STUDYING EXAMPLE NARRATIVE ESSAY

Earthquake!

October 17, 1989, was a day that I will never forget. It was the day I first experienced an earthquake. I had just gotten home from from school and was lying on the living room sofa wathing the news on TV. My little brother was in his room playing, and my older sister was in the kitchen preparing the dinner. Our parents were still at work.

At exactly 5:04 P.M., the earthquake struck. Our apartments started shaking violently as if it was a small wooden boat tossed by giant waves in the ocean. At first, none of us realized what was happening. Then my sister yelled, “Earthquake! Get under something!” I was too stunned to move, but the shaking was so strong that soon I fell off the sofa onto the floor. I half rolled, half crawled across the floor to the dining table and got under it. My sister was sitting on the floor in the kitchen, holding her arms over her head to protect it from falling dishes. She yelled at my little brother to get under her desk, but he wanted to be near us. He tried to get out of his room, but he kept falling down. The earthquake lasted less than a minute, but it seemed like a year to us.

At last, the shaking stopped. For a minute or two we were too scared to move. Then my sister and I cautiously got up and went to help our little brother, who was crying. As soon as he saw us, he began to calm down. There was no electricity, so I looked for my transistor radio and turned it on. Unfortunatelly it did not work because the batteries were too old. Next, we checked the apartment for damage, but we did not find any. We felt very lucky for nothing was broken and no one was hurt. After a while, we started worrying about my parents. I tried to call tthem at work, but the phone lines were busy.

Two hours later our parents finally arrived home. They were unhurt, but they had to walk home because the electric streetcars were not working. We were so happy to see them!

Our first earthquake was an experience that none of us will forget, but it taught us a lesson, too. Now we keep emergency supplies such as fresh batteries for my radio available, and we have an emergency plan for communication with one another.

Task 6. To understand the content and organization of the essay better, answer the following questions:

1. What is the organization of the essay?

2. What is the writer’s main message in this essay?

3. How is the introduction begun?

4. Find the thesis statement of the essay.

5. What kind of expectations does an introductory paragraph set for the reader?

6. Are there any ideas announced in the introduction?

7. What ideas are developed in the body paragraphs?

8. What connecting words show chronological order? Underline them.

9. What is the conclusion?

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 1316