Nguyễn Thị Hồng Nhung – 20CNATM03

HOMEWORK – WRITING
1. Complete the sentences in a logical way using both adverbs.
1. My aunt fell down the stairs the other day.
Fortunately, she hold onto the pillar of the stairs thus she only got a slight scratch.
Obviously, my aunt was too careless and had to go to the hospital for first aid.
2. My dad’s been on a strict diet for nearly a month now.
Unfortunately, he lacks a lot of nutrients to replenish his body now.
Surprisingly, he has lost almost five kilograms that he can’t be expected.
3. When first came to live here, I didn’t know anybody.
Gradually, I was used to the lifestyle in there.
Eventually, I met so many lovely neighbors, friendly peers so I didn’t get bored when living there.
4. I spent an hour looking for the missing keys.
Eventually, I found it in my pocket that so silly
Suddenly, during vigorous movement, the tip of the key is bent and I don't know what to do
5. The room was in complete darkness.
Eventually, I was curious to turn on the light
Suddenly, my boyfriend appeared out of a big box with a large bouquet in his hand
2 Improving the following narrative, try to combine some short, simple sentences into long, complex ones.
Although It was a Saturday morning my flatmate left quite early and locking the door. The sound of the
door lock woke me up then I prepared my daily breakfast and neatly groomed it. It was a very important day of
mine because of my great grandmother’s ninetieth birthday. Preparation was completed, I went to the door and
realized my flatmate had locked me in. I called her many times but she didn't pick up. I just stood still for a
while to found a solution. At first, I was quite calm and I thought I could jump out of the window. But then I
realized that it was quite a drop to the ground and I had no fulcrum to jump off. I thought it was very dangerous
and can be caused an accident. So I went into a state of panic. There was no way I was going to be able to get
out of that flat and down to my grandmother’s within two hours. I thought that I came to a dead-end and I had
no way so I rang the fire brigade. They came after five minutes and they took a ladder up to my window.
Fortunately, my room on the 3rd floor is quite close, so the rescue is also quite convenient. Finally, by that way,
I had got out of the window and jumped down.
3. Use the prompts below to build up the old lady’s side of the story.
I still get goosebumps when it comes to this story. It was happened at about 1.00 am in morning. As far
as I remembered, I went to bed at 10p.m. It was midnight and I was trying to asleep but the sound of my dog
that woke me got up then I went to the bathroom and washed my face. I also went down to the living room to
saw the reasons why my dog sounded. As a result, there were no strange problems thus I went back to bed.
Suddenly, I heard a dreadful noise outside on the street. I woke up again and I come close to the window
curtain. Surprisingly, I saw two men who were shouting and swearing at each other. I thought they might have
been very drunk and they looked aggressive and so nasty-looking. It was a very clear night thus I saw
everything. I've also seen a few neighbors who were woke up from their noise. I noticed that they banged car
windows and tried to break into them. As soon as I realized they were thieves and quickly went on a call to the
police. Very agile police who arrived immediately to arrested they did the damage and would surely pay for
their sins . It was so lucky that I knew what was happen woke up and helpt the police to catch thieves.
Otherwise, I made sure that half of the cars neighbourhood was rob and was stolen.

NHỮNG AI MISS BUỔI HỌC THÌ XEM LẠI BÀI TẬP NÀY ĐỂ HÔM SAU ĐẦU GIỜ SẼ SỬA
add more details to the story to make it more interesting. Remember to use adverbs for telling stories where
possible. (The words in the brackets should help you).
My husband and I had decided to buy a new house, and I had made an appointment to see our bank
manager. I had never met him before (how / feel?). I drove into town (when?) and I was lucky enough to find a
parking space (where?). I had just started reversing into the space when another car drove into it. (How / feel?).
I opened my window and shouted at the driver (how?). He ignored me (What else / he / do?). It took me 20
minutes to find another space (where?). As soon as I had parked the car, I rushed back to the bank. I was ten
minutes late for my interview (how / feel?). I went to the manager’s office, knocked and walked in. The
manager was sitting behind his desk (What / he / look like?) He was the man who had taken my parking space!
(How / feel?)

NARRATIVE WRITING (STORY)

1. COMMON ORGANIZATION OF A NARRATIVE
AN INTERESTING BEGINNING
Setting the scene (providing background information)
- Which ‘important first’ / personal experience are you describing?
- Who was involved?
- Where and when did the story happen?
- Why were you there?
- What were you doing at the beginning of the story? And the other people? First event

A WELL-THOUGHT OUT DEVELOPMENT

Relating the narrative
• Report the things that happened in details
- What happened? Next?
- How were the people involved?
- How did you feel?
- What did you do next? What did the other people do?
- What happened afterwards (ending)
• Think of time expressions you can use to join your ideas together. Be careful to use the right
tense(s).

A GOOD ENDING
Writing about later developments
- How do you feel now when you remember the incident?
- Have you ever dreamed about it?
- Has it changed your life in any way?
Các lưu ý khi viết story
2. TITLES
Usually, a narrative has a title. A title is written to attract the readers, to give the readers an idea of what
the narrative is about, and to provide focus to the narrative. A title for a narrative should be clear, concise and
precise. It is usually a phrase, and all extra words should be excluded. In some cases, the title can be a sentence,
but this is not very common.
3. SUPPORTING DETAILS
In order to interest the readers, the story should contain necessary details. If the narrative does not
provide enough details, the readers will not be able to picture the story for themselves, which is likely to distract
their interest. Use adverbs like surprisingly, immediately, (un)fortunately, obviously, … where possible to show
the cohesion and logic between ideas when giving supporting details.
4. SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION
The construction of sentences is of great importance in writing a narrative. If you use too many long
sentences, your story may sound monotonous. If you use too many short sentences, it will be very jerky and
abrupt. You should, therefore, use a mixture of long and short sentences. In fact, short sentences help create an
effect of surprise, or signal a change in your narrative, while long sentences help reduce redundancies.
5. DIRECT SPEECH
You can include some dialogues or direct speech in your narrative to make the story livelier. In this case,
you need to use quotation marks. Notice the way direct speech is punctuated.
- After a day or two, the other voices stopped and I was alone. But the rescuers didn’t come. “They must
be on their way,” I told myself.
 - “I’d be really pleased,” said Betty, “if you could find the time to help me.”
- The princess said, “Dear Old Parents, we may never meet again.”
- The princess said: “Dear Old Parents, we may never meet again.”
- “Dear Old Parents, we may never meet again,” said the princess.
6. TENSE AND TIME
* Naturally, the past tenses are used in a narrative.
The past simple describes main events in a past narrative:
The past continuous describes actions in progress at the time that the main events happen:
Both the past perfect simple and the past perfect continuous describe events before the events in the
narrative, but the past perfect continuous emphasizes the duraiton of an event, and often describes actions which
continue up until the main past events:
Besides, continuous verb forms can:
• emphasize that an action lasts for some time:
E.g. - We were waiting for ages!
• emphasize that an action is repeated:
E.g. - I rang you this morning.
- I was ringing you all morning!
• describe an action that is in progress at a particular time:
E.g. - He was just having breakfast when the postman came.
• describe a situation which is temporary:
E.g. - They’d been staying at their sisters house for a few days.
* Apart from the past tenses, we can also find other forms of tenses relevant to the situations, such as the
simple present, the present perfect, the simple future, …
- I still dream that I am in the wreckage with the insects and the snakes.
- Experts are still investigating the cause of the incident, but until now they have found no real answer.
- As for me, I shall never feel safe on a plane again.
7. SEQUENCING LINKS
* At first, In the beginning, …
Then, After that, Afterwards, Later, Next, Seconds later, Minutes later, A short while later…
At last, In the end, Eventually, …
A typical development would be: at first ……………; later …………….; and / but in the end.
* First, Second, Third, …, Last
Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly, …, Lastly
These are used to indicate separate points in a list. In technical and scientific writing, we often use (a),
(b), (c), …, or 1, 2, 3, … for the same purpose.
* At the beginning, Right from the start, At the end, …
These phrases must always have – explicitly or implicitly – a prepositional phrase with ‘of’’: At the
beginning of the story / film / book / match / …; At the end of the play / presentation / book / novel / …
8. TIME REFERENCE
* In narrative paragraphs, the time reference is often shown by time clauses beginning with Before +
clause…, After …, When …, As …, As soon as …, While …, Just as …, Just then, Once …, The moment …,
Immediately …
After that, I did st
After coming home / I came home, I found…
E.g. - When I arrived, the students had already gone into class.
- Billy Camlin decided to jump off a London bridge after he had broken up with his girlfriend.
- Just as Emilio Sanchez was threatening the driver with a knife and a baseball bat, he heard a familiar
voice telling him to stop it at once and ordering him off the bus.
- Before turning right, he slowed down.
- Immediately when I was ready to leave, I heard a strange noise from the room next door.
- The moment when I came into the room, I noticed there was something wrong.
* Besides, time expressions can be phrases beginning with at, on, in, during, around, …
E.g. On (May 1st); In (2000 / July / …); At (Christmas / weekend)
At (6.00); During (summer holidays / the spring); Around (half past six)
Last week; One day; On one occasion; …
B. as C. while