Recount

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):

• It 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)

Source: Recount