English Grammar and Composition chapter 18: Short Composition

18 Short Composition

18/1: Narrative Writing

A. short composition or a brief essay possesses the following characteristics:

a It is a composition of several closely related paragraphs.

b It develops the writer's view on the subject concerned in a clear, precise and well-organized manner.

c It is different from a paragraph in length, but quite similar to a paragraph in structure.

It is made up of three essential parts:

a The introduction : Presents the idea/s going to be discussed

b The body : Develops the ideas presented in the introduction

c The conclusion : Summarises what is discussed in brief No inclusion of new idea/s

A. Read the following extract of narrative writing from Jonathan swifts Gulliver's Travels (Chapter 1)

My father had a small Estate in Nottinghamshire. I was the third of five sons. He sent me to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, at fourteen years old, where I resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies. But the charge of maintaining me (although I had a very scanty allowance) being too great for a narrow Fortune; I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years; and my father now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning Navigation, and other

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parts of the Mathematics, useful to those intend to travel, as I always believed it would be some time or other my fortune to do. When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my Father; where by the assistance of him and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden; There I studied Physics two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long voyages.

Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good Master Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the S, Captain Abraham Pannel Commander; with whom I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into the Levant, and some other parts When I came back, I resolved to settle in London, to which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to several patients. I took part of a small house in the Old Jury; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, Hosier, in Newgate Street, with whom I reached Four hundred Pounds for a portion.

B. Read the following short composition and see how Rashed narrates a sad experience of life.

When I was in class three, I had one of the saddest experiences of my life. It was at this time when I lost one of the dearest persons of my life, my grandfather. That was the first death in my family that I experienced. After that, I have lost a few more relatives, my grandmother (paternal), and my maternal grandparents with a few more other members of my family. But as a little boy, my grandfathers' death proved a crushing blow difficult to bear for me.

My grandfather was the centre of earth for me. I strolled around him as a little boy. He held me by the hands and took me to different places, fairs, mosques and temples, to the Eid prayer and also to see Durga Puja. He often lulled me to sleep. I also used to sleep with him at night.

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Like other nights, I was sleeping beside my grandfather that night. He was quite hale and hearty. I could not realize what went wrong with him. He was quite good when he went to bed, he went to toilet but came back groaning, went unconscious within minutes. I was frightened and cried to the top of my voice. It was late night. My parents and others in the house came rushing to our room. A doctor was called, he gave some medicine, an injection also was given, but there was no end to the groaning. The doctor looked serious, everybody around started crying. My parents started crying piteously, my father being the only son felt very miserable. I was crying too. Then all groaning stopped. My grandfather breathed his last. I hope, you can imagine the situation.

In the morning our relations started coming, the neighbours also came. Preparations were being made for his burial. As it was the first death of one of my closest persons in my life, I felt emotionally paralyzed. It was a feeling that can only be felt, cannot be described in language. I could not understand at that point of time how human beings survive after the death of their near ones. My existence seemed meaningless without him.

When people took him for burial and put him in the grave, it seemed my joys were all buried with him. This feeling continued for a long time; I did not feel like going to school, even if I was sent to school, life seemed joyless to me.

Till today, the agony of losing him pains me whenever I think of that day.

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Activity 1

Write a short composition on a sweet memory of your life.

Activity 2

Think about the following topics, note down some points, plan and then write short compositions on them. Try any one in class.

• Your experience of PEC and JSC Examinations
• An interesting experience of your primary school
• Experience of a school picnic

18/2: Descriptive Writing

A. A short composition describing a tour to Cox's Bazar

After my final examination of class IX, our family which consists of 4 members only—my father, mother, elder sister and myself—decided to go to Cox's Bazar. We sat together to plan our journey. We decided to travel by train. We would take the 7 a.m. train to Dhaka, and the same day we will take the afternoon train to Chattogram. Accordingly train tickets were booked in advance.

On December 25, 2015 we started our journey from Rajshahi Railway Station by Silk City Train. We had our seats in the AC chair coach. I had a front facing window-side seat from where I could look through the window and see the scenes outside. The train journey was quite comfortable. We took some food with us, and had our breakfast on the train.

At 1.00 p.m. we reached Kamalapur Railway Station, Dhaka, but the Chattogram train, Suborna Express was in the afternoon at 3.00 p.m. So, we decided to take our lunch at Kamalapur Station. We went on the first

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floor in a restaurant, rather a good restaurant with our bags. After lunch, we came down to the platform where the Chattogram bound train was supposed to leave. The train was on time. It came near the platform half an hour before the scheduled time. We got into the train comfortably and took our seats in AC chaircoach in this train too. It was a very comfortable train.

The train started exactly at 3.00. After Noakhali we were excited to see the scenic beauty of the region. We saw the small hills on both sides of the train. As my sister and I never had been to this part of the country before, we had not seen hills and mountains before. So it was a dream coming true for us. We were really very excited. At 8.0 p.m. we reached Chattogram station. We spent the night in our cousin's house. Chattogram City captivated our heart. It is so beautiful. The houses on hill tops look fascinating.

The next morning at 8.00 a.m., we took a bus to Cox's Bazar. My sister and I were amazed by the bewitching beauty of the natural scenery of the hill stretching for miles. We, for the first time, saw that our lovely country has such a beautiful landscape; the topography of the hilly regions offers a contrast to the plain lands of the country. We reached Cox's Bazar around 12 noon. We went to the hotel rooms which my father reserved for us in a motel on the beach, called 'Probal'. The motel was just on the beach and from the hotel room, the sea was visible, and roars of the sea were audible.We decided to change our dresses and go to the beach and take our lunch in a sea side hotel.

We went to the beach at 1.30. What a spectacular scene it was! The vast expanse of the sea water in front of us, the big waves with foams and roaring sounds rushing to the shore! We were just stunned by the magnificence of nature!

We were in Cox's Bazar for two days. We spent most of the time during the day on the beach, we walked along the shore, bathed in the sea,

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basked in the sun, did some shopping every day. We ate sea fish for our lunch and dinner. I fell in love with the sea and did not really feel like coming back. We forgot our home for those two days. The sea cast a spell on us. We could not realize how the two days were gone.

B. Now read a short composition by an eminent person describing his village.

I come from a village in the district of Pabna. It is about six miles east of Pabna town and about one kilometer north from Pabna –Sujanagar Road. A Pacca Road from Sujanagar Road goes through our village and at one point in our village the road has another branch and both the branches go through our village and through many other villages and finally the roads meet Pabna Ataikula Road at two different points. The village now has a touch of modernity. There are two bazars now beside the roads in two different places of the village. It takes only forty minutes now to go to Pabna town, and to come home from the town. The villagers now are daily trafficking to the town with motor cycles, bicycles, CNG and auto-rickshaw. The non-mechanised and mechanised transport system in the villages has changed the economy of the village. Mobility of the people has been improved significantly. The village has many graduates from different public and private universities of the country. Many of them are working in government offices, non-government organizations and banks.

The villagers still depend largely on agriculture. However, the entire village has irrigation schemes with deep and shallow tube wells. Most of the villagers work in their fields during day time, and in the evening they sit in front of television sets in the bazars and watch various satellite channels together. Most of the houses have television, many have refrigerators. The houses are mostly tin shed houses. There are some buildings as well. The economic condition of the people are good now. The landless people also can earn enough to meet their daily expenses. Even the day labourers now send their children to school.

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The village has one primary school and one high school. Many boys and girls read in these schools. The schools have changed the face of the village. Our girls can easily study up to the S.S.C level almost free of cost. In every house we have educated girls now. Many of these girls are studying in the major universities of the country.

The village has a wonderful scenic beauty. During late autum season, the lands are full of green crops which present a wonderful sight. To the north of the village, there is a big beel area, which does not have much water and so becomes the hub of paddy production. The entire village is full of trees. People have developed an interest in tree plantation. There are some mango orchards, small ones though. People also grow seasonal crops and, very fresh green vegetable.

Majority of the people are now economically solvent. Some people are in business who are economically more well of. However, there is a kind of friendliness and fellow feelings amongst the villagers. Boys and girls play together. They organize cultural and sports activities in the village. One drama is staged annually by our club, Ansar Smriti Sangha. The club organises some sports and games competition every year. There is often a football competition, volleyball competition, badminton championship, ludu, carrom and some other indoor sports competition. At one side of the village there is a very large graveyard. People from our village and from the nearby villages bury their dead in this graveyard.

The villagers have fellow feeling for one another; they have a good bonding. They help each other in times of need. If anybody is maltreated by outsiders, the entire village comes forward and stand beside the distressed man. For wedding and other social occasions, they organize big parties for the villagers. They stand beside one another in their weal and woe. The village has the most shaping influence on me. I now live in a city, and am lost in the busy schedule of professional responsibilities. But the memories of my early life in the village are always fresh with me and beckons me to visit it. So I visit my village and my relations still living there whenever I can make some free time.

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My Mother's Village

(From N.C. Chaudhury's Autobiography of an Unknown Indian)

[COPYRIGHTED EXCERPT OMITTED: passage from "My Mother's Village" by N.C. Chaudhury, from Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (printed p. 270; full page body)]

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