Narrative in a professional context isn't a story you tell -- it's a strategic framing you manage. That distinction only comes through in the collocations. The verbs that pair naturally with narrative are the verbs of control -- shape, drive, counter -- and the preposition that introduces its subject is around or surrounding, not the ones you'd expect from everyday storytelling.
Corporate communications: framing a topic
PR and comms teams talk about narrative as something you actively manage around a specific event or topic, using around or surrounding to name what the narrative is about.
"The communications team is working hard to change the narrative around our recent merger to highlight the benefits for shareholders."
"We need to shape the narrative surrounding our expansion into the Asian market."
Notice the verb choice: "shape" and "drive" both imply ongoing influence over how a topic is perceived, which is why they're the standard verbs here -- not verbs of simple production.
Strategic alignment: fitting evidence into a narrative
Once a narrative exists, new information either supports it or has to be reconciled with it. That's the "fit into" and "counter" register -- checking whether something belongs inside the frame you've already built, or actively working against a frame someone else built.
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"Fit into" and "fit within" both work here because a narrative is treated as a container with a boundary -- something a fact either belongs inside or doesn't. "Counter the narrative" takes the same logic in the opposite direction: pushing back against a frame instead of checking your fit against it.
What doesn't collocate
The most common mistake is reaching for "say" instead of a control verb: "we need to say the narrative before the press does" isn't something a fluent speaker would write, because narrative isn't spoken like a line -- it's controlled, shaped, or driven. A close second is the preposition slip in "fit onto the narrative"; the idiomatic phrase is "fit into" or "fit within," not "onto," since narrative behaves like a frame you step inside, not a surface you attach something to. A third, subtler mistake is reaching for "make the narrative" when the situation calls for more precision -- professional English prefers "create," "build," or "shape" for the deliberate work of constructing one.
Practice scenarios
Practice using narrative in situations like:
- announcing a merger or restructuring and naming what the story needs to communicate
- checking whether new evidence supports or undermines a narrative already presented to leadership
- responding to an external narrative you need to push back against
Useful practice phrases:
- "We need to shape the narrative around [event]."
- "Does this fit into the narrative we presented to [stakeholder]?"
- "Our goal is to counter the narrative that [claim]."