Caption

 I believe the very word caption is not a new word to your vocabulary. You created a caption in your Instagram and also in your Facebook. It consists of picture with a text underneath. 

Well, so what is caption by definition? According to a Merriam Webster dictionary, caption is defined as

1. (noun).  a title or explanation for a picture or illustration, especially in a magazine.

2. a heading or title, as of a chapter, article, or page.

3. Movies, Television. the title of a scene, the text of a speech, etc., superimposed on the film and projected onto the screen.

4. Law. the heading of a legal document stating the time, place, etc., of execution or performance.

5. verb (used with object), to supply a caption or captions for; entitle: to caption a photograph.

From the definitions given above, it is clear that caption can be used in various context. Caption can be used in the newspaper, television, movies, and even law.   In English lesson you are going to deal with caption as mentioned in definition number 1, 2, 3, and 5. 

Now, draw a your own definition of caption. Write your definition in comment column down below.

I will give you some example of caption. Those were taken from The Jakarta Post online newspaper. 

Example 1. 

Covered in haze: A boat travels on the waters of the Barito River while haze in the sky is seen from the North Barito area, Central Kalimantan, on Sunday. The haze was caused from burning off forests to clear the land.(Antara/Kasriadi)

You see, there are two main parts of caption: 1) picture (photograph) and 2) text 

Observe the example 2

Nothing to crow about: Chicken traders at the Kosambi traditional market in Bandung, West Java, go on strike on Thursday. They demanded that the government help lower prices of day-old chickens, which have recently doubled and propelled the price of chicken meat so high that most customers can no longer afford to buy it. (Antara/Agus Bebeng)

Penjelasan mengenai caption dapat disimak disini. 

From those two example, you can conclude that the structure of a caption is as follows.

Look at this caption

Stranded -- In this photo provided by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration, Indonesians carrying Philippine haj passports wait after being intercepted by authorities on Aug. 19 at Manila's airport before they boarded their flight for Saudi Arabia to participate in a haj. Officials said the 177 passengers' identities were revealed as Indonesians because they could not speak any Philippine language or dialect and could only converse in English. (Bureau of Immigration via AP/-)

Secara struktur Caption di atas sebagai berikut: 
1. Title: Stranded (Terlantar)

2. Identification: Menjelaskan apa yang terlihat jelas pada foto. 
In this photo provided by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration, Indonesians carrying Philippine haj passports wait after being intercepted by authorities on Aug. 19 at Manila's airport before they boarded their flight for Saudi Arabia to participate in a haj (pada foto ini terlihat para calon haji yang memegang paspor Filipina menunggu setelah ditahan oleh pihak berwenang pada tanggal 19 Agustus di bandara Manila sebelum mereka berangkat ke Saudi Arabia utnuk berhaji)

3. Secondary info: penjelasan yang tidak terlihat pada foto.

Officials said the 177 passengers' identities were revealed as Indonesians because they could not speak any Philippine language or dialect and could only converse in English (Pihak berwenang mengatakan bahwa ke-177 penumpang tersebut adalah warga negara Indonesia karena mereka tidak dapat berbicara bahasa Filipina dan hanya bisa berbahasa Inggris) 

Dari foto tidak terlihat bahwa orang-orang pada foto itu berkebangsaan Indonesia, juga tidak terlihat mereka bisa berbicara bahasa Indonesia.

4. Photo Credits: pembuat foto 

Well, by reading this blog, I hope you know exactly what caption is and see how to create a caption. To explore more about caption, you can surf The Jakarta Post online Newspaper in  https://www.thejakartapost.com/ 

In the next session of English you will be asked to analyse a caption by its structure.

That's all for the first session. Don't forget to post your own caption definition in the comment column.

Do take care