Understanding Explanatory Text and Explanation Structure - Language Rules, Complete with Examples

Kapanlagi.com - In Indonesian language lessons when we were in school, we learned about several types of texts, one of which is explanatory text. Explanatory text is a type of text that explains a process of natural, social, cultural, and other events. Therefore, this type of text is closely related to science, so it is often found in textbooks.

Explanatory text is created with the aim of explaining an event in a systematic way. Through explanatory text, readers are expected to understand an event based on its cause and effect pattern. Often, the explanation in explanatory text is also accompanied by descriptive explanations. This makes it easier for readers to understand the topic being discussed.

Just like other types of texts, explanatory text also has its own characteristics and structure. To better understand, here are some reviews about explanatory text that have been summarized from various sources.

1. Understanding Explanatory Text

As previously mentioned, explanatory text is a text that contains an explanation of a phenomenon or event. Explanatory text will describe how a process can occur based on a cause-and-effect pattern in detail. Because it is closely related to science, every written content in explanatory text must be empirically proven. 

2. Purpose of Explanatory Text

(credit: freepik)

Based on the brief understanding above, we can understand the purpose of explanatory text. Generally, explanatory text is written with the aim of making readers understand the phenomenon being explained. Therefore, explanatory text is often found in textbooks as a learning media about natural, social, and cultural phenomena. 

3. Characteristics of Explanatory Texts

It is not difficult to distinguish explanatory texts from other types of texts. This is because explanatory texts have their own characteristics. What are they? Here are some characteristics of explanatory texts.

1) Aim to present or explain an event or phenomenon in detail and clearly.

2) Closely related to scientific knowledge, so it contains a lot of data and facts.

3) Factual and scientific, meaning it is written based on facts from the occurring phenomenon.

4) Informative.

5) Explanatory texts often use conjunctions that indicate chronology or sequence, such as first, second, after that, next, and so on.

4. Structure of Explanatory Texts

(credit: freepik)

In addition to the above characteristics, we can also identify explanatory texts based on their structure. This is because explanatory texts have a different structure from other types of texts. This type of text has three parts of the structure. They are as follows.

1) General Statement

The first part of the structure of explanatory texts is the general statement. As the name suggests, this part contains a general explanation of the phenomenon to be discussed. The explanation in this part is still limited to the introduction of the phenomenon.

2) Series of Explanations

The second part is a series of explanations. This part contains detailed explanations of the process of how the phenomenon can occur. Because it consists of a set of explanations, this part can be more than one paragraph.

3) Interpretation

The third part is interpretation or conclusion. This part is actually optional. It means it can be present or not depending on the text creator. The interpretation is the essence or conclusion of the general statement to the series of explanations.

5. Language Principles

(credit: freepik)

In terms of language style, explanatory texts also have their own distinctive characteristics compared to other texts. Here are some language principles used in explanatory texts.

1) More focused on things that are generic. For example, an explanatory text about an earthquake will only focus on the process of the event itself, not on humans as participants.

2) Because it is related to science, explanatory texts often use scientific terms.

3) Many use temporal and causal conjunctions, such as: so, first, if, when, before, and then.

4) More often use passive sentence structures.

5) Written clearly according to the true facts.

6. Types of Explanatory Texts

It turns out there are four types of explanatory texts. Each of them has different characteristics. Here is an explanation of the four types of explanatory texts.

1) Sequential Explanation

Sequential explanation text is a type of explanation that presents detailed and sequential explanations, such as the life cycle of a food chain.

2) Factorial Explanation

Factorial explanation text is a type of explanation that presents the impact, consequences, or results of a process. For example, the effects of colonization.

3) Theoretical Explanation

Theoretical explanation text reveals speculations or possibilities behind a natural phenomenon. For example, during a volcanic eruption, the possible causes are also explained.

4) Causal Explanation

Causal explanation text is a type of explanation that presents the causes of an event gradually. For example, how the process of a landslide occurs.

7. Example of Explanatory Text

To better understand explanatory text, here is an example of explanatory text that explains the phenomenon of landslides.

Landslide

Landslide, or often called soil movement, is a geological event that occurs due to the movement of rock mass or soil with various types and forms such as the falling of rocks or large clumps of soil. In general, landslides are caused by two factors, namely driving factors and triggering factors. Driving factors are factors that affect the condition of the material itself, while triggering factors are factors that cause the movement of the material.

Although the main cause of this event is gravity that affects a steep slope, there are also other factors that have an influence, including erosion, slopes made of rocks and soil that are weakened through saturation caused by heavy rain, and volcanoes that create deposits of loose dust, heavy rain, and dust flows.

There are many things that can be done to prevent landslides, such as not creating ponds or rice fields on slopes, not building houses below cliffs, not cutting down trees around slopes, not cutting cliffs vertically, and not constructing buildings around rivers.

source: kelaspintar.id

Those are some reviews related to the understanding, characteristics, structure, and examples of explanatory text. Hopefully, it can increase your knowledge and be useful!

(kpl/psp)