E. Recount
Recount is the type of writing whereas its purpose is to retell the events that has happened in the past. Furthermore, recount writing is also retelling
author’s or other people’s experiences, feeling, and responses toward those experiences.
The purpose of recount writing is to entertain or to inform the readers. As what is stated by Wardi
man, “A recount text is a text that telling the reader about one story, action, and activity. Its goal is to entertain or inform the
reader.”
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From the above explanation we can conclude that recount writing is a non- fictional text that has purpose of entertaining or informing some past experience
of the author or other people, and it is arranged in a chronological order. The characteristic of this text are the factual event or experiences being told and the
chronological description about the event and the time of occurrence.
1. Generic Structure of Recount
The basis recount consists of three parts: orientation, events and reorientation,
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as follows: a.
Orientation It tells who was involved, what happened, where the events took place,
and when it happened. Example: Last night, I read an article about adolescence in a magazine.
b. Events
It tells what happened and in what sequence. Example: After I finished reading the article, I remembered my own adolescence; to divert my
emotions, I took many extra-curricular activities.
24
Wardiman., op. cit. P.61.
25
Wardiman, loc. cit.
c. Reorientation
It consists of optional-closure of events ending. Example: I was able to control my emotions to have a place where I could express my creativity
in positive ways.
2. Linguistic Features of Recount
The language features usually found in a recount text are: a
Proper noun to identify those involved in the text.
b Descriptive words to give details about who, what, when, where, and
how. c
The use of the past tenses to retell the events. d
Words that show the order of events. For example: first, next, then
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Example of Recount Text Last summer holiday, my family and I spent one night at the countryside. We
stayed in a small house. It had a big garden with lots of colorful flowers and a swimming pool.
First, we made a fire in front the house. Then, we sat around the fire and sang lots of songs together. After that, we came into the house and had dinner. Next, we sat
in the living room and watched a movie. Finally, everybody fell asleep there. We woke up very late in the morning and had breakfast. In the afternoon we went
home. We were all very happy.
26
Wardiman, op. cit, p. 116-117.
F. Past Tense
Betty Schrampfer Azar divides past tense into: Simple past, past progressive, past perfect, past perfect continuous.
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1. Simple Past Tense
Simple past tense indicates an activity or a situation that eneded at a particular time in the past. The structure is:
The examples of simple present tense are:
I walked by Ria‟s house this morning.
Rina went to my house with her new bicycle yesterday.
I bought a new phone last week. If a sentence contains when and has the simple past in both clauses, the action in
the when clause happens first. For example:
Mitha stood under a tree when it began to rain.
When Mrs. Lachata heard a strange noise, she got up to investigate.
When I dropped my cup, the coffee spilled on my lap.
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2. Past Progressive Tense
Past progressive tense tells about a specific moment in the past. The structure of past progressive tense verbal is:
27
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar: 3
rd
Ed, New York: Pearson Education, 1999, p. 6-7.
28
Ibid., p. 27.
Subject + Verb 2 + Object
Subject + to be waswere +Verb-ing + Object
The past progressive shows the two actions, both occurred at the same time, but one action began earlier and was in progress when the other action occurred. For
example:
I was riding my motorcycle around the neighbourhood, when it began
to rain.
At eight o‟clock last night, I was working on an English exercise in my book.
Last year at this time, I was attending school.
Sometimes the past progressive is used in both parts of a sentence when two actions are in progress simultaneously. For example:
While I was studying in one room, of our apartment, my roommate
was having a party in the other room.
I was sleeping so tight while my brother was working on his homework.
While she was running down the street to see him, Jun was watching
TV at home.
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2. Past Perfect Tense
The structure of past perfect tense verbal is:
The past perfect tense expresses an activity that was completed before another activity or time in the past. For example:
Jun had already gone by the time Sakura arrived there.
After the guests had left, I went to bed.
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3. Past Perfect Progressive Tense
The structure of past perfect progressive tense verbal:
29
Ibid., p. 28.
30
Ibid., p. 45.
Subject + had + Verb 3 + Object
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