‘What’* barium carbonate to a big ***** bear like me?’ Bruno is still eating.

Question

The Narrative Present

Notice the incomplete sentences in the following paragraphs. Here the writer is using incomplete sentences in the narration to make the incident more dramatic or immediate. Can you rewrite the paragraph in complete sentences?

(You can begin: The vet and I made a dash back to the car. Bruno was still floundering…)

(i) A dash back to car. Bruno still floundering about on his stumps, but clearly weakening rapidly; some vomitting, heavy breathing, with heaving flanks and gaping mouth.

Hold him everybody! In goes the hypodermic – Bruno squeals – 10 c.c. of the antidote enters his system without a drop being wasted. Then minutes later: condition unchanged! Another 10 c.c. injected! Ten minutes later: breathing less stertorous – Bruno can move his arms and legs a little although he can not stand yet. Thirty minutes later: Bruno gets up and has a great feed! He looks at us disdainfully, as much as to say,

‘What’ barium carbonate to a big **** bear like me?’ Bruno is still eating.

(ii) In the paragraphs above from the story the verbs are in the present tense (eg. hold, goes, etc.). This gives the reader an impression of immediacy. The present tense is often used when we give a commentary on a game (cricket, football, etc.), or tell a story as if it is happening now. It is, therefore, called the narrative present. You will read more about the present tense in Unit 10.

Answer 1

(i) The vet and I made a dash back to the car. Bruno was still floundering about on his stumps, but clearly he was weakening rapidly. He had some vomiting and was breathing heavily with heaving flanks and gaping mouth.

Everybody was asked to hold him. The hypodermic was injected into Bruno, who squealed. 10 c.c. of antidote entered his system without a drop being wasted. Even after ten minutes, his condition was unchanged. Another 10 c.c. was injected into him. Ten minutes later, his breathing became less stertorous. Now Bruno was able to move his arms and legs a little although he could not stand yet. Thirty minutes later, Bruno got up and had a great feed. He looked at us disdainfully, as much as to say, ‘What’ barium carbonate to a big **** bear like me?’ Bruno was still eating.