Recount Text

Purpose:
 IT IS USED TO TELL PAST EXPERIENCE (what we or someone did, what took place)
that is aimed at informing and entertaining
TYPES:
 Personal recount ( retelling of an activity that the speaker/writer has been
personally involved) e.g. oral anecdote, diary entry, biography
 Factual recount (recording the particulars of an incident e.g. police report, news
report)
 Imaginative recount (taking on an imaginary role and giving details of events) e.g. a
day in the life of ………

GENERIC STRUCTURE

ORIENTATION:
 It provides information about the setting (when & where) and introduces
participants/character (who)
EVENTS:
 It tell what happened, in temporal sequence
(personal comment/expression of evaluation)

RE-ORIENTATION (optional):
 Its closure of events (e.g. comments or conclusion)

LANGUAGE FEATURES:

 Noun and pronoun as substitution of person, animal, involved thing, E.g.: David, the
Monkey, We, etc.
Specific participants (Mr./Mrs ……, our dog, the thief)
 Using Past Tense
 Action verbs/material processes (went, slept, ran, caught, arrived, bought, looked at)
E.g. He went to the zoo; She was happy.
 Temporal sequence (on Friday, one day, at the beginning, in the end, first, then, next,
before, later, finally, etc)