’S ACTIVITY SHEET IN READING AND WRITING FOR

QUARTER 3, WEEK 1

Name: Grade & Section:

School: Teacher:

MELC: Compare and contrast patterns of written texts across disciplines, focusing on:
1. Narration
2. Description

Learning Objectives:
1. Distinguish the patterns of paragraph development in writing Narration and
Description across disciplines;
2. Identify the pattern of paragraph development used in a specific paragraph; and,
3. Use one pattern of paragraph development in writing a composition.

General Reminders: Use this activity sheet with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any
part of the activity sheet. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises. Read the
directions carefully before doing each task. Return this activity sheet to your teacher/facilitator
once you are through with it.

I. Explore “SHOW NOT TELL”

Directions: Study the picture below and write a two-sentence composition
about it. Your goal is to show what is in the picture and what have you felt
upon seeing the picture.
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II. Learn

Paragraphs can be developed using a variety of patterns that reflect our thinking about the
material. As a jumpstart, you explore for ways to structure your thinking. Then, you write about
the topic sentence and its supporting sentences. As you revise your composition, personal
preferences come in. Some advance their material by physical description; others by narrating
series of events while others favored comparison and contrast.
It is also possible that more than one pattern of development may be used in series of
paragraphs. Key to successful writing is the knowledge of transitional expressions that send a
signal to your readers. Just as you choose what clothes to wear in a particular place on a particular
occasion, you also employ conscious decision in deciding for a pattern to dress up your ideas.

Kirszner and Mandell (20021) in their Brief Holt handbook, (2nd edition) encapsulated the
eight (8) patterns of paragraph development, such as: Narration, Description, Definition,
Exemplification, Comparison and Contrast, Cause and Effect, Process Analysis, Division and
Classification, Problem-solution, and Persuasion (in-depth discussion of each pattern will be
presented in the succeeding lesson of your Learning Activity Sheet). Depending upon the subject
of your paragraph, some of these patterns will work better than others.

PATTERNS OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT:

1. NARRATION
A Narrative is a story. As a method of development, storytelling can be very effective for the
simple reason that people love to hear stories, and will tune in to a story when their eyes glaze
over at other styles of writing.

In developing a paragraph using narration, sequential presentation of events is observe. It is

normally chronological although at times can use flashbacks. Narratives contain action words
– verbs and adverbs – that help move the story or process along, and make it more interesting.
They also use transitions such as “first”, “then”, “soon”, “after”, “suddenly”, etc. which maintain
coherence and show movement from one event to the next.

Points to remember in developing a Paragraph using Narration:

1. Your paragraph/s is/are characterized by words that show action and words that show
sequence. You can use action verbs and transitional expressions since a story is built
around people doing things.
2. Descriptive details in a narrative paragraph are essential to a good story. Details help
readers to connect to the world the author envisions.
3. Choose the right words for their meaning and use specific expressions.
4. Be guided by the sample narratives below:

Read this paragraph from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Pay attention to
the action words and transitions.
Before the girls got to the porch, I heard their laughter crackling and popping like pine logs in a
cooking stove. I suppose my lifelong paranoia was born in those cold, molasses-slow minutes. They
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came finally to stand on the ground in front of Momma. At first they pretended seriousness. Then
one of them wrapped her right arm in the crook of her left, pushed out her mouth and started to hum.
I realized that she was aping my grandmother. (Source: http://highered.mheducation.com)

Narratives contain ‘story’ component- characters, setting, conflict, climax and resolution. It is
not simply listing the events; it is pointing in the direction of a story using specific details.
Now, identify the story component of this narrative:
Around 2 a.m. something woke Charles Hanson up. He lay in the dark listening. Something felt
wrong. Outside, crickets sang, tree-frogs chirped. Across the distant forest floated two muffled hoots
from a barren owl. It was too quite. At home in New Jersey, the nights are filled with the busy,
comforting sounds of traffic. You always have the comforting knowledge that other people are all
around you. And light: At home he can read in bed by the glow of the streetlight. It was too quiet and
much too dark. Even starlight failed to penetrate the 80-foot canopy of trees the camper was parked
beneath. It was the darkest dark he had ever seen. He felt for the flashlight beside his bunk. It was
gone. He found where his pants were hanging and, as he pockets for a box of matches, something
rustled in the leaves right outside the window, inches from his face. He heard his wife, Wanda, hold
her breath; she was awake, too. Then, whatever, was outside in the darkness also breathed, and
the huge silence of the night seemed to come inside the camper, stifling them. It was he decided to
pack up and move a motel.

2. DESCRIPTION
When you need to elucidate the nature of people, places and things you use description. You
could start with the physical description – the details of how your subject looks, sounds, feels,
smells or even tastes like. The details can be arranged in any pattern you think is best. Your
perspective will tell you where to begin and where to end.

Read this paragraph from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou
doesn’t simply describe her subjects’ appearance; she uses description to explain their
characters. She also uses it to reveal her emotional reaction to their behavior.

The dirt of the girls’ cotton dresses continued on their legs, feet, arms, and faces to make them all of
a piece. Their greasy uncolored hair hung down, uncombed, with a grim finality. I knelt to see them
better, to remember them for all time. The tears that had slipped down my dress left unsurprising
dark spots, and made the front yard blurry and even more unreal. The world had taken a deep
breath and was having doubts about continuing to revolve. (Source: http://franklycurious.com)

Two Types of Description:

1. Subjective Description – the writer is describing an ‘impression’ of what is observed.
Examples:
a. “It was dark and lonely night” This helps us imagine the kind of night it was.
b. “Caroline, or Sister Carrie, as she had been half afffectionately termed by the family,
was possessed of a mind rudimentary in its power of observation and analysis. Self-
interest with her was high, but not strong. It was nevertheless, her guiding
characteristic. Warm with the fancies of youth, pretty with the insipid prettiness of the
formative period, possessed of a figure promising eventual shapeliness and an eye
alight with certain native intelligence, she was a fair example of the middle American
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class . . . " In this type of description, the author is describing an impression of what
is observed.

2. Objective Description – is usually employed in reportorial and scientific writing. The

goal of the writer is to present an impartial and actual picture of an object or scene. The
writer has to stay away from emotional impressions or responses, bracketing his/her
biases.
Examples:
a. When detectives cover crime scenes and has to write clear reports of their
observation
b. The Acer barbatum is a small to medium-sized, deciduous tree usually ranging from
15–25 m. (50–80 ft.) tall when mature. Bark is light gray and smooth on younger trees,
becoming ridged and furrowed with age. Leaves are opposite and shallowly to deeply
palmately lobed, with a few blunt teeth but no serrations. The leaf sinuses are
rounded, unlike those of red maple (Acer rubrum) which are sharply V-shaped. Also,
the sides of terminal leaf lobes are more or less parallel, while those of red maple are
widest at the base, tapering to the tip. . . .

Whether your goal is to write objective or subjective description, your paragraph should
have a clear controlling idea so that your reader knows what to do with your descriptive
details.

Practice Exercises/Activity
Directions: Compare and Contrast Narration and Description from each other. Use the Venn
diagram below to show your comparison and contrast.

NARRATION DESCRIPTION
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III. Engage

What I Learned
Directions: Read the following paragraphs carefully. Identify what pattern
of development is used in each paragraph. Then, explain why do you say so.

1. One North Carolina man found quite a surprise last year while fishing in the Catawba River: a
piranha. Jerry Melton, of Gastonia, reeled in a one pound, four ounce fish with an unusual
bite. Melton could not identify it, but a nearby fisherman did. Melton at first could not believe
he had caught a piranha. He said, “That ain’t no piranha. They ain’t got piranha around here.”
Melton was right: the fish is native to South America, and North Carolina prohibits owning the
fish as a pet or introducing the species to local waterways.
Answer:________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Piranha are omnivorous, freshwater fish, which are mostly known for their single row of sharp,
triangular teeth in both jaws. Piranhas’ teeth come together in a scissor-like bite and are used
for puncture and tearing. Baby piranha are small, about the size of a thumbnail, but full-grown
piranha grow up to about 6-10 inches, and some individual fish up to 2 feet long have been
found.
Answer:________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

3. My mother had hair so dark that it looked like a waterfall of ink. She always kept it in a braid
that fell to her slim waist, and always tied with a plain black band.
Answer:________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

4. I took up the river roads as hard as I could put. By and by I begin to hear guns a good ways
off. When I came in sight of the log store and the woodpile where the steamboats lands I worked
along under the trees and brush till I got to a good place, and then I climb up into the forks of
a cottonwood that was out of reach.
Answer:________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Father from the river, expanses of longleaf pinelands stretch across rolling hills. In the midst
of this lovely setting, you find 65 campsites, 18 rustic cabins, and a pavilion for group meetings.
Answer:________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
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IV. Apply

What I Can do
Directions: Choose one of the writing prompts from the list below and then
decide what pattern of paragraph development you would like to use, either
Narration or Description. Write a two or three paragraphs composition
using your chosen pattern of paragraph development. A scoring guide or
rubric is also given below for your reference and guidance.
Writing prompts’ topics:
1. Movies and books often talk about the importance of loyalty and friendship. Tell about a
time in your life when friendship proved to be of great importance to you.
2. It is often said that animals are humans’ best friends. Narrate/describe a time in your life
when this saying proved to be true.
3. Parents are our first and most important teachers. Narrate/describe a time when you
learned a valuable lesson from one of your parents.
4. How people handle a problem often reveals a lot about their character. Narrate/describe a
time you encountered a difficult problem and how you solved it.

Name: ________________________________________ Grade and Section: _______________________

Patter of Paragraph Development: _______________________
Writing Prompt’s Topic:
___________________________________________________________________________________________
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RUBRICS SCORE
CONTENT Your written composition shows an understanding and
(5 pts.) interpretation of the writing prompt.
RELEVANCE & Your written composition appropriately follows the pattern of
LANGUAGE development of your choice. Your written composition shows a
USE (10 pts.) sense of audience by using effective vocabulary.
DEVELOPMENT Your written composition gives a clear and logical explanation of
(5 pts.) ideas, using supporting material.
ORGANIZATION Your written composition shows a coherent, orderly, well-reasoned
(5 pts.) approach.
TOTAL /25

V. Post Test
Multiple Choice

Directions: Read the questions/statements in each item carefully.

Then, encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. Kirszner and Mandell (20021) in their Brief Holt handbook, (2nd edition) encapsulated the
following eight (8) patterns of paragraph development, EXCEPT:
a. Narration c. Description
b. Cause and Effect d. Reaction

2. In developing a paragraph using narration, which of the following should be significantly

observed?
a. Examination of how given subjects are either similar of different
b. Elucidation the nature of people, places and things
c. Specific illustrations to clarify a general statement.
d. Sequential presentation of events

3. Narration is not simply listing the events; because ____________________.

a. It should also point the direction of a story using specific details
b. It should include the definition of the term, the class to which it belongs
c. It should contain ‘story’ component- characters, setting, conflict, climax and resolution.
d. Both a and c

4. A writer may use description for several reasons, EXCEPT ___________. description She also
uses it to reveal her emotional reaction to their behavior
a. to explain their characters.
b. to reveal his/her emotional reaction to their behavior
c. to present an impartial and actual picture of an object or scene
d. to tell how does the story progresses.

5. What type of description is employed when the writer is describing an ‘impression’ of what is
observed?

a. Subjective c. Neither a nor b

b. Objective d. Both a and b
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6. Which of the following is an example of a sensory detail?

a. Rattling thunder and lightening flashes c. Talking
b. A magic wand d. Happy

7. Which of the following sentences represents the best kind of narrative writing?
a. The cool whoosh of air hit me as I walked through the automatic doors at Wal-Mart. My
sister whined, annoyed, beside me.
b. One of the reasons this day was important to me was because I’ve never been so scared.
c. That day, I went to Wal-Mart with my sister. I walked down one aisle, she walked down
another, and I lost her, I freaked out.
d. I remember the time I lost my sister at Wal-Mart. It was scary.

8. Which of the following is an example of a narrative writing product?

a. Recipes c. Letters to the editor
b. All about books d. Readers Theaters

9. Which of the following statements vividly reveal the difference between the writing process
of Narration and Description as patterns of development in writing?
a. Narration is the act of giving an account. Description, on the other hand, lists the
observed appearance and characteristics of something.
b. Narrative Writing on the other hand, relates a series of events either real or imaginary or
chronologically arranged and from a particular point of view. Whereas, Descriptive
Writing paints pictures with words or recreates a scene or experience for the reader.
c. The biggest difference between the two is that a narrative essay includes action, but the
descriptive essay does not.
d. Narrative is to tell information, and Descriptive is to describe.
10. Read the paragraph below and identify what pattern is used in developing such paragraph?
Choose the letter that correspond your answer.

Farms and cattle ranches have failed. Food production has virtually ceased. The death rate in
refugee camps has increased 20% to 150 per day. Orphans have left the camps to beg for
food from convoy drivers bringing supplies from the coast.

a. Objective Description c. Objective Narration

b. Subjective Description d. Subjective Narration