Elements of a Story

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Elements of a Story

• Inha TESOL

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Goal

• To be able to describe the elements of a
• story using natural flowing English.

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• What are the elements of a story?
• (1) Genre
• (2) Setting and Mood
• (3) Character
• (4) Plot

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Setting

• Setting tells us the time and place.
• It answers the questions when and where.

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Language Focus Setting

• There are several formulaic ways to talk
• about the setting of a story
• The story begins (time and/or place).
• The story starts off (time and/or place).
• The story takes place (time and/or place).
• The story is set (time and/or place).
• The story happens (time and/or place).

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The story begins
The story begins in a classroom in a small
elementary school in the country on the last day
of school
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The story starts off

• The story starts off in the country in the middle
  of winter

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The story takes place

• The story takes place on an alien world in the
  future.

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The story is set

• The story is set during the American Civil War.

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The story happens

• The story happens in a an old house on the top of
  a hill on a stormy Halloween night

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Character

• Characters are the people (or personified
  animals, robots, aliens, ghosts etc.) that
  experience the events in the story.
• They provide the action and dialogue within the
  story.

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Heroes

• The main character of a story is called the
  protagonist.
• Some people refer to the protagonist as the hero
  of the story, though protagonists are often not
  heroes or even heroic. The protagonist can even
  be evil.
• Many people refer to the main character of a
  story as simply the main character.

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Villains

• The character that comes into conflict with the
  protagonist is called the antagonist.
• Some people refer to antagonists as the villain,
  though not all antagonists are villains or even
  bad.
• In some stories there is no antagonist to
  confront the protagonist.

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Language Focus Character

• There are several standard ways to introduce
• a character
• The main character is . . . named (name)
• Often character and plot can be introduced
• at the same time.
• The main character is . . . who (situation)
• The story is about . . . who . . . (situation)

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The main character is . . .named

• The protagonist is a firefighter named John.
• The hero is a young boy named Harry Potter.
• The main character is a woman named Tiffany.

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The main character is . . . who

• The protagonists are three orphan children who
  are forced to live with her evil Uncle.
• The hero is a detective who solves unusual crimes
  in 19th century London.
• The main character is a stingy old man who is
  visited by three ghosts on Christmas eve.

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Its about . . .

• Its about a young boy who sees dead people.
• Its about a whaling captain who hunts a great
  white whale
• Its about a young boy who sails down the
  Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave.