2. The simple past forms of regular verbs. In English, there are regular verb and irregular verbs. The writer forms
the past simple of regular verbs by adding
–ed to the basic verb. For
example:
a. I cooked this morning. b. They worked in 1992.
The writer cannot add
–ed to the basic verbs of irregular verbs. The example of
irregular verb in the past form can be seen in the following table: Table 2.1 The Example of Irregular Verbs in the Past Form
Present verb make
put read
run Past verb
made put
read ran
e. Mechanics in Recount Mechanic is used to control compositions in aspect of spelling,
punctuation, and capitalization. Heaton 1988:135 confirmed that mechanical skill refers to the ability to use particular conventions correctly to the written
language. Mechanics can help the writer point out the message on each sentence by controlling the aspects of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
Spelling refers to the correct order of letters in each word. It is a crucial part of mechanics to facilitate readers to understand words or sentence.
Error spelling can be avoided by checking and correcting the text. Capitalization is the writing rules to write words by using capital letter.
According to Langan 2011:544, the capital letters are used with: a. First word in a sentence or direct quotation
b. The name of person and the word I c. Name of particular places
d. Names of days of the week, months, and holidays e. Names of commercial products,
f. Titles of books, magazines, newspapers, articles, stories, poems, films, television shows, songs, papers that you write, and the like
g. Names of companies, associations, unions, clubs, religious and political groups, and other organizations.
According to Fairbairn and Winch 1996:81, punctuation is used in order to help readers understand the meaning of writing. It helps to manage
how to start, pause, or stop written language. Bram 1995:92 stated that correct punctuation is very significant in a correct writing. It is because applying
incorrect punctuation creates different interpretations. This is the reason why punctuation is a crucial part to be concerned in writing. Langan 2011:558-587
confirmed that punctuation consists of apostrophe ‘, quotation marks “..”,
comma ,, colon :, semicolon ;, dash --, parentheses , hyphen -. Hepburn 1964:173-175 adds that punctuation is also consisted of period .,
question mark ?, and exclamation mark . In recount text, the use of punctuation was emphasized on the use of
full stop and comma. Both will be explained bellow: 1. Full stop .
Bram 1995:93 explained the use of full stop as follow: a. This marks the end of a positive or negative statement, the end of a
complete thought. b. It is often used to mark the end of initials or abbreviations; sometime it
is optional. 2. Comma ,
Langan 2011:255 mentioned six main uses of comma as follow: a. To separate items in a series.
b. To set off introductory material. c. On both sides of words that interrupt the flow of thought in a sentence.
d. Between two complete thoughts concerned by: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.
e. To set off a direct quotation from the rest of a sentence. f. For certain everyday material.
2.6 Method of Scoring Writing
