Comprehending the Text : The Setting of a Story for Class 3 English

The setting is one of the basic elements of a story that reveals characters, and conflicts, and to some extent indicates the story’s theme. In this concept, students will come across the setting of a story with its definition with examples. They are also made aware of the common errors that could come up while determining or creating a story setting.

The following learning concept will help students to learn:

• The aspects of story background.
• The indicators of story setting with instances.
• The types of story settings with examples.
• The exceptions to the rules of the story setting.
• The element of the setting of the story.

The learning concepts have been created using illustrations, mind maps, and examples. Class 3 students can check their understanding by trying to solve the two printable PDF worksheets. Besides that, the solutions to these worksheets are also available in PDF format.

What is the Setting of the Story?

• A setting is a place where the story takes place.This place is called the setting of the story. A story can have a single or multiple settings.
• It is the time and location in which the action of a story takes place.

Example:

The Little Red Riding Hood story has two settings or locations highlighted in the passage given below:

1. Little red riding hood’s house
2. Grandmother’s house

         Once upon a time, there lived in a small house, a girl called little red riding hood in the      village with her mother. One day, she went to visit her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother lived in the woods on the far side of the forest.

What is Included in the Setting of the Story?

There are various things that an author includes to describe a setting.These include:

• Geographic location(region, state, town, city, continent)
• Time is when the setting occurs. Examples include ancient, present, etc.
• Weather also forms a part of the time as it gives an idea about the time of the year. For instance,a stormy, dark rainy dayor scorching summer, or freezing temperatures.

• The environment is the natural or artificial surroundings of a setting. Examples include mountains, a grocery store, and cloudy days.
• Every story has a setting that is introduced at the beginning of the story.

Example of Setting of a Story:

Story of Cinderella

Time:Long ago in the past, there was a young girl named Cinderella. The time changes after her father’s death.

Place: Cinderella stays in a house far away in a kingdom.

Types of Setting

There are three different kinds of story settings: temporal, individual and environmental.

1. Temporal settings: This refers to the era in which a story takes place. For example, the fiction novel Pride and Prejudice are set in a period towards the end of the Georgian era.

2. Individual settings: This refers to the specificlocations within stories. It could be fictional,        even if the temporal and environmental settings are real. For example, in the novel‘Alice in Wonderland’ Alice falls into a deep hole when she runs after the rabbit. She reaches another place with a small door. This place is not real. Although this place is specific and is real in the context of the novel.

3. Environmental settings: It refers to the geographical locations of stories. For example, The Great Gatsby is set in the city of New York.

Exceptions

1. Authors don’t always convey the setting (time and place). Readers need to look for clues and infer the time and place.
2. Dialogue can also be a good clue to a place, and conversations can indicate specific places or regions.

        Example:

        “I will have my lunch now and then take a nap. We can go out to the cityside in the  evening,” said Ronita to her friend over the telephone.

The above text indicates:

• The character’s dialogue and actions indicate the time. Its afternoon as the character Ronita would have her lunch now.
• The story takes place during a time when telephones and not mobiles were used. It could date back to about 10- 15 years before or even more.
• Ronita, the character, lives in the outskirts, away from the city.

Common Mistakes

1. It is so easy to get tied up with other elements of a story. Readers cannot see or feel your setting unless the author gives some details about the setting. Try to imagine the setting to experience the story better so you can understand the story better.

 2. When narrating a story of your own, if you include too many details about the setting of a story may make the pace of the story slow.Always keep in mind that your setting information matters to the story but not too much of it.