An ending should leave the reader with something the introduction could not have given them. Composition endings are judged on whether they close the piece purposefully, and a repeated opening shows that the writer ran out of ideas.
This lesson belongs to first-language composition and finishes the sequence begun in planning a narrative viewpoint.
How do you write an ending that adds something?
Test your draft with one question: what changed between the first paragraph and the last? Then choose one of these routes.
- A new moment: a small scene that shows the change.
- A new angle: a reflection that the earlier paragraphs have earned.
- A returning image, changed: the same object, now with a new meaning.
- A consequence: what the writer does differently now.
Keep it short and keep it specific.
Worked example
Title: 《一把旧伞》. Invented.
Introduction: 那把旧伞是爷爷留给我的，我一直不明白他为什么舍不得丢。
Repeating ending: 这就是爷爷留给我的旧伞，我还是不明白他为什么舍不得丢。
Step 1, ask what changed: in the middle of the essay, the narrator used the umbrella on a rainy day and found something.
Step 2, choose the route: a returning image, changed.
Step 3, write:
那天在雨里，我撑开伞，才看见伞骨内侧刻着一行小字：给阿孙，路上小心。我把伞举得更高了一点，好像爷爷还在后面看着我。
The ending returns to the umbrella but gives the reader the answer to the opening question. It does so by showing, not by explaining.
The mistake to watch for
The slip has two forms: copying the opening, or announcing a summary such as 这件事让我明白了很多.
Mistaken ending: 这件事让我明白了很多道理，我会永远记住它。
The sentence tells but does not show, and it could end any essay. A reader cannot picture anything.
Correction: point to one concrete detail or action that proves the change, as in the umbrella ending. If you must state a lesson, attach it to a specific object or moment.
Check yourself
1. An essay opens with 我最怕在大家面前说话。Which ending repeats it: (a) 我还是最怕在大家面前说话。 (b) 站上台的那一刻，我发现手心不再出汗了。
Show answer
(a). Option (b) shows change with a specific detail.
2. Rewrite 这件事教会了我坚持 so that it shows something happening.
Show answer
Example: 第二天清晨，我又把跑鞋系紧，走向那条还没亮的路。
3. What question should you ask before writing your last paragraph?
Show answer
What has changed between my first paragraph and now? The answer is the material for the ending.
Where this leads next
Try all five skills in the module practice set, then return to the module page to revise the order. A teacher in online one-to-one Chinese tuition can read your endings with you.