Anecdote Text
Definition and Social Function of Anecdote
Anecdote is a text which retells funny and unusual incidents in fact or imagination. Its purpose is to entertain the readers.
Generic Structure of Anecdote
1. Abstract :
Definition and Social Function of Anecdote
Anecdote is a text which retells funny and unusual incidents in fact or imagination. Its purpose is to entertain the readers.
Generic Structure of Anecdote
1. Abstract :
It is to signal the unusual or the unexpected event or incident that is going to be retold. It usually takes the form of rhetorical questions or the use of exclamative statement.
2. Orientation :
it is to set the scene of the story or event or incident. It is expressed in the past tense.
3. Crisis :
It is to provide details of the unusual or the unexpected even or incident. It is expressed in the past tense.
4. Reaction : It is to provide details of what to do or reaction to the incident. It is expressed in the past tense.
5. Coda :
It is to provide a reflection or evaluation over the incident. It constitutes the writer’s evaluation of the incident; how he or she felt, how should have been done over the accident will not be repeated to happen. It also contains what can be learned about from the incident. The content of ‘coda’ can be expressed in the use of both past and present tense
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BLESSING BEHIND TRAGEDY
BLESSING BEHIND TRAGEDY
There was a black family in Scotland years ago. They were Clark family with nine children. They had a dream to go to America. The family worked and saved. They were making plan to travel with their children to America. It had taken several years but finally they had saved enough money. They had gotten passport. They had booked seats for the whole family member in a new liner to America.
The entire family was full of anticipation and excitement with their new life in America. However few days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy. Because of the possibility of getting rabies, there were being quarantined for long days. They were in quarantine when the departure time came. The family dreams were dashed. They could not make the trip to America as they had planned.
The father was full of disappointed and anger. He stomped the dock to watch the ship leaved without him and his family. He shed tears of disappointment. He cursed both his son and God for the misfortune.
Five days latter, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland. The ship, the mighty Titanic, had sank. It took hundreds of passenger and crew with it. Titanic which had been called the unsinkable ship had sunk. It was unbelievable but it was.
The Clak family should have been on that ship, but because of the bitten son by a dog, they were left behind. When the father heard the news, he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives. It was a blessing behind a tragedy.
The entire family was full of anticipation and excitement with their new life in America. However few days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy. Because of the possibility of getting rabies, there were being quarantined for long days. They were in quarantine when the departure time came. The family dreams were dashed. They could not make the trip to America as they had planned.
The father was full of disappointed and anger. He stomped the dock to watch the ship leaved without him and his family. He shed tears of disappointment. He cursed both his son and God for the misfortune.
Five days latter, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland. The ship, the mighty Titanic, had sank. It took hundreds of passenger and crew with it. Titanic which had been called the unsinkable ship had sunk. It was unbelievable but it was.
The Clak family should have been on that ship, but because of the bitten son by a dog, they were left behind. When the father heard the news, he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives. It was a blessing behind a tragedy.
(Adapted from Look Ahead 2)
Generic Structure Analysis
Abstract:
Generic Structure Analysis
Abstract:
They had a dream to go to America. Everybody has a dream. You have and so do I. When the dream will come true, there is something wrong last minute before it. What will we feel? What will we do?
Orientation:
Orientation:
The Clak family lived in Scotland. They had dream to travel to America. They prepared well for their plan
Crisis:
Crisis:
Few days before they went to America, his youngest son was bitten by a dog. It made they were being quarantined. They had to forget their plan.
Incident:
Incident:
The family was full of disappointment and anger. The father was angry with his son and God. The family failed to travel to America and the father could not accept it.
Coda:
Coda:
The father thank to his son when he hear the ship sank. He thank to God because of saving the family from sinking.
Linguistic Realization :
1. Sentence Element : Predicate
In an anecdote, the use of verb in the past tense is very common, including the use of past perfect, and past continuous tense. This is because in an anecdote we tell about a ridiculous incident of the past, usually to get the readers to share emotion by making them laugh.
Simple Past Tense :
The family worked and saved.
The doctor sewed up the boy
He stomped the dock to watch the ship leaved without him and his family.
He shed tears of disappointment.
He cursed both his son and God for the misfortune.
When the father heard the news, he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family
Past Perfect Tense :
It had taken several years but finally they had saved enough money.
It had taken several years but finally they had saved enough money.
They had gotten passport.
They had booked seats for the whole family member in a new liner to America.
The ship, the mighty Titanic, had sunk.
Past Continuous Tense :
They were making plan to travel with their children to America.
2. Classification of Verb :
Related to the past form of verbs, there are two groups ; regular and irregular verb.
Regular verbs Present Past Tense
Work worked
Save saved
Book booked
Plan planned
Stomp stomped
Hug hugged
Thank thanked
Irregular Verbs Present Past Tense
Get gotten
Bite bitten
Sink sank
3. Grammatical Pattern : The use of Clause
In the text above the employment of sub-clause is used to sharpen the information in the main clause. The sub-clause can be, an adverb clause or a noun clause.
They were in quarantine when the departure time came.
Titanic which had been called the unsinkable ship had sunk.
When the father heard the news, he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family
4. Conjunction ‘and’ to combine and reduce.
Conciseness is important in the sentence construction. A long sentence consisting of many clauses can be reduced into shorter one by using conjunction ‘and’. As seen in the text above, the use of ‘and’ is very effective to reduce the clauses. Repetition of the same subjects is to be avoided.
He cursed both his son and God for the misfortune.
he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family.
5. Preposition
Some words need certain prepositions to be attached to be meaningful, for example:
Because of the possibility of getting rabies, there were being quarantined for long days.
The father was full of disappointed and anger
| BLESSING BEHIND TRAGEDY There was a black family in Scotland years ago. They were Clark family with nine children. They had a dream to go to America. The family worked and saved. They were making plan to travel with their children to America. It had taken several years but finally they had saved enough money. They had gotten passport. They had booked seats for the whole family member in a new liner to America. The entire family was full of anticipation and excitement with their new life in America. However few days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy. Because of the possibility of getting rabies, there were being quarantined for long days. They were in quarantine when the departure time came. The family dreams were dashed. They could not make the trip to America as they had planned. The father was full of disappointed and anger. He stomped the dock to watch the ship leaved without him and his family. He shed tears of disappointment. He cursed both his son and God for the misfortune. Five days latter, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland. The ship, the mighty Titanic, had sank. It took hundreds of passenger and crew with it. Titanic which had been called the unsinkable ship had sunk. It was unbelievable but it was. The Clak family should have been on that ship, but because of the bitten son by a dog, they were left behind. When the father heard the news, he hugged the son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives. It was a blessing behind a tragedy. |
| Incident |
| Coda |
| Crisis |
| Orientation |
| Abstract |
