Question

Now read that portion of the listening text describing the solar distillation system:

The solar distillation system has a solar panel placed on top of a rectangular shaped box. At first the box is filled with unpurified water. Next, it is exposed to the sun rays which heats this water. Then the pure water droplets condense on the underside of the solar panel leaving the impurities in the box. The pure water now runs into a trough which is connected to collection bottles. Additionally, the ultra violet rays from the sun kill the germs and the bacteria in the water.

You will notice that each sentence is connected with the next one and when we describe a process we use sequence markers like- at first; next; then; now; additionally;

The other commonly used sequence markers are

• first, second, third.....
• at the same time, simultaneously.....
• finally, lastly, in the end, to conclude.....

You may also have observed that the writer has used a combination of Active forms (e.g. the water droplets condense on the underside of the solar panels) to emphasize the ‘doer’ of the action and Passive forms (e.g. the box is filled with unpurified water) when he wants to stress that the action ‘is filled’.

Another feature of a process description is that the writer normally uses the simple present tense, because he describes what always happens in the particular process.

Answer 1

How the solar distillation system works:

• At first, the rectangular box is filled with unpurified water.
• Next, the box is exposed to the sun’s rays, which heat the water.
• Then, pure water droplets condense on the underside of the solar panel, leaving the impurities in the box.
• Now, the pure water runs into a trough connected to collection bottles.
• Additionally, ultraviolet rays from the sun kill germs and bacteria in the water.