Recount Purpose
Typical language features
• To retell an event or series of events in an informative way, usually in chronological order
• Written in the first or third person
• To entertain in fiction, or give insight into human motivation in (auto) biography and history Audience • Someone who wants to know what happened • The audience is often defined by age. e.g. writing for peers, teacher or general public
Forms • Fiction/diary/(auto)biography • Newspaper articles are often recounts
Typical structure • Scene setting to establish context • Paragraphs used for effect and to mark change of focus/time/place relating to the events • Sequence/chronology words provide order • Starts at the beginning and finishes at the end of the event(s) .Sometimes the chronology is reorganised to emphasise key events
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IPEELL Stage 1: Text Type Examples
• Generally written in past tense • Active verbs describe what happened • A variety of sentence structures creates different effects, such as a sequence of multi-clause sentences followed by a short sentence • Discourse markers related to time – e.g. later, meanwhile, twenty years on; cause – e.g. because, since; contrast – e.g. although, however, nevertheless • Sophisticated use of punctuation for effect, such as colons, semi-colons, dashes, brackets • Answers questions: When? Where? Who? What? Why? How? • Uses specific dates/times/names of people and places • Vocabulary choices express feelings through emotive adjectives, adverbs, verbs • Use of imagery/similes/metaphors for descriptive effect
