Essential Concepts in Narrative and Spanish Grammar

Posted on Oct 19, 2025 in Arts and Humanities

Types of Description in Literature

A. According to the Issuer’s Point of View (Attitude)

  1. Attitude of the Issuer

    • Objective: Reflects reality as it is, using precise and denotative language.
    • Subjective: Used for aesthetic purposes, where the poetic function of language dominates.

  2. Position and Motion of the Issuer

    • Static: Description from a single, fixed position.
    • Dynamic: The position of the issuer varies during the description.

B. According to the Item Described (Descriptive Techniques)

  • Prosopography: Physical description of a person.
  • Etopeya (Ethopoeia): Description of a person’s character, customs, and actions.
  • Portrait: A complete description combining Prosopography and Etopeya.
  • Self-Portrait (Autorretrato): Description of the issuer by themselves.
  • Caricature: Exaggeration and ridicule of a person’s traits.
  • Scarecrow (Esperpento): The exaggerated and deformed features of a person, intentionally moving away from reality.

Key Elements of Narrative Structure

  1. The Narrator

    A. According to the Grammatical Person Used

    • First Person (1st Pers.): The narrator is an actor (e.g., autobiography).
    • Third Person (3rd Pers.): The narrator is a witness.
    • Second Person (2nd Pers.).

    B. According to the Knowledge of the Narrative

    • Omniscient: Knows everything (thoughts, past, future).
    • Equiscient: Has the same knowledge as the main character.
    • Deficient: Knows less than the characters.

  2. The Narrative Action (Plot)

    The events that happen to the characters and the central theme of the text. The typical structure includes: Introduction, Development (Knot), and Resolution (Denouement).

    Other structural arrangements include:

    • Circular: Beginning and ending in the same way.
    • In Media Res: Starts without a formal presentation (in the middle of the action).
    • Parallel: Several stories are told simultaneously.

  3. Characters

    The beings who live the story, characterized by physical, psychological, and social traits, and the actions they perform.

  4. Space and Time

    The setting where the action is located. Space and time are often explicit, although they may not be. Space can be exterior, interior, or real/fictional.

    • Historic Time: The moment or era in which the action develops.
    • Story Time: Refers to the length or duration of the narration.

Structure of the Noun Phrase (NP)

  1. The Nucleus

    The core element of the Noun Phrase can be:

    • A name or Noun.
    • A Pronoun (Personal, Demonstrative, Possessive, Numeral, Indefinite, Interrogative, Exclamatory, Relative).
    • An Infinitive.
    • A Nominalized Word.
    • A Subordinate Proposition (Clause).

  2. Actualizers (Determiners)

    • The Article.
    • Determinative Adjectives (Demonstrative, Possessive, Numeral, Indefinite, Interrogative, Exclamatory).

  3. Complements

    • Complement of the Noun.
    • Adjective/Adverbial Complement.
    • Apposition.

The Grammatical Subject

Semantic Definition

The syntactic element that performs the action of the verb, or the entity about which something is predicated.

Syntactic Definition

The subject is the constituent of the sentence whose nucleus agrees with the verb in number and person.

A. Recognition of the Subject

  1. Locate the verb.
  2. Change the number of the verb. The words that must change to maintain agreement constitute the subject.

Special considerations:

  • Sentences with collective nouns.
  • Sentences using “ser” (to be) + noun attribute.
  • Compound subjects.

B. Position of the Subject in the Sentence

The subject can appear before or after the verb.

C. Expressed and Elliptic Subject

Sentences with an elliptic subject (or omitted subject) are those where the subject is not explicitly mentioned, although it can be inferred from the verb conjugation.

Verbal Accidents (Morphological Features)

These are the morphological variations that verbs undergo:

  • Time

    Expresses when the action of the verb is performed relative to the moment of speaking.

  • Aspect

    Reports whether the action is completed (perfective) or incomplete (imperfective).

  • Mood

    Indicates whether the action is conceived as real (indicative), potential/unreal (subjunctive), or a command (imperative).

  • Person

    Indicates whether the person performing the action is the same person speaking (1st), listening (2nd), or another person (3rd).

  • Number

    Indicates whether the action is performed by one person (singular) or more persons (plural).

  • Voice

    Notes whether the subject performs the action (active voice) or if the action falls upon the subject (passive voice).