Explanation Text

What is explanation text?

Explanation text is a text that explains about a process or sequence of phenomena. 

There are 2 types of explanation text; sequential and cause and effect.

What is the purpose of explanation text?
An explanation text is written to explain how and why something (natural or socio-cultural phenomena) in the world happen. The text contains the process or sequence of the phenomena.

The generic structures of explanation text are?
The generic structures of explanation text consists of three components.

1. Title
2. General statement -> Stating the phenomena or issues which are being explained.
3. Explanation -> Stating the series of steps which explain the issues or phenomena. 

The language features of explanation text.

1. Focusing generic participant -> an object or phenomenon which is being discussed, such as; rain, chocolate, etc. 
2. Using present tense -> This kind of text mostly applies present tense for its sentences, such as; "rain is the primary source of fresh water for most areas of the world, ......."; Chocolate starts from a tree called cacao tree, and etc. 
3. Using chronological connectors -> The text applies chronological connectors / chronological connections / connectives, such as; first, second, third, then, after, after that, finally, so, as a consequence, and etc. 
4. Using passive voice -> The text sometimes applies passive form, such as; "... the beans are fermented for about a week, dried under the sun, and shipped to the chocolate maker...".   
5. Using noun, pronoun, verb, and etc. -> Like so many other text, explanation text absolutely applies a lot of nouns, pronouns (subject pronoun, object pronoun, possessive pronoun, demonstrative pronoun), action verb, and etc. 

Example for Explanation Text 

Global Warming

As we know now, global warming which is happening right now has a very big impact on natural conditions, animals and humans. Well, do you know how global warming which has a particularly serious impact on life happens? To know the process of how this phenomenon occurs, see the following explanation.

The process starts when sunlight shines the earth where most of the heat is absorbed by the earth and a half of it is reflected back onto the air (atmosphere). Sunshine returning to the air is trapped by gases in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, water vapor, and so on. This event is known as the greenhouse effect.

Solar radiation on the earth's atmosphere makes ozone layer get thinner and makes the sunlight which shines the Earth become hotter. The greenhouse effect also causes the sunlight which is reflected back onto space is reflected back into the earth. This phenomenon causes the earth continuously getting hotter. This condition is known as global warming.