what is this?

Human body is actually a living machine and is like all other machines. This living machine needs fuel to supply it with energy. The fuel is provided by the food which we eat. However do we know how much we need to stay healthy?
The energy value of food is usually measured in calories. A calorie is the amount of heat which is required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree C. The number of calories which people need per day varies. It depends on the activity which the people are involved in. For example; people will need more calories for standing than for sitting, people need more for running than for walking, etc.
The energy which is provided by food is in the form of three kinds of chemical substances. They are carbohydrate, protein and fat. Carbohydrate provides 8.8 calories per gram (cal/gm) of energy, protein 4.0 cal/gm and fat 8.0 cal/gm. Each food contains different proportion of these substances.These three chemical substances are all important for body staying healthy.

Report Text Notes
Report often starts discussion with brief definition or classification about the thing discussed. The first paragraph matches with the brief definition of body energy.
After brief definition or classification paragraph, report text is commonly followed by the important fact about the topic. The second and third paragraphs tell the important information about the body energy; how it comes from and what form it is available.
Report text is commonly featuring technical or scientific term. Calories, carbohydrate, protein, fat etc are some of the example.

The sun shone brightly and the west breeze blew. The kite was flying this way and that way tied to her string.
Suddenly the string snapped. The kite was free. She soared high in the air until she could see far, far away.
The kite followed some parrots who took her to see the rainforests. The air was cool and the kite got wet.
The kite followed some crocodiles who took her to see the rivers. The air was misty and the kite caught a fish.
The kite followed some wallabies who took her to see the deserts. The air was hot and the kite got tired.
So the kite followed the sun who took her back home, right to her string

Note on Narrative Text
The example of Narrative above is taken from Jeany Eather. We see that Narrative will be a narrative if the text include any complication among the characters. Narrative is mainly to tell a story. Telling a story is intended to entertain as well teach certain moral values.
From the narrative example above, we can see the specific generic structure which actually makes this text different from other text types
The first paragraph is setting the scene. This scene set up will include information of who, what, when and where. This is actually what we know as Orientation to introduce the participant in the text, kite and information near it.
The second paragraph is introducing a problem as complication set which is followed by other three paragraphs as series of event.
The last paragraph is the resolution to end the story. Resolution can be good or bad.

Many cars, motorcycles and other modern vehicles have fuel warning light devices. the warning light is usually red which switches on automatically when the level of fuel in the tank is very low. The warning light gives the driver information about the amount of petrol in the tank. When the light switches on red, it tells the driver that the petrol in the tank is almost empty. Therefore he have to put more fuel into the tank. However do you know how the fuel warning works?
Well this is the way the fuel warning light work and gives the driver information about the accurate amount of the petrol in the tank. When the level of the fuel falls, the float inside the tank moves downwards. When this condition happens, the arm also moves downwards and it make the lever touch an electrical contact. This switches on the fuel light in the car dashboard.
The red light which appears in the fuel panel of the dashboard tells the driver that he needs more petrol for his car. When he pours more petrol into the tank, this condition makes the fuel level rise and it pushes the float upwards. In return it disconnects to the electrical contact and makes the red light switch off.

How a kite flies is best at giving example of Explanation text. This kind of text is composed to intendedly make clear explanation on how something is processed and why the thing is formed. Explanation text is one of the text types which is similar to Procedure. What makes superficially different is the way how they are structured.
In one side, Explanation text is structure in the mode of description. It focuses on the thing which is explained. In the other side, Procedure text is constructed in the mode of instruction and commend. That is why Procedure is sometimes called instruction text. It focuses on the second person to explain how to form the thing.
In my previous example of explanation text on Roman Roads was given to show how the explanation text gives clear note on "Why something is formed" To get clearer understanding of explanation text, now let's see another example of "How something is precessed/formed" which belongs to explanation text's social function. The example bellow is re-composed from Jenny Eather's writing with fun. It really helps to make better understanding on explanation text.

How is a Kite Flying?
A kite is an object which is made from a light material stretched over a frame. Due to its light material a kite will lift off the ground and fly when it is tilted into the wind.
A kite is uses wind to make it fly because it is heavier than air. When wind travels over the surface of the kite, it is split into two streams of air. One stream of the air goes over the kite while the second stream goes under the kite.
The upper stream creates an area of low pressure above the kite. The lower stream hits the kite at a shallow angle and creates an area of high pressure.
The high pressure area has a pushing effect while the low pressure area has a pulling effect. The combination of push and pull can creates enough force to lift the kite into the air.
Kites have been known for thousand of years. They are used for military or scientific purposes. Todays kites are much used for leisure and competition.

From the above example of Explanation text, we can see that the text has the following generic structure:
General Statement; the introduction of the topic on with a brief definition on kites.
Sequenced Explanation; this is the main element of explanation text. It explain the important points of the kite. The explanation of how kites fly is given in order.

Text types is one of the major topics should be acquired by high school students in Indonesia. The purpose of designing such curriculum in English lesson hopefully leads the students to understand various kinds of text presented and written in English as applicable passages which are found in the student's daily life.
Of course many functional texts and passages found daily will not formed strictly in single type. It is often found that RECOUNT is mixed with NARRATIVE to communicate with the readers to get the maximum attention and interest. So far, some time Writer combine EXPLANATION and PROCEDURE to show how and why something is formed. Many of them even combine several type theory to build the construction text. Learning several types of text will of course increase the understanding to feature and character of each types of text. Then if it is caught, it will lead better knowledge in a whole texts
In many exam material, student should understand and analyze the certain text or passage which they have to determine which text type the passage belongs to. Of course understanding the meaning of the text is absolutely necessary before coming to text types feature. Learning text types will include the generic structure and language feature.
Lets got to school after long holiday season and lets learn text types again. This blog hopefully will be student's friend in learning English text types

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