Narrative Text Is: Sentence Structure, Types, and Examples
Narrative text is one of the types of text that is often used. Do you already know what is meant by narrative text? To find out more about narrative text, you can see this article, Grameds.
Definition of Narrative Text

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Narrative text is a story essay that tells non-fiction or fictional stories based on time sequence or is chronological in nature. The chronological nature of narrative text makes it necessary to have an orderly division of time, from beginning to end. Narrative text is generally often referred to as narrative text. The reason is, narrative text means a type of text that has narrative characteristics.
When studied in the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), narrative text is a text that has narrative characteristics. The nature of the narrative is the nature to describe or explain and so on. Meanwhile, the nature of narrative can also be meant as prose whose subject is actually a series of events.
Meanwhile, according to Suningsih’s Introduction to Narrative Texts in English , narrative text is a text that tells a sequence of events that entertains readers and listeners. Narrative text can also be in the form of a story with several pieces of dialogue so that it makes the story easier to understand. Readers will naturally appreciate and feel the experiences or events experienced by some of the characters in the story.
The purpose of narrative text is usually used as a medium of entertainment for readers. Narrative texts are said to be able to provide knowledge about good fiction or non-fiction stories to their readers. Apart from being used as a medium of entertainment, narrative text can also provide readers with beautiful experiences, new knowledge, and important information.
Narrative text itself holds many moral messages and messages that are included by the author. Some examples of narrative texts are short stories, long stories, novels and romances.
Works in the form of narrative text tend to have a positive impact on readers. In fact, many readers are influenced and inspired to follow the stories created by the author.
It should be noted, narrative text is one type of text that is widely tested in English tests, such as UTBK, TOEFL, and so on. Of course there are many types of stories that are presented. Therefore, you need to do exercises as well as increase knowledge related to narrative text.
Types of Narrative Text
Of the many existing texts, there are two types of text which are classified as narrative texts (narratives) based on the nature and message of the events depicted, namely expository narrative texts and suggestive narrative texts.
1. Expository Narrative Text
Expository narrative text is a narrative essay that aims to make the reader’s mind carried away to be moved from the story told by the author. Readers are expected to gain insight and knowledge as well as moral values after reading expository narrative texts.
So, here is an example of expository narrative text, namely:
Once I got an assignment from the office to make a visit to Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand. The trip took place in March 2004. Apart from carrying out official visits, I also took the time to stop in Queenstown.
Queenstown is an area that is in the middle of the hills and of course, has less economic value. In contrast to the cities of Wlington and Auckland which are on the waterfront. Queenstown only has an “S” shaped lake called Wakatipu and a large area of land used for herding sheep and cattle as well as farming.
2. Suggestive Narrative Text
Suggestive narrative text is a narrative text that is intended to convey meaning that comes from an event or event as a form of experience. This type of narrative text has a tendency to choose connotative words so as to create an imaginative impression.
Well, for those of you who are curious about the types of suggestive narrative texts, there are lots of examples of suggestive narrative texts found in literary works, including short stories, novels, and fairy tales. The following is an example of suggestive narrative text, namely:
Patih Pranggulang drew his sword. He swung the sword quickly at Tunjungsekar’s body. But strangely, before hitting Tunjungsekar’s body, the sword fell to the ground. Patih Pranggulang picked up the sword and slashed again at Tunjungsekar’s body. Patih Pranggulang did this three times. However, all of them failed.
Patih Pranggulang concluded in his heart that Tunjungsekar was innocent. Then, he immediately made a raft out of dry wood and asked Tunjungsekar to board the raft which would be washed away into the middle of the sea. Resignedly, Tunjungsekar followed Patih Pranggulang’s advice. Gradually, Tunjungsekar followed Patih Pranggulang’s advice. Slowly the raft moved away from the beach, farther and farther out to sea. Patih Pranggulang watched the raft that was getting farther and farther out to sea with tears in his eyes.
Apart from the two types of narrative text based on the nature and message of the events depicted, here are several other types of narrative text which are also commonly found, namely:
- Adventure stories
- Fables, narrative stories that make animals the characters, but with behavior that shows human behavior, for example talking, counting, thinking, and so on.
- Fairy-stories. narrative stories that usually have a fantasy nature or are full of magic.
- Historical narratives
- Horror stories
- Legends. a story that is written or created based on facts, but this story does not really have characters.
- Myth, narrative stories that aim to explain the world and how to react to it.
- Mysteries
- Science fiction
- Slices of life
Now, to understand about narrative text, the next discussion is the characteristics of narrative text.
Features of Narrative Text
After understanding the meaning and types of narrative text, there are also some characteristics of narrative text that you need to pay attention to when working on UTBK and TOEFL questions, including the following:
- Narrative text uses sentence forms (tenses) that show events or incidents in the past > Past Tense.
- Adverbs of time which generally appear at the beginning of sentences in narrative text include, such as long time ago, once, one, once upon a time.
- There are excerpts of dialogue or conversation between characters.
- Use of adjectives in narrative text to provide a more detailed picture in the form of a noun phrase.
Meanwhile, there are also characteristics of narrative text that are commonly found, such as the presence of elements of action (action), elements of time series and information, to the presence of content from the point of view of an author or the subjectivity of the writer.
- Narrative text must according to its definition, a text that must present a story about an event, with several events in chronological order (order of events).
- There are several events, the narrative text must have a problem or conflict as the culmination of the narrative story. In addition, narrative stories must have a narrative text structure.
- A narrative text must fulfill the elements of the text, namely the character, setting, plot, theme, and so on.
Narrative Text Structure
In accordance with what was stated earlier, a text can be said to be a narrative text if it fulfills the structure of the narrative text. There are 4 narrative text structures, namely orientation, complication, resolution, and reorientation which are optional. It’s just that, many authors admit to using several methods or options when creating narrative texts.
1. Orientation
Orientation is the initial part or the first structure of narrative text. In this structure, the story maker or writer will introduce the characters, time, and place where the events in the story take place. In addition, the orientation also usually begins with an opening sentence such as, Long time a go …, Once upon a time …, or One day …, followed by a description of the characters and places in the story.
Broadly speaking, orientation answers the following questions:
- Where does the story take place?
- When did the story take place?
- How did the story begin?
- Who are the characters in that story?
2. Complications
The second structure of this narrative text will explain or describe the problem or conflict in a story. This problem or conflict usually contains the main character and can also represent various problems that occur in real life. In addition, the characters also experience various events that lead to the story’s climax or climax. As a result, the main characters will experience complicated problems.
Some signs from narrative text that show the structure of the complication, namely:
- Physical, can be marked by the existence of conflicts between characters physically.
- Natural, can be marked from the emergence of conflicts between characters with several things related to natural forces.
- Social, can be marked by meetings between figures, it’s just that each has its own interests.
- Psychologically, it can be marked by the condition of the conflict that occurs within the character, whether it is good or bad, arrogant or humble, it can also be a conflict between greedy or not.
3. Resolution
Resolution or resolution is the third structure or the last part of the narrative text. Resolution itself can be understood as a resolution of a conflict or problem. At the resolution, the characters in the story begin to find solutions to solve various problems from complications.
Some existing narrative texts show that the characters in the story can solve problems well so that they end happily. However, there are also sad or unhappy endings.
4. Re-orientation
The last part of the narrative text is optional, it may or may not exist. Reorientation or often also called coda is part of a narrative text story that conveys moral values, suggestions, or lessons in the closing part for the reader that comes from the story.
Narrative text displays the main character who can face various complicated problems. This makes narrative texts can have more than one complication or more than one complication and resolution.
Examples of Narrative Text Questions (Narrative Text)
The Legend of Mount Batur
A long time ago, there lived on the island of Bali a giant-like creature named Kbo Iwo. The people of Bali used to say that Kbo Iwo was everything, a destroyer as well as a creator. He was satisfied with the meal, but this meant that Balinese people had enough food for a thousand men.
Difficulties arose when for the first time the barns were almost empty and the new harvest was still a long way off. This made Kbo Iwo wild with great anger. In his hunger, he destroyed all of the houses and even the temples. It made the Balinese turn to rage.
So, they came together to plan steps to oppose this powerful giant by using his stupidity. They asked Kbo Iwo to build them a very deep well, and rebuild all the houses and temples he had destroyed. After they fed Kbo Iwo, he began to dig a deep hole.
One day he had eaten too much, he fell asleep in the hole. The oldest man in the village gave a sign, and the villagers started throwing the limestone they had collected before into the hole. The limestone made the water inside the hole boiling. Kbo Iwo was buried alive. Then the water in the well rose higher and higher until at last it overflowed and formed Lake Batur. The mound of earth dug from the well by Kbo Iwo is known as Mount Batur.
- The story “The Legend of Mount Batur” is a type of narrative text…
- Mysteries
- myth
- Legend
- Folktale
Answer: C
Discussion:
The Legend of Mount Batur is included in the story of legend because it tells the origin of a place, namely “Mount Batur” which is not necessarily the true origin of its formation.
- In the story, the first paragraph includes the section structure…
- Orientation
- Complications
- Resolution
- Reorientation
Answer: A
Discussion:
In the first paragraph, there is an explanation of the scene of the story, namely in the sentence “A long time ago, there lived on the island of Bali a giant-like creature named Kbo Iwo”. Apart from that, there are also sentences that explain the character of the characters, such as “Kbo Iwo was everything, a destroyer as well as a creator”. Therefore, the first paragraph is the Orientation section.
- Which paragraphs fit into Complexion?
- Paragraph 1
- Paragraph 2
- Paragraph 3
- Paragraph 4
Answer: B
Discussion:
The Complexion section is marked by the emergence of problems/problems in the story. In the second paragraph, it is explained that “for the first time the barns were almost empty and the new harvest was still a long way off.” The food supplies in the barns are empty, and the harvest season is still very long away. “This made Kbo Iwo wild with great anger. In his hunger, he destroyed all of the houses and even the temples. This is where the problem started. Kbo Iwo became very angry and destroyed the village.
Thus the discussion, narrative text is a text that tells a series of events that entertain readers and listeners in the form of dialogue stories. For Grameds who want to know more deeply about narrative texts and various other texts, they can read related books by visiting Gramedia.com .
To support Grameds in adding insight, Gramedia always provides quality and original books so that Grameds has #MoreWithReading information.
Author: Umm
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