This document provides information about the purpose and language features of a personal recount text structure. A personal recount retells past events for the purpose of informing or entertaining. It uses past tense, focuses on a temporal sequence of events and individual participants, and includes orientations, key events, and re-orientations.

1. Personal Recount

2. Personal Recount
• Purpose/ Social Functions
• To retell events for the purpose of informing or entertaining. Events
are usually arranged in a temporal sequence.
• Language Features
• Focus on individual participants
• Use of past tense
• Focus on a temporal sequence of events
• Use of material (or action) clauses
• Schematic Features
• Orientations - Introducing the participants, place and time
• Key events - Describing series of event that happened in the past
• Re-orientations - Stating personal comment of the writer to the
story/Commentary

3. Simplepasttense (Revisited)
Claudia eats chicken every day. Usually she eats at home, but last night, she ate dinner at a
local pub.
Moment of speaking
ramen
The simple past tense suggest an activity that occurred in the past. The activity
began in the past and ended in the past.
For more explanation see “past tense”

4. Pastprogressive
Two actions occurred at the same time but with different starting point. One
action occurred earlier, while in progress of completing the first activity
another activity occurred.
Last night Claudia went to a ramen restaurant. She began to eat at 6 o’clock. At
6.30 Manuel came into the restaurant, he saw Ricky, and walked over to say hello
and to catch up with him. Claudia’s ramen was still in front of her. She had not
finished eating It yet. Another way to put it, when Manuel walked into the
restaurant, Claudia was eating dinner. Claudia’s dinner was in progress when
Manuel walked in.
Moment of speaking
ramen Manuel

5. Regular verbs
• I watched, he watched
Spelling
• We add –d (not -ed) to the verbs with –e : like , liked
• If the verbs ends with a consonant and –y, we change –y into –I: carry –
carried, try- tried.
• The word play – played since the verbs ends with a vowel and –y
• If the verbs has only one syllable and ends with a vowel and a consonant, we
double the consonant to keep the pronunciation: stop-stopped. The same rule
apply with the verbs that ends with –l : travel – travelled.

6. Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs have different forms : go – went, buy – bought, etc
Change the vowel into ‘a’ and ‘u’
Spring _________________ , __________________
Stink _________________ , __________________
Swim _________________ , __________________
Shrink _________________ , __________________
Sing _________________ , __________________

7. TemporalSequence(revisited)
at the present time after henceforth
from time to time later whenever
sooner or later last eventually
at the same time until meanwhile
up to the present time till further
to begin with since during
in due time then first, second
until now before in time
as soon as hence prior to
as long as forthwith
in the meantime when straightaway
in a moment once
without delay about by the time
in the first place next whenever
all of a sudden now
at this instant now that
immediately formerly instantly
quickly suddenly presently
finally shortly occasionally

8. Adverbialclauses
When – an action occur at a certain point of time
When she arrived, the place was a complete mess.
When I was in New York, I visited MOMA.
When it began to rain, I took my umbrella out.
While as – during a certain time (explicit from context)
While I was having my breakfast, my daughter spilled the milk carton.
By the time – an activity occurred and completed before another activity takes place.
By the time we arrived, the house had already been abandoned.
Since – From a certain point in time until the present.
I felt relieved since you left me.

9. Adverbialclauses
Until – to that time and then no longer
We were there until the fire was no longer burning.
As soon as – One activity happened and another followed.
As soon as she stops complaining, we will begin our discussion.
The first time – The first time that I went to New York, I went to see a Broadway
show.
Before – I left the house before he became angry with me.
After – After she graduated from college, she was accepted at Lehman’s Brothers.
Before and after almost always express time, but in the context of location in has a
completely different meaning.
I stand here before you to present my presentation.

10. Simple Past (1st Event) Simple Past (2nd Event) Full Sentence
I took the test after I finished the ITP TOEFL
preparation course
I took the test after I finished the
ITP TOEFL preparation course.
Kenny reached out to me when he heard the good news. Kenny reached out to me when he
heard the good news.
After the storm hit, We began to clean up the mess
After the storm happened, we
began to clean up the mess.
He finished the meal before his wife got home. He finished the meal before his
wife got home.
Order of Past Events
Two activity happened in the past in a chronological order and without interruptions.
Adverbialclauses(Cont.)

11. Adverbialclauses(Cont.)
we use one simple past clause and one past continuous clause to show that a simple
past event interrupted a past continuous event
1st Event 2nd Event Full Sentence
The students were
studying in the library
when Desyka decided to
faint.
The students were studying
in the library when Desyka
decided to faint.
When Desyka decided
to faint
The students were studying
in the library
When Desyka decided to
faint, the students were
studying in the library.
Interrupted Events

12. AglimpseofMaterialClauses
Material processes consist of :
The process – the central part of the situation realized by a verb.
Participant roles – entities involved in the process – animate or inanimate.
Attribute - the elements which characterize, identify, or locate the participant.
Circumstances – time, place, manner, condition attendant on the situation.
The processes – processes that reflect
- action or “doing” e.g kick, run, eat, give or
- “happening” (fall, melt, collapse, slip),
- “causing”, and
- “transferring”.
Typically, the action of “doing” is carried out by a human participant (The agent)
In process of “doing”, the action extends no further than the agent itself or it extends to another
participants.
The process of transfer – an agent transfers an affected participant to a recipient (give a present,
makes someone a cookie, etc)
Material processes express an action which is done by a “doer” or “agent” – typically human.
Although other entity may be present instead.

13. Material(OrAction)Clauses
The Agent and the Affected in the process of “Doing”
A. Agentive subject of a voluntary process of doing
Angela Merkel resigned
They stood still
B. Affected participant in a voluntary process “doing”
The affected participant (Patient and Goal) is the second participant is someone or an entity that is
affected by the action denoted by the verb in an active clause, as a result of energy flow.
Ellen hit Lia
The chauffer is driving our car
Agent Process
Agent Process
Agent Process Affected
Agent Process Affected

14. C. Affected Subject in a passive clause
If the process extends to an Affected participant, the representation can be made in two forms they
are active or passive. The passive form is when the Affected conflates with Subject.
Lia was hit Ellen
Our car is being driving by the Chauffer
Agent Process Affected
Agent Process Affected

15. Affected subject of “Happening”
Not all material process involve a voluntary action carried by the Agent. Instead
of asking what di “x” do ? rather, we should ask What happened to “x” ?
Ellen slipped on the ice
The vase fell off the shelf
Affected subject Involuntary Process Circumstance
Affected subject Involuntary Process Circumstance

16. Causative Material Processes
- some external Agent or Force causes something to happen. The Affected,
not the Agent, is the participant that undergoes the process e.g I rang the ball
Rhonda opened The garage
Siska boiled the water
Initiating Agent Process Affected
Initiating Agent Process Affected

17. Process of Transfer
Three participants in the processes of transfer: Agent, Affected, and
Recipient or Beneficiary
The recipient is a central participant in three participant processes such as
give. It entails the one who receives the transferred material.
The beneficiary is the optional such as the word fetch. It represents the one
for whom some service is done
With processes that encode transfer such as give, lend, charge, pay, offer, owe. The
action expressed by the verb extends not only to the Affected but to a third inherent
participant, the Recipient, as in:
Ed gave the cat a bit of tuna.
Bill’s father has lent us his car
Have you paid the taxi-driver the right amount?

19. Dear Grandpa and Grandma,
Yesterday at my school, we had International Day. We had
performance, food stalls, displays, raffle ticket draw and
some of us were dressed in costumes.
We started our day off with performances but the one I liked
best was the one from fourth grade. It was about games. The
performance I was in was called Labamba.
Straight after our performances we had our lunch. There
were food stalls. They came from Australia, Asian, Arabic
and Greece.
Everyone had a job. These people were from sixth grade. I
did my job after I had lunch. My job was to sell
International Day Books.
We had displays in the hall. These displays were good but I
didn’t get to see them. The displays came from a lot of
countries.
There was also a Trash & Treasure stall where they sell
toys. The school got these things by asking the children to
bring them in.
Although I did not win anything, International Day was still fun.
Orientation
Events
Re-orientation

20. Let’s practice
Discuss the language features of the text
Write your own text!

21. REMOTECONTROLRACING CARS
On the weekend of the 3rd of March, I went to the Ride BMX track with
Robert and Chris MacDonald. When we arrived there it was very crowded in
the car park and we wondered where everyone was because there weren’t
many people on the BMX track.
So we parked the car and then we saw a lot of people surrounding a little
track with speeding cars going around it. There were also about five people
controlling the cars from a high platform. The cars were about 30 cm long
and 15 cm wide with big tread on the tires and flap on the front so that they
wouldn’t tip over. Then after the races they were awarding trophies to the
winners.
When we were just going a boy was controlling a car around the track and it
was going very fast. Someone else had a three wheeler motor bike, but it
didn’t go as fast. Then we had to go, so we packed up the car and then we left.
It was an interesting weekend for us to watch the remote control car race
somehow.