Explanation Text

PURPOSE
to explain the process involved in the information or workings of natural or sociocultural phenomena.

The writer's purpose is to explain how something works or state reasons for some phenomenon. Explanations answer the questions "how" or "why". There are two basic types of explanation which focus on:

• "How" (How does a pump work? How does a computer work? How are mountains formed? How does a spider spin a web?)

• "Why" (Why do some things float or sink? Why is the ozone layer getting thinner? Why does iron go rusty? Why do living things need food?)

GENERIC STRUCTURE
1. General statement: stating the phenomenon issues which are to be explained.
2. Sequenced Explanation: stating a series of steps which explain of why or how something occurs.

LANGUAGE FEATURES

• focus on generic, non human Participants.
• use mainly of Material and Relational Processes.
• use mainly of temporal and causal Circumtenses and Conjunctions.
• some use of Passive voice to get Theme right. written in the 'timeless' present tense (are, turns, happens)
• use of action verbs (falls, rises, changes)
• use of non-human participants (the sea, the mountains, the computers, the engine)
• conjunctions (when, then, first, after this so)
• some passives (is saturated, are changed)
• use of nouns tends to be general rather than specific (cars, boats, spiders, schools)
• use of pronouns (their, they, them)

Example of Explanation Text / Contoh Explanation Text

Tsunami

General Statement:
A tsunami is a very large sea wave that is generated by a disturbance along the ocean floor. This disturbance can be an earthquake, a landslide, or a volcanic eruption. A tsunami is undetectable far out in the ocean, but once it reaches shallow water, this fast-traveling wave grows very large.

Explanation:
Tsunamis occur when a major fault under the ocean floor suddenly slips. The displaced rock pushes water above it like a giant paddle, producing powerful water waves at the ocean surface. The ocean waves spread out from the vicinity of the earthquake source and move across the ocean until they reach the coastline, where their height increases as they reach the continental shelf, the part of the Earth’s crust that slopes, or rises, from the ocean floor up to the land.

Closing:
Tsunamis wash ashore with often disastrous effects such as severe flooding, loss of lives due to drowning, and damage to property.

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