Advanced Writing with English in Use

Eye-w itness andnarrativereports • ModuleBe

1.2 Writing

Part 2 writingtask

You are studying English ina schoolwhere there are a numberofclasses,

ranging frombeginners to advanced. Theschoolhasbeen givenan exceptional

grantof£2,500 to spend on newresources. Thedecisionas tohow the money

should bespent will be taken by a committeeoffive,including one

representativeof thestudents -yourself.

Youhavebeen asked to conduct a survey of t he students 'w ishesand to submit

to thecommittee areportbased on your findings. Write t he report (about 250

words).

You might liketo conductthe survey in class before writing this report.

Task bank: Tasks34, 35 and 36

8e Eye-witnessandnarrativereports

1.0 Two stylesofeye-witnessreport

News storiesin newspapers are also describ ed asreports,but are written in a

very differentstyle from the otherreports in thisunit; the styleofnew spaper and

magazine wri ting is examined in the next unit.

A Newspaperreport

One of theobjectivesof aneye-witnessaccountin anewspaperis to bring the

eventsto life in the i magination of t hereader.This is achieved by the tight

organization ofthe narrat ive and the inclusion of 'concrete'details thathelp the

reader visualize the scene. What detai ls in the following text contribute to the

successof the writer'sdescriptionof the Los Angelesriotsof 1992?

H

ewasabout 15 yearsold , a good-look ing
boyIna blu e woolle n ha t.H e h adjumped
outof a yellow Cadillacnextto myrent alcar
ata trafficligh t. Now hewasstan dingatmy
windowpomtmga shiny,n ew-lookingre volver
atmyhead.'Ope nt he door' ,h esaid.
Thecarradio had just a n nounced : 'It's a
bright, breezyday in Los Angeles, a partfr om
thesmokedri ftingovert he Hollywoodh ill s .'I
mumbledthe firstfoolish t hi ngthatca me in t o
my mind. ' 1can'topent he door .'
This wasManch ester Bou lev ard andVan
NessAvenue inthe epicentr e oftheriots. On
everyse con d cornera building burned .But t h e

carswerest illstoppingfor redlights. We were

h ope le s s ly boxed in. All over town white

motoristswerebeingdraggedfrom carsand

beatenorshot.

The boy , look in g puzzled and s ca re d

smashed t he win d ow with the gun butt:

cover in gmeIn glasssplinters .Mycompanions

sh ou te d, 'Ge t ou t ofhe re', wh ich is exactly

wha t yoush ou l d not do whe na scare dchi ld

POints agunatyourh ea d.

I pr essed th e accelerato r an drammedthe

carInfr on t ;t urnedt hewh ee land , bum ping

Into another car, j erked forward into the

on comingt r affic.

B Writingpractice:astatementtothepolice

If the writer of the pieceof journalism above hadto describethe incidentin a

statementto the police.thestatement might begin like this.

I stoppe dmycar at a traffic lightinthecentre of the riotzone. While I was waiting

at the lights, a hoy got outofa yellowCadillac ne xtto my carand point ed a gunat

me.

Complete the statement,using the relevantinformationfrom the newspaper

articlebut ornittinqany details that wouldnot be of interest to the police.

Tasktypes • 119