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AUTHOR’S PURPOSE the reason why the author wrote the passage.

THERE ARE 4 MAIN PURPOSES FOR WRITING:

To Inform To Influence/Persuade To Express To Entertain 

WHEN THERE IS A TEST QUESTION THAT ASKS YOU TO DETERMINE THE AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, LOOK FOR CLUES IN THE PASSAGE TO HELP YOU CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER.

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CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING TO INFORM  Explanations  Definitions  Illustrations  Diagrams  Maps  Charts  (bolded/underlined)

Headings  Bulleted or numbered lists.

CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING TO INFLUENCE/PERSUADE  Opinions  Words

like should and must that assign value such as worst and best.

 Words

CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING TO EXPRESS  Frequent

use of the word I  Emotional words such as feel, smile, cower, sob, giggle, etc.

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CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING TO ENTERTAIN  Vivid

descriptions  Dialogue  Rhymes  Drama  Humor

AUTHOR’S PURPOSE PRACTICE: Notice how the following passages are about the same topic, opossums, but they do so in very different ways. What is the purpose of each passage?

PASSAGE 1 The common opossum is the only kind of opossum found in the United States. This species grows about as big as a house cat. It has rough grayish-white hair, a long snout, dark eyes, and big hairless ears. This opossum has a long tail that does not have much hair on it. The animal can hang upside down by wrapping its tail around a tree branch. Its teeth and claws are sharp.

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The purpose of passage 1 is TO

INFORM

because all it does is EXPLAIN key details about the opossum (size of a housecat, grayish white hair, long snout, dark eyes, hairless ears, long tail, sharp teeth and claws, hang upside down on a tree branch)

PASSAGE 2 One warm fall evening, our son Tom went out to the garage to feed the cat. Suddenly we heard him yell out, “A rat! A Texas-sized rat!” His older brother Joe went to investigate and reported back, “Sure enough, Mom. It is a rat!” Finally, Barb and I went to look at this “rat.” When the little critter turned around to see us gawking, we realized that it was an opossum…a fat opossum.

The purpose of passage 2 is TO

ENTERTAIN

because there are VIVID DETAILS (the little critter turned around to see us gawking), DIALOGUE (“A Texas-sized rat!”), and HUMOR.

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SOMETIMES

THE TEST WILL

ASK ABOUT AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, AND THE CHOICES WON’T EXACTLY BE THE SAME

4 PURPOSES

THAT WE JUST

WENT OVER. Extended practice with identifying author’s purpose. Answer these on your own.

PASSAGE 3 Hand grippers can help give your arms those bulging biceps you’re after, but only if they offer enough resistance. If you can squeeze them repeatedly for one to two minutes, and your hands don’t get tired, they’re too weak for you. You can keep buying stronger ones or make something at home that can do the same job.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PASSAGE 3? A.

B.

C.

D.

to instruct about the correct use of hand grippers to persuade people to buy the right kind of hand gripper to describe an event that happened while using hand grippers to instruct how to make hand grippers at home.

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PASSAGE 4 Twelve-year-old Nadia told us a true story that seemed unbelievable about her family’s journey to the United States. In Romania, her father was involved in politics on a national level, opposing the communist regime of Ceausescu. Because of death threats made against her family, Nadia and her family had to leave the country in the middle of the night. They had arranged for a boat to meet them, so they could sail the Black Sea to freedom in Bulgaria. Because they left in a hurry, they took nothing with them except their clothes. The boat never came, so they swam into the sea until a boat from Bulgaria discovered her family swimming. All of them survived the swim except for Nadia’s little brother, Dimitri. From that country, they obtained refugee status and traveled to the United States. Nadia is very grateful to be living here, and after hearing her story, so are we.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PASSAGE 4? A.

B.

C.

D.

to instruct readers about the history of Romania to describe an event in the politics of Eastern Europe to persuade readers that democracy is a violent form of government to relate an adventure one family had while escaping oppression

PASSAGE 5 My family came to America in 1985. No one spoke a word of English. In school, I was in an English as a Second Language class with other foreign-born children. My class was so overcrowded that it was impossible for the teacher to teach English properly. I dreaded going to school each morning because of the fear of not understanding what people were saying and the fear of being laughed at. Yu-Lan (Mary) Ying, an eyewitness account about learning English

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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PASSAGE 5? A.

B.

C.

D.

to cast doubt on the wisdom of immigrating to the United States to motivate schools to spend more money on English classes to share the personal experience of a foreign-born English student to create suspense about whether English classes are useful for all students

ANSWERS Passage 3: A. (to instruct about the correct use of hand grippers [to inform])  Passage 4: D. (to relate an adventure one family had while escaping oppression [to inform])  Passage 5: C. (to share the personal experience of a foreign-born English student [to express]) 

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