Narrative language & discourse

Article excerpt · target grammar marked

What makes a story land? Researchers point to three features: specificity, stakes, and surprise. A story about a woman changes fewer minds than one about a 34-year-old pharmacist in Guadalajara who made one decision on a Tuesday morning that cost her everything.

Grammar Reference · Narrative language & discourse

Causality chain

Links events by consequence, not time: Because of that, she left. Because of that, everything unravelled. Causality drives stories forward.

Specificity device

Concrete detail creates presence: Not 'a woman' but 'a 34-year-old pharmacist in Guadalajara.' Specificity lowers the listener's defences.

Stakes signal

Tells the audience what is at risk: She had one chance and everything to lose. Without stakes, no one leans in.

The gap as narrative

Silence carries weight: He never said what he meant. That silence was the story. What is omitted can be more powerful than what is said.

01Exercise 1 — Form · Write the Correct Form

Narrative language & discourse

1.She grieved. that, she walked. ... that, she began to understand.

2.The story was not about a person — it was about in Guadalajara who made one choice.

3.He made clear that she had one chance and to lose.

4.The narrator never said what he meant. That was the story.

5.Causality, not , is what carries the audience forward through a narrative.

6.When a story to go where the listener expected, it lodges in memory.

02Exercise 2 — Transform

rewrite with the new structure

1.A man lost his job.

2.She felt sad and then improved.

3.The company changed its message.

4.He did not say what he wanted to say.

03Exercise 3 — About You

in your notebook

Personalise: complete five sentences about yourself using the target grammar.

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