This study deals with the linguistic study of texts as a way of understanding how language functions in its immensely varied range of social contexts. The authors adopt a functional approach to language, in which the different registers or functional varieties of a language are explained by reference to the different contexts in which they occur. Their analysis reveals how, on the one hand, each text is unique, while on the other, the way a text is organized and the kinds of coherence it displays are closely related to the place and the value that it has in its social and cultural environment.