5 ways to start a Primary School English Composition

A captivating introduction can make or break your composition. How can you make your composition stand out from the rest? In this blog, we will explore 5 ways to start a Primary School English Composition.

1. Weather

Weather descriptions are a great way to ease into the story world. We always teach our students that a good writer creates a movie in the heads of their readers. We listen to stories so that we can get our imaginations running.

Here are some useful weather descriptions to start your story with.

Good weather

1. Cottony white clouds pranced about in the azure blue blanket up above.

2. The wind whistled and the trees danced to its tune. The birds sang along to the wonderful morning orchestra.

3. It was a bright and cheery morning. The sky was as blue as sapphire. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds.

Bad weather

1. The angry rain pelted against the window panes noisily. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning flashed in the sky.

2. It was a cold, cruel morning. The morning got crueler as the wind snatched my umbrella away.

3. The sun, bearing a grudge against the citizens, was determined to incinerate the townspeople to death with its heat!

What tools did we use to achieve the above? We used personification, metaphors and similes. Can you identify them? They are wonderful tools to create descriptions. We cover plenty more in our classes. We shall now move on to the next way to start a Primary School English Composition.

2. Place description

Instead of writing - I was at my school. An interesting way is to SHOW you are at a school. A good writer does not even need to tell the reader where the story takes place. The descriptions are effective enough to SHOW the reader.

Here is an example:

School

- The classroom was buzzing with deafening chatter. Paper planes flew left and right in the air as students continued causing a ruckus, savouring the last few moments before their teacher arrived. The chairs and desks groaned as students pulled them around.

Were you able to visualise the scene above? If a movie played in your head, then the writing above is effective. How did we achieve this? By describing the actions that make a classroom. We used sight and sound. You can even use taste, touch and smell.

Market

-. The moment the shutters of the supermarket opened, the gang of old ladies charged like soldiers with their trollies. My poor feet were sore from being stampeded by so many trolley carts.

Quiet neighbourhood

The neighbourhood was unusually quiet that day. Not a single soul stirred except for the occasional flickering of the gloomy street lamps. In the distance, an owl hooted. The atmosphere gave me the heebie jeebies.

Canteen

The canteen was packed like sardines. The aroma of delicious food from various stalls competed for my nostrils. My mouth watered and my tummy rumbled. I was famished. Everyone made a beeline to their favourite stalls. Smacking my lips, I skipped towards the canteen.

Once again, use your five senses along with some personification, similes and metaphors to achieve the above effect. These tools are wonderful to create visual descriptions. Here is a simple exercise you can do. Without naming the location, you can write a visual description and ask someone where they think the story is taking place. If they guessed correctly, you created a visual description. Now, let's move on to the third way to start a composition.

3. Dialogue or Sound Effect

Can I start my composition with any dialogue? Will that make my composition stand out from the rest?

No. Use a dialogue or a sound effect to grab a reader's attention. It has to create a sense of urgency. It has to create curiousity. A good writer understands certain words have certain effects. Words like “Stop” or “Danger” grabs us. Our brains are always trying to protect us from danger. Therefore, certain words register in our brain quicker than others

Here are some effective usage of dialogues to start a composition.

Dialogue

“Help!” I screamed with all my might. But my words were swallowed by the water. My lungs burned. My legs cramped. No matter how many times I scream, no oneʼs going to ever hear me. Iʼm lost and will probably be lost at sea...forever.

Sound Effect

“Woo-woo-woo!” The sirens sounded, warning us to get back to shore. But, we werenʼt heading for the shore. We were heading the other way. My friend, John wanted to head away. Itʼs a race, after all! John never backs away from a challenge. Deep down, I knew it was a bad idea.

Dialogue

“Iʼll be back!” my sister, Tamara smiled with a wink in her eye as she ran towards the sea carrying her favorite surfboard. She broke her promise. She never came back.

To reiterate, dialogues or sound effects used to start your composition must fulfil two conditions

1. It has to create a sense of urgency.

2. It has to pique the curiousity of your reader.

4. Using a character introduction

If you want to start your composition with a character, ensure that the way your character enters the scene is interesting. Once again, it has to grab attention and pique the interest of your reader. Also, keep in mind, the characters you use for your composition must fit the topic. You should not add a character just because it is interesting. Every element and every tool used must push your story forward.

For example, if your composition topic involves a bully. You might consider starting your composition with the introduction of this character.

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Bully introduction

Clenching his fist, Biff slammed it against the table. The loud thud echoed through the hallways. "Give me the money!" he sneered, baring his yellowed teeth at the puny boy. Nobody messed with Biff. Standing at nearly two metres tall, Biff was a walking giant. He was taller than most adults and even the teachers shuddered at his presence.

Below are some other useful scenarios to consider.

A strict teacher's introduction

As Miss Pomelo walked into the classroom, the students gasped in shock. Fear engulfed their faces. They scrambled back to their seats like mice. Immediately and obediently, they took out their books and started reading, turning the pages, all at once, as if they were robots.

An angry character

Barging through the door, Sam huffed and then puffed before throwing his bag down at his table. His face was crimson red. His hair was drenched in sweat. His eyes were nearly in tears. Not out of sadness but...anger. "How could she do this to me?" he muttered as his mind raced.

How did we achieve the above? We used a lot of actions to describe the character. Body language phrases such as, arms crossed, slamming a fist on the table or twiddling one's thumbs show a character's feeling visually. These tools are wonderful to use when starting your composition with a character introduction. It grabs attention and piques our interest on why the character is behaving in that manner.

5. Aftermath

Starting your composition using the Aftermath style is no walk in the park. It involves starting your composition at the climax, by showing the consequences of a regrettable act, followed by a flashback that leads us to the beginning of the story to explain how it all began.

Here are some examples:

Example 1

“Johnathan! What are you doing?” A voice screeched behind. I knew who that voice belonged to. My pen dropped out of my hand. My eyes widened. I could feel the stares of everyone in the examination hall, burning into me. My mind raced. I am in so much trouble? Why did I thought I could get away with it? If only I had studied for my maths examination? I stood frozen in my seat. Not daring to turn back. A few hours ago..

Example 2

As I picked up the shattered pieces of my Momʼs favorite porcelain vase, my heart dipped. My mind raced. What am I going to tell Mom? The shards of broken pieces of porcelain sparkled in the fluorescent white light of my living room. Reminding me of its once beautiful form. My heart dipped further. It was beautiful. No wonder, Mom loved it. If only I could turn back time. If only I hadnʼt listened to John! As I kneeled in front of the shattered pieces, my mind recounted how it all began.

There are a few primary school composition topics that could benefit using this style of introduction.

Did you like the technique above?

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Here is a wonderful list of emotions straight from wikipedia. How many of them do you know? Do you know there are only 4 basic emotions? Mad, sad, glad and scared?

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emotions

AUTHOR: The Write Tribe