Explanation

By | March 16, 2016

What is an explanation text?

Exlanation text is a piece of writing that answers the questions ‘how’ or ‘why’. These questions usually have something to do with particular phenomenon. This text is focused on answering questions like how a rainbow forms, how a bicycle works, how seasons change, why the sky is blue, why leaves are green, etc.

In answering those questions, the writer usually uses a sequence or series of steps to explain how or why something happens. Remember that explanation text talks about facts not opinions. The following is a good example of explanation writing.

The water cycle is also known as the hydrological cycle. There is the same amount of water on the Earth now as there was when the Earth began.  The water cycle is how the earth’s water recycles itself.  

The cycle includes precipitation, evaporation, condensation, and transpiration.  Earth’s water keeps changing from liquid water to vapour and then back again.  This cycle happens because of the sun’s heat and gravity.

First of all, water molecules from lakes, rivers, streams, reservoirs, and the sea get heated up by the sun and then turn into vapour that rises into the air.

Next, these water molecules form into clouds, this is because a process called condensation occurs.

When the air and the water cool, they form drops of water which then fall to the earth as rain.  If they are frozen, they become snow or sleet.

Once the water reaches the ground, it can flow across the land until it reaches rivers, lakes, streams, or the sea. 

It can also sink into the ground and flow because of gravity through gaps in rock, gravel and sand. Because of this, it reaches these bodies of water too. 

Now the cycle begins again, when water is evaporated once more.

Notice that there is a logical sequence or series of steps in the text. The simple present tense is also used in it.

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