Narration Scripts: Chinese Fables and Folk Stories

Client:

How the Moon Became Beautiful by Anonymous

Voice Age:

Child, Young Adult, Middle Age Sounding

Gender:

Male or Female

Art Direction:

These passages are from Chinese Fables and Folk Stories (1908). The audience is children, and you should take on the style of a narrator and read it in an enticing and entertaining way to captivate a young audience. Try to appeal to the audience's deepest emotions (use tensions) and read in a whimsical way.

Language:

English

Accent:

Narrate this passage in your natural accent. Only assume an accent if prompted by the description of a character's vocal traits.

Word Count:

682 words

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The Moon is very beautiful with his round, bright face which shines with soft and gentle light on all the world of man. But once there was a time when he was not so beautiful as he is now. Six thousand years ago the face of the Moon became changed in a single night. Before that time his face had been so dark and gloomy that no one liked to look at him, and for this reason, he was always very sad.

One day he complained to the flowers and to the stars—for they were the only things that would ever look in his face. He said, "I do not like to be the Moon. I wish I were a star or a flower. If I were a star, even the smallest one, some great general would care for me; but alas! I am only the Moon and no one likes me. If I could only be a flower and grow in a garden where the beautiful earth women come, they would place me in their hair and praise my fragrance and beauty. Or, if I could even grow in the wilderness where no one could see, the birds would surely come and sing sweet songs for me. But I am only the Moon and no one honors me."

The stars answered and said, "We can not help you. We were born here and we can not leave our places. We never had anyone to help us. We do our duty, we work all the day and twinkle in the dark night to make the skies more beautiful.—But that is all we can do," they added, as they smiled coldly at the sorrowful Moon.

Then the flowers smiled sweetly and said, "We do not know how we can help you. We live always in one place—in a garden near the most beautiful maiden in all the world. As she is kind to everyone in trouble we will tell her about you. We love her very much and she loves us. Her name is Tseh-N'io." Still, the Moon was sad. So one evening he went to see the beautiful maiden Tseh-N'io. And when he saw her he loved her at once. He said, "Your face is very beautiful. I wish that you would come to me, and that my face would be as your face. Your motions are gentle and full of grace. Come with me and we will be as one—and perfect. I know that even the worst people in all the world would have only to look at you and they would love you. Tell me, how did you come to be so beautiful?"

"I have always lived with those who were gentle and happy, and I believe that is the cause of beauty and goodness," answered Tseh-N'io.

And so the Moon went every night to see the maiden. He knocked on her window, and she came. And when he saw how gentle and beautiful she was, his love grew stronger, and he wished more and more to be with her always.

One day Tseh-N'io said to her mother, "I should like to go to the Moon and live always with him. Will you allow me to go?." Her mother thought so little of the question that she made no reply, and Tseh-N'io told her friends that she was going to be the Moon's bride. In a few days, she was gone. Her mother searched everywhere but could not find her. And one of Tseh-N'io's friends said,—"She has gone with the Moon, for he asked her many times."

A year and a year passed by and Tseh-N'io, the gentle and beautiful earth maiden, did not return. Then the people said, "She has gone forever. She is with the Moon."

The face of the Moon is very beautiful now. It is happy and bright and gives a soft, gentle light to all the world. And there are those who say that the Moon is now like Tseh-N'io, who was once the most beautiful of all earth maidens.

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Task!

Mention some tense you can get from the narration scripts, then change the form into a passive/active voice.

Active: He complained to the flowers and to the stars

Passive: The flowers and the stars were complained by him

Active: They smiled coldly at the sorrowful Moon.

Passive: The sorrowful Moon was smiled by them coldly

Active: He knocked on her window,

Passive: Her window was knocked by him

Active: We will tell her about you

Passive: He will be told to her by them

Easy To Learn Ep 1: Gerund and Infinitives

I've made this post to complete my assignment. The topic I chose is Gerund and Infinitives. For a better explanation, you can check my youtube video here: Easy To Learn Ep 1: Gerund and Infinitives


Here are, a short explanation about Gerund and Infinitives!

So basically gerund is a noun made from a verb by adding “ing.”

An infinitive is the "to" form of the verb.

Actually, it's quite tricky to remember which verbs are followed by the infinitive and which verbs are followed by the gerund. Try to remember this! Gerunds are often used when actions are real, fixed, or completed while Infinitives are often used when actions are unreal, abstract, or future.

There are other rules for both of gerund and infinitives, let's discuss it.

We use a gerund:

After certain verbs

Let's check the example box below, Amy enjoys eating mangos. The first verb is "enjoys". And you can use other tenses, like enjoying, enjoyed, and etc. Next, the second verb is always a gerund with "-ing". In this case, the gerund is eating. Here are more verbs and phrases that take the gerund: Admit. Avoid. Deny. Finish. Stop. Keep. Suggest. And many more.

Instead of noun

So when you combine verb 1 + ing it can be present continuous tense or gerund instead of the noun. For example, Jogging is a hobby of mine. Reading helps you learn English.

After prepositions 

For example, I wrote a letter to my mom before leaving the house. Here are more prepositions that take the gerund: After. Next. Without. Into. Between. Until. But. etc

We use ‘to + infinitives:

After certain verbs

It's actually the same with a gerund, just the verbs are different.

For example, Lucy promised to eat all her vegetables. The first verb is promised. Same with a gerund, you can use other tenses. Next, the second verb after promised is always with ‘to + infinitive’, in this case, is eat.

More verbs that take ‘to + infinitive’ are: Appear. Agree. Expect. Forget. Promise. Remember. etc.

After many adjectives

For example:

She was happy to leave her boyfriend earlier.

In this sentence, you can find two adjectives. “Happy” and “Earlier”

To show purpose

We often use ‘to + infinitive’ to say why we do something:

For example, I left for Russia to study Russian

Subject-Verb Agreement

What is Subject-Verb Agreement?

Subject verb agreement refers to the fact that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number. In other words, they both must be singular or they both must be plural. You can’t have a singular subject with a plural verb or vice versa. The tricky part is in knowing the singular and plural forms of subjects and verbs.

What Are the Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement?

Twenty may seem like a lot of rules for one subject, but you'll quickly notice one ties into the next. In the end, it'll all make sense. (In the following examples, the agreeing subject is in bold and the verb is in italics.)

1. Subjects and verbs must agree in number. This is the cornerstone rule that forms the background of the concept.

Ex:

The dog growls when he is angry.

The dogs growl when they are angry.

2. Subordinate clauses that come between the subject and verb don't affect their agreement.

Ex:

The dog, who is chewing on my jeans, is usually very good.

3. Prepositional phrases between the subject and verb usually do not affect agreement.

Ex:

The colors of the rainbow are beautiful.

4. When sentences start with "there" or "here," the subject will always be placed after the verb. Some care needs to be taken to identify each part correctly.

Ex:

There is a problem with the balance sheet.

Here are the papers you requested.

5. Subjects don't always come before verbs in questions. Make sure you accurately identify the subject before deciding on the proper verb form to use.

Ex:

Where are the pieces of this puzzle?

6. If two subjects are joined by "and," they typically require a plural verb form.

Ex:

The cow and the pig are jumping over the moon.

7. The verb is singular if the two subjects separated by "and" refer to the same person or thing as a whole.

Ex:

Red beans and rice is my mom's favorite dish.

8. If one of the words "each," "every," or "no" comes before the subject, the verb is singular.

Ex:

No smoking or drinking is allowed.

Every man and woman is required to check in.

9. If the subjects are both singular and are connected by the words "or," "nor," "neither/nor," "either/or," or "not only/but also," the verb is singular.

Ex:

Either Jessica or Christian is to blame for the accident.

10. The only time the object of the preposition decides plural or singular verb forms is when noun and pronoun subjects like "some," "half," "none," "more," or "all" are followed by a prepositional phrase. Then the object of the preposition determines the form of the verb.

Ex:

All of the chicken is gone.

All of the chickens are gone.

11. The singular verb form is usually reserved for units of measurement or time.

Ex:

Four quarts of oil was required to get the car running.

12. If the subjects are both plural and are connected by the words "or," "nor," "neither/nor," "either/or," or "not only/but also," the verb is plural.

Ex:

Not only dogs but also cats are available at the animal shelter.

13. If one subject is singular and the other is plural, and the words are connected by the words "or," "nor," "neither/nor," "either/or," or "not only/but also," use the verb form of the subject that is nearest the verb.

Ex:

Either the bears or the lion has escaped from the zoo.

Neither the lion nor the bears have escaped from the zoo.

14. Indefinite pronouns typically take singular verbs (with some exceptions).

Ex:

Everybody wants to be loved.

15. The exceptions to the above rule include the pronouns "few," "many," "several," "both," "all," and "some." These always take the plural form.

Ex:

Few were left alive after the flood.

16. If two infinitives are separated by "and," they take the plural form of the verb.

Ex:

To walk and to chew gum require great skill.

17. When gerunds are used as the subject of a sentence, they take the singular form of the verb. However, when they are linked by "and," they take the plural form.

Ex:

Standing in the water was a bad idea.

Swimming in the ocean and playing drums are my hobbies.

18. A collective noun, such as "team" or "staff," can be either singular or plural depending upon the rest of the sentence. Typically, they take the singular form, as the collective noun is treated as a cohesive single unit.

Ex:

The herd is stampeding.

19. Titles of books, movies, novels, and other similar works are treated as singular and take a singular verb.

Ex:

The Burbs is a movie starring Tom Hanks.

20. Final rule: Remember, only the subject affects the verb! Nothing else matters.

Ex:

Jacob, who owns sixteen houses, is on his way to becoming a billionaire.