Download Narrative vs Expository

Narrative
Texts
What is a narrative text?
• Tells a story
• Based on life experiences
• Person-oriented using dialogue and
familiar language (written in first, second,
or third person)
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Purpose(s)
• To entertain
• To tell a story
• To Provide an aesthetic experience
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Genres
• Traditional Literature
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Myths and religious stories
Fables (proverbs explicitly stated at the end)
Folktales (word of mouth, unknown origins)
Pourquoi Tales (explain phenomena)
Tall Tales and Legends (greatly exaggerated
accounts of heros and legends)
– Cumulative tales (repeating and adding lines)
– Fairy tales (folktales that involve magic)
– Apprenticeship/Hero tales (character rises from a
lowly to high estate, or from ignored/ threatened to
recognized/rewarded for good qualities
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Realistic fiction
Historical fiction
Fantasy and science fiction
Biography (depending on structure)
Drama
Diaries
Personal narrative
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Organization
Story Grammar/Story Structure
• Characters
• Setting
• Problem
• Events
• Resolution
• Theme
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Less Complex Story Grammar
• Beginning (characters, setting, problem)
• Middle (events)
• End (resolution)
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More Complex Story
Grammar
• Beginning:
– characters (antagonist/protagonist), setting,
problem (conflict), initiating event
• Middle:
– turning points, crisis, rising action, climax,
subplot, parallel episodes
• End:
– resolution, falling action, ending
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Expository Texts
• Non fiction
• Provide information [“Communicate information about the
natural or social world” (Duke, 2000)]
• Use non-text features, such as charts, pictures, diagrams
• May contain captions with graphics
• Contain timeless verb constructions (“Tigers are strong
animals”)
• Structured differently than stories
– Cause/effect
– Compare/contrast
– Description
– Time order/sequence
– Problem/solution
– Enumerative/listing
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Is It Really
That Easy?
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What About…
• History books
• Biography
• Autobiography
• May be classified as narrative because (1)
they follow narrative structure, (2) they
inform about people rather than “the
natural or social world”
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Hybrid Texts
• Author wants to convey information about
natural or social world, but does so in a
way that is perhaps considered more
humorous and entertaining
• Combines elements of narrative and
exposition
• Example: Magic School Bus Series
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