Explication is a metalinguistic relation between expressions p and q such that q expresses more adequately what is meant by p. Referentially, this may mean that q spells out in more detail what is implicit in p, or that q corrects an imprecise or even wrong p. Consequently, explication shares with disjunction the paradigmatic relation between p and q. and illustrate this relation.
| . | I will have to tell or rather write him everything. |
| . | Tengo que recoger datos, o sea, tengo que hacer entrevistas y llenar cuestionarios. |
| Span | I have to gather data, i.e., I have to make interviews and fill in questionnaires. |
As the examples show, expressions p and q may be at various levels of syntactic complexity. They also show that explication may be coded as a kind of disjunction with irrelevant choice.