This chapter discusses recount texts, which retell past events in sequence. It covers the language features used in recounts, including past tenses, time and place adverbs, pronouns, and text structure. Specifically, it explains how to use the simple past, past continuous, and past perfect tenses correctly. It also defines different types of recounts and provides examples of language elements commonly found in recounts, such as chronological connectors, linking verbs, and action verbs.

1. Chapter 7
It Was a
Memorable Event

2. What’s on this chapter?
• Recount text
• Past simple tense
• Past continuous tense
• Past perfect tense
• Adverbs of time, place and manner
• Pronouns

3. Recount text
Clipart
A recount text is a text which
retells events or experiences in
the past.
The purpose of recount text is
to tell the readers what
happened in the past through a
sequence of events.

4. Kinds of recount texts
Personal
recount
Factual
recount
Imaginative
recount
Historical
recount

5. Text Structure of Recount
Reorientation: it is optional. Starting personal
comment of the writer to the story
Events: describing series of
events that happened in the past
Orientation: introducing the
participants, place and time

6. Language Elements of Recounts
• Introducing personal participant
– I, my group, my family, my school, etc.
• Using chronological connection
• Then, first, next, after that, first of all, etc.
• Using linking verbs
• Was, were, saw, heard, etc.
• Using action verb
• Look, go, change, run, arrive, take, laugh, sing, etc.
• Using simple past tense, would + verb 1, past perfect tense,
past continuous tense

7. Simple Past Tense
Basic simple past
I/you/he/she/it/we/they helped
Negative form
I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn’t) help
Question form
Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?

8. Past Continuous Tense
• We use the past continuous for:
– Something which continued before and after another
action:
E.g. The children were doing their homework when I got
home.
The use of the past continuous is very common at the
beginning of a story:
E.g. The other day I was waiting for a bus when….
Last week as I was driving to work….

9. – Something that happened before and after a particular
time:
E.g. It was eight o’clock. I was writing a letter.
– Something that was happening again and again:
E.g. I was practising every day, three times a day.
They were meeting secretly after school.
They were always quarrelling.
– With verbs which show change or growth:
E.g. The children were growing up quickly.
Her hair was going grey.
The town was changing quickly.
Past Continuous Tense

10. Past Perfect Tense
• It is often used when we are relating two events
which happened in the past.
The first action The second action
After he had locked all the
doors
he went to sleep
The first action The second
action
he had locked all the
doors
before he went to sleep

11. Adverbs of Time
We use adverbs of time to say:
– when something happened:
• I saw Mary yesterday.
• She was born in 1978.
• There was a storm during the night.
• I will see you later.
• for how long:
– We waited all day.
– They have lived here since 2004.
– We will be on holiday from July 1st until August 3rd .

12. – how often (frequency):
• They usually watched television in the evening.
• We sometimes went to work by car.
Adverbs of Time

13. Adverbs of Manner
It is used to tell us the way or how something is done.
She plays piano beautifully.
She plays piano softly.
She plays piano terribly.
Adjective + (-ly)
softly, beautifully, terribly

14. Adverbs of Place
It is used to tell us where something happens.
• After the main verb:
– I looked everywhere.
– I’m going home.
– After the object:
• They built a house nearby.
• She took the child outside.

15. Pronouns
• The subjective pronouns (he, she, I, it, they, you,
we) are used for the subject of a clause.
• The objective pronouns (him, her, me, it, them, you,
us) are used for the object of a verb or a
preposition.
• The possessive before a noun (my, his, her, our,
their, its, your) is used to show possession.
• The possessive after a noun (mine, his, hers,
theirs, yours, ours) is also used to show possession.

16. Pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns (this, these, that, those) are used to
determine specific things.
• Reflexive pronouns (myself, ourselves, himself, themselves,
herself, yourself, itself, yourselves) are used to
reflect/intensify a word already there in the sentence.
• Indefinite pronouns (someone, something, nobody, nothing)
• Interrogative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, what)
• Relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, what)
See more on
page 135-136