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Descriptive Text

Definition, Purpose, Generic Structures, Language Features 

A.   Definition

At Senior High School level, the students are expected to be skillful in reading. Based on the syllabus of School-based Curriculum, there are several kinds of text that need to be mastered by the students. They are narration, description, procedure, reporting, recount, news item, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition and spoof. Based on Competency Standard and Basic Competency that says that the students are expected  to be able to understand and respond meaningful written text in term of functional written text and simple short essay in the form of descriptive and recount text interact with people in the nearest environment. There are many types of texts in reading, which are closely related to the purpose of each type. Descriptive text is one of the text types taught at Senior High School.

Descriptive Text is a text which says what a person or a thing is like. Its purpose is to describe and reveal a particular person, place or thing.

B.   Generic Structures

C.   Language Features

Example of Descriptive Text

The text below is the example of descriptive text. Read it carefully!

Lake of Linting

Even not as popular as Lake Toba, Linting Lake is one of the tourist attractions in North Sumatra worth visited. Linting Lake is a volcanic lake with a size of about 1 hectare and it containing of sulfur so that the water has greenish hue. Be very careful if you want to swim, because this lake that located in Deli Serdang has a depth of over 100 meters.                                                 Description

Danau Linting is administratively located at three villages, which is Sibunga-bunga Village, Gunung Manumpak Village and Durian IV M belang village, Sinembah Tanjung Muda Hulu sub-district, Deli serdang regency. To reach Linting Lake takes 2 hours’ drive or 70 Km far from Medan, through Patumbak, Deli Serdang. Along the journey to Linting lake, there will be rows of palm oil, rubber and cacao plantation in here and there. This lake covers 1 hectare area with turquois sparkling hues at the water with warm water full of sulfur and odorless. At the edge of the lake there are numbers of stalls and shady shelters for resting.                              Identification

There are no exact information about the validity of the depth, and it makes the mystery about this lake becomes an urban legend.