General English Level 6 Version 2.1 © 2004 acl Pty Ltd GELEV6 Unit 04 Topic 04.doc 2. Main body Suddenly out of the night a figure appeared … The woman threw herself onto the bonnet of the car … When he got back in the car the woman was curled up Gently he touched the woman on the shoulder … John scanned the road ahead but there was nothing to see … After ten minutes he turned off the road into the street … He was trying to decide what to say when a light came on and the door opened. He jumped when he felt a hand on his hand ... In the main body the writer tells us what happened. It reports the events that make the story interesting and worth telling. What happens in the main body of the narrative makes it different from a simple recount of everyday events. The writer uses past tense, mainly past simple and some past continuous, to tell us about the events: appeared, threw, was, touched, was trying. Because narratives are always about the past, we usually use the past tense. Sometimes, however, we use the present tense to tell a narrative. This can make the story more interesting. To make the record of events clearer the writer uses time words, phrases and clauses to say when things happened: Suddenly, after ten minutes, when he got back in the car … Examples He was sitting reading the paper when he heard a loud scream. He looked up but could not see anyone. After looking for some time and not seeing anything, he decided that there was nothing he could do. Five minutes later he heard another scream. This time he jumped up and ran to the corner of the building … Jenny got off the train and walked towards the tunnel. As she entered the tunnel she noticed a young man walking behind her. At first this did not worry her because she walked through this tunnel every night and never had any problems. However soon she realised that … Parts of the main body We can divide the main body into three parts a the build up b the climax c the resolution a. The build up In the first part of the main body the writer writes: Suddenly out of the night a figure appeared, running towards him. It was a young woman. She was waving her arms wildly. Long hair covered her face. She was soaked and her dress clung to her body. Here the writer introduces and develops the main point of the story - the problem with the woman. 133