17
4. Used when some events or activities should tell the time order clearly. If the
order is should not tell clearly, the past perfect is should not be used but used a simple past form.
e.g. : - She finished cooking before her husband came.
D. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
The last form of past tense is past perfect continuous tense. Past perfect continuous tense is a tense that indicate some activity in the past that ended or still
continuing. There are several functions of past perfect continuous tense:
30
1. To declare some events or activity begin and still continuing while some
activities happened in the past. e.g. : - I had been reading when the door knocked
- Wirda had been swimming when I called her 2.
To declare how long some activities happened and still continuing before other activities happened.
e.g. : - He had been sitting for thirty minutes in the shelter when the accident happened
3. To describe or declare some situations.
e.g. : - A thief had been stealing everything in the house when I entered it
C. Recount Text
1. Definitions of recount text
Recount text is a part of narrative text that retells past events, usually in the order in which they happened. Many experts tried to define this recount text,
Mulyono and Widayanti in their book said that ―recount genre is used to retell events for the purpose of informing or entertaining.‖
31
Besides, Hayland tell the purpose of recount is to reconstruct past experiences by retelling events in original
sequences.
32
30
Sukur, op. cit., pp. 84-86.
31
Mulyono and M. J. Ari Widayanti, English Alive, Jakarta: Yudhistira, 2011, p. 16.
32
Ken Hyland, Second Language Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 20.
18
Another experts such as Mark and Kathy Anderson in Text Type in English 3, stated that ―A recount is a piece of text that retells past events, usually in the order
in which they occured. Its purpose is to provide the audience with a description of what occurred and when it occurred.‖
33
―A recount reconstructs past events in the time in order in which they occurred. It involves telling what happened and
interpreting or evaluating the experience in some way.‖
34
Based on the definitions above, recount text is a text that retells some experiences or events that happened in the past. Because this text is retelling
something that happened in the past, the tense that used in this text is past tense.
2. Types of Recount Text
As mentioned before, recount text is a text that retell someone activity or experiment in the past. Based on the purpose of recount text, there are several
types of recount text:
35
a. A personal recount
A personal recount is retelling an activity that the writer has experienced before by his or herself. This personal recount may be used to communicate or to build
the relationship between the writer and the reader. The examples of this personal recount are: diary, personal letter, and biography or autobiography.
b. A factual recount
A factual recount records the details of an incident by reconstructing some factual information. The examples of this factual recount are: traffic report, a
science experiment, historical recount, and police report of an accident. c.
An imaginative recount An imaginative recount is a writing of an imaginary role and creates imaginary
details by applying factual knowledge in order to interpret and recount events. The examples of this imaginative recount are: A day in the life of an ant, How I
invented.
33
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 3, South Yarra: Macmillan, 1997, p. 24.
34
Targeting Text: Recount, Procedure, Exposition Middle Primary, Blake Education, 2011, p. 4.
35
Ibid.
19
There are some differences of each types of recount text based on the audience, the tense, the language, the first or third person, the addition of details,
and the series of events. Figure 2.4 below shows some differences from every recount:
Figure 2.4 Focus on Different Recounts
36
Personal recount Factual recount Imaginative recount Audience
Child or adult Child or adult
Child or adult
Tense
Past tense Past tense
Past tense
Language Often focuses on
adding personal
and emotive
responses. The focus is on
using evaluative language
e.g. importance,
significance, influence,
achievement. Often
includes imagined
personal responses.
First or third person
Written in first person
using personal pronouns
I, we. Written in third
person using
pronouns he,
she, they. It may be written
in the passive voice.
Written in the first person I, we.
Addition of
details
Interesting ideas may be chosen to
add some
humour. Precise retelling
assists readers to accurately
reconstruct what happened.
Appropriate explanations and
justifications may
be included.
Sometimes in an experiment the
outcome of the activity
is explained.
Imaginative details
may be added to the tale that has been
written in a realistic setting.
Series of events Sequenced details
of who,
what, when, where and
why sometimes are included.
Precise details
of time, place and manner are
added. Sequenced details of
who, what, when and where are included.
36
Ibid., p. 6.
20
3. Generic Structures of Recount Text
