difference and similrity
Differences and Similarities
Between
Narrative and Descriptive Essays
Betty Turner
ENG 121
Instructor: Erin Nelson
03/25/2013
What are the differences in narrative and descriptive essays? This is a question many students ask. Having experienced writing both, I can tell that there are plenty of similarities as well as some very big differences between the two types of writings. Both narrative and descriptive essays provide great details. A narrative tells a story about an event, while descriptive creates a picture of a person, place, thing or event for the reader. I think that a descriptive essay gives a clearer picture of the story that’s happen or been created in someone life.
A narrative essay often reflects your personal experiences, explaining what happened during some sort of experience. For example in the narrative essay “Homeless” the author was telling the story of how a women was homeless staying a bus terminal for several weeks and she had a home before but she lost it. The author explained the women explained “They were pictures of a house. It was like a thousand houses in a hundred towns, not suburb, not city, but somewhere in between, with aluminum siding and a chain-link fence, a narrow driveway running up to a one-car garage and a patch of backyard. The house was yellow.” The author was narrating the home that she once had before. This is what is meant by narrative essays have a purpose of telling the events to the reader. Narrative essay topics can include recounting an experience where you learned something significant, your first fight, your first job interview, or a frightening encounter. Narration is not always a personal experience, a book report can be consider a narrative since it spells out a plot.
On the other hand descriptive essays uses sensory detail like sight, sound, smell and taste to describe a scene, person or feeling to the reader. In the descriptive essay “I want a wife” you
Between
Narrative and Descriptive Essays
Betty Turner
ENG 121
Instructor: Erin Nelson
03/25/2013
What are the differences in narrative and descriptive essays? This is a question many students ask. Having experienced writing both, I can tell that there are plenty of similarities as well as some very big differences between the two types of writings. Both narrative and descriptive essays provide great details. A narrative tells a story about an event, while descriptive creates a picture of a person, place, thing or event for the reader. I think that a descriptive essay gives a clearer picture of the story that’s happen or been created in someone life.
A narrative essay often reflects your personal experiences, explaining what happened during some sort of experience. For example in the narrative essay “Homeless” the author was telling the story of how a women was homeless staying a bus terminal for several weeks and she had a home before but she lost it. The author explained the women explained “They were pictures of a house. It was like a thousand houses in a hundred towns, not suburb, not city, but somewhere in between, with aluminum siding and a chain-link fence, a narrow driveway running up to a one-car garage and a patch of backyard. The house was yellow.” The author was narrating the home that she once had before. This is what is meant by narrative essays have a purpose of telling the events to the reader. Narrative essay topics can include recounting an experience where you learned something significant, your first fight, your first job interview, or a frightening encounter. Narration is not always a personal experience, a book report can be consider a narrative since it spells out a plot.
On the other hand descriptive essays uses sensory detail like sight, sound, smell and taste to describe a scene, person or feeling to the reader. In the descriptive essay “I want a wife” you
References: Brady, J. (1971). I want a wife. Retrieved from http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everythingsanargument4e/content/cat_020/Brady_I_Want_a_Wife.pdf Quindlen, A. (n.d.). Homeless. Retrieved from http://pers.dadeschools.net/prodev/homelesstext.htm Connell, C. M., & Sole, K. (2013). Essentials of college writing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.