Recount & Narrative Text

Recount.

Definition:

Is the type of text describing or narrating an event or events that have been passed, such as accidents, reports of activities, a visit to a place, or other experiences. Purpose to tell about the past experiences.

Generic Structure:

- Orientation

- Event

- Reorientation

Languange Feature:

- Names of those involved :my mom.

- Descriptive words : who, what, where, when, why , the puppets, in the sleeping city, after a few minutes, to find their way.

- Past tense : occurred, overturned, struggled.

- Time and sequence words to show order f events : then, next, finally.

Ex:

Orientation: My mother got me ready for school then I had to wait for her to brush my hair and place every strand in just the perfect position. I had to show her my shoes that I had cleaned the night before and my school bag had to be neatly put on my shoulder before I could get near the door. Only after my mother was totally satisfied would I be allowed to rush out of the front door.

Events: I would leave home at 8 am on the dot and make my way down the lane. After a walk of about 700 metres I would be able to see the tall steeple of the school.

Reorientation: The playground would be full in the summer and the noise would make me want to rush into the yard and get into a good game of football before the bell went.

Narrative.

Definition:

is a story that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. Narrative is a fictional text. Made from people imagination telling about something surreal. Purpose of narrative text is to amuse or entertain the reader.

Generic Structure:

- Orientation

- Complication

- Resolution

- Reorientation

Languange Feature:

- Using Past Tense

- Using action verb

- Chronologically arranged

Ex:

The Smartest Parrot

Orientation (1^st Par.): Once upon time, a man had a wonderful parrot. There was no other parrot like it. The parrot could say every word, except one word. The parrot would not say the name of the place where it was born. The name of the place was Catano.

1^st Complication : The man felt excited having the smartest parrot but he could not understand why the parrot would not say Catano. The man tried to teach the bird to say Catano however the bird kept not saying the word.

2^nd Complication: At the first, the man was very nice to the bird but then he got very angry. “You stupid bird!” pointed the man to the parrot. “Why can’t you say the word? Say Catano! Or I will kill you” the man said angrily. Although he tried hard to teach, the parrot would not say it. Then the man got so angry and shouted to the bird over and over; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”. The bird kept not to say the word of Catano.

3^rd Complication :One day, after he had been trying so many times to make the bird say Catano, the man really got very angry. He could not bear it. He picked the parrot and threw it into the chicken house. There were four old chickens for next dinner “You are as stupid as the chickens. Just stay with them” Said the man angrily. Then he continued to humble; “You know, I will cut the chicken for my meal. Next it will be your turn, I will eat you too, stupid parrot”. After that he left the chicken house.

Resolution & Reorientation: The next day, the man came back to the chicken house. He opened the door and was very surprised. He could not believe what he saw at the chicken house. There were three death chickens on the floor. At the moment, the parrot was standing proudly and screaming at the last old chicken; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”.

The Differences between Recount & Narrative Text:

Recount:

— Recount is a non-fictional kind-of text. Commonly recount text is found at biography, otobiography, etc.

— In recount we do not find any conflicts.

— Recount only focusing on its basic structure which is applies series of event.

Narrative:

— Narrative is a fictional kind-of text. Commonly found in story book, myth, folklore, etc.

— Narrative uses conflicts among their participants, whether natural conflict, psychological conflict or social conflict.