Generic Structure of Recount Text

# Orientation : tells who was involved, what happened, where the events took place, and
when it happened.
# Events : tell what happened in chronological sequence.
# Re-orientation : consists of optional-closure of events/ending.

Purpose of Recount Text

The purpose of a recount is to list and describe past experiences by retelling events in the
order in which they happened. Recounts are written to retell events with the purpose of either
informing or entertaining their audience (or both)

In a simple word the purpose of recount text is To retell past experience

Language Feature of Recount Text

– Using the simple past tense, past continuous tense, past perfect tense, and past perfect
continuous tense.
– Using temporal sequence, e.g. On Saturday. On Monday, On Sunday
– Focus on specific participant, e.g. I (the writer)
– Using the conjunctions, such as: then, before, after, etc.
– Using action verb, e.g. went, stayed

Orientation : It gives the readers the background information needed to understand the text,
such as who was involved, where it happened, and when it happened.
# Events : A series of events, ordered in a chronological sequence.
# Re-orientation :A personal comment about the event or what happened in the end.

The Characteristics / Language Feature of Recount Text:

– Using the simple past tense, past continuous tense, past perfect tense, and past perfect
continuous tense.
– Using temporal sequence, e.g. On Saturday. On Monday, On Sunday
– Focus on specific participant, e.g. I (the writer)
– Using the conjunctions, such as: then, before, after, etc.
– Using action verd, e.g. went, stayed

Example 1
Being Late
Last morning, Dinar, my roommate woke up late and she had to go to campus.
When she wanted to take her motorcycle, in fact she couldn’t move it because there were
some motorcycles that blocked up her motorcycle.
She tried to move all of the motorcycles, so that her motorcycle could move from the garage.
But she couldn’t do it.
Then, she called Adel who had that motorcycle which blocked it up. After that, her friend
who had that motorcycle helped her. Finally, she could move her motorcycle and rode it to go
to campus.
Example 2

A Beautiful Day at Jogja

Last week, my friends and I went to Jogja. We visited many places.

recount text holiday
First, we visited Parangtritis beach. The sun shone brightly and the scenery was very
beautiful there. We felt the wind blew across to us. We also saw a lot of people in that beach.
There werw many birds flew in the sky. Also, there were many sellers who sold many kinds
of souvenirs. Second, we visited Gembira Loka Zoo. We saw many kinds of animals there
such as monkeys, tigers, crocodiles, snakes, etc. We looked around in that Zoo, and also took
pictures of those animals. Then, we felt hungry, so we went to a restaurant. As soon as we
finished our lunc, we decided to go home.

For me, that was a beautiful day though I could not visit Malioboro. we really enjoyed it, and
I hope I could visit Jogja again.

Example 3

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

It was takbiran night. It was also my birthday, and nothing happened. Or I had thought
nothing would happen, but I was wrong.

That night, I was watching television with my family when I heard someone lit fireworks in
my front yard. I peeped through my window glass but could see nothing. It was very dark
outside. Then I thought it had to be my cousins who lit the fireworks. Then I plopped down
on my sofa again and tried to concentrate on the television since my mind raced with
disappointment that no one gave something special on my birthday.

I shrugged, it was almost the end of the day and I became pessimist. Five minutes later my
mobile beeped. It was a text from my friend asking me to come out. Wondering what was
going on, I grabbed my jacket and hurried to the front door. I was surprised to see her bring a
bag full of firework and fire drills. Next I was surprised to see my other friend come out from
the darkness. She brought a beautiful birthday cake on her hands. Oh my God! I shrieked.
Then they gave the cake to me who was too stunned to say anything. I realized I was blushing
furiously because my whole family was watching. Not to mention my neighbors too!

A plain day, or I thought it was before, turned out to be one of the greatest moment in my
life. I didn’t even know how to describe what I felt. Happy was the simplest word.

Example 4

My Vacation with My Beloved People

One day, my sister named Putri said to me that she really wanted to go to the beach. So I
promised her that the next week we would go to Mutun beach in Lampung.
The next week, we prepared everything needed in the morning. We brought some foods and
beverages, such as chocolate wafers, potato chips, water and orange juice. Before going to the
beach, I ask our brother, Bayu, to join us. He agreed to join and we went there together with
our parents. We went there by car. It took 3 hours to arrive there. Then, we bought tickets in
the entrance gate. Before swimming, we changed our clothes first. We swam there for more
than one hour. We felt so tired that we decided to eat the foods that we had brought. Next,
three of us created a very big sand castle, while my parents were enjoying the beautiful
scenery there. After that, we decided to go home because it was getting dark.

On the way home, we still felt hungry. So we stopped at a restaurant to have dinner. I ordered
sruit, Lampungnese traditional food, while my brother, my sister, and my parents ordered
fried rice. After finished eating, we paid our bills. Then, we went home. We arrived at home
at 9 o’clock. We were tired but we were absolutely happy.

Example 5

My experience met with taufik hidayat

Orientation:
Last sunday, there was Thomas cup badminton championship between Indonesa and China. It
was held on Istora Gelora Bung Karno. I went to Istora Gelora Bung Karno with my Brother,
Andi.
Events:
Before entering Istora Gelora Bung Karno, we looked the bus that took Indonesian badminton
team players. I saw taufik Hidayat, Muhammad Ahsan, Hendra Setiawan, Hayom Rumbaka,
Angga Pratama, Rian Agung, Simon Santoso, Sony Dwi Kuncoro and the other Indonesian
badminton players in that bus. They were very handsome. Then, we followed that bus to
main-entrance. I found that Taufik Hidayat left from the bus. When we wanted to get close to
Taufik Hidayat, a security guard held me back. But, I thought that security guard was familiar
because He was my old friend when I was senior high school, he was Andre. After that, he let
me in, finally i could meet Taufik Hidayat and got his signature.

Example 6

Came Late to school

Last wednesday, I came late to my school because I played playstation untill 2.00 am in the
night. Because that I woke up late.
I woke up about 6.30 am and the class would be began at 7.00 am. I ran to bathroom to take a
bath. I usually had a breakfast after took a bath, but in that day I did not do that.
I always went to school by my moyorcycle. But in that day, I forgot where I put the key. So, I
went to the school by public transportion. It made me took a longer time. I arrived at school
at 7.15 am, I ran to my class but I saw my teacher has stood in front of the class to teach. I
entered to my class and of course my teacher was angry to me because I came late.
It was my bad experience and I hoped I would not do that again.
Example 7

My Busy Holiday

On February 8th, 2016, I thought this would be a great holiday for me because that was
Chinese New Year holiday. I didn’t celebrate the Chinese New Year as I’m not Chinese but I
guessed that it was a good time for me to get full refreshing. I was so tired to studying.
However, the unpredictable fact broke everything up.

First like an ordinary daughter, I had to get up early morning to help my mother, of course
after I prayed. Then I did the dishes, cleaned up my room, and did my bed. I was really in
danger if my mom knew that my room was messy. So, I made it as soon as possible. After
finishing everything, my aunts called me in the afternoon. I did not meet them for a long time
so we kept for hours to talk about some up to date gossips. Not long after that, my neighbor
who is also my schoolmate visited me. She asked my help to finish her homework. At last,
the time was running and the homework was successfully finished. An unpredictable moment
happened after that. To my surprised, I just remembered that I had a lot of homework too. I
got confused and regretful why I did not check it. As the consequence, I did my homework
until late night and it was hardly finished. Since then, I always check my home work before
having a holiday.

I did not feel this was holiday instead of I had to work hard and got a long ship with my
homework.