Grade 7 English LAND TRAVEL – WRITING:NARRATIVES Notes
WRITING: NARRATIVES — Land Travel (English grammar notes)
Audience: Kenyan learners (age 12). Focus: the grammar you need when writing short stories or personal narratives about land travel (buses, matatus, cars, trains, boda-boda, walking).
1. Structure of a short narrative (grammatical focus)
- Orientation — Who? Where? When? (Use past simple or past continuous)
- Events in order — Tell what happened, step by step (use past tenses and time connectives)
- Complication — A problem or exciting moment (use vivid verbs and past continuous for background)
- Resolution — How it ended (past perfect can show what happened before another past action)
2. Important verb tenses for narratives
Past simple — main tense for events. Example: "We boarded the matatu at 7 a.m. We arrived in town at 9 a.m."
How to form (regular): verb + -ed (e.g., walked, watched). Irregular verbs:
- go → went
- come → came
- see → saw
- take → took
- get → got
- have → had
- say → said
Past continuous: for background or actions in progress. Form: was/were + verb+ing.
Example: "The matatu was swerving while the driver was texting."
Past perfect: to show an action that happened before another past action. Form: had + past participle.
Example: "I had packed my bag before I left the house."
3. Time words and sequence (connectives)
Use words to show order: first, then, next, after that, later, finally. For sudden events use: suddenly, at once, immediately. These help the reader follow the story.
4. Speech and reported speech
Direct speech (use quotation marks): He said, "We must hurry!"
Reported speech (shift tense back): He said (that) we had to hurry. When changing: present → past, will → would, can → could, am/is/are → was/were.
5. Describing movement and feelings (adjectives and adverbs)
- Use verbs that show action: boarded, bumped, slowed, rushed, bumped, shouted, waved.
- Use adverbs to tell how: slowly, quickly, loudly, carefully.
- Use adjectives to set scene: crowded matatu, dusty road, steep hill.
6. Cohesion: pronouns and referencing
Use pronouns (he, she, they, it) so the story flows. Avoid repeating names too much. Make sure each pronoun clearly refers to the correct person or thing.
7. Punctuation reminders
- Start sentences with a capital letter and end with a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark.
- Use commas after introductory time words: "That morning, I missed the bus."
- Use quotation marks for direct speech and a comma before the quote when needed: He asked, "Are you ready?"
8. Short example (with grammatical notes)
Story: Last Saturday, I boarded a matatu to town. It was crowded and noisy. While we were driving, the driver slammed the brakes because a motorbike suddenly crossed the road. I had dropped my bag, but a kind passenger picked it up and gave it back.
Notes:
- boarded / slamed / picked — past simple (main events)
- was driving — past continuous (background action)
- had dropped — past perfect (action before another past action)
9. Quick practice
Fill in the correct past form:
- We (go) to Nairobi by train yesterday. → We went to Nairobi by train yesterday.
- The conductor (shout) because the matatu (stop) suddenly. → The conductor shouted because the matatu stopped suddenly.
- I (fall) asleep while the bus (move). → I fell asleep while the bus was moving.
- By the time we arrived, they (already / leave). → By the time we arrived, they had already left.
10. Tips for good narrative grammar (short)
- Keep the main events in the past simple.
- Use past continuous for background actions and to show two things happening at once.
- Use past perfect for events that happened before the main past events.
- Use time words to order events clearly.
- Check verb spelling (regular -ed vs irregular forms).
Use these grammar points when you write a short travel story about a journey on a bus, matatu, train, car or walking. Good luck — write clearly, keep the timeline in order, and check your verb forms!