Explanation merupakan salah satu genre of text.

Social Function: To explain the processes involved in the formation or working of natural or sociocultural
phenomena.

Generic Structure

• A general statement to position the reader

• A sequenced explanation of why or how something occurs.

Significant Lexicogrammatical Features

• Focus on generic, non-human Participants

• Use mainly of Material Processes and Relational Processes

• Use mainly of Temporal and causal Circumstances and Conjunctions

Contoh 1

The United States of America is where the Venus’s fly trap has its origins. The Venus’s fly trap is a unique plant. It
belongs to a group of plants called ‘carnivorous plants’. These plants feed on insect. The Venus’s fly trap has a
special mechanism by which it traps its prey. This is how it works.

At the end of each leaf – which grows from the base of a long, flowering stalk – there is a trap. The trap is made
up of two lobes and is covered with short, reddish hairs which are sensitive. There are teeth like structures around
the edge of the lobes.

The trap contains nectar which attracts insect. When an insect comes in contact with the nectar, the trap snaps
shut. There are certain digestive juice inside the trap which digest the insect. It takes about ten days for a trapped
insect to be digested. We can tell when this digestion is complete, for then the walls automatically open to wait for
another victim.

There are two hundred species of carnivorous plants. Another kind of these well- known species is the pitcher
plant. What differentiates this plant from the Venus’s fly trap is the shape; the mechanism to catch insects is the
same in both plants.

The pitcher plants which cling to other plants by means of tendrils. At one end of the tendril, there is a pitcher –
shaped vessel with an open lid. The mouth and the lid of the pitcher contain glands which produce nectar to attract
insect. When an insect settles on the nectar, the lid of the pitcher shuts, trapping its victim. The digestive juices
inside the pitcher then begin to work.

Contoh 2

The effects of acid soil

Soils with a pH of less than 7.0 are acid. The lower the pH, the more acid the soil. When soil pH falls below 5.5,
plant growth is affected. Crop yields decrease, reducing productivity

Soils provide water and nutrients for plant growth and development. Essential plant nutrients include phosphorus,
nitrogen, potassium and sulfur. Plants require other elements such as molybdenum, in smaller quantities. Some
elements eg aluminium and manganese, are toxic to plants.

Nutrients become available to plants when they are dissolved in water. Plants are able to take up phosphate,
nitrate, potassium and sulfate ions in solution.

The solubility of nitients changes with pH. In acid soils (low pH), molybdenum becomes less soluble and
aluminium becomes more soluble. Therefore, plant growth may be affected by either a deficiency of molybdenum
or too much aluminium.

Both crop and pasture plants are affected by acid soils. there may be a range of symptoms. Crops and pastures
may be poorly established resulting in patchy and uneven growth. Plant leaves may go yellow and die at the tips.
The root system of the plant may be stunted. Crops may yield less.

Plants vary in their sensitivity to low pH. Canola and lucerne are very sensitive to acid soils so do not grow well.
Lupins and triticale are tolerant to soils of low pH so they still perform well.
Land can become unproductive if acid soil is left untreated. Incorporating lime into the soil raises the pH.
Therefore, liming soil can reverse the effects of acid soil on plants and return a paddock to productivity.

Contoh Explanation

How Day and Night Happen

The sun seems to rise in the morning, crosses the sky during the day and sets at night. However the sun does not
actually move around the earth. Earth’s turning on its axis makes it look as if the sun is moves.
The earth makes a complete turn on its axis for 24 hours. It is called as rotation. It causes day and night. The earth
also moves around the sun. It takes 365 days or a year. This process is called revolution. The revolution process
causes the changes of the season.

Why Summer Daylight is Longer than Winter Daylight

In the summer, the amount of daylight that we get is more than we get in winter. This is not because as much
people think we are closer to the sun but because of the tilt of the earth.
The earth is actually closer to the sun in winter than it is in summer but you would be forgiven for thinking that this
can not be true after looking out of your window on a cold and frosty morning.
It seems strange that as the earth get closer to the sun during its orbit then the amount of daylight that we get
decrease. But that is the case. It is the tilt of the earth that determine the amount of daylight that we get and so the
length of time that for us the sun is above the horizon.
(Taken from: www.ictteachers.co.uk)

How Chocolate is made

Have we wondered how we get chocolate from? Well this time we will enter the amazing world of chocolate so we
can understand exactly we are eating.

Chocolate starts a tree called cacao tree. This tree grows in equatorial regions, especially in place such as South
America, Africa, and Indonesia. The cacao tree produces a fruit about the size of a small pine apple. In side the
fruits are the tree’s seeds. They are also known as coco beans.

Next, the beans are fermented for about a week, dried in the sun. After that they are shipped to the chocolate
maker. The chocolate maker starts by roasting the beans to bring out the flavour. Different beans from different
places have different qualities and flavour. So they are often shorted and blended to produce a distinctive mix.

The next process is winnowing. The roasted beans are winnowed to remove the meat nib of the cacao bean from
its shell. Then the nibs are blended. The blended nibs are ground to make it a liquid. The liquid is called chocolate
liquor. It tastes bitter.

All seeds contain some amount of fat and cacao beans are not different. However, cacao beans are half fat, which
is why the ground nibs from liquid. It is pure bitter chocolate.

How Cancer is Formed

What is cancer? It is actually a group of more than one hundred separate diseases. Most of us are fear from
cancer It is reasonable because next to heart disease, cancer is the second leading cause of death.
Cancer cells come from normal cells because of mutations of DNA. Those mutations can occur spontaneously.
The mutations may be also induced by other factors such as: nuclear and electromagnetic radiation, viruses,
bacteria and fungi, parasites, heat, chemicals in the air, water and food, mechanical cell-level injury, free radicals,
evolution and ageing of DNA, etc. All such factors can produce mutations that may start cancer.
Cancer cells are formed continuously in the organism. It is estimated that there are about 10,000 cancer cells at
any given time in a healthy person. Why do some result in macroscopic-level cancers and some do not? First, not
all damaged cells can multiply and many of them die quickly. Second, those which potentially divide and form
cancer are effectively destroyed by the mechanisms available to the immune system. Therefore cancer develops if
the immune system is not working properly or the amount of cells produced is too great for the immune system to
eliminate.
(Simplified from:www.digital-recordings.com/publ/cancer.html)