Directed Writing: Example of Account Writing

Write an account on a marriage ceremony that took place in a county near your residence.

• Was there anything unusual about the marriage?
• How were the arrangements made?
• Write how did the festival end?

A typical Amish wedding day begins at 4’o’clock in the morning. After all, the cows must still be milked and all the other daily farm chores need to be done. There are also many last-minute preparations to take care of before the wedding guests. Helpers begin to arrive by 6:30 a.m. to take care of last-minute details. By 7:00 a.m., the people in the wedding party have usually eaten breakfast, changed into wedding clothes, and are waiting in the kitchen to greet the guests. Some 200 to 400 relatives, friends and church members are invited to the ceremony, which is held in the bride’s home.
The ‘Forgeher’, or ushers (usually four married couples), will make sure each guest has a place on one of the long wooden benches in the meeting or church room of the home. At 8:30 a.m., the three-four-long service begins. The congregation will sing hymns (without instrumental accompaniment), while the minister counsels the bride and groom in another part of the house.
After the minister and the young couple return to the church room, a prayer, Scripture reading and sermon take place. Typically, the sermon is a very long one.
After the sermon is concluded, the minister asks the bride and groom to step forward from their seats with the rest of the congregation. Then he questions them about their marriage to be, which is similar to wedding vows. The minister then blesses the couple. After the blesses, other ordained men and the fathers of the couple may give testimony about marriage to the congregation.
That is when the festivities begin. The tables are set at least twice during the meal, depending on how many guests are invited. The tables are laden with the ‘roast’ (roast chicken with bread stuffing”, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed celery, coleslaw, apple sauce, cherry pie, butter and jelly.
After dinner, the afternoon is spent visiting, playing games and matchmaking. The evening meal starts at 5:00 p.m. which varies from a typical menu. The day usually winds to a close around 10:30 p.m.
Assessment:

• An example for an informative account.
• The aim is fulfilled by providing detail information about Amish’s wedding. It begins by stating ‘where’ and ‘when’ the occasion commenced.
• Later, the account graduates in eliciting the proceedings in a sequential pattern. The writer does not hover to and fro between events.
• The writer presents a list of events threaded together without delving emotionally into any one particular incident (like we have in narratives and descriptive essays).
• Herein, we come across lists of eatables (gravy, butter, stew chicken..), use of numbers (200 to 400) and time references (7:30 a.m.,4’o’clock…) to confirm the factual information for an account.
• The writer keeps himself aloof through using ‘third person’ rendering his account an impersonal tone. However, if a first person pronoun ‘I’ was used it should be kept in mind it must have been used sparingly and without indulging into unnecessary details.
• The candidate intelligently uses present tense as if the account is recorded in the present moment. This also verifies the writer’s command on written accuracy. Similarly, there are no shifts in tenses for instance from present tense to past tense or future tense. An account should be written in one tense-often past tense. (Try writing the same account in past tense, you would see that could be applicable as well.) This account could also be written in past tense.
• The account closes smoothly, unlike in reports where sometimes suggestions/personal opinions are added in the end.
• No signature of the writer is required in an account at the end.

Source: First Language English, The Cambridge English Revision Guide, IGCSE English, CIE discussion forum