Subject: English Language | Level: JHS (Basic 7 – 9) | Topic: Composition Writing – Narrative and Descriptive Essays | Difficulty: Intermediate
Introduction
Composition writing is one of the most important skills tested in the BECE English examination. Students are typically required to write one of several types of compositions: a narrative essay, a descriptive essay, an argumentative essay, a letter, or a dialogue. This lesson focuses on narrative and descriptive essays, the two most commonly set types in BECE and JHS examinations. Mastering these two types will give you a strong foundation for all essay writing.
PART 1: NARRATIVE ESSAYS
What is a Narrative Essay?
A narrative essay tells a story. It describes a sequence of events that happened, usually in chronological (time) order. The events can be real (something that actually happened to you) or imaginary (a story you have created).
Features of a Good Narrative Essay
- A clear beginning, middle, and end: The reader should always know where the story is going
- Characters: The people in the story should be given names and some personality
- Setting: Tell the reader where and when the story takes place
- Plot: Something must happen. A good story has a problem, development, and resolution
- A consistent point of view: If you write “I,” maintain first-person throughout. If you write “he/she,” maintain third-person.
- Vivid description: Use details to make scenes come alive. Do not just say “the road was long.” Say “the dusty red road stretched ahead of us for what seemed like miles.”
- A satisfying conclusion: Do not leave the story hanging without a clear ending
How to Structure a Narrative Essay
Introduction: Set the scene. Introduce the main character(s) and setting. Grab the reader’s attention with an interesting first line.
Body (3-4 paragraphs): Develop the events in order. Each paragraph should move the story forward. Include dialogue (conversation) to make the story more engaging.
Conclusion: Bring the story to a satisfying close. Include a lesson learned, a change that occurred, or a final reflection.
Sample Narrative Essay Topic
Write a story ending with the words: “I had never been so proud of myself.”
Sample Answer (Model Essay)
The morning of the inter-school debate competition arrived with a damp harmattan mist that clung to everything. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror in our school dormitory and practised my opening statement for the hundredth time. My voice trembled. My palms were cold and wet. I had been selected to represent Asante Mampong Secondary Technical School at the regional competition, and the thought of speaking before hundreds of students and teachers made my stomach turn to water.
Our debate coach, Mr. Asante, had warned us that the team from Kumasi Polytechnic Secondary School was formidable. They had won the competition three years in a row. As our trotro pulled into the school compound, I saw them standing outside in their immaculate blue uniforms, laughing and looking perfectly relaxed. I gripped my notes tightly.
When my turn came, I walked to the podium on legs that felt like bamboo. For a brief, terrible moment, my mind went completely blank. Then I heard Mr. Asante’s voice from the back of the hall: “Begin, Kwesi.” I took a long breath, and the words came. I spoke about why the internet was doing more harm than good to young people in Ghana. I gave statistics. I gave examples from communities I knew. I made the audience laugh twice and think hard once. When I finished, the applause was warm and genuine.
We won. Our team scored the highest points in the regional history of the competition. As the trophy was placed in my hands and photographs were taken, something warm and quiet settled in my chest. I had never been so proud of myself.
PART 2: DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS
What is a Descriptive Essay?
A descriptive essay paints a picture in words. It describes a person, place, object, event, or experience in such rich detail that the reader feels they are seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, or tasting what you are describing. The goal is to make the reader experience something without being there.
Features of a Good Descriptive Essay
- Sensory details: Use all five senses – sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste
- Specific vocabulary: Instead of “nice,” say “welcoming.” Instead of “big,” say “towering.” Instead of “said,” say “whispered” or “announced.”
- Figurative language: Use similes (like/as), metaphors, personification
- Organised structure: Describe your subject systematically (e.g. from left to right, outside to inside, general to specific)
- Emotion: Tell the reader how the subject makes you feel, not just what it looks like
Figures of Speech to Use
- Simile: comparison using “like” or “as” – “The market was as loud as a thunderstorm”
- Metaphor: direct comparison without “like/as” – “The harmattan wind was a thief, stealing moisture from everything it touched”
- Personification: giving human qualities to non-human things – “The old mango tree watched over the compound with patient arms”
- Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sounds – “The soft, silver shimmer of the lake at dawn”
Sample Descriptive Essay Topic
Describe a busy market in your community.
Sample Answer (Model Essay)
Long before you arrive at Asafo Market in Kumasi, your senses announce its presence. The warm, earthy smell of tomatoes and yams mingles with the sharp scent of fish and the sweetness of ripe plantain. Even from the roadside, the noise rolls toward you in waves: the steady percussion of mortars, the high calls of vendors, and the rumble of delivery trucks navigating the crowded entrance.
Inside, the market is a living organism. Rows of traders sit beneath brightly coloured parasols and canopies, their wares spread before them in precise, colourful arrangements. Mountains of red tomatoes glow beside piles of yellow onions and dark green garden eggs. The fabrics section is a festival of colour: kente strips, batik cloths, and ntoma prints compete for the eye in crimson, indigo, gold, and white.
The traders themselves are as varied as their goods. An elderly woman weighs kenkey with the practised ease of someone who has done it ten thousand times. Nearby, a young man in a white singlet calls out the price of cucumbers with cheerful persistence, his voice cutting through the noise like a bell. Children dart between legs, delivering change, carrying baskets, learning the rhythms of trade that their parents and grandparents knew before them.
As afternoon settles over Asafo, the pace slows but does not stop. The market has no real beginning and no real end. It simply breathes, day after day, feeding a city and keeping alive the heartbeat of a community.
General Essay Writing Tips
- Always plan before you write. Spend 3-5 minutes thinking about what you want to say before your pen touches the paper.
- Write in paragraphs. Each paragraph should have one main idea.
- Vary your sentence lengths. Short sentences create impact. Longer sentences build rhythm and flow.
- Avoid repeating the same words. Use synonyms to keep your writing interesting.
- Proofread your work. Check spelling, punctuation, and grammar before submitting.
- Aim for 3-5 good paragraphs. Quality matters more than quantity.
Practice Topics
Try writing one of these essays (200-250 words) and compare your work to the model essays above:
- Narrative: Write a story about a time you helped someone in need.
- Narrative: Write a story beginning: “It was the strangest morning I had ever seen.”
- Descriptive: Describe your school on the first day of term.
- Descriptive: Describe a member of your family.
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