Characteristics of Personal Narratives
This pronoun is the biggest hint that a story is written in the first-person point of view.
What is "I" (or "me," "my," "we")?
"My heart was beating like a drum" is an example of this literary device.
What is a simile?
"I was scared" is an example of telling. "My knees trembled" is an example of this.
What is showing?
You must always use this type of letter for the very first word in a sentence.
What is a capital (or uppercase) letter?
If you are overwhelmingly happy, thrilled, and full of joy, you are feeling this vocabulary word.
What is ecstatic?
Instead of telling an entire life story, a personal narrative focuses on this type of specific, zoomed-in event.
What is a "small moment"?
This is the literary device used when you give human qualities to non-human objects.
What is personification?
True or False: "The cold water shocked my skin" is an example of telling.
What is False? (It is showing through sensory details).
While a statement ends with a period, an exciting or shouting sentence must end with this.
What is an exclamation point?
This noun describes the moment you suddenly understand something or become fully aware of a fact.
What is a realization?
Unlike a fantasy or sci-fi story, a personal narrative must be this.
What is a true story (or based on real events)?
"Fear was a cold shadow over me" is an example of this device, which compares two things without using "like" or "as."
What is a metaphor?
If a writer says, "I bounced on my toes and squeezed my eyes shut, holding back a cheer," they are showing this emotion.
What is excitement (or happiness)?
Specific names of people, places, or months must always be capitalized because they are this type of noun.
What are proper nouns?
If your little brother talks constantly without ever taking a break or stopping, he is talking in this way.
What is incessantly?
A personal narrative is written to share an experience, convey a lesson, and do this for the reader.
What is entertain (or connect with) the reader?
"The wind whispered through the trees" is an example of this specific literary device.
What is personification?
To "show" instead of "tell," writers replace plain statements with action and these types of details.
What are sensory details?
When writing dialogue, you usually place this punctuation mark inside the quotation marks to separate the quote from the speaker tag (e.g., "Let's go[?]" said Tom).
What is a comma?
This word describes the bending, arching, or roundness of a shape, like the edge of a rainbow or the surface of the Earth.
What is curvature?
Although the story is true, authors use vivid, descriptive details to do this to their memories.
What is bring them to life?
The main difference between a simile and a metaphor is that a simile must include one of these two words.
What are "like" or "as"?
Turn this "telling" sentence into a "showing" sentence: "I was very tired."
(Accept any reasonable descriptive sentence, e.g., "What is: My eyelids drooped like heavy curtains and I couldn't stop yawning?")
Tell me the three capitalization errors in this sentence: my friend sarah moved to texas.
What is capitalizing the "M" in My, the "S" in Sarah, and the "T" in Texas?
If a tiny detail in a photograph is just clear enough to be noticed or seen with your eyes, it is this vocabulary word.
What is discernible?