CAPTION

1. Social Function
Caption is a text which is found in an article an to explain or elaborate on published photograph,
by describing the photograph, giving context, or relating it to the article.
2. Text Structure
- Process
- Participants
- Circumstances of the process: mostly of place and time, providing context to the picture.
3. Significant Lexicogrammatical Features
- Use of grammatically complete sentences: subject-verb-object/complement-prepositional
phrase
- Use of Simple present tense in the main sentence, Simple past tense in the following
sentences
- Use of prepositional phrases to state the circumstances, mostly place and time.
4. Example
Caption 1

BADMINTON

Persistent Kevin, Marcus claim 2nd All England title

 (The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, p. 1)

Winning duo: Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (left) and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon pose on the
podium with their tophies after beating Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen during the men’s
doubles final at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, on Sunday.

A. Now, let’s analyze the SOCIAL FUNCTION of the captions, by identifying the focus, the context, and
the relationship with their respective headlines.
To do this, you need to answer the following questions:
1. What/Who is the highlight of each caption?
2. How is the picture contextualized?.
3. How does the caption relate to the headlines?
Answer:
Question 1:
1. What/Who is the highlight of each caption?
The bolded words “winning duo” helps you to know who or what your attention needs to be focused on.
The picture shows Kevin and Marcus holding their trophies with happy smiles. This is what the picture
highlights: Kevin and Marcus, winning the All England title again.
Question 2:
2. How is the picture contextualized?
A picture can be contextualized by explicit statements of the circumstances surrounding the the event.

The Context of the picture

The circumstances surrounding the event:
- on the podium
- with their tophies
- after beating Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen
- during the men’s doubles final at the All England Open Badminton Championships
- in Birmingham, England,
- on Sunday

Question 3:
3. How does the caption relate to the headlines?

The Relation to the Headline

The headline is “Persistent Kevin, Marcus claim 2nd All England title”. The word
‘winning’ in the caption is closely associated with the word ‘persistent’; ‘duo’ refers to
Kevin and Marcus.

B. The TEXT STRUCTURES of the captions

1 What about Winning duo:
Who/What Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (left) and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon
DO pose
Where on the podium
With what with their tophies
When after beating Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen
When during the men’s doubles final
When at the All England Open Badminton Championships
Where in Birmingham, England,
When on Sunday.
C. The LEXICOGRAMMATICAL FEATURES of the captions

1) The main part of most captions is one or two grammatically complete

sentences, consisting of
- the Subject (Who/What?): Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (left) and Marcus
Fernaldi Gideon
- the Verb: pose
- the Object/Complement (Who/What?): their tophies
- Prepositional Phrases of Time (When?): England, on Sunday
- Prepositional Phrases of Place (Where?): on the podium
with after beating Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen during the men’s doubles
final at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, on Sunday

2) The Verb
- the first sentence is usually in the Simple Present Tense, in the Active
voice: pose, talk, browse, holds, poses, sign, celebrates, sign, stands, loot,
supply, is, photographs, comes, poses, arranges, can’t command.
- the second sentence is usually in the Simple PastTense: shared, was, was.

3) Prepositional phrases to state the place, time, and other circumstances

Example: Caption 1
- on the podium, with their trophies, after beating Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Carsten
Mogensen, during the men’s doubles final, at the All England Open Badminton
Championships, in Birmingham, England, on Sunday.

4) Bold characters to state the headline, mostly in Noun Phrases or Present

Participles.
Example:
- Winning duo:
- Celebrating rights:

4. ASSIGNMENT
(Please find one (1) caption from the newspaper or magazine, then analyze it based on its
social function, generic structure and lexicogrammatical features like in the example above.)

5. FINAL ASSIGNMENT
(Make Three (3) captions using your own photos)