Advanced Writing with English in Use

U nit 3 • Narrative

3C Newspaperstories

1.0 Model

Newspaperstories aregoodexamples of economic al narrative writing.Thewriter

tell s t he story clearlyin as fewwords as possible.

Divide thefollowingreport fromth eGuardianintofive short paragraphsand

punctuate it, taking particular care to mark anydirectspeech.

adoctor whocameacross amockrail

disasterexercise thoughtitwasthe real

thing andjoined in therescueeffortrobert

lambournre-alizedhismistake whenhe

gaveone of the i njureda painkilling

injectionand thesurprisedactorlooked up

to askdo we really have togo that far the

volu nteerpatientexplainedto the doctor

thatthe 40 casualties lying aroundthe crash

scene wereallactingthen hewas

stre tcheredawayto sleepofftheeffectsof

theinjectionin hospitaldoctorlambourn

hadinad vertently joined in anexercisewith

policefire andambulance services at

cho ppingtonnorthumberlandhe was

thoughtto be part of the medicalteamand

was allowedthroughthepolice cordon

doctorlambournwasnotavailable for

commentyesterdaybut his colleague in

ashington northumberlanddrjohn

campbell said my colleagueactedwith the

verybest intentions

66 • Typ es of writ ing

1.1 Organizing a story

Newsreports are usually written in short paragraphs:the firstgenerally

summarizes thewhole story,w hilethelast often includesa quotation.Narrative

tenses andlinking wordsfor timearekey features.

A Putting event s inord er

1 Rearrangethe followingsentencesto makea newspaper story.

2 Comment on the tenses of thetw o verbs initalics.

3 Write at itle, or headline,for thesto ry by summ arizingit in 12wordsor f ewer.

a He pulle d o ntothe har dshoulde rand hobbled off for he lp with the uid of h is two

walkingsticks.

h ' I was ve ry surprisedwhe n the policephoned .'

s: But he nev e r retu rne d.

d Absent- mi nded husbandTomBrown sp arked off a police sea rch afte rhe left his

wifeinth e irbroken-clown Skoda onthe~1. 5 ,andforgot tocollect he r.

e Soonafte rwa rds, Mrs Brown waspickedupbya policepat rol anda manhuntwas

launch ed , with a helicop te r and sni ffe rdogs.

f ' I suppose [ musthavego tcon fused,' MrBrown said.

g He wasdiscove redfive h ou rs late r haV ing te a at home.

h Policefoundth atMr Brown, aret iredBritishHailworker,fwdtakena bus to

Bristol and atrainhome to Tcwke s lm ry,Cloucester.

M r Brown, aged 7 .3, and hiswifeCathe rine, aged 84,Il;ereheadi ngfo rTo tncs ,

Devon,OIlSatur day when the ear stu tte red to a halt at Clcve don, nea rBristol.