Bible Narrator Comments: Separate Scene Action from Editorial Framing
Colour-code what characters do, what characters say, and what the narrator explains. The narrator's framing can guide the reader, but it should not be assigned to a character inside the scene.
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Bibleward · Updated
Reading orientation
Use three evidence layers
Mark scene action, character speech, and narrator comment in separate colours. Quotation marks and speech verbs often identify dialogue; descriptions outside the speech report action or supply framing for the reader.
Create a table for Samuel's actions, Eli's words, and sentences the narrator gives directly to the reader. Ask what each layer establishes. A narrator comment can supply information a character does not yet know.
In one column write what the passage states; in another write what you infer about motive, emotion, or significance. Do not move an inference into the first column merely because it seems plausible.
A complete answer identifies the layer and cites its clue: speech boundary, action verb, or explanatory sentence. Some lines combine action and speech. This page studies narrative framing, while the dialogue worksheet studies speaker changes and response.