narration
the act of telling a story
The act of telling a story or explaining what is happening in words.
the narration of [a story/event]
- Her calm, clear narration kept the children interested throughout the story.
- The book’s slow, detailed narration makes you feel as if you are inside the character’s mind.
- Good narration can turn a simple event into a powerful story.
- The film uses first-person narration to show the hero’s private thoughts.
- After reading his narration of the journey, I felt like I had traveled with him.
- His narration of the story was very exciting.
- The teacher’s narration helped the students understand the picture book.
- The movie has simple narration, so it is easy to follow.
- She practiced her narration before reading the story to the class.
- Clear narration makes the story easier to understand.
spoken commentary in films/videos
The spoken words you hear over a film, video, or show that explain what you see.
narration by [someone]
- The documentary’s narration is provided by a well-known actor.
- Without clear narration, the training video is hard to understand.
- We recorded the narration after all the animation was finished.
- The film has no dialogue, only music and narration.
- She was hired to do the English narration for the nature series.
- The narration in this video is very fast.
- He listened to the narration and read the subtitles at the same time.
- The cartoon has funny narration for children.
- They added new narration to explain the science better.
- The narration tells us what the animals are doing.
a detailed account of events
A detailed story or report that explains what happened, step by step.
a narration of [the incident/events]
- Her careful narration of the accident matched the security camera footage.
- The book opens with a brief narration of the country’s modern history.
- The witness’s narration of events changed slightly during cross-examination.
- The letter contained his own narration of what led to the disagreement.
- The historian’s narration of the battle is both accurate and vivid.
- The police wrote down his narration of the crime.
- He gave a clear narration of what happened that night.
- We listened to her narration of the trip from start to finish.
- The article starts with a short narration of the company’s past.
- Their narration of the story was different from ours.
first-person narration
1story told using I or we
A way of telling a story where the narrator is a character and uses 'I' or 'we' to tell the story.
- The novel is written in first-person narration, so we only know what the hero knows.
- First-person narration can make a story feel more personal and emotional.
- In first-person narration, the reader sees the world through one character’s eyes.
off-screen narration
1narration from an unseen voice
Spoken words in a film or video that you hear while the person speaking is not shown on the screen.
- The film begins with off-screen narration that sets the scene.
- Off-screen narration explains the character’s past while we see old photographs.
- The director decided to remove the off-screen narration to make the story less obvious.
omniscient narration
1all-knowing third-person narration
A type of third-person narration where the narrator knows everything, including all characters’ thoughts and things that happen in different places.
- The novel uses omniscient narration to move smoothly between the minds of several characters.
- Omniscient narration was common in nineteenth-century fiction.
- Through omniscient narration, the author explains details that no single character could know.
third-person narration
1story told using he/she/they
A way of telling a story where the narrator is outside the story and calls the characters 'he', 'she', or 'they'.
- Most classic fairy tales use third-person narration.
- Third-person narration allows the writer to move between different characters easily.
- The teacher asked the students to change their stories from first-person to third-person narration.
voice-over narration
1narration recorded over images
Spoken words that are recorded and played over pictures in a film, show, or video to explain what is happening.
- The documentary uses voice-over narration instead of on-screen interviews.
- Clear voice-over narration makes the training video easier to follow.
- They hired a famous actor to do the voice-over narration.